Olympics

[Free]

Whoa. Spiderman.

 

[Free]

She won gold so she can get a duck.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Quincy Hall dragging a gold medal out of the men's 400m - maaaan

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Men's discus throw tonight was dramatic. Lithuanian Mykolas Alekna threw a 69.97, a new Olympic record, breaking the one previously set by his own father Virgilijus Alekna during Athens 2004 (69.89m).

But Alekna wouldn't get to savor this long as a short time later an even 70m was thrown by Roje Stona of Jamaica, capturing the new record AND the gold! His gold, along with teammate Rajindra Campbell's bronze in men's shot put a few days ago, are Jamaica's first-ever Olympic medals in throwing events, and Jamaica's first gold in Paris.

 

[Erich Templar]

Just found out that he wasn't alone:

 

[Free]

Woohoo!

Imane Khelif Wins Olympic Boxing Gold Medal, Triumphs Over Battles Both In and Out of the Ring

The Algerian's win follows online harassment prompted by false claims that she is a man and therefore ineligible to compete in the women's category.

variety.com

Suck on that one, dumbasses.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Wrench because that’s metal.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Well. I'm just going to say that...breaking isn't really delivering for me. I was excited to watch it, for sure, to give it a chance and see what happened. But....after watching it for a while...I dunno guys.

 

[mikka]

Imane Khelif made my day. I have a Lady Gaga song in my head

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

USWNT completes its redemption arc, defeating Brazil for women's soccer gold! \o/

 

[Free]

Imane Khelif made my day. I have a Lady Gaga song in my head

I don't even like boxing. But in this case, I'll give it a pass.

 

[Free]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

So the 2024 Games are finished, and man was that a lot of fun. I think it was great all around, the venues were largely beautiful, the controversies were relatively few compared to some other Olympics, and there were some fantastic and memorable moments.

Hot takes on some of the new events in Paris:

Kayak Cross - OMFG yes, it made me feel funny inside

Bouldering as a separate Climbing event - Fun and at times impressive

Kitesurfing - somehow I completely missed this during the games, but I approve

Breaking - I gave it a fair go but honestly nah, especially considering how popular it has been for the viewing public to rag on the worst-scoring participants. That's not my Olympics. In my Olympics the crowd still loudly cheers the last marathoner to cross the finish line.

Mixed relay Triathlon - Yes! Not new-new, it debuted in Tokyo, but this was the first time I watched it and I'm glad it came back and I'm glad that (as far as I know) it's staying.

In retrospect, it really makes me feel bad for the Tokyo 2020 games - it wasn't their fault, it was the pandemic, but it's such a shame that Japan didn't get the opportunity to show itself off the way France did this time around. Imagine if they'd been able to do that!

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

So now it's on to LA. I hope above all else that LA takes a cue from Paris by using only existing venues or building temporary ones for the games that will be fully dismantled afterwards - honestly LA should need to build far fewer of those, maybe even none, but it certainly shouldn't need to build anything new or permanent.

So, as to sports - what's staying, what's going?

Firstly, what's not coming back:

Breaking
possibly Boxing. The IOC no longer recognizes the International Boxing Association due to the IBA not only being too corrupt even for the IOC but also just all-around incompetence, inconsistent scoring rules, the fact that international referees seem to be for sale, just all kinds of stuff. The IOC itself stood up a governing committee for boxing for Paris, but it's not going to do it again, and if issues with the IBA aren't resolved by next year Boxing will not happen in 2028.

What IS coming back (from Paris):

All of the events mentioned in my last post except for Breaking

Additionally, climbing, surfing, and skateboarding have all graduated to permanent Olympic events. Woot!

LA's chosen extra sports for 2028:

Baseball - you know what this is; last appeared in Beijing 2008
Softball - Baseball but, you know, for GIRLS for some reason. Literally; Baseball/Softball is technically considered one Olympic discipline with Baseball being the men's event and Softball being the women's. Also last appeared in Beijing 2008
Cricket - Baseball but for POMS, whatever those are; last appeared in Paris 1900
Lacrosse - It's very hard to describe this if you haven't seen it; it's obviously a football/hockey-code but weird enough to be just off the map. Last appeared in London 1908

Additionally, two disciplines are appearing for the first time ever:

Squash - It's tennis but you're both on the same side of the net, and also the net is a wall
Flag Football - a variant of American Football in which you pull a cloth tag from an opponent's uniform rather than physically tackling them to the ground. Also played with smaller teams on a smaller pitch, much like Rugby Sevens

A couple of new events in existing disciplines:

Light double sculls in Rowing is being replaced with a "beach sprint" event. This looks really interesting - explanation video

In Modern Pentathlon, the horse jumping segment is being replaced with an obstacle course race (for the human, no horses involved). There's some background here but the short version is that it's fallout from a 2020 Tokyo incident in which a German athlete's coach was caught on camera punching an uncooperative horse in the leg during the event.

 

[Casey Pelous]

They're going to have cricket? Is this going to be like a year-long Olympics or something?

 

[Lexxi]

Squash - It's tennis but you're both on the same side of the net, and also the net is a wall

It's racquetball, but the court is larger in racquetball, ceiling out of bounds in squash, etc. etc. . . .

And

Squash players can hit the ball at high speeds, with some players recording serves of over 176 mph.

 

[Free]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Oh shoot I just realized, I forgot to post a final medal tally!

 

[Free]

Any opportunity to slight Pluto...

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Had to be a planet to qualify, sorry