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  1. #41
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Partly Orlando, FL partly heard Sandpoint, ID
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBornAndBred View Post
    That cycling story just gets better.



    That's awesome.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/25/sport...ntl/index.html


    PS...
    Just like all math majors(can you guess what I majored in?)

  2. #42
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBornAndBred View Post
    Noooooo!!! Don't feel lazy! Just feel like a regular, normal sack of bones.
    But she’s soooooo smart, too. And an Olympian. I like my superstar athletes dumb like Ryan Lochte. It helps my sense of balance in the universe.

  3. #43
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    On the Road to Nowhere
    Quote Originally Posted by bundabergdevil View Post
    But she’s soooooo smart, too. And an Olympian. I like my superstar athletes dumb like Ryan Lochte. It helps my sense of balance in the universe.
    Whoah. Easy on the Florida Man.

  4. #44
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston area, OK, Newton, right by Heartbreak Hill
    Quote Originally Posted by bundabergdevil View Post
    But she’s soooooo smart, too. And an Olympian. I like my superstar athletes dumb like Ryan Lochte. It helps my sense of balance in the universe.
    Would it help if you told yourself she's not a superstar? She isn't. She won a gold medal. She might never do anything in cycling again.

  5. #45
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by Bostondevil View Post
    Would it help if you told yourself she's not a superstar? She isn't. She won a gold medal. She might never do anything in cycling again.
    Then she’ll have exactly one more Olympic gold medal than this fella!

    Meanwhile, color me surprised to see Ledecky get beat.

  6. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Deslok View Post
    Just like all math majors(can you guess what I majored in?)
    Sociology?

  7. #47
    When did 3x3 Men's basketball become an Olympic event. Does the USA have a team?

  8. #48
    Quote Originally Posted by DukieInKansas View Post
    When did 3x3 Men's basketball become an Olympic event. Does the USA have a team?
    This is the first time. Our squad failed to qualify.

  9. #49
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Dur'm
    Meanwhile, the U.S. 3x3 team is now 6-0 in pool play. They survived a tough test today from China, winning the game when Kelsey Plum hoisted a long shot with the scored tied 19-19, to win the game 21-19 and guarantee the top seed in the quarterfinals. The quarters take place at either 7:30am or 8:10am Tuesday, Durham time. (I'm not sure yet which game the U.S. will be in.) If anyone is interested and awake, the semis happen in the wee hours on Wednesday (4:00am and 5:10am), and the medal games happen at 7:45am (Bronze) and at 8:55am (Gold) later the same day. It's a quick turnover in 3x3, since the 10 minute games take under 20 minutes to actually play, counting timeouts and violations.

  10. #50
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Bostondevil View Post
    I agree! I love stories like this one! I loved that Tunisian swimmer winning gold too!
    Yes! He was awesome! "I am an Olympic champion!!!"

  11. #51
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Washington, D.C.
    Quote Originally Posted by bundabergdevil View Post

    Meanwhile, color me surprised to see Ledecky get beat.
    Based on the results over the past couple of years, Titmus came into the Olympics as a pretty clear favorite in the 400 free. Ledecky swam a gutty race, but to put it into perspective, her time last night was about a second slower than she swam the 400 in Rio in 2016. I am guessing that she will do well to medal in the 200 free, although she had the best time earlier today in the prelims. A number of the top qualifiers in the 200 today swam in the 400 finals and their times may have shown it. In contrast, Ledecky went out after the 200 prelims and swam the 1500 prelims.

    Ledecky should dominate the 1500 free finals. The 800 free is a little tricky. Ledecky's seed time is about 5 seconds faster than Titmus' seed time. However, Ledecky's time is two years old. Her time at the U.S. trials this summer is about a second faster than Titmus and Titmus swam her time at the Australian trials. Nonetheless, I would bet on Ledecky to win the 800 free and I would not be surprised if she wins convincingly.

  12. #52
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Dur'm
    Quote Originally Posted by DST Fan View Post
    Ledecky should dominate the 1500 free finals. The 800 free is a little tricky. Ledecky's seed time is about 5 seconds faster than Titmus' seed time. However, Ledecky's time is two years old. Her time at the U.S. trials this summer is about a second faster than Titmus and Titmus swam her time at the Australian trials. Nonetheless, I would bet on Ledecky to win the 800 free and I would not be surprised if she wins convincingly.
    I think this analysis is pretty spot on. Kinda weird to say, but at the age of 25, Ledecky is already getting to the age where she can't really expect to get faster. But she's blown away the field so badly in the longer distance events that she'll have cushion in those events for a while, much as Janet Evans did back in the day. The other aspect is that other swimmers have studied her methods and learned from them, so her edge in technique is narrowing, too. She has literally changed the paradigm for women's distance swimming.

  13. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by Phredd3 View Post
    I think this analysis is pretty spot on. Kinda weird to say, but at the age of 25, Ledecky is already getting to the age where she can't really expect to get faster. But she's blown away the field so badly in the longer distance events that she'll have cushion in those events for a while, much as Janet Evans did back in the day. The other aspect is that other swimmers have studied her methods and learned from them, so her edge in technique is narrowing, too. She has literally changed the paradigm for women's distance swimming.
    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?

  14. #54
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Washington, D.C.
    Quote Originally Posted by cato View Post
    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?
    Age seems to catch up with distance freestylers fairly quickly. In 2012, a 15-year old Katie Ledecky beat Kate Ziegler in the U.S. Olympic trials in the 800 free. Ziegler had dominated women’s distance freestyle for several years and was 24 at the 2012 U.S. trials.

    In the 800 free at the U.S. trials this summer, Katie Grimes finished second to Ledecky with a time that was about a half second slower than Ledecky’s time at the U.S. trials in 2012. Although I am not predicting that Grimes will win the 800 free this week, I do note that she is 15.

    I read some time ago that a typical week of training for Katie Ledecky was 10 sessions in the pool, which included 8 double sessions on four days. She also had at least 4 dryland training sessions a week (including weights and other training). At that time, her average training session in the pool was about 8,500 yards. That translates to a little over 50 miles a week. Of course, the pandemic forced her to reduce her training in 2020.

    I have not read anything about Ledecky’s plans after Tokyo but, for many swimmers, the training regimen becomes too much, both physically and mentally. Michael Phelps reduced the events he swam after the Athens games in 2004 and gave up the 400 IM, which was his most grueling event. With the reduced number of events, he continued through the 2016 games.

    Ledecky’s best events are the 800 and 1600 free. Although I am not a swimming coach, it always struck me that distance freestyle is akin to a different sport from the rest of swimming, at least with respect to the training demands. And, unlike Phelps, I doubt Ledecky realistically has the option of focusing on her shorter events and reducing her training.

    On the other hand, Ashley Twichell (Duke class of 2011) made the Olympic team and is swimming the 10 kilometer open water event next week. Ashley is 32 and just missed making the 2012 Olympics in the open water event. She had shoulder surgery in 2014, which I believe impacted her training for the 2016 games.

    Here is a story that appeared at the ESPN website after she qualified for the Tokyo games.

    https://www.espn.com/espnw/life-styl...tokyo-olympics

    From the article: “Twichell will be Team USA's oldest rookie Olympic swimmer since 1908. She will be 31 when the Games begin, tying her with Jenny Thompson as the second-oldest U.S. female Olympic swimmers ever behind Dara Torres, who last qualified at age 41 in 2008.”

    Since the Olympics were delayed a year, Ashley is now older than Jenny Thompson was in her final Olympics.

    The women’s open water event is next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) and I believe NBC Sports (the cable channel) is televising the event. However, you will have to set aside about 2 hours if you want to watch the entire race.

  15. #55
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Biles out with medical issue. I’d link but it’s the lead alert on just about every news site right now. Take your pick.

  16. #56
    USA loses gold medal softball game to Japan 2-0.

  17. #57
    Quote Originally Posted by accfanfrom1970 View Post
    USA loses gold medal softball game to Japan 2-0.
    Watched on my phone while grinding out miles and pushups. That double play in the 6th was a killer. If that gets through it plates a run and you have 2 on and 1 out. Killer.

  18. #58
    Simone Biles pulled out because the stress of being the greatest of all time had become too much for her and was negatively affecting her ability to perform. I can't blame her, although clearly some mistakes were made along the way. She is thus far being given a degree of understanding and sympathy that many athletes in American team sports only wish they could get.

  19. #59
    Quote Originally Posted by Mabdul Doobakus View Post
    Simone Biles pulled out because the stress of being the greatest of all time had become too much for her and was negatively affecting her ability to perform. I can't blame her, although clearly some mistakes were made along the way. She is thus far being given a degree of understanding and sympathy that many athletes in American team sports only wish they could get.
    Yes, can you imagine what the media would do to LeBron if he pulled out of Game 7 of an NBA finals because the stress was too much?

    I sympathize too as the pressure is immense and also only every four years. But part of being the greatest competitor is being able to handle all that pressure to an extent. I actually would have thought with an empty stadium there'd be less given it only feels like a practice.

    US Women still got the silver (which is disappointing of course given their dominance) as others stepped in without practicing ahead of time to fill in for Biles.

    It will be interesting to see if Biles still competes in the individual all-around. Unfortunately for her teammate that finished third on their team in the prelims, I don't think even if Biles withdraws she gets a spot? Or does she? That two athletes per country rule is pretty silly if you ask me -- she would have easily qualified for the all around if wasn't on Team USA.

    I do think as a society there has been a recent huge swift in supporting athletes with mental issues unlike not too long ago. We saw it with Osaka as well. I can't come up with an analogous situation on the men's side though but I'm sure it's happened.

  20. #60
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    Quote Originally Posted by Mabdul Doobakus View Post
    Simone Biles pulled out because the stress of being the greatest of all time had become too much for her and was negatively affecting her ability to perform. I can't blame her, although clearly some mistakes were made along the way. She is thus far being given a degree of understanding and sympathy that many athletes in American team sports only wish they could get.
    You could almost see the Woof Gods lining her up over the past few weeks, nothing but the assumption that she'd win another goal...ridiculous expectations...crazy pressure.

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