Paris Olympics 2024 (non-cycling) thread

[tobydawq]

I struggle to single out a particular swimming discipline that holds much more prestige than others.

I wonder what the least prestigious medal is? Probably some of the new stuff. I would throw surfing, 3x3 (how is it 3x3 anyway, that makes 9??) basketball, skateboarding and breaking into the bin without hesitating. Combat sports don't do anything for me either.

Sport climbing on the other hand. What a sport! That is just an altogether fantastic watch.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Dávid Betlehem joins J. Christ on the list of the most holy names at these games.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

No medals for Wellbrock and SuperGreg.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I struggle to single out a particular swimming discipline that holds much more prestige than others.

I wonder what the least prestigious medal is? Probably some of the new stuff. I would throw surfing, 3x3 (how is it 3x3 anyway, that makes 9??) basketball, skateboarding and breaking into the bin without hesitating. Combat sports don't do anything for me either.

Sport climbing on the other hand. What a sport! That is just an altogether fantastic watch.

Haven't seen the breaking yet, but skateboarding to me, the fact you can fall in 2/3 your runs and most of the elite adult skaters prefer the X Games over the Olympics anyway just really makes it feel like you're not watching elite sport.

Basically, I would without hesitation dismiss any judged sport outside of long-standing traditional Olympic events that I'd grandfather in, like gymnastics, figure skating and diving.

Sports where only the non-standard version of it is in the Games also - the fact it's Rugby Sevens rather than Rugby is just weird to me, and likewise the 3x3 Basketball. I'm still undecided on Beach Volleyball as to whether it has enough difference from regular volleyball. The Games could easily do without any mainstream sport where an Olympic gold is not the highest accolade in the sport (tennis, golf, football), but they wouldn't necessarily be top of my list to cull.

 

[tobydawq]

Haven't seen the breaking yet, but skateboarding to me, the fact you can fall in 2/3 your runs and most of the elite adult skaters prefer the X Games over the Olympics anyway just really makes it feel like you're not watching elite sport.

Basically, I would without hesitation dismiss any judged sport outside of long-standing traditional Olympic events that I'd grandfather in, like gymnastics, figure skating and diving.

Sports where only the non-standard version of it is in the Games also - the fact it's Rugby Sevens rather than Rugby is just weird to me, and likewise the 3x3 Basketball. I'm still undecided on Beach Volleyball as to whether it has enough difference from regular volleyball. The Games could easily do without any mainstream sport where an Olympic gold is not the highest accolade in the sport (tennis, golf, football), but they wouldn't necessarily be top of my list to cull.

Football, tennis and golf are entirely different cases, if you ask me.

Football (at least the men's) has no place at the Olympics as it is now, but tennis and golf absolutely do, and all the best players want to attend. I also don't think you have seen Djokovic' very, very non-stoic reaction to winning gold if you can dismiss it that easily.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

I know this sort of ranking is endlessly debatable, but still striking to see where that was rated. Perhaps the Bulgarian statisticians can also take a look at cycling now Marco's records are getting easily destroyed
(too many variables on the road, I guess)

How good was she? Well, according to World Athletics’ scoring tables, which rank performances by a complex system also used to calculate world rankings, this was this was the greatest-ever run by a woman, topping Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 100m blur from 1988.

 

[tobydawq]

What the hell happened to the US on the first leg of that relay??

 

[Samu Cuenca]

What the hell happened to the US on the first leg of that relay??

The 16 year old starter looked like he'd had a rough sleep.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

4x400m. Go India

edit: very nice heat action.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The 16 year old starter looked like he'd had a rough sleep.

Quincy Wilson also has a pretty funny line in his Olympic bio:

Was planning on getting his driver's licence this summer but instead will be competing at the 2024 Olympic Games.

 

[Tim Cahill]

These heptathletes look like they're just warming up when they do their javelin throws, too much finesse

You need to get some fat Bulgarian bloke in who screams like he's having a heart attack

 

[gunara]

Sport climbing on the other hand. What a sport! That is just an altogether fantastic watch.

I'm still not sure about the necessity of all the "no second chance" things. Lifetime of preparation ending in one imperfect try or one slip start. I'm sure there are thoughts behind it. I don't know much about the sport, especially the current state, but some years ago the national series I worked as video operator in used best-of-three match and disqualification after two false start, and it seemed to work alright.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

KJT has defended herself well here. Thiam needs to have a lead of around 100 points before the 800m to feel sort of safe, but less than that might cut it.

Hall and Vidts both did great with new PBs, but Vetter will take points back in the fight for bronze.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

What events does everyone here consider the most prestigious top 3-5 in the Olympics?

Men's 100m track
Women's gymnastics all-around
Decathlon
4x100m swim relay
4x100m relay on the track

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Quincy Wilson also has a pretty funny line in his Olympic bio:

Was planning on getting his driver's licence this summer but instead will be competing at the 2024 Olympic Games.

As if you needed to be able to actually drive to get a driver‘s license in the US.

 

[Brullnux]

Cycling road race - men
Tennis singles - both genders
Artistic gymnastics all-round - women
100m - men
400m hurdles - women
Golf - men
Badminton singles - men

Year-to-year variation applies for some events.

This is a very rogue list, but I appreciate the uniqueness.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Men's 200m gold medallist Letsile Tebogo says he doesn't believe he can be the face of athletics because he is not an "arrogant or loud" person

Paris 2024: Men’s 200m champion Letsile Tebogo on Noah Lyles

Men's 200m gold medallist Letsile Tebogo says he doesn't believe he can be the face of athletics because he is not a "arrogant or loud" person - adding that the USA's Noah Lyles is.

www.bbc.com

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Thiam now on +121 points. KJT will be disappointed, if she doesn't win, but after losing out on medals in both Rio and Tokyo (the crash 3 years ago was painfully tragic), I assume she will still be very happy to be on the podium.

The battle for bronze will be close between Vidts and Kälin, but the former is the favourite. Hall will have to run one of heck of a 800m to be in contention, but she is capable of exactly that.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Paris 2024: Men’s 200m champion Letsile Tebogo on Noah Lyles

Men's 200m gold medallist Letsile Tebogo says he doesn't believe he can be the face of athletics because he is not a "arrogant or loud" person - adding that the USA's Noah Lyles is.

www.bbc.com

And so it begins... Tebogo may have unintentionally started a pissing contest with Lyles because I don't know if Lyles can let Tebogo's comment go.

(Reminds me of the pissing contest between Maurice Green and I think it was either Michael Johnson or Tim Montgomery some years back. Sprinters will be sprinters...)

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Paris 2024: Men’s 200m champion Letsile Tebogo on Noah Lyles

Men's 200m gold medallist Letsile Tebogo says he doesn't believe he can be the face of athletics because he is not a "arrogant or loud" person - adding that the USA's Noah Lyles is.

www.bbc.com

It really depends, I know what he's getting at, but being the 'face' of a sport doesn't necessarily require the antics, at least in a limited sense. Yes, people like Bolt and Lyles were showmen, and (at least until the somewhat unexpected understated attitude and performance here in Paris) the likes of Richardson's flamboyant decorations and behaviours follow on from the likes of Flo-Jo and to a lesser extent Fraser-Pryce, but there are plenty of not-loud people who have become star figures within the sport. Femke Bol is arguably the biggest draw on the European circuit at the moment, Mondo Duplantis is a star in a competition that is almost literally no competition for him, Britain's face of the 2012 London Olympics was Jessica Ennis, and across North Africa the biggest face in the sport for the last several years has been Soufiane El-Bakkali. The only reason Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone isn't the face of athletics is that unless you're from close enough to Eugene to go down to Hayward Field, you never get the chance to see her.

Lyles is definitely and unequivocally a bigger audience draw than Letsile Tebogo at the moment, but that's not exclusively because Lyles is loud and brash, although of course in the sprint disciplines there is a lot more of that trash talking and manufacturing rivalry to attract an audience boxing-style - of a kind that comes with the territory among 100-200 runners but just looks ridiculous and embarrassing when Kerr and Ingebrigtsen tried to do it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

And so it begins... Tebogo may have unintentionally started a pissing contest with Lyles because I don't know if Lyles can let Tebogo's comment go.

(Reminds me of the pissing contest between Maurice Green and I think it was either Michael Johnson or Tim Montgomery some years back. Sprinters will be sprinters...)

There was also that comical exchange with Lyles and I think it was Fred Kerley about Lyles' contributions when he tried the 4x400 at the World Indoors, basically Lyles getting derided for running something he clearly wasn't suited to and though he did decently, he got carried to gold, and him responding, hey, I won a gold medal, maybe you could have one if you wanted to run, and they had a bit of a spat.

 

[Brullnux]

It really depends, I know what he's getting at, but being the 'face' of a sport doesn't necessarily require the antics, at least in a limited sense. Yes, people like Bolt and Lyles were showmen, and (at least until the somewhat unexpected understated attitude and performance here in Paris) the likes of Richardson's flamboyant decorations and behaviours follow on from the likes of Flo-Jo and to a lesser extent Fraser-Pryce, but there are plenty of not-loud people who have become star figures within the sport. Femke Bol is arguably the biggest draw on the European circuit at the moment, Mondo Duplantis is a star in a competition that is almost literally no competition for him, Britain's face of the 2012 London Olympics was Jessica Ennis, and across North Africa the biggest face in the sport for the last several years has been Soufiane El-Bakkali. The only reason Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone isn't the face of athletics is that unless you're from close enough to Eugene to go down to Hayward Field, you never get the chance to see her.

Lyles is definitely and unequivocally a bigger audience draw than Letsile Tebogo at the moment, but that's not exclusively because Lyles is loud and brash, although of course in the sprint disciplines there is a lot more of that trash talking and manufacturing rivalry to attract an audience boxing-style - of a kind that comes with the territory among 100-200 runners but just looks ridiculous and embarrassing when Kerr and Ingebrigtsen tried to do it.

Mondo is definitely a showman, though, even if it's a showmanship that turns up only once in the stadium. But when he goes for his WR vaults he always waits for the entire stadium's attention to be on him, gets the crowd going, and then jumps. Usually he only does them once everyone's races are done, too.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Apparently Tebogo didn't really mean it like that, poor guy has started a real commotion and it's just a language barrier thing .

 

[Tricycle Rider]

It really depends, I know what he's getting at, but being the 'face' of a sport doesn't necessarily require the antics, at least in a limited sense. Yes, people like Bolt and Lyles were showmen, and (at least until the somewhat unexpected understated attitude and performance here in Paris) the likes of Richardson's flamboyant decorations and behaviours follow on from the likes of Flo-Jo and to a lesser extent Fraser-Pryce, but there are plenty of not-loud people who have become star figures within the sport. Femke Bol is arguably the biggest draw on the European circuit at the moment, Mondo Duplantis is a star in a competition that is almost literally no competition for him, Britain's face of the 2012 London Olympics was Jessica Ennis, and across North Africa the biggest face in the sport for the last several years has been Soufiane El-Bakkali. The only reason Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone isn't the face of athletics is that unless you're from close enough to Eugene to go down to Hayward Field, you never get the chance to see her.

Lyles is definitely and unequivocally a bigger audience draw than Letsile Tebogo at the moment, but that's not exclusively because Lyles is loud and brash, although of course in the sprint disciplines there is a lot more of that trash talking and manufacturing rivalry to attract an audience boxing-style - of a kind that comes with the territory among 100-200 runners but just looks ridiculous and embarrassing when Kerr and Ingebrigtsen tried to do it.

So much this!

Sprinters are usually known to at least act cocky or arrogant for the show, but in distance running it just looks out of place. (Not that I mind it, I just find it funny for the wrong reasons.)

 

[Brullnux]

Sport climbing is fantastic, I'm really glad it's in the Olympics.