Olympian1010

Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion: https://apnews.com/article/mexico-abortion-decriminalize-d87f6edbdf68c2e6c8f5700b3afd15de?taid=64f8de160336bb000175f417&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

Participation statistics published by the LOC By Sport: https://heraklion23.gr/participation-by-sport/ By NOC: https://heraklion23.gr/participation-by-country/ It’s a shame to see a few nations only entering one athlete or pair, but understandable given the packed calendar for many NOCs this year. competing in their 4th/5th multi-sports games sanctioned by NOCs this year, not to mention other events like University Games, Commonwealth Youth Games, or Island Games.

@hckošice leading the charge to get croquet back on the program. It’s been a while since it last featured at the Olympics.

Cotswald Games still exist. My colleague desperately wants to go and write stories about them.

@heywoodu I haven’t bought Nestle products in years. They were caught taking water from a spring in California during the drought when they didn’t even have a license to do so. Not to mention all the allegations about child labor and whatnot.

There are very few Olympic arguments that boil my blood as much as “x isn’t a sport.” Mainly because I don’t actually think the Olympics should be solely about sport, but also because it’s insulting to athletes/competitors who work very hard to be the best at what they do. Personally, I believe there should be room for mind sports, artistic competition, and maybe even e-sports. The Olympics, in ancient times, were meant to be a celebration of humanity. There were sporting and artistic competitions. It was also a time to exchange social/political ideas. People gathered to celebrate many aspects of Hellenic life. I think the modern ideal of the Olympics as a purely sporting competition meant for only the “best of the best” loses sight of what the Games are supposed to be about. The Olympics should be world championships, Cannes/TIFF/Sundance, Glastonbury/Coachella, The World’s Fair, International peace summit, etc. mixed into one. It’s a pipe dream of mine, but I do think the focus on elite sport has detracted from some of the more charming/eloquent aspects of the Olympics. Cricket, modern pentathlon, breaking, etc. all add something to the event even if you don’t personally enjoy them. The Olympics are fun because of the diversity of sports offered. I don’t think we should lose sight of that during all our deliberations in this thread.

Can we be best friends? Our opinions diverge elsewhere, but that is take I can get behind.

For what it’s worth, the only time I choose to watch golf is during the Olympics. It’s different from other stuff on the program, and the last tournament has the fun tiebreaker for bronze.

I got something nice in the mail today. There were some activities you could do on the website after the Games finished to earn points. You could then spend those points in a web-store. There were pins, plush mascots, notebooks, and other stuff to choose from. I didn’t take it too seriously, but I got enough points to submit an order for the notebook/journal. I wasn’t sure they’d offer international shipping, but sure enough, they did. Now, I have a nice little notebook with the Games branding that cost me absolutely nothing

All these changes to the qualification systems seem really unfair to events. Qualification events being cancelled, quota distributions being changed in the middle of the qualification process, etc. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth looking ahead the Games, especially since many events will act as Olympic qualifiers (or have a sizable impact on qualification prospects).

3,000m Steeple, 5,000m, 10,000m lost one quota each. Marathon and race walk were hit harder, losing three quotas each. The quotas seem to have gone solely to the mixed 4x400m, so I bet that will be a popular change Honestly, we’re going a point where field sizes are comically small in some sports at the Pan American Games.

The real loss with boules is that (and others) could have had legitimate hopes.

I can confirm cricket is pretty much invisible in Southern California. The only time I’ve seen people was at my university, and at mother’s alma mater. When it comes to non-Olympic team sports, there is a much larger following for lacrosse and ultimate frisbee.

They also reported Tokyo 2020 would be cancelled in early 2021. Their record on Olympics “exclusives” isn’t great. They might be right here (who knows), but I’ve been burned before by them.

Like Qatar whenever there’s a world championship without a host, I’m ready to bid @OlympicIRL

I believe they are supposed to be. 10,500 was the hard limit as far as I know. Although, there is some reporting suggesting the IOC may allow more than that for 2028.

The race is almost beyond parody at this point. It’s like the organizers took Tour De Pharmacy as an blueprint for success rather than a mockumentary

He ignored it like the IOC.

Imagine they add baseball/softball, cricket, and flag football

Just wait until Helsinki hosts the Olympics in 2052 and includes that as an optional sport

And alienate all of the causal fans that tune in for those sports. Like it or not, those sports do have a pretty active and dedicated following.

Breaking has a lot going for it. It takes very few quotas (32). It can be held in almost any venue, including very public locations. It is different from other artistic sports on the program, given the battle element. It translates very well to television. It also, so far, manages to attract a crowd. It was one of the hottest tickets at The World Games and European Games.

IFAF (along with the NFL) made the most public push. They got players featured at multiple NFL games. They brought players out for promotional events in LA. They tailored the format to work well for television, with rules that mirror many other “short-side” or simplified team sports. I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see them selected.

POV: Me from the back of said queue…