Paris Olympics 2024 (non-cycling) thread

[jmdirt]

All of this, but flag football? Is it really an Olympic sport now? (Sorry, haven't kept up with all the new sports they've been adding to the Games...)

The US ladies' gymnastics team just finished up their Olympic trials, with Simone Biles onboard I think they'll be hard to beat.

I'm really undecided about flag football that's why I want to catch a little bit of it.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Marisa Howard. Yes, she was at Hayward last week.

Awesome! I'll be looking for her at the Olympics!

PS - I think 400 and 800m runners are insane, but steeplechasers are in a whole new galaxy of insane. And I say this with much admiration!

 

[Rob5091]

This is a good news story with a spooky undertone -
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/06/paris-moulin-rouge-new-windmill-sails

Paris’s Moulin Rouge cabaret club, whose landmark windmill sails fell down in April, has inaugurated a new set, a week before the Olympic torch was due to pass by the venue.

The home of the can-can was temporarily laid low after the sails of the red-painted windmill tumbled to the ground in the early hours of 25 April.

The first three letters on the cabaret’s facade – M, O and U – also fell off. No one was injured in the incident.

M, O & U ... OMG!

 

[QueenStagiaire]

The US Basketball team seems ready, LeBron, Curry, KD etc. have recovered a fourteen-point halftime deficit against the South Sudan to win by one point.

 

[RedheadDane]

Recently, in Denmark, there has been a series of videos with a middle aged guy going around trying various sports (the series might still be on-going.)
The hammer throw looked a bit sketchy...

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Recently, in Denmark, there has been a series of videos with a middle aged guy going around trying various sports (the series might still be on-going.)
The hammer throw looked a bit sketchy...

Has he done shot putting yet?

 

[RedheadDane]

Has he done shot putting yet?

Well... I'm pretty sure it was filmed a while back. But I don't think there's been any shot-putting video released (not sure there will, because I'm not sure there are any Danish shot-putters going to Paris.)

BTW, hammer throw is a lie! This is not a hammer!

It's a metal ball on a chain!

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Well... I'm pretty sure it was filmed a while back. But I don't think there's been any shot-putting video released (not sure there will, because I'm not sure there are any Danish shot-putters going to Paris.)

BTW, hammer throw is a lie! This is a hammer!

It's a metal ball on a chain!

There are no Danish shot putters at the Olympics because Danish shot putting‘s only hope is busy posting on cycling forums. (All the other Danes are busy riding bikes, playing badminton or handball.)

 

[RedheadDane]

Okay, why are these people consistently picking two bronze medals for the boxing events?

Who’ll Win in Paris? SI Picks Every Medal at the 2024 Olympics

From aquatics to wrestling and everything in between, we’re picking the podium for all 329 medal events at the Summer Games.

www.si.com

Now here's a bit of important additional info:

This class features a British boxer named Delicious Orie.

 

[Rob5091]

Okay, why are these people consistently picking two bronze medals for the boxing events?

Who’ll Win in Paris? SI Picks Every Medal at the 2024 Olympics

From aquatics to wrestling and everything in between, we’re picking the podium for all 329 medal events at the Summer Games.

www.si.com

Now here's a bit of important additional info:

There's is no fight for the bronze medal so the two losing semi-finalists each get a bronze medal (if I remember correctly).

 

[Samu Cuenca]

And in wrestling there are two bronze medal matches.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Was your former coworker competing here in Eugene this week? What's her name, what's her name?

The track and field Olympic trials have concluded here at Hayward Field yesterday, I didn't pay too close attention but apparently Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone had beaten her own world record in the 400m hurdles. Was it the fast track at Hayward, or is she really that good right now? We'll find out in just a few weeks!

Late to this, but it's a little from column A and a little from column B. McLaughlin-Levrone is clearly an insane talent and always has been (whatever you may think of Bob Kersee and the implications of her heavily reduced calendar and incredibly limited number of races outside of the US), but this is exacerbated by Eugene being an incredibly fast track.

The problem is that because she missed almost all of last season, had been considering switching to the flat 400, and hardly runs elsewhere, we don't really have any representative times for her outside of Eugene to say what her speed is at recently, but it is worth noting that her best time outside of Hayward Field is a 51.46 - from the Tokyo Games three years ago. However, her time from 2022's trials at Hayward Field was 51.41 before her peak performance a month later at the Worlds which was the previous WR at 50.68 - there's a vast yawning chasm in her times between them, though, as she's never run any other times at that pace to know by how much the venue makes a difference. The 51.61 at Nashville before the 2022 Worlds suggests that the track makes a difference - but not that much of one that it explains that huge gap in her times, rather she could probably have run a few high 50s/low 51s last season if she was healthy or during 2022 if she did a fuller calendar rather than spot events on the domestic circuit.

However, definitely Hayward Field is a factor - if you look at the men's records, after the top 2 times at Tokyo - another blisteringly fast track - five of the next seven times were set at Eugene. The oddity is more that whereas all the fastest men, and SML, have top times there, the one major performer that doesn't is Femke Bol, whose best time at Hayward Field is 51.98 last October. But then, that was an end-of-season race, a month after her targeted events, so is more comparable to McLaughlin-Levrone's 52.17 she ran there in a domestic meet a month after the Worlds a year earlier, but Bol probably pushed herself a bit harder in that, given it was a Diamond League final, than SML did in her end-of-season run.

 

[Mayomaniac]

A yes, Hayward Field, the track where the Americans probably confused meters with yards (would explain many of the times).

 

[Rob5091]

No chance for Charlotte Dujardin to become "Britain’s most decorated female Olympian", after a video ...
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/oth...r-of-judgment-in-coaching-session/ar-BB1qulPK

...showing her hitting a horse repeatedly on the legs during a slow-motion trot ...

I could comment on this but as Red Rick says, if I say anything, I'll get into trouble.

 

[ManicJack]

No chance for Charlotte Dujardin to become "Britain’s most decorated female Olympian", after a video ...
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/oth...r-of-judgment-in-coaching-session/ar-BB1qulPK

I could comment on this but as Red Rick says, if I say anything, I'll get into trouble.

Isn't equestrian being removed from the Olympics for reasons associated with animal abuse?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Isn't equestrian being removed from the Olympics for reasons associated with animal abuse?

Equestrian is only removed from the modern pentathlon after this Olympics as far as I know.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

In other news, Sascha Zverev has only finished second in the voting for the male German flagbearer at the opening ceremony, failing to make @Red Rick nuke the entire country of Germany.
Basketball world champion Dennis Schröder gets the honor instead.

 

[Tim Cahill]

No chance for Charlotte Dujardin to become "Britain’s most decorated female Olympian", after a video ...
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/oth...r-of-judgment-in-coaching-session/ar-BB1qulPK

I could comment on this but as Red Rick says, if I say anything, I'll get into trouble.

Thought it was a Keith Lard situation when I read the headline at first so it could be worse I suppose.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Some funny posts here!

Being old, I remember when the Olympics were a big deal, and a lot more spirited fun. The international competition was cool, and it made the Cold War seem less concerning. Oh, and the games were a LOT smaller. My parents actually went to the 1960 winter games in Squaw Valley. They were living in Reno, drove up for a day, paid a ticket to see slalom skiing, and then drove over to where XC skiing was, walked a bit in the snow through the forest, and saw some of that event for free.

Now there are way too many damned events, too many heats, semi-finals, quarter-finals, half-baked-finals. Too many events in an attempt to get other sports stars to appear. Judged events seem rigged maybe a quarter of the time. Oh, and everything is insanely expensive. Capitalism rules all. Paris is hoping to "only" spend about €10b, compared to double that Rio blew, almost bankrupting the city. No wonder so many citizens are seeking to leave town.

Hoping Loana Lecomte wins gold, or at least a medal in the women's XCO. Infectiously happy person.

Call me unpatriotic, but I'm hoping the US Men's basketball team doesn't even medal. Yes, I realize there are many pros, even NBA players, on other teams. Actually, I don't care who wins. I won't be watching any of it.

/curmudgeon

 

[jmdirt]

A yes, Hayward Field, the track where the Americans probably confused meters with yards (would explain many of the times).

While we USAers do struggle with the metric system, track has used meters since the early '80s so we get it there.

*You know because 6mm, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 doesn't make as much sense as 1/4, 3/8, 5/16, 13/32, 7/16, 1/2,

 

[Rob5091]

There have not been so many "security people" in Paris since the SS & Nazis were there, apparently.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/a...nd-qr-codes-as-security-ramps-up-for-olympics

Nearly a million security checks have been undertaken on those with links to the Games, and hundreds of individuals of concern have been identified and told to stay at home. Police have also raided those on their watchlists and detained a number of Islamists and far right and far left activists, the government said.

The “zero risk” approach may not be to everyone’s taste but Darmanin suggested it was paying off. “We do not have any specific threats to the Olympic Games, either from French intelligence services or partner foreign intelligence services who are assisting us,” he said.

https://apnews.com/article/france-p...mes-security-e8f9b8812dc06dae22ffdfad9d15858e

Three days before the start of the 2024 Olympics, France’s interior minister said about 1,000 people suspected of possibly meddling for a foreign power have been blocked from attending the Olympics — one of the security challenges that Paris is cracking down on in its goal to keep Games safe for athletes and fans.

About 1 million background checks have scrutinized Olympic volunteers, workers and others involved in the Games as well as those applying for passes to enter the most tightly controlled security zone in Paris — along the banks of the Seine — ahead of the opening ceremony on the river Friday.

The checks blocked about 5,000 people from attending, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Tuesday. Out of them, “there are 1,000 people whom we suspect of foreign interference — we can say spying,” Darmanin said.

Apparent recent photo of Paris ...

 

[Mayomaniac]

There have not been so many "security people" in Paris since the SS & Nazis were there, apparently.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/a...nd-qr-codes-as-security-ramps-up-for-olympics

https://apnews.com/article/france-p...mes-security-e8f9b8812dc06dae22ffdfad9d15858e


Apparent recent photo of Paris ...

Nah, the French aren't that well dressed.

 

[RedheadDane]

Now there are way too many damned events, too many heats, semi-finals, quarter-finals, half-baked-finals.

Why did I read that as "hats"?
There are just too many hats at the Olympics! Can't deal with all the hats.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Why did I read that as "hats"?
There are just too many hats at the Olympics! Can't deal with all the hats.

That will only become an issue if danielovichdk is among the spectators.

 

[Rob5091]

Some strange culinary outrage was being planned, apparently, with the aid of a Russian recipe.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/a...ged-large-scale-olympic-games-plot-paris-2024

A Russian chef who has lived in France for 14 years has been arrested on suspicion of plotting with a foreign power to stage “large scale” acts of “destabilisation” during the Olympic Games in Paris.

The 40-year-old man was arrested during a raid of his apartment in central Paris on Sunday where a document linked to an elite Russian special forces unit operating under the command of the FSB, an heir to the KGB, was reportedly found.