<p>Corona! What a great save!</p>
<p>Can you believe that? NBC replays Univision broadcast!</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>They do now. The rule was changed 2 or 3 olympiads ago to give medals to all six members of the winning relay teams. But prior to that it used to be that just the four who ran the finals got the medals. This led to a lot of understandable bitterness among team members who ran the heats but then got bumped for the finals. They did the dirty work and ended up with nothing to show for it.</p>
<p>It was a great win for the US women’s relay, especially by such a large margin over the Jamaicans. If you add up the 100m personal bests of each of the US women and Jamaican women, the Jamaicans, on paper, were faster. But faster on paper doesn’t mean you will run your best or pass the stick well. Huge win for the US to reverse its recent misfortunes in that event. </p>
<p>I hope the men do as well today, although even that may not be enough to overcome the one-two punch of Blake and Bolt that the Jamaicans can deliver.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is why I never got upset about the results when older D did dance competitions. The scoring was so erratic that you just couldn’t let yourself care.</p>
<p>I was just thinking that if I was a little girl watching the Olympics, I would want to grow up and be like the sprinters…Fraser-Pryce, Jeter, Felix, etc. You don’t need expensive lessons when you start out, you can compete for your school at first, the ladies have “normal” looking bodies - I know, they are super muscular, but they aren’t 4’10" or 6’2". They are girly. Trash talking isn’t required. I would want to be like them.</p>
<p>Medalla de oro para Mexico.
I am happy!</p>
<p>If you want to go back to what belongs in the Olympics - at one time it included painting and bridge! Personally, I’m fine with anything that included moving. I like seeing new sports including ones that aren’t popular in the US. If they wanted to put competitive cheer in some day, I’d be okay with it.</p>
<p>I started watching the modern pentathlon stream. They’re currently in the horse riding stage, which doesn’t interest me much. I want to see the run-shoot.</p>
<p>The riding stage of the Pentathalon is crazy. They are riding horses they have never ridden before - just luck of the draw. I’m amazed that more of them aren’t dumped in front of a jump. You can tell from the riding style that the riders don’t trust the horses because they often sit all the way to the jump and, the spots are terrible in front of the jumps and some wrestle for lead changes. Of course, I’m thinking “poor horse.”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would like to be Maria Sharapova because I get to win a full scholarship at the Bollitieri Tennis Academy, I would look really cute in those tennis outfits, I get to wear stunning dresses at ESPY awards, I get to be in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, I get to practice my shrieking during matches and I dont really care if I get a bronze, silver or gold because all would look good around my neck. :D</p>
<p>First, a disclaimer: I know very little about equestrian events. But I was thinking of the flip side of cartera45’s post about the riding stage of the Pentathlon. A family friend is good enough to qualify for the US Olympic trials in dressage. She owns and rides a rescue race-horse, which is really quite a good horse. However, to be internationally competitive, she would need a “better” (read “more expensive”) horse. As it is, the round-trip airfare to London for the horse exceeds the purchase price of her horse.</p>
<p>Providing horses which none of the competitors have ridden previously equalizes playing field, and avoids converting the event into a finance-based competition. Also, I am not certain about the UK quarantine law as applied to horses (perhaps there is none), but I believe there was once a 6-month quarantine period to bring a dog into the UK. There may still be.</p>
<p>An inlaw competes internationally in Pony Club competitions. This involves what I’d consider fairly hazardous stunt riding, but the competition is held on horses supplied by the host nation’s club, as I understand it. In general, they have not previously been ridden by the competitors. If the competitors are sufficiently skilled in horsemanship, this would not appear to be a problem.</p>
<p>Perhaps the issue is that the Pentathlon athletes are less skilled at riding than at their other events?</p>
<p>On the live streaming they just did the medal ceremony for the men’s pole vault, which means we got to hear them play La Marseillaise. What surprised me was that quite a few people in the stadium sang along with it. I didn’t see all that many French flags waving, so I don’t know how many actual French people are there. I wonder if some Brits sang along. Pretty much anyone who ever took high school French can likely sing it.</p>
<p>I just watched a bit of the all around rhythmic gymnastics all-around finals. I thought those women were just breathtakingly beautiful. </p>
<p>I think they should totally change the name of the “other” gymnastics competition from Artistic to Athletic or Competitive or Sports or something. Rhythmic Gymnastics should be called “artistic”. Both require incredible skill and work.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m sure that’s why they do it, but it’s hardly an equalizer unless they all ride the same horse and that’s not possible. Choosing a horse out of hat really interjects quite a bit of luck into the win. In most situations when competitors ride unknown horses, the courses do not have 4 - 4 1/2 ft. fences. </p>
<p>These riders are definitely not as skilled as those who compete in the equestrian events. It is understandable since the riding event would be the most difficult to practice. They just hope they are far enough ahead that a disastrous riding round doesn’t sink them. The olympic equestrians often ride 6-8 hours a day and use many different horses because you obviously can’t ride one horse several hours a day. </p>
<p>Some of the Pentathlon riders rode very much like novices and relied on strength rather than skill and tried to muscle the horse around the arena. They lost their seats, they were very heavy in the horses’ mouths, they failed to set the horses up to even see some the jumps and they failed to set up the proper strides lengths and count in front of the jumps. Some of the horses were very forgiving of these errors; some were not. If a horse doesn’t have confidence in the rider, they may just plant in front of a jump and there is nothing humanly possible a rider can do to force a 1200 lb animal over a jump. You’re just out of luck. </p>
<p>I feel sorry for the horses, not the riders.</p>
<p>I didn’t watch the coverage, but based on your description, cartera45, I agree with you that it’s distressing. Perhaps there should be a requirement for separate qualification in riding, before the athlete can complete in the Pentathlon, for the protection of the horses. In fact, I think this would be a really good idea.</p>
<p>In a different context: While there is some luck involved in terms of the horse one draws, I have never heard the Pony Club competitors blame their placement on the horses. I suspect that the difference is that they are very good riders by the time they are competing nationally or internationally.</p>
<p>The competitors in the Olympic equestrian events are very highly skilled, obviously–and on their own horses (or horses owned by sponsors and customarily ridden by the competitors).</p>
<p>Bolt golden again. Jamaica 4x100 relay team sets a new world record. 36.84! First team under 37 seconds.</p>
<p>The US team did great to get the silver and set a new US record, but it was not enough. Both teams passed the baton well.</p>
<p>Canada came in 3rd but got deeked for a bad final exchange. Trinidad & Tobago moves up to the bronze position.</p>
<p>The 4 x 100 relays are amazing-to successfully hand off the baton while running that fast.</p>
<p>
When Apple becomes a sponsor for the Olympics, the teams will use Bumps with their iBatons ;)</p>
<p>Are we seeing the legacy of Title IX?</p>
<p>Women definitely have gotten more athletic opportunities because of Title IX, which in general is a good thing. Volleyball is an example- something like 22 men’s Division 1 men’s programs, 300 + women’s programs last time I looked .</p>