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Olympics off to a swell start

Speaking of a swell start …
Great pic!
Teahupoo is the scariest break I’ve ever seen. Even at 6’ it pitches so much water it can hold a person under for 15-20 seconds. Not photoshopped.
IMG_1625.jpeg
 
Muslim guy refused to shake the hand of an Isreali athlete, then got hurt bad!


I don't like to see anyone hurt. But I never liked poor sports!
 
Thomas II said:
It's not as big as Nazaré in Portugal but it's a very heavy wave...

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Nazaré never impressed me much more than cliff jumping. Doesn’t look fun, just scary. The thing I always loved about surfing was the green room, the sound, the total isolation from the rest of the universe …. But the thickness of the Teahupo’o lip, the vastness of the barrel, the shallow reef it breaks on … scarier than Nazaré IMO but an infinitely better ride! If I could ride one, no question which it would be. But either of them was always way into my “nope” zone. I’ve been in big waves, but not like that!
 
Elixir said:
Thomas II said:
It's not as big as Nazaré in Portugal but it's a very heavy wave...

Click to expand...

Nazaré never impressed me much more than cliff jumping. Doesn’t look fun, just scary. The thing I always loved about surfing was the green room, the sound, the total isolation from the rest of the universe …. But the thickness of the Teahupo’o lip, the vastness of the barrel, the shallow reef it breaks on … scarier than Nazaré IMO but an infinitely better ride! If I could ride one, no question which it would be. But either of them was always way into my “nope” zone. I’ve been in big waves, but not like that!
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Cowabunga GIFs - Find & Share on GIPHY


OF COURSE!!!
 
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Women gymnastics was quite the event. China wavered again, but they never seemed in the race.

The US won gold. Italy took silver in their first medal in close to 100 years. Brazil bronzed, as their program continues to improve. The broadcast needs to improve, being able to show the gymnast waiting for their score in a box on the screen so other athletes can be shown doing their routines. Enjoyed the Peacock feed as it felt like a more world feed coverage with one of the announcers doing a great job explaining in real time what we were seeing and why there would be deductions. I can imagine how awful the American NBC coverage would have been.
 
Men's triathlon actually happened. I know the Decathlon is the best athlete trademark, but triathlon to me is much bigger. Look at these splits!

  • 1. Alex Yee (GBR) – 1:43:33 (Swim: 20:37, Bike: 51:57, Run: 29:47)
  • 2. Hayden Wilde (NZL) – 1:43:39 (Swim: 21:13, Bike: 51:20, Run: 29:49)
  • 3. Leo Bergere (FRA) – 1:43:43 (Swim: 20:37, Bike: 51:55, Run: 29:55)
  • 4. Pierre Le Corre (FRA) – 1:43:51 (Swim: 20:20, Bike: 52:14, Run: 30:01)
  • 5. Vasco Vilaca (POR) – 1:43:56 (Swim: 21:03, Bike: 51:30, Run: 30:04)
  • 6. Ricardo Batista (FRA) – 1:43:58 (Swim: 21:10, Bike: 51:29, Run: 30:06)
  • 7. Matthew Hauser (AUS) – 1:44:17 (Swim: 20:14, Bike: 52:26, Run: 30:24)
  • 8. Alberto Gonzalez Garcia (SPA) – 1:44:22 (Swim: 20:23, Bike: 52:15, Run: 30:36)
  • 9. Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN) – 1:44:25 (Swim: 20:49, Bike: 51:45, Run: 30:35)
  • 10. Miguel Hidalgo (BRA) – 1:44:27 (Swim: 20:57, Bike: 51:36, Run: 30:36)
30 minute 10K after cycling 52 minutes for 40k after swimming 1k in 21 minutes. That is insane!

What sucks about triathlon these days is the pack cycling. Used to be you have to race individually on the bike. Now days you can draft, which I feel cheapens the sport. It'd be like doing an individual time trial on the bike... in a group.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Women gymnastics was quite the event. China wavered again, but they never seemed in the race.

The US won gold. Italy took silver in their first medal in close to 100 years. Brazil bronzed, as their program continues to improve. The broadcast needs to improve, being able to show the gymnast waiting for their score in a box on the screen so other athletes can be shown doing their routines. Enjoyed the Peacock feed as it felt like a more world feed coverage with one of the announcers doing a great job explaining in real time what we were seeing and why there would be deductions. I can imagine how awful the American NBC coverage would have been.
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I watched that too. I have never seen Simone Biles in action before. She was absolutely amazing.
 
Women's 100 meter freestyle was awesome! Americans were unusually on the outer 1 and 8 lanes as they were the slowest finals qualifiers. So it looked real weird when the top three leader indicators were in the two outer lanes and one middle lane. The race is tightening up after the turn, four or five swimmers look to be kicking for the wall to win. Haughney is driving in lane 4. Over half the field is in position to win! And it is possible someone saw it, I sure didn't as I was expecting someone in lanes 3 to 5 to pull it off, however, it was Sarah Sjorstrom down in Lane 7 touching the wall first, Torri Huske held on to finish second up in lane 1, and Haughney in lane 4 got Bronze. The win is magnified as Sjorstrom needed to be convinced by her coach to actually compete in the 100 m.

Katie Ledecky did the Katie Ledecky thing and won the 1500 m. She went out fast, and stayed ahead. She set an Olympic Record. Gose came very close to taking the silver after jousting for bronze for a good portion of the race. I hadn't realized it, Ledecky could win the 800 meter gold for a fourth time this year. She only has 2 golds in 1500 meters because it only became a thing in 2020 (err... 2021). She very possibly could win the 800 meter gold five times.

I'm not up on the swimming, so it all blends together after several days, but some of the races have had some absurd moments of brilliance. One of the races had 3 or 4 swimmers turning and kicking unison on the final turn.
 
Yes and no. Swimming is very structured and a lot about rhythm, especially for endurance. Momentum is critical, so X number of strokes, Y number of leg kicks per length.
 
What a disgrace as an ex man gets to fight a female boxer;

Italian boxer Angela Carini broke down in tears after she abandoned her bout against Algerian Imane Khelif after 46 seconds in a fight that sparked huge controversy at the Olympics. Khelif is one of two boxers permitted to fight at the Olympics despite being disqualified from the women’s world championships last year for failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests. In highly-charged scenes at the North Paris Arena, Carini revealed afterwards that she had pulled out after after being hit harder than she had ever been hit before. A first punch dislodged her chinstrap and a second smashed against her chin and bloodied her shorts.
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Teh Gruaniad
 
Elixir said:
Do they have an open water swim?
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Part of the triathlon, right?

I enjoy watching the swimming but there are so many events. Phelps has so many olympic medals because they give a medal for every single event. A soccer team will get at most one medal, while a swimmer can get multiple from all the different distances, the different strokes, the relays, etc.
 
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