# 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:** 7
**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 10, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/121 "2016-08-10T17:55:46Z")
> [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > Nitpick: they have christened themselves “The Final Five.” 😉 > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Kind of a slap in the face to the 2020 team, isn’t it? > [@Novalyne](#): > > I read somewhere that it’s because starting in 2020, the teams will be reduced to 4 instead of 5. They are also the final team under the Karolyi coaches - their coach is Marta who took over for her husband Bella. So it’s a tribute to her, but it also works with the new numbering system, which I think is why the girls are so proud of the name. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/122 "2016-08-10T17:56:54Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > Really pleased Spartacus is going to sign off his career with Olympic Gold in the Cycling Time Trial. I guess you’re “supposed” to support your own countrymen in this but more pleased that he won than if Thomas or Froome had done it. I was rooting for Dumoulin, but silver with a broken arm is pretty good and it’s impossible to begrudge Fabian going out on top. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/123 "2016-08-10T17:59:56Z")
> [@Novalyne](#): > > I read somewhere that it’s because starting in 2020, the teams will be reduced to 4 instead of 5. The team said last night talking to Bob Costas that it was because of this along with the fact that it’s the last Olympics for their coach. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/124 "2016-08-10T18:02:23Z")
> [@Novalyne](#): > > I read somewhere that it’s because starting in 2020, the teams will be reduced to 4 instead of 5. The nickname is twofold - future Olympics will have 4 team members - this is the last team that Márta Károlyi will coach ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/125 "2016-08-10T18:12:21Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I wonder if he’d be able to quickly remember all of his medals, if asked. Many countries participating this year haven’t ever won that many medals. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > [USA TODAY](https://www.google.com/amp/ftw.usatoday.com/2016/08/michael-phelps-more-olympic-medals-than-91-countries/amp?client=safari) is reporting that Michael Phelps has brought home more Olympic medals than 91 countries – and more _gold_ medals than 108. [If Michael Phelps were a country, he would be 39th on all-time Olympics gold medal table](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/10/michael-phelps-country-would-be-39th-all-time-olympics-gold-medal-table) ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/126 "2016-08-10T18:15:46Z")
Why the reduction in gymnastics from teams of 5 to teams of 4? To reduce American dominance? ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/127 "2016-08-10T18:18:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes, anyone who was on the relay team, even during the prelims, will receive a medal. There can be up to six swimmers on a relay team, I’m not sure the reasoning behind that rule though. The same in track and field. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/128 "2016-08-10T18:51:52Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > I think Lilly King is insufferable and self-righteous and smug. There’s more than a little bit of me that wanted to see Efimova beat her in the pool. Sure, there is cheating and doping an politics in sports, but King doesn’t need to go out of her way to be an ass about it. I realize that many top-tier athletes have huge egos, but King goes overboard. > > Yeah, I know, I have a minority opinion on this issue. See, I think that Lilly King is insufferable and self righteous and smug… and _ **I love it** _, and I wish that more athletes were like her! Miss me with all of that “sportsmanship” and fake “humility”: I am not here for any of that. I want _more_ ego and _more_ bravado from my elite athletes! I want to see Katie Ledecky break the world record, and then cut a fifteen-minute pro-wrasslin’ style promo on everybody that was in the pool with her. I want to see Usain Bolt be so dominant in the 100m that he’s stuntin’ on the competition for the [last twenty meters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYHuylQcF8o)! Yessir, I’ll take some more of that, please and thank you. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/129 "2016-08-10T18:58:06Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Why the reduction in gymnastics from teams of 5 to teams of 4? To reduce American dominance? Not entirely sure, but I think it’s more to get rid of having too many “event specialists”, since, under the new rules, all four teammates will have to compete on every apparatus (with the low score on each being thrown out, like they currently do in the qualifying round). > [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > I want to see Usain Bolt be so dominant in the 100m that he’s stuntin’ on the competition for the [last twenty meters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYHuylQcF8o)! I don’t, but not because it’s unsportsmanlike (he can save it for after he crosses the line); every hundredth of a second during the race that he’s stuntin’ is a hundredth by which he didn’t lower the world record. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/130 "2016-08-10T19:43:05Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I don’t, but not because it’s unsportsmanlike (he can save it for after he crosses the line); every hundredth of a second during the race that he’s stuntin’ is a hundredth by which he didn’t lower the world record. Fair enough. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/131 "2016-08-10T19:50:08Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I don’t, but not because it’s unsportsmanlike (he can save it for after he crosses the line); every hundredth of a second during the race that he’s stuntin’ is a hundredth by which he didn’t lower the world record. I’m now imagining Bolt running backwards while taunting the other sprinters during the race, and then getting the gold medal placed around his neck, and then loping back to the track to break the world record just to show how much faster he could’ve gone. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/132 "2016-08-10T20:31:54Z")
Well, there’s a surprise–US gets a silver medal in the men’s 3m synchro diving. And they didn’t finish behind China, but Great Britain. FINA has some questions to answer, though, about why Mexico was not allowed a re-dive when the pool lights suddenly came on at a distracting time, when Tom Daley was given a re-dive in 2012 for being distracted by flash photography. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/133 "2016-08-10T21:38:15Z")
This isn’t worth a full thread and poll, but am I odd for being a straight male who prefers to watch men’s gymnastics over women’s? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/134 "2016-08-10T23:17:50Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > Really pleased Spartacus is going to sign off his career with Olympic Gold in the Cycling Time Trial. I guess you’re “supposed” to support your own countrymen in this but more pleased that he won than if Thomas or Froome had done it. This. So pleased to see this when I woke up. A fantastic way for an absolute legend to end their career. Of course I would have loved to see Rohan Dennis win or medal but actually given that he has plenty of years left, I’m actually happier to see it go to Cancellara. > [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Wouldn’t have medalled at all today but for Dennis’s snapped tribar - his mechanic needs a clip round the ear with a torque-wrench. Might be a bit unfair. If it had come loose, I’d agree. But the mechanics don’t design the parts. And if that type of bar had never broken or flexed and had no signs of fatigue, what’s the mechanic supposed to do? ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/135 "2016-08-10T23:29:06Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > Here in Finland we have everything categorized by sports or by time/day available at a streaming service provided by the state for free, 3250 hours total over the course of the games. A lot of this stuff isn’t broadcast over TV at all (we don’t have that many TV channels), it’s only available there. I could complain about is that they are running out of A-list commentators for the less popular sports but that’s not that big a deal. > > Do the other state-funded broadcasting companies do something like this as well? Canada has awesome Olympic coverage. On our state-funded channel (CBC) they show 18 hours (yes 18!) a day of Olympic content. They are also showing Olympic events on 3 other “Sporting” channels (which are paid “cable” channels). I remember reading in past Olympics, many Americans living within a few miles of the Canadian border were watching CBC OTA (Over The Air) because the Olympic coverage was so much better than NBC. The Canadian coverage while mainly focused on Canada they also do all kinds of human interest stories on athletes from other countries and I think try to show every heat from every event (whether a Canadian is participating or not) live! MtM ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/136 "2016-08-11T00:03:35Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > This isn’t worth a full thread and poll, but am I odd for being a straight male who prefers to watch men’s gymnastics over women’s? I am legally prohibited from answering that question since they caught me sniffing the balance beam. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/137 "2016-08-11T00:19:20Z")
Ok, an extremely important question : why are the women beach volleyball players wearing shirts? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/138 "2016-08-11T01:15:16Z")
Actually, I do have a question: Since some people may not understand the significance of the hideous purple circles all over Michael Phelps and other athletes, is it OK if they just eliminate all confusion and take a magic marker and write, “I’m an idiot who believes in pseudo-scientific bullshit” on their chest? ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/139 "2016-08-11T03:14:28Z")
I feel like the only thing you can do if you’re swimming against Katie Ledecky is hope that she catches a cramp in the water. ---
**Author:** ![Yersenia\_Pestis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e495f1/32.png) [@Yersenia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersenia_Pestis)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911/140 "2016-08-11T03:37:30Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Ok, an extremely important question : why are the women beach volleyball players wearing shirts? Because it was rainy and “cold” (for rio standards), it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere right now… Yup, NBC’s coverage sucks - show the dang events live (and replay them later if you want) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/here-is-a-thread-about-the-2016-summer-olympics/761911.md?page=8)