Olympics: so what?

ancient_mariner

ancient_mariner

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The only threads I've seen on here about the Olympics is the Turkish shooter and union flag ones. Has this round simply failed the so what test?
 
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Too many professionals and too much prize money let alone the drug and gender controversies. Crappy beds, crappy food and even crappier water.
 
Things have to move with the times and not stay static - canoe cross, bouldering, skateboarding have all been great to watch. Although this isn't it's first year, rugby 7s has been a huge hit across the pond and that has to be great for the sport.

I've not seen the breakdancing, has it been on yet? surely that's just an extension of the floor in gymnastics.

iirc boxing is on it's way out and wont be on the programme in LA (or Brisbane) and there has to be some discussions around dressage (or dancing horses as I like to call it). Cricket is in the programme next time round.

I agree about tennis and golf - but I think they bring in a lot of sponsorship money. Also not keen on football.

I've watched the BBC coverage - only two streams (discovery+ has the rights to the full coverage / All sports) so in terms of the BBC choosing what to show has been frustrating so too has the constant repetition of the same VTs. Great presenting line up though.
 
lindsay said:
Come on.
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I suspect this is all about commercialisng the thing, which is a little strange because, if I understand things correctly, these games have been costing the host countries a lot of money, which they haven't recovered. There's an article from the Council on Foreign Relations here...

www.cfr.org

The Economics of Hosting the Olympic Games

The costs of hosting the Olympics have skyrocketed, while the economic benefits are far from clear. The 2024 Paris Olympics could be a test of whether reforms to the process have made hosting a bette…
www.cfr.org www.cfr.org
 
We have enjoyed the gymnastics, and now the track athletics....and quite like the cycling......oh and the swimming & diving.

The one thing that struck me was the way the coverage was controlled by the french and/or IOC direction.

For example when Max Whitlock was doing a pommel horse heat the 'feed' that the BBC had was not available but the cameras following competitors around and/or another exercise.

Clearly there were cameras on multiple events in the gymnastics arena, so why on earth would it not be possible for other broadcasters e.g. BBC to get selective feeds to go with their commentary voiceovers.
 
Box Brownie said:
We have enjoyed the gymnastics, and now the track athletics....and quite like the cycling......oh and the swimming & diving.

The one thing that struck me was the way the coverage was controlled by the french and/or IOC direction.

For example when Max Whitlock was doing a pommel horse heat the 'feed' that the BBC had was not available but the cameras following competitors around and/or another exercise.

Clearly there were cameras on multiple events in the gymnastics arena, so why on earth would it not be possible for other broadcasters e.g. BBC to get selective feeds to go with their commentary voiceovers.
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The BBC only has limited access, the broadcasters of everything are Discovery+, which I'm not watching on account of it being near impossible to get it working...
 
Pound Coin said:
The BBC only has limited access, the broadcasters of everything are Discovery+, which I'm not watching on account of it being near impossible to get it working...
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Ah! so only subscription service users have full/wider access, a pity :(
 
Watched the rugby 7s then ignored the rest, is it over yet?
 
Apart from what I glimpse as clips on the news or on line I haven't seen it and I haven't seen a second of it live.

I haven't got much interest in the sports at the best of times but the last supper mocking and the XY chromosome possessors punching women have just turned me off completely. Mrs WW and her mam are glued to it.
 
woof woof said:
Apart from what I glimpse as clips on the news or on line I haven't seen it and I haven't seen a second of it live.

I haven't got much interest in the sports at the best of times but the last supper mocking and the XY chromosome possessors punching women have just turned me off completely. Mrs WW and her mam are glued to it.
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My perception is that 'they' are more likely XXY chromosomally. As is the case IIRC with Caster Semenya?
 
Box Brownie said:
My perception is that 'they' are more likely XXY chromosomally. As is the case IIRC with Caster Semenya?
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That's not what I saw reported but who really knows and whatever the truth (and I don't think it'll be officially and truthfully revealed any time soon unless it's done kicking and screaming at the point of a proverbial gun) there are people competing in women's sports who do appear much more obviously XY than XX and in one high profile case have "fathered" children. The politics of it are one thing and whilst all three podium places in a women's cycling competition being taken by people who are not strictly speaking biological adult human females raises an eye brow for me with contact sports I think we're getting into real and serious H&S issues. I think when an Olympic boxer says she's never been hit so hard and has to retire after just seconds we should take this a lot more seriously.

Anyway. This is just another reason why I don't and wont be watching.
 
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I will be asking for woodturning to be included , I am fairly good at that ,
Just imaging a gold medal turn off ,
 
F1.2 said:
I will be asking for woodturning to be included , I am fairly good at that ,
Just imaging a gold medal turn off ,
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I've never understood why hopscotch isn't included... :whistle:
 
Darts, dominos, pool, snooker and pub quizzes. Karaoke?
 
I see the British-Japanese skateboarder, Sky Brown, won bronze. I just recall her extraordinary feats of twists and turns on the skateboard when she was just a kid. About 12.
 
JohnC6 said:
I see the British-Japanese skateboarder, Sky Brown, won bronze. I just recall her extraordinary feats of twists and turns on the skateboard when she was just a kid. About 12.
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Yes, she is sixteen now in her second olympics! She also dislocated her shoulder prior to the final.
 
I’m in the not interested category, my other half has been watching it , I go into my man cave and catch up on photo editing
Sport in general just isn’t my thing
 
I hadn't realised that they were selling the viewing rights & the BBC on get limited access - that explains why there's so relatively little on the beeb.
 
Box Brownie said:
My perception is that 'they' are more likely XXY chromosomally. As is the case IIRC with Caster Semenya?
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Caster Semenya and the other two athletes on the 800m podium in Rio are 46 xy 5-ARD DSD, they are male. The two boxers in Paris have the same condition.
 
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andya700 said:
Caster Semenya and the other two athletes on the 800m podium in Rio are 46 xy 5-ARD DSD, they are male. The two boxers in Pairs have the same condition.
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Thanks for the clarification, I had to look that one up to understand the ramifications of such individuals circumstances.

My science knowledge is a bit out of date though I do recall reading of such children and their intuited (incorrect?) upbringing some many years back. The reason I say incorrect upbringing was IIRC their gender was based purely on external genitalia and some apparently misguidedly had surgery as babies to correct what was seen (in some cases?) as a birth abnormality!
 
andya700 said:
Caster Semenya and the other two athletes on the 800m podium in Rio are 46 xy 5-ARD DSD, they are male. The two boxers in Paris have the same condition.
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Yes, andya700 is spot on DSD 46XY 5-ARD (DSD = disorders of sexual development)
in theory XY=male XX= female.

The IBA ( International Boxing Association) banned the two boxers after ' gender testing ' This IBA is Russian-led organisation. The IOC has argued on many criteria that this decision was flawed. Hence they were allowed to compete. What a mess, heaven knows where this will end.

I have been an avid Olympic watcher, mainly athletics and track cycling. I couldn't stand all the ' waffle ' from the BBC presenters. I signed up for a Discovery+ subscription for £3.99 a month x 6 months. Every single sport on offer. When 2 events were on a the same time I could just flick between them. Brilliant coverage.
 
Got to admit that Clare Baldwin, Matt Baker and the female gymnastic commentator were paticularly galling. And as for cycling. I still have absoluely no idea of the rules. It looked like carnage!
 
I have really enjoyed it i think to immerse yourself in it you need discovery+ or a similar service
so you can view all the content and pick your way arround the stuff you want and don't want

for me its NO to most of the running and cycling despite being a road race fan

but a massive YES to
pole vault
high jump
javalin
all the wieght lifting classes
some of the gymnastics

if you just watch this stuff on terrestrial TV then its just not possible
its just filled rubbish presenters like claire baldwin talking all the time
 
Mr Bump said:
I have really enjoyed it i think to immerse yourself in it you need discovery+ or a similar service
so you can view all the content and pick your way arround the stuff you want and don't want

for me its NO to most of the running and cycling despite being a road race fan

but a massive YES to
pole vault
high jump
javalin
all the wieght lifting classes
some of the gymnastics

if you just watch this stuff on terrestrial TV then its just not possible
its just filled rubbish presenters like claire baldwin talking all the time
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I actually think she is one of the best and most knowledgeable presenters we have.
 
andya700 said:
I actually think she is one of the best and most knowledgeable presenters we have.
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maybe but the sheer amount of trivial and waffle and not showing any actual events of the BBC over the last couple of weeks has been appalling
constant drivel out of the commentary box all the BBC show is UK athletes as soon as some other high ranking non UK person is on a piece of apparatus the BBC switches to the cockpit so the 3 or 4 of them can spend 20 minutes dissecting a 200m heat absolute s***e BBC
 
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The closing ceremony was interesting but grindingly drawn out.

In the closing with Tom Cruise on the 'descender' he clearly had an equipment mal-function......I can only surmise the leg pouch that failed to release was supposed to display the Stars & Stripes flowing in the wind as he came down. Perhaps the rigger forgot to remove a safety 'pin' because pull as Tom might it was not coming out of the pouch !
 
I don't think the Paralympics ,which will start on August 28th and finish on Sept. 8th, is covered to the same degree . It was good to see the TV listings back to their normal scheduling times today ..ie for me..the news.
 
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I’m just glad it’s all over my missus had it on the telly constantly thankfully I had lots of photos to edit in my man cave
 
JohnC6 said:
I don't think the Paralympics ,which will start on August 28th and finish on Sept. 8th, is covered to the same degree . It was good to see the TV listings back to their normal scheduling times today ..ie for me..the news.
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Actually the Paralympics probably has better coverage, as it's on Channel 4 who now do a far better job with sport when allowed than the beeb

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games is set to be the biggest ever broadcast on Channel 4 with over 1,300 hours of live sport airing for free across Channel 4, More4, Channel 4 Streaming and Channel 4 Sport’s YouTube.
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Over the 12-day event, coverage starts at breakfast time and follows all the medals and stories of the day until the action concludes, broadcasting across two channels and Channel 4 Streaming, plus, every televised moment of the Paralympics will be streamed on Channel 4 Sport’s YouTube channel, with up to 18 concurrent streams
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Closing ceremony - US national anthem - who was that women? - IMHO beyond terrible!
 
BillN_33 said:
Closing ceremony - US national anthem - who was that women? - IMHO beyond terrible!
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If you mean the singer and her accompanyist, no idea but her rendition of the anthem was nothing like I would have expected to hear !
 
BillN_33 said:
Yep - that's her
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I can only surmise that the USA gold medalists when hearing their anthem tune would have been uttering the words but how many did so to follow along with her :thinking:
 
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