A thread for your stupid Olympics questions

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodAccountant]

If you have any "stupid" questions about the Olympics here's the place to ask them. Hopefully some knowledgeable people will know the answers.

At this temperature it's too hot for me to walk my dog but the horses are participating in the jumping events. Does the heat not impact them in the same way? Is it because they're bigger? Is it just because they're horses?

The cox is always tiny as they are essentially dead weight in the boat because they don’t row, just instruct. They keep the rowers in time.

in the cycling the athletes get one ticket, as there are appeals going out for unused ones for other family members etc.

I’m intrigued by the sailing. How do they know where the start line is/ maintain a fair start? Not like you can paint a line on the sea.

They are probably not on sale to the public. I have volunteered at major sporting events before (though not the Olympics) and the uniforms are usually provided exclusively to those working at the event. In my experience you are told you must not sell them but it doesn't stop people doing so, so Ebay is probably your best bet if you really want one.

The Cox (the one who is much smaller than the others) doesn't row, they shout instructions to coordinate the timing of the rowers - because rowing is done backwards the rowers can't see each other/communicate easily.

I want to know about athletics, why do they not use lane 1 in the races anymore? I was sure they used to when I was younger.

*Just saw men's 100m heat and there was 9 runners, so they did use lane 1.

I’ve just seen the women’s archery individual final and I was confused. Were the South Koreans playing against each other or was one lady from North Korea? I went onto Google but Google told me they were teammates

They were both from S. Korea.
I haven't seen any N. Korea athletes yet, but I believe there are some.
I love my 4- yearly watching of archery 🏹 😁

Thank you @GoogleWhacked and yes, I’m enjoying the archery as well 🙂

Because it's the individual event not a team event - it's just like two or three runners or swimmer from the same country in the final race.

They are the person who sits in the back of the boat, but they face forward. They steer the boat as they can see where they are going. In Olympic rowing this is a bit more boring because it's basically a straight line, but in something like the Boat Race it's very tactical to find the fastest water etc.

They also direct the number 1 seat about the stroke rhythm to set etc.

If they have the option, they sometimes don't use lane 1 to preserve it, because it gets more wear from the all of the distances races where they generally just use lane 1. It preserves the track surface for longer, as they cost tens of thousands of pounds to replace.

Lots of recreational tracks actually have a "no training in lane 1" rule for this reason.

Thanks @Catopia - that makes complete sense, and something I feel I should have been able to reason out for myself.

What qualifications other than enthusiasm does Matt Baker have to commentate on gymnastics? Was he a gymnast?

I’m intrigued by the sailing. How do they know where the start line is/ maintain a fair start? Not like you can paint a line on the sea

@TeresaCrowd

In one race I was watching (windsurfing perhaps) there was a delay and the commentator said "they're just getting the starting line into place"
So I think they have two boats or markers that line themselves up a distance apart then the boats line up in between them.

He did gymnastics until he was teenager and was pretty good I believe, but had to stop for health reasons.

Yes its an imaginary line usually between a bouy and a marker on a.boat. in amateur races someone on the boat looks down the line to check no one is over at the start. I dont know if in the Olympics it is more technical I.e a laser or video replays etc.

Ah that makes sense Injust know him from Countryfile.

Why do athletes, especially sprinters, still have paper numbers safety-pinned to their bibs?!

Their kit and shoes are engineered to within an inch of their lives, and in eg cycling everything is designed to be as aerodynamic as possible. Wind getting behind bib numbers can’t be consistent with that surely?

Who decided butterfly was a good way to swim? It looks really hard and exhausting.

It started out as a quicker way to swim breaststroke then was made a stroke of its own. Once you are in a rhythm DS assures me its not that hard but certainly not a stroke you want to use for covering any real distance. Although someone has butterflied across the channel!!!

@Littletreefrog goodness their shoulders must have been sore by the end!

It's no more exhausting than any of the other strokes IME.
When I used to train my coach had me routinely do sets of 50m fly sprints (usually 10x with a minute rest in between). Then he'd do it with back/freestyle/breaststroke. I always ached more after breaststroke than fly.

The actual pain comes from your arms rather than your shoulders because you're using your triceps/biceps far more than your traps. Although shoulders are worked as well 😁

North Korea won silver in the synchronised diving that Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson won bronze in for Team GB.

I probably sound really grumpy here, but why is Snoop Dogg featuring so much in the Olympics? I know he carried the torch, but he seems to pop up everywhere, and I’m not sure if I’m missing something to explain why!

https://youtube.com/shorts/VdNexM1JvRY?si=ZO7AER6bBa6PdW0V

He did some commentary on a steeple chase race (no idea how/why) and this appears to have been enough to suck him into the world of sports reporting

Because there's hardly any famous people there? 🤷‍♀️