There was a time when the US could just show up and out "athlete" the rest of the world in things like track, but not anymore. Same in basketball. The US team has looked a lot better as they've played more together, but nobody would be shocked if they lose to France again.
you mean These recent crop of swimmers? naw man these new girls have no personality. Ledecky is the best female US swimmer and she has the personality of a rock.
I didn't find out until I was too old that Singapore paid it's Olympians. When I lived in there during grad school I trained with their national Judo team and beat one of the team. At the time I had a chance to become a Singaporean including with a government job offer. At the time I had no interest in becoming a Singaporean mainly because I would've been required to do national service. If I could've known that I could've done national service as a member of their national team, gone to the Olympics and even get paid for something I not only do for free but pay for I might've made a different decision.
Carl Lewis' comments are on point and what is so disappointing is that US Track and Field has had two decades to fix this issue and they still haven't. Other countries finish better than our relay teams because they actually have the runners practice together longer than a few weeks before the games. It's relay 101...pass the baton cleanly. Shoot, my elementary students do a much better job of that. On a separate note, I haven't had too much of an issue with NBC's network model. Primetime viewing may be a bit antiquated, but I still enjoy watching coverage every night. What I do have a problem with is the continued inability to leverage different media platforms effectively and their insistence in shoving select sports down our throats in Primetime. We had several new sports grace the stage and not one of them got much play, if any, on the main network. Peacock is a joke and only shows highlights sometimes. Case in point, I finally got to see some of the Sport Climbing competition, which I think would generate enough interest if given a chance. The different disciplines were pretty fun, and at times, exciting to watch. Same goes for skateboard park. Give other sports a chance, especially when your viewership numbers are abysmal already. Try something different!
Just saw the 14 year old diver from the PRC dominate platform diving. Forget the Dream Team, Ledecky or prime Simone Biles. No country has a lock on a sport like the PRC on diving.
I didn't realize how bad they've been in this event. They haven't medaled going on decades. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/sport/us-mens-4x100m-heat-spt-intl/index.html Carl Lewis: US men's 4x100m relay fail is a 'total embarrassment,' says US sprint great By Ben Morse and Jill Martin, CNN Updated 7:56 AM ET, Thu August 5, 2021 Cravon Gillespie of Team United States reacts after coming in sixth in round one of the Men's 4 x 100m Relay Heat 2 (CNN)American track and field legend Carl Lewis didn't hold back in his assessment of the US men's 4x100m relay team after the quartet finished sixth in its semifinal on Thursday. The performance by the team, which comprised of two of the individual 100m finalists, Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker, world leader Trayvon Bromell and Cravon Gillespie, ensured the US extended its longest run without an Olympic medal in this event. "The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay," the 60-year-old Lewis, who won the 4x100 Olympic gold medal twice as well as seven other golds, wrote on Twitter. "The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) kids I saw." Despite the pedigree of its runners, the US team struggled with changeovers and their speed, as the anchor Gillespie -- a shock inclusion ahead of Kenny Bednarek or Noah Lyles -- struggled to make an impression in the final stint. China ended up the surprise heat winners with a time of 37.92. Canada, with anchor 200m champion Andre de Grasse, finished second, and Italy, with individual 100m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs, posted a national record 37.95 to also advance. Germany and Ghana also finished ahead of Team USA to take the two fastest losers' slots in Friday's final. The US has won the men's 4x100m relay a record 15 times at the Olympic Games, but not since 2000 in Sydney. And the American men haven't medaled in this event since winning silver in Athens in 2004. The US men failed to finish the race in 2008 and were disqualified at the past two Olympic Games. Athletes compete in round one of the men's 4x100m relay heats. Gillespie said the result of the race was "frustrating" to he and his fellow sprinters. "Honestly, I'm not even sure. It's definitely frustrating coming this far, making the team ... (not reaching the final) that's not why we're here," he told the media. "We've definitely got to pick it up for the worlds (championships) next year and the next Olympics because this is unacceptable," he added.
I knew the history of futility of the Men's Relay. it's become a joke, but I remember the games in 2012 that was exhilarating. Did this article forget about this moment @ London 2012? Jamaicans were stacked but USA had some very good runners (Gay and Gaitlin). They devised a plan to just give the rookie a lead as the anchor against Usain and maybe he could beat him to the line. It almost worked, but the lead was miniscule and Bolt was too good. Maybe the best relay in history. EDIT: they were disqualified. Wow. I thought they won Silver in this one.
Congrats to the beach volleyball women for winning gold. I dont know them. I miss Misty May and Kerri Walsh
Lost the first one though by minor mistake, if I recall correctly, Great Britain won the first synchronized one in the tournament. Male's though.
Yep you're right Team GB narrowly won the Men's 10m Synchro. Still PRC dominance overall is unlike any other country and sport. The only other sport I can think of that comes close is PRC dominance of Table Tennis.
The thing that continues to bother me is the lack of showing combative sports. It's not even about the US not doing well as US wrestling is doing great and there are some US Boxers doing great. David Taylor won an epic Gold Medal match yesterday. Tamyra Mensh-Stock's post win interview after taking the first gold in women's wrestling for the US has gotten more coverage than her actual match which was very impressive. I'm trying to find a vid of it and it looks like NBC took the match vid down. Gable Steveson rolled his way to the Gold medal match in heavyweight wrestling and had an epic match against Georgian. NBC though would rather show skateboarding than combatives. I wonder if it's that they don't want to show on the flagship shows anything that is perceived as violent..
