heywoodu

It's always going to be a conspiracy, apparently Pro-Biden people will say it was a Republican conspiracy. Pro-Trump people will say it was a Democrat conspiracy. Unable to accept that sometimes, big things don't have a state-like actor behind them. Luckily most people are probably not really believing that it was a conspiracy from one side or another, but most of these normal people aren't that active in yelling loudly on social media, so we don't really see them

Yeah, the conspiracy nonsense has been filling social media since like 2 minutes after the news broke, annoyingly. From bullshit like 'See? The Democrats were afraid and now they got to him!' to 'Republicans did it to secure his presidency!'. Ugh. No, most likely some idiot tried to shoot him, as we saw, not directed by either the Democrats or the Republicans in some massive behind-the-scenes conspiracy.

Yeah, same here. But that's what makes it annoying when people (like in so many countries) are pessimistic about the chances. "I don't think we'll win a lot of medals in rowing"....but, based on what? "Because it would be so typical Dutch to fail" People talk as if the results of, say, swimmers in 2012 would have an influence on the results of rowers in 2024, because they sure don't look at actual rowing results (with rowing just a random example of course)

Do people follow that many sports closely? Just asking because here lots of people see all the predictions and go "lol no way we will win that many medals", but when asked which other teams or athletes will be stronger, the answer is usually something like "no idea, I don't follow those sports".....I mean, come on

Main 'hypes' are around Euro (but that's obviously calmed down quite a bit ) and the Tour de France, although hype really is a big word for that. I mean, there's a few talk shows about it daily, but it's not really like everyone is all the time talking about it Olympics are mentioned in some commercials, as in 'watch the Olympics from 26 July!' (even though it really should say 24, but ok), but that's about it.

Oh and this is a nice one as well. The 2001 stage to Pla d'Adet was significantly harder and way longer, by the way (around 2 hours with lots more hard climbs in the final part). Two minutes faster than freaking Lance Armstrong.

Meanwhile:

When would that have been? If it was a real 'hunger knock', there's no way on earth he would have stayed anywhere near Vingegaard if it was that stage where Vingegaard outsprinted Pogacar (who by the looks of it also couldn't change gears in that sprint). With a classic hunger knock, the tank is just entirely empty and even the best among the superhumans would lose significant amounts of time even within a kilometer or two

Less promising is what a team doctor of another team just said on Belgian TV, where they were doing a bit of interviews on the COVID situation: "Yesterday Pidcock came up to me to say hi, and he was looking awful. Didn't need a test to see what was going to happen there..."

And therefore out of the Tour de France (not necessarily because of being positive, but because of not being 100% fit). Shouldn't be too much of a problem for the Olympics though.

Took me a little while to realize this is Nikola Jovic and not super star Nikola Jokic

Meanwhile, Amaury Capiot had to abandon today after about a kilometer. He caused a hard crash in yesterday's sprint and got hurt himself too, but one can assume Arkea wanted him to try it anyway today. No chance of getting anywhere though. Not the first time even this year Capiot was more or less forced by his team to ride despite being injured. And if Arkea wasn't shitty enough, they just let their rider go in the organizers van, because there was no place in their own team car....due to some guest being there. Now there is something Adam Hansen should look at.

Excellent, I generally prefer stories (To any broadcaster: I don't mean that you should be telling 'stories' during the live sports, show live sports during the live sports please)

I have absolutely zero doubt at least hundreds of athletes in every Olympics (if not more) are in some form or another on the spectrum of autism and/or ADHD related disorders, that by itself should definitely not be a problem to compete... If the whole Jade Jones situation is the way it was originally described, I do feel some sort of sympathy for her. One can understand being physically unable to pass urine when being far in a dehydration period to make weight (where one can of course wonder if dehydrating for days to make weight is healthy, which I guess it clearly isn't). I had honestly thought that missing a test due to being physically unable to pass urine counted as a missed test instead of a refused test.

I assume Wembanyama not being chosen is due to the basketball team having a match the day after, or would they simply prefer an athlete with a story over potentially the number one super star?

Of course not Just 150 years of history being interrupted for a bit, until we go back to presumably 2000 meters in 2032 (and the championships and World Cups around it). I'd have preferred to keep the same distance of course, but Olympic records don't really mean anything anyway in a sport like rowing (or any sport, honestly), but it really shouldn't have that much of an influence in the end. It's still a full four years to go, everyone has easily enough time to prepare for the slightly shorter distance and adjust their race plans accordingly. For some it will be slightly negative, for others slightly positive, for a lot it will probably make no real difference in terms of their chances.

Understandably so. Tough choice though....I think personally I'd have gone for Cosnefroy over either Laporte or Madouas.

Ah yeah, Grant Holloway! He'd very much deserve the gold based on performances of course, but also he always comes across super friendly and 'sportsmanlike', plus he isn't one of those big stars who feels the need to avoid almost any competition, so we often get to see him in action. I'd find a medal for Letsile Tebogo really cool as well, especially so short after he lost his mother. Less unique, but still nice would be Steven Gardiner, because his running style is just....well, absolute perfection.

Meanwhile this week Kimberley Le Court Pienaar has shown again, but this time even more, that a rare medal for Mauritius is far from impossible. It would be their 2nd ever, but since in theory there's a chance for their 1st gold ever (and again, I would like to stress that does not mean I see her as one of the big favourites), I thought maybe it'd still be worth to keep an eye on her in this thread

Damn, the new shoes are finally starting to work in the 800m as well apparently. Especially Attaoui's race was...interesting. Destroying a decent PB by well over two full seconds in a single race, alrighty

Question 110: France will win an individual medal in either men's or women's event. Either the men's or women's...if they win a medal in both, is it a yes or a no?

That by itself is already easily enough to say it's not a lock. Genuine 'locks' (as far as they exist) don't lose in the months before the Olympics, at all. They win, and do so by big margins, every single time.

Given her recent form, it'd be great if she can win a medal, period. If Fanny Blankers-Koen were still alive, she definitely wouldn't be worried about her four gold medal female record

Daniel Muñoz must be one of the dumbest players there is? Walking away from a normal tackle, no problem at all, and then while walking away simply elbowing a Uruguayan player in the chest in order to get his second yellow

The real hockey, that is