2021 Summer Olympics (Tokyo)

[TheLiverBird]

I only follow 3 sports - Football, Cricket, Snooker. Two of which aren't in the Olympics.

I don't have an interest in any other sport and so, if it's a sport I don't care about at all, then I also don't care who wins it, or if that person represents GB or not. So I only really watch the (mens) Football at the Olympics. Certainly in the early stages. I find some of the track events watchable for a bit - mainly the shorter running events - so I tend to watch some of those later in the Olympics. But, by and large, the vast part of each Olympics just pass me by while I focus on the Cricket and United's summer transfers / friendlies.

I mean each to their own and all

But Christ what a grim and boring outlook to sport in general

I was briefly watching Taekwondo last night and thinking how boring it was, but this morning when flicking through Lauren Williams in the taekwondo Semi final was fighting to be in the final to Guarantee atleast a Silver for Britain….I lost my sh*t and was yelling her on no interest in the sport but it was exciting seeing a fellow Brit achieving something amazing

Such is the magic of sport…that’s what’s great about these games, it’s draws many (not everyone, much like yourself) into viewing others sports you’d otherwise never view…..but with excitement

 

[RobinLFC]

Just rewatched the 400m free swimming from the ladies, great stuff Ledecky vs Titmus. Promising for the other finals still coming up.

 

[Deery]

I only follow 3 sports - Football, Cricket, Snooker. Two of which aren't in the Olympics.

I don't have an interest in any other sport and so, if it's a sport I don't care about at all, then I also don't care who wins it, or if that person represents GB or not. So I only really watch the (mens) Football at the Olympics. Certainly in the early stages. I find some of the track events watchable for a bit - mainly the shorter running events - so I tend to watch some of those later in the Olympics. But, by and large, the vast part of each Olympics just pass me by while I focus on the Cricket and United's summer transfers / friendlies.

Thanks for sharing..

 

[Desert Eagle]

This boxing match between the Brit and the Armenian is pretty fecking good

 

[Deery]

Well done Tom Daly finally getting gold in the diving..

 

[Desert Eagle]

Galal Yafai a name to look out for in British boxing. Sweet left hook. When do you see a stoppage in Olympic boxing damn. Armenian lad didn't make it three rounds.

 

[Deery]

Galal Yafai a name to look out for in British boxing. Sweet left hook.

Comes from a family of professional boxers I think boxes like a pro very good totally outclassed his opponent.

 

[SirAnderson]

The rugby has been a treat so far. Some lovely stuff.

 

[Lay]

Enjoyed a lot this year. Swimming, diving, Rugby and especially skateboarding. Could watch that all day.

 

[Deery]

Michaela Walsh was knocked out of the boxing was a big medal hope for Ireland.

 

[Samid]

Well done Tom Daly finally getting gold in the diving..

He’s lucky Sterling chose to not participate.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Thanks for sharing..

That kind of sneery response could be used to dismiss most posts on most threads.

Presumably what you mean is you disagree with me. But that's no reason to be so dismissive. If anyone posts 'I'm really enjoying watching...', 'I'm pleased x won', 'I thought that was a poor game', then the same sarcastic 'thanks for sharing' could be applied. But it rather kills the threads if everyone was so dismissive.

 

[SirAnderson]

Anyone know what channel the Djokovic match is on right now? Can't find it anywhere

 

[Deery]

That kind of sneery response could be used to dismiss most posts on most threads.

Presumably what you mean is you disagree with me. But that's no reason to be so dismissive. If anyone posts 'I'm really enjoying watching...', 'I'm pleased x won', 'I thought that was a poor game', then the same sarcastic 'thanks for sharing' could be applied. But it rather kills the threads if everyone was so dismissive.

Just find it weird that you’d come into a thread about Olympics were everyone is enjoying the games and proclaim that you don’t like Olympics..

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Just find it weird that you’d come into a thread about Olympics were everyone is enjoying the games and proclaim that you don’t like Olympics..

I never said 'I don't like the Olympics', as if I was saying I dislike it.

I haven't been on Red Cafe much over the summer (I can't think why!) so was just having a quick look at the recent threads and just made my first post on the thread about how I generally end up not watching much of the Olympics - certainly the first couple of weeks - due to there not being many sports I have an active interest in one way or the other (but no dislike of them). So I generally only watch the Football and, later, some of the Track & Field events.

If the thread is only for diehard Olympic fans then, sorry, I didn't realise. I just assumed it was a general Olympics thread for anyone to chip in with posts about it one way or another. Anyway, that'll be it from me then. Hope you all continue to enjoy it.

 

[Deery]

I never said 'I don't like the Olympics', as if I was saying I dislike it.

I haven't been on Red Cafe much over the summer (I can't think why!) so was just having a quick look at the recent threads and just posted how I generally end up not watching much of the Olympics - certainly the first couple of weeks - due to there not being many sports I have an active interest in one way or the other (but no dislike of them). So I generally only watch the Football and, later, some of the Track & Field events.

If the thread is only for diehard Olympic fans then, sorry, I didn't realise. I just assumed it was a general Olympics thread for anyone to chip in with posts about it one way or another. Anyway, that'll be it from me then. Hope you all continue to enjoy it.

Olympics are for everyone to enjoy I don’t necessarily watch all the sports on show on a regular basis but I find it to be food for the soul to broaden your horizons on these things and enjoy it for the showcase of the elite athletes around the world that it is.

If you’re not interested in it don’t watch it then I’m not going to force you to, but I love sports in general and have always enjoyed the Olympics since I was a kid.

 

[Desert Eagle]

I never said 'I don't like the Olympics', as if I was saying I dislike it.

I haven't been on Red Cafe much over the summer (I can't think why!) so was just having a quick look at the recent threads and just made my first post on the thread about how I generally end up not watching much of the Olympics - certainly the first couple of weeks - due to there not being many sports I have an active interest in one way or the other (but no dislike of them). So I generally only watch the Football and, later, some of the Track & Field events.

If the thread is only for diehard Olympic fans then, sorry, I didn't realise. I just assumed it was a general Olympics thread for anyone to chip in with posts about it one way or another. Anyway, that'll be it from me then. Hope you all continue to enjoy it.

It's all good buddy , post as much as you like. Nobody really minds. I do think it's weird snooker and cricket aren't Olympic sports though when you see some of the other stuff.

 

[Alex99]

It's all good buddy , post as much as you like. Nobody really minds. I do think it's weird snooker and cricket aren't Olympic sports though when you see some of the other stuff.

You definitely think there's room for T20 in there given they could just take 8 nations as qualifiers. I suppose the big stumbling block would be suitable venues.

 

[SirAnderson]

It's all good buddy , post as much as you like. Nobody really minds. I do think it's weird snooker and cricket aren't Olympic sports though when you see some of the other stuff.

Agreed on Snooker, I believe they applied and it got rejected. I wonder what criteria is used. Skateboarding was included in this Olympics for the first time ever, I feel Snooker and cricket should both be very much included on that basis.
Cricket of course in a T20 format, maybe even a new T10 model, but yeah, don't think we will see it even in the next Olympics.

 

[SirAnderson]

You definitely think there's room for T20 in there given they could just take 8 nations as qualifiers. I suppose the big stumbling block would be suitable venues.

Yeah didn't consider suitable venues, probably is a big factor in why its not included.

 

[Alex99]

Yeah didn't consider suitable venues, probably is a big factor in why its not included.

Definitely could pop up when it's hosted in cricketing nations though, as baseball has this time around

 

[Bertie Wooster]

It's all good buddy , post as much as you like. Nobody really minds. I do think it's weird snooker and cricket aren't Olympic sports though when you see some of the other stuff.

Thanks.

Yeah, it's a shame about Snooker and Cricket. As I said, they're two of the three sports that I really love. And you'd think they'd be doable at The Olympics as others have said - a T20 or even The Hundred style tournament for Cricket, and some of the shorter length matches for Snooker (best of 3 / 5 / 7 frames).

I guess they're niche sports with not a huge amount of countries that compete - but, as you say, that applies to some of the other sports that are included.

I know Snooker tried again this time around but missed out again. I'd love to see it and Cricket at future Olympics.

 

[SirAnderson]

The background music for the Rugby is doing my head in here!

 

[Balljy]

Thanks.

Yeah, it's a shame about Snooker and Cricket. As I said, they're two of the three sports that I really love. And you'd think they'd be doable at The Olympics as others have said - a T20 or even The Hundred style tournament for Cricket, and some of the shorter length matches for Snooker (best of 3 / 5 / 7 frames).

I guess they're niche sports with not a huge amount of countries that compete - but, as you say, that applies to some of the other sports that are included.

I know Snooker tried again this time around but missed out again. I'd love to see it and Cricket at future Olympics.

I'm not sure the sports that are included are as focused on one nation as snooker is. It would basically be GB versus a couple of Chinese people, one Australian and lower down the rankings a couple of other countries.

Easy medals though

 

[United Hobbit]

Gymnastics now, I'm doing holiday hours for work (school related) so have picked a nice easy task off my list so I can have it on

 

[Kasper]

Yeah, totally bizarre race. She wasn’t the only one with no idea Kieserhofer had already won. A bunch of riders were congratulating van Vleuten. How the hell does half the peloton not realize she was still up the road? At any rate, it was a great ride by Kieserhofer and a well deserved victory.

The dutch team was completely overpowered (1-4 best odds to win the race) so everyone knew it was their duty to keep the breakaway in check and I assume that - without radios - half the Peleton just assumed they knew what was up and didnt bother to go to their team car to check for themselves. I wonder if the other half - the riders who were aware that Kieserhofer was still out there, ahead of the two other breakaway riders - lowkey deliberately kept them in the dark because they didn't want them to get gold. At least Longo Borghini, who won bronze, seemed quite amused in the post race interview.
Anyway, uncertainty how many riders are still ahead (especially with bigger breakaway groups, but that wasnt the case yesterday) happen even with race radios, just this Giro d'Italia Bernal won a stage with an hectic uphill ending where he didn't celebrate as a winner because he thought there were still some from the breakaway ahead. But here we had Kieserhofer in front solo for 40km+, no excuses at all for the Dutch team not be able to communicate that information.

And just today, big Dutch medal favorite in mountainbiking, Matthieu Van der Poul crashed because he didn't know that a ramp had been removed after their test runs. Everyone and the Dutch manager knew, but he didn't, so the communication shambles continue. Looks like @KirkDuyt favorite sport, field hockey, has to get them some gold medals.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

I'm not sure the sports that are included are as focused on one nation as snooker is. It would basically be GB versus a couple of Chinese people, one Australian and lower down the rankings a couple of other countries.

Easy medals though

Yeah, fair point.

Although China have won 28 out of 32 Gold Medals at Table Tennis from 1988 to 2016, and yet they've increased the amount of events in it here rather than suggested taking it away due to it being 'focused on one nation'.

And I don't know for how long it would be 'easy medals' for GB going forward to be honest. China are slowly threatening to do to Snooker what they did to Table Tennis. The older British players are mostly still top 16, but most of the best players coming through in their teens and 20's are Chinese so in the next generation or two it's looking like they'll start to dominate. And if they do, it would be tough to wrestle it back with their wealth and population size.

 

[Solius]

Wait so the only punishment Russia really got was having to turn up like a team from PES?

 

[Solius]

Also off work sick today and been watching it all morning. It is good still. I do like the Olympics. Something really cool about seeing people at the peak of their sport and winning something by millimetres or a small point score.

 

[The Firestarter]

Wait so the only punishment Russia really got was having to turn up like a team from PES?

I think they can't blanket ban athletes in such a way.

 

[KirkDuyt]

The dutch team was completely overpowered (1-4 best odds to win the race) so everyone knew it was their duty to keep the breakaway in check and I assume that - without radios - half the Peleton just assumed they knew what was up and didnt bother to go to their team car to check for themselves. I wonder if the other half - the riders who were aware that Kieserhofer was still out there, ahead of the two other breakaway riders - lowkey deliberately kept them in the dark because they didn't want them to get gold. At least Longo Borghini, who won bronze, seemed quite amused in the post race interview.
Anyway, uncertainty how many riders are still ahead (especially with bigger breakaway groups, but that wasnt the case yesterday) happen even with race radios, just this Giro d'Italia Bernal won a stage with an hectic uphill ending where he didn't celebrate as a winner because he thought there were still some from the breakaway ahead. But here we had Kieserhofer in front solo for 40km+, no excuses at all for the Dutch team not be able to communicate that information.

And just today, big Dutch medal favorite in mountainbiking, Matthieu Van der Poul crashed because he didn't know that a ramp had been removed after their test runs. Everyone and the Dutch manager knew, but he didn't, so the communication shambles continue. Looks like @KirkDuyt favorite sport, field hockey, has to get them some gold medals.

Fecking field Hockey. Last night some big field hockey guy was on TV saying our male field hockey team winning the Euro's is masking the fact they're secretly quite shit.

Maybe they can show Louis van Gaal that particular brand of shit.

 

[Jippy]

Thanks.

Yeah, it's a shame about Snooker and Cricket. As I said, they're two of the three sports that I really love. And you'd think they'd be doable at The Olympics as others have said - a T20 or even The Hundred style tournament for Cricket, and some of the shorter length matches for Snooker (best of 3 / 5 / 7 frames).

I guess they're niche sports with not a huge amount of countries that compete - but, as you say, that applies to some of the other sports that are included.

I know Snooker tried again this time around but missed out again. I'd love to see it and Cricket at future Olympics.

Snooker would be good and so would darts- shame the campaign to get it included in 2012 wasn't successful.

 

[Dan]

They’ve brought back the ‘bullet time’ cameras.

 

[Jippy]

Wait so the only punishment Russia really got was having to turn up like a team from PES?

So they banned the team name 'Russia' and the national anthem. I'd been meaning to ask about the ROC.


What is the ROC?
ROC will be the representation of a total of 335 athletes in Tokyo.
ROC stands for Russian Olympic Committee, which is allowed to represent Russia athletes as the ban was not outright, only forcing them to withdraw the team name and national anthem at sporting events.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/why-russia-banned-olympics-tokyo-b1889851.html

 

[The Firestarter]

Let's add bowling and chess while we're at it. It really should be about athletic sports. Sailing , golf, skateboarding..."sports" like these have no business at the Olympics.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Let's add bowling and chess while we're at it. It really should be about athletic sports. Sailing , golf, skateboarding..."sports" like these have no business at the Olympics.

OK grandpa.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Olds complaining about skateboarding are funny.

 

[SirAnderson]

 

[1950]

Let's add bowling and chess while we're at it. It really should be about athletic sports. Sailing , golf, skateboarding..."sports" like these have no business at the Olympics.

Sailing and shooting have been olympic since 1896, the very first Games organised by the IOC.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Sailing and shooting have been olympic since 1896, the very first Games organised by the IOC.

Also I would say the sailing they do in the Olympics you have to be very fit. It isn't a sail round your local park lake.