2024 Olympics - General commentary

Bob Green said:
The swimming has been really competitive with the Australians winning seven gold medals coming up one short of our eight gold medals. The competition increased the entertainment.
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I like that perspective but just don't share it, especially how poorly the men did. Losing the 4x100 for the first time - even though it was to obvious juicers - was tough.

Does anyone know if having the next Olympics in the US gives us hope of legitimate drug testing?


"As the Paris Olympics head into their second week, the World Anti-Doping Agency faces a credibility crisis. WADA is responsible for keeping the Olympics and other global sports competitions free of performance-enhancing drugs. The agency’s lack of transparency about alleged doping of Chinese athletes has left a cloud over Olympic swimming. It needs to come clean lest it harm both its own reputation and that of the Games."

"At issue is the fallout from WADA’s handling of positive drug tests for 23 Chinese swimmers seven months before 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021 because of the coronavirus0. WADA cleared the athletes to compete despite the positive tests; several went on to win medals, including three golds. Eleven of the 23 who tested positive for those Games are participating in Paris now."
 
VA_BDevil said:
Am I the only one who found Lyles' antics, especially before the race, an embarrassment?
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I only saw the race and not the time before the race….did he do something extra obnoxious? He does Ike to show off his confidence

I also don’t know what he did after the race,..I only saw him hug his mother and take his victory lap (which I think is common)
 
Did they ever say what the big holdup was before the race? I felt like that could have affected some of the runners.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a race so close both in the winner and 1-8.
 
Tooold said:
I also don’t know what he did after the race,..I only saw him hug his mother and take his victory lap (which I think is common)
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After the race, he ripped his name tag off his uniform and ran around holding his name above his head. It sent the message it is all about him. Olympics are all about representing your country.
 
Bob Green said:
After the race, he ripped his name tag off his uniform and ran around holding his name above his head. It sent the message it is all about him. Olympics are all about representing your country.
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Oh I did see that, and I get your point. If an athlete in another sport had done that it would have bothered me, so I am not sure why I give him a pass for that. Maybe because he had already been built up by the media as “ a personality”. And because, As ACDevil said, 100m runners have a history of being “personalities”
 
camion said:
He just took off at the start and never let up. A world record in a notoriously "slow" pool. :D
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Great to see the friendship and support between the two American long-distance swim champs -- Bobby Finke and Katie Ledecky. Both train in Gainesville under Coach Anthony Nesty with a number of other top swimmers and have become good friends.
 
Bob Green said:
After the race, he ripped his name tag off his uniform and ran around holding his name above his head. It sent the message it is all about him. Olympics are all about representing your country.
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To be fair, Julien Alfred from St. Lucia, after winning the Women's 100, did the exact same thing after she won. I did not find it objectionable then and also didn't today. It was odd that he was doing it for so long when the announcers had still not called him as the winner. Perhaps he was trying to let then know! Both St. Lucia and the USA can proudly celebrate our champions and tip a hat to what it takes to be in the mindset to be one. Nod to Christian Laettner to tie it back to DBR.
 
Bob Green said:
After the race, he ripped his name tag off his uniform and ran around holding his name above his head. It sent the message it is all about him. Olympics are all about representing your country.
Click to expand...
I think Lyles always does that when he wins, isn't that his thing? I know I've seen him do it at some world event. It's been a long Olys already but I'm still looking forward to the 100 meter relay. Man alive, those guys!
 
I thought his celebration was over the top and rather disrespectful to the other runners, given that he won only by picking the exact right instant to lean forward. The margin was closer than many offside VAR reviews.
 
Sure, Lyles was extremely exuberant, both before and after the race. But the 100 meter dash is the ultimate thrill ride. There is nothing else like it in all of sport. The level of intensity required to run the way Lyles did is something to which not a single one of us on this board can relate. I would think that type of intensity can cause extreme emotions in the moment.

And if commercial endorsers determine that his behavior is seen as a negative by the public then he won’t get the endorsements he might otherwise have received. So we’ll see what happens.
 
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