Other Sports and Olympics

and multi-zillionaire players celebrating like 12-year-olds after winning. yes they managed a famous victory over powerhouse Serbia, whose population is smaller than Indiana.

allowing pros to compete at the Olympics was and still is a disgrace.

 

French swimmer Marchand killed the field, won the 400m Medley by about half the length of the pool. wow.

 

no pro players should be in the

nit-picker.

 

Canada women score in 12th added minute to beat France 2-1.

so they've wiped out the 6-point penalty.

edit: the coach who's taken over is Andy Spence - grew up in Liverpool, got degree in Science & Football from John Moores University. and has a Scouse accent that Carragher would be puzzled by.

 

After watching a few interviews with the players they really feel aggrieved. They say they knew nothing about any of this but are now fully focused and highly motivated to get thru this round despite being docked 6 pts.
They showed a lot of spirit and never quit today vs France.

 

yep, I really feel for the players. they've worked like hell to get to the Olympic team, their families and friends are there to see them, and some moron pulls a stunt like that.

did you see Gilles' interview after the game? she said "We've been crying, I wouldn't say these are ideal performing situations, but we held each other through it and we have absolutely nothing to lose. We're not cheaters, we're damn good players, we're a damn good team and we proved that today."

she also said something like "the shit that we're having to go through" but the CBS didn't put that on their site

that dressing room must be one hell of an angry place.

 

Has anything come out about Priestman addressing the team?

 

Vanessa Gilles: “We’re not cheaters. We’re damn good players. We’re a damn good team... We proved that today” #CanWNT pic.twitter.com/cn1Ml4ih3z

— Bryann Aguilar (@BryannAguilar) July 28, 2024

 

I haven't heard anything. It's hard to see any way she can keep her job here. This happened during her watch , she's the manager so the buck stops with her.

 

just about every person competing at the Olympics is a professional.
should we not allow track & field athletes to compete because they've been taking podium money during the Diamond League? and sponsorship money?

 

Professionals were first allowed in the Olympics in 1988. 36 years ago. 10 Olympics ago. A 30yo who won gold in Seoul, is now pushing 70. You really want to turn that clock back? Why?

 

And, completely unsurprisingly, the triathlon and open water swimming competitions are unlikely to be swimming in the Seine.
The idiots shooting for their vanity project of swimming in one of the world's dirtiest rivers are likely to harm 4 years of hard work for these athletes.
Both should have been held in the Marne facility.

 

If they can hold the surfing in Tahiti, why wouldn't they just let them swim there, too?

 

That’s good.

Canada has a chartered jet to transport all its horses and equipment for the equestrian parts of the Olympics. The jet has been named?

Air Horse One.

 

Ducking flying surfboards would certainly add a much needed element of danger to the triathlon.

 

USA women's rugby 7s won the Bronze medal at the death after a broken tackle led to a 65-70 sprint for the try. The conversion sealed the win.

Rugby 7s is crazy.

 

Had a bunch of colleagues Slack me afterwards knowing I was a rugby fan. Busy day unfortunately and didn’t see it live.

Hmmm… shouldn’t they be working?

 

7s must be one of the most physically demanding team sports there is. can't believe the fitness and stamina.

 

Watched the US U23s play Guinea yesterday and for the entire first half, the announcers were lamenting that Guinea was missing their best player due to injury..Naby Keita. Some things never change, but feel bad for him that his body couldn’t hold up.

 

Always a great exercise discussing the fittest athletes. Golf and baseball? Not so much. Football and swimming? Good shout.

For me the fittest athletes are professional cyclists, Tour de France types. Cycling 100+ miles for 21 days straight, including ascending mountains for which most of us would grappling hooks.

 

I was thinking team sports specifically. each 7s player has to cover so much ground, take and give so many hits, and be able to turn on the jets in an instant to cover so much space.

(I realize there's a "team" aspect to cycling. I won't mention the peds though )

 

When I was in the Marines, our unit got volunteered to hand out water and Gatorade to athletes competing in the Iron Man triathlon on the island of Hawai'i. Those folks are in phenomenal shape. One of the captain's that I went on a deployment with competed that year and he could barely walk the next day. Some of the competitors were in the 60s and 70s. Mind blowing.