Olympics 2024

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

Easily? None. May be kind of competitive based on previous skill- maybe shooting. 
 

Other than that, never was physically skilled enough. 

I heard of an idea that would be a fun add-on to the Olympics:  Take the winners of some of the competitions and have them compete with an "average Joe" (e.g. Alpha).

I think it would be impressive to see how badly they would beat Alpha ().  Obviously, the more violent sports should probably be avoided, but with something like swimming or running, the speed difference, from even a "common" person, even in good shape (Alpha?) would be ridiculous.  Kind of like that famous comparison shot between an F1 and GT3(?) going through Eau Rouge.

One of my kids has Olympic qualifying times in distance freestyle. If he was from a less competitive country he might be there but he is Canadian so he is an also ran. I am a reasonably proficient swimmer and I have watched my kids train long enough to have picked up a few things. But to give the gap between an average Joe and an Olympian some perspective, it takes him less than half the time swimming easily to cover 25 meters as it takes me trying to swim quickly. And to illustrate the gap between a fast qualifier and a generational talent, Summer Mackintosh swam the same meets as my kids from age 13. And when she was 13 she was faster than my then 17 year old 6'3" son who was swimming Olympic qualifying times. 

Mr_Asa said:

Datsun240ZGuy said:

How many events do you tell yourself you can easily do? But we know we can't?

Curling (winter Oly)? Give me a few hours? I can throw that rock.  Sweep that ice?

Uneven bars ? It's all about the momentum, right? Those horses can't be too hard, just need strong wrists?

Any shooting event?  

Archery?  Shooting? Equestrian?

I could probably do Luge. 

Once. 

akylekoz said:

Then there is this guy, took silver.

I worked with an ex sniper once, never would have guessed.

That was a great photo - the guy shows up without any special equipment, and shoots with his other hand in his pocket.  They should get him to play the next James Bond.

Another great photo was of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina - this one exemplifies the term "Like a Boss."

stuart in mn said:

akylekoz said:

Then there is this guy, took silver.

I worked with an ex sniper once, never would have guessed.

That was a great photo - the guy shows up without any special equipment, and shoots with his other hand in his pocket.  They should get him to play the next James Bond.

Another great photo was of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina - this one exemplifies the term "Like a Boss."

the thing the Medina photo just DOESN'T convey is the size of the waves that day. The break was HUGE. The barrel he'd just gotten out of before that shot was massive and it was an insane ride. He's easily 20 feet in the air in this shot. 

bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:

One of my kids has Olympic qualifying times in distance freestyle. If he was from a less competitive country he might be there but he is Canadian so he is an also ran. I am a reasonably proficient swimmer and I have watched my kids train long enough to have picked up a few things. But to give the gap between an average Joe and an Olympian some perspective, it takes him less than half the time swimming easily to cover 25 meters as it takes me trying to swim quickly. And to illustrate the gap between a fast qualifier and a generational talent, Summer Mackintosh swam the same meets as my kids from age 13. And when she was 13 she was faster than my then 17 year old 6'3" son who was swimming Olympic qualifying times. 

I trained with the Masters team in university. Never competed. There was a guy who used to be on the Polish national team there as well although I don't think he was an Olympian. His comfortable cruising speed was my top speed.

So to where I am in perspective, my fasted all out 5k run was slower, by a wide margin, to the 50k race walk. They walk at a sub 6 min mile. And I don't even remember running a mile less than 6 min. 
 

And while I used to be a good shot, I'd bet I don't have the nerve to compete doing it. 
 

These people are special- we met a former Olympian who started as a runner (did more than one) and then changed to modern pentathlon when she slowed. And made two more Olympics, medalling once. 
 

One reason why I enjoy watching so much. 

I bet this group could put together a pretty passable team handball squad. I'm not talking medal contenders, but with a little practice...

No chatter about the Womens' boxing? Italy - Algeria.  I know, no politics, but it's hard to avoid having an opinion.

914Driver said:

No chatter about the Womens' boxing? Italy - Algeria.  I know, no politics, but it's hard to avoid having an opinion.

It will get this one locked.  Start another thread so the people following the olympics dont have to deal with that, please

914Driver said:

No chatter about the Womens' boxing? Italy - Algeria.  I know, no politics, but it's hard to avoid having an opinion.

Italy sent a rank amateur up against a woman of approximately the same size, but who had about 10x as many matches under her belt.  And who, incidentally, has about a .50 win record.

Said amateur got her bell rung.

End of story.

Whoa, whoa, sorry I asked, please don't lock it.

914Driver said:

Whoa, whoa, sorry I asked, please don't lock it.

Sorry, I may not have been clear.

Not planning on locking, not planning on locking a thread that gets started about it, but for various reasons that is a highly charged topic, and... well I'm a bit of a pessimist when it comes to the internet.

Just dont wanna see people's fun here get ruined cause of a tiny moment of the Olympics 

I don't have an image to link right now because I'm lazy, but the American archers for mixed doubles look EXACTLY like you'd think they would. 

In reply to 914Driver :

The less reactionary problem to that story is how the boxing and the Olympic committees are having so very many issues with each other.  Sounding like there's a serious possibility that it will get dropped due to so many problems.  Boxing needs to get it's act together or it will not be in LA.

Nobody mentioned this yet- but the US got it's first team gold in fencing yesterday when the women's team beat the #1 Italian team to win gold.  Pretty great battle for the US- it wasn't close really until the last pair took forever to close it out.  She started with a huge lead, and seemed to have to fix some nerves.  In the end, it really wasn't that close.  

Great day for the fencers.

On the topic of swimming, things have advanced dramatically over the years.

For reference I was a decently good swimmer in high school during the 80's.  My times were just a touch off Mark Spitz in the 100 freestyle and he'd be 6 seconds off what the current record is.  That's huge.

Amusingly, I went to the National pool in Saudi Arabia while I was there during Desert Shield/Storm.  They had a board where all their national record holders names and times were posted.   I was, hands down, the fastest swimmer in the country.  

In reply to KyAllroad :

I really wonder, sometimes, how much better athletes would be back in the day if they could be professionals.  How much better would Spitz be if he could afford to spend more time training and do it long enough to be in 3 or more Olympics?  

I dont know why I love watching the Canoe events so much.   But they are fantastically entertaining. 

I haven't been following the thread, but have we talked about the cheater glasses the shooters are wearing?  Seems wrong to me, but them's the rules.

Streetwiseguy said:

I haven't been following the thread, but have we talked about the cheater glasses the shooters are wearing?  Seems wrong to me, but them's the rules.

IDK, the turkish guy that took Silver showed up like he rolled out of bed with his Vision Worlds on and sent it. 

Mndsm said:

Streetwiseguy said:

I haven't been following the thread, but have we talked about the cheater glasses the shooters are wearing?  Seems wrong to me, but them's the rules.

IDK, the turkish guy that took Silver showed up like he rolled out of bed with his Vision Worlds on and sent it. 

Similar to the Average Joe event for comparison, we need:

Walmart Special Events - everyone gets spec equipment. Its what the average person can afford.

All The Drugs - no limits.  No anti-doping.  Lets see what can be done.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

What defines them as cheater glasses?  That the lens is a correcting one?  Lot of people need corrective vision anyway, why not make sure everyone has it available?  The only other thing I could "protest" is the accuracy of the lens placement. But how is that cheating?  

Mr_Asa said:

Mndsm said:

Streetwiseguy said:

I haven't been following the thread, but have we talked about the cheater glasses the shooters are wearing?  Seems wrong to me, but them's the rules.

IDK, the turkish guy that took Silver showed up like he rolled out of bed with his Vision Worlds on and sent it. 

Similar to the Average Joe event for comparison, we need:

Walmart Special Events - everyone gets spec equipment. Its what the average person can afford.

All The Drugs - no limits.  No anti-doping.  Lets see what can be done.

six armed russian freaks in gymnastics? Yeah, I'd watch that.