Trampoline: I don’t have anything in particular against this, but I find it unusual and a bit regrettable that it’s strictly its own thing instead of another gymnastics discipline. It just doesn’t strike me as grand, complex, or, very importantly, lengthy enough to be its own thing. Soar, flip, twist, fight to stay centered, you seen one routine, you’ve seen, if not them all, at least a sizable majority. It has no presence in either the World Championships or the NCAA, meaning that this is pretty much it for its practitioners. I actually have the same big question as for American Ninja Warrior: How you decide this is what you dedicate your prime athletic years to? Maybe if there was also a team variant, this would get more respect.
Rhythmic gymnastics: This is one of those events, much like artistic swimming, where I don’t give a damn what the scores are or who gets the gold. Beauty. Grace. Elegance. Coordination. Flow. Precision. Energy. This is good. Give it to me. Give me more. (Go Evita Griskenas! 
)
Table tennis: I think the main reason this isn’t big on a global level is that it doesn’t reward the kind of physical skills that more mainstream sports do. Having tremendous upper body strength, blazing footspeed, work-all-day stamina, a soaring vertical leap, or pinpoint balance won’t help you here. It’s all about lightning reactions, laserlike precision, and making adjustments in an eyeblink. And there is no respite; you have to go full-bore pedal to the metal from beginning to end or get wiped. It should come as no surprise that China dominates here; they always seem to rule these “nontraditional jock” events. I watch strictly for the “Wow, they can actually DO that!” factor and have no rooting interest.
As for racewalking, I’ve said my piece on that.
So we’re on top of the medal standings and no one can catch us? Great! It took a while, but we were finally able to overcome the seemingly endless corruption of the IOC! We beat the machine! Now we can do away with this ego-stroking entirely and focus on the achievements of individual athletes, like we should…oh, come on, really? Now instead of counting medals, NBC, ESPN, and FS1, and even Pat McAfee are tallying (using fonts normally associated with global-war-breaks-out headlines) the GOOHHHUULLDDDZZZ, of which we’re predictably neck and neck with China. There is a lot of VERY SERIOUS REPORTING about who’s ahead at any given time. This… 
I… 
Seriously… 
Why? Freaking why? Is our sports media just completely full of self-loathing or something? We proved we’re the greatest in London! We reached the top of the mountain! We DID IT! The final barrier had fallen! I mentioned in no uncertain terms (Here! And here!) that all the scum-flecked little nattering putzes dangling that “yeah but” of China always out-golding us in front of our faces could now shove it five meters up their yeah buts. Forever. We were free, dammit. We could finally stop obsessing over medal counts and rivalries and just have fun now! The worst part is if China prevails, the networks are going to bemoan this as a devastating failure, whereas if we prevail, that only maintains the status quo. Remember that “what case would you have picked” psychological abuse bullcrap on Deal or No Deal? Can you figure out why I’m getting nasty flashbacks to that now? 
On the subject of sportsmanship, well, of course I categorically reject all false dichotomies, but if the choice is between excessively touchy-feely-kissy you-were-great-ism and trash talk, taunting, cheap shots, and generally disgusting behavior, give me the former every time. I’ve seen a lot of bumps and falls in the track, more than any previous Olympiad, and the fact that there was trash talking in a beach volleyball gold medal match was, frankly, disturbing. (Also, as a matter of basic decency, I think that any commentator who frigging MAKES A PUN 
or SINGS 
[also ] on the air should be immediately yanked and suspended without pay for at least six months.) I want to feel good about the sports I watch, and camaraderie, cheer, and affection help a lot with that.
Railer 13 - I put the link in post #389 if you want to see it again. This, more than anything else, is what I utterly loathe about modern discourse, the notion that all opinions are equally valid, therefore we must give our full attention to every furious half-coherent brain dropping from every grunting troglodyte on social media and dutifully report this spewage on every program on every news channel without the tiniest criticism. 
(Did I mention that every single thing they’ve claimed about the Imane Khelif case, including the IBA not being a Russian puppet with roughly as much legitimacy as the Fyre Festival, is completely false?) Personally, I think that not only did they made the right decision, it was a no brainer. High jump, along with pole vault, is the most fatiguing field event of all, so the longer it went on the greater the risk of injury was, they were both fine with ending it there, and it was a chance to make history. The only reason to continue was to deny the other the gold, which was a complete non-starter (especially since they were good buddies). Way I see it, if a bunch of semi-intelligent windbags who couldn’t jump over a speed bump had a beef, they’re perfectly free to turn off the damn TV and touch grass. Swear to Marisa, at this rate these slugs are going to be screaming bloody murder about draws in chess, if they aren’t already.
You don’t think it should be an option. I don’t think boxers should be allowed to spend half the fight playing catch-and-release. Life’s full of disappointments. 
(Anything weird happen during the men’s basketball medal ceremony? It looked harmless enough, but I had it on mute so I don’t know for sure.)