Olympic Sports Sports-ALL

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Simone opted out due to mental health concerns.

More people need to take that seriously. I hope things improve for her.

I guess I'm out of the loop. If it's not Tottenham transfer rumors or disc golf disc releases, I might miss it!

Also important to note: Simone Biles is the only survivor of Larry Nasser’s depravity on the Olympic team.

Reportedly, the only reason she stayed on was because she hoped that it would force USA Gymnastics to do something if one of his victims was still there.

Yeah, she gets to take as long a brain break as she needs, she's still the GOAT.

Nasser is still involved in USA gymnastics?
WTF!

Oh no, he's long convicted and in jail. But USA Gymnastics did such a poor job handling the whole thing, many of his victims have been actively trying to pressure them to make actual, serious, meaningful change.

Yeah there were other things, which Biles helped change the last couple years. For instance, they were still using the same training facility were he had abused many of them. She got USA gymnastics to move.

Good article in Sports Illustrated about her a few weeks ago that covered a lot of stuff.

Whoo! I knew it was gonna be bad when I saw the news tonight, and I saw a snippet of some the Biles discourse on Twitter tonight....

...this isn't a D&D thread, so I will simply say that "Ghouls" is not an accurate enough descriptor for some people.

Dame Time tonight for men's basketball. 60-30 at half!

Biles out of the individual all-around.

Prederick wrote:

Biles out of the individual all-around.

Yep. I wonder if she'll also pull out of the finals for each of the four disciplines too. They follow on pretty quickly from the individual all-around.

But I wish her luck whatever decisions she makes about this Games and her future.

I'm reminded a little of Barry Sanders' retirement in 1999. Equally unexpected and - generally - handled by the athlete involved with equal grace.

I don't think we ever see Simone Biles in a gymnastic event ever again, fwiw.

But but she’s the GOAT. The GOAT. Isn’t she the GOAT? I hear it ALL THE TIME. She’s the GOAT.

I can’t even begin to imagine the pressure she must feel. On top of her past abuse, this last year of Covid, and other personal issues that are none of our business.

I’m impressed how gracefully she’s handled this so far.

Home team with a nice soccer opening, kicking France's butt 3-0

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

I don't think we ever see Simone Biles in a gymnastic event ever again, fwiw.

You're probably right. I did wonder whether she might decide to withdraw from the Vault, Beam and maybe the Asymmetric Bars, and at least compete in the Floor exercise. But it does seem that she's decided to end her career in Tokyo.

The people most vocally upset about a Black woman using her agency are the same ones trying to deny agency to Black people and women.

I have not had time to hear what happened so I have heard FB and other notes from folks. I heard two stories she one said she had MH reasons for dropping totally understand if that's the case.

The other was she was feeling lost when performing in the gymnast way like not sure she can track with her mind where she is which is deadly for gymnasts.

Best of health to her and I am sure her competitors are looking forward to the opportunity.

Rat Boy wrote:

The people most vocally upset about a Black woman using her agency are the same ones trying to deny agency to Black people and women.

That anchor women's relay was something else.

And Finke coming back from 4th to win the 800m in the final 50m was also crazy.

So a thought I had and I'll specify this is pure conjecture I made up.

Spoiler:

If Simone has had this stuff pushed on her since a child, abused, and taken advantage of by USA gymnastics, could this be her giant f*ck you to the gymnastics world for no one believing her?

If that's the case, it's too subtle for the world at large to notice.

Hobear wrote:

Just hoping for the best for Simone.

I am slowly finishing the mens cycling race. 7 hours long baby! Been catching up when I can multitask and have it on.
Edit:Full side note the male announcer for the mens Cycling road race reminds me of the NPC from Jumanji

We had Phil Liggett for our commentary, it was great!

Wow NBC cutting away after 3 of 4 taped gymnastics events to go to live swimming and come back for final event later and try to make gymnastics fans watch the full 4 hours of primetime.

Good grief.

The women's 4x200 free style medal round was incredible! Must watch!

fangblackbone wrote:

The women's 4x200 free style medal round was incredible! Must watch!

Yep. The shock of the winner when they found out how fast their time was was priceless.

W 4x200 free results spoiler:

Spoiler:

For all three China, USA and Australia, to break the world record.
For Ledecky to go from 4th to second and just a touch off first. I want to see the split for her leg. It has got to be nuts. The replay showed the speed of the swimmers on the last laps. She was off the charts and you were waiting for her to run out of gas and she never did!

Also, I am in love with probably over half the women rugby players ;P
They are beasts!

fangblackbone wrote:

Also, I am in love with probably over half the women rugby players ;P
They are beasts!

One thing I noticed was how many were wearing mouth guards...and I don't recall the men wearing them? Am I wrong about that? Seems like every rugby player at every level would be using one.

USWNT won in PK. They do not look like the same team that won the World Cup- they look less interested in playing defense and their midfield had a lot of issues controlling the ball and setting up the offense

Ego Man wrote:

USWNT won in PK. They do not look like the same team that won the World Cup- they look less interested in playing defense and their midfield had a lot of issues controlling the ball and setting up the offense

We've been kinda flat the whole tournament so far; maybe the manager needs to pick a lineup based on enthusiasm. Rose Lavelle was jumping up and down on the sidelines cheering until they brought her on. She'd be a nailed on starter for me.

They need to work something out with the offsides. Teams have figured out how to trap them to great success. I am pretty sure it is effecting the rest of their game.

I think not having family there is also having a big impact on these games in general.

As a side note, it could be that Netherlands is just that good too. They have always been huge thorns in the sides of US women's soccer. I'd like to see the other groups because the only thing to make the US's group worse would be to put Brazil instead of New Zealand in it. 3 of the 4 teams that can medal were in the USA's group.