World, Writing, Wealth discussion

Watching the opening ceremony - pity the stadium is devoid of spectators. So far, loved the suits of Aruba delegation. Hope sport events will be no less spectacular.
Who’s watching? What sports do you love? Who’s your favorite sportsman/woman/trans?

Rather limited in my viewing, I tend to watch only what NZ athletes/teams are doing, and on the assumption others are doing this, this may not be a very productive thread for discussions?

Although Track & Field and Swimming dominate a lot of the coverage, I would rather watch Soccer, Gymnastics, Table Tennis, Badminton, Diving and Skateboarding. Color me weird. ;)

I follow the shooting sports, but those don't tend to get aired on NBC.

Ian wrote: "Rather limited in my viewing, I tend to watch only what NZ athletes/teams are doing, and on the assumption others are doing this, this may not be a very productive thread for discussions?"

Sure, compatriots come first, but some generally outstanding achievements or dramatic episodes won't be missed by global crowd.
Team sports will get more interesting towards the final stages, while in individual sports I'll try to watch some gymnastics, wrestling, boxing, weightlifting, fencing, swimming and athletics..

I'm sure most won't miss an almost simultaneous win of gold medals in judo by brother and sister from Japan, or a sensational defeat of NBA stars by France...

On the other hand, Nik, there is so much going on you have to miss most of it. Here the number of TV channels tends to favour the local side too :-) I try recording some, but I still have to find the time to watch it :-)

I used to watch a lot of the Olympics many years ago. Yes, they would have made sure to include British medal hopefuls, but there were always few enough serious contenders that there was plenty of time for others :)

I used to find the BBC coverage was pretty thorough. Good coverage of all the major events, track, field, swimming, gymnastics ...

Since moving to Canada, we don't watch much and long ago stopped subscribing to cable channels, so I really don't watch sport these days. There always seems to be better ways to spend my time!

Simone Biles - the Olympic superstar's psychological breakdown reflects the enormous pressure some of them bear, especially when there are so many expectations.
Well, Russians didn't need to be asked twice to take full advantage

For the first time in my life, I have watched zero games and have no interest. I think it is fallout from COVID. I just do not have the drive right now. I do follow the headlines.

Being only six, I still remember being at the opening of Moscow Olympics in 1980, a ceremony that was also held in Kiev, hosting some football games. Sounds funny today that it was boycotted by some countries over USSR’s invasion into Afghan .,,

Finally, had a chance to watch some live track and field finals, incl. women 100m, handball, volleyball, tennis and some recorded stuff from today.

I actually watched Archery and Badminton today. Wild watching the badminton players fly around their little court.

Just an associative thinking - seeing Brit disqualified for the false start and Italian taking gold in 100m men, adding football to this, looks like Italians have quite a sportive karma this year, while Brits an anti-one.

Not interested

I'm curious what scandal will get turned up next.

https://youtu.be/v0_iqcaWurI

An interesting and to me - non-surprising report, J. Unfortunately, many sports' associations are tainted with large scale corruption, FIFA & EUFA - major football associations, included. A lot is corrupted, unfortunately :(
As much as I'm opposed to any type of corruption, let's put it into proportion. The report criticizes election of Peking for winter Olympics, accusing IOC in working with authoritarian regimes, but they mentioned that every other contender except for Peking and Almaty withdrew, leaving little choice. Now, everybody works with China, genocide or not, most of production sits there, is it somehow expected that IOC would be more catholic than the Pope?
They mention overspending beyond the budget on each Olympic project. That's very true, but if to compare with overspending on F-35, might look like walk in the park :)
There is a lot of corruption and cheating in sport in many layers, yet Olympics is the best venue for sports(wo)men, most of whom, I believe, compete fairly and achieve remarkable results, pushing the limits of human abilities.
Can only endorse "stop corruption" slogan!

The competition is often in spite of the administrators, yet the corruption does spread downward. Drugs and bribes included

Watched the games most of the day. Lots of pleasure.. Good someone invented a weekend

Enjoyed watching. Always impressed by the sheer brilliance of the athletes regardless of results.

GB has had a good games in terms of medals and a good games in terms of participation. I get as much pleasure seeing athletes break personal bests as I do from medals. Always impressed by sheer dedication required to get to Olympics in first place.

Saw some of closing ceremony which was fine until France welcome played which was also fine until some bloke called Macron appeared

Still para Olympics to follow and then Paris in only 3 years. Lockdown might be lifted by then.

Philip wrote: "....Lockdown might be lifted by then...."

Nah, where do you get all this unbounded optimism from?
Not something new, but feels like gender suspicions may gain ground: https://www.insider.com/gender-test-d...

There also remains the stink of drugs cheats. I suspect the pandemic and lack of testing has increased those willing to risk it.

The Russian Olympic Committee was ever present back with Athletes deemed clean but not representing Russia of course - no connection whatsoever. Several had previously been banned but are now clean with the testing carried out by independent assessors in Russia.

Take Triathlon for example - (UK did well) only 2 world events have taken place this year and 50% of competitors did not take part in both.

The Belorussian athletes who suddenly could not take part in Games leading to the female athlete seeking asylum in Poland.

A host of Nigerians suddenly ineligible

Sorry - have my cynic head back on....

While I was mostly excited by Israel and Ukraine medalists' performances, impossible not to mention Djokovic crowning his remarkable tennis career with an Olympic gold and Lyles taking 100m with a microscopic edge