Miscellaneous Olympic Chatter

[skipaway]

A Daily Show tweet: Sailing teams lodge protest over Greece releasing the Kracken. #Olympics#FakeSpoiler

[KCC]

Just read that Kristin Armstrong won the women's cycling time trial today. So happy for the 2-time gold medalist from Boise, my town. Woo hoo!

[tchaikovsky_177]

Japan's Woman's Soccer team coach admitted to playing for a tie so they wouldn't have to fly to Scotland in the next round.

It's not a huge deal in soccer, is it? I mean, it's not uncommon for a coach to have subs play the last match and rest up the main players, which is more or less a form of tanking (just like this situation with the tie here). And I have no problem with that.

[skipaway]

It's not a huge deal in soccer, is it? I mean, it's not uncommon for a coach to have subs play the last match and rest up the main players, which is more or less a form of tanking (just like this situation with the tie here). And I have no problem with that.

I think resting players is smart, but actually telling your players not to score/win/do your best, IMO crosses the line.

[Prancer]

This may seem an odd question, but are the swimming pools heated?

Just curious - I can't imagine that the shock of cold water would be welcome to any swimmer/diver, but perhaps they are used to it and it is physiologically more beneficial than heated water?

Rules for competitive swimming pool temps: For swimming in both standard competition and the Olympics, FINA mandates a water temperature of between 25 to 28 degrees C, or between 77 and 82 degrees F. For water polo in both standard competition and the Olympics, FINA mandates 26 degrees C, or 79 degrees F, plus or minus one degree. For synchronized swimming in both standard competition and the Olympics, the FINA regulation temperature is 27 degrees C, or 81 degrees F, plus or minus one degree. Finally, for diving in both standard competition and the Olympics, the FINA regulation temperature is not less than 26 degrees C, or 79 degrees F.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/48...#ixzz22LA48n2v

The pool at my school is kept at competition temperature at all times because we have swimming and diving teams, much to the dismay of just about everyone else, who find it a little chilly.

[tchaikovsky_177]

I think resting players is smart, but actually telling your players not to score/win/do your best, IMO crosses the line.

I definitely see what you're saying, but for me, having your subs play when your best players are healthy and able to play ensures that your team won't perform its best, and even if mild, is still tanking in my book. That said, I do think there is a difference between tanking in order to keep your strength for the next match (what the Japanese did) and tanking in order to face a particular opponent in next round (or to avoid facing a particular opponent in next round), aka what all the disqualified badminton pairs did. I do think the latter is more blameworthy than the former.

This kind of strategic withholding will always exist in sports with a pool system. At least in soccer they have teams from different pools play their matches at the same time, to avoid people trying to guess who their eventual opponents might be and determine their gameplan accordingly.

[skipaway]

That said, I do think there is a difference between tanking in order to keep your strength for the next match (what the Japanese did) and tanking in order to face a particular opponent in next round (or to avoid facing a particular opponent in next round), aka what all the disqualified badminton pairs did. I do think the latter is more blameworthy than the former.

I heard it reported on ESPN that Japan was trying to avoid playing the Americans and the French up in Glasgow.

[tchaikovsky_177]

I heard it reported on ESPN that Japan was trying to avoid playing the Americans and the French up in Glasgow.

That is interesting... Had the Japanese beaten the South Africans they would have played France in the QF instead of Brazil (if I understand the system correctly.... the Swedes, winner of Japan's group are currently set to play France in the QF, so I guess Japan would have taken its spot instead.) Are they really that afraid of France? Hmmm. It would be mighty hard to prove

[maatTheViking]

That is interesting... Had the Japanese beaten the South Africans they would have played France in the QF instead of Brazil (if I understand the system correctly.... the Swedes, winner of Japan's group are currently set to play France in the QF, so I guess Japan would have taken its spot instead.) Are they really that afraid of France? Hmmm. It would be mighty hard to prove

I heard it wasn't so much which team, but which venue - they didn't want to travel to Glasgow.

[rfisher]

That is interesting... Had the Japanese beaten the South Africans they would have played France in the QF instead of Brazil (if I understand the system correctly.... the Swedes, winner of Japan's group are currently set to play France in the QF, so I guess Japan would have taken its spot instead.) Are they really that afraid of France? Hmmm. It would be mighty hard to prove

They didn't want to travel to a new field. They essentially have a home field advantage in Wales. It was the coach's decision. It wasn't the team, but the travel and field that made her do this. Or so she said.

[tchaikovsky_177]

I heard it wasn't so much which team, but which venue - they didn't want to travel to Glasgow.

Bottom line for me is, if they tanked just to save themselves the pain of travelling, I really have very few problems with it.

if they tanked to avoid facing US/France and have an "easier" opponent in Brazil, it would bother me much more. But we'll never know. And as far as ESPN is concerned (which Skipaway brought up), it probably isn't the most unbiased source

[Garden Kitty]

The flower bouquets for the medal ceremonies looked great with the gymnasts, but they seem sort of small for the swimmers.

[escaflowne9282]

Gender equality says hello.

Gender Equality has nothing to do with it. The IOC was really sold the Brooklyn Bridge when they agreed to Women's Ice Hockey. There have really only ever been two competitive nations: the US and Canada. Most other countries don't have regular women's hockey leagues have very few professional female players, and it really is not a promoted sport. At the Vancouver Olympics we saw games with Canada and the US that ended in scores such as 28-1 , 19-1, etc. The closest country to give either one a run for their money was Canada vs. Switzerland, which was 10-1 , apparently the Canadians were told to hold back a little bit.

Baseball and Softball OTOH actually had a much bigger geographic spread. Baseball for example , is very popular in Japan, South Korea, The Dominican Republic, Canada, etc. Some of our more prominent recent major league players in the US have come from Japan and DR. Japan was the OGM in Beijing IIRC.

[allezfred]

i didnt realize that badminton was in the olympics, i thought it was something from the onion

Really? Badminton is quite widely played here too. Just because something isn't popular in the US doesn't mean it isn't popular elsewhere and vice versa.

japan won the gold in softball in 08

Which was a bit of an upset as far as I recall. Doesn't change the fact that neither baseball nor softball are as geographically diverse as either badminton or table tennis to name just two sports.

[maatTheViking]

Which was a bit of an upset as far as I recall. Doesn't change the fact that neither baseball nor softball are as geographically diverse as either badminton or table tennis to name just two sports.

I might argue that cricket is more geographically diverse than baseball/softball.... Not that I understand either of the sports

[berthesghost]

Really? Badminton is quite widely played here too. Just because something isn't popular in the US doesn't mean it isn't popular elsewhere and vice versa.

It's not popular in the US? There's at least 35 different Badminton clubs just in NY state alone! Not to mention that pretty much every family has a lawn set of their own just for fun. Jeez, what does a girl have to do to be labeled "popular" around here.

[IceAlisa]

The flower bouquets for the medal ceremonies looked great with the gymnasts, but they seem sort of small for the swimmers.

Is it because the swimmers are so big?

[allezfred]

It's not popular in the US? There's at least 35 different Badminton clubs just in NY state alone! Not to mention that pretty much every family has a lawn set of their own just for fun. Jeez, what does a girl have to do to be labeled "popular" around here.

Great. That bolsters the argument that badminton is a more geographically diverse sport!

[Ziggy]

Gender Equality has nothing to do with it.

It has everything to do with it. You just can't deny the opposite sex participation in an Olympic sport. That is fundamentally wrong.

[flipforsynchro]

It has everything to do with it. You just can't deny the opposite sex participation in an Olympic sport. That is fundamentally wrong.

It's still happening, as far as I know.