2016 Summer Olympics

[whomario]

yeah, that was a weird sequence with the fall but with that long to go not really consequential i would say on that distance. The Ethiopians and Kenyans were too conervative i would say, making it easy for him to outsprint them.

Terrific drama in the Long Jump with Henderson taking the lead on his last jump and then Lawson presumably with the counter (was at least in the ballpark, probably further) but having his hand touch the sand which then obviously counted as his mark.

[JPhillips]

The Ethiopian had to feel terrible when Farah went past him at the end. He took off for that last lap, got a decent lead, but couldn't do anything but watch as Farah streaked by.

[EagleFan]

Stage is set for the final few holes for the gold. Great day for Kuchar so far to get into clear bronze position.

On another note. Love those Team USA shirts today.

[Thomkal]

Log In - The New York Times

apparently IOC denied it at first, but now saying it happened.

edit: Ryan Lochte and three other American swimmers robbed at gunpoint.

[TCY Junkie]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Log In - The New York Times

apparently IOC denied it at first, but now saying it happened.

edit: Ryan Lochte and three other American swimmers robbed at gunpoint.

I found myself on espn.com earlier. The article seemed to be saying it did not happen based on female olympic coach who was his coach and olympic officials saying it was false. But also stated from previous statement that his mom said it was an horrific event. So basically espn is telling me that his mom belong in a state hospital. Not shocking. Great reporting.

[nilodor]

The article from CBC certainly paints a traumatic picture

U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, 3 others robbed in Rio

"We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over," Lochte told NBC's Today show . "They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground — they got down on the ground. I refused, I was like we didn't do anything wrong, so — I'm not getting down on the ground.

"And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, 'Get down,' and I put my hands up, I was like 'whatever.' He took our money, he took my wallet — he left my cellphone, he left my credentials."

Having spent a fair bit of time in Rio, he's lucky he didn't get shot. I've been around people who have been stabbed for mouthing off or not being quick enough turning over things down there, not a good place to be brave once weapons come out.

[whomario]

Yeah, it definitely also paints a picture of Lochte either lacking self preservation instincts or being a little fake-bravado after the fact. (Not in any way trying to take away from the terrible nature of the situation here, just struck as odd)

[tarcone]

Bolt is a stud. He will win the Gold again. At least after watching that Semi, he should.

[Easy Mac]

As an American, I don't have to root for Gatlin, right?

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

As an American, I don't have to root for Gatlin, right?

I suppose not but he is America's best chance at beating Bolt.

And that chance is slim. It looks like Gatlin can get a jump on him at the start but Bolt looks so good the final half of the race it would have to be an amazing start.

[whomario]

Gatlin is a so-so Starter himself though, so even if he gets a jump its usually not significant.

The mens Tennis final between Murray and del Potro was absolutely spectacular !

[whomario]

Wow, the 400 m record of Michael Johnson was just broken by Van Niekerk ! Was decently close last year already (4th fastest time ever) and his combination of speed (sub10 on the 100) and grit was a great recipe, but to do it from lane 8 is insane

[larrymcg421]

Wow at that 400m! That was a record I didn't think was in jeopardy for a while.

[tarcone]

That was an amazing 400. Sub 43 is next.

I love the kid has a 74 year old female coach. The story was awesome they showed..

[whomario]

Ok, that start was pretty great but still not enough to beat Bolt.

[Easy Mac]

If Bolt could somehow get his legs moving faster out of the blocks, I honestly think he could get down to 9 even.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

If Bolt could somehow get his legs moving faster out of the blocks, I honestly think he could get down to 9 even.

Being 6 foot 5 makes it hard to get out as quick as the shorter guys. His top end speed is unbelievable.

[tarcone]

He takes 41 steps compared to 44 for the rest of the field. So getting those legs rotating is an amazing thing.

I hope he runs in Tokyo and wins.

[tarcone]

I see the Chinese government is preparing fro the 2036 Olympic diving competition by making the male diver propose to the female silver medalist.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Being 6 foot 5 makes it hard to get out as quick as the shorter guys. His top end speed is unbelievable.

The scary thing is that his technique is actually downright terrible for a world-class sprinter ... but it just doesn't matter in terms of being the best. His ceiling is a lot higher than what he's achieved, which is just incredible.

[RainMaker]

So does anyone stand a chance of breaking Bolt's record anytime soon? Seems so far ahead of everyone.

[stevew]

I doubt it will be broken in our lifetime. And I'm glad that Bolt beat Gatlin.

[tarcone]

The announcers were saying Bolts 9.58 shouldnt have happened for another 30 years the way the sport was progressing.

Pretty amazing.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by tarcone

The announcers were saying Bolts 9.58 shouldnt have happened for another 30 years the way the sport was progressing.

Pretty amazing.

That´s the thing about singles sports, it only takes one outlier (and Bolt is one for his physical traits alone) and one perfect storm

Also re: his technique. I think it is unconventional in parts more than terrible. Normal technique goes out the window for a 6´5 guy and even his "poor" starts are actually pretty good considering his height, especially since he doesn´t need a ton of time to get going after the initial few steps (i think there´s been races looked at where his 10-20 and 20-30 meter splits were already equal or better than the other top sprinters)
And some things are co-dependent, so "fixing" one thing may "ruin" another aspect. decent article on this:

https://bretcontreras.com/are-usain-...f-an-overhaul/

also some links to scientific approaches to his sprinting at the bottom and a video analysis as a premise at the start.

[whomario]

message to the british indoor-cycling winners:




Also: Brazil's Olympic diving pair refuse to compete after row over bedroom 'marathon sex session’ - Mirror Online

[Thomkal]

Amber Campbell from Coastal Carolina, about to participate in the women's hammer throw finals.

she finished 6th.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

NBC has an app that streams every single event as far as I'm aware of.

The issue with the NBC streams is you must "prove" that you have cable TV access to NBC Sports.

[whomario]

Watching the Balance Beam makes me phyiscally ill. It´s like people leaning over a high edge or a kid scratching at the blackboard to me. Maybe my unconscious is telling me that one of my ancestors died due to slipping on a small wooden plank ...

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by whomario

There´s a little more to it (there´s really only 2 spots for these sort of players on most team as well). But i actually do suspect Handball is one of those sports that are drawing a couple potential 6´7/6´8 SF/PF types away. It´s also fairly big in a few relevant countries: France, Spain, Croatia (balkan in general), also Germany even though we are less of a power in Basketball of course.

But glad you are enjoying it What games did you catch so far ?

I figured I was simplifying it a bit. But it does seem like a sport that would fit our athletes pretty well if we could convince some of them to give it a shot. And the US Men's coach seems to agree: Rio Olympics 2016: US coach: LeBron James could be best handball player in world

I watched the Norway-Korea women's game, which was exciting until it ended in a tie (which seems odd for a sport with that many points scored). Currently watching Brazil-Sweden men's game. Brazil getting handled so far.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

I figured I was simplifying it a bit. But it does seem like a sport that would fit our athletes pretty well if we could convince some of them to give it a shot. And the US Men's coach seems to agree: Rio Olympics 2016: US coach: LeBron James could be best handball player in world

feels like we read this about a different sport every year regarding James or other stars ... I also think that this is a specifically american way of thinking and feel a little weirded out that the US coach would play into that.

If James picked up Handball as a 12,13 year old i have little doubt he´d be world class, at 16-18 i give him half a chance to be pretty good. But there is no way any athlete picks up a new sport at 30+ and becomes world class or even "the best player in the world" in it. Period.

And of course it fits you athletes pretty well, you happen to have more and better ones than most of the world And yeah, the "profile" fits better than other sports, not denying that.

p.s.: Dirk played Handball at club level as a youth btw (as well as Tennis), before choosing Basketball thankfully

[larrymcg421]

The James thing is silly anyways because he's not going to do it. The problem is Handball isn't played at the high school level here, so athletes who might be good at it pick up a different sport. Therefore, the strategy of picking up very good athletes who just aren't quite good enough to play in the pros seems like a better bet than anything else right now.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

The James thing is silly anyways because he's not going to do it. The problem is Handball isn't played at the high school level here, so athletes who might be good at it pick up a different sport. Therefore, the strategy of picking up very good athletes who just aren't quite good enough to play in the pros seems like a better bet than anything else right now.

Don´t see it happening anymore, definitely not quickly. It needs to be played at some levels and if you grab 22 year olds (assuming they switch after college) you would have to have a league for them to play in to really get better. You can´t just learn a sport by practicing it for a few weeks or months and playing the odd scrimmage.

To me it seems the game was played a bit and there were a few results in the 1990s and then the sport just fell of a cliff for both genders.

I mean, whatever team is there right now (probably from a few smaller colleges ?) lost to Brazil by 25 at the PanAm Championship. The women lost to Greenland (who get an invite to the PanAm Championship and have 55k inhabitants).

It would probably be a fun experiment, i give you that but unless you get like 20 really good athletes (not guys who missed out in their favoured sport by a ton, but just narrowly) and have them train together for 2,3 years and make sure they have at least 25 competitive matches each year, then take the best 7,8 along with the guys/gals who played the sport at the college level and train another years together. Unless you go to these length, even qualifying for the Olympics would be a tall, tall order.

Plus, from basketball even merely "good" college players have a decent shot at catching a contract or 2 somehwere. Maybe try and convince a few Wide Receiver/Tight End types from football teams ?

Definitely fun experiment, but i am afraid you are going to have to contend yourself with watching other teams at the olympics for quite a while. Hey, at least its less stressfull

[whomario]

Though you might be interested the federation is looking for "talented athletes" for tryouts via the official homepage




Apparently it works like that actually, they hold tryouts in October and then the team trains together for next summer. Though i kinda doubt they do that for the whole time (more like a couple weeks spread out over that period) http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Team-Hand...aking-The-Team

They also finished 11th at the Beach Handball World Championships, sth i did not know existed

[digamma]

It would take a billionaire like Ballmer deciding to get his jollies off of building a Team Handball team over 15 years rather than buying the Clippers. I mean it's not unheard of, DuPont kind of did it with the whole Team Foxcatcher thing with wrestling and a few other sports. But you'd have to recruit young kids and have them play for a number of years.

[Butter]

Pole vault has been extremely entertaining. Anyone that has the NBC Olympic app, I highly recommend watching a field event in its entirety through a feed. I've watched the long jump, triple jump, and pole vault this way.

Brazil's Thiago Braz da Silva set an Olympic record, and became just the 19th vaulter ever to go over 6 meters... and forced France's vaulter, who holds the World Record, to attempt an even higher vault to beat him, which he failed.

Great drama, and first ever Brazilian medal in the pole vault.

In addition, a young American picked up the bronze.

[AnalBumCover]

What added to the drama in the pole vault event was the "hero/villain" element it gave with the home-nation favorite vs the seemingly arrogant Frenchman.

I found myself really rooting for da Silva after USA failed his final attempt.

Also, I never knew how much strategy and mind games are played out in the endgame.

[tarcone]

Speaking of rivalries. There was a great one in the Greco-Roman heavyweight finals last night.
It was the #1 Cuban vs. the #2 and WC Turkinsh guy.

The Cuban scored a 4 point move early and then a couple other points.

It was interesting. I have no idea how Greco-Roman wrestling is cored, but the match had excitement.

[whomario]

The swedes also unnerved the brazilians in the womens soccer, winning after penalty shootout

German gymnast Fabian Hambüchen wins Gold at the horizontal bar in his last international competition and his 4th Olympics (after winning bronze in Bejing and silver in London), one he just barely recovered for in time after a bad fall in february. Pretty amazing story

[nol]

Originally Posted by digamma

It would take a billionaire like Ballmer deciding to get his jollies off of building a Team Handball team over 15 years rather than buying the Clippers. I mean it's not unheard of, DuPont kind of did it with the whole Team Foxcatcher thing with wrestling and a few other sports. But you'd have to recruit young kids and have them play for a number of years.

You've got Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates, etc. in football. Here's a guy who was a walk-on/backup college basketball player who is doing alright for himself in Australian rules football. The money is a much bigger issue than the amount of training it would take. It's silly to think about for soccer because other countries actually pour a lot of resources into developing soccer players from a young age and it's obviously more focused on endurance than explosiveness, but for fringe sports it would be no question.

[AlexB]

Two false starts in the Keirin. First time it seemed clear to me that the Malaysian jumped the back wheel of the derney, but GB's Jason Kenney going for his 6th gold also overlapped and both should have been DQd

2nd time the German was in the lead but not sure he overlapped the bike...

So depsite two false starts, no DQs...

[SirFozzie]

Runners Nikki Hamblin, Abbey D'Agostino help each other to finish line after fall in 5,000 meters


Good to see this kinda story. It's not just about faster/stronger/higher.

[whomario]

Brasilian fans are a huge disapointment, the actions yesterday in the pole vault (and today boing him again as he got his medal) just the tip of the iceberg.

Maybe the german men soccer team can do another 7:1 if both get to the final, would be neat.

[JPhillips]

The French hurdler has the most awkward form I've ever seen.

[tarcone]

Did you see the end of the Spain/Turkey Womens basketball game?
Wow.

Spain has the ball up 2 with 24 seconds left. They had fought back from about 10 down in the 4th.

Spainard dribble into the corner, Turkey has fouls to give, but dont. Spainard chucks the ball up. And its tipped and stolen by Turkey. Turk races down the court and throws an absolute laser pass to a teammate under the basket. GREAT pass. Turk makes layup. Ties game with about 10 seconds.

Spain races back down the court. Girl cuts across the lane at the FT line and chucks up a shot at the buzzer. A one handed toss. Swish. Spain wins and moves to the Semis.

Great finish to a game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Yuck.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Okay, somebody who knows running stuff explain this to me please.

The D'Agostino/Hamblin story, I keep seeing references about how "both runners advanced because they were tripped"

But didn't they run into each other? I mean, there wasn't another runner that tripped up the pair, right? So how does two people taking a tumble that doesn't involve anyone else = both get to advance?

[whomario]

Looks like my local "river" ...


@ tarcone: Saw the ending today in replay, pretty cool stuff. Liked most of what i got to watch from the womens bball tournament, like that it seems way more relatable for an average-joe mens player like myself

Aussies beat Lithuania by 26 in the mens basketball to reach the Semis.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Okay, somebody who knows running stuff explain this to me please.

The D'Agostino/Hamblin story, I keep seeing references about how "both runners advanced because they were tripped"

But didn't they run into each other? I mean, there wasn't another runner that tripped up the pair, right? So how does two people taking a tumble that doesn't involve anyone else = both get to advance?

That's a good point. No one is listed as DQ. I watched the replay and it looks like D'agostino clipped Hamblin. However, there is a bit of jostling right in front of them. So my guess is they concluded that Hamblin and D'Agostino were both impeded, but maybe couldn't determine who was at fault.

Added: I just saw an interview with Hamblin and she does mention having to slow down because of movement in front of her.

Added 2: D'Agostino won't be able to advance because she tore her ACL.

[larrymcg421]

This is how many medals the US won in running events of 800m or greater...

2016: 4
2012: 2
2008: 1
2004: 1
2000: 0
1996: 0
1992: 2
1988: 1
1984: 4

[stevew]

Tebow would probably be the best handballer of all time. If/when his baseball thing fails, he should totally take up handball.