https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbla...-gar-ihop-med-kanada-om-att-flytta-os-finalen (in Swedish) After taking it over with FIFA Sweden and Canada have sent a written request asking IOC to move the match to the evening. It so much warmer at noon that it could be demiteral for player health. It is unlikley that it will happen, but if not it is now squarely on IOC.
Referee Crew: R: Anastasia Pustovoitova (RUS) AR 1: Ekaterina Kurochkina (RUS) AR 2: Sanja Rodak (CRO) 4O: Salima Mukansanga (RWA)
Why would Canadia agree to this? For the first time in the tournament they could get a match at a decent hour for TV viewers? Show Sinclair claim Olympic gold to close out her career and watch signups to football clubs soar over the weekend?
Canada did agree on it. I do not know why but my guess would be that they value their players health above TV ratings.
I know, for once I actually read the story before commenting, but it doesn't make sense to me. Like that last comment about the team medic and being ready for the heat if necessary - that probably applies to Canada as well. I'm fairly certain the Canadian Olympic committee can figure out how to keep the players not only alive but thriving in those conditions. I think the main objection is the weird time and how it messes with the pregame focus and mental preparedness, It makes the final a lot weirder than the previous games at a time where that may be the last thing you want. But still, if I were Canada I would prefer shoving an Olympic gold medal game into the faces of prime time viewers over a lot of other things, even if I had to fly in the finest medics in the land, standing by to keep the players hydrated and safe.
30C+ and 70%+ humidity is getting close to 'wet bulb danger' territory. The worry that a pre-noon game messes with your pre-game rituals (and digestion) is perfectly valid in a tournament where no game has otherwise started before very late afternoon. Still, hagabo, I'm sure you're right that Canada would not mind the viewership.
Well, apart from any other consideration, health of the players, changing the routines of the whole torunament, and so on... i selfshly hope that the IOC agrees with moving the game to the evening, so I'll be able to watch it at a decent time here in Europe, tee-hee! Oh, this is sad: I had hoped the match would have been given to Yamashita, so there could have been at least a Japanese in the final! Apart from your words of wisdom, @jocasta, what's up with your change of avatar? Do you feel very "olympic" these days?
Have you been briefed yet about the 1994 MWC, the magical summer of gräva guld i USA - that ended with a bronze? The mens team struggled with early mornings (bagarväckningar ) just to get ready for games timed to start at Europe friendly o’clock. It can be done but it does interfere with the binge drinking schedule.
... what kids, adults, old-timers and even 50+ masters often play in the summer here. Gets up to 35C but humidex usually 50-60 tops. They added in water breaks the past couple years but it gets a bit stupid when you have them at 20C and no humidity. Coaches love them though, gives them an extra window. Northern world problems.... anyone living near the equator is probably like "health and safety"?
I briefly considered that this could be psy ops, like agreeing with Sweden in private but then going "pfft. wimps, we'll play at any hour. we never agreed to this travesty" in public but no - they are on board: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/...weden-gold-medal-time-change-soccer-1.6128736
I join them, I support them, I root for them: please, give me a final at a decent European time! Edit: also, the article shows there is a precedent, and this hightens my hopes : "Olympic organizers previously pushed back the start time of tennis matches following athlete complaints".
Not sure why the kick off is at the time it is. I attended the men's gold medal match in Sydney and it kicked off at midday, a time which I'm sure didn't really suit anyone watching in Europe or Africa (the game was between Cameroon and Spain). The timing was simply so that it could be held at the Olympic Stadium, and the ground had to readied for an athletics session afterwards. That match is still the record attendance for a football match in Australia (104K).
That's a good point. This is the only women's soccer game being held in the National Stadium, aka Olympic Stadium. I think it's also the main venue for the athletics events as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. So, I just looked up the schedule, and the athletics events are scheduled starting at 20:25 that evening in the National Stadium. I think it's interesting though that the men's gold medal match is still scheduled in the evening local time, at 8:30 pm (the next day), but it's in Yokohama Stadium.
Damian Warner: Three-time Olympian says Tokyo 2020 is the 'hottest' Games' he's competed in "This (cooling vest) is a life-saver, like a life vest," he told the media after leading the men's decathlon after the first three events at Tokyo's National Stadium on Wednesday. Nelly Korda, after completing her first round of the women's golf tournament, said remaining mentally focused was the toughest aspect of playing in such heat and humidity.... I drink a couple of times a hole, probably drinking a water bottle a hole. Heat Index values were between 34-41 Celsius. Makoto Yokohari, a professor of environment and urban planning at the University of Tokyo and adviser to Olympic organizers, told CNN before the opening ceremony that "when you take into account not only the temperature, but also humidity, I would say that a Tokyo summer is the worst in the history of Olympics." https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/04/sport/heat-weather-tokyo-2020-olympics-spt-intl/index.html
Ok, yesterday Canada won their high-profile Gold Medal with Andre de Grasse in 200m dash. So they don't need to win the gold in women's soccer also!
The match is moved from 11:00 local time to 21:00 (9 pm) local time, and from National Stadium, Tokyo to Yokohama stadium. https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/a/X6xOLW/klart-os-finalen-i-fotboll-flyttas (Swedish)
YAY!!!!! Edit: I see that the time is very good for European vievers, at least if they don't have work commitments and are in holiday, as many European people are in August (a comfortable 14:00 start for me in Italy), but it's also quite acceptable for the Canadian audience. Of course, Canada has many different time zones, but anyway, if I correctly made my calculations, it should be an 8:00 am in Ottawa.Vancouver's viewers are a little screwed, but all in all looks like a good compromise to me.
Objectively “high profile” would be 100m dash and possibly long jump or high jump? I e fastest human, and maybe longest/highest jumping human? When you get into decathlon/ heptathlon you start getting into “best compromise” which seems like it should be a Swedish national sport (shoutout to Carolina Klüft). But I don’t think it’s weird that whatever a country is good at becomes the Most Important Thing. Like discus throw and pole vault.
Anyone know how many players Canada have been using so far? For Sweden I think it is 21 in total (2GK+all field players), or if not counting the "rest" match against NZ 18 (1GK+17 field players).
FIFA has been trying to get the time moved for almost 18 months but IOC would not agree, according to Domanski Lyfors* at the Swedish FA. According to Aftonbladets source the reason that IOC wouldn't budge was NBC and USSOCCER. https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/fotboll/a/m1GL74/fagerlund-ett-oerhort-svek-mot-spelarna in Swedish * Head of the Football (aka Soccer) department, at the Swedish Football assocation. That do not mean she is head of all Football (aka Soccer) activity as one could think she is just the head of the department for player development and all trainers (WNT, MNT and UNT Coaches). And yes she is a former WNT coach, for both Sweden and China.
Other than one I'm not sure of, I've seen all the Canadians on the field. At this point all the players who will be on the field have logged major minutes and will all be fatigued. And mentally more than physically. Time away from home and comfort zone is adding up.
I added the minutes of the Swedish teams last night (I wanted to compare to the US team). I'll post it shortly once my pathetic computer skills allow me to.