He wasn’t terribly upset about not playing.
I saw that! That’s my boy. He cracks me up.
What happens if Chiles eventually loses all of her appeals and then says “No. You can’t have the medal back?” She’s 23 or 24 so it’s unlikely that she was going to compete in the 2028 Olympics.
She still has her team gold and the team silver from Tokyo. She will do what all other former gymnasts do which is usually turn to coaching or pursue another career.
Quick one before dinner. No rundown about the closing ceremony, as it’s turning out to be as uninteresting as I usually find them. That Tom Cruise stuff sounds majorly weird, though, so I’ll definitely be around for that. 
Toxylon - Yeah, well, when I have nothing but hearsay to go on, I don’t really have much of a choice, do I? Anyway, I read your article, and I’m seeing zero sense of regret, shame, or fear, which are the only ways I could possibly interpret “wouldn’t do it if they got the chance again”. In both instances I saw two great champions creating the perfect ending, and nothing that’s come down the pike since has given me any reason to chance my stance on this.
Gah. Getting that feeling again. Let’s talk about something else.
That_Don_Guy - Thanks for clarifying that. I don’t understand what you have against Mary Lou Retton, but it takes all kinds here. Personally, I’m perfectly fine with ignoring stupid rules so long as it’s not done selectively, which was the problem for a long time.
Debating hypotheticals gives me migraines, so all I’m going to add about MMA is that I hope we both have a chance to be proven wrong.
psychobunny - Agreed; narrowly missing out on a bronze is small potatoes at this point. I still think her coaches should fight this one to the bitter end…what’s there to lose?
I saw Celtics fans on the news in Boston complaining that the coach wasn’t playing Jayson Tatum. One said he should be fired; that was before the gold-medal game, and maybe before the semi-finals. I think some people don’t understand the concept of a team sport.
Just wait 'til I’m Empress of the World. I will require all countries with flags that are just three stripes of different colors, whether horizontal or vertical, to put a bit more effort into them.
Plunk a symbol down on them, make the stripes of significantly different widths, use more colors…anything. Just stop trying to make us remember that You’re Red-Orange-Yellow while They’re Red-Yellow-Orange.
NYT has sliced and diced the medal count, and has a criterion dropdown at the end. It seems there are numerous countries, including NZ, that our perform Australia on a per-capita basis:
This reminds me of two medal ceremony-based stories:
At the 1980 Winter Olympics, Hanni Wenzel won Liechtenstein’s first gold medal - and people were running around trying to figure out what Liechtenstein’s national anthem was. In fact, I think a famous composer offered to write one on the spot. It turns out that, at least at the time, it was, “God Save the Prince,” which I think is just “God Save the King/Queen” with lyrics in a different language.
At the 1994 Winter Olympics, at the ceremony for women’s figure skating, they had a problem finding the Ukranian national anthem, so the ceremony was delayed - and One Version Of The Story Is, silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan made some comment about the delay being caused by gold medalist Oksana Baiul having to put on makeup.
I don’t have anything against her. I am just pointing out that, if you don’t have time limits as to when you can challenge/appeal something, this is the sort of thing that can happen.
But they have to put a team on the field for the Olympics to be able to fill an event.
It just wouldn’t work. How do you construct a schedule when you need at least five or six days off between games?
Hence the flag version.
The version of Rugby they play is very different for the same reason with 7 on 7 with 7 minute halves, instead of 15 on 15 with 40 minutes halves.
They’re trying out cricket in 2028 and doing the fastest version, which has games of ~3 hours. The more traditional versions couldn’t possibly have a full tournament over two weeks.
Right; flag football will be played at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, as well as cricket, though not the test matches that last five days.
I know a lot of Americans are probably thinking the flag football will be a gimme, but I don’t see a lot of chance that NFL teams will let their players take part. Partly for injury risk but also because they’ll be gearing up for the regular season at that point. Just like the number of MLB players that take part will probably be limited.
It’s going to be an interesting tourney in both those cases.
Not kidding at all! I love darts. Great fun to watch, too. I’m not Olympic level, but I’ve won a lot more than I’ve lost, all while being a fat guy holding a beer. I once threw a T80 holding a baby.
I’d like to see the medals given out like swimming. Cricket, Cut-throat Cricket, 3 different games (straight, DO, DI/DO) of 301, 501, 701… team events of all the same.
Just think of the medal haul you can achieve! 
“I threw darts in the Olympics, and got 5 golds, 7 silvers and 4 bronze!”
Flag football is gaining in acceptance. This year my high school is fielding a Girl’s Flag team for the first time. Their first game is tomorrow, I believe.
“I had to put down my beer 3 times!”
Which would, in a perfect world, result in a penalty of loss of throw for whatever darts you have remaining in that round. It’s like declaring in cricket.
I remember watching the skateboarders at this or the previous Summer Games; at least one kid appeared to wearing earbuds so they could listen to tunes while competing.
So…our men’s gymnasts exceeded expectations. Our women’s gymnasts kept on rolling. Simone Biles made all the know-nothing nattering fools look even more foolish. Noah Lyles got a fortunate gold and an unfortunate bronze, which guarantees that absolutely nobody, least of all Lyles himself, is going to shut up for one second before the next Diamond League. Nina Kennedy and Katie Moon made another storybook ending, albeit with a slightly different result. Cole Hocker, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Josh Kerr make things really weird, proving that real competition is nothing like reality TV. Our basketball squads demonstrate again that, an inch or a mile, the medal has just as much gold (which is actually very little, but that’s another debate).
It was fun! More than anything, this shows why you want international sports extravaganzas in a place that’s allowed to be fun, free, and colorful. It makes for nicer stories, less pressure, more joy, better atmosphere, better scenery, better…EVERYTHING. The good news is that it looks like the IOC is finally wising up to this. No more Dear Leader, no more Glorious Revolution, no more righteous stand against the decadent immoral godless bourgeoise blah blah blah blah. Give me clear blue skies and greenery and phones you can watch movies on and clean bathrooms and skate parks and ergonomic skyscrapers and restaurant rows and video arcades (Yes, these still exist, dammit!) and drag queens dancing in the town square and snazzy electric cars and death metal, all the awesome stuff, all of it! I want Beijing to be the last mistake (and Sochi to be the last horrifying apocalyptic what-the-hell-was-anyone-thinking mistake). Let’s have cities that let the Olympiad be the Olympiad.
I only have one lingering concern. How many times is NBC (I don’t think they’re giving this up for a long time, and honestly I’m not convinced anyone else is any better…CBS, brrrrrr! 
) going to flog the medal count? We’ve led this every Olympiad starting from '96 (oh wow, once the Soviet machine is dead, we rule, what a coincidence). Since that time the only debate over whether we were the best was in '08 where China won more golds. (Remember? How every nation in the world besides the USA considered golds the sole ranking metric 
, which meant that we lost something or other?) Now the status quo is winning the medal count by a considerable margin, winning any weighted ranking you care to gin up (I still think 3-2-1 works best), and going neck and neck with China for golds. This time was no different, as we were actually dead even with China, and make of that what you will. We’re talking an entire generation that has never known anything but dominance with one teensy caveat, sometimes, and that’s unlikely to change in any of our lifetimes. Isn’t it time for some of the young’uns to say, you know what, there’s no contest on the national level, so let’s just enjoy the games for what they are? All the thrilling moments, all the wild finishes, all the twists and turns and comebacks and heartbreaks and triumphs and disappointments? I’d love to see that. I think it can happen.
Wrapping up: Beach volleyball players can wear whatever the hell they want. Imane Khelif is going to take a bunch of disgusting pigs to the cleaners and it’s going to be glorious. Opening ceremony one of the best ever, closing ceremony nothing spectacular but a nice bookend, I’d gladly buy a DVD of just those (if it an option to shut off the commentary, obviously). Sill think online pay-per-view is the only good way for viewers to get the content they want.
And I’m done! Now I’d better get started on those 145 remaining recordings. Good thing I don’t care about football anymore!
These games were almost in Boston. A local organizing committee put together a full proposal, and it was chosen as the official U.S. bid for 2024, but then there was significant opposition from citizens here and it was withdrawn. I think L.A. had also prepared a bid, which they then revised and was chosen for '28. Over the course of the Games, I wondered how they might have turned out in Boston.
As for the IOC, they’re kinda stuck with the bids that they get. A lot of cities have realized how expensive and disruptive the Olympics are, and are reluctant to bid. L.A. can do it because they have so many large venues already in place that can host events. I think track & field will be at the original Los Angeles Coliseum, and opening ceremonies and swimming at SoFi Stadium.
I remember ABC broadcasting them when I was young. Jim McKay was the main host, and he was great. I think NBC has had the rights since Seoul in '88.
Only because it was empty, My Friend.