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Hoyaheel

Olympics

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I'm not dating this thread because Beijing starts in like 6 months, so.... 😉

Is anyone watching? There are a few sports we always watch (critiquing diving - neither of us have ANY experience - gives us great joy) and we love to find new different things to watch. I always watch all the women's soccer that I can. Lainey posted some Olympian tiktoks yesterday - such fun! I don't have tiktok and watched the videos on her site so I'm sure I missed stuff, but enjoyable anyway. Love the behind the scenes shots of the Olympic village and the swag bags the US team gets from sponsors. Wow. 

I have been frustrated the past 2 days that 2/3 of what I've recorded to watch has not been what it was supposed to be. Ah well.

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I have some stuff recorded, but haven't really watched anything.  Didn't even watch the opening ceremony - did anyone watch that?  Worth me watching, or should I delete from TiVo?

I do plan to watch next week individual gymnastics.  I like the diving too.  I'm usually really into it, but this year I'm having trouble getting started.

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My biggest complaint (and from the WaPo newsletter I get, I wasn't the only one!) is that finding what I wanted to watch was really difficult. Some things were only streaming, so I skipped those (not with my husband, not a ton of data so not worth it to me) And it seems that half the things I set to record from Directv weren't the sport they were supposed to be. I understand shuffling due to the typhoon, hot temps etc - but then the "companies of NBC Universal" or whomever owns the US viewing rights needs to clean that shit up in the metadata on directv so the right stuff records!

I still have a few more hours  recorded - we'll enjoy this week (diving, artistic swimming, rhythmic gymnastics....) I have enjoyed what I've seen! Always something new to learn (surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing) and old standbys (diving, we just love it).....

 

I also told my husband that even though I'm super anxious about going out in public (even though vaccinated - all states back up in red zones these days and who wants that???) if there's a last minute visa/ticket package for Beijing, I'm not saying no......I just got my passport renewed (and we had cancelled plans because I didn't know when I'd get my passport back!) I don't know if I actually could get on a plane and go to China,  I want desperately to go to an Olympics, esp winter. We missed out on 2002 in Salt Lake WHEN MY DAD LIVED THERE and I've been bitter about it ever sense. All my family went and had a blast and we were working in New Orleans in a hotel that barely had NBC (such bad reception!!!) It would have to be a deal with a quick/special visa - I worked in China 2011-2016 and was never able to get a 10yr visa, so I don't have one that's current.....

 

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Granted I have never been a huge fan of the Olympics or sports in general (I sometimes watch figure skating and gymnastics) but this year I was even less interested. It’s partly COVID but a lot of it is because of the gymnastics scandal. 

Unpopular opinion. I think only adults should be able to compete in the Olympics. Children shouldn’t have that kind of pressure on them, and it creates a situation where abuse is rewarded, which makes them more vulnerable than they already are by virtue of being children. I’m not just talking about the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. Those child gymnasts were (and probably still are) also being physically and emotionally abused by many other adults, and while raising the minimum age to 18 wouldn’t completely protect them since training would still start early on, I do think it would lessen it. Before the Karolyis the female gymnasts were all adults. I know because of their size children are often capable of more than adults are in some sports but it’s not worth it, IMO. Figure skaters have also gotten much younger over the years it seems although not to the same extent as the gymnasts. It just creeps me out now seeing these children compete at this level. 

Edited by witchkitten
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I was shocked at the ages of the skateboarders. Maybe other athletes are that young too, but I think I hadn’t realized it. 

Edited by dixiedoodah
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Here’s a snippet from a news article about ages. 
 

There’s no minimum age to compete in surfing or skateboarding events, whereas Olympic gymnasts must be at least 16 years old and boxers must be 18 (fun fact: this is the only sport with a maximum age limit, which caps competitors at 40 years old).

RELATED: Nishiya, just 13, gives Japan sweep in street skateboarding

RELATED: Rules of the Game: Skateboarding

The youngest athlete in the Tokyo Olympics is 12-year-old Syrian table tennis competitor Hend Zaza. She was eliminated from the games on Saturday, but still has plenty more years left to compete.

As for why skateboarders are so young, one theory is that once you reach a certain age, the fear of injury can make it harder to compete at a high level, or to keep pushing boundaries and learning new skills.  

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Diving has minimum ages too - not sure if Olympics but Worlds do, and most countries choose team from World or other international competitions, so it stands to reason there's a practical limit. I think it's 14 by December of the year in which the competition is held - because the Chinese woman (teen) who won (or silver, it's been a few days) the women's 10M platform is 14 - she only is in the Olympics because of the COVID delay. And I DEFINITELY worry about the "training regimes" of some countries - China for sure, like East Germany and the Soviets in the past. Russia probably does some still but they don't have as much money as they used to, so.....

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Watching my last recording - Closing Ceremony. Gotta say - the videos for Paris 2024 are super cool. They had an orchestra playing La Marseillaise and the final part was played  IN SPACE by a French astronaut with a saxophone. Now we're droning all over Paris. I like it!!

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I'm about od'd on hockey. LOVE IT. Super sad & pissed about the ROC figure skating scandal. Effing russians - is it is, as it was, as it ever shall be..... (we're GenX so hubs and I are making all sorts of cold war & "east german judge" jokes 😉

Have watched a fair bit of curling, lots of snowboading & the women's monobob, some luge & skeleton. Not much skiing (which is odd because that's the only winter olympics sport I've actually done myself 🤣)

 

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I watched a bit of the snowboarding, but not much.  My TiVo is recording things like crazy for me, but haven't really gotten into it this year.

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