# Here is a thread about the 2016 Summer Olympics **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 6, 2016, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911 "2016-08-06T05:00:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/281 "2016-08-14T21:11:29Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Watching the “Two Guys Who Are Cyclists” event and wondering why they’re going, like, one mile an hour, for the first lap or so. It’s called a sprint. It even has tactics. But you’re correct, no Americans are involved. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/282 "2016-08-14T21:18:23Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > It even has tactics. Which might have been better explained by **Baron Greenback** , but thanks anyway. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffes_Can_t_Dance)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/283 "2016-08-14T21:29:58Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Yup, anti-Islamic sentiment is just a myth pushed by the Lamestream media. Anti-everything exists. Your tunnel-visioned narrative is sad. Americans aren’t out there twirling their mustaches, rooting against a fellow American due to her religion, while she participates in a niche sport that no one watches. Here, I can make a bunch of shit up, too: Anti-Christians were totally rooting against Simone Manuel. Your divisiveness is only trumped by your ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/284 "2016-08-14T21:31:15Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Which might have been better explained by **Baron Greenback** , but thanks anyway. 😉 The team sprint is the other variation, with four riders in each team. They go out hard, but they change order regularly to allow slipstreaming to give the other riders a bit of a “rest”. The person in front is putting a significant amount of extra effort in compared to the following riders. So basically you have the individual sprint where it’s up to the two riders to judge it themselves, the keirin where it’s effectively a flying start, and the team event where co-operation and disciplined riding is key. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/285 "2016-08-14T21:50:48Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The team sprint is the other variation, with four riders in each team. They go out hard, but they change order regularly to allow slipstreaming to give the other riders a bit of a “rest”. The person in front is putting a significant amount of extra effort in compared to the following riders. > > So basically you have the individual sprint where it’s up to the two riders to judge it themselves, the keirin where it’s effectively a flying start, and the team event where co-operation and disciplined riding is key. Interesting. Just reading up in w-pedia and apparently it began as a betting sport in Japan in '48, meanwhile I was thinking it was another one of those concieved-within-last-12-years Olympic sports. I wonder if you get neck problems if you start in the lead off position enough times.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/286 "2016-08-14T21:59:18Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Interesting. > Just reading up in w-pedia and apparently it began as a betting sport in Japan in '48, meanwhile I was thinking it was another one of those concieved-within-last-12-years Olympic sports. I wonder if you get neck problems if you start in the lead off position enough times.😛 Just don’t ask me to explain the points race. It used to be an event in it’s own right, but now is just a component of the omnium event. It’s simultaneously confusing as fuck and dramatically exciting. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/287 "2016-08-14T22:06:14Z")
> [@Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](#): > > I’m sure you can provide a list… Look at the comments section under any news story that showed her picture. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/288 "2016-08-14T22:11:04Z")
Andy Murray just to hang on in there - Del Potro is going to run out of steam soon … ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/289 "2016-08-14T22:32:50Z")
> [@Giraffes\_Can\_t\_Dance](#): > > Anti-everything exists. Your tunnel-visioned narrative is sad. Americans aren’t out there twirling their mustaches, rooting against a fellow American due to her religion, while she participates in a niche sport that no one watches. > > Here, I can make a bunch of shit up, too: Anti-Christians were totally rooting against Simone Manuel. > > Your divisiveness is only trumped by your ignorance. Wow, it’s like you’ve known me all my life. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/290 "2016-08-14T22:34:25Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Is that pertinent or important in any way? I think it would be the one event in the Olympics where it would be almost unoticeable. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/291 "2016-08-14T23:07:11Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Andy Murray just to hang on in there - Del Potro is going to run out of steam soon … And THAT was what I was wanting to see - meanwhile the six channels I have that are covering the Olympics are showing other stuff. Can’t find any streaming…☹ ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/292 "2016-08-15T00:04:44Z")
I found the crowd at the gymnastics arena extremely rude today. It’s one thing to cheer for your home athletes but it’s quite another to cheer when someone else falls or messes up. Very poor form. The amount of time spent trying to shut the crowd up at swimming events so they could start properly was also annoying. Not every sport is like a soccer match. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/293 "2016-08-15T01:13:34Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > I found the crowd at the gymnastics arena extremely rude today. It’s one thing to cheer for your home athletes but it’s quite another to cheer when someone else falls or messes up. Very poor form. Bothers the hell out of me too when that happens in tennis (most often in US Open and Davis Cup) where, late in the match, especially match point, the server (clearly not the favoured one) serves a first fault, and cheers crop up. I don’t know why that puts me into conniptions, and I always yak out in that low, overly official-sounding, English by default:p chair umpire voice (cupping my mouth) “shut the fuck up, please”… (not _quite_ Darth Vader-ish low, but close) So how demonstrably fucked up, depraved and drooling deranged is it of me to replay some of the women’s volleyball replays where they’re falling to the ground, limbs akimbo? (And if it turns out that everyone reading this has never tried that, my name is Morey Amsterdam!)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/294 "2016-08-15T01:38:43Z")
Are you sure that the crowd was cheering falls? I ask because I was watching gymnastics earlier this week and realizes that at least two events were going on at all times so like the background music and cheers had nothing to do with the balance beam while I was watching the USA on the beam, but it went with the floor exercise of someone else not on camera at the moment. Not sure if that was just for qualifying rounds or what. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/295 "2016-08-15T01:56:49Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Are you sure that the crowd was cheering falls? I ask because I was watching gymnastics earlier this week and realizes that at least two events were going on at all times so like the background music and cheers had nothing to do with the balance beam while I was watching the USA on the beam, but it went with the floor exercise of someone else not on camera at the moment. > > Not sure if that was just for qualifying rounds or what. I noticed this when I could see the other person performing in the background and it appeared directed at them. The announcers should point this out. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/296 "2016-08-15T02:07:43Z")
Just watched the men’s floor exercise medal round. Chizzuk is right, the crowd is cheering when the gymnasts mess up. There are no other events going on. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/297 "2016-08-15T02:36:15Z")
One of the women’s handball players for the Netherlands is named Groot. There’s no way that doesn’t get annoying at times. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/298 "2016-08-15T02:41:15Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > One of the women’s handball players for the Netherlands is named Groot. > > There’s no way that doesn’t get annoying at times. I’m sure that in the Netherlands she gets no trouble at all since it’s a common family name and also a common Dutch word meaning “big” or “tall.” And in most other countries I’m sure no one notices either. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/299 "2016-08-15T03:03:17Z")
One of the greatest individual performances in Olympic history, as Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa set a new World Record in the 400 Meter Run - [video here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEPNu6Yv2Yw). To begin with, the outside lane in this race (and in the 400 hurdles) is supremely difficult to run in - if they had a degree of difficulty ratings like in diving, this (followed closely by the inside lane) would be rated the highest. This is very much a tactical race, and it helps to have some of the competition in your sights as you run. Also, thus far, this track does not seem particularly fast, based upon the results up to this point - I could be wrong, but I don’t see many other world records being set in these games. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/300 "2016-08-15T03:09:02Z")
Mrs. SMV, otherwise know as the technical one, set us up with Amazon Prime, and downloaded the NBC app that shows the feed for every event, so I can finally stop bitching about only ever getting to see the events Americans dominate. So I’m enjoying sampling all the events beside swimming, gymnastics, track and basketball. And like others in this thread, I got totally hooked by rugby sevens. It’s violent, it’s fast, it has enough stops in play to be able to discern progress toward a goal - the lack of which being why I find continous flow games like soccer, basketball, and hockey boring. Best of all, it’s a perfect length. Last night, we watched three matches, including the gold medal Fiji v. Great Britain game, in less than the time it would take to watch one NFL game. Bring on the next World Cup - I want to see more of this game! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911.md?page=16)