orangeman

Hey there Canada (esp. intoronto)! I've been in China which basically blocks everything. Long story, but I should finally have access to this place, just in time for the lead up to the Olympics. I used to live in South Korea, so disappointed that I will miss this one. Tried to make it work, but the tickets and accommodations were just way too expensive. I could have stayed in Seoul, but that's missing the point. I was going to drop by the final weekend, but it didn't work out. Instead I'll be on a beach in Thailand watching instead. Tough life, I know. Just excited I can finally come here and elsewhere (CBC was also blocked).

Yup. When you consider the team competition in 2014, our weakest point was the women's and to have two medalists here is very encouraging. We should have threats in every discipline in Korea.

It's sort of disappointing that the Korean writing is just the English names in Hanguel. "Ru-jee" = Luge. "Ah-ee-ssuh H-ah-ki" = Ice Hockey. And so on. I would have liked them to have the Korean names, if only so I could actually learn the Korean names. On the other hand, if anyone here is planning to go next year you can learn Hanguel (the written language, speaking is a bit more difficult hence me wanting to learn the words) on the plane over, it's super simple. Then you can get around easily. Can't wait!

My Korean friend tells me that tickets for 2018 will go on sale in February. No word yet if it's just for Koreans or for everyone yet. Luckily I have enough contacts to secure me some curling and speed skating dates. Hopefully hockey, too.

I don't know how skateboarding will do, and I'm not sure if it should be in the SOG. However, all these X-Game sports in the WOG that people make fun of have HUGE followings in North America and East Asia. I know Canadians/Americans who have only started to care about the WOG because of snowboarding and freestyle skiing. I live in China now and Korea before, and kids are really into those sports, too, along with short track of course. They're not so interested in the 'traditional' sports. I think people have to realize that there are massive markets outside the traditional Euro-zone that don't care about biathlon and ski jumping. In my personal opinion, opening up to more 'extreme' sports (I hate that title) works very well in WOG because there were so few sports to begin with and things can be more niche. It's less successful in the SOG, but I'm willing to see how it works out before I pass judgement. If we can have monarchs prancing around on horses for medals, we can tolerate Brice doing some sick tricks on a skateboard, too.

I signed up for updates on that site back in September. I haven't gotten one update from them. I'm also very frustrated with the ticket situation. Last I read they were supposed to open sales up to Korean nationals in October. Even my Korean friends can't find any information on it. It's not just that we can't find dates, we literally cannot find any information on tickets at all. All we've come up with is a pricing schedule that was released back in May. If you want biathlon, I wouldn't worry too much since it's not terribly popular in this part of the world. However, I am very interested in high-demand tickets to long and short track speed skating and hockey. I also really want curling tickets. I mean, I'll take anything else I can fit in, but those are really important to me and I know they're going to be hard to get. But like much in Korea, there doesn't seem to be much organization or forward planning so you just have to wait and see.

This is totally random, but I was having a conversation tonight about how fast guys can swim the 100m free. Long story short, when looking at the times I realized that Yuri Kisil's time in the 4x100m free relay (both the heats and the final) would have been good enough for silver in the individual 100m free. Unfortunately he went half a second slower in the semis and missed the final. I just found that interesting.

But I don't think they've 'earned' their domination. Like I said, they've dominated it since it was added to the programme. Is it one of the most played sports in the Olympics, though? I'd like to see numbers on that. And I don't mean 500 million players in China. I mean seriously competitive leagues in many countries around the world. I have lived on three continents and have friends from all others (besides Antarctica of course...those penguins are so mean!) and have not met anyone who cared about TT in any way outside East Asia (and even here a lot of people don't care). I have honestly met more people into equestrian, archery and trampoline. But anyway, I've yammered on about this enough. I've made my point.

Basketball is completely different from table tennis for several reasons. First, the USA has not won every gold since basketball's inclusion in the Olympics. It has a very diverse history. It is really only recently that the USA has really dominated it, relatively speaking. Second, the same amount of countries have won gold in basketball this century as all table tennis events combined. The difference is the USA can only win a max of two golds every 4 years whereas China is basically handed 4. Other countries also necessarily win medals in basketball (since the USA can only win one for each gender) whereas China wins almost all of them, with S Korea cleaning up most of the rest. I don't think one country's domination of a particular sport is necessarily cause for it to be dropped. However, I do believe that if a sport has been absolutely dominated by one country since its inclusion with no interest from most of the rest of the world over that time period, it should be looked at critically. Take curling. Canada, Scotland (GB) and some Northern European countries dominated it until it got into the Olympics. These days we see loads of other countries entering competitions, particularly China who has risen in power in the sport in a short time. Maybe I was a bit too harsh on TT earlier, but when I see people talking about actually exciting sports where more than 2 countries compete competitively being dropped, I just have to always point to TT. So maybe it shouldn't be dropped, but if anything is going to be, it should be considered at or near the top of the list. I do have an appreciation for it (watched some during the Asian Games in Incheon last year) but if there is limited space on the Olympic programme I'd prefer other things ahead of it. Oh, and after living in Korea and China I can tell you Asians don't mind calling it ping pong, either.

I think the majority of users here don't think baseball adds diversity because a majority of users here are European. But even then, the Netherlands and Italy have added to the global diversity in the last decade. Sorry, it's hugely popular in the Americas and East Asia, and even to an extent in Australia. But sure let's have water polo because 3 countries outside the Balkans play it. This isn't against water polo, I'm just saying there are tons of sports currently in the Olympics that are much less global than baseball, but their popularity in Europe ensures their continued inclusion. As I said, though, requiring a city like, say Paris, to build venues for baseball/softball is unreasonable. And as you say, the lack of professional involvement is another concern. Those are real issues, the sport itself not being global enough is not. Talk about not being global, China has won 53% of the available medals since Table Tennis was added to the Olympics, with Korea winning another 18%. Only one other team has ever won a gold medal in the sport (Sweden in 1992). The only reason other countries have won medals in TT is bronze for the team event, where China and Korea can only win one each. That's just ridiculous. The same amount of countries have won golds in women's hockey since 1998 as in all TT events combined - men and women's singles, doubles and teams- in the same time period (one gold by South Korea in 2004 in men's singles). Think about that for a moment. I say this as someone who lives in East Asia and has witnessed the 'passion' for this sport first hand: Table Tennis has no place in the Olympic Games.

Cricket and maybe squash add diversity, but I'm tired of hearing that baseball doesn't. Somewhere else on here I showed how in the short amount of time baseball/softball were in the Olympics they had more regions represented in the semifinals than water polo or handball in the last 20 or so years (and it's only gotten more diverse since 2008). And don't get me started on table tennis, which only holds a spot on the programme to hand China a chest full of medals. Having said that, forcing host cities to build huge baseball parks is a bit unreasonable if they don't already have a baseball culture. Squash in, Table Tennis out. Synchronized swimming and boxing out, and all other sports where winners are predetermined. Nothing against karate, but there's enough combat sports. I don't think equestrian should be part of the programme, and with it modern pentathlon.

Due to Canada's incredible performance in Rio, FIFA has now ranked our women's team 4th, their highest ranking ever. It is also the highest point gain in women's football history! They also beat #2 Germany and #3 France in Rio. Sinclair carried the team for years, but actually in Rio 7 of the members were under 22 years old.

After Canada's performance in Rio, our women's soccer team has risen to 4th FIFA's rankings. Their point gain is the highest in women's soccer history! http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/soccer/canadian-womens-soccer-team-nabs-highest-ever-world-ranking-after-defending-olympic-bronze-medal-in-rio

After almost a week without internet I thought I'd check in. I don't have anything to add, though. Still glowing about the 22 medals.

I predicted 18-22 for Canada, and they came through with 22. Even though like intoronto says this is our best non-boycotted Olympics ever in terms of total medals, the best part is that our medalists are so young and just beginning their careers. No one expected that success in the pool (6 medals!), and Penny Oleksiak who will carry our flag tonight has become a national sensation at only 16. And De Grasse seems primed to take over the sprinting crown from Bolt. Our first swimming gold since 1992, our first athletics gold since 1996. Our most golds since 1992. Canadians could not have asked for a better Olympics, and even the cynical ones were getting into it here. Thank you Rio, you Marvelous City!

I've got an incredibly busy next couple of weeks because I delayed everything until after the Olympics. Hopefully things will settle down quickly, though.

What an amazing Olympics for Canada. When our soccer girls scored 20 seconds into their first game even before the Games started, I think it was foreshadowing for the next two weeks. I'll never forget watching the relay team the first night, with my heart in my throat as Penny charged down the lane for bronze. It was a surprise that created a new normal for Canada not just in the pool, but in many other events in Rio as well. The next four years will be delightful, watching so many young Canadians develop into legitimate superstars. Honestly couldn't have asked for anything more these last 2 weeks. Thank you Canadian athletes! And now on to Pyeongchang 2018. I hope to actually be there, it should work out. I'll be in Pearson tomorrow, but probably much earlier than any Olympians will be arriving back. Should have thought about that before a booked my ticket!

Well, one of the mountain bikers or Bishop needs to get a medal to tie Atlanta. Probably not going to happen. Still an excellent Olympics, and lots of the medalists are very young.

Is there a reason De Jonge was so slow? I know he wasn't great at the start of the season, but I thought he was getting better. Is there an injury or something?

I'm hopeful for Brazil!

Brazil!!

Anyway, congrats to Jamaica (esp. Bolt) and Japan!

That was such an amazing last leg for De Grasse (and amazing for everyone else, too).

Agree. But it's the rule, apparently. I remember reading about it a lot in 2012. Any lane violation is an automatic DQ. It's fine, though, I would be fine if Japan doesn't get DQed.