Summer Olympics Thread-Tokyo

[MaximumSam]

I dunno. Biles is the best of all time by a healthy margin and has lots of championships and medals. She had a bad performance and felt like she would continue to have them. I'm not sure you can just tough something like that out. It's not like you get extra chances - another bad performance could have taken them out of a medal.

[Kris60]

I dunno. Biles is the best of all time by a healthy margin and has lots of championships and medals. She had a bad performance and felt like she would continue to have them. I'm not sure you can just tough something like that out. It's not like you get extra chances - another bad performance could have taken them out of a medal.

Yeah. Maybe. Look, I’m not going to pretend that I’ve ever experienced a fraction of the pressure she was feeling.  That being said, it’s also understood that is what you are signing up for.  Competing against the best in the world in front of the world is the Olympics.

The quote being shown on ESPN’s bottom line is “I had to do what was right for me.”  That’s not going to play well when you are competing in a team event.  Her teammates, while not as talented or well known, poured out their blood, sweat, and tears their entire lives for a shot at gold too.  It can be argued that her bowing out gave them the opportunity to win silver but it can be just as easily spun it cost them gold.

[MaximumSam]

To put it a different way - her vault cost the team the gold medal. The only question was whether she would carry on to try and get the team a silver, or defer to her teammates. Hard to say she made the wrong choice for the team, though obviously she personally is getting a lot of shots.

[ELA]

Have any of these gymnasts ever played as a team before though?  We take an inherently individual sport, and shoehorn it into a team environment for NCAA competitions and the Olympics.  And even then, it's just a matter of adding up your scores, it's not like you depend on your teammates.  Then we demand they know how to act like one.

I agree, her phrasing wasn't ideal.  But beyond that, I can't criticize her.  But, mental health is as important as physical health for athletes, and I give her credit for standing up for that, but in that same line of thinking, I have a hard time separating her from the Bo Jacksons of the world whose bodies failed them, if her mind failed her at the worst possible moment.

[ELA]

This also has to be the least interesting group of swimmers the US has put out there in a couple generations

[ELA]

I feel the same about men's volleyball as I do men's tennis.  It's too much reliant on shear power, and the lack of rallies I find disinteresting.

[MaximumSam]

Mixed doubles is pretty fun

[Brutus Buckeye]

Imagine Tom Brady in the huddle, down 21-3 saying "Well I have my rings guys, good luck" then walking off. 

He would go from GOAT to quitter. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Yeah. Maybe. Look, I’m not going to pretend that I’ve ever experienced a fraction of the pressure she was feeling.  That being said, it’s also understood that is what you are signing up for.  Competing against the best in the world in front of the world is the Olympics.

The quote being shown on ESPN’s bottom line is “I had to do what was right for me.”  That’s not going to play well when you are competing in a team event.  Her teammates, while not as talented or well known, poured out their blood, sweat, and tears their entire lives for a shot at gold too.  It can be argued that her bowing out gave them the opportunity to win silver but it can be just as easily spun it cost them gold.

None of the current athletes faced even the tiniest fraction of pressure that Jesse Owens faced at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Many of our teams are made up of whining cowards. Jesse looks down on them from the heavens with his head lowered in shame.

[GopherRock]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/28/us/simone-biles-olympics-gymnastics-physical-mental-health/index.html

In baseball, yips mean you throw the ball into the dugout. In gymnastics, the yips means a broken neck.

[Mdot21]

do people actually really watch this shit? 

Biggest waste of money, space, and time in the history of the universe is the god damn olympics.

[MaximumSam]

None of the current athletes faced even the tiniest fraction of pressure that Jesse Owens faced at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Many of our teams are made up of whining cowards. Jesse looks down on them from the heavens with his head lowered in shame.

Biles was abandoned by her mother and was sexually abused by the team doctor. Pretty sure she has faced a lot of pressure and adversity.

[MaximumSam]

do people actually really watch this shit?

Biggest waste of money, space, and time in the history of the universe is the god damn olympics.

Why do you hate happiness

[Brutus Buckeye]

She rang the bell.