stratocumulus

13 minutes ago, Americaneagle said:

Chess-Boxing?

I imagine it like you put 16 guys on one side and 16 on the other side (and you must divide them in the categories of "heavy" and "light" guys, maybe the pieces should be like fighters from different weight categories) on a huge chess field and if there is an attempt of capturing a piece then there is a MMA-style between the pieces involved.

Did I get the point correctly? :D 

1 minute ago, heywoodu said:

he might very well one day represent his mother's country once his career in the top was done  

What a lovely boy  Fingers crossed then  

10 hours ago, NearPup said:

It sounds like he's mostly coming back to have fun, and with that mindset racing for fits better than racing with

Probably very much true. The other bit of true is probably that he might struggle to get a place in the Austrian national team because of the firm competition he would face whereas it is probably.... different in the Dutch team  And so he might get stuck in the internal selection in Austria while at the same time he could just concentrate on the World Cup for the Netherlands. Smart move.

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

That's the mass start event, which more often than not results in an extremely boring cross-country race and gives a massive advantage to the athletes who are mostly good jumpers.

But it gives you a chance to finish in a jumping stadium, which is mostly better filled and "concentrated" than the cross-country stadium AND it allows for competing in better TV-slots. I believe so at least, but I am coming from a country that is totally crazy for ski jumping, so I might be biased a little  Regarding the boring cross country event there might also be ways to challenge it - some kind of a sprint event instead of a mass start? Another "exchange rate" between the cross country time and jumping points? I agree that the mass start is not really made for nordic combined, but I do not agree one cannot do anything about it

6 hours ago, intoronto said:

The IOC stated the following:

- Only 4 countries have won medals in the last 3 cycles

- Lowest viewership (by far) of any sport.

Is there a link to the statement you could share?

13 hours ago, JonPhi said:

A maximum of three Nordic combined athletes per country are allowed to compete at the Olympics, so there is no possibility of fielding two teams. The field of participants has been reduced to 36 athletes.

This is pure disaster. I see it as a punishment for certain countries that specialized in that event. It has its problems (why not finish on the hill instead of cross country track? lack of balance between the jumping and the running elements in favour of the latter), but there are sports with much more deeper issues (weightlifting, boxing, modern pentahtlon) that are kept in the programme. The best example is the ModPent for me which was made somehow watchable through the 90 minutes format. So it is possible to elevate a sport.

Still, I do not see any point in removing team jumping from the programme. As I sad before, in a field of 50 qualified jumpers you get 8 teams of 4 people each and 18 quotas left for other countries (6x2 to fill up the field for the super team + 6 singles) and  - pretty much short track or fencing conditions. That would fit in my view and you could do both team jumping and the super team. 

Honestly, the news that there is no team jumping only matches in my eyes the mistake of not having all team tournaments in fencing for a few cycles. Fortunately it was turned around after a few years, I very much hope for the same at least for ski jumping.  

Kontrowersyjny komentarz do występu reprezentacji Polski na Igrzyskach:

https://przegladsportowy.onet.pl/igrzyska-olimpijskie/paryz-2024/wystep-polakow-w-paryzu-to-kleska-trudno-mi-jest-sie-zgodzic-z-ta-narracja/989s2z1

Mamy za sobą 20 lat słabych i bardzo słabych występów olimpijskich. Przez ten czas wyrosło jednak całe pokolenie, dla którego to jest norma i nie widzi ono nic złego w 10 medalach. 

Najbardziej dla mnie uderzający cytat:

"Poza tym umówmy się – jeśli uznajemy Paryż za klęskę, to uznajmy za nią od razu całe ostatnie ćwierćwiecze występów naszej reprezentacji w letnich igrzyskach. Albo przynajmniej okres 2004–16. Bo czy aż tak bardzo różni się 10 podiów Biało-Czerwonych w zakończonej w niedzielę imprezie w porównaniu z 10 krążkami z Aten oraz 11 z Pekinu, Londynu i Rio de Janeiro?"

No właśnie występ z Paryża właśnie nie różni się zbytnio od występów od Aten włącznie. One wszystkie były klęskami w skali całego polskiego sportu. Natomiast dla autora stwierdzenie to okazuje się nie być oczywiste. Czy coś mnie ominęło i gdzieś po drodze nastąpił moment "rehabilitacji" ateńskiej czy londyńskiej klęski poprzez stwierdzenie, że to w sumie całkiem fajne igrzyska były, który mnie ominął?  

Martwią mnie takie komentarze, a to przynajmniej drugi w tym tonie, który ukazał się drukiem i który czytam. Polski sport letni od przynajmniej 20 lat (a i Sydney jakimś wielkim sukcesem przecież nie było, choć nie było też klęską, jak kolejne igrzyska) znajduje się w głębokim kryzysie i nie powinniśmy sobie mydlić oczu, że skoro od 20 lat jesteśmy dziadami to to jest ok i widocznie tak być musi.

I think the early dates of the Games will be a problem in 2028, especially for the road cycling (collision with Tour de France) and tennis (Wimbledon!). On the other hand if you can switch swimming and athletics I can imagine pushing tennis to the second week and having the final matches on the 3rd weekend and men's road race as the last - hence very prestigious - final of the Games, maybe even with the finish line on the stadium as part of the closing ceremony. 

Looking forward to

WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!?!?!

A masterpiece from Pikulik! She looked strong today, but made stupid mistakes in scratch and eliminator and I honestly thought this was it.... But what she did in the point race! OMG, can't believe it!

Well, are we sure the "draw" on tablet in keirin is like a.... real draw? Polish riders have every single time drawn the second half of the keirin peloton.... The probability calculus sits in the back and wonders about it a little....

Well, since I am missing Polish women in the final I have no such emotions watching the event, but I wanted to share my appreciation for the venues created by the French hosts. The TV pictures with the Versailles in the back are really looking like there is an important event going on. Also other disciplines (Grand Palais!, beach volley, etc.) had great venues. Well done.

49 minutes ago, Bulgaria87 said:

Was he injured?

According to the Czech federation, it seems so:

https://www.facebook.com/ceskysvazvzpirani/

I was really confused watching the laser run. The Olympic Champions looked 1:1 like a guy I played with in a table tennis team once, just after like 50 sessions in gym :D But the performance was impressive, a deserved winner  

On 6/12/2024 at 11:46 PM, stratocumulus said:

Realistically it will be something between 8 and 11, 2-3 gold. Four should be in for sure (no screenshots please!;). From the section "probable" I hope for 3 out of 7. The section "maybe" should deliver 1 medal out of 8 opportunities. The rest is chance.

And this is it for Poland. Looking back at the prediction, I was:

1) 100% right in the "sure" section who wins a medal, slightly wrong about the colours (Świątek bronze instead of gold)

2) nearly on target in the section "probable" - I predicted 3 out of 7 chances, 2 chances delivered (fencing & climbing)

3) nearly on target in the "maybe" section - I predicted 1 out of 8 chances, 2 chances delivered (athletics & canoe slalom)

4) on target in the section "chance" - I was hoping for something and one delivered (boxing)

I wanted to be proven wrong, unfortunately I wasn't. The disappointment is not the low number of medals but the subperformance of most of the athletes, who were not able to deliver the results they already had during the season (let alone Personal Bests) with most notable cases like Nowicki, Fajdek (both hammer throw), Skrzyszowska (100m hurdles), Andrejczyk (javelin), Wasick (50m freestyle in swimming), Szymanska (judo) or the complete disaster of the kayak team.

If only the Polish athletes delivered their "usual" performance I believe it would lead to a nearly doubling of the number of the medals. Unfortunately, in the past 20 years a subaverage performance level of Polish athletes at the Olympics has become repeatable, hence my pessimistic prediction which turned out to be fairly accurate. 

So, this means our worst Olympics since Helsinki, 1952. Ouch.

Meanwhile, I do not believe we could expect any change in that. It hurts even more looking at the British case which went from 1 (one!) gold in Atlanta to 29 (!!!) in London and kept the level since (ok, Paris is slightly worse in terms of gold, but the total number is again on a very high level). So - it is possible, but probably not in Poland now.

Looking forward to your summaries

What is the time difference that can realistically be made up for?

Well, the level France has shown today is incredible. I hope we are having a rematch in the Olympic final sooner than in the next 48 years

1 minute ago, George_D said:

i think France will take it easily

I took a screenshot

There is a lot of tension. Many mistakes from both teams, though the Polish team was worse on that statistics. No blocks, very few digs. False start for Poland, let's hope for a better second set.

Brave boy Baranowski ! He made the Azeri wrestle. Fingers crossed for the final for his opponent and good luck then fighting for bronze.

Poland was so bad these Olympics we usually did not even get as high as fourth place. And zap - problem solved  

On 2/28/2024 at 6:52 AM, NearPup said:

Yuuuuuuup. Same deal with the Nordic Combined team event, it's not a team sprint.

 

The alpine combined event is also now a team event.

I just realized that. It is SUPER bad news.

Four people were a TEAM and it felt like one when they competed. Now that we are going to only have two people it is not a team event, it is just two people. Like kayak doubles or double sculls in rowing. 

I personally wonder why you could not have both? There is enough time in the schedule. Still you are going to have enough qualified athletes to have at least eight teams in the competition. In fencing they only allow eight teams and everybody is happy. No idea why they cut the real team event  Is it at least possible for a NOC to include two two-person teams in the event? Kayaks have allowed it in Paris to have more than one K2 boat in the competition...

Btw the cross-country relay event still consists of 4 athletes, so FIS is not even internally consistent...

Just to put women's 400m in a context:

The bronze medalist's time (48.98) would mean gold in World Championships on every occasion in the 21st century except for 2003, 2019 and 2023 and an Olympic Champion title on every occasion in the 21st century except for Tokyo (where it would have meant silver).

So, Mrs Kaczmarek, well done  

1 hour ago, Pavlo said:

Wasick, Fajdek, Nowicki, kajakarki...tam nawet nie było kosmicznego poziomu. Wystarczyło zrobić coś na zwykłym swoim poziomie, nie żadne PB

Ototo! Bo to nie jest tak, że nasze gwiazdy nie wyrabiają najlepszych wyników w życiu, tylko one w dużej części na Igrzyskach występują poniżej swojego PRZECIĘTNEGO poziomu. I tego od lat nie jestem w stanie zrozumieć  Gdyby nasi sportowcy TYLKO wyrabiali swój normalny poziom, to ostatnie 20 lat olimpijskich doświadczeń wyglądałoby zupełnie inaczej... :/

1 hour ago, Pavlo said:

Nawet Pia, pobiegła za wolno i tyle, nie przywiozła formy

Garść faktów o Pii:

czas MŚ 2023: 12.71, 12.msce - pod kątem imprezy docelowej jest więc progres

czas ME 2024: 12.42, 3.msce - widać więc, że w tym sezonie forma przyszła za wcześnie. 12.42 byłoby 2. miejscem w jej półfinale i duże Q.

Najgorsze jednak, że ona w lipcu jeszcze (!) ustanowiła PB na wysokości 12.37. I to ten czas miejcie w głowie oglądając finał. 

Niestety więc, factcheck potwierdza opinię Pavla. 

Niestety regularnie mamy sytuację, że forma jest u naszych nie wtedy, kiedy powinna. To jest dramat, kiedy nasi zawodnicy przegrywają konkurencję, zanim ona się na dobre rozkręci, będąc naprawdę specjalistami w swoich dziedzinach.... :/

Dla mnie bohaterką tych igrzysk w LA jest póki co Weronika Lizakowska. Szkoda tylko, że rekordowe osiągnięcie sportowe nie przełożyło się na wynik turniejowy, ale właśnie to bym chciał oglądać - walkę i najlepsze wyniki w sezonie/życiu.

Can somebody explain to me, what is this race? I thought men's sprints were decided for places 5-8 yesterday and Rudyk was not going to start in sprint anymore?