Rio Olympics 2016 thread

[remydat]

If there was, was it not "shattered" prior to last night? The clear answer as seen in my post is yes.

Also, I find it relevant that the anchor for Japan was not only half West African, but half Jamaican specifically.

No I would think getting a silver in the Olympics is more relevant than getting silver in the under 20s.

In men's, China set an Asian record in the 1st heat, only to have it broken by the Japanese in the 2nd lol. Interesting that the two have been slowly coming along the last few years in relays and regularly beats European countries that used to have an edge on them. I've guess they've mastered the art of the baton exchange.

Not that this is the best indicator, but in the Under 20 world championships a few weeks ago, USA had to catch Japan on the last leg to win.

https://youtu.be/RkwwN1WHF5w?t=4m39s

See the bold above where you act surprised by the Asian teams outperforming the European teams? See where you even admit that the Under 20 world championship is not the best indicator? You know what is a good indicator? Winning the silver medal in the Olympics beating not just Europeans but other teams with West Africans. So no clearly it wasn't shattered prior to last night because you still made the above post did you not?

And to end, the 3 Japanese runners gave Aska Cambridge a lead. So they were ahead of all the other competitors including West Africans without him. And FYI, Ryota Yamagata was the fastest Japanese running in the 100m heats.

 

[Houston]

https://youtu.be/MgZsjmBjRg0?t=8m41s

Compound this with the fact that the Asian record was broken twice at the trials, and an Asian team standing on the podium could've been a foregone conclusion. I just wasn't expecting silver. Though in retrospect now that I take into consideration the recent failings of American men, I shouldn't have been as surprised.

 

[Houston]

See the bold above where you act surprised by the Asian teams outperforming the European teams? See where you even admit that the Under 20 world championship is not the best indicator?

Asian teams have proven before that even though they may field 0 runners in the 100m finals, their baton passing is great enough to compete in the relays. That was displayed among other races, in the Under 20 one that I posted. I actually and admittedly sold myself short on how good of an indicator it was.

 

[remydat]

So the myth they can't compete was shattered and now you are arguing about exactly when? Most people don't pay attention to U20 or the IAAF so once again winning silver on the Olympic stage for all to see is a lot different than those competitions. Or are we pretending those competitions are on par with Olympic viewership?

And the fact that you sold yourself short as you put it is a good indicator that despite these less watched competitions, the myth was still there. So again, I am not sure why we are arguing at this point as we seem to largely agree and you just want to quibble about the exact time said myth was shattered.

Can we safely agree that winning in the Olympics changes people's perceptions more than winning the U20 or the IAAF?

 

[Houston]

If we only focus on the Olympics, "shattering the myth about sprinters" seems a bit of an exaggeration considering you're only talking about relays. Any myth that Asians can't compete in the 100m...is still there. But if we look at Olympic relays in a vacuum, then sure I suppose they did.

 

[Houston]

 

[remydat]

If we only focus on the Olympics, "shattering the myth about sprinters" seems a bit of an exaggeration considering you're only talking about relays. Any myth that Asians can't compete in the 100m...is still there. But if we look at Olympic relays in a vacuum, then sure I suppose they did.

Well I think after they took 3rd in 2008 and followed it up with 5th in London, it could be seen as fluke. I think after taking Silver here, that's now 2 out of the the last 3 Olympics where they won medals in the relays. So for me, again we are arguing over semantics here. Whether you want to say it's exaggerated or not doesn't change the overall point. They have established themselves as serious medal contenders in the sprint relay.

 

[remydat]

http://www.espn.com/olympics/wrestl...-coaches-strip-clothing-protest-official-call

These guys are mad. Guess it gives new meaning to the words Mongolian Beef.

 

[FirstTimer]

Good to know all it takes is one race to shatter a myth/overwhelming trend.

 

[FirstTimer]

Hats off to Matt Centrowitz for shattering the myth that American's can't compete in the 1500m

 

[remydat]

Olympics are over bro, time to move on.

 

[brett05]

What was your most vivid image/memory of the 2016 Rio games? To me, it was Katie Ledecky finishing a pool length ahead of the field in the 800m freestyle.

IIRC she was like that in the 1500m as well.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I think Ledecky's performance in general was the most memorable for me. She was just leaps and bounds ahead of her opponents.

 

[FirstTimer]

What was your most vivid image/memory of the 2016 Rio games? To me, it was Katie Ledecky finishing a pool length ahead of the field in the 800m freestyle.

For me it was Phelps with the finger wag after the 200M IM or his calling for cheers celebration after his 200m butterfly win and domination of Chad le Clos

 

[dweebs19]

For me it was the South African guy destroying the field in the 400m from the 8th lane and in the process beating MJ's longstanding record

 

[Crystallas]

To think, this could have been The 2016 Chicago Olympics. If we knew green water was going to be such a huge topic, we could have pumped water from the Chicago River into the pools, built a poverty fence around gangland areas, and it wouldn't have been that far off Rio.

 

[Ares]

To think, this could have been The 2016 Chicago Olympics. If we knew green water was going to be such a huge topic, we could have pumped water from the Chicago River into the pools, built a poverty fence around gangland areas, and it wouldn't have been that far off Rio.

Did you imagine it would be like this.... when you invented the Olympics?

 

[Crystallas]

Did you imagine it would be like this.... when you invented the Olympics?

I was hoping NBC would give us a tour of the cryogenic chamber they build at 30 Rock to store Bob Costas.

 

[remydat]

For me it was the South African guy destroying the field in the 400m from the 8th lane and in the process beating MJ's longstanding record

Yeah that was probably the most memorable for me followed by the women's 400m and the dive for gold.

 

[dweebs19]

Yeah that was probably the most memorable for me followed by the women's 400m and the dive for gold.

I'm a big A. Felix though...so I was a little disappointed..but yea, this is pretty memorable as well