Paris Olympics Discussion Thread

[WBBTakeover]

No European teams made the women's soccer gold medal game!

I'm slightly nervous about Saturday's match. I love Marta and know what she brings, but some of the "others" are playing at a high level.

 

[UcMiami]

Hard to tell whether Brazil was great or the Spanish defense was soo terrible! Own goal followed by defensive turnovers leading to another, and very shaky net keeping to my eye. The second have Spain was pushing forward and was wide open to the counters.

 

[cancontent]

 

[The deacon]

 

[MilfordHusky]

Is it just me, or does it seem that the women are winning 70% of the medals that USA has captured so far?

 

[GoUconn7961]

Is it just me, or does it seem that the women are winning 70% of the medals that USA has captured so far?

Not you, the women are carrying Team USA

 

[cancontent]

Is it just me, or does it seem that the women are winning 70% of the medals that USA has captured so far?

Not you, the women are carrying Team USA

It speaks well to how important investing in women is when it comes to athletics. Hopefully these athletes can leverage their success and get more funding and/or sponsorships.

 

[GoUconn7961]

It speaks well to how important investing in women is when it comes to athletics. Hopefully these athletes can leverage their success and get more funding and/or sponsorships.

That seems to be the message now. I agree, I hope they can leverage this to more investment. I do know the Rugby team was gifted $1Million a year for the next 4 years by Michele Kang who owns several soccer clubs. So that's good news.

 

[GamecockFam]

It has seemed pretty even to me in track and field /swimming. But the women seem to be getting more gold medals than the men in those races.

 

[cancontent]

That seems to be the message now. I agree, I hope they can leverage this to more investment. I do know the Rugby team was gifted $1Million a year for the next 4 years by Michele Kang who owns several soccer clubs. So that's good news.

That was HUGE news. I only wish Canadian businesses saw it the same way here. It feels that Hockey Canada gets all the attention and most of the funding goes towards the mens side.

It's changing but ever so slowly. Doubt it will ever keep pace with what these athletes need to keep pace. A friend and I were joking that the NCAA should be asking the Canadian government for a fee because our sporting associations seem to rely on the NCAA scholarship system for athletic development than make the efforts to invest themselves.

 

[GamecockFam]

I did the math. The women are outpacing the men by a decent margin. It seems like the most of that margin was due to the women medaling more than the men in swimming. It looks to be fairly even when you factor out swimming.

Source: https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/medals

86 total medals for the US as of midday in Paris August 7th.

Totals
Men: 32
Women: 48
Mixed: 6

24 gold
Men: 8
Women: 15
Mixed: 1

31 silver
Men: 10
Women: 17
Mixed: 4

31 bronze
Men: 14
Women: 16
Mixed: 1

 

[Vowelguy]

Not you, the women are carrying Team USA

The US invests in W sports. Many countries dont.

 

[Vowelguy]

What happened to Canada WBB? Thought they'd do better than 0-3.

 

[UcMiami]

That was HUGE news. I only wish Canadian businesses saw it the same way here. It feels that Hockey Canada gets all the attention and most of the funding goes towards the mens side.

It's changing but ever so slowly. Doubt it will ever keep pace with what these athletes need to keep pace. A friend and I were joking that the NCAA should be asking the Canadian government for a fee because our sporting associations seem to rely on the NCAA scholarship system for athletic development than make the efforts to invest themselves.

It is not just Canada that lives on NCAA sports training but the whole world - an amazing number of world athletes are trained with US college scholarships, and even more are trained on US college campuses because that is where the coaches and facilities exist.

As far as the Women/Men medal counts, some of that is the level of competition/funding worldwide - while male athletes have an advantage in money and access over their female counterparts in the US, it is insignificant compared to the discrepancies that exists in many countries around the world. I think the US women have been leading the men for many years in both the Olympics and the World Championships.

There is also a strong economic incentive in professional sports (e.g. career/life altering money) for men to focus on a few lucrative sports, while women continue to have fewer of those options so perhaps have a wider 'amateur' focus across more sports. And the title IX money supports that - NCAA Colleges have cut/reduced many smaller men's programs (Wrestling for example) while expanding women's programs to balance out the large number of football scholarships.

 

[cancontent]

It is not just Canada that lives on NCAA sports training but the whole world - an amazing number of world athletes are trained with US college scholarships, and even more are trained on US college campuses because that is where the coaches and facilities exist.

As far as the Women/Men medal counts, some of that is the level of competition/funding worldwide - while male athletes have an advantage in money and access over their female counterparts in the US, it is insignificant compared to the discrepancies that exists in many countries around the world. I think the US women have been leading the men for many years in both the Olympics and the World Championships.

There is also a strong economic incentive in professional sports (e.g. career/life altering money) for men to focus on a few lucrative sports, while women continue to have fewer of those options so perhaps have a wider 'amateur' focus across more sports. And the title IX money supports that - NCAA Colleges have cut/reduced many smaller men's programs (Wrestling for example) while expanding women's programs to balance out the large number of football scholarships.

True, however some countries don't have the ability to fund programs like Canada does. In my country's case, it's not considered a priority. It's more than just funding it's also infrastructure for our national and provincial sporting organizations. It's non-existent.

On a federal level, their head is in the sand. For example, the early 2000s Canada had a national development program based in Hamilton which helped to develop players like Achonwa and the Plouffe sisters. That was scuttled and the Canada Basketball program has been struggling to rebuild ever since. Yes, some progress has been made, but had that program remained, in place imagine the possibilities.

 

[cancontent]

Watching France today was something else. Seeing Johannes go off the way she did makes me miss seeing her in a Liberty uniform. Had forgotten how great Rupert can be on the court as well.

 

[JDuro]

Thrilling late dash from the middle of the pack by South Carolina Gamecocks alum Quincy Hall to win Gold in 400M.

 

[oldhusky]

Thrilling late dash from the middle of the pack by South Carolina Gamecocks alum Quincy Hall to win Gold in 400M.

This and the men's 1500 finish were awesome!

 

[Bigboote]

Thrilling late dash from the middle of the pack by South Carolina Gamecocks alum Quincy Hall to win Gold in 400M.

It's one thing to kick in a 1500. I've seldom seen anything like that in a 400, and I can't ever remember it at an Olympics or World Championship meet. Coming from 5-10 m back in the last 100 is ridiculous. I've DVRed it, can't wait to watch tonight.

 

[cancontent]

Weird ending to the USA-Nigeria game. Otherwise, the competitiveness in Nigeria to keep battling is to be commended.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Thrilling late dash from the middle of the pack by South Carolina Gamecocks alum Quincy Hall to win Gold in 400M.

He grimaced and lengthened his stride. His last 100 yards was incredible.

 

[nickp91]

The USA placing second in artistic swimming and earning the silver medal makes my heart happy

 

[Dillon77]

It's one thing to kick in a 1500. I've seldom seen anything like that in a 400, and I can't ever remember it at an Olympics or World Championship meet. Coming from 5-10 m back in the last 100 is ridiculous. I've DVRed it, can't wait to watch tonight.

My son is still an avid long-distance runner and we're both fans of middle- and long-distance running. He came across this fact:
Last night's Olympic Final featured the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fastest 1500’s ever run by an American!

The whole race was stupid fast: Yared Naguse said all strategy kind of went out the window and he was just determined to keep up. But the last 100 meters was crazy: even though the Norwegian and the Brit started tightening up, they still ran 10.3, which is cooking. Get this: Americans Cole Hocker (the gold medal winner) and Naguse (bronze) each ran 10.0. How did all of them keep pushing like that? Great, great efforts.

 

[Plebe]

It's one thing to kick in a 1500. I've seldom seen anything like that in a 400, and I can't ever remember it at an Olympics or World Championship meet. Coming from 5-10 m back in the last 100 is ridiculous. I've DVRed it, can't wait to watch tonight.

In my lifetime I have never seen someone completely break form and grimace the final 80 meters of the 400 and still still manage to go faster.

What every track coach in America is thinking now

 

[cancontent]

In my lifetime I have never seen someone completely break form and grimace the final 80 meters of the 400 and still still manage to go faster.

What every track coach in America is thinking now

Love it!