Other Olympic Sports--Articles and Discussion

[makam]

The US has always struggled a bit with artistic swimming primarily due to gymnastics and diving being ncaa sports. And the need to have a team based in one place, training together. For the same reasons, RG, especially RG Group.
but I imagine that with a silver medal, a home Olympics on the horizon and uncertainty about the participation of Russia, will mean this group stays together

Imma take up handball starting now. Where do you suppose our free-ticket-to-the-Olympics handball team will be based? ;-)

 

[MaryClare]

Imma take up handball starting now. Where do you suppose our free-ticket-to-the-Olympics handball team will be based? ;-)

It would be interesting to look at which sports have the lowest level of US participation

 

[RAFIKI]

Interesting to compare this shooting controversy with the gymnastics FX EF situation:

Amber Rutter: Team GB shooter takes silver in controversial skeet final at Paris 2024

Great Britain's Amber Rutter takes silver in a dramatic and controversial final of the women's skeet shooting as Francisca Crovetto Chadid claims gold in a shoot-off.

www.bbc.co.uk

Wild that it sounds like they have video assisted judging for non-Olympic comps. Why not in Paris?

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

USA gets silver in artistic swimming first medal since 2004 when they took bronze.
Spain took the bronze, France finished 4th.
China finished with the gold as was expected.

Also the Americans are dominating in track today.

I didn’t think we would get any finals better than the 100m and 1500m for americans, and somehow 400m and 3000m steeplechase (wtf!?) said hold my beer.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I didn’t think we would get any finals better than the 100m and 1500m for americans, and somehow 400m and 3000m steeplechase (wtf!?) said hold my beer.

These Olympics have been wild.

 

[JDB]

It would be interesting to look at which sports have the lowest level of US participation

Judo participation is abysmal in the USA nowadays. And the sport's poorly managed at every level. The Olympics' host nation gets an entry in every weight class. But most of America's entrants in 2028 will be far from top tier judokas.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

Judo participation is abysmal in the USA nowadays. And it's poorly managed at every level. The Olympics' host nation gets an entry in every weight class. But most of America's entrants in 2028 will be far from top tier judokas.

I feel like handball is pretty bad as far as team sports go.

 

[Hatsumomo]

So it turns out Dennis Rodman's daughter is competing at the Olympics on the women's soccer/football team and she actually plays for my local team, the Washington Spirit. I don't even know how I missed this, but I'm loving the DMV representation at the Olympics.

 

[JDB]

Sir, a second Frenchman's bulge went viral.

 

[makam]

I love when they are interviewing people and you can see the little remote control cars in the background taking the discus and whatnot back to the launching pad. Clearly the robots have started the takeover!

 

[makam]

I am not sure how I feel about the speed sport climbing format. The head-to-head is fun but since the sport is totally objective (climb the fastest), it seems weird that the person who set the world record only won the bronze because he was a tiny bit slower in the previous round. I can see why they can't have 8 lanes but pairing the fastest through each rounds is kinda enough of an advantage if you were looking for someone to push you (though in like 5 seconds, how much does that matter?) but the final rankings really should just be about time, right? In a judged sport like boxing, the elimination format makes sense, but could you imagine if track did the same?

 

[JDB]

I like the speed event. The competition format is brutal though.

Congrats to Veddriq Leonardo for winning Indonesia's first gold of the games.

 

[hmmmm]

Here is the gymnastics portion of the guys trying all the Olympic sports

 

[Hatsumomo]

Breakdancing is deeply triggering vicarious embarrassment

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Breakdancing is deeply triggering vicarious embarrassment

It confuses me that this is an Olympic sport.

 

[JaJa]

It confuses me that this is an Olympic sport.

It boggles my mind. Just boggles my mind.

 

[rlayt]

Same.

 

[Hatsumomo]

My sister is sending me email rants about breakdancing being in the Olympics but baseball and softball aren't (currently).

And I'm inclined to agree. Especially since the caliber of what we're seeing in Paris is leagues below what I've seen on the street and low-stakes competitions. Especially the Australian woman whose dance is making the rounds on Twitter. Yikes on bikes.

 

[RAFIKI]

I'm home now () after watching seven sports besides gymnastics, so here's RAFIKI's highly unanticipated awards:

Best seat: Athletics - 13 rows from the front and right by the heptathlon high jump
Worst seat: Water-polo - up high and it was so steep I couldn't see the arena floor beneath me
Best atmosphere: Beach volleyball, fun with a great crowd.
Best new sport: Handball - I knew nothing about this sport but really enjoyed both games I saw. Fun, fast and exciting.
Most disappointing: Skateboarding - I saw the men's final and it was really short (~45 min) with a lot of incomplete runs. The women's qualifications/finals that I caught on TV looked more exciting.
Most exciting: Water-polo semi-final AUS vs USA which went all the way to sudden death penalties.
Most dangerous: Spectating 3x3 basketball purely because of the heat , thank goodness for my fan and for being partially shaded.
Best fans: Brazilians everywhere and Germans at the handball.
Missed opportunity: Wish I'd managed to find some trampoline/climbing/athletics finals tickets. Would have been fun to have seen the parade of champions at the Trocadero one day as well.

How many days until LA?

 

[JaJa]

Especially since the caliber of what we're seeing in Paris is leagues below what I've seen on the street and low-stakes competitions.

That too. I could do half of the routines I see. Totally ridiculous