Paris Olympics 2024

[Radioguy41]

I recorded the opening ceremonies yesterday and we sat down at lunch today to watch it. Now I'm 83 and I've seen a lot of opening ceremonies and in saying that this was the worst ceremonies and the worst ceremonies coverage I have ever seen. For the ceremonies - watching a bunch of boats cruising down the river in no way equates to the excitement of watching the athletes parade into the Olympic stadium for the first time. This was lame. What made it even worse was the hodge podge of seemingly unrelated performances along the way. There was no coherent theme, just scattered vaudeville acts. As for the coverage - who decided that the best co-hosts for the Olympic opening ceremonies would be Peyton Manning, Kelly Clarkson, and that joke Snoop Dog? Really? That's the best they could come up with? With all the possible ex-olympians available you go with these three? In the spirit of the Olympics, time to pass the torch NBC, you've lost your way.

 

[Pepper]

Oh, there was definitely a coherent theme to the performances. The pale horse from Revelation, the Scarlet Whore, a golden calf and a bunch of drag queens enacting the Last Supper. Probably more things that I didn't catch the first time around and I'm not planning to watch again.

 

[TRG]

The naked blue fat guy is where I shut it off. I cant believe I even made it that far.

 

[Howard Simmons]

Maybe that's why it was raining. they were crying in heaven.

 

[TRG]

After that terrible opening ceremony I haven't been going out of my way to watch too many of the events. My wife watched some swimming last night but I just couldn't get into it and left the room. I caught a few YouTube videos of woman's gymnastics. Man, Simone Biles is amazing, even with a leg injury. Today I was flipping channels and beach volleyball caught my eye. That's about it. I cant get too excited about this year. I'm not sure if is because they got started off on the wrong foot or it just isn't all that interesting this time around. I might try again tonight after the baseball game.

 

[Yespage]

Triathlon could be historic with having the highest e. coli rating in world history. It rained, and Paris, at best has a mixed sanitary/storm sewer system, which gets overloaded in certain rain intensities, meaning solid waste into the river. Not four years ago, some areas were discharging sewage directly into the river. I get why they wanted to do it in the river... but you don't just separate sewers in old school Europe.

Katie Ledecky won a bronze in the 400 m. She is the favorite to three-peat gold in the 800 and 1500 m. Could do it again in 2028.

Canada caught in a Girls with Drones Gone Wild scandal. Got a six pt penalty. However! Thanks to a 2-1 victory over France, they now sit at 0 pts. One more win (against Colombia) gets them to 3 points. It is possible that could qualify for the knockout round after all as the top two 3rd place teams advance. Canada would only have 3 pts, but almost certainly the best GD.

Simone Biles continues being the best gymnast ever. Men's team stuff is today.

 

[TRG]

Triathlon could be historic with having the highest e. coli rating in world history. It rained, and Paris, at best has a mixed sanitary/storm sewer system, which gets overloaded in certain rain intensities, meaning solid waste into the river. Not four years ago, some areas were discharging sewage directly into the river. I get why they wanted to do it in the river... but you don't just separate sewers in old school Europe.

Gross.

Katie Ledecky won a bronze in the 400 m. She is the favorite to three-peat gold in the 800 and 1500 m. Could do it again in 2028.

Canada caught in a Girls with Drones Gone Wild scandal. Got a six pt penalty. However! Thanks to a 2-1 victory over France, they now sit at 0 pts. One more win (against Colombia) gets them to 3 points. It is possible that could qualify for the knockout round after all as the top two 3rd place teams advance. Canada would only have 3 pts, but almost certainly the best GD.

Simone Biles continues being the best gymnast ever. Men's team stuff is today.

Simone Biles is truly an amazing athlete!

 

[Yespage]

Men's Triathlon postponed (Women's was scheduled for tomorrow).

Why in the world was there no contingency planned? I get that having multiple locations isn't easy due to traffic control and needing a transition area, but seriously folks, this was a known issue!

French triathlon federation technical director Benjamin Maze told French media on Tuesday that “there was a bit of anger and disappointment on the part of the triathletes,” as they found out today’s event had been canceled.

“The events were supposed to take place at 8 a.m., so when we heard the news, they were already at breakfast eating some rice. Well, the pre-race meal as usual,” Maze told French network TF1.

That sucks! I had one race postponed due to crap weather, which I had already got myself into the mindset of conquering and was ready to go. It'd been rough, but I was ready, and it isn't like the headwind in Toledo was ever pleasant even on a good day. I was so grumpy when they postponed it (I had raced a shortened duathlon on the snow! so why are we cancelling over this?!). And that is ignoring the wasted hotel room stay.

 

[Yespage]

St. Lucia's Alfred takes the women's 100 meter gold on thr track. Their first gold in the Summer zolympics. She looks to double in the 200 meter.

Ledecky continues winning. Takes 4th gold in 800 meter, only 7th or 8tb athlete to win four golds in one event.

 

[harshness]

so why are we cancelling over this?!).

Because in Paris (and many other old river cities), rain often means raw sewage in the river. Raw sewage is considerably more dangerous than snow, wind or hail.

 

[Yespage]

After a while of dominance in the 100 meter, the US wasn't so dominant. Noah Lyles is the first American in decades to win the gold in the 100 meter men's race, and did so by about a thread on the jersey. Ryan Finke broken the WR in the 1500 meter and the Women broke the WR in the 4x100 meter medley world record in a pool that didn't see many records set. Finke set off and the moment it appeared the Irish swimmer was going to start his move, Finke made his. The Italian Silver Medal winner was close to breaking the WR as well.

Because in Paris (and many other old river cities), rain often means raw sewage in the river. Raw sewage is considerably more dangerous than snow, wind or hail.

Yes, I was speaking regarding the race that I was in that was postponed. That water area was isolated from combined sewers (and not Lake Erie, which would have been dangerous).

Regarding the snow, that was in Central Park and that road has two decent sized hills on the north end. Cycling down a snowy/slushed road on a normal road bike was a very unique situation.

 

[TRG]

My goodness. Tell me this isn't real.

 

[Radioguy41]

It is, after all, France.

 

[TRG]

Why do the ping pong players hold their balls and give it that weird stare before serving.

 

[TRG]

It is, after all, France.

They call it "break dancing" but it looks more like someone having a siesure. Is anyone checking to see that they don't swallow their tongue?

 

[harshness]

Tell me this isn't real.

They announced it before Tokyo in 2020.

 

[Foxbat]

My goodness. Tell me this isn't real.

 

[NYDutch]

View attachment 173573​

Did you know that while breakdancing (breaking) has dropped in popularity in the US it has gained in popularity in Europe, Australia, China, Japan, etc.?

 

[TRG]

I'm not sure we made the right choice saving France from the Germans.

 

[reubenray]

I am glad I did not watch the opening or closing ceremonies, but my wife and I enjoyed a lot of the competitions themselves. But I am glad it is over and my regular programming is back on. Who would have thought break dancing would be an olympic sport (we did not watch this)?