Five-ring circus: The Thread of the XXXIII Olympiad

They were up 30 in the middle of the third and sleptwalk their way to the end. They were up 28 going to the fourth. Much like the men, you can tell they play when they want to

 

I think you could definitely say it's trending this way, but there are still forces working against it. From a fans/media perspective, I think there's still an appetite to consume as much competition simultaneously as possible that you probably wouldn't be able to do if you were doing the kind of pan-French concept you're talking about. Geography and infrastructure work against that, to a point, and if the Olympics are as committed as they seem to be to sustainability, every mile you have fans, athletes, media on a bus or a plane works against that. Every IOC president has their own little legacy bit, whether it's Samaranch bringing in professionals or Bach with the Agenda 2020 reforms and a more flexible program. Bach is supposed to be done after this one, so whoever comes next might push the needle that way. To some degree, any change on this is way down the road, as we're assigned out through 2032. Of the 2036 bids that are out there, there's a Torontreal concept that probably fits, but I'm guessing they still need more Montrealers who remember 1976 to kick the bucket first.

The successful French bid for the 2030 Winter Games is staging all the ice skating events in Nice (except for long-track speedskating, which would be at the 2006 facility in Torino). Funny thing is that the Torino oval is apparently about a three hour drive, while the downhill at Courchevel and several other 1992 retreads will be twice as far away by car. I am still unimpressed by LA 28's plan to do whitewater canoeing and softball in Oklahoma City, mostly because culturally that seems like a total bait and switch. On the other hand, I wouldn't have a big issue with what amounted to a pan-Californian bid, and given how bad LA traffic is purported to be, Anaheim (indoor volleyball) probably might as well be in Sacramento.

I think I'd argue that the Olympic "experience" is still highly meaningful for the vast majority of those participants. Otherwise you'd just have a collection of relatively disparate world championships that doesn't exactly seem like it stirs the imagination. It seems as if the "leave the Village 48 hours after you've competed" rule that I thought was a COVID thing has carried over (may have always been a thing), which seems to work against that spirit a little bit.

Normally when someone wrecks that hard with one lap to go, they have to throw the caution and have a green/white/checkered finish.

 

The only reason modern pentathlon still exists, basically at all much less in the Olympic movement, is that the concept was coined by Baron Pierre de Coubertin himself as some sort of 19th-century James Bond jailbreak fantasy (fence your way out of the castle, swim though a river, shoot your way out of the bush, jump on an unfamiliar horse and run to safety).

In the 90s, they smushed it all into one day, which was rather absurd. There was some talk about replacing the gun range stuff with some sort of laser guns, but the real death knell may have come after Tokyo. Because the pentathlon horses are chosen at random, getting a dud was the easiest way to ruin a contender's chances. Apparently one of the Germans did just that, and his or her coach was caught suggesting that the athlete whip the horse into compliance, which has gotten the animal rights folks (many of whom were opposed to equestrian events already) up in arms enough that I believe they want to change it to some sort of American Ninja Warrior obstacle race. They're on strike 2 1/2, I think, and if a critical mass of people at the IOC grow a pair, they're easily first in line to get thrown out.

I actually think the Agenda 2020 flexibility is something of a win-win. There are some places, like Tokyo, LA and probably Australia, where the interest is there to stage a baseball tournament and have a facility. But in Athens, Rio or Paris, building a baseball or softball ground is just going to get on some "Look at these abandoned Olympic venues" listicle six months after the games. Further, since these tournaments are probably going to six teams, eight at most, you're not giving up a spot to the hosts so they can field a last-place team of third-generation ex-pats and no-hopers.

Though I suppose the French would have given Jim Leyland a lifetime supply of Gauloises to manage their baseball team.

 

Exactly. Or, time to fly home and get back to their day jobs or grad school.

 

I think about the 100 meter runner who loses in their first heat and their Olympics are done in less than 10 seconds.

 

I believe it was on the late night show with Maria Taylor.

Congrats to them. I always struggle to get the pink pie piece but they must have taken care of that one right away.

 

After the '88 Games, my family was in Bermuda. We went to the Mid-Ocean Club for dinner (brother's a member, great course) and one of our waiters was back from being one of those 100 meter losers for Bermuda. And the members, all the big movers and shakers of the island, were treating him like a hero. It was pretty wonderful to see.

 

They're ditching the equestrian portion of the Modern Pentathlon for an obstacle course race - I'm guessing something like American Ninja or Spartan - which would be pretty cool to watch.

 

The strategy worked great. But Rooks had to run the race of his life to get a medal, let alone finish second to the defending gold medalist. Beat his PR by nine seconds.

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!

A courageous run from @BYUTFXC alum Kenneth Rooks gives him a stunning Olympic silver medal result in the men’s steeplechase final! Rooks secured a monster PR of 8:06.41 in the process. pic.twitter.com/XjXYldM5U3

— The Stride Report (@TheStrideReport) August 7, 2024

 

Kind of surprised the name of the school has survived the last four years.

 

Ed Eyestone knows how to coach distance runners to get to - and succeed in - the Olympics.

 

Didn't remember that Rooks won the 2022 U.S. title after falling