Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

[killthenet]

I'm so pleased for Holly Bradshaw, finally getting it right at a major championships to take the bronze medal. After Dina struggled things looked a bit bleak for GB in the athletics, I was worried we weren't going to pick up an individual medal, but the Northern girls have given the team a much needed boost by picking up medals in the 800m and the pole vault. GB looked fantastic in the Women's 4x100m relay too, qualifying fastest for the final so they might well be in the mix for the gold tomorrow afternoon - Jamaica and the US have the luxury of bringing some big hitters into their teams so they will go up another gear but the performance from the British team bodes well.

Delighted that Portugal got a gold in the Men's triple jump, you must be really happy with that @Jonnas! I only got to watch the opening rounds before I fell asleep but even from the first jump Pichardo was definitely a class apart from the rest.

[Jonnas]

This was a surprise!

Sadly, Nelson Évora could not get the respectable send-off I was hoping for (got injured in his first jump, and failed to qualify for the finals). I was aware another athlete actually did manage to qualify, but since nobody was talking about him, I didn't think he was one of the favourites.

Lo and behold, Pedro Pichardo (virtually unknown before today) actually won the gold in Men's Triple Jump! A surprise to be sure, and a very welcome one. He is now the 5th Gold medalist ever for Portugal (the previous one being Nelson Évora himself), and it's kind of poetic, that he wins the Gold in Évora's last attempt. Now I wish Patrícia Mamona had gotten the Gold too, would've been a display of total dominance.

Funnily enough, most people's first reaction to Pichardo has been "Born in Cuba? Figures that Portugal had to fetch someone from abroad to win the Gold". After his victory interview, the reaction shifted to "Nevermind, he speaks Portuguese better than some people in my family" It's oddly funny how consistent those comments have been today, across everybody I've spoken to (including... my family).

On more bittersweet news, today I learned these have been Portugal's most successful Olympics ever... Because apparently never before have we won 4 medals in a single year. That's pretty embarassing, our country needs to invest a lot more in non-football sports.

[Glen-i]

I've never been that sportily (It's a word, shut up!) inclined, so I've only been catching snippets of the Olympics whenever my insomnia kicks in.

I know it's quite late, but I did watch the BMX event. And I mean actually watch it instead of "have it on in the background while I play Switch". That was amazing and the first time I've actually gotten invested in an Olympic event that didn't give me the option to put Yoshi in it.

So kudos to the committee for finally alllowing those kinds of extreme sports in.

[killthenet]

Laura Muir's silver medal in the 1500m might be my favourite performance of the games - I was welling up after she crossed the line, delighted that she's finally done it at a global outdoor championships. The relays were great but not quite what I expected, I thought the women's would have been GB's best chance at gold but it was the men who almost took the title - Italy just pipping them on the line. 

Really good day overall for GB, up to 58 medals now and with two more boxing medals guaranteed they will finish with 60 at the very least - the third games in a row that they have achieved that feat. Kenny and Archibald absolutely destroyed the competition in the women's Madison today and they will both go in the omnium on Sunday so there could be even more medals to come from the velodrome. 

Feeling a mixture of nerves and excitement for tomorrow, Tom Daley could finally take an individual Olympic gold in the diving and we have an outside chance of medals in the athletics too, it would be great if the GB team could take home more medals than in Rio but my main hope is that they bag another couple of golds to make it at least 20 of each colour - that would be a great achievement

[WackerJr]

Once again, another week with so many wonderful stories.  The only thing I struggled to watch were those really unfortunate Modern Pentathlon athletes who were given a horse who just refused to do anything & cost them any medal opportunities. Seeing those athletes in tears of frustration while riding was a real tough watch & really felt for them. I’ve read today that the German coach has been sent home for striking the horse afterwards!

On a personal note, I am delighted for Bryony Page winning bronze for GB in the Trampolining.  As a Trampoline Coach, that success is huge for me & the sport.  The governing body, British Gymnastics, has had a lot of understandable negative press in the last year for some horrendous stories about how gymnasts had been treated. As they try to turn things around, this will secure funding for the sport I’m heavily involved in & really could make a huge difference.

[Will]

Yeah it’s was awesome second week, really enjoyed the whole thing. 

On 8/8/2021 at 8:59 AM, WackerJr said:

The only thing I struggled to watch were those really unfortunate Modern Pentathlon athletes who were given a horse who just refused to do anything & cost them any medal opportunities. Seeing those athletes in tears of frustration while riding was a real tough watch & really felt for them.

Yeah it definitely sucks, but I guess that’s all part of the sport and sometimes it doesn’t go your way.

I really enjoyed the final couple of days from the velodrome and the athletics stadium. Some of the events I couldn’t take my eyes off, I’ve always been a big fan of the middle distance running and they did not disappoint. Particularly enjoyed the mens 1,500m but the last couple of days I think almost every event was worth watching.

One thing that really got to me was the music for the podium ceremonies. Seeing how happy some of the athletes were with that music playing there were more than a few times I felt myself welling up a bit. Having worked so hard for so many years, missing the Olympics last year and then not being sure they would happen this year either, it must be such a huge outpouring of emotion for anyone that gets to that point. The marathon ones during the closing ceremony were especially nice this time, being basically the only ones with any sort of crowd. Also nice that the men’s marathon silver and bronze were both refugees finding new homes in Europe and then being able to go on and compete in the Olympics, just a great story to finish off with I thought.

My wife was very angry with the closing ceremony, she didn’t like the Tokyo Sunday afternoon in the park section and thought they were stupid for arranging it like that. Going as far as to say it put Japan in a bad light to the rest of the world. Personally I thought it was great, not up there with London but given the circumstances I thought they put on a damn good show. I particularly liked the AR light show making the Olympic Rings.

Looking forward to the Paralympics, another one I’ll try and catch the majority of. I also hadn’t realized until the end of this that we’re barely six months away from the Winter Olympics too!

[bob]

Thought this was relevant to this thread and these forums.

[killthenet]

Nice little montage, though it highlights what a shame it was not to hear some sort of Nintendo melody in the opening ceremony

It was a great Olympics in the end, even without the crowds it felt like a special couple of weeks and I'm sure the Paralympics will be similarly fantastic. I was expecting it to be a bit rough for GB athletes but they performed brilliantly, if a couple of the big hitters hadn't bowed out through injury then they might well have surpassed the 67 medals from last time. Future looks bright too, there were a fair few of 4th places and a lot of young exciting talent on show.

I hope that going forward they continue to add new sports like they have in Tokyo, I didn't get to see enough of some of them but the freestyle BMX and the skateboarding were excellent - much easier to see the difference between a good skater and a brilliant one than it is to choose between divers too, makes it more engaging to watch.

[Happenstance]

Anyone been watching the paralympics? Good win today for GB in the wheelchair rugby.

[Will]

Need to try and catch up as I’ve seen nothing so far due to a bit of a weird week. Unfortunately, after amazing coverage of the Olympics, they’re only showing stuff that has Singaporeans competing for the Paralympics. Is the UK coverage BBC or someone else?

[Happenstance]

11 minutes ago, Will said:

Need to try and catch up as I’ve seen nothing so far due to a bit of a weird week. Unfortunately, after amazing coverage of the Olympics, they’re only showing stuff that has Singaporeans competing for the Paralympics. Is the UK coverage BBC or someone else?

Channel 4