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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 5, 2021 7:50:51 GMT -5
The most conventionally attractive athletes must be in the men's decathlon/women's heptathlon. All-around athletes whose bodies aren't inclined to be warped toward a specialty like disproportionately long arms, particularly massive muscle bulk, and so forth. Plus they tend to be older so it's not so weird to observe this. I am fascinated by the wide variety of bodies involved in track and field. The men tend to be tall and muscular but not too bulky; the women vary in height but are lean and ripped ... and then there are the field athletes. Like, the shot-putters are just WALLS of human beings; not necessarily fat but just big, muscular people. And some of them do have visible paunches or bellies. Apparently as long as you can heave a heavy metal ball halfway across a stadium, your physique is not very important. And then there are the pool swimmers - broad-shouldered with very tall men among them - vs the divers who are very lean. (Some of the Chinese platform divers were like 14 and just teeny tiny. Those shot-putters could throw THEM halfway across the stadium.)
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Post by Not a real doctor on Aug 5, 2021 18:37:12 GMT -5
TIL the 50k race walk is 25 laps around a 2k track. Cruel, but better than 50 around 1k I suppose.
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Post by ganews on Aug 5, 2021 20:54:06 GMT -5
TIL the 50k race walk is 25 laps around a 2k track. Cruel, but better than 50 around 1k I suppose. It seems unfair that these guys look so goofy even though they're completing >marathon distances faster than most marathoners, averaging faster than 8 minute miles.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Aug 6, 2021 9:00:44 GMT -5
Kenya have the best track and field outfits.
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Post by Lurky McLurk on Aug 6, 2021 10:11:50 GMT -5
TIL the 50k race walk is 25 laps around a 2k track. Cruel, but better than 50 around 1k I suppose. I've long thought that the World Athletics Indoor Championship should include a marathon event requiring competitors to run 105.5 laps of the track.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Aug 7, 2021 1:24:13 GMT -5
I also saw some of the open water marathon swimming and man, those people are nuts.
The Men's bronze medalist in the open water marathon swim was the same Italian guy, Paltrinieri, I wrote about earlier. The one who is competing in the endurance swim races after being diagnosed with Mononucleosis in JUNE 2021. So, like 6 weeks ago.
To repeat: Paltrinieri had Mono in JUNE 2021 and then won the Silver medal in the 800m Freestyle and the Bronze medal in the Open Water 10K swim. He also came in 4th in the 1500m Freestyle.
At this point, I'm just going to assume that his doctors were wrong and he didn't really have Mono, because otherwise that is too incredible to even comprehend.
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Post by ganews on Aug 8, 2021 22:08:28 GMT -5
Well, that's the end of the Olympics. Fortunately, now we have the Paralympics to look forward to on TV. Right? I mean, it would be disgustingly hypocritical of NBC and the IOC to profit off weeks of commercials featuring Paralypians and then not show the games in prime time, or at least spread across the daytime programming of the various cable networks. Right?
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 9, 2021 7:35:39 GMT -5
Well, that's the end of the Olympics. Fortunately, now we have the Paralympics to look forward to on TV. Right? I mean, it would be disgustingly hypocritical of NBC and the IOC to profit off weeks of commercials featuring Paralypians and then not show the games in prime time, or at least spread across the daytime programming of the various cable networks. Right? That's what I kept saying, after two weeks of inspo-porn during every break....
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Post by ganews on Aug 26, 2021 20:51:20 GMT -5
Watching some Paralympics. NBC has it on exactly one of its cable channels, and it's not one you've heard of. Sucks that you can't just flip channels during the umpteenth athlete feature story. Same commercials mostly.
Now that my moralizing judgement is out of the way, this is kind of odd to watch. Half the time I catch myself trying to spot the handicap. A couple years ago I got to play table tennis with a US teammate who had a kind of nervous disorder, which doesn't really translate to the screen.
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Post by ganews on Feb 5, 2022 16:32:11 GMT -5
Summer Olympics has more sports I want to watch closely, Winter is better for having on while I nap on the couch with a blanket. Especially biathlon, the best dozing sport.
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Post by ganews on Feb 6, 2022 17:47:59 GMT -5
Luge/skeleton, bobsled, and distance ski jumping are the least interesting events. There isn't enough visual variation to the layman to really tell what will make a winner, and they are even more dominated by a few countries than your average winter sport.
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Post by ganews on Feb 7, 2022 0:28:27 GMT -5
41-year-old Frenchman hanging onto silver in men's downhill, the oldest medalist ever in the sport. As someone who still plays sports and hopes to keep playing for decades to come, these are the real inspirational stories.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Feb 7, 2022 7:10:58 GMT -5
Luge/skeleton, bobsled, and distance ski jumping are the least interesting events. There isn't enough visual variation to the layman to really tell what will make a winner, and they are even more dominated by a few countries than your average winter sport. I love watching the 'throw yourself down an ice tube' events. The multi-run aspect of it appeals to me with the competitors going in reverse order for the final iteration where you're looking at who's going to make a mistake and drop down the rankings or is there someone who can post a surprisingly good last time and jump up into contention. Fine margins etc and so on. Now it's time to switch on the curling mixed doubles semi-final as the British team take on Norway looking for revenge after defeat in the same tie during the round robin phase.
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Post by ganews on Feb 9, 2022 23:44:54 GMT -5
I wonder if the teammate positions in doubles luge are referred to as Tops and Bottoms.
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Post by ganews on Feb 13, 2022 22:33:33 GMT -5
Monobob looks as silly as its name. A helmet popping above the sled car - looks like a Shriner.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 14, 2022 23:01:09 GMT -5
Real cool of the IOC to decide not to have any sort of medal ceremony should Valieva happen to medal. Real cool to penalize whoever else hypothetically medals with her as harshly as she herself is being punished.
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Post by Celebith on Feb 15, 2022 15:29:03 GMT -5
Real cool of the IOC to decide not to have any sort of medal ceremony should Valieva happen to medal. Real cool to penalize whoever else hypothetically medals with her as harshly as she herself is being punished. The IOC is shit and watching the Olympics just encourages them. Shoot all the officials and let the athletes compete and have their fuckfest in peace, in regions where the weather is actually suited to the events.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 16, 2022 20:59:01 GMT -5
Real cool of the IOC to decide not to have any sort of medal ceremony should Valieva happen to medal. Real cool to penalize whoever else hypothetically medals with her as harshly as she herself is being punished.
The IOC could have simply enacted a total ban of Russian athletes after the OBVIOUS cheating that was going on in 2014, rather than this absurd fake ban they have going now. This would require the IOC to not take bribes. So, there is little chance of this ever happening.
My favorite part of this whole ridiculous situation is the IOC's claim that she's okay to compete because the penalties are lower for athletes her age. Well, IOC, I would argue that perhaps the rules/penalties should be the same for everyone competing in the same event.
Just total nonsense from them. As always.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 16, 2022 21:06:00 GMT -5
In other thoughts, several Winter Olympic events seem utterly terrifying to me. Luge/Skeleton get a big NOPE from me. Saw a clip with the athlete POV, with some GoPro camera or something, and that was TERRIFYING. They're going 80-90pmh on a tiny sled! NOPE.
All these ski racing events (Super G/Downhill) seem insane to me. These people are going SO FAST. Apparently, it is just expected in these events that you are going to have several crashes in your career. You're going 90mph, hurtling down a mountain covered in ice! WTF?
Honestly, the snowboarders doing tricks in the half pipe seem way less crazy than those folks.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 16, 2022 21:25:58 GMT -5
Real cool of the IOC to decide not to have any sort of medal ceremony should Valieva happen to medal. Real cool to penalize whoever else hypothetically medals with her as harshly as she herself is being punished.
The IOC could have simply enacted a total ban of Russian athletes after the OBVIOUS cheating that was going on in 2014, rather than this absurd fake ban they have going now. This would require the IOC to not take bribes. So, there is little chance of this ever happening.
My favorite part of this whole ridiculous situation is the IOC's claim that she's okay to compete because the penalties are lower for athletes her age. Well, IOC, I would argue that perhaps the rules/penalties should be the same for everyone competing in the same event.
Just total nonsense from them. As always.
With regards to the rules/penalties I do wonder if this age thing is going to set a precedent that leads to an Olympics filled with roided out 15 year olds who are above the law or cause the minimum age to compete to be raised to 18 or whatever the age at which an athlete is actually able to be held responsible for their actions as set in the Olympic bylines are.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 16, 2022 21:30:29 GMT -5
In other thoughts, several Winter Olympic events seem utterly terrifying to me. Luge/Skeleton get a big NOPE from me. Saw a clip with the athlete POV, with some GoPro camera or something, and that was TERRIFYING. They're going 80-90pmh on a tiny sled! NOPE. All these ski racing events (Super G/Downhill) seem insane to me. These people are going SO FAST. Apparently, it is just expected in these events that you are going to have several crashes in your career. You're going 90mph, hurtling down a mountain covered in ice! WTF? Honestly, the snowboarders doing tricks in the half pipe seem way less crazy than those folks. Do you remember Speed Skiing? I think it showed up as an exhibition sport in the '92 Olympics (or maybe '94) but got a big thumbs down from the IOC as becoming an Olympic sport when one of the competitors crashed into plow or snow machine or something during a practice run and died instantly because he was going like 130 mpH.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 16, 2022 21:40:11 GMT -5
In other thoughts, several Winter Olympic events seem utterly terrifying to me. Luge/Skeleton get a big NOPE from me. Saw a clip with the athlete POV, with some GoPro camera or something, and that was TERRIFYING. They're going 80-90pmh on a tiny sled! NOPE. All these ski racing events (Super G/Downhill) seem insane to me. These people are going SO FAST. Apparently, it is just expected in these events that you are going to have several crashes in your career. You're going 90mph, hurtling down a mountain covered in ice! WTF? Honestly, the snowboarders doing tricks in the half pipe seem way less crazy than those folks. Do you remember Speed Skiing? I think it showed up as an exhibition sport in the '92 Olympics (or maybe '94) but got a big thumbs down from the IOC as becoming an Olympic sport when one of the competitors crashed into plow or snow machine or something during a practice run and died instantly because he was going like 130 mpH.
I have only vague memories of this. Well, not the event you are describing at the Olympics. But I vaguely remember seeing actual speed skiing. Perhaps it was at the Olympics and I just blocked out the part about someone dying. Yikes. That is terrible.
According to google, this was the 92 Olympics. When I clicked a WaPo article about it, an American ski coach is quoted as saying "It is part of skiing that things like this are going to happen."
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 16, 2022 21:45:16 GMT -5
Do you remember Speed Skiing? I think it showed up as an exhibition sport in the '92 Olympics (or maybe '94) but got a big thumbs down from the IOC as becoming an Olympic sport when one of the competitors crashed into plow or snow machine or something during a practice run and died instantly because he was going like 130 mpH.
I have only vague memories of this. Well, not the event you are describing at the Olympics. But I vaguely remember seeing actual speed skiing. Perhaps it was at the Olympics and I just blocked out the part about someone dying. Yikes. That is terrible.
According to google, this was the 92 Olympics. When I clicked a WaPo article about it, an American ski coach is quoted as saying "It is part of skiing that things like this are going to happen." Yeah I don't think they televised the dude crashing into whatever he crashed into since it was a trial run or practice or whatever but it was one of those things that when you heard about the death and saw what Speed Skiing was it was like, "Yeah no shit someone is going to die doing this."
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Post by ganews on Feb 16, 2022 23:38:40 GMT -5
I have only vague memories of this. Well, not the event you are describing at the Olympics. But I vaguely remember seeing actual speed skiing. Perhaps it was at the Olympics and I just blocked out the part about someone dying. Yikes. That is terrible.
According to google, this was the 92 Olympics. When I clicked a WaPo article about it, an American ski coach is quoted as saying "It is part of skiing that things like this are going to happen." Yeah I don't think they televised the dude crashing into whatever he crashed into since it was a trial run or practice or whatever but it was one of those things that when you heard about the death and saw what Speed Skiing was it was like, "Yeah no shit someone is going to die doing this." Just the other night they definitely televised footage (not even from this Olympics, but something that happened to an athlete previously) of one of those 100 m ski jumpers going off-kilter in the air and breaking a whole lot of bones. NBC has the sensibilities of local news.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Feb 17, 2022 22:43:58 GMT -5
I feel SO bad for these Russian skaters - they're 15! they're being abused! even the silver and gold medalists looked absolutely miserable. I don't think Kamila Valieva should have been allowed to compete but the way she was harangued afterward... ugh. It's terrible.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 17, 2022 22:50:47 GMT -5
I feel SO bad for these Russian skaters - they're 15! they're being abused! even the silver and gold medalists looked absolutely miserable. I don't think Kamila Valieva should have been allowed to compete but the way she was harangued afterward... ugh. It's terrible.
Yes, one of the big media outlets is saying the coach was screaming at her something like, "Why did you give up?!"
How terrible. Wish the IOC had just banned them all. And I wish they had any power (or will) to ban coaches who abuse the athletes.
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Post by liebkartoffel on Feb 18, 2022 11:23:18 GMT -5
And with C's newfound but already intense fascination with curling our transformation into Upper Midwesterners is complete.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Mar 4, 2022 23:10:28 GMT -5
I’m watching a little Paralympics tonight and … I dunno, it’s a little weird how they talk about the athletes, discussing “how disabled” they are and in what way. It’s just on the edge of gross to me.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Mar 7, 2022 0:32:46 GMT -5
I said that the alpine skiing events look insane to me due to the high speeds they go while on ice. Watching these same events in the Paralympics does not lessen my belief that all the athletes who do this are some kind of insane. Vision impaired Downhill? Are you kidding me? This would be terrifying to me with my glasses ON. I'm way past legally blind without my glasses and I just cannot even fathom trying this. I have walked into walls without my glasses. Cannot imagine strapping on skis and going that fast down a sheet of ice.
Y'all are out of your minds! All of you! Paralympics, Olympics, whatever.
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