I do not mean these particular athletes… just saying that it would be so easy to get someone sidelined while the results are being verified.
A blast from the past… remember this athlete? What a remarkable story.
3 Likes
This occurred to me, too.
2 Likes
Just seems like a trainwreck waiting to happen. Feel bad for all parties involved. Athletes who train so hard often with a limited time window (not as simple sometimes as saying “See you in 4 years (this time 3)).” And everyone else planning to take advantage of the opportunity of the Olympics.
Not a fan of human interest stories. At least not to the extent they dominate the coverage. Particularly not when they supplant live coverage of events.
And I like as much live coverage as possible. Totally understand with significant time differences its a huge challenge. But even with smaller time differences there still is too much taped coverage for my tastes. And I get it from the network point of view. With live events, you don’t know when or where the drama will occur. With taped coverage, you can totally frame it. Just not a fan. Particularly not with so many online feeds that give you results in real time spoiling watching the event.
1 Like
I like the human interest stories, at least the short ones. I like knowing that the person studied chem engineering (Hurst, the runner from CU) or that they have 5 kids or that they train 37 hours per day and only eat grapes. I like when they explain the rules for sports I know nothing about. I like to find a connection to me; I just learned one of the rowers attends my daughter’s school so that’s as good as her being related to me. Feels like I’m in Japan battling the other nations myself.
4 Likes
The alternates on the women’s artistic team were rooming with other alternates—perhaps less chance that team members were exposed??
I like to read about the athletes (see the link I posted above). I like to watch them in action! I am OK with an occasional short story or a piece of trivia mentioned by a commentator, but the current domination of the coverage by these endless “human interest” pieces is tiresome.
1 Like
I’m looking forward to watching the Olympics. I grew up where my Mom would stop everything and we all had to eat, get done and be quiet when the Olympics came on. There weren’t any options but to watch the Prime Time coverage
I do have favorite sports and I’m very curious how the surfing is going to work out because there has to be some waves in order to have a contest
2 Likes
That’s how it was in our house. We watched the Olympics non-stop. It was a shock to me when I grew up and my husband expressed annoyance about how often I was watching them!
3 Likes
I taught my husband to enjoy watching Olympic sports. Kiddos are Olympics fans, too. I will forever remember the blood curdling screams of our younger Olympics’ fan… the screams woke us up, and because it sounded like someone was being murdered, we both ran downstairs expecting to face an intruder or something like that. Turns out, swimming was on, and the kid was cheering for the men’s relay… they did beat the French. 
It was an epic race. 
4 Likes
Meanwhile, here in Tokyo, the athletes seem to be going stir-crazy. A member of the US track team sent out a tweet the the JOC was using cardboard beds in the Olympic Village (true) to discourage the athletes from engaging in any hanky-panky. That got picked up by the NY Post. Then, a member of the Irish gymnastics team posted video of himself jumping up and down on his bed to show how sturdy they are. Rather than having the good sense to stay out of this, the JOC decided to jump in and defend the beds itself. At which point it emerged that they are planning to distribute 160,000 condoms, with the understanding they are not to be used in the Olympic Village but should be taken home to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. Fun times!
1 Like
Today on TMC they showed a lot of the documentaries from prior Olympics. The 1984 games brought back a lot of memories as I was studying for the bar exam and would study much of the day, watch the swimming races at 5 pm and then go to class. Mary Lou Retton, Joan Benoit. Pretty cool.
2 Likes
I was on bed rest during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. My first kid. I have never watched more 
We were screaming during the 2008 men’s 4 x 100m relay. Here’s a YouTube story from the French POV. From the Olympic channel. USA vs France: The most epic Swim Relay Finish - Beijing 2008 - YouTube
3 Likes
I remember that race like it was yesterday!
That’s the race!!
Looking back at that race like 
with the FastSkin LZR Racer full poly suit that was then banned by Fina; I’d forgotten about it.
2 Likes
Have I mentioned we love swimming 
1 Like
Our family went to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Stayed with friends who lived in an Atlanta suburb and went to see the gymnastics events, soccer, and the closing ceremonies. Didn’t plan to see the soccer events, but we were in Athens, GA to see rhythmic gymnastics and when Brazil was out of the running for a gold medal, the Brazilian fans started selling and/or giving away their tickets. We were able to get tickets for the women’s finals. This was the first time for women’s soccer to be in the Olympics–US won a gold medal in the game against China. This was the team with Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, etc. That game was the highlight of our trip. It was a fun thing to do and it was easy given that it was in the US and we had a place to stay. I don’t feel a need to go again unless my 6-month old granddaughter is going to be in it. 
7 Likes
As a retired official and coach, advocate and parent, I’m so angry and disappointed in the USOPC and the TOC; this sends the message that paralympic athletes aren’t actually in that much need and should be able to easily transition, travel and compete without their personal assistants.
1 Like
It’s so ridiculous that they allow caddies and horse groomers but not this- how about giving athletes respect as humans with real needs. Geez.
11 Likes