Olympics 2021 err 2020

[njee20]

Yep, it sure is good to have the games on at a decent hour.

And the first BMX Olympic gold goes to.... Australia! 

First BMX Freestyle gold. The first BMX gold (of this games) went to the Netherlands, and BMX racing has been in for a good while, since Beijing?

[Bealman]

Ah, this covid lockdown we're experiencing here has stuffed the satellite up 

[TrevL]

I think Australia are doing really well, especially when you take into account the population level.  Everyone else in the top eight have a far far greater pool of people to get a team from.

[railsquid]

the laser dinghy race. 

what, do they like zap each other with weaponised light rays? 

Was weird enough catching a glimpse of the fencing chappies who seem to have some Star Wars-esque helmetry with colourful lights.

[Railwaygun]

I look forward to Olympic 2025 Tiddlywinks. 

[Webbo]

the laser dinghy race. 

what, do they like zap each other with weaponised light rays? 

Was weird enough catching a glimpse of the fencing chappies who seem to have some Star Wars-esque helmetry with colourful lights.

The Laser is a small class of dinghy. One man (whoops! person) and a single sail.

[njee20]

I look forward to Olympic 2025 Tiddlywinks.

You'll have a job, given it's not even an Olympic year 

I've just looked at what they are proposing to introduce at Paris in 3 years; 'breaking' (ie break dancing), surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing. Surely the last 3 are new for Tokyo

[JonMann]

I look forward to Olympic 2025 Tiddlywinks.

You'll have a job, given it's not even an Olympic year 

I've just looked at what they are proposing to introduce at Paris in 3 years; 'breaking' (ie break dancing), surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing. Surely the last 3 are new for Tokyo

Believe they maybe test events at Tokyo with them being official events from Paris.

[njee20]

Interesting! With 2 events for each gender in skateboarding it's hard to imagine them doing much more in Paris!

[LASteve]

I hope the newly-minted Slovakian and new silver medal winner Rory Sabbatini spent any acceptance speech seconds he was granted apologising to his fellow competitors for the screeching, cheerleading antics of his caddie-wife.

Token caddies are fine, but let's keep them to the Par-3 tournament at Augusta where Jack's grandkids, Tiger's kids and others can play caddie for a day.

Lee Westwood's wife is a full-time caddie for him, and you never see her screeching, screaming and smooching him during a tournament. They go about their professional business as player-caddie, a lesson to be learned by Sabbatini and his banshee bag-carrier.

Rant over!

[Newportnobby]

Watched the cycling qually this morning and was shocked to see one poor Aussie face plant the track when his 3D printed composite handlebars snapped at speed!
It must have scared the bejaysus out of him! At first I thought he'd touched the rear wheel of the chap in front.

[Jon898]

The Laser is a small class of dinghy. One man (whoops! person) and a single sail.

At least you're getting some of the sailing to see.  Here in the land of NBC, there was NO sailing broadcast.  We got skateboarding, archery, surfing, you name it, but no sailing.

And after all the to-do about no political demonstrations allowed by Olympic rules, there were the GB rugby teams "taking a knee" in the name of racial injustice.  Somewhat ironic when the Fijians won the men's gold with not a white guy in sight...

Jon

[railsquid]

the laser dinghy race. 

what, do they like zap each other with weaponised light rays? 

Was weird enough catching a glimpse of the fencing chappies who seem to have some Star Wars-esque helmetry with colourful lights.

The Laser is a small class of dinghy. One man (whoops! person) and a single sail.

Ah, now you describe it, I'm pretty sure my father had one in the 1980s, which I had completely forgotten about until now  . (Before that he had a "mirror dinghy", never could work out why it was called that because it had absolutely no reflective surfaces, though I suppose if it did, they would be very helpful in any conflict with laser dinghies.

Staying on the subject of resolved Olympic mysteries, I have just found out that team "ROC" and their pseudo-flag is actually "Russian Olympic Committee", not "Republic of China" aka Taiwan, which had me confused as their physiques are not of a sort usually associated with Taiwan (aka TPE / "Chinese Taipei").

[LASteve]

Before that he had a "mirror dinghy", never could work out why it was called that because it had absolutely no reflective surfaces, though I suppose if it did, they would be very helpful in any conflict with laser dinghies.

The Mirror Dinghy was a plywood design for home-building. I remember seeing diagrams of how to stitch together the hull components with epoxy and wire-ties. It was about an 8' boat with a pram bow and a mainsail on a mast that looked like it was a broom handle. I think the plans, such as they were, were published by the Daily Mirror back in the day.

I'd just finished reading "Swallows and Amazons" as a youngster and thought I'd have a better chance at getting my old Dad to build a Mirror dinghy than a clinker-built sailboat with a centreboard.

Neither came to pass, but I still remember the instructions to twist the wires together to hold the hull steady while the epoxy set.

Sheesh, I'm getting old.

[njee20]

Staying on the subject of resolved Olympic mysteries, I have just found out that team "ROC" and their pseudo-flag is actually "Russian Olympic Committee", not "Republic of China" aka Taiwan, which had me confused as their physiques are not of a sort usually associated with Taiwan (aka TPE / "Chinese Taipei").

Yes, Russia were banned from international competition for 4 years (later reduced to 2) for their systemic, state-endorsed doping programs. Russian athletes not implicated are allowed to compete as 'neutrals' under the ROC banner. There's no Russian flag, no team Russia, no national anthem. However their uniforms scream which country they're from, and they have a bigger delegation than at Rio. It makes an absolute mockery of any sort of ban.

There's also the EOR, which is the team for refugees, introduced in Rio. They had an entrant originally from Afghanistan in the ladies time trial, who averaged 18mph, significantly below even a mediocre club cyclist. Still, I applaud the sentiment!