@Scipio I was thinking the same thing. Many of the races this year were not very fast. My thought is it was due to conditions, i.e, rain and humidity."
I think the slow time in the Men’s 1500m had far more to do with race tactics than with races conditions. Every athlete in that race is perfectly capable of running far faster than 3:50 in conditions far worse than that.
I’d rather see skating, grand slalom downhill and even snowboarding than weightlifting, handball or judo.
But that said, I’d take water polo over curling.
Why some athletes leave early …
One reason I can think of applies to the equestrian eventers. Their competition was over Tuesday, August 9th. Many have a barn full of horses back home to train and care for, lessons to teach,… Some participated in competitions the next weekend. This is their livelihood.
I’m sure that many (but not all) other athletes also have very good reasons.
Wow-- 3x as many summer sports competitions as winter https://www.olympic.org/sports
Oh goodness I will be four years older for the next summer Olympics. Crossing over to the other side of 50.
I would love to go see the summer games.
My 2 young cousins were skiers in Russia, where the conditions were less than ideal. I dont know if they will be able to participate the next time. Will winter games be in Tokyo?
2018 South Korea
2020 Tokyo
“Will winter games be in Tokyo?”
No.
@youcee I also loved this Olympics because of all the unusual sports I got to see enabled by on-demand, live streaming, and NBC’s family of cable channels. I too saw the men’s mountain biking and instantly became a fan. Stayed up late last night to watch rhythmic gymnastics, watched a replay this afternoon of the individual equestrian jumping. Fencing, archery, rowing, pole vault, diving, beach volleyball, all of those sports I fall in love with every 4 years.
Well done, Rio!
“Oh goodness I will be four years older for the next summer Olympics. Crossing over to the other side of 50.
I would love to go see the summer games.”
Yes, life slips away quickly when you measure it terms of Olympiads. The first games I remember when I was a kid was Rome '60. I recall watching on black and white TV the young Cassius Clay win the boxing gold and the fabulous Wilma Rudolph dominate the women’s sprints. The other striking memory I have from those games was that the marathon finish line was right under the Arch of Constantine with the Colosseum in the background.
I have been fortunate enough to attend two summer games in person: LA '84 and Seoul '88. Both were absolutely great. Maybe I’ll attend again if LA succeeds in landing the 2024 games. Of course I could be dead by then. I’ll be in my 70s in 2024.
I loved the number by the ballet dancers. The choreography was so fun and light, and suited the music perfectly. And it was danced on a soaking wet floor! Incredible.
The IOC has selected Pyeongchang, South Korea, to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Beijing, China, to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Wow! Cannot wait for Tokyo 2020! I’ll be there!
Attending the olympics is a lot of fun. Was able to attend a lot of events when it was hosted in our city several years ago.
Beijing again? Really? Does it even snow there?
Most countries have learned their lesson and aren’t bidding. It boiled down to two choices - Beijing, and Almaty in Kazakhstan.
On the Olympic coverage yesterday, they were saying the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea doesn’t get natural snow. They intend to make it all.
Someone asked earlier about the uniformity of the shoes - especially for runners - and how/why they seemed similar for a team - here’s an article that sheds a little more light:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/sports/olympics/olympic-cover-up-why-you-wont-see-some-shoe-logos.html?WT.mc_id=2016-AUG-FB-MC8-AUD_DEV-0804-0831&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=AUDDEVGate&_r=0
Monday seems dull after all the excitement the last two weeks.