Olympics

[GoCubsGo]

Women's hoops gold medal game starting.

USA vs. France.

GoRepeatResults!

5 minutes to go, tied. If Caitlin was in there it wouldn't be close

Nothing pretty about that, but a win is a win!



GOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD!

And yeah, Caitlin would gave been useful.

[GoCubsGo]

Awww, nice.

Kobe Bryant's wife and kids were on the sidelines.

[Vrede too]

Gymnast Ana Barbosu Speaks Out After Jordan Chiles' Score Change


billy.pilgrim hated the maxim I shared with him: If you're not good enough to beat the refs, you're not good enough.

I don't blame anybody, but I still felt bad for Barbosu. TV showed her crying while Chiles and Biles celebrated.

Romanian PM to boycott Olympics' closing ceremony after 'scandalous situation' in gymnastics ruling

I would expect a political leader to back his athlete, whether or not he understands what happened.

Paris Olympics: Jordan Chiles could be stripped of bronze medal on technicality

Sheesh what a mess! Give both of them a Bronze.

Great minds . . .

Why Jordan Chiles and Ana Barbosu should have both received a bronze medal

... The International Olympic Committee made the final determination Sunday and opted to strip Chiles of her bronze and reallocate it to Barbosu. It should have done the right thing and awarded medals to both of them for a mess that has been made that isn’t any of the athletes' fault....

Romania initially appealed seeking three bronze medals — one for Barbosu, one for Chiles and one for Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who they claimed was punished for stepping out of bounds even though she didn’t....

I should be a sportswriter . . . or an IOC official.

[O Really]

What a mess. Yes, both should have gotten a bronze. And I'm tired of seeing headlines saying Chiles is "stripped" of her medal. That's what one would say if she had done something to get disqualified, but she didn't. They should say the medal was "retracted" or something.

[Vrede too]

I think Mallory Swanson just said that Sophia Smith was offside in the play that she scored on. I wondered. I'll have to look at tomorrow's articles

Ah-hah.

... Albert played a through-ball that could have been meant for either Swanson or Smith. Smith was offside; but she let it run to Swanson, who was onside. Swanson galloped in on goal, and finished calmly, even at nearly full speed....

That does not make it a legal play. Smith was still an imminent threat and a distraction to the goalie and defense that could not be ignored. The ref should have canceled the goal. I'm sure there are articles backing me up, but I'm not going to bother. I'll bet Brasil is rightfully going nuts over it.

[Vrede too]

What a mess. Yes, both should have gotten a bronze. And I'm tired of seeing headlines saying Chiles is "stripped" of her medal. That's what one would say if she had done something to get disqualified, but she didn't. They should say the medal was "retracted" or something.

I see your point, I hadn't thought of it that way. Otoh, "stripped" connotes more of the harshness of her being violated, while "retracted" sounds kinda clinical and acceptable "Medal assault"?

[GoCubsGo]

Magnifique Paris!

Thanks for a great games!

[Vrede too]

Magnifique Paris!

Thanks for a great games!

Very well run, AFAIK.

They should have listened to O Really and me.

New video proves Jordan Chiles inquiry was submitted in time, USA Gymnastics says

Don't be stingy - 2 (or 3) Bronze Medals!

Closing Ceremony:

Spoiler:

Biles!
I didn't need our anthem for a 41st time.
The Tom Cruise segment was cooler than I would have guessed.
I like the athlete (I assume) who grabbed and kissed him. She'll have a story for all time.
Not in real time, obviously, but I'll bet he really jumped out of a plane.
The Olympic Hollywood Sign is great.
The unannounced (I assume) Peppers/Eilish/Dogg/Dre concert on Venice beach was an excellent choice.

Edit: Inspiring!:

Final finisher of women's marathon shows what it means to be an Olympian

The crowd support makes it even more special. GoBhutan&ParisGo!

[GoCubsGo]

Closing Ceremony:

Spoiler:

Biles!
I didn't need our anthem for a 41st time.
The Tom Cruise segment was cooler than I would have guessed.
I like the athlete (I assume) who grabbed and kissed him. She'll have a story for all time.
Not in real time, obviously, but I'll bet he really jumped out of a plane.
The Olympic Hollywood Sign is great.
The unannounced (I assume) Peppers/Eilish/Dogg/Dre concert on Venice beach was an excellent choice.

Edit: Inspiring!:

Final finisher of women's marathon shows what it means to be an Olympian

The crowd support makes it even more special. GoBhutan&ParisGo!

I'm an idiot, I haven't seen the very end and I clicked on your spoiler.

[Vrede too]

I'm an idiot, I haven't seen the very end and I clicked on your spoiler.

Now you don't have to watch

[Vrede too]

Saw "Revoked Bronze Medal" - Not a bad alternative to "stripped", which does have a Branded feel to it.

Closing Ceremony, more:
Zaho de Sagazan opening - Lovely!
Parade of flags/athletes - , but it looks like they're having a good time
Dystopian future and finding/raising rings - Meh
Phoenix (band) - Okay
Angèle
Flag handover to LA mayor Looks like Simone is wearing a walking boot for that left calf. Hope she recovers soon
Yseult “My Way”

Edit:

Post-Ceremony "LA 2028 Handover" show:
DEI prominent - Good, that'll piss off RWers
Good to see Carl Lewis (LA 1984 star)
Nice concert, I always liked RHCP and they still sound good 30 years later.
Vanessa and Kobe tribute
Mike Tirico Olympics epilogue

[Vrede too]

Court won't hear appeal from Jordan Chiles over bronze medal, USA Gymnastics says

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will not hear U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles' appeal to keep her bronze medal from the Paris Olympics despite new evidence, according to USA Gymnastics.

"USA Gymnastics was notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented," the governing body for gymnastics in the U.S. said in a statement....

Not very good at the arbitration thing are they? Maybe what's needed is a Court of Arbitration Arbitration for when the Court of Arbitration screws up

Olympics gymnast shows true colors with message to Jordan Chiles after taking medal

The headline is clickbait implying that the gymnast, Ana Barbosu, is shady. Instead, she displays empathy and class:

... "Sabrina, Jordan, my thoughts are with you," Barbosu, 18, wrote on her Instagram story, referring to compatriot and fourth-place finisher Sabrina Maneca-Voinea. “I know what you are feeling, because I’ve been through the same. But I know you’ll come back stronger. I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share same podium. This is my true dream!”

... “This situation would not have existed if the persons in charge had respected the regulation,” Barbosu wrote. “We, athletes are not to be blamed, and the hate directed to us is painful. I wanted to end this edition of the Olympic Games 2024 Paris in the spirit of Olympism, the true value of the world.”

Keep in mind that the Romanian appeal proposed giving all 3 gymnasts bronze medals. What a concept!

Romanian Gymnastics Says It ‘Never Agreed On Taking Away A Medal’ From Jordan Chiles

... The FRG said it pushed for a solution where the bronze would be shared between Chiles, Romanian gymnast and bronze medal winner Ana Barbosu and Romanian fourth-place finisher Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, whom the federation alleged was unfairly penalized for stepping out of bounds.

The American federation had agreed to share the bronze medal, according to the Romanian federation.

The FRG called for social media attacks levied against the three gymnasts to stop, as all three have faced social media vitriol amid the controversy, including racist attacks levied against Chiles.

The statement also called for online attacks against Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, known for her “perfect 10” performances at the 1976 Olympics, to stop, as Comaneci had advocated for Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea on social media (though she also said she doesn’t feel Chiles’ medal should be stripped).

Haters gonna hate, every time

[Vrede too]

Loosely related:

Team USA high jumper defends his decision not to share gold medal

I thought they were foolish, gold is gold. I guessed that it was the American that insisted on a jump-off, and it serves him right that he went home with silver.
GoNZGo!

[O Really]

Bad decision. They should have just whipped them out and called for a measurement to save time.
In a couple of years, everyone will have forgotten the story but McEwen's medal will still be silver and Kerr will still have a better Nike contract and forever be on the Olympic records as a gold medalist.

[Vrede too]

Bad decision. They should have just whipped them out and called for a measurement to save time.
In a couple of years, everyone will have forgotten the story but McEwen's medal will still be silver and Kerr will still have a better Nike contract and forever be on the Olympic records as a gold medalist.

And China tied the US for golds. McEwen let the entire 600-strong team and nation down, opps

Meanwhile:

Rapper Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) unveils custom bronze clock necklace for Jordan Chiles amid Olympics controversy
Rapper Flavor Flav showed off the finished product of his custom-made bronze clock necklace for gymnast Jordan Chiles after she was stripped from her metal at the 2024 Olympic games

[Vrede too]

Paris Olympics: British marathoner reveals she finished race with a broken leg

Great Britain's Rose Harvey finished 78th in the women's marathon at the Paris Olympics, out of 91 competitors and 80 finishers.

For some, that might have been disappointing outcome. In Harvey's case, it was one of the most remarkable performances of the Olympics.

That is because Harvey was revealed after the race to have crossed the finish line with a stress fracture in her femur, according to the BBC. She had entered the day with a hip injury, which wasn't helped by perhaps the most punishing course ever devised for a major marathon.

I assumed fibula after reading the headline. Femur is incredible.

With the series of climbs and downhills in Paris, it's a wonder Harvey finished at all, to say nothing of doing it in less than three hours, with a time of 2:51:03. From the BBC:

“It was really tough. It was a really, really hard day. I knew from about two miles in that my hip was going to be really, pretty painful. The hills didn’t help at all, the downhills were just agony and it just got worse and worse. At the halfway mark, I knew that it was going to be incredibly painful.

"Honestly, today I'm not sure how I did it because I can't put any weight on my leg at all."...

Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling named in Imane Khelif's cyberbullying criminal complaint in France: Report

Imane Khelif plans to continue fighting after the Paris Olympics.

A lawyer representing the Algerian boxer confirmed to Variety that X owner Elon Musk and author J.K. Rowling, two of her most prominent critics on social media during her gold medal-winning campaign in Paris, would be named in a criminal complaint filed to French authorities over alleged “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.”

The complaint was reportedly posted to the anti-online hatred center of the Paris public prosecutor’s office on Friday. Musk and Rowling might only be the start of the targets for Khelif, as the structure of the lawsuit gives prosecutors freedom to investigate anyone for harassing her, including former President Donald Trump.

Russia's useful idiots

... Khelif, however, is not transgender, by any definition of the word. She was identified female at birth, raised as a girl and competed as a woman for six years before the Paris Olympics.

The question around Khelif instead centers around whether she possesses XY chromosomes, which can occur in people who have identified and been identified as women their entire lives. The matter was introduced by the entity known as the International Boxing Association.

The IBA first conducted gender tests on Khelif and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting in 2022, but didn't suspend them from competition until 2023. The IBA never officially identified those tests nor shown any proof of the results, but IBA president Umar Kremlev later claimed Khelif had been shown to have XY chromosomes.

It is vitally important to note that all of this is occurring in the context of a public war between the IBA and the International Olympic Committee, which stripped the organization of its control over Olympic boxing in 2019 after years of alleged corruption and incompetence. The IOC opted to allow Khelif and Yu-ting to both compete in Paris — citing a standard of being identified as female on their passports — which led to the IBA reinserting itself back into the conversation.

That effort culminated in a news conference in which the IBA severely damaged its credibility in the international media, as the two sides continued to debate over the validity of those tests in 2022 and 2023. Even by the considerable standards of international sports organizations, the IBA is considered a complete mess.

Umar Kremlev and the IBA now are Russian. Wiki:

... In 2023, the IBA suspended two fighters, Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, on unspecified grounds. Khelif was suspended shortly before her gold medal bout against Chinese boxer Yang Liu, three days after defeating Azalia Amineva, a previously unbeaten Russian prospect, at the IBA's world championships. Kremlev would later state that Khelif failed a gender test without providing proof. No evidence has been presented that Khelif has XY chromosomes or elevated levels of testosterone....

Musk, Rowling, TRE45QN and RW bigots are sooo gullible and easily manipulated, always.

GoKhelifGo. Europe's Schengen Agreement says that a French conviction means that convicts could be banned from all Europe and that they can be arrested and extradited to France if they visit.

[Vrede too]

Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu gets Olympic medal amid Jordan Chiles controversy

... “I can't help but think about Sabrina and Jordan right now,” Bărbosu said in Romanian. “It's a difficult situation for us, with so many uncertainties and overwhelming emotions. I hope everyone understands that we have not done anything wrong at the Olympics. And that the Olympic spirit is more important than any misunderstanding between the authorities.”

“I want to believe that the day will come when all three of us will receive a bronze medal,” she added....

Classy.

[Vrede too]

They should have listened to O Really and me.

New video proves Jordan Chiles inquiry was submitted in time, USA Gymnastics says

Don't be stingy - 2 (or 3) Bronze Medals!
Idiots!

Closing Ceremony:


The Tom Cruise segment was cooler than I would have guessed.
I like the athlete (I assume) who grabbed and kissed him. She'll have a story for all time.
Not in real time, obviously, but I'll bet he really jumped out of a plane.
Of course he did:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... 235972556/

... Winston had the stunt-loving Mission Impossible star jump off the Stade du France in real-time and revealed the fruits of the year-and-a-half-long collaboration with the pre-taped shot of him skydiving with the Olympic flag over the hills of Southern California....

Some things leaked, but you filmed the skydive and the Hollywood sign back in March. How’d you keep it secret for as long as you did?

When we were filming with Tom, he was never actually holding the Olympic flag. He always was holding a white flag. So, whenever we were photographed with him, the press always said we were filming Mission Impossible. Everyone wonders what was faked and what wasn’t. Interestingly, one of the only things that was faked was the flag. I was disappointed that little things leaked over the last couple of weeks. Suddenly, more and more people need to know what you’re doing when you’re rehearsing in the Stade de France and booking venues.

The Olympic Hollywood Sign is great.
Awww.

Did you ever attempt to actually redecorate the Hollywood sign?

I did look at doing the Hollywood sign for real. We had engineers up there quite a long time, working out how we could do it. I decided against it because I wanted it to be a surprise. In the end, I think we could have done it, but then in March, the whole world would have seen pictures of the Hollywood sign covered in the Olympic rings. So we did it with CGI. The Tom bit is real. He was up there. He climbed up the sign.

I hate him for the Scientology and family stuff, but otherwise Cruise rocks.

[O Really]

I hate him for the Scientology and family stuff, but otherwise Cruise rocks.

That and being too short to be Reacher.

[Vrede too]

I hate him for the Scientology and family stuff, but otherwise Cruise rocks.

That and being too short to be Reacher.

6ft, 5 inches in the novels, Cruise is 5'7". 10 inches is a lot.

Too short for Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes, too, even without heels (on them ).