Quaker2001

All medalists are tested. So by default.. yes, they did

I know this is a very heavily Americanized point of view, but they're probably looking at what's going on with the NCAA and how the athletes are starting to get their share of the money that is being made and figure that needs to start happening with the Olympics. The days of amateurism are long gone and the prestige of winning an Olympic medal shouldn't be the only reward coming from the IOC (as opposed to payouts from the respective NOCs)

I would. 3+ months out from the games, they're not going to put it in a stadium and if they do, that stadium is probably going to not have fans in it. If something happens that they have to scrap the current plan, the backup will be something that will likely be a primarily TV only event and not something the public can be a part of

Going to be another long season for the Angels. It's mind-boggling that Mike Trout has never won a playoff game because he's been stuck in Anaheim all these years and they don't know how to build a team

Started out so well for them. Trout homered in the 1st, seemed like the Angels might have something. Then they have nothing from there. Will likely be the story for them all season

A Paris 2024 Facebook group I'm in said the water polo schedules have been released. Don't have a link yet and the images are too large to share here

A Paris 2024 Facebook group I'm in just posted the schedule. Not sure if it's up on the Paris site yet

Called it

I don't want to hijack this thread with Trump news, so I'll sum it up this way. His entire career in politics feels like a practical joke he took too far. And once he got too deep into the joke, he couldn't bring himself to admit that his has all been a ruse and that he's less interested in making America great again and much more interested in make Trump great. He ran again because he is outwardly convinced that the 2020 loss was in fact a win, even though behind closed doors he seems like he knows that his defense is all a pile of lies. Of course, he won't tell his supporter base that because that would be admitting "the big lie" was a sham and then they would stop giving him money. If he loses again, that means the next time he is eligible to run, he'll be 82 years old and likely up against someone much younger and much more dynamic than him and Joe Biden. And by that point, who knows what his finances are.. assuming he hasn't been convicted of a crime and thrown in jail. We can only hope. Right now as an American, I'm just concentrated on 2024 and hoping and praying enough people have the good sense to realize how dangerous a re-elected Trump would be.

Speaking as an American, I'm not concerned what the IOC's opinion is on that one. I just pray this nation would be strong enough to survive until 2028 at that point. G-d help us all if Trump wins the election. I mean like actually wins the election, not that he and his supporters whine like toddlers that they think he did.

Here's the thing though since you mentioned Pete Rose. For years and years dating back to the Black Sox scandal, gambling was the number one sin throughout baseball. And it was posted in every clubhouse that you're not allowed to bet on baseball. So even if Rose wasn't an outlier, he still broke the cardinal rule of being a baseball player. If Ohtani is betting on sports, I wonder what else it might be if not baseball? Sumo wrestling? There's obviously a lot of unknowns here. If we find out at some point that Ohtani was betting on baseball, that's going to be a major problem. So it's all hope that's not it.

Seems crazy to me that he would be in that deep into gambling. And 100% his interpreter may be the fall guy for an investigation that's never going to happen because no one wants to find out the truth.

There's still all the semis at swimming, so NBC might want to stick with that the whole way through. That's why I think it might slot better for NBC is the USA-SRB game is at 11:15am ET. But that would be an interesting idea to go straight from swimming to basketball and then have the additional final at halftime.

No, I don't think that's how this works. It's not like they can just show up on 1 of the barges carrying athletes as if no one will say anything. It's unfortunate that Russia has politicized sport. They started in 2014 at an Olympics they hosted. This is on them much more than on the IOC.

I'm betting a lot of 5:15pm for the USA games to fit in with their TV schedules. I hope they don't wait until July to set the whole schedule because I can all but assure you that American TV preferences have already determined which games they want the US teams to play in and I'm sure FIBA will do so on their behalf.

Yea, at this point mostly a lot of political bluster. I don't think the IOC needs to be searching for an alternative just yet.

Agreed that hearing your anthem is a big deal and if any AIN athletes win gold, they'll be deprived of that. Wouldn't necessarily call that humiliating though. Russia's flag and colors and anthem deserve no place in Paris. So I'm fine what that aspect of this

Not a humiliation to the athlete. They get to keep the medal and their name goes into the record books. It just doesn't get credited to Russia/Belarus. At the end of the day, is that going to be important to them? I doubt it.

Would love for some start times as well, but I'll take it. Serbia-USA that first Sunday will be a good watch

Tough to tell what the group of death is with 24 teams in contention for 4 spots. Do we know the schedule of games yet? Some in the YouTube comments seemed to indicate that won't be coming for awhile

It could have been a positive, but it has become a big negative. 2030 was (and possibly still is) a disaster. 2032 isn't looking so good as well. Thank goodness for the United States to save the day. Bach's legacy may not be looking so hot these days

Pretty hard to make money off the Olympics these days. Certain people - yes, including politicians - would benefit. Others, including most tax-paying citizens, likely would not. I am cautiously optimistic that Milano-Cortina goes off well. That seems like far from a guarantee though.

So the next 6 Olympics would be France, Italy, United States, France, Italy, United States? I obviously can't speak for Italy, but I don't think there will be an appetite for another Olympics so soon. And obviously that's a big "if" regarding their success

The mistake was awarding the games 11 years out, in the middle of the pandemic, with no other bids to compare them to. Not to mention that Australia was adamant about pushing for Brisbane because of the calendar as opposed to Melbourne since they would be a harder sell in the usual July-August window.

If the schedule is the same as it was for Tokyo, that men's the US men will play their first game on July 28th and then the women, who are designated for either group B or C will play their first game on the 29th. That sets it up so both the men and the women are playing on the middle weekend. Very much a broadcast consideration.