2021 Tokyo Olympics thread

[JM2K6]

Not entirely convinced by the fawning over Biles' decision to sit out. We'd absolutely pan a Lions or SA player doing the same this Saturday.

Yeah, It's an odd one. If she is struggling she should absolutely have the right to quietly walk away with no intrusion and get herself right. It must be an absolutely awful experience. On the other hand, the most part of being a top class athlete is having that incredible mental hardness, it's what seperates them from the rest of us, mainly, so the coverage doesn't sit well.

Many top class athletes do in fact struggle with their mental health and it's the idea that they're all mental hard cases that can be so damaging to them - the expectation on them is ridiculous. They're just humans. Very good at what they do, with many coping mechanisms, but so many of them really do feel the strain.

If anyone panned a Lions or SA player for it I'd call them a fucking cunt, like I did when people slated Marler or Trescothick, tbh.

[Ymx]

And there was a cricketer in the ashes as well.

This is not a unique event.

Edit: oh I see Trescothick, yep

[Slick]

Not entirely convinced by the fawning over Biles' decision to sit out. We'd absolutely pan a Lions or SA player doing the same this Saturday.

Yeah, It's an odd one. If she is struggling she should absolutely have the right to quietly walk away with no intrusion and get herself right. It must be an absolutely awful experience. On the other hand, the most part of being a top class athlete is having that incredible mental hardness, it's what seperates them from the rest of us, mainly, so the coverage doesn't sit well.

Many top class athletes do in fact struggle with their mental health and it's the idea that they're all mental hard cases that can be so damaging to them - the expectation on them is ridiculous. They're just humans. Very good at what they do, with many coping mechanisms, but so many of them really do feel the strain.

If anyone panned a Lions or SA player for it I'd call them a fucking cunt, like I did when people slated Marler or Trescothick, tbh.

Agree with all of that

[Slick]

I saw a post earlier on Twitter and I find it fairly hard to disagree with. It was in response to those who said she took the easy way out, was weak, a quitter etc.

It was along the lines of Biles has been molested all through her child hood, won a world championship whilst dealing with kidney stones, does routines that judges literally had know idea how to score correctly because they were that far advanced of what has come before, dealt with all her sponsors and media throughout and never once stopped or shown any mental fragility. Maybe her stopping yesterday isn't a sign of weakness but what she was going through in her head must be pretty big for her.

Gymnasts all day have been coming to her defence, perhaps through wanting to protect her, but running in to do a routine and she by all accounts accidently did 1.5 summersaults rather than 2.5 must be incredibly off putting.

I certainly don’t think she is weak, she’s incredible.

That last paragraph reminds me of the Billy Connolly sketch about the gymnast taking a step after landing

[Kawazaki]

If anyone panned a Lions or SA player for it I'd call them a fucking cunt, like I did when people slated Marler or Trescothick, tbh.

Difficult to know with Marler tbf.

[Big D]

And there was a cricketer in the ashes as well.

This is not a unique event.

Edit: oh I see Trescothick, yep

Harmison too apparently got really bad home sickness.

[Happyhooker]

And there was a cricketer in the ashes as well.

This is not a unique event.

Edit: oh I see Trescothick, yep

Harmison too apparently got really bad home sickness.

There were strong rumours that one of the main reasons for plunkett's selection in 2006 was to keep harmison company as they were good mates

[Big D]

And there was a cricketer in the ashes as well.

This is not a unique event.

Edit: oh I see Trescothick, yep

Harmison too apparently got really bad home sickness.

There were strong rumours that one of the main reasons for plunkett's selection in 2006 was to keep harmison company as they were good mates

From what I read at one point Harmison and Flintoff were given rooms with adjoining doors and they kept it open to keep an eye on him.

[Niegs]

Heh, heh ... that woman's name is a swear word.

But woo Latvia, winning gold!

[Sandstorm]

And there was a cricketer in the ashes as well.

This is not a unique event.

Edit: oh I see Trescothick, yep

Harmison too apparently got really bad home sickness.

Thorp, Pietersen, Swann……so many England cricketers have a problem with their heads.

[fishfoodie]

And there was a cricketer in the ashes as well.

This is not a unique event.

Edit: oh I see Trescothick, yep

Harmison too apparently got really bad home sickness.

Thorp, Pietersen, Swann……so many England cricketers have a problem with their heads.

There are a bunch of sports that are 50% being in the right space mentally; & the rest is talent, & muscle memory.

High Jump, Pole Vault, triple jump, Golf, Cricket, Gymnastics; etc

In all of them; if the confidence of the competitor is shaken; their timing can go, or they lose their confidence in their decision; & they might as well go home.

[Kiwias]

Women's pairs rowing final underway and NZ looking good so far

[Kiwias]

NZ's first gold of the Olympics in a dominating performance.

[fishfoodie]

Improve on that Silver in Rio

[Kiwias]

This site offers live coverage of pretty much every event and if you click the headphones in the bottom right corner, you can select English commentary.

https://en.sports.nhk.or.jp/olympic/highlights/

[Kiwias]

The first three teams in the womens 4x200 freestyle relay all broke the old world record

[handyman]

2 girls from SA in the 200 m breast stroke final, Schoenmaker the favorite. Come on, let's get the first gold!

[mat the expat]

If anyone panned a Lions or SA player for it I'd call them a fucking cunt, like I did when people slated Marler or Trescothick, tbh.

[Torquemada 1420]

Webber has had a terrible start here.

Fiji in both Olympic finals have shot out the gates.

He made loads of errors in the games I saw. Maybe should concentrate more on skills than silly haircuts?
{EDIT} Just seen Scarface's comment

[Uncle fester]

Woo hoo. Gold for Ireland!

[laurent]

Watching the 7's

that's a nice distraction

[Thor Sedan]

Black Ferns handing the game on a silver plate to GB. Can't catch, can't handle and can't tackle.

Weird.

[Kiwias]

GBR generously gave us a way back to win the game

[Paddington Bear]

Heroic defeat my arse. Any composure would closed that out. No need to take scrums at pens, could have pinned them back and killed clocks going for touch. No need to rush up and concede the yellow with NZ going backwards.

[Lobby]

Heroic defeat my arse. Any composure would closed that out. No need to take scrums at pens, could have pinned them back and killed clocks going for touch. No need to rush up and concede the yellow with NZ going backwards.

Taking the scrum in their own half, having previously conceded a penalty in a similar position, was really stupid and effectively handed the game to NZ.

[Big D]

Didn't realise that BBC had to negotiate with the Discovery platform:

"We know that our audiences love the Olympics and we set a high bar for ourselves with our London 2012 coverage and since we began on Friday, there’s been lots of noise around our perceived lack of coverage for the Tokyo Games. Whilst we’d love to still have 24 live streams and our ‘never miss a moment’ offer from London and Rio in 2016, our new rights deal simply doesn’t allow it. In 2016 we announced that the IOC had awarded the pan-European rights for the Olympics to Discovery, meaning that free-to-air broadcasters across Europe had to carve out their own sub-licence deals with Discovery. The result for all European broadcasters was less coverage of the Games, and for us, it means that we’re allowed two live streams - one on BBC One and one that is available to play out on BBC iPlayer, red button and the BBC Sport website."

[JM2K6]

If anyone panned a Lions or SA player for it I'd call them a fucking cunt, like I did when people slated Marler or Trescothick, tbh.

Difficult to know with Marler tbf.

What is difficult to know with Marler?

[Paddington Bear]

Heroic defeat my arse. Any composure would closed that out. No need to take scrums at pens, could have pinned them back and killed clocks going for touch. No need to rush up and concede the yellow with NZ going backwards.

Taking the scrum in their own half, having previously conceded a penalty in a similar position, was really stupid and effectively handed the game to NZ.

Yep was really braindead given how effective the previous touch finder had been. No point pretending otherwise.

[Niegs]

Fiji came out firing and didn’t allow Canada out of their half in the first stanza. France beat Fiji so Canada need a win to, I assume, not get someone like the Ferns in the Quarters? Canada also probably lost two players, one looked like a dislocated shoulder and the other something in the leg, didn’t even replay it after you hear a scream and crying.

[ScarfaceClaw]

Thanks BBC. I was watching the jolly hockey sticks and they moved away at half time to the gymnastics.

[Paddington Bear]

Thanks BBC. I was watching the jolly hockey sticks and they moved away at half time to the gymnastics.

It's on Iplayer but the BBC coverage has been very poor full stop

[Sandstorm]

Thanks BBC. I was watching the jolly hockey sticks and they moved away at half time to the gymnastics.

It's on Iplayer but the BBC coverage has been very poor full stop

Thinking the Olympics would be cancelled, they spent all their budget on The Hundred

[Big D]

Thanks BBC. I was watching the jolly hockey sticks and they moved away at half time to the gymnastics.

It's on Iplayer but the BBC coverage has been very poor full stop

Far from a BBC lover but with only two streams they'll be trying to pick and choose what they show and it will be difficult. They have seemed to get it wrong more often than right.

[MoreOrLess]

It's not free.....but you can get a 1 month Discovery+ subscription for £4.99.

The coverage is as good as the BBC 2012 / 2016 was and multiple people can watch on multiple devices, cast to TV etc. all on one subscription. There's always 20+ live streams, plus all previous sessions on demand and daily recaps, highlight shows etc.

[Kiwias]

It's not free.....but you can get a 1 month Discovery+ subscription for £4.99.

The coverage is as good as the BBC 2012 / 2016 was and multiple people can watch on multiple devices, cast to TV etc. all on one subscription. There's always 20+ live streams, plus all previous sessions on demand and daily recaps, highlight shows etc.

Seriously though, this site offers live coverage of pretty much every event and if you click the headphones in the bottom right corner, you can select English commentary.

No subscription, no registration, no fees, and you can access it from multiple devices simultaneously: iPad, iPhone, laptop, PC, all of which can be cast to TV via Apple TV or the sort.

https://en.sports.nhk.or.jp/olympic/highlights/

[S/Lt_Phillips]

It's not free.....but you can get a 1 month Discovery+ subscription for £4.99.

The coverage is as good as the BBC 2012 / 2016 was and multiple people can watch on multiple devices, cast to TV etc. all on one subscription. There's always 20+ live streams, plus all previous sessions on demand and daily recaps, highlight shows etc.

Seriously though, this site offers live coverage of pretty much every event and if you click the headphones in the bottom right corner, you can select English commentary.

No subscription, no registration, no fees, and you can access it from multiple devices simultaneously: iPad, iPhone, laptop, PC, all of which can be cast to TV via Apple TV or the sort.

https://en.sports.nhk.or.jp/olympic/highlights/

Thanks for the link. However, seems to be geolocked.

Unfortunately, I am not set up with a VPN.

[Kawazaki]

If anyone panned a Lions or SA player for it I'd call them a fucking cunt, like I did when people slated Marler or Trescothick, tbh.

Difficult to know with Marler tbf.

What is difficult to know with Marler?

Where the fine and not fine line is.

[JM2K6]

Difficult to know with Marler tbf.

What is difficult to know with Marler?

Where the fine and not fine line is.

For what? He's been more open about mental health problems than most.

[Kawazaki]

What is difficult to know with Marler?

Where the fine and not fine line is.

For what? He's been more open about mental health problems than most.

Where does groping an opponent's cock score on the mental health scale?

Can you think he's a prick for doing that or do you have to mitigate it by saying, "ah, yes, he suffers from mental health problems so that's ok then".

[JM2K6]

Where the fine and not fine line is.

For what? He's been more open about mental health problems than most.

Where does groping an opponent's cock score on the mental health scale?

Can you think he's a prick for doing that or do you have to mitigate it by saying, "ah, yes, he suffers from mental health problems so that's ok then".

What's that go to do with the price of fish? We're talking about slating players for withdrawing from competition due to mental health problems.