Soccer, Sports and Politics - Part Deux

And I forgot to mention Mark Cavendish's 35th stage win... another great event on this year's Tour.

 

Is Girmay the first African to win one of the TdF jersey competitions?
I can't remember another one, but that doesnot mean much.

 

Given he was the first African to win a stage, I think it's almost a guarantee.

 

Yes he is.

 

Yeah, iirc there were two white South African riders, who won an "etappe".

 

Wow, he's going to be a role model for alot of African talents.

 

Chris Froome arguably qualifies. Born and raised just outside of Nairobi. Secondary school in South Africa. Represented Kenya at points early in his career, but switched to the UK when he was established and strong enough to do so.

 

I doubt Africans consider him one of them. Both parents Brits and they obviously raised him as Brits, considering the fact he felt more Brit than Kenian.
But technically, being born in Africa, he is the first one.

 

Today is the day the USMNT thrashes Les Bloos in Marseille!

 

I suspect I'll spend more time following cricket than the Olympics, but . . . this cracked me up.

https://archive.ph/SQ7Or
Shoko Miyata, {The Japanese women's gymnastic} team’s captain, withdrew from the Games after an investigation by the country’s gymnastics board found she had violated its code of conduct.

She was kicked off the team for drinking alcohol and smoking. It doesn't sound like she was smoking weed or crack.

In any case, this sort of cracked me up because when I was in college, EVERYONE on the college's women's gymnastics team smoked. They were the only athletes sitting in the smoking section of the cafeteria. And they ate in the normal students' cafeteria because they wouldn't let them smoke in the athlete's cafeteria.

 

I just realized that soccer, rugby and a couple of other sports have started today!! Great.
Heading to Paris tomorrow evening for 10 days. Can't wait!

 

Notions of nationality are complicated for sure. A lot of white and South Asian people in Kenya have a pretty complicated dual identity. To my knowledge, he was never a Kenyan citizen but being raised there, introduced to the sport there and he started his pro career formally representing Kenya. He definitely got a lot of love from them when he won the tour under the UK flag.




He is starting a cycling academy to make the sport more accessible there, so I’d say he’s emotionally invested in the country/region:

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fr...-in-kenya-find-tour-de-france-magic-in-2024/#

Not too different than a lot of dual national discussion in soccer really.

 

It's good to read he appreciates his years there by supporting talents development.

 

Not sure what happened but there was 17 minutes of stoppage time in the Argentina x Morocco match!?

 

Argentina needed a late equalizer and they gave them as much time as possible?

 

lol

I notice now that they are adding big chunks of stoppage time consistently in all the games so far today. So, looks like they are counting stoppage time like how it was done at the 2022 WC (and then largely abandoned until now)

Edit: Also, the late goal was VAR-d out. Finished 2-1.

 

So I am watching some Rugby 7 replays, it just reminds me that I have no clue about the rules.

Like when do they know to turn over the ball on downs?

 

If you're serious, rugby league has downs (6 of them, IIRC) while union and 7s do not. One of the most common ways a ball turns over, other than an "interception", is if there is a "knock-on" (someone touches the ball forward with their hands).

 

I did see an interception in the first score between Samoa and Australia.

But every time a play ends in a tackle it looks like a fumble but only the team that had the ball is allowed to recover it.

I am assuming your team keeps the ball unless the ball goes forward from the spot of the tackle.

 

Ok, something else that I didn't know, in Rugby 7s, your extra points kick is from roughly the spot where you score the touchdown, so the more to the middle of the end zone you score, the easier the kick will be.