Here is a thread about the 2016 Summer Olympics

[Reluctant_A]

@Terminus_Est

The Philippines rather unexpectedly won a silver medal in Women’s 53 kg Weightlifting. The Chinese frontrunner had already set a World Record in the snatch but inexplicably failed all three of her clean and jerk attempts. This moved everyone else up in the rankings - [del]Taiwan[/del]Chinese Taipei got gold, Philippines silver and South Korea bronze.

That was actually some pretty excellent gamesmanship by Shu-Ching Hsu of [del]Taiwan[/del] Chinese Taipei.

[That_Don_Guy]

@That_Don_Guy

Considering how many world records have been set in swimming, I can’t help but think that there’s going to be an announcement in the next week or two: “All world records set in swimming events at the 2016 Summer Olympics are erased, owing to the fact that a remeasurement of the pool revealed that it is, in fact, only 50 yards (45.72m) long.”

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For example, the men’s 100 freestyle minimum qualifying time is normally 50.70 seconds, but it includes swimmers from Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, and Nepal, none of whom were under 58 seconds in the qualifying period.

Two of them swam their heats in under 53 seconds. Maybe they do need to remeasure that pool…

[Baron_Greenback]

The mens rugby 7s today has been really great, particularly the Japan vs NZ game. Pro-watch for anyone who can get it on catch-up.

[YogSothoth]

Is there an official app for following and watching the games? The Google play store has a lot of free apps that are named “Rio 2016” in some form, but I don’t want some 3rd party one, I want the official one

[chizzuk]

@That_Don_Guy

Diving - and, for that matter, swimming, and track & field - does have a standard that every athlete needs to meet in a qualifying period in order to be eligible.

Well, that’s not entirely true; in both swimming and track & field, any country that does not qualify anybody of a particular gender in any event is allowed to enter one athlete of that gender in one event. Almost always, it’s the 100m in track & field and the 50m freestyle in swimming, although some countries enter the 100 free instead, and I vaguely recall a story about a country that used its “free entry” to include some high ranking official’s brother in something like the marathon.

For example, the men’s 100 freestyle minimum qualifying time is normally 50.70 seconds, but it includes swimmers from Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, and Nepal, none of whom were under 58 seconds in the qualifying period. Usually, they are ignored unless there’s a story involved (I think in Beijing, one of the “free” qualifiers ended up being the only person in his heat when the other two false started; it turns out that he had to train in a hotel pool that’s only about 20m long as it’s pretty much the only pool in the entire country); I have a feeling the only mention this year will be the swimmer from the Refugee Team (there is one in the women’s 100 freestyle as well), whose best time is 55.59.

For the synchronized diving, the commentators noted yesterday that the host country automatically sends a pair to the final, whereas everybody else has to do a qualifier earlier in the year. They were doing this to explain why the Brazilian divers were soooo much worse than everybody else and why the viewer should expect nothing.

Though in London, the automatically-qualified inferior men’s springboard pair finished 5th, which had to be a significant embarrassment for the 3 countries below them.

[Baron_Greenback]

@chizzuk

For the synchronized diving, the commentators noted yesterday that the host country automatically sends a pair to the final, whereas everybody else has to do a qualifier earlier in the year. They were doing this to explain why the Brazilian divers were soooo much worse than everybody else and why the viewer should expect nothing.

The host country gets to enter every event without qualification.

Though in London, the automatically-qualified inferior men’s springboard pair finished 5th, which had to be a significant embarrassment for the 3 countries below them.

They had competed as divers in previous Olympics/Worlds. They weren’t complete noobs. The Team GB handball teams, on the other hand…

[That_Don_Guy]

@Baron_Greenback

The host country gets to enter every event without qualification.

Sort of. Some sports only give a certain number of places to the host country. For example, Brazil was given only five automatic places in the 12 boxing weight classes (it managed to earn four more through the normal process), and seven (five men and two women) in weightlifting, short of the maximum 6 men and 4 women per country allowed.

But there will always be a number of instances where the host country’s performance in an event will bring up the question of whether allowing the hosts to be in every event is a good thing - 1996 (and 1984) USA men’s field hockey comes to mind.

[EllisDee]

@chizzuk

American diver Troy Dumais qualified for four Olympics and only won one career medal in the very last one, a bronze in the 2012 men’s 3m springboard synchro.

Excellent example, thanks much.

@mhendo

That’s some sterling logic you’ve got going on there.

“The absolute best person we’ve got couldn’t manage a medal last time around, so this time why don’t we send our second-best person and see if they do any better?”

Genius!

Clearly my point was far too subtle for you. It was a commentary on how easy it is as an American to get spoiled by the plethora of medals.

[Reluctant_A]

http://www.wthr.com/article/kravitz-ius-lilly-king-talks-big-wins-gold-and-emerges-as-americas-bad
I kinda hope that Efimova was sitting right next to King, during this press conference.

[Baron_Greenback]

@That_Don_Guy

Sort of. Some sports only give a certain number of places to the host country. For example, Brazil was given only five automatic places in the 12 boxing weight classes (it managed to earn four more through the normal process), and seven (five men and two women) in weightlifting, short of the maximum 6 men and 4 women per country allowed.

Yes, you’re quite right. Every event, but not necessarily every subdivision thereof.

[Gatopescado]

@Robot_Arm

How do you know if you don’t care about rugby and table tennis until you’ve tried watching them?

Some things you just know.

[mhendo]

@EllisDee

Clearly my point was far too subtle for you. It was a commentary on how easy it is as an American to get spoiled by the plethora of medals.

Subtle? Don’t flatter yourself.

Problem is, with too many American sports fans, there’s a sort of Poe’s law in effect, where you can never really be sure whether those sorts of complaints are ironic or genuine. And this is especially true around Olympics time, when the national masturbation, abetted by NBC hero-porn, reaches peak orgasm.

[Rysto]

The Canadian Women’s Soccer team goes 3-0 in the group stage. Pinch me. Of course, their reward is a likely quarterfinal match against France. I’d accuse Germany of throwing the game to get an easier quarterfinal against China or Sweden, except that I’m pretty sure that puts them in the US’s side of the bracket.

[borschevsky]

Canada gets (probably) France (Group G #2), and Germany gets China or Sweden (Group E #2). And they’re on the same side of the bracket, so Canada-Germany could be a semifinal, and they both avoid the US until the final.

The bracket is a bit weird, but producing 8 quarterfinal teams from 3 groups can’t really be done cleanly.

[wolfman]

And the Olympics somehow manage to screw up a pool of water.

'I've never dived in anything like it' - Olympic pool turns green

[Rysto]

That is unfortunate. It kind of feels like Canada should have the choice of quarterfinal opponents from the second place finishers from the other two groups. Germany shouldn’t be rewarded for blowing the group (although in fairness, Canada rested three critical players today, so one suspects they weren’t entirely interested in winning either).

[borschevsky]

Yes, it doesn’t really seem fair; there was no way for Canada to draw a #3 team in the quarterfinals. Their path forward is probably France, Germany, USA, so if they win the thing they’ll sure have earned it.

[TonySinclair]

@Rysto

Germany shouldn’t be rewarded for blowing the group

Care to rephrase that?

[Rysto]

@TonySinclair

Care to rephrase that?

Germany shouldn’t be rewarded for sucking? Wait, no, that’s still no good.

[Shagnasty]

@TonySinclair

The gymnastics just makes my jaw drop. Anybody who hasn’t tried apparatus like the rings or the pommel horse has no idea how hard they are — I’d guess 90% of people wouldn’t be able to do a single required move on them, even allowing for terrible form. And yet, the Olympic-caliber gymnasts make it look so easy.

It is extremely difficult. My youngest daughter is a very good competitive gymnast (consistently ranked at #1 or 2 in Massachusetts at her level) currently competing at USGA level 3 and it is amazing what she can do but she trains for at least 15 hours every week and none of it is messing around.

Her coach is the former coach of Aly Raisman who is part of this Olympics Fierce Five team and won Gold in London in 2012.

Women’s gymnastics is a brutal sport though and is not cheap by any stretch. I let her decide how far she wants to take it but I have already explained to her that they all get hurt and sometimes badly. Her coach says she is currently on track to be a real Olympic contender in 2024 if she stays on her current path but I am not sure if I want any of us to go through that. Time will tell.

I am very happy for the Women’s USA gymnastics team this Olympics. They are among the best ever and deserve every one of their wins. That is close to a blowout as you can get in that sport.