OLYMPICS 2021

[Star555]

Haven't found a thread for Olympic sports discussions so I'm starting one. This thread is only for discussions of the actual sporting events as they happen over the next few weeks, not the unfairness of IOC's rules/philosophy (e.g. allowing a male athlete to declare himself a woman and compete in the women's category...which is immoral, unscientific, and wholly unjust, but that topic already has multiple separate threads).

Although this will be an Olympics like no other, I'm excited for the opening ceremony tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing gymnastics and swimming especially!

I will give the men’s skateboarding a go and see if it’s any more interesting . I quite enjoyed the BMX which is in a similar type of theme IMO . Do I assume that Sky opted to represent the GB because the alternatives would have been more competition to get a place ?

Yep — for the skating it's actually to do with the width of your body rather than your centre of gravity, but that obviously changes (hips and bust) post-puberty. So to do the most revolutions you can while you're up in the air, you need to spin as fast as you can.

angular momentum = velocity × mass × radius

Angular momentum has to stay constant, so to increase your velocity, you want to be able to reduce your mass and/or your radius.

You can try this if you have a wheel-y office chair and two dumbells or water bottles. Clear a space, then spin yourself round and round with you arms and legs sticking out. Then pull them into your chest. Your radius has decreased, and your mass has stayed constant, so your velocity will increase.

So basically, the lighter and narrower hipped you are, the more rotations you'll get (for the same power input).

On the skateboarding I was watching last night there was a 36 yr old representing SA and she literally just went up and down the slopes

@Floralnomad

On the skateboarding I was watching last night there was a 36 yr old representing SA and she literally just went up and down the slopes

I think it's a funding issue, now it's in the olympics I expect the quality to improve rapidly, I know girls in my local skate park doing much more but the funding and route to the olympics isn't clear yet.

But I still think 12 I too young, even if hips or puberty change things, the IOC should be protecting children.

I do wonder whether there's an age that falling multiple times on concrete begins to lose it's charm, no matter how safely you know how to fall. And do many people in their thirties hang around at 'normal' skate parks?

I presume their must be a governing body who were the ones advocating and organising for it to go into the Olympic Games, but I don't know how many of them are actively still competing.

@AndEmilyCampbellDancing

But I still think 12 I too young, even if hips or puberty change things, the IOC should be protecting children.

I agree, and I actually did think that they're really children rather than adult athletes when I was watching it.

I just wondered whether if it isn't quite as developed as a organised sport yet then they're sending the people who are doing the fanciest things at competitions, and it might be that girls can do more than women.

I missed the rest of the women's climbing. Saw the speed climbing. Anyone know where to find it? Been looking online and seen the results but can't find out where to watch despite watching hours of catch up on IPlayer!

On the street skateboarding the men all seemed to be at least late teens so it does seem to be just an issue with the women’s event . Maybe it’s because there’s more competition for places with men and the younger kids don’t get a look in .

But I still think 12 I too young, even if hips or puberty change things, the IOC should be protecting children

This. Sky Brown’s serious, could have been life changing injury. Then her attempt at that mega-ramp, all I saw was a 13 year old girl with a bunch of adult men encouraging her to do something she was clearly scared of. Shades of gymnastics coaches.

Gymnastics introduced a minimum age of 16 to protect children. It should be minimum across all sports.

When did Gymnastics change? I'm sure I remember tiny pre pubescent looking gymnasts when I was a kid/teen but now although a lot seem to be shorter than average they seem to have more stronger muscular physique. The silver medallist for floor was 30 which surely must be ancient in terms of gymnastics?

Comaneci and Korbut etc were tiny. I think Comaneci was 14 when she won her first medal. There were rumours that puberty was being blocked to stop development. Not sure if that's true or not.

Gymnasts today seem to be differently shaped and built for big tumbles. Not sure when things changed.

Some of the Chinese gymnasts are very tiny , my son reckons they’ve had their passports doctored .

Oh poor KJT. She works so bloody hard and she's out.

there was a Chinese gymnast disqualified in Sydney (2000) for being underage, so it's not totally unprecedented, though you'd think after that, the proof required might have been strengthened.

The beam winner was really tiny. But probably there are records of her participating in previous competitions for however many years.

The Chinese gymnasts are very petite, but East Asian women do tend to be smaller than their western counter parts. It might also be that the style of gymnastics they train favours a smaller physique, so those who make it to the top level will be small as the taller/muscular ones have been less successful in training. Of the team in Tokyo 3 were over 20.

Chinese faking ages comes up all the time, but the fact Romania also faked ages never seems to be mentioned. I wonder why...

@SummaLuvin

The Chinese gymnasts are very petite, but East Asian women do tend to be smaller than their western counter parts. It might also be that the style of gymnastics they train favours a smaller physique, so those who make it to the top level will be small as the taller/muscular ones have been less successful in training. Of the team in Tokyo 3 were over 20.

Chinese faking ages comes up all the time, but the fact Romania also faked ages never seems to be mentioned. I wonder why...

Well it didn’t come up in the conversation my son was having with me because we were watching Chinese gymnasts and not Romanian ones , nothing remotely racist about it if that’s what you are implying .

It definitely came up in the 80s when I watched the Romanian and Soviet gymnasts alongside puberty blockers and training practices.

The former Soviet and East bloc countries ruled the gymnastics then

Just watched the sailing, I think we got a gold?!

Hannah and Eilidh

Does anyone know anything about this? All three teams had a significant height difference between the pairs, is that an advantage? Eilidh was very tall, Hannah very petite.

Yes, they won gold.
No idea about the height difference, I didn’t realise it was the same across the teams.

I wondered about you the height difference too.

Eilidh is 6’0” and Hannah is 5’2”.

If the helms tend to be small and light and the crews are taller and heavier then I would think it’s because it relies on the crew to balance the boat and do the lots of physical work whilst the helm is doing the more tactical elements.

My BIL is into sailing and always saying me or one of the kids would be useful on the boat, for some reason, because we are small . I have to say I dont pay much attention because I'm pretty scared of going on a small boat!! Now I wished I had listened so I could impart my knowledge!

I used to sail as a child and as such was always in demand as crew due to being small and light. The helm needs someone to help with the ropes for the sails etc n pulling in the spinnaker quickly etc but doesn't really want much more weight in the boat. The lighter the boat the faster it goes

My MIL used to crew for FIL.

Someone had to explain to MIL that the big sail at the front was just called a “spinnaker” rather than a “fucking spinnaker”.

FIL was a bit competitive.