There is a video compilation on YouTube comparing gymnastics of today to the old days. Fascinating evolution, and definitely towards more athletic skills. Speaking of acrobatics, does anyone remember Olga Korbut’s “loop of death”?
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I love the Olympics and the athletes but any respect I had has gone down the drain.
Watch the video. I don’t need to see a woman beat up by a man.
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What do we think is in the cardboard boxes they get with the medals? A flashlight? A bicycle pump? Cheese?
Where are the flowers?
I was wondering the same thing. There is a Tik Tok video from an Australian medalist doing an unboxing. It is a poster.
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I think boxing is barbaric, so I don’t watch. I think the issue of being intersex or transgender is rotten for everyone.
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Yup. A poster.
Interesting tidbit of Olympic history.
And we thought badminton was weird. 
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Track starts tomorrow! Track, swimming, and gymnastics… yikes. No talking heads for my husband. 
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The Algerian boxer is fighting with her own body that she was born and raised with. I feel terrible for her and the other woman who are being called men by people for political reasons. So glad the Olympics is allowing women to compete as themselves.
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I do think Nadia looks as athletic in her ability. It’s just her movements seem more graceful, less “sharp”.
Oh, that’s another one! I think I get her and Nadia mixed up.
Personally, in a sporting competition, I prefer to see strong, powerful (and beautiful!) women instead of pre-pubescent looking girls, many of whom had to starve themselves to look that way. Nadia’s routines would be considered very easy by today’s standards, though the apparatuses have also changed since her time.
I admit I have total gymnast envy. I would LOVE to be able to do even a smidgen of what they can. I told H “How I wish I could wake up tomorrow in Simon Biles’ body, just to see what it feels like to be able to MOVE like that.” Of course, he replied with a smirk “I wish you’d wake up tomorrow in her body too.” lol
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But I’m not hearing they are transgender. I heard they tested positive for having testosterone. I honestly don’t know or follow the story so not sure what’s true.
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Not loving the reffing in this men’s soccer match.
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My mom was from Morocco and two older sibs born there so can’t help but feeling like this match is a win-win. To be honest, I love the Moroccan team enthusiasm.
(I’m mostly listening while working with occasional glances so can’t comment on the officiating…)
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Archery was fun to watch!! And they got a Bronze!
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Did I catch it correctly that Snoop and Martha Stewart are going to cover dressage…
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As someone who only watches gymnastics during the Olympics, I have some questions for those in the know.
I feel like sticking a landing was always a big deal. With Simone, the level difficulty makes a landing (or stepping out of line on the floor exercise) not as important.
Because the execution and difficulty are equally weighted and added together, is there a different strategy than in the past? If you can do something that is really difficult, it buys you room for some mistakes. Is that correct?
Is the level of difficulty pre-determined? If so, how do they determine it? Do the athletes submit their routine in advance and do judges know if they change it?
When did the “perfect 10” scoring go away? Or is a perfect 10 still there but is the execution score?
I can answer two of the three. I think that I’m right!
Yes to your first question. I don’t know whether the strategy is different, but it’s true that having a routine with a higher difficulty score buys you room for error in terms of execution. Personally, I like that system.
Yes, the level of difficulty is predetermined. Each skill has a weight. Sometimes, the scoring takes a while because the judges have to agree that each skill planned for the routine actually was accomplished. Gymnasts have the ability to change their plans on the fly (pun intended) depending on how things are going. If someone is way ahead, for instance, they can choose to do a single pike on a vault instead of a double, making the gamble that the lower difficulty number will be more than offset by the hoped-for higher execution number.
I have to admit that I don’t know why or when the perfect 10s of the Nadia Comenici days went away. I do think that the perfect 10 still exists but just on the execution score like you said.
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Yup! Because Snoop is afraid of horses, he had to bring a friend who knows a lot about them. or something like that.
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