I like the NBC quote “A Summer to remember!”
1 Like
Lots of puns floating around. Canadians call these games Summer’s Olympics.
2 Likes
Weaslette broke down and finally paid for Peacock so she got to watch some gymnastics and swimming.
1 Like
I don’t usually watch gymnastics but did so this time because of Simone Biles….
1 Like
Daughter got some discount on peacock. The discount made dad happy. The availability of the Olympics made mom happy.
1 Like
TIL that the shuttlecock in badminton is made from 16 goose feathers… specifically always feathers from the goose’s left wing because the left wing is stronger than the right wing. I had no idea.
1 Like
Did not know that.
I have also learned several new things: such as why they award two bronze medals in boxing! Hadn’t watched any boxing since Cassius Clay was in the Olympics so that is my excuse for forgetting.
wonder if that has always been or if that is a concession to the danger of the sport. one less fight in short schedule to sort out 3rd/4th
OK, I need some help with a debate vs my wife.
For the Gymnastic TEAM Finals:
Can each team choose which gymnasts perform, regardless of the scores from the qualifying round? Or must it be the top three gymnasts from the qualifying round?
My concern is that someone flops on the balance beam in the qualifying round, but is otherwise much better, normally on the apparatus.
My wife says only the top three from qualifying are allowed to compete in the TEAM final.
Checked NBC’s site, wording did not help.
Any takers?
RN
1 Like
Glad someone got it.
It has been a long-standing practice to protect boxers from the additional pounding from an extra consolation match for the bronze. It is an admission that it is a brutal sport.
I watched boxing as a kid as I was mesmerized by Cassius Clay in the 1960 Olympics and by his subsequent career as Mohamed Ali. By the time I was university age I was turned off by the brutality of the sport but still fascinated by Ali the man.
Boxing would be near the top of my list as sports that should be dropped from the Olympics; along with golf, but for different reasons!
I believe that each team can choose which 3 gymnasts will compete in the final from among all 5 gymnasts… even the 1 who did not participate in the event in qualifying.
(Teams of 5. For qualifying you send 4 gymnasts on each apparatus and the top 3 scores count. For finals you send 3 and all 3 scores count.)
Normally you would send your top 3 scorers, but I don’t think there is any obligation to do so. If a gymnast is injured or gets the twisties during finals, or someone has an uncharacteristically bad day during qualifying but you still believe in them, I think you are free to send whichever 3 you want.
I’m like 98% on that.
In Tokyo, Simone Biles was not one of the 3 for the US team in anything except vault, and without looking at scores, I feel confident that she was one of the top 3 in qualifying in beam and floor. So team gets to select which 3.
Thanks. My wife will lose this argument, but I believe I will lose the war. Because I didn’t simply say, “You’re right, honey.”
My memory is a bit fuzzy here but I think last go around Simone Biles got the twisties during her first apparatus of the team finals. She was slated to do the other 3 apparatus’ as well, so when she dropped out that meant that a teammate who had NOT been planning on competing on each of the other three apparatuses suddenly had to do so.
They talked about how they always have every gymnast prep all four apparati just in case something happens, so it wasn’t too big of a deal, but surely there’s an extra dose of nerves to get called up off the bench to pinch hit for the GOAT.
(What is the plural of apparatus? Apparatuses? Apparati?)
Can’t help you there, sorry.
1 Like
D’oh! Ninja’d by Samantha.
That’s right; they did vault first and that’s when she got the twisties and she didn’t do the others.
I’d be a little surprised if she wasn’t in the top 3 Americans in uneven bars as well, but I’m admittedly not sure.