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Paris Olympics Discussion Thread

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GoUconn7961 said:
Don't know if anyone watched the men's steeplechase yesterday. The USA men roaring back and finishing in the top three is a nice pattern.
I don't think I remember the last time the USA won a medal in that event. I can't find out what happened to the player that fell. Anyone have info on that?
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I just watched the replay. Incredible race for the USA and a huge accomplishment to take silver.

I hope the Ethiopian runner can recover quickly. I didn't realize how bad the fall was until I watched the replay a second time. Scary stuff.
 
FWIW back to basketball - if it was in the WNBA, 7 seconds left, down double digits, the losing team would just dribble it out.

This is the Olympics. Play your hearts out to the very end. I thought Nigeria played incredibly well. Copper's display was unfortunate and I hope she was pulled aside and told under no uncertain terms that it was inappropriate. I thought literally everyone on team USA played well save for Copper, Loyd and Ionescu. The last 4 minutes were terrible as USA jacked up one bad shot after another, and couldn't stop Nigeria on the other end.

Dee had 3 points but should have had 6 assists if teammates had made bunny layups. I thought Gray had a ragged 1st half, but looked much better in half 2. Stewie, Wilson, and Young shone brightest, but Brit did Brit things, and Plum, Collier and Thomas stood out as well.

I was surprised that only 1 African team is "allowed" to participate? That doesn't seem right - but i looked it up and found:

Based on final results, two teams from the Americas, two teams from Europe, one team from Africa, one team from Asia, and one team from Oceania earned direct spots to Paris. The final four countries were determined at a series of four Olympic Qualifying Tournaments held in July.

So I'm guessing that because Japan and China qualified, one was the "1 team from Asia", and the other qualified a different way? At first I was surprised when I read earlier that the African coach had said about "only 1 team from Africa" qualifying, but other teams can make it, I guess they just need to get better... I hope the Nigerian results spur other teams to invest and improve. Almost the entire Nigerian team was made up of players who played at US colleges.
 
rvwsleep said:
The USA was up 25 with 4 minutes left. Nigeria made a lot of shots when the game was over. Even to the extent that they scored with less than 2 seconds left in the game. Even after the USA let the shot clock run out on their last possession.
Copper took exception to the last second layup.
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My understanding was that the Nigeria team indicated an implied intent to run out the clock that last seven seconds prior to inbounding. That one player was apparently not party to the rest of the team's plan (or didn't care) and decided to drive and score.

Note that in these tournaments cumulative margin of victory/loss matters wrt placement in group so teams play it out to the final buzzer. The margin has no effect in QF and above.
 
www.sportico.com

Celebrity Patrons Fill Cracks in U.S. Olympics Funding

Celebrity Olympics patrons like Flavor Flav, Alexis Ohanian and Michele Kang are backing Team USA, which gets no government funds. Is it sustainable?
www.sportico.com www.sportico.com

Came across this article talking about the trend of celebrity support and the gaps in funding Olympic athletes. Found it insightful and some of the historical context was helpful to me.
 
USA vs Serbia men's quarter-final. Regardless of the ending.

Russell Crowe Gladiator GIF
 
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Bigboote said:
Am I the only one who wants to see Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone run in the 400 sprint too? I’d be surprised if she couldn’t set that world record too.
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Hopefully next year she sets out to break that record that was set during the drug and steroid era.
 
Bigboote said:
Am I the only one who wants to see Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone run in the 400 sprint too? I’d be surprised if she couldn’t set that world record too.
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Her 50.37 in the hurdles would have had her finish 7th in the Tokyo for the regular 400m. She would have also been 9th overall in this year's 400 based on the semis. What she's doing with hurdles is unimaginable.
 
Bigboote said:
Am I the only one who wants to see Sydney McLaughlin-Lavrone run in the 400 sprint too? I’d be surprised if she couldn’t set that world record too.
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I'm hoping we see her in the 4x400 relay final (if we don't blow the heat) in a couple days. She said she's open to running it after winning today...I recall she ran it in Tokyo.
 
OK - It's Friday and I'm still drained from that US v. Serbia game. Let's hope the women don't give me heart palpitations.
I have a funny feeling it's going to be USA v. France for gold in both men and women. If so, the crowds are going to be so loud, and so French, you'll barely hear anything if you're a player on the court.
 
As I understand it, one of the only reasons Syd ("no longer a kid") didn't try the 400 is that they overlapped. Plus, perhaps Bol's performances over the years caught her attention, thinking "hey, I've got be at my best." It's hard running a bunch of races, particularly the 400, which is one heck of a leg strainer.

Given the U.S. women's performance in the 400 thus far, I've got to think putting her in the 4x400 is a no brainer.

As for LA, when she'll be 28/29, you've got to hope the U.S. Olympic organization will have some influence/sway/power to make sure she can run both the 400 and 400 IM. If Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt can get reasonable schedules, I think Syd should, too.

How cool to see her possibly run:
  • 4 x 400 mixed relay
  • 400 IM
  • 400
  • 4 x 400 relay

For now, let's hope to see her on the tail end of the relay -- running away from whomever is next (Bol again?)
 
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GoUconn7961 said:
OK - It's Friday and I'm still drained from that US v. Serbia game. Let's hope the women don't give me heart palpitations.
I have a funny feeling it's going to be USA v. France for gold in both men and women. If so, the crowds are going to be so loud, and so French, you'll barely hear anything if you're a player on the court.
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Yeah, I'm still buzzing about it too but that's the part of the fun I think. We don't see crowds like this in the US just yet and the players are rising to the occasion.

France vs Belgium could be 50/50 today with respect to crowd noise because Belgian fans don't have far to travel. That will be an interesting game this afternoon.
 
Dillon77 said:
As I understand it, one of the only reasons Syd ("no longer a kid") didn't try the 400 is that they overlapped. Plus, perhaps Bol's performances over the years caught her attention, thinking "hey, I've got be at my best." It's hard running a bunch of races, particularly the 400, which is one heck of a leg strainer.

Given the U.S. women's performance in the 400 thus far, I've got to think putting her in the 4x400 is a no brainer.

As for LA, when she'll be 28/29, you've got to hope the U.S. Olympic organization will have some influence/sway/power to make sure she can run both the 400 and 400 IM. If Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt can get reasonable schedules, I think Syd should, too.

How cool to see her possibly run:
  • 4 x 400 mixed relay
  • 400 IM
  • 400
  • 4 x 400 relay

For now, let's hope to see her on the tail end of the relay -- running away from whomever is next (Bol again?)
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I seem to remember her all-but saying no to the double after her anchor leg in Tokyo. I was still keeping hope alive (heck, I still am), but unless something changes, I think if she does do the flat it will be instead of the hurdles.

Adding three more 400 races to her docket would certainly be challenging.* But did you see her after the finals? She was certainly breathing hard, but she looked like a breath of fresh air compared to the other racers.

*I did heats in the 100, 220, and 440 in addition to the 4x100 in a one-day meet in high school. The 220 was last, and in my heat I was so spent, I started out as though it was a quarter. I realized my mistake about 50 yards in, and in my haste to catch up, caught my spikes in the track and had a spectacular wipe out. I decided to just go to the locker room from there, as I didn't want people to see me covered in blood crossing the finish line, 5-10 seconds after the field. I was shuddering watching the 800 heats the other night, when I think a total of at least 10 runners went down.
 
Vowelguy said:
US 2nd team especially Plum have been awful today
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Plum was not good in her minutes; but second team after a ragged end to first quarter started second quarter on 10-0 run. Overall, they outscored Australia 25-11 in second quarter. Wilson is a defensive beast inside.
 
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bbsamjj said:
Plum was not good in her minutes; but second team after a ragged end to first quarter started second quarter on 10-0 run. Overall, they outscored Australia 25-11 in second quarter. Wilson is a defensive beast inside.
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2nd team did better once Ionescu replaced plum
 
Out here in the West, NBC didn't bother to join this semifinal until late in the 2nd quarter.

They just had to show the Today show to the end, featuring some forgettable pop singer singing forgettable pop songs.
 
AidanFan20 said:
Out here in the West, NBC didn't bother to join this semifinal until late in the 2nd quarter.

They just had to show the Today show to the end, featuring some forgettable pop singer singing forgettable pop songs.
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Oh man. That's just cruel. Would have thought the Today show would get pre-empted while the Olympics are on.
 
Seems to me that the smart thing would be to do the Today show as a live remote FROM the Olympics.
 
Bigboote said:
I seem to remember her all-but saying no to the double after her anchor leg in Tokyo. I was still keeping hope alive (heck, I still am), but unless something changes, I think if she does do the flat it will be instead of the hurdles.

Adding three more 400 races to her docket would certainly be challenging.* But did you see her after the finals? She was certainly breathing hard, but she looked like a breath of fresh air compared to the other racers.
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But she wouldn't be competing against her fellow hurdlers in the 400 flat. She'd be going against the most elite 400 runners who are fresh. Naser and Paulino are two of the fastest to ever run the race. Pryce of Jamaica failed to make the final in Paris but ran an incredible mid-48 just last month.

I think her decision may come down to whether she wants to challenge the 40-year-old world record in the 400 or go for double gold in flat and hurdles. Either would of course be epic, but I actually think the former is more realistic.
 
Holy cow. Poor hand offs by the US was their downfall in the men's 4x100. Wow......Why is this an issue? This seems to happen more often than it should.

It's been almost 30 years since Canada won this relay. While, I'm happy for the athletes, it doesn't seem right that the US didn't medal.
 
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cancontent said:
Holy cow. Poor hand offs by the US was their downfall in the men's 4x100. Wow......Why is this an issue? This seems to happen more often than it should.

It's been almost 30 years since Canada won this relay. While, I'm happy for the athletes, it doesn't seem right that the US didn't medal.
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The United States hasn't medaled in the Men's 4x100 Relay since Athens in 2004. While shocking given the talent we have, the handoffs have always been the downfall of the United States in this event.
 
Lorcan said:
The United States hasn't medaled in the Men's 4x100 Relay since Athens in 2004. While shocking given the talent we have, the handoffs have always been the downfall of the United States in this event.
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That's what I don't get. How does this continue for 20 years? It's such a critical component to the race.
 
Watched the replay a few times because I still can't believe it happened. USA had the lead and were out of it after the first hand-off. You literally see their ranking/position drop off in the graphics almost instantly. Damn. :oops:
 
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