The Summer Games of the XXXII Olympiad

[Adelle Dazeem]

The US Gymnastics team has pretty much been promoted as "Simone Biles (the GOAT) and some other people."

I think they have a lot of promoting Suni Lee - especially with the story about her father and his accident. They have done a fair amount on Jordan Chiles. If I hear one more time that she is named after Michael Jordan and how she almost quit the sport but then decided to move and train with Simone and now they are best buddies, etc., I am going to scream. The only one they really don't talk about is Grace McCallum.

 

[dvcgirl67]

No one is forcing you to watch. No one is forcing any athlete to be there and compete. I feel it would have been worse to cancel. Think of all of the athletes that would never make it to "their" Olympics. It would have been a devastating blow.

Right…I’ve only seen clips here and there…and it just seems sad. Of course I feel for the athletes. I feel badly for all involved.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

These Olympics are ridiculous. So many stupid things have happened so many stupid decisions. I refuse to watch this year.

 

[PezRuth]

These Olympics are ridiculous. So many stupid things have happened so many stupid decisions. I refuse to watch this year.

I am curious. What do you think the stupid decisions are? Just curious.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

Right…I’ve only seen clips here and there…and it just seems sad. Of course I feel for the athletes. I feel badly for all involved.

Is this an ideal situation? Of course not. Would everyone rather there were fans in the stands cheering and higher participation? Ummmm....duh. Sometimes you just have to deal with what the world gives you and I think Japan is doing a very good job with the parameters they have to work with. As I said, if you don't "agree' with the games going forward, stop watching.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

These Olympics are ridiculous. So many stupid things have happened so many stupid decisions. I refuse to watch this year.

Yes - do tell of all of these "stupid decisions". I'm sure the athletes and organizers who have worked their asses off want to know your opinions on whether they should have a chance to compete.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I am curious. What do you think the stupid decisions are? Just curious.

• Sha'Carri Richardson disqualification for marijuana use.
• Two Namibian 400m women's runners were disqualified for "too high natural testosterone"
• Gymnastic scoring capping at a certain level to screw over Simone Biles.

I was going to mention the Norwegian handball team fine, but that was NOT Olympics related (oops!).

 

[TLSnell1981]

Formerly a sports lover…no longer interested. Just not into it.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I got up early to watch live and I am sadly only a little surprised. The amount of pressure put on her by the media is unreal and unfair, in my opinion. The commentators said this is not injury related so it would have to be a mental issue and that's probably even worse.

Suni Lee was unreal on the bars, but unless Russia has a meltdown, they will win the team title easily. As I typed that the first russian on the beam just fell.

I completely agree with you. The pressure put her on her, not only as the GOAT (which she remains), but staying on to protect current & future gymnasts from the physical & sexual abuse she endured. Knowing within herself, she wasn’t mentally capable of finishing and pulling out, was the right answer. She should put herself first, and we should all applaud that. But also just imagine the physical catastrophe that could have happened if she had continued, knowing she couldn’t her head right.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

• Sha'Carri Richardson disqualification for marijuana use.
• Two Namibian 400m women's runners were disqualified for "too high natural testosterone"
• Gymnastic scoring capping at a certain level to screw over Simone Biles.

I was going to mention the Norwegian handball team fine, but that was NOT Olympics related (oops!).

She broke the rules - it may be a "stupid" rule, but it's a rule. She knew about it. She knew she was taking a risk when she decided to use it anyway and she lost. Get over it.

 

[JimMIA]

This is exactly what I thought. An athlete at her level....which is otherworldly, never been seen level.....has to be 1000% mentally on top of her game, or she could literally break her neck. Honestly, I think the whole deal...that they even went forward with these games is pathetic. They should have waited another year. It's all empty stadiums, fake applause, stressed athletes...etc. There's no dressing up this deal....it's just a sad mess.

I agree with you that these are sad Olympics. However, in a lot of these sports the athletes would not be competitive a year from now. Some of them are probably not in top form now because of lack of frequent competitions. Being competitive at the "best in the world" level is a fleeting moment in time.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Oh, not to mention the bribery allegations.

And the logo plagiarism.

And stadium design plagiarism.

Asbestos in the swim center (THere was going to be "emergency measures" but never said what those were)

And Keigo Oyamada getting hired as the composer for the opening ceremony

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

FWIW, I haven't seen a single news story refer to them as "losing" the gold. Everything I see is winning or taking silver.

I saw a few early this morning

“Simone Biles withdraws, forcing Team USA to accept silver” was one.

So not only didn’t they congratulate them on winning silver, they still managed to blame Simone.

 

[JimMIA]

I saw a few early this morning

“Simone Biles withdraws, forcing Team USA to accept silver” was one.

So not only didn’t they congratulate them on winning silver, they still managed to blame Simone.

Yep. Unfortunately headline writers don't practice sportsmanship. They are 100% about clicks these days.

 

[PezRuth]

• Sha'Carri Richardson disqualification for marijuana use.
• Two Namibian 400m women's runners were disqualified for "too high natural testosterone"
• Gymnastic scoring capping at a certain level to screw over Simone Biles.

I was going to mention the Norwegian handball team fine, but that was NOT Olympics related (oops!).

Okay I agree with you on Richardson. I would need to do some more research on the others. I will say that these olympics are different than other years but there have been some heartwarming stories. Many athletes are winning the first gold medal for their countries and that is always wonderful to me. As far as Simone, I really cannot imagine being in her shoes. I will say this will be a very good conversation with my 10 year old on how important mental health is.

 

[monsterkitty]

The scoring cap on Biles was two years ago and two World Championships ago. It isn't anything new for these games.

There have been bribery allegations for many Olympic games, including SLC for the Winter Games.

Richardson knew the rules. For her mental health, she broke them. See, when many people can't get the mental help they need, they self medicate. Who knows, this may have been the best thing for her ever.

The too high natural testosterone level rule began in 2018. The rule sucks because they can't control their testosterone levels.

My point, every Olympic Games has some controversy. The athletes work their butts off their entire lives to make it to the Games. We can't let controversy take away from the hard work of all the athletes, their coaches, and their families by not celebrating with them the fact they are actually at the games and competing, because we don't like something that happened to another athlete or because of bribery allegations. The athletes could careless about almost every item you linked. Please notice I said almost every item.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My point, every Olympic Games has some controversy.

I agree with you. I think I'm done in general, honestly.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Honestly, I think the whole deal...that they even went forward with these games is pathetic. They should have waited another year. It's all empty stadiums, fake applause, stressed athletes...etc. There's no dressing up this deal....it's just a sad mess.

They couldn't have waited another year year. By the ruling the games has to occur within 12 months or it would have been cancelled entirely. They waited the full 12 months (originally slated to be 7/24/2020) So it was either go forward with a very different Olympics but still give athletes one or just cancel entirely. Given that the last one was in 2016 the next one is 2024 there would have been quite a few out just because of aging and stress on the body (and some I'm sure already did just because of the extra year and anything else the pandemic through at them). On the flip side I think I remember hearing an announcer while watching swimming that a 14 or 15 year old got her first shot at swimming because the Olympics occurred this year as opposed to having to wait for her first shot until 2024. Stressed athletes happens every year, some have for sure had much more stress dealing with the pandemic but they still controlled whether they went or not and can withdraw like some have. It's not the most amazing Olympics but I don't think people expected it to be. I'm just happy to watch it after waiting another year for it.

Glass half empty, half full we all get our pick I suppose.

FWIW it doesn't seem to have bothered people this whole time during the pandemic to have crowd noise pumped into NFL. MLB, etc games nor to not have fans. Sure it was weird at first but seems to have worked out. Now they couldn't have realistically done the cut outs that a lot of professional teams did that may have added an extra feeling of participation but I think we can forgive them for that

 

[dvcgirl67]

Glass half empty, half full we all get our pick I suppose.

FWIW it doesn't seem to have bothered people this whole time during the pandemic to have crowd noise pumped into NFL. MLB, etc games nor to not have fans. Sure it was weird at first but seems to have worked out. Now they couldn't have realistically done the cut outs that a lot of professional teams did that may have added an extra feeling of participation but I think we can forgive them for that

Yeah, I guess I'm just glass half empty on this one. I did read that the ratings did bounce back a bit from the opening ceremony, which had a 33 year low for TV ratings. I hope it's bringing some people joy. Just like a lot of things during this pandemic, "it is what it is".

 

[dvcgirl67]

I agree with you that these are sad Olympics. However, in a lot of these sports the athletes would not be competitive a year from now. Some of them are probably not in top form now because of lack of frequent competitions. Being competitive at the "best in the world" level is a fleeting moment in time.

Yup, I totally get that. I played AAU basketball in high school and we played against clubs in Europe.....wouldn't trade that experience for the world. But...It's all still a bit sad to me. Like I said....hopefully it's bringing some people joy.