What you said about trampoline is kinda how I feel about rhythmic gymnastics, and artistic swimming. I’m sure it takes skill, coordination, athleticism, and thousands of hours of practice. It’s just that, for something which has such an artistic component, I just don’t see much creativity. Twirl ribbon, leap, throw ribbon, spin around, catch ribbon. Artistic swimming is look up, hold still, turn head, hold still… What I saw of breaking was somewhat the same. Competitive cheerleading, too. Skateboarding, now that I think of it. I don’t mean anything derogatory about the people who compete at these things, they just all have such a restrictive aesthetic that I only feel like watching five minutes and then I’ve seen it.
For those who don’t want to click on a blind link, it’s comedy sketch of a superhero who fights crime while race walking. You may recognize the lead actor.
Dang it! I thought I wouldn’t miss anything by not watching the men’s marathon. Apparently one guy quit at about mile 18, then walked and schmoozed the rest of the way. Anyone else watch the marathon and can give further info?
I wanted to see the Great Britain men’s (or women’s, for that matter) relay teams do an Abbey Road pose on the track.
I’m sorry; I’m not accepting that there won’t be breaking in Los Angeles in 2028. That’s like having the Olympics in Canada and taking curling off the schedule.
I think, but don’t quote me, that Barshim said at the time that sharing the medal meant both their names would be on the same line. Having one above the other just didn’t seem right.
As far as the Jordan Chiles medal dispute, all I know is that I felt really bad for Ana Barbour that night. Especially with her being Romanian, and I believe Nadia C. was in the audience. No opinion about what’s objectively fair, just that in this case, I don’t think the Romanians are being poor sports.
(On that note, DPK, I never said the Russians should have been excluded because of their attitude. But they do seem to have lit up the room by leaving it.)
One heckuva game for the women’s gold medal in basketball. USA prevails, barely. 67-66. USA made 4 clutch free throws in the last 12 seconds, and France hit a basket at the buzzer, but the shooter’s foot was on the line, so it was two points, rather than 3.
So, the IOC has ruled that Chiles must return her bronze medal which will be reallocated to Barbosu. I don’t fault the US team for challenging the initial score or the Romanians for challenging whether the appeal was filed timely, but the whole process seems pretty rickety.
US indoor volleyball women playing vs Italy to defend their gold medal from Tokyo… and get absolutely dismantled. Looked like a JV team vs varsity, frankly.
Table tennis is HUGE on a global level. But it’s more popular in the far east and subcontinent. It’s been China’s national sport since the 1950’s but is also huge in Japan, South Korea and India. Plus most people in the West must have played a few games in their lives.
A quote from the grand oratorio The Seasonings by P.D.Q Bach. I saw it performed once, several decades ago. Telemark got the reference within about ten minutes.
(For anyone who may not know, P.D.Q. Bach was a fictional son of J.S. Bach, the alleged composer of a long series of classical music parodies by Peter Schickele.)
Interestingly, boxing is out of the Olympics in 2028. Amateur boxing apparently doesn’t have a legitimate governing federation anymore, and the Olympics relies on international federations to set rules and control qualification criteria. I have a feeling it may never be back. The history of boxing at the Olympics has been spotty for as long as I can remember.
I personally am of the opinion that more sports is good. I’d be all for pretty much any sport that has
A coherent, capable and reasonably trustworthy international federation,
Criteria for victory that are not artistic or subjective, and
Sufficient following in enough countries per the IOC’s guidelines for summer and winter games,
To be in the Games. I have no idea why baseball goes in and out - it’s a weird thing to omit - or why sports like squash or cricket have such trouble getting in. Screw that. Put 'em all in. Karate? Of course. Ultimate Frisbee? Absolutely. Darts? Yes, please. Billiards? What are we waiting for?
As to my point #2, I am not saying subjectively judges sports CURRENTLY in should be omitted. There’s such tradition involved in stuff like gymnastics and diving now that it seems it’d be a shame to take them out.
I almost know nothing about baseball, but the only three countries I can name where it’s a big sport are of course the USA, Japan and Cuba. Worldwide is doesn’t have much followers AFAIK. Please correct me if I’m wrong. (American) football would make more sense.
Cricket, I can understand, because it’s popular in many former British colonies around the world.
In terms of what’s televised in the United States, I prefer seeing more of sports that aren’t normally televised here and less of sports (basketball, golf, tennis, etc) that is commonly televised. Show me stuff that I’m not going to see any given week on the usual channels here.
I think team sports that are heavily televised outside of the Olympics, like basketball, are still fun to include. This is the one chance to see players from different pro teams playing together in games that matter, or teammates in the regular season now playing on opposing teams.
But I could lose the individual sports like golf or tennis that already have major exposure and arguably bigger championships than the Olympics. We don’t really gain anything by seeing them in this environment.
Add Venezuela, Korea, Taiwan, Canada and the Dominican Republic to your list. I wonder how popular baseball is in China? I have seen lists claiming baseball is very popular in Mexico, but have some doubts.
For me, the most thrilling events are the ones that simply show what human beings are capable of. It’s incredible to me that we are seeing athletes run/swim/jump/throw faster or farther than anyone has in the entire history of our species.
My point is that baseball, basketball and the other sports can be seen anytime you want on American television, but handball, field hockey and various other sports cannot.