heywoodu

No Olympics for Belgian 400m runner Julien Watrin, one of the important guys in the relay team, but his health is of course more important: he has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Prognosis seems to be good, but obviously it needs to be treated and that takes a ton out of one's body. https://sporza.be/nl/2024/01/31/julien-watrin-heeft-teelbalkanker-en-moet-verstek-laten-gaan-voor-de-spelen-prognoses-zijn-wel-goed~1706705626821/

Not useful for everyone, but still useful enough to mention it I think: I just now see Eurosport/Discovery+ has the finals session (and same for today and tomorrow)

Interesting, this discussion has never been held before Too bad for table tennis

The Netherlands will be represented by a song which, if everything goes according to plan in the next two years, will be one of the two last songs a certain Totallympian will play in her earphones during the last bit of warmup before finally making her Olympic debut in Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026 SERA - Head Held High Poured my heart into a crowd Didn't lift me up, just pulled me down Now I'm dancing on my own (hmm) Fingertips are getting numb Overthinking everything I've done No more numbers in my phone Oh, I used to think that they were right On my side, they wouldn't lie So done with that D-done with that Talking shit behind my back Build a castle made of glass So done with that (D-done with that) I'm a fire burning on I do what the hell I want Middle finger to the sky With my head held high I am fearless, I am strong Watch me rise along the dawn Ain't no stopping me this time Got my head held high I was born to be alive No more crying here tonight I will never be this young (hmm) Kill the darkness in my mind Grind the blade and raise the knife 'Cause I've only just begun Oh, I used to think that they were right On my side, they wouldn't lie So done with that D-done with that Talking shit behind my back Build a castle made of glass So done with that (D-done with that) I'm a fire burning on I do what the hell I want Middle finger to the sky With my head held high I am fearless, I am strong Watch me rise along the dawn Ain't no stopping me this time Got my head held high Used to think that they were right On my side, they wouldn't lie (I'm done with that) (I'm done with that) oh, yeah, I'm I'm a fire burning on I do what the hell I want Middle finger to the sky With my head held high I am fearless, I am strong Watch me rise along the dawn Ain't no stopping me this time Got my head - I'm a fire burning on I do what the hell I want Middle finger to the sky With my head held high I am fearless, I am strong Watch me rise along the dawn Ain't no stopping me this time Got my head held high

Assuming South Korea enters, how long ago would it be since we've had three (!) new nations? @OlympicIRL

No idea but I do know it'll be cool to have South Korea in the contest

Oddly the song itself was released on 30 December 2022, just like it's 'album' (four songs), which seems to have a 2023 copyright (© 2023 Universal International Music B.V.). For what it's worth, it first appeared in the Dutch top-40 in week 6 of 2023, so somewhere in February: I'm not sure if it's the organizers who decide about these things, or the Committee, but I'll leave it in the hands of the authorities for now and meanwhile go on the hunt for a plan B. Obviously I'd be happy if it's allowed, but just as obviously I'll accept whichever ruling is made (especially since personally I would understand both allowing it and not allowing it)

Oh well, if Lowell Bailey's response as alleged by Reid is true, that is such a disappointment in Bailey....

Just to make sure, there is no loophole that allows a song released on 30 December 2022, right? I just came to the realization that one of my very favourite songs is from a Dutch artist, of which I had no idea, but is released literally 2 days before the cut-off date

Well damn, that's cool (and going to cost me even more time) Thanks for the tip, I kind of watched to see since Paris is basically the biggest event outside of the world championships and Olympics (and Tokyo?), but wasn't going to pay IJF's per-tournament fee Edit: I see no streams on that channel for today, I guess geoblocking applies (not like it's shown anywhere in the Netherlands, but I'm going to assume NOS has the rights so they can show 2-minute highlights on Sunday night). Luckily people invented VPN's.

I'd be kind of fine with every Youth Olympics being in Süd-Tirol for the foreseeable future Süd-Tirol is....amazing Whenever I watch the IBU Cups from places like Ridnaun or Martell, hearing the stadium speaker makes me all happy because apart from the whole place being so visually amazing, I just love the German version they speak

I wish I could say the same, I honestly do, but the total lack of interest from the IOC to bring these Games to the world have rather dampened my spirits about all this. In the end, it was mostly a matter of watching a bit of the small handful of things they offered* and just checking the results of the rest *which was so much curling and freestyle skiing/snowboarding, exactly the things I just am not really interested in. There's literally 5-6 hour stream videos on YouTube of slopestyle, but not a single minute of the ski and snowboard cross events. Disappointment is the main memory that Gangwon 2024 leaves me, other than the cool Bethonico medal (which might have given me the most mixed feelings, because a historic medal like that is so much less fun when you just see it in a result, instead of when you actually see it happen and are 'living' the excitement).

Right, forgot that in my Hamilton post: Sainz is the one who's being replaced. Hopefully he'll get a good seat somewhere, he definitely deserves it. More than, say, Russell or Perez.

Some of the biggest news in recent years dropped today and exploded everything F1 related: Lewis Hamilton will move to Ferrari after 2024, Mercedes confirmed at the end of a day in which all big media outlets had been reporting it. Going to be interesting to see, from a team where everything was tailored and organized entirely to his wishes, to arguably one of the most chaotic teams in the entire world of sports.

I won't necessarily say I love you, but it ain't far away Thanks! Now I am extra glad I had actually not checked the results yet

Nope They added the 'technique zones' because at some point everyone was just double-poling the entire race, and that went against the spirit of classic technique skiing. In the long distance Ski Classics it is in fact double-poling all the way usually, which is why they often use skating skis there.

Such a shame At least that was live on German TV and could be rewatched there, this seems to be entirely off the internet now. Not even highlights. I remember for example Narvik, which was cancelled roughly halfway through the events due to COVID, had perfectly fine live streams on YouTube, but this has....nothing I thought we weren't in 2009 anymore

No, neither me nor Bruna have ever seen this, but I think the explanation in general is pretty simple: there's a 'classic technique zone', where you have to use the 'real' classic technique instead of double-poling. I'd bet money on "Using a banned technique on marked sections of the course" basically all coming from athletes double-poling on that part. The 'Using skating technique' ones are probably largely down to inexperience, and not following the marked course can simply mean having gone way wide in a corner to avoid a crash or something like that. I've asked Bruna to contact Mariana and Julia and ask if they heard anything about this by any chance, and maybe whoever is there are their 'team captain' (if it's the guy I think it is, English might have been a real issue here in relaying these things to the athletes, but that is of course only one country). Anyhow, you know what would have made this question easier to answer for everyone? It starts with a 'c' and rhymes with the word 'ameras'

The website seems to be somewhat broken though. I still had it open from this morning, not refreshed: Those thumbails lead to something, but the player doesn't start: Kind of starting to feel like it's one of those 'live or nothing' deals...

Yeah, I didn't think that sub-6 was realistic, I had estimated a world record chance at maybe 10% at best, let alone breaking it by two seconds Roest was strong as usual, but started a bit too slow, good luck making that up against Van der Poel's 28.4 x3 and 28.6 x3 at the end, you'd have to do multiple 27's by that point.

Fantastic 6:07 for Loubinaud in the B division Great fight in the A division as well, with Roest eventually taking the win against Ghiotto, and Bloemen in 3rd after an insanely fast start.

Yesterday once again we saw the ridiculousness of the mixed relay, at least in it's current format. A real 'circus event' that just can not be taken seriously, definitely not if it's all based on time and you've simply got to be lucky to be in a good heat. They should either do it based on time, in which case it should be the regular pairs format (but then it just really adds nothing at all), or keep it in the current heats format, in which case it should be done based on positions (and so have QF's to a final). That seems unlikely, because it'll add two more races and top athletes will skip the event even more, like they already do now (yesterday the podium looked super 'weird' because most top skaters didn't bother competing). In other words, just accept that the mixed relay is not a thing for speed skating and let it go.

Thanks, I guess some stuff was lost in translation It's a real shame he finished his season though, with all of the highlights and chances for fast times still to come.

Especially a 13-year old, I'd even say But since I assume he wants to eventually be a pro player, he does need to learn that you can't do this, no matter how clear the umpire mistake was. At least controlling your temper to some basic extent is part of being a professional as well. And yes, I know Nick Kyrgios will not give this post a 'Like'

With a gap this big, it even has a big shot at the top senior level. He was more than an entire straight ahead of them, they actually could not see him anymore when leaving the turn.