2021 Summer Olympics (Tokyo)

Carolina Red

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Really impressive as Croatia are a really top side. Still a big ask for Australia to qualify from their group as only Kazakhstan aren't a top notch side. Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Spain are also in the group and only 4 qualify. And if we qualify 4th then the winner of the other group awaits in the first playoff round.
“Group of death” stuff there
 

Bobski

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What and you think it's cheap in the UK to take up sports like: tennis,rowing,sailing without the middle class privilege?

In other countries it'd be about money but here we scream upper class privilege?

On the flip side, I taught a kid who competed in dressage, and hopes to go to the Olympics. Maybe she was an exception but she was not from a 'posh' family. The family gave up a lot for her to compete; like foreign holidays etc.
Didn't say it was rational, but there is just something about the look of equestrian events that stimulates my internal biases more than those other sports.
 

RedFish

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Didn't say it was rational, but there is just something about the look of equestrian events that stimulates my internal biases more than those other sports.
You aren't the only one. Not that Ive got anything against horses but the 'spectators Ra Ra Ra.!!
 

Inigo Montoya

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Didn't say it was rational, but there is just something about the look of equestrian events that stimulates my internal biases more than those other sports.
You've obviously never encountered the toxicity and snobbishness around some other sports I could mention.
 

Carolina Red

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One time I got my run up wrong and hit the spring board too low and went chest first into the end of it.
The US famously had a gymnast named Brian Meeker do this at a national competition in the 80s. I remember seeing video of it for the first time and thinking he was dead.
 

Pexbo

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The US famously had a gymnast named Brian Meeker do this at a national competition in the 80s. I remember seeing video of it for the first time and thinking he was dead.
Ha I’ll check that out, see if it triggers some buried PTSD :lol:

To be fair I was a supple little 10 year old with bendy bones who probably weighed about 5 stone and bounced straight off.
 

croadyman

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Saw someone make a good point about wondering where the first Female GB Gold medal is going to come from
 

Agent Red

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Saw someone make a good point about wondering where the first Female GB Gold medal is going to come from
yeah good point. Maybe one of our boxing chances? Dina Asher Smith an outside chance too although not the favourite.

I’m also hoping we put in a good effort in the new mixed triathlon event as we performed really well in the individual ones, so fingers crossed it comes together for a good team performance rather than them all being spent.

Edit: Forgot about Laura Kenny of course, though not sure what our hopes are in the velodrome this year and if they're as high as previous Olympics.
 

RobinLFC

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Katarina Johnson-Thompson has a good chance at the heptathlon but I think it'll depend on how she has recovered from her injury (and perhaps on Thiam's fitness as well).
 

mitChley

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Fantastic competition in the mens 73 weightlifting, few death or glory attempts by the USA and Japan to try and medal. World record total from Shi Zhiyong.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Well it's coming home to roost now, isn't it? Big time!

The thing is we're not hearing anything about similar abuses in places like China and Russia. I think the penalty for whistle blowing over there is far worse than anything we can comprehend
There have always been rumours about these girls being given stuff to stop them developing properly physically. Doubt we would ever hear about China and Russia. Think some places there has always been a hint of physical cruelty behind the training regimes. They are children when they start off for gods sake.
 

0le

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Gymnastics is really boring and I suspect some of it is because commentators do not explain why certain routines are better than others.
 

Bobski

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Gymnastics is really boring and I suspect some of it is because commentators do not explain why certain routines are better than others.

The athleticism is staggering, for me the most physically impressive feats at these games.
 

jojojo

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She said she pulled out because her mind isn’t right and she risks doing herself serious physical injury.

I completely understand that, I don’t think people realise how dangerous gymnastics is and the fine margins between perfection and disaster. You have to be fully committed to every single thing you do and do it with a clear focused mind. A yip in most other sports might result in a missed shot, in gymnastics it could result in you landing on your neck from 3m with serious momentum from whatever twist you just executed. I did gymnastics from the ages of 4-12 and got the yips on the vault. This was when it was a pommel horse, length ways with no handles rather than this new shape thing they use now. One time I got my run up wrong and hit the spring board too low and went chest first into the end of it. From then on I just couldn’t get my run up right and never hit the spring board with any confidence and my vaults were dangerous from then on because I was barely clearing the vault and could easily have smashed my back on exit. Obviously that’s just a child doing low level gymnastics but the stakes are increased magnitudes with the level of difficulty, speed and power they achieve.
I have a similar memory to yours, but trampolining. I was about 15 though and well aware that while I was good at lots of sports I was never going to be great at any. At any rate, I went to do 1 and 1/2 back somersault and a thought flashed into my mind - "miss this and you break your neck." Now, I'd heard that line repeated by coaches (and myself) often enough but I'd never thought it as I went into a jump. I made the 1.5 successfully, just as I had lots of times before, but it felt awful and I never did any serious tumbles again.

For a serious gymnast, they've been through that moment many times. Sometimes when their body wasn't doing as well as normal, sometimes when something distracted them at the vital moment. But the tough ones like Biles ignore it, and can keep ignoring it for years.

For a top gymnast, not being in the right headspace is a potential physical disaster. It's not like the marathon runner who sprains an ankle but decides to hobble home an hour late or the cyclist who carries his bike over the line in last place. Toughing it out mentally isn't good enough, if you feel off, it could be deadly and Biles has dealt with a lot over the past couple of years - so if she feels that the focus isn't there, she has to stop.
 

giorno

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or if your a horse. The Simone Biles situation. It must also be awful competing for an association who stood by a let someone sexually abuse young gymnasts on an horrific volume. They were also saying on the radio just now about how yesterday the camera was never off her even when she had withdrawn. These athletes just love competing in sports, most do not do it for the publicity. Films stars, pop stars expect it.
Of which she was one of the victims, too

Apparently she got the "twisties"(technical term!) during her vault. Which in this case means she didn't know where she was relative to the ground while doing a death flip in mid-air

Meanwhile in the men, the japanese kid took gold in the all around with a monster bar routine in the last event. Amazing final
 

DomesticTadpole

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Of which she was one of the victims, too

Apparently she got the "twisties"(technical term!) during her vault. Which in this case means she didn't know where she was relative to the ground while doing a death flip in mid-air

Meanwhile in the men, the japanese kid took gold in the all around with a monster bar routine in the last event. Amazing final
That's the thing with gymnastics. It can go wrong easily. I am always worried that someone will have a bad fall. I know they have the mats, but hit the beam and it could be serious. Fall badly off the bars and it could be serious.
 

croadyman

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yeah good point. Maybe one of our boxing chances? Dina Asher Smith an outside chance too although not the favourite.

I’m also hoping we put in a good effort in the new mixed triathlon event as we performed really well in the individual ones, so fingers crossed it comes together for a good team performance rather than them all being spent.

Edit: Forgot about Laura Kenny of course, though not sure what our hopes are in the velodrome this year and if they're as high as previous Olympics.
Yeah Dina has the huge threat of Fraser-Pryce in the 100m and Thomas/Miller-Uibo in the 200m as well, think Price or maybe Artingstall have possible chances in the Boxing but outside of that I don't know. Would hope we have topped the podium by the time Laura starts her campaign but hard to say at the moment.
 

Classical Mechanic

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Yeah Dina has the huge threat of Fraser-Pryce in the 100m and Thomas/Miller-Uibo in the 200m as well, think Price or maybe Artingstall have possible chances in the Boxing but outside of that I don't know. Would hope we have topped the podium by the time Laura starts her campaign but hard to say at the moment.
Lauren Price our middleweight boxer is the number one seed and reigning world champion so she's the best bet for a gold. Artingstall has beaten two fighters ranked above her so far so she's more of a surprise to get a medal already. Caroline Dubois has a chance in her weight class. The BBC boxing correspondent described as the best female boxer he's ever seen. She's a junior Olympic and world champion but quite young and missed a fair bit of boxing because of Covid.
 

croadyman

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Lauren Price our middleweight boxer is the number one seed and reigning world champion so she's the best bet for a gold. Artingstall has beaten two fighters ranked above her so far so she's more of a surprise to get a medal already. Caroline Dubois has a chance in her weight class. The BBC boxing correspondent described as the best female boxer he's ever seen. She's a junior Olympic and world champion but quite young and missed a fair bit of boxing because of Covid.
Yes forgot about Dubois
 

Carolina Red

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Of which she was one of the victims, too

Apparently she got the "twisties"(technical term!) during her vault. Which in this case means she didn't know where she was relative to the ground while doing a death flip in mid-air

Meanwhile in the men, the japanese kid took gold in the all around with a monster bar routine in the last event. Amazing final
That’s the thing the brain dead morons of social media fail to comprehend.

“Imagine if MJ quit in the finals”

Imagine if being mentally off meant MJ could die mid-game because he had a milisecond where he lost focus.
 

RobinLFC

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That’s the thing the brain dead morons of social media fail to comprehend.

“Imagine if MJ quit in the finals”

Imagine if being mentally off meant MJ could die mid-game because he had a milisecond where he lost focus.
She lost track of where she was in mid-air, basically? I think it's the right decision to withdraw after that if you're not in the right state of mind because as you say, it's too dangerous to continue if you're not 200% certain of yourself. Must be a terrifying experience.

But what she had (twisties or whatever it is called), how does that relate to mental health issues? Did she get it because of mental health problems beforehand, or is she having mental health problems because of what she experienced during that exercise. Or can it be both or are they not even related in the slightest, I have no clue. It's probably a lot more complicated or intertwened than I can imagine, and of course she doesn't owe any of us an explanation about any of it.

I've also seen people on Twitter slated for saying it was a bad exercise and I do think that's going too far as well. Objectively speaking from a gymnastics POV, I don't see what's wrong with such a comment (apart from a lack of empathy probably, might not be the right time or place to be making comments about that).
 

Carolina Red

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She lost track of where she was in mid-air, basically? I think it's the right decision to withdraw after that if you're not in the right state of mind because as you say, it's too dangerous to continue if you're not 200% certain of yourself. Must be a terrifying experience.

But what she had (twisties or whatever it is called), how does that relate to mental health issues? Did she get it because of mental health problems beforehand, or is she having mental health problems because of what she experienced during that exercise. Or can it be both or are they not even related in the slightest, I have no clue. It's probably a lot more complicated or intertwened than I can imagine, and of course she doesn't owe any of us an explanation about any of it.

I've also seen people on Twitter slated for saying it was a bad exercise and I do think that's going too far as well. Objectively speaking from a gymnastics POV, I don't see what's wrong with such a comment (apart from a lack of empathy probably, might not be the right time or place to be making comments about that).
She’s known to have ADHD and was sexually abused by Dr. Nasser, she probably also has some Anxiety/Depression/PTSD from that.
 

United Hobbit

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Just watching the swimming, the guy that won the gold in the 200m butterfly looked really angry, yet he won a gold by Miles?!
 

giorno

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Yeah. He did set the new olympic record
 

Agent Red

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Yeah Dina has the huge threat of Fraser-Pryce in the 100m and Thomas/Miller-Uibo in the 200m as well, think Price or maybe Artingstall have possible chances in the Boxing but outside of that I don't know. Would hope we have topped the podium by the time Laura starts her campaign but hard to say at the moment.
I haven’t watched their heats so hadn’t clocked them before, but in the women’s lightweight double skulls our pair were fastest in qualifying, so if things go their way they could be first over the line tonight.