# 2024 Summer Olympics Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** olympic-sports-track\ **Created:** [July 10, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019 "2024-07-10T20:21:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/561 "2024-08-07T19:01:09Z")
> [@Jegpeg](#): > > Pacesetters have been going on for a long time but not in olympic finals. Here’s a really interesting (to me, anyway) article on rabbits/pacesetters. [Run Rabbit Run (Then Get Out of the Way) | Runner’s World (runnersworld.com)](https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a20806159/pace-setters-for-elite-runners/) ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/562 "2024-08-07T19:24:02Z")
Another great finish in a just-concluded race, the 400 meter final. Watch the replay when you can! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/563 "2024-08-07T19:28:02Z")
Agreed. Man, what a series of races we are getting this year. This one was all will-power and screaming strength. I can’t believe it. Impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/564 "2024-08-07T19:34:43Z")
I definitely didn’t see that finish coming, talk about just grinding through a win. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/565 "2024-08-07T19:39:17Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I definitely didn’t see that finish coming Me neither. I figured he had no shot at winning and was just trying to get a medal. ---
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/566 "2024-08-07T19:39:25Z")
Yeah the Americans keep coming from behind and stealing the British gold medals 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/567 "2024-08-07T19:54:18Z")
Damn that 2/3 fight in steeplechase! Two guys with absolutely no legs left, and yet… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/568 "2024-08-07T19:55:12Z")
The men’s steeplechase was great. Very exciting and I’m hardly a big sports fan. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/569 "2024-08-07T19:58:25Z")
El Bakkali picks up speed and smiles for the camera, while Rooks and Kibiwot behind him simply cannot push any harder, and look like it. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/570 "2024-08-07T20:16:35Z")
What a track and field meet the US are having. It’s like 80s/90s levels of dominance! ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/571 "2024-08-07T20:19:37Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > How much does anyone other than a few brie-for-brains on Twitter give a cuss about the US/Australia “rivalry”? It smells **entirely** like some phoney-baloney fluff NBC ginned up out of whole cloth. This rivalry is real and has been going on for decades. Famously, in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, in the 400m relay, the Americans said they would “smash the Australians like guitars”. The Aussies won, and played air guitar to taunt the Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/572 "2024-08-07T21:10:10Z")
American women win again in basketball. That’s 59 games in a row. Final score was 88-74, but it wasn’t that close. A stupid incident right at the end of the game led to a technical on an American player. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/573 "2024-08-07T21:20:26Z")
I never really associated hammer throwing with Canadian acumen. But why not? ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/574 "2024-08-07T21:36:58Z")
Double Olympic Champions, both fully expected to win, tells me Canada is a hammer-throwing nation. Maybe it’s a recentish development - Rogers and Katzberg are both young, as far as throwers go. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/575 "2024-08-07T21:38:56Z")
I mean, aren’t a third of the men lumberjacks? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/576 "2024-08-07T21:52:03Z")
Do lumberjacks throw hammers to fell trees? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/577 "2024-08-07T22:42:42Z")
Just saw that the 3x3 basketball venue is being torn down and rebuilt for the breakdancing competition. Can’t wait. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/578 "2024-08-07T23:02:01Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > It’s uncanny, having never seen a pole vaulter that didn’t have absolutely perfect posture, and then the scrawny guy with a hunch beats them all. Most pole vaulters look like greek gods with the massive strength in their upper bodies - Duplantis looks like the weedy kid they all bullied in high school. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/579 "2024-08-08T00:14:26Z")
US men lose a heartbreaker to Poland in (indoor) volleyball, will play for the bronze… they were up 2 sets to 1 (best of 5), had chances to win the 4th. Then in the 5th (play to 15) were down 14-10, won three straight points to make it 14-13 before losing. In women’s soccer, the clocks have been turned back. Forget everything you have heard (and observed in the most recent Women’s World Cup) about how the Europeans have caught and exceeded the Americans. It’s USA vs Brazil in the final… a return to a bitter rivalry from about 12 years ago, back when the Brazilian star was Marta. Of course, there’s now way that she’s still playing at age 38. Right? _Right?_ ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019/580 "2024-08-08T02:35:49Z")
Whatever the rivalry, Australia’s sporting accomplishments must be appreciated considering their population. It’s really amazing how many world class athletes they produce in so many sports. The US and China may have more golds, but definitely not on a per-capita basis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2024-summer-olympics-thread/1004019.md?page=30)