Olympics 2021 -- Competition and Results

[Acymetric]

I doubt anyone was insinuating you weren't aware, but it isn't impossible that you would not recognize Raisman as a former USA gold medal gymnast who is much closer to the entire situation than any journalist would have been.

Sure, that's fair. To be clear, I had no problem with Phredd33's answer, that was pretty much the answer I was looking for. Should have used quotes to make that clearer since it probably wasn't.

[bundabergdevil]

I was asking about the context of the article because no link was provided, Jesus Christ. I had not forgotten about one of the largest sexual assault scandals ever, but thanks for jumping down my throat and reminding me in the snarkiest way possible anyway.

Fine, snark withdrawn - but what Phredd and MD have said. The writer is Aly Raisman, one of the primary whistleblowers on Nasser and USAG, so she is not “just speculating”.

[SouthernDukie]

Sure, that's fair. To be clear, I had no problem with Phredd33's answer…

I’m more concerned that you think Phredd33 is Jesus Christ.

Sorry, just trying to bring some levity back to the Olympics thread.

[Acymetric]

Fine, snark withdrawn - but what Phredd and MD have said. The writer is Aly Raisman, one of the primary whistleblowers on Nasser and USAG, so she is not “just speculating”.

Maybe speculation was a poor word choice, with too many negative connotations. I was simply trying to ask if she was saying she had inside info that it is an issue, or if it was that she had good reason to believe that it might be an issue given the history there. There is nothing wrong with either option, I just wanted to clarify which it was.

Anyways, happy to drop this and move on if you are.

[Phredd3]

I’m more concerned that you think Phredd33 is Jesus Christ.

Anyone who had met me would not harbor such confusion.

(Did I make that ambiguous enough?)

[bundabergdevil]

Maybe speculation was a poor word choice, with too many negative connotations. I was simply trying to ask if she was saying she had inside info that it is an issue, or if it was that she had good reason to believe that it might be an issue given the history there. There is nothing wrong with either option, I just wanted to clarify which it was.

Anyways, happy to drop this and move on if you are.

Yes. Email/text/internet posts are ridiculously easy to misinterpret so I apologize if I did so here. Moving on.

[Tooold]

To change the subject….the mixed Triathlon relay is on right now. Each team fields two men and two women who each do a “super sprint” triathlon and then tag the next team member. As someone who has done several sprint triathlons, this is very interesting to me. The super sprint that they are doing is 300m swim, 6.8k bike and 2k run, which is roughly 1/3 the length of most sprint triathlons.

[Acymetric]

To change the subject….the mixed Triathlon relay is on right now. Each team fields two men and two women who each do a “super sprint” triathlon and then tag the next team member. As someone who has done several sprint triathlons, this is very interesting to me. The super sprint that they are doing is 300m swim, 6.8k bike and 2k run, which is roughly 1/3 the length of most sprint triathlons.

I've always felt like the swimming leg of triathlon events is weirdly long relative to the other parts. Like, looking at a sprint triathlon, 750 meters is a LONG swim relative to what I would say is a relatively short 5k running leg (obviously it isn't going to feel short after the swimming and the biking assuming it is the last leg).

Also, I had never heard of sprint triathlons before now, that looks pretty cool.

[Tooold]

I've always felt like the swimming leg of triathlon events is weirdly long relative to the other parts. Like, looking at a sprint triathlon, 750 meters is a LONG swim relative to what I would say is a relatively short 5k running leg (obviously it isn't going to feel short after the swimming and the biking assuming it is the last leg).

Also, I had never heard of sprint triathlons before now, that looks pretty cool.

I chose the sprint because, by the time I started doing Triathlons (at a late age), my wonky back would not allow me to actually train for the run. So I needed a short (5 K) run that i could do without training (albeit slowly). The sprint triathlons I have done have typically had a 500-700m swim, depending on the course. I qualified for and raced in USA Tri’s National Championships (for my age group) a couple years ago, and I believe that was a 600m swim. For me it has always been the shortest leg.

But I highly recommend trying a Sprint…it is an unthreatening way to get into Tris.

[Tooold]

So the USA took silver in the mixed triathlon relay. Our anchor leg (Morgan Pearson) had a great run to move up from 3rd to 2nd. He was motivated because he made a major mistake in the individual triathlon…he did not put all his swim gear in his assigned bin during the transition, which meant he had to go in the penalty box for 15 seconds and lost any chance he might have had for a medal.

[Acymetric]

Congrats to Anna Cockrell for earning the bronze in the 400m hurdles! If that name sounds familiar, she is indeed the younger sister of Duke great Ross Cockrell.

[Tooold]

Congrats to Anna Cockrell for earning the bronze in the 400m hurdles! If that name sounds familiar, she is indeed the younger sister of Duke great Ross Cockrell.

I think you have jumped ahead…tonight started the qualifying rounds and she came in 3rd in her heat. I think the finals are a couple days away still. There are a couple other really good USA women who moved on during today’s prelims. (Tell me if I am in a time warp…)

[Acymetric]

I think you have jumped ahead…tonight started the qualifying rounds and she came in 3rd in her heat. I think the finals are a couple days away still. There are a couple other really good USA women who moved on during today’s prelims. (Tell me if I am in a time warp…)

No, that was a dumb mistake on my part. Congrats to her for making it to the Olympics in any case, haha.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Not sure if it is just because of the awesomeness of Rowdy Gaines, but the swim meet is a lot more entertaining to me than the track meet.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Not sure if it is just because of the awesomeness of Rowdy Gaines, but the swim meet is a lot more entertaining to me than the track meet.

Absolutely.

[JasonEvans]

Not sure if it is just because of the awesomeness of Rowdy Gaines, but the swim meet is a lot more entertaining to me than the track meet.

Rowdy Gaines could call people eating soup and it would be breathlessly exciting.

[DST Fan]

I just watched the 1500 prelims. Maybe she isn’t getting faster at the shorter distances, but she sure looked strong in her prelim. Could she not get faster at the longer distances?

Katie Ledecky confirmed in her post-race interview last night that she plans to swim in the 2024 Olympics and, possibly, in 2028. That's great news, but the article from the Washington Post at the link below expands on a couple of comments Phredd3 and I made earlier in the thread about how age has impacted a number of women distance freestylers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...okyo-olympics/

The article is probably blocked by a paywall, but it includes the following observations:


Janet Evans (probably the greatest pre-Ledecky American female distance freestyler) won her last international medal at 23 in 1994. She did not medal at the 1996 games.

Brooke Bennett won the 800 free at both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics (as well as the 400 free in 2000), but did not qualify for the U.S. team in 2004 at age 24.

Rebecca Adlington won the 800 free in 2008 at 19, was upset at age 23 by Ledecky in the same event in 2012, and then never swim in a major international event again.


Ledecky is currently 24 and will be 27 at the next Olympics. She did not swim her best times this week, and it would not be surprising (at least to me), if Katie Grimes overtakes Ledecky before the 2024 games. Grimes is 15, had a huge time drop in the 800 free at the U.S. trials, and entered the finals last night as the second seed. Grimes missed her time from the prelims earlier in the week by about a couple of seconds and finished fourth last night.

However, although I have not read anything suggesting this, I have to wonder whether Ledecky's results this week were negatively impacted by the disruption in training over the last 16 months. Like Michael Phelps, she is a unique swimmer both mentally and physically and I would also guess that, with uninterrupted training, it is possible that Ledecky can get back close to her best times in the longer events in 2024.

[budwom]

^ I heard her comments and took them more as genial optimism than some sort of firm expecation, FWIW.

[Tooold]

^ I heard her comments and took them more as genial optimism than some sort of firm expecation, FWIW.

She was interviewed later by the Peacock hosts, and she was pretty clear. She said she plans to take a few weeks off to see her family (who she really has not been able to see for the last year because of CoVid). Then she will be back in the pool. She mentioned that we all think in terms of the olympics, but there are lots of major meets that are important to swimmers. But she specifically said her goal is the 2024 olympics.

She also said she thought she has been pretty clear about wanting to keep going, and was surprised that anyone thought she was thinking of this olympics as her last.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Novak Djokovic is good at tennising.

He's apparently good at being a sore loser, too.

After starting the Olympics with eyes on a "Golden Slam," Novak Djokovic is leaving Tokyo without a medal.

The world No. 1 and reigning Australian Open, Wimbledon and French Open champion lost his bronze medal singles match to Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta on Saturday. He then withdrew from a bronze medal mixed doubles match that was scheduled shortly after his singles loss, citing a left shoulder injury. Details of the injury were not immediately clear.

Djokovic and Busta split the first two sets on Saturday, setting up a winner-take-all third set in the best-of-three match. At that point, the emotions of the week appeared to take their toll on Djokovic. After losing a point early in the third set, he threw his racket into the stands.
Later in the set, he destroyed another racket while slamming it into the net stanchion in frustration.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/novak-d...103105577.html