Personally, I’m not particularly watching it unless it happens to be on whilst others are watching. But we have an “I’m not watching the Olympics” thread and a “how hard is it to find a schedule?” thread, so I thought there was merit in a discussion for people who are actually enjoying it.

I’ll open with a question. I’ve just drifted through downstairs whilst The Girl is watching it, and there’s something on which I thought was women’s basketball. Except, they’ve lopped the court in half and there’s only one basket, it’s basketball meets squash. And from the two minutes I watched (as someone sadly born with an underactive sport gland) it’s the best sporting I’ve seen since Murderball. It’s blummin’ brilliant. Anyone know what it’s called?

HorsemurderingbourgeoisBastardball?

3 on 3 Basketball

Impressed by the Tom Daley medal, I did think he was late 40s now though. Tom Pidcock did well too on whatever that biking thing he does.

I’ve had it on, on my laptop all day at my desk. It’s quite good as I can dip in & out, as & when.

Watched the skateboarding yesterday while the in-laws were round for lunch & my father-in-law thought the kids at the local skate park do it better 🙂

Gymnastics is currently on. It’s impressive stuff, but not very interesting to watch.
I also don’t really like the way that they have to land in certain ways, which while it looks ‘neat’ isn’t very good for their joints.

I enjoyed the mtb this morning & will be tuning in for tomorrow’s race.
Sorry to see that the tae kwando girl missed out on a gold.

I love the Olympics, there I said it. Off out for a bike ride now.

I absolutely love it.

Watching talented, dedicated people at the very top of their game doing what they have been training for years to do is so inspirational. For most of these sports there is no high profile world championships. Many of these sports aren’t even televised in this country, but for a couple of weeks, every four years they have the chance to be on the front page of the media and be national heroes.

Despite my flippancy on the other thread there are no “easy” sports. Running 100m is easy. Doing it faster than anyone else on the planet is unique. The best, being the best.

(And that even applies to table tennis. I can’t even see the ball, let alone have the ability to hit it back!)

I prefer the winterlympics.

This was awesome… I’ve seen this meme video knocking around for ages, of a little girl in a fairy costume trying repeatedly to land a stair drop..

[video src="https://i.imgur.com/GCwzJrP.mp4" /]

She won silver.

OTOH, after the opening ceremony I’m now bitterly disappointed that they don’t end every medal ceremony with the final fantasy 7 victory music. Dahdahdahdah duh dah dahdahdah

Impressed with the lack of protective gear the skateboardist wear.

I absolutely love it.

Watching talented, dedicated people at the very top of their game doing what they have been training for years to do is so inspirational. For most of these sports there is no high profile world championships. Many of these sports aren’t even televised in this country, but for a couple of weeks, every four years they have the chance to be on the front page of the media and be national heroes.

Nicely put. And the world needs some positive inspiration at the moment.

Just sat through the diving.

How the actual does the scoring for that work, with half of them crossed out? The commentator burbled something about ‘averages’ but I’m a geek and I couldn’t see any pattern to it.

It really irks me with the sports that shouldn’t be there so I’ve spent a worrying amount of time today mulling over the criteria they should apply

Possibly sports where Olympic success isn’t the pinnacle in that individual sport? So golf, rugby, football, road cycling, even MTB, tennis etc. Get rid now

Track n field, track cycling, swimming, diving, pistols, sailing, Greco Roman wrestling, you’re safe for now. Not sure about BMX. Possibly cut

I think there should be a heart rate / respiratory rate criteria. Anything that doesn’t require at least 75% of max heart rate from all competitors should be cut.
(And no drinking of Red Bull to falsify heart rate readings)

I’ve spent a worrying amount of time today mulling over the criteria they should apply

Aye. I think my criteria might be “not already media saturated.” Like, there’s clearly not enough football on television already, niche sport which that is. International Competitive Tiddlywinks or Shuffleboard, I’d watch that.

As a non-sporty person I’m enjoying screen-time being devoted to anything and everything else. Plus, hey, the ladies get a go, who’d a thunk it.

As a non-sporty person I’m enjoying screen-time being devoted to anything and everything else. Plus, hey, the ladies get a go, who’d a thunk it

I did a bit of reading of women’s sport at the Olympics. God its depressing.

I’m a massive sport Billy generally and will watch just about any sport so the Olympics is great for me. I kind of agree about football and golf but in some ways it’s good to see these sports relegated to the same level as everything else – and it doesn’t detract from the wider games

For me one of the best thing about Olympics is watching sports rarely seen on TV eg combat sports. But I’ve always been a fan of athletics and swimming as well.

Also enjoy watching sports I’ve previously done (and the list is long) including the Olympic new sports – skateboarding, climbing (and I get chance to complain about speed climbing being part of the comp), mountain biking, surfing – I also did athletics as a kid – sprints, lung jump, triple jump and Mrs OD was middle distance. (I also played rugby and football but plenty of that on TV already)

I’m also a sucker for a background story, underdogs or non-traditional countries winning.

Basically since LA ( when I’d just done my A Levels and stayed up all night to watch) the Olympics are a month fest of sport binging

How the actual does the scoring for that work, with half of them crossed out?

They disregard the lowest and highest score on each dive.

I prefer the winterlympics.

At least you can dispense with the whole “This sport shouldn’t be the Olympics” drama, as it’s essentially just variations on sliding…

Just sat through the diving.

How the actual does the scoring for that work, with half of them crossed out? The commentator burbled something about ‘averages’ but I’m a geek and I couldn’t see any pattern to it.

IIRC correctly, there are 7 judges who give marks out of 10 – the two highest and two lowest marks in each category are then removed

so, a score like this

3 – 3.5 – 5.5 – 6 – 6.5 – 9 – 9

would turn into

3 – 3.5 – 5.5 – 6 – 6.5 – 9 – 9

leaving only

5.5 – 6 – 6.5

add the together and multiply by the difficulty rating

For synchro divin like Tom Daley and Partner Otherdiver, you also have people judging how well synchronised they are

https://www.britannica.com/story/how-is-diving-scored

(and I get the chance to complain about speed climbing being part of the comp)

High fives old dog 😉
I like mixing the live view and iplayer for the more niche stuff.
Every Olympics I really enjoy the archery and make plans to buy a bow,then I forget all about it……until the next Olympics:-)

Woop! GB rugby 7s team just came back from 21-0 down to the USA and won it. Into the semi-finals!

Woop! GB rugby 7s team just came back from 21-0 down to the USA and won it. Into the semi-finals!

This SA vs Argentina match is delivering drama as well

SA must be missing ol Kwagga 🙂

Possibly sports where Olympic success isn’t the pinnacle in that individual sport? So golf, rugby, football, road cycling, even MTB, tennis etc. Get rid now

Track n field, track cycling, swimming, diving, pistols, sailing, Greco Roman wrestling, you’re safe for now. Not sure about BMX. Possibly cut

Depends what the purpose is. Yes, it’s about the elite athletes getting a chance to compete and prove how good they are but has now become a medal chasing fest where national Olympic Committees fund and defund various sports based on percieved chance of winning medals.

There’s a secondary (I’d argue should be at least equal) aspect of creating a legacy. OK, we had the games in 2012 and we have the physical legacy of world class veldrome and swimming pools and the like but to me the true legacy is every kid that watched Tom or Evie or Jolanda this morning and is currently hacking around the woods because they feel enthused. And the way that happens is by publicising a breadth of sports with inspiring people doing them.

So I kind of agree that sports like football and tennis and golf that can ‘easily’ be seen most of the time don’t need the oxygen. Swimming and athletics are so traditional they’ll always stay. The rest should be a showcase of sport with the intent to inspire the next generation, in sports that don’t necessarily see the light of day that often.

And the rest is up to you and me as older people and parents to ensure that if your lad says tomorrow that they fancy a go at Taekwondo, or Triathlon, or diving, whatever, then you find a way to give them a go at it, instead of grumbling about whether it’s a scored sport or a judged one.

Those divers or gymnasts are WAY stronger and fitter than you or I will ever be. If more kids are inspired to do it at recreational level and get all the benefits to physical and mental health of sports, and live longer and healthier lives as a result, who gives a shit about the medal table. THAT would be a proper legacy.

@fingerbang
Free Member
It really irks me with the sports that shouldn’t be there so I’ve spent a worrying amount of time today mulling over the criteria they should apply

@reeksy
Free Member
I think there should be a heart rate / respiratory rate criteria. Anything that doesn’t require at least 75% of max heart rate from all competitors should be cut.

Ohhh come on. As the OP said, there’s already two threads for bitching and moaning about what should or shouldn’t be there. Can’t we just have one positive one?

I’d heard of rugby 7s before but never seen it. Way more exciting than normal rugby IMO (I know virtually nothing about rugby). Is it a full size pitch? Looks pretty big, is that why the matches are short, because they’re all completely gassed from having to cover so much ground? Looks like one for the fitter lads, rather than the cabbage-eared behemoths you see in normal rugby.

How can anyone not love the Olympics? The randomness of the viewing experience is fantastic. I love trying to work out what’s good in an event and what isn’t, what on earth the rules (or even the point) of an event might be, and seeing how quickly you can use a technical term in conversation. “Yes, he really needs to avoid another gam-jon!”

I’d heard of rugby 7s before but never seen it. Way more exciting than normal rugby IMO (I know virtually nothing about rugby). Is it a full size pitch? Looks pretty big, is that why the matches are short, because they’re all completely gassed from having to cover so much ground? Looks like one for the fitter lads, rather than the cabbage-eared behemoths you see in normal rugby.

Yep, full size pitch and lots of running.
It’s great fun to watch.

Now we’re talking! Dressage! 😂

Sevens is great – it seems almost a cross between 15 a side Union and run & wriggle, where they can pass off the ground the game just keeps moving without the constant resets of rucks and mauls from the big game.

I wonder what 7’s would be like played at 11-a-side for example – creating more need for clever passing if space was a bit more limited. Sometimes space looks a bit easy to find in 7’s.

Wonder no longer (well, 10s, rather than 11s) .https://youtu.be/DbvoXZaeLVc.

What a lovely bloke that Lutalo Mohammed seems – Taekwondo expert summariser for the BBC.

(he’s also 6’3 and kicks people in the head for a living, so in case he’s reading, he really does seem a truly lovely man)

what do the gymnasts keep in those rucksacks? They could probably fit about 600 spare cossies.

I’m a huge fan of watching people do pointless things very well. Have the weightlifting on at the moment, and you don’t even need to understand what constitutes a good lift to feel the tension and emotion.

There are a few sports I really struggle to enjoy but even with the limited offering from the BBC this year there’s usually something to watch. I do miss having the choice of all the sports though.

EDIT: another bonus is the 4 yearly giggle at ‘clean & jerk’

It’s a hangup entirely of my own making, generated by the media not the games itself but if they could just stop with the bloody medals tables I’d be a lot happier. Remove them and my (freeky) inner turmoil about if a gold for shooting a gun equates to a gold for running a really long way equates to a gold for doing some moves in the surf goes away. And the fact that some people in some sports can aim for 7 medals by changes the way they tiddle their arms about or the distance they do the twiddling or by twiddling in relay whilst others have got just the one competition possibly available to them for the same level of commitment to training etc.

Get rid of the medal tables and just celebrate loads of sports coming together for a big play session and it’s all good.

I think the medal table’s good – gives all the events parity and gives the public a reason to be invested in the obscure stuff. One sport may be way more physically demanding than another but even the ones you probably don’t need a shower after still take years of work and dedication to get to that level.

Olympic lunchtime there with the team gymnastics followed by a bit of dressage. Interesting contrast between the US and the Russian gymnasts, the Americans going for the more difficult moves and the Russians concentrating on being a bit simpler but doing it really well.

The dressage though – how do you get a horse started on that in the first place? How do you go about explaining, right Dobbin we’re going to do something different today.

the one thing I can’t watch is the weightlifting. Or rather I can but only through my fingers, after while watching a random channel flick on Eurosport one night I saw a lifter dislocate his elbow under the stress…..

Have i ruined it for anyone else now?

Fun on Youtube “Top 5 Most GRUESOME Weightlifting Injuries” etc. Don’t have to put up with all the boring successful ones 😉

Yep, the feeling you can execute perfectly and still drop the bar on your head because elbows are’t really supposed to be under that much strain is a jeopardy I don’t like. Even watching.

To quote my MiL, my arse is knitting buttons just at the thought.

Have the weightlifting on at the moment, and you don’t even need to understand what constitutes a good lift to feel the tension and emotion.

London ballot. Tick box for track cycling, another for some swimming, and…

then we saw the Women’s superheavies.

Awesome. A really, really good live event. The bar weight goes up and up you’re guaranteed the top lifters finishing the contest off and the fight for top places is always right at the end, not at all unusual for the very last couple of lifts to fight it out.

In the flesh it’s quite easy to get out the way of a failed lift, one-in-a-bajillion busted elbow chances aside, you know very early on if it’s going to stay up or not.

Two BMX medals including gold for Beth Shriever who had to crowdfund her training program after UK Sport dropped funding for women’s BMX

She should have been allowed to choose her own tune instead of the national anthem.

I guess you need the low gearing for the start because track position and passing is hard but it always looks like a few more gear inches later on and you’d just ride past everyone! Still, pretty sure they’re got it right.