2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics

[RSteve]

Actually it’s 1 in 1,000 births. But it’s still a surprisingly high figure.

Oops, I didn't see the decimal point.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I did manage to catch some of the bicycle track racing. As I said, I went to the velodrome in Colorado Springs when I was a kid while on family vacation. It was like a science fiction movie. The bikes are nuts, and even far more so now. It's weird that they never go into the pit or do breakdowns of the gear, because I feel it would really grab the audience. Great Britain's bikes are the most interesting, and they're around $22K each. I'm sure there is triple that into R&D. Bicycle couriers in big cities use fixed gear and are very loosely based on track bikes for minimizing of weight.

A new Hope | The inside story on Team GB's radical Tokyo 2020 track bike

The Olympic track bike arms race: who’s riding what at Tokyo 2020?

 

[Natch]

Soccer is my favorite game (Olympics and otherwise). From before the first loss to Sweden, I had doubts that the USWNT would be the proverbial powerhouse of the past. The rest of the World is producing excellent lady footballers, coming up to our standards. Why, many countries around the World now allow women and girls to actually play soccer (Oh, the horror of it all!)

Overall, I seem to prefer watching women's sports (especially volleyball and tennis) as it seems to involve more planning the strategy over the men's version. With the men, they seem to have a powerful serve or smash at the net, and it's over.

Ranger107 said it correctly; "I remember a few years ago when we all rooted for USA to win. It's a shame politics has infested the games."

Natch

 

[Zeno Marx]

Overall, I seem to prefer watching women's sports (especially volleyball and tennis) as it seems to involve more planning the strategy over the men's version. With the men, they seem to have a powerful serve or smash at the net, and it's over.

That's where I'm at as well. When Pete Sampras was the dominating player, it was BORING. Massive serve, come into the net, and point over. I hated watching serve & volley tennis, especially when the serves got to be over x MPH. Part of that is the advancement of the rackets and strings, though. Baseline tennis saved the game. Most of the time, I'll take finesse and strategy sport over power sport. Tennis can really suffer from pure power. It would be like the best golfer being the one with the longest tee shot. Everything based on a single strength. Yuck.

 

[Natch]

That's where I'm at as well. When Pete Sampras was the dominating player, it was BORING. Massive serve, come into the net, and point over. I hated watching serve & volley tennis, especially when the serves got to be over x MPH. Part of that is the advancement of the rackets and strings, though. Baseline tennis saved the game. Most of the time, I'll take finesse and strategy sport over power sport. Tennis can really suffer from pure power. It would be like the best golfer being the one with the longest tee shot. Everything based on a single strength. Yuck.

Well, in full disclosure, I have two daughters and no sons, and when I see fewer opportunities girls have as opposed to boys, (in and outside of sports), it angers me that MY children are restricted! But, also being a soccer ref for the past 15+ years, I see how girls grow from teamwork and sports in a very positive way. And most important for soccer, they don't flop nearly as much as the boys do.

 

[RSteve]

USA 4 x 100 men Disaster!

 

[Blackhorse]

You can’t win all of the medals all of the time.

 

[RSteve]

USA 4 x 100 men Disaster!

You can’t win all of the medals all of the time.

They had an horrific baton pass.

 

[RSteve]

Gable Steveson is Gold leave out the first w in www to see the amazing finish.
wwww.youtube.com/watch?v=fSXPmihrX3c

 

[Zeno Marx]

More about bicycling track racing. The Omnium race. 100 laps. 15+ miles around 30 minutes for men and 12+ miles around 34 minutes for women. 30-40mph. It looks like chaos. I'm guessing every rider had to have a judge watching them and scoring? The race included 10 sprints and points for lapping the field. The team race is interesting because it has two riders on a team, and the only one you pay attention to is the front rider of the team. The second member can ride slowly and rest until they hand off and become the main rider. It somewhat makes for a constant high speed race. It's so complicated that in the men's race that the leader, the rider from Great Britain, snuck in a lapping to get 20 points. I found that funny and sort of sneaky too. As I said, so much is going on that the riders have to be watching everything happening.

They also have this thing called the keirin race that starts off with an electric pace bicycle. It's another bizarre one. Said to be really popular in Japan for gambling, sort of like horse and dog racing here.