Amazing athlete, competing in 8 Olympics, and being competitive in Gymnastics! at age 46.
Obviously, they don’t pick these people out of a hat. The ones you named and others are well-known because they’ve done well in the past, so of course people will be following their performances. Looking at the medal tables so far, it looks like a bunch of countries have won at least one gold medal and that’s a great thing.
If I am reading the rules right, breakdancing is competed in head-to-head “battles,” the way, say, boxing or tennis are. Each judge has what is, in effect, a gaming controller with six left/right sliders to decide which dancer(s) does better, and by how much, in six categories: technique, performativity (composition, emotion, and "the element of surprise), creativity, variety, musicality, and personality. The first three count 50% more than the second three. Think of it as a boxing match; each judge’s scores are calculated to determine who that judge determines “wins” the battle, and a majority of judges wins the battle and advances to the next round.
The problem with “judging the exhibition” is, you are going to get into some major arguments over “who won,” especially if you have to rank multiple skaters at once. An example of this is the 1992 Olympic ice dancing competition (“yes, kids, there was a time when winter olympics were in the same years as summer olympics - the Miracle on Ice was in 1980, not 1978 or 1982”); Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean did a routine that wasn’t “traditional” ice dancing (think ballroom dancing on ice), and while the crowd loved it, just enough of the “traditional” judges didn’t.
One judge’s 98 is going to be another’s 73.
“How about if each judge ranks the skaters 1, 2, 3, and so on, and you go from there?” That’s how figure skating worked before, what, 2006? In order to prevent a judge from ranking a “rival country’s” skater last and having too much of an effect, what they did was, rank the skaters by the judges’ “median rank” (i.e. sort each skater’s ranks from lowest to highest and take the one in the middle). One problem with this was, it was common for skaters A and B to skate, and B be ahead of A (say, 5 judges to 4), but then C skates, and A ends up the winner (because one of the judges that had B ahead of A had C ahead of B, and one or two that had A ahead of B put C between the two - this nearly happened in 1994).
The US was already looking wobbly coming into the tournament. They could have won the game but slumped terribly in the closing minutes. Give credit to France for not folding, though. I won’t offer up any lame excuses if they lose, but from what little I’ve seen so far it doesn’t seem like they have the same level of leadership and chemistry as they’ve had in the past, and I’m guessing the absence of Lebron and/or Kobe is a factor. Yes, Durant and Lillard are outstanding players but I don’t think they’ve got the same killer mentality and fear of looking bad on a global stage that Bryant and James had.
She is just a phenomenal athlete and competitor so you know it must hurt pretty bad. I hope she doesn’t feel obligated to risk potentially career-ending injury by rushing back.
“Skateboarding is hip and cool! Look how hip and cool the Olympics are! Hey, kids, stop ticky-tacking and youth-tubing and watch the Olympics! It’s hip and cool!” – as imagined by NBC execs.
I wasn’t too impressed by the skate-boarding, but it’s more exciting than swimming. I quickly get bored by all the swims using sub-optimal techniques.
I love the new street basketball. Finally the version of basketball that most people who play basketball actually play.
I’m with you on that. Why so many swim events?! Olympic paint drying, but with four colors to choose from. (plus relays and medleys and relay-medleys!)
Agree on that! The 3x3 Basketball is a keeper.
USA Women’s Soccer V. Australia
What the actual fuck was that??? It seemed like neither team made the slightest effort to even move the ball! The commentators went on and on about how ‘lack-luster’ the second half was, and if I understood correctly (not a given at all), they were both content with a 0-0 tie and move on.
What the Fuck??? You make it to the M-F’ing OLYMPICS, and don’t give it your all, or at least a decent try???
Can someone who follows this sport and knows what the hell they are talking about (I clearly do not!) explain this farce that I sat through for an hour and a half? Hell, I saw better soccer games when I had to ref for my kid’s games 10 years ago.
Haven’t seen that game, but your description reminded of the me “Disgrace of Gijon”, which I have seen.
Yes, these kinds of situations can happen in a football tournament, that a draw or a low scoring win can get both teams to the next round. It’s always a character test for the involved teams, and sometimes they fail it, like Germany and Austria did in 1982. Hadn’t expected it from the US women’s team in 2021, though.
Yeah, it sounds like Sweden had already clinched first, so there was no way for the US team to move up. A tie clinched 2nd place.
hah! I’m stealing that.
I’ve never understood the necessity of so many different styles. How fast can you cover a set distance in water unaided? That’s all that matters. Michael Phelps’s medal tally is grossly inflated over someone like Carl Lewis.
And the tie also meant Australia would advance. Had either team lost, they would have been vulnerable to being eliminated had either Zambia or China managed to win their last match.
Biles out with mental/emotional problems, not an injury. Huh.
Agree–seems like a PR release.
Hints that she might not compete in the all around.
Look, it 4 years, she will be forgotten and there will be a some fresh “new young thing” for the media to promote so that they can sell soap, or crappy Marvel Comic movies, cars, or the f’ing Peacock channel.
If she wants to sit out–she is allowed.
I think someone on US Gymnastics needs to be indicted for allowing the stuff to go on.
Another topic, tho’.
Yeah I have to say what I’m reading about Biles…isn’t giving me good vibes about her.
This link is to a live thread so may not remain static: Simone Biles withdraws from Olympic gymnastics team final; USA takes silver - The Washington Post
In like 99.5% of situations in life if someone said they needed a “mental health day” I’d be pretty understanding. Middle of team competition at the Olympics? I dunno, I feel like you need to push through that. One factor is that people work their entire lives up to this point to get a spot at the Olympics, your spot is one a thousand other athletes would do anything to have gotten, you have some level of responsibility I think to respect that.
What makes it even harder for me to fully understand is the article I linked suggested she was having these mental health concerns weeks ago…I feel like…alright then, you bow out and let whoever is going to have to fill your spot in the team competition mentally prepare for trying to fill your shoes (which they won’t be able to do, but they probably have a better chance if they’re psychologically prepped for it.)
Just bouncing out middle of team competitions I think is a mark against her career, and not one likely to be viewed favorably with time, it’s almost oppositional to the sort of things famous athletes are usually celebrated for (overcoming adversity.)
And of course, she’s being criticized for this. Sorry, but if she feels that continuing to compete is not the right thing for her, she needs to honor that gut feeling.
As far as I have seen she is still competing in the individual competition which are on Thursday
She left after a messed up vault attempt, went with a medic then came back and scratched her name from the rest of the team competion.
So who knows what’s going on .
This makes sense…if it’s an individual competition. However, this was the team final, where everybody’s score counts. I am assuming Biles realized she was having an “off night” and whichever teammate was left of each of the remaining apparutses would score higher than she would.
Imagine if she had decided to try to “fight through it,” done poorly in the other three routines, and USA ended up losing by 0.1 as a result; don’t you think the internet would be filled with “Biles cost USA the gold by thinking only of herself rather than stepping aside for the team’s greater good” comments?
This is a tough one for me, because I think it’s a more complicated situation than a few snappy sentences can easily capture. First: Simone Biles has every right to prioritize her own mental health over this or any competition. If she is suffering from a serious mental health issue that is worsened by participating in the Olympics, then withdrawing from the Olympics was unequivocally the right move.
That said, there is some space between a medical condition (which an anxiety or panic disorder definitely is), and “I wasn’t doing well so I quit to make sure my reputation remains unblemished,” and it’s not clear to me at the moment (and probably never will be clear) where this fell.
There’s another wrinkle, too, which is that Biles withdrew from the team competition, rather than the individual, and seems to be hinting that she in fact plans to participate in the individual. If she does this, I think it will feel icky – basically denying her teammates her help earning team gold medals but forcing them to complete against her for the individual ones. She has leaned into the “greatest of all time” label a bit, and has drawn the lions share of the attention and accolades in the run-up to the Olympics; it’s difficult to put into words why this combination of factors would bother me if I were one of her teammates, but it would.