Other Olympic Observations

[ClockworkOrange]

Am not an avid fan of sport BUT I have so enjoyed watching some of the Olympics.

I found the Opening Ceremony dull but that’s just me.

The best thing is that for ONCE the UK performance was great, to come third in the medal table is fantastic.

It has been quite an emotional time, regardless of which country was winning, all in all, great events.

So well done to each and every athlete who took part.

PS Just watching the Closing Ceremony......................hmmmmmm, not keen, although Stomp absolutely brilliant! Far too many old songs, in my humble opinion and where the hell did they dig up Ray Davies from the Kinks!

[pll]

Any idea why there is MTB and BMX but no cyclocross at the Olympics?

I just watched he gold medal match in basketball. Spain played well! It's great to see that the US was put under pressure. And the celebration of the US players after the game was also great to see.

ETA: One random observation - the Chinese sports brand Li-Ning has made significant inroads in an industry that was dominated by Nike, Adidas and Puma. Spain's basketball team was wearing Li-Ning uniforms (and their warm up suits are tacky, IMO). However, I was most shocked by seeing the US diving team wearing Li-Ning gear.

[Koronin]

I watched the Russia/Brazil gold medal volleyball match. That was an awesome match.

pll, I was wondering the same thing about why not cyclocross. (Besides I'd go out on a limb and say that it belongs in the Olympics more than rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming).

[pll]

I watched the Russia/Brazil gold medal volleyball match. That was an awesome match.

pll, I was wondering the same thing about why not cyclocross. (Besides I'd go out on a limb and say that it belongs in the Olympics more than rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming).

I was torn, wanting to watch the volleyball game, too! But the b-ball game was exciting. If it had been a blow out, I would have switched. We might share the same sporting tastes...

[malkin]

Brewer is watching the marathon.
If I look, I am afraid it will make me want to go run again...my legs say run run run, and my feet say WTF are you even thinking!

[pll]

[\PS Just watching the Closing Ceremony......................hmmmmmm, not keen, although Stomp absolutely brilliant! Far too many old songs, in my humble opinion and where the hell did they dig up Ray Davies from the Kinks!

We get to watch it only now. I am liking it thus far... precisely because of some old songs. George Michael!? Resuscitated... That is some odd facial hair style.

[Penny4]

I think the USA uniforms are a little silly, especially the women's. If I were one of the athletes, I would have rebelled by wearing my track suit.

[colby]

I think the USA uniforms are a little silly, especially the women's. If I were one of the athletes, I would have rebelled by wearing my track suit.

When I saw some of the other teams in theirs, I thought, cool! The track suits are cool, comfy, and fun. Then I saw the US athletes... bah. The Canadians and British look dressed much more appropriately for the party!

[Koronin]

I was torn, wanting to watch the volleyball game, too! But the b-ball game was exciting. If it had been a blow out, I would have switched. We might share the same sporting tastes...

I love volleyball. I actually played it in Jr High, (private tiny school) then went to public school for high school and they didn't have a volleyball team or I would have at least played through high school. The public school was much better for education though. We may very well have at least similar tastes in sports.

[ClockworkOrange]

We get to watch it only now. I am liking it thus far... precisely because of some old songs. George Michael!? Resuscitated... That is some odd facial hair style.

From George Michael onwards it got considerably better, there were some great stars, so Mrs Grumpy enjoyed it in the end.

[pll]

In the Rio segment of the closing ceremony, the NBC folks were *totally* lost. It was a neat thing to see Marisa Monte on that float, made to look like Iemanjá, a mother goddess in the African Yoruba religion, also worshiped in Brazilian candomblé. The problem I found with that segment is that it is typical of Olympic ceremonies: trying to be super symbolic, it loses the audience.

Anyway, I would recommend to everyone on this forum to listen to Marisa Montes singing "Carinhoso" (Affectionate) with Paulinho da Viola. The video and lyrics (translated to English) are in this page -- it is just beautiful:
http://lyricalbrazil.com/tag/carinhoso/
"Carinhoso" is a 1917 song by a composer/saxo player known as Pixinguinha -- think Louis Armstrong to grasp how influential he was.

ETA: the song starts at 1:31 in the video. Prior to it, there is historical footage of Pixinguinha, then some words from Paulinho da Viola (which literally translates to Little Paul of the Guitar) about the significance of the song. Marisa Montes says she had never interpreted it publicly, only at home and in the shower, "like all Brazilians".

[jessmarimba]

Any idea why there is MTB and BMX but no cyclocross at the Olympics?

I was wondering that too. Of all the random sports in the Olympics...

I'd think that'd be one way to suck people in who don't usually pay attention to cycling!

[Kiwi Stoker]

But if they add Cyclocross they will take away another event off the track cycling (BMX has replaced the time trial on the track- such a huge loss!).


Yay another gold for NZ with the shotputter from Belaruss being stripped of her gold for doping! Congratulations Valerie Adams, we all knew you were a golden girl!

[Koronin]

But if they add Cyclocross they will take away another event off the track cycling (BMX has replaced the time trial on the track- such a huge loss!).


Yay another gold for NZ with the shotputter from Belaruss being stripped of her gold for doping! Congratulations Valerie Adams, we all knew you were a golden girl!

No, no, they need to dump synchronized swimming and add cyclocross. (Or they could dump synchronized diving, or rhythmic gymnastics or trampoline). (Well actually, IMO, they need to just dump those things anyway and replace them with real sports like cyclocross or more track cycling, or something else).

[Veronica]

It distresses me to see comments about how some things are not real sports. I'm not big into rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming, but I can definitely see the athleticism that is required of each.

And the synchronized diving was pretty amazing in my opinion.

Veronica