Olympics Thread
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Update:
Men’s 400m T44 (athletics) - GOLD for Liam Malone in a new olympic record (smashing another record from Pistorius)
Men’s 400m T36 (athletics) - BRONZE for 16 year old William Stedman
Women's 200m Individual Medley SM11 (swimming) - Mary Fisher finishes 6th
Men's 100m Backstroke S9 (swimming) - Jesse Reynolds finishes 7th
Women's 100m Backstroke S9 (swimming) - 15-year-old Tupou Neiufi finishes 7th
Men's 50m Backstroke S5 (swimming) - Cameron Leslie finishes 8th
Women's 100m Freestyle S7 (swimming) - Rebecca Dubber finishes 9th in her heat, missing qualification for the Final by just under three tenths of a secon
Men's Road Race C3 (cycling) - Fraser Sharp finishes 11thThe para-sailors (Sonar) currently sit at 5th place with two more races to go.
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Nothing announced officially, yet, but finally some common sense ...
Olympics will be postponed, IOC member Dick Pound says
The International Olympic Committee has decided to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Games because of the coronavirus pandemic, IOC member Dick Pound has told a US newspaper. Major sporting nations Australia and Canada had already withdrawn as organisers came under global pressure to postpone the event for the first time in the Olympics' 124-year modern history. "On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided," Pound was quoted as saying by USA Today. "The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know." The report said the games, scheduled for July 24-Aug. 9, were likely to be held in 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks. A postponement would be a massive blow for the host country, Japan, which has pumped in more than $21 billion of investment, and huge sums are also at stake for sponsors and broadcasters. But a groundswell of concern from athletes - already struggling to train as gyms, stadiums and swimming pools close around the world - appears to be tipping the balance, along with the cancellation of other major sports events. More than 337,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus worldwide and over 14,600 have died in a pandemic that the World Health Organisation said was accelerating. The IOC and the Japanese government have both edged back from weeks of blanket insistence the Games would go ahead, announcing a month-long consultation on scenarios including postponement. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's emergencies programme, said the WHO was feeding into deliberations over the Games, adding: "I believe a decision will be made very soon." The Olympics have never before been delayed, though they were cancelled altogether in 1916, 1940 and 1944 during the two world wars, and major Cold War boycotts disrupted the Moscow and Los Angeles Games in 1980 and 1984 respectively. "The moment the IOC indicates that it is thinking about other solutions, it has already decided to delay the Games," said French Olympic Committee president Denis Masseglia. Canada and Australia both bluntly said they would not participate if the Games were not put back to 2021 and Britain may have followed suit. The Swiss Olympic Committee also called for a postponement, saying a fair, global Games was not currently possible. "We are in the midst of a global health crisis that is far more significant than sport," said Canada's Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee in a statement. "Our athletes have been magnificent in their positive attitude to training and preparing, but the stress and uncertainty have been extremely challenging for them," said Australia's Olympics Chef de Mission, Ian Chesterman. Paralympic athletes may be at particular risk from the epidemic as some have underlying health problems. Russia urged global sporting authorities to avoid "panic" and U.S. President Donald Trump expressed confidence in Japan to make the "proper" call. But a raft of other nations and sports bodies piled pressure on the IOC - and its German president Thomas Bach, a former Olympic fencing champion - to make a quick decision. "The faster the decision, the better it is for the entire Olympic movement," Greece's Olympic head, Spyros Capralos, a former water polo player, told Reuters. "I understand where the athletes are coming from," he added. "When you cannot train, you are stressed, you live in agony, which is disastrous. Postponement is inevitable." -
Interesting to see Canada and Australia taking the lead on this. They’re neither heavyweights nor lightweights. And their decision doesn’t look political. Other nations (U.K.) already following their lead. Games will be postponed. Hard to see it go on without both of them.
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Stick a fork in it.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has endorsed a delay in the start of the 2020 games in Tokyo because of the spread of deadly coronavirus
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It’s official. Postponed a year.
JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE AND THE TOKYO 2020 ORGANISING COMMITTEE
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In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.
[...]
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Lions tour of South Africa set for Olympics clash
The British and Irish Lions' tour of South Africa in July 2021 will not be shifted despite a direct overlap with the new dates for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
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The first casualty for NZ athletes.
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So this happened
Probably more fun to watch than the ribbon and hoola hoop shit
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@Machpants IMO anything that has to be voted on artistic interpretation does not deserve to be at the Olympics.
Faster - Higher - Stronger
Next we will have Simon fucking Cowell judging...
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@Stargazer not entirely sure how you can tolerate rhythmic gymnastics, but slam breakdancing. They've both got interpretation.
What about diving?
Anything with judges is going to have some degree of judgement to find a winner.
That said, rationally I can understand including it, but it doesn't feel 'right'.
Separately, the best suggestion I've seen for the commonwealth games is go back to traditional commonwealth sports rather than try to be an Olympics-Lite. Wood chopping, caber toss, log rolling, cheese rolling, whatever the hell they do in Australia, etc. I'd sure as shit watch that
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@dogmeat said in Olympics Thread:
@Machpants IMO anything that has to be voted on artistic interpretation does not deserve to be at the Olympics.
Faster - Higher - Stronger
Agreed. I say this every time the Olympics comes around.
I met a pentathlete at a party and I made a life-long friend by enquiring "did you take up pentathlon because you couldn't compete in actual events?"
If it requires a judge it shouldn't be included. If it is surpassed by another sport, it shouldn't be included. So walking and most swimming is gone.
"I'm the fastest walker over 50km". Whoppee fucking doo. Here's the fastest hop skipper and backwards walker too. Give them a medal.
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i saw this news this morning, laughed, and moved on.
I watch and care about so very little at the olympics already that it doesn't worry me. I watch the running (cross country would have been great) and the cycling, and very little else.
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@mariner4life said in Olympics Thread:
I watch and care about so very little at the olympics already that it doesn't worry me.
I'm with you on this. Drugs have completely farked it for me, I don't know who's clean and who's not, and testing sure as shit ain't picking up the cheats.
So I'm OK with not watching.
Also, in teh modern world you have regular meetings of teh world's best athletes. I far prefer a World Cup, where it builds over a few weeks to a final, and you get all the tension and spectacle of meaningful knockout matches.
Edit: except cricket ODI world cups. Those things hurt.
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@nzzp said in Olympics Thread:
@mariner4life said in Olympics Thread:
I watch and care about so very little at the olympics already that it doesn't worry me.
I'm with you on this. Drugs have completely farked it for me, I don't know who's clean and who's not, and testing sure as shit ain't picking up the cheats.
So I'm OK with not watching.
Also, in teh modern world you have regular meetings of teh world's best athletes. I far prefer a World Cup, where it builds over a few weeks to a final, and you get all the tension and spectacle of meaningful knockout matches.
actually teh drugs thing isn't even on my radar
my main gripe was the fact it became more and more of a nationalistic dick-waving contest, with more focus on medal tables than human achievement.
The Australian Free to Air coverage may have had a significant part to play in that. But little old NZ is not above it, especially when "per capita" and "per dollar spent" tables start coming out. Return on Investment is for my work, not my sport watching.
Piss off, i want to see someone run a record pace no matter where they are from. I want to watch Bolt win 12 straight golds in 12 events. fuck off swimming.
