Official Paris Olympics Thread

[basilosaurus]

Jul 28, 2024 14:38:19 GMT -5 keyslover said:

Watching women’s football (us v Germany) and had to switch to Spanish because NBC Olympics had some stupid person talking and then she brought Andy Cohen on and they were drinking. I just want to watch the match!

That's utterly shameful. One of the best things about the olympics is watching obscure to most of us sports and hearing commentary from knowledgable people. I'd risk breaking my tv if Cohen showed up.

For instance, watching surfing which isn't even obscure. I lived in Hawaii for a few years, so of course I've stopped by various competitions. It's not at all interesting from the beach because you can't see shit, but the environment is fun. Listening to day 2's mens I learned so much in just the 2 minute clip I was able to watch. Also, I heard gnarly 5 times in just 1 person's ride.

rubytue, I'll try to catch fencing.

[basilosaurus]

Jul 28, 2024 7:51:50 GMT -5 1yeartogo said:

I’m watching women’s skateboarding and I don’t really get it. I feel like I see more skills walking by a skate park. Don’t get me wrong I understand it’s challenging and they are great skateboarders (although actually a lot of falls)but like riding a handrail with no other trick??? I can see that anywhere people skate.

I can understand that. I think it's the commentary that made me impressed with what they're doing. Just watching without that it would seem similar to your local park. What I gathered was it's the heights, distance, and technicality that I simply cannot see. 

I'm the same way with any flipping or rotating sport like gymnastics, diving, ice skating, snowboarding, etc. You wannt tell me that it's a triple back spin with a twist? Sure. I just see spinning. I'm impressed at pretty much everything.

They're even talking about how the wind is affecting their tricks and how they might change from what they'd planned and perfected.

ETA Why don't the skaters have any protective gear? Does it affect performance? Is it some sort of street cred thing? Some wear sunglasses which a commentator said was stupid as she found them too distracting (I think she was a professional skater.)

[Jalapeñomel]

Jul 29, 2024 5:48:41 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Jul 28, 2024 7:51:50 GMT -5 1yeartogo said:

I’m watching women’s skateboarding and I don’t really get it. I feel like I see more skills walking by a skate park. Don’t get me wrong I understand it’s challenging and they are great skateboarders (although actually a lot of falls)but like riding a handrail with no other trick??? I can see that anywhere people skate.

I can understand that. I think it's the commentary that made me impressed with what they're doing. Just watching without that it would seem similar to your local park. What I gathered was it's the heights, distance, and technicality that I simply cannot see. 

I'm the same way with any flipping or rotating sport like gymnastics, diving, ice skating, snowboarding, etc. You wannt tell me that it's a triple back spin with a twist? Sure. I just see spinning. I'm impressed at pretty much everything.

They're even talking about how the wind is affecting their tricks and how they might change from what they'd planned and perfected.

ETA Why don't the skaters have any protective gear? Does it affect performance? Is it some sort of street cred thing? Some wear sunglasses which a commentator said was stupid as she found them too distracting (I think she was a professional skater.)

The joke on SM media that skateboarding kind of sucks when you make the athletes take a drug test.

[basilosaurus]

Jul 29, 2024 7:33:44 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Jul 29, 2024 5:48:41 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

I hadn't seen that, but the very same thought occurred to me today.

I truly don't get the anti-enhancing drug bans. You wanna mess with the instrument of your body? Your income? Fine by me if it doesn't give you a competitve advantage. Smoke weed in your off time in a place where it's legal? Go right ahead! These athletes on drugs could out-perform every single one of us watching (me with a g&t or glass of wine because this time zone really works to my advantage)

[icedcoffee]

Jul 28, 2024 14:31:33 GMT -5 dirtyred said:

Watched women's surfing last night ( being held in Tahiti/French Polynesia) and the Olympic Village is a cruise ship! The athletes have private rooms and can access anything on the ship--restaurants, spa, gym, waterside, bars, and tattoo parlor! Sounds nicer than the real Olympic village.

This is actually a good idea instead of building all that wasteful one time housing.  They should do more of this.

[deadwing]

Can someone explain to me why the male gymnasts wear pants with feet for some of the events? I get why they need a tight-fitting bottom for some of the equipment, but I'm perplexed by the foot covering.

[livinitup]

Last night we watched women’s beach volleyball and it was so exciting ! Both Americans are from Southern CA. Go, figure. Haha

Also saw the men’s 200 relay where the local French hero won gold - he had previously broken Phelps world record and they did some nice commentary on that before the race. USA won bronze (1st Olympics for him) - he placed by 1/19th of a second. All three looked delighted to be on the podium.

Then we watched the floor gymnastics and did our typical “how on earth can they do that?” For all of the athletes & routines.

We are enjoying the steaming options. Coverage has come a long way since I was a kid and had to watch live.

[onomatopoeia]

Jul 29, 2024 5:48:41 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Jul 28, 2024 7:51:50 GMT -5 1yeartogo said:

I’m watching women’s skateboarding and I don’t really get it. I feel like I see more skills walking by a skate park. Don’t get me wrong I understand it’s challenging and they are great skateboarders (although actually a lot of falls)but like riding a handrail with no other trick??? I can see that anywhere people skate.

I can understand that. I think it's the commentary that made me impressed with what they're doing. Just watching without that it would seem similar to your local park. What I gathered was it's the heights, distance, and technicality that I simply cannot see. 

I'm the same way with any flipping or rotating sport like gymnastics, diving, ice skating, snowboarding, etc. You wannt tell me that it's a triple back spin with a twist? Sure. I just see spinning. I'm impressed at pretty much everything.

They're even talking about how the wind is affecting their tricks and how they might change from what they'd planned and perfected.

ETA Why don't the skaters have any protective gear? Does it affect performance? Is it some sort of street cred thing? Some wear sunglasses which a commentator said was stupid as she found them too distracting (I think she was a professional skater.)

I thought the exact same thing as 1yeartogo. I think it was the qualifiers I was watching, so they weren't likely to attempt fancy tricks, but it was underwhelming for an Olympic level competition. Then I felt awful for thinking that as these women are certainly impressive, and clearly they were good enough to get to Paris. It just wasn't what I expected.  That's a good point about the technicalities, there's more to it than meets the eye. 


 

[somersault72]

Jul 28, 2024 23:09:12 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

So much outrage about the Opening Ceremony "Last Supper" scene....

www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/paris-olympics-organizers-sorry-for-last-supper-at-opening-ceremonies/ar-BB1qNexo

Organizers of the Paris Olympics apologized on Sunday for a performance during Friday’s Opening Ceremonies that featured an apparent reenactment of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” amid mixed messages about the piece’s intent.

The tableau included a woman with a halo-like crown in the role of Jesus as well as drag queens and gay icons as disciples; it was crashed by a scantily clad blue man wearing a headdress of fruit — Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, wine and revelry.

----------
My favorite retort on Instagram was something like "Thing Christians are not outraged by: war, poverty, genocide, greed, etc. Thing they are outraged by - Art"

I was OOT this weekend and get on FB and like 20 people in my feed "OMG THEY'RE MAKING FUN OF JESUS!!!!11!!!" Those same people on a regular day: "People need to stop getting offended by everything."

[basilosaurus]

Wow to that China v USA vball match. Of course my feed annoylingly cut out for the last match points. I think I'm giving up for the night. I couldn't even sign up for paramount+ because of "token error" whatever that means.

So, if you see news about a foreign white woman who's moved into her neighborhood laundry with free wifi since my hotspot that I've relied upon for years is apparently deciding to just stop bothering with reliability, just know that they are talking about me.

[mrsslocombe]

Jul 29, 2024 8:14:07 GMT -5 deadwing said:

Can someone explain to me why the male gymnasts wear pants with feet for some of the events? I get why they need a tight-fitting bottom for some of the equipment, but I'm perplexed by the foot covering.

I believe it’s because it enhances the look of the long, straight legs with pointed toes that are required for pommel horse, rings, etc. easier to spot if someone knees are bent when they shouldn’t be. I assume the stirrup is to keep them in place?

[basilosaurus]

Also, I give up on watching any events without good commentary. I need someone to tell me what I am watching and what it means. I'm worthless without it. rubytue, I tried to watch fencing, but there was no one telling me what I was watching, and I had a near 100% innacuracy in thinking I knew who won a point.

[Velar Fricative]

The men’s gymnastics team final was soooooo intense. I got no work done. I’m so happy!!!

[missva]

Jul 29, 2024 13:17:24 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The men’s gymnastics team final was soooooo intense. I got no work done. I’m so happy!!!

Same! I yelled when the last guy finished his routine. So exciting!

[karinothing]

Jul 29, 2024 12:48:17 GMT -5 mrsslocombe said:

Jul 29, 2024 8:14:07 GMT -5 deadwing said:

Can someone explain to me why the male gymnasts wear pants with feet for some of the events? I get why they need a tight-fitting bottom for some of the equipment, but I'm perplexed by the foot covering.

I believe it’s because it enhances the look of the long, straight legs with pointed toes that are required for pommel horse, rings, etc. easier to spot if someone knees are bent when they shouldn’t be. I assume the stirrup is to keep them in place?

Yup. So you have a solid line and no ankle showing

[RoxMonster]

Yes watching the men’s team gymnastics final was so exciting and fun! I’m so sad that Tues is my in-office day so I won’t be able to watch the women’s team. I know it will get spoiled before I can watch at night.

[eport]

Jul 29, 2024 13:13:24 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Also, I give up on watching any events without good commentary. I need someone to tell me what I am watching and what it means. I'm worthless without it. rubytue , I tried to watch fencing, but there was no one telling me what I was watching, and I had a near 100% innacuracy in thinking I knew who won a point.

This is why during the Winter Olympics, I enjoy watching curling. The commentators know that almost everyone watching has no idea what is going on and really explain both what is happening and the strategy behind it (the team will try to hit the stone here as that will make it spin and knock the competitor stone out of the way..., etc).

[rubytue]

Jul 29, 2024 13:13:24 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Also, I give up on watching any events without good commentary. I need someone to tell me what I am watching and what it means. I'm worthless without it. rubytue , I tried to watch fencing, but there was no one telling me what I was watching, and I had a near 100% innacuracy in thinking I knew who won a point.

Oh, I get it. I suspect it’s true for many sports, the commentary is too simplistic for anyone who knows, but most of the audience doesn’t know. 

that said, if you were watching women today… that was saber and it’s so fast and fluid, the joke is we fence saber bc it’s 50/50 on each touch. I won’t ref it. 


My random question… for water polo, they wear a swim cap and then a second cap with ear muff. What are the ear muffs for? I assume it’s something like protecting the cartridge in the ear, but what makes water polo more apt to need that? 

[Velar Fricative]

Jul 29, 2024 17:59:03 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Jul 29, 2024 13:13:24 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Also, I give up on watching any events without good commentary. I need someone to tell me what I am watching and what it means. I'm worthless without it. rubytue , I tried to watch fencing, but there was no one telling me what I was watching, and I had a near 100% innacuracy in thinking I knew who won a point.

Oh, I get it. I suspect it’s true for many sports, the commentary is too simplistic for anyone who knows, but most of the audience doesn’t know. 

that said, if you were watching women today… that was saber and it’s so fast and fluid, the joke is we fence saber bc it’s 50/50 on each touch. I won’t ref it. 


My random question… for water polo, they wear a swim cap and then a second cap with ear muff. What are the ear muffs for? I assume it’s something like protecting the cartridge in the ear, but what makes water polo more apt to need that? 

I always assumed it’s because they can get pretty rough in the water and ears seem more vulnerable to getting pulled?

[spindle92]

There was some air rifle shooting event finals earlier today and I saw a meme on Instagram with something along the lines of "It's pretty shocking the U.S. didn't even medal, considering how much some people love their guns."

[Deleted]

Jul 29, 2024 17:59:03 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Jul 29, 2024 13:13:24 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Also, I give up on watching any events without good commentary. I need someone to tell me what I am watching and what it means. I'm worthless without it. rubytue , I tried to watch fencing, but there was no one telling me what I was watching, and I had a near 100% innacuracy in thinking I knew who won a point.

Oh, I get it. I suspect it’s true for many sports, the commentary is too simplistic for anyone who knows, but most of the audience doesn’t know. 

that said, if you were watching women today… that was saber and it’s so fast and fluid, the joke is we fence saber bc it’s 50/50 on each touch. I won’t ref it. 


My random question… for water polo, they wear a swim cap and then a second cap with ear muff. What are the ear muffs for? I assume it’s something like protecting the cartridge in the ear, but what makes water polo more apt to need that? 

Water polo is a brutal sport. When they shoot the ball it’s moving VERy fast and could do some damage if it hit someone in the ear. Also, the players beat the crap out of each other, and it would be very easy to have your ear grabbed by an opponent (even though it would be illegal)….similar to wrestling.

[lahoagie]

Jul 29, 2024 19:10:12 GMT -5 @villainv said:

Jul 29, 2024 17:59:03 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Oh, I get it. I suspect it’s true for many sports, the commentary is too simplistic for anyone who knows, but most of the audience doesn’t know. 

that said, if you were watching women today… that was saber and it’s so fast and fluid, the joke is we fence saber bc it’s 50/50 on each touch. I won’t ref it. 


My random question… for water polo, they wear a swim cap and then a second cap with ear muff. What are the ear muffs for? I assume it’s something like protecting the cartridge in the ear, but what makes water polo more apt to need that? 

Water polo is a brutal sport. When they shoot the ball it’s moving VERy fast and could do some damage if it hit someone in the ear. Also, the players beat the crap out of each other, and it would be very easy to have your ear grabbed by an opponent (even though it would be illegal)….similar to wrestling.

Yup! Plus there are elbows flying everywhere. When you are swimming with the ball you use your arms to protect the ball so you do this choppy swim with your elbows up. I broke my nose a couple times playing. I miss the sport so much!

[rubytue]

Thank you all! I was mostly thinking about the ball and how could it be worse than other ball sports flying around. But, point taken on the elbows and everything else.

[pugz]

Jul 29, 2024 13:17:24 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The men’s gymnastics team final was soooooo intense. I got no work done. I’m so happy!!!

Yes! The pommel horse about did me in. So happy for them. Loved Clark Kent.

[pugz]

rugby....I can't believe they don't wear helmets or knee pads or anything!

[lilac05]

Jul 29, 2024 21:33:06 GMT -5 pugz said:

rugby....I can't believe they don't wear helmets or knee pads or anything!

I know! I watched a few minutes until I saw someone intentionally kick someone in the head a few times while they were both on the ground…and the game continued. I couldn’t watch any more. To each their own, but I can’t/won’t watch.

I’ve been at a cabin without cable, local stations, or streaming, and VERY spotty cell service.. We have been unsuccessful in watching swimming or gymnastics, but we did see some equestrian events, field hockey, ping pong, and the little bit of rugby. I’m going to have a lot to catch up on when I get back to civilization!

[basilosaurus]

Jul 29, 2024 17:59:03 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Jul 29, 2024 13:13:24 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Also, I give up on watching any events without good commentary. I need someone to tell me what I am watching and what it means. I'm worthless without it. rubytue , I tried to watch fencing, but there was no one telling me what I was watching, and I had a near 100% innacuracy in thinking I knew who won a point.

Oh, I get it. I suspect it’s true for many sports, the commentary is too simplistic for anyone who knows, but most of the audience doesn’t know. 

that said, if you were watching women today… that was saber and it’s so fast and fluid, the joke is we fence saber bc it’s 50/50 on each touch. I won’t ref it. 

The video was labeled m/w sabre/foil so who knows what I was watching. It was definitely super fast. I gave up after 3 points because I couldn't see anything obviously impressive, and no one was telling me what I couldn't see.

[rubytue]

Jul 30, 2024 3:45:09 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Jul 29, 2024 17:59:03 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Oh, I get it. I suspect it’s true for many sports, the commentary is too simplistic for anyone who knows, but most of the audience doesn’t know. 

that said, if you were watching women today… that was saber and it’s so fast and fluid, the joke is we fence saber bc it’s 50/50 on each touch. I won’t ref it. 

The video was labeled m/w sabre/foil so who knows what I was watching. It was definitely super fast. I gave up after 3 points because I couldn't see anything obviously impressive, and no one was telling me what I couldn't see.

I’m gonna guess it was the women’s saber. The men were doing foil today. And with all the gear, it probably wasn’t readily obvious if it was men or women. lol. Peacock/NBC does have the commentary for the videos that say finals. But you are watching overseas and I don’t know who you are streaming through. I know the fencing Reddit is recommended streaming through VPN and Australia 9 something. But, I don’t know if those have commentary. 

[Velar Fricative]

Men’s triathlon has been postponed. Gee, I can’t believe we didn’t see this coming!! /s

apnews.com/article/2024-olympics-seine-river-water-quality-triathlon-24c7def74701d50e8c6cd5fad096721c

[mofongo]

Jul 30, 2024 7:30:46 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Men’s triathlon has been postponed. Gee, I can’t believe we didn’t see this coming!! /s

apnews.com/article/2024-olympics-seine-river-water-quality-triathlon-24c7def74701d50e8c6cd5fad096721c

Right? At the opening ceremonies they were like well, today if there were water events in the Seine they'd be cancelled due to ecoli levels. Great plan!!