Anyone watching the 2024 Olympics?

[Rustyoznail]

Dear Lord, that was the most tedious closing ceremony in the history of the Olympics. I felt sorry for the athletes.

Thanks for the heads up. I was planning to watch it on catch up, so I know I'll have a lot of fast forwarding to do.

 

[MrPixel]

Dear Lord, that was the most tedious closing ceremony in the history of the Olympics. I felt sorry for the athletes.

We went out for a leisurely late lunch right after the ceremony started. I was impressed by the full orchestra and chorus (...naturally...). We got back about midnight Paris time and I thought "OMG, this has been going on for at least three hours!" Glad I didn't stick around to watch it. The whole Tom Cruise bit and the L.A. concert segment was totally unnecessary.

Wishful thinking was hoping for Bugs Bunny to pop through the screen with, "That's all, folks!". Oy vey.

 

[Codoc24]

If you like watching great ski runs, probably the most famous of all time was Franz Klammer's Gold medal run in the downhill at Innsbruck in 1976. You can find it easily on the Internet. It's two minutes you won't regret taking out of your day. It was a great nailbiter because he was just barely under control the whole way.

I finally found a video, ole Franz was flying down the slope. Pretty crazy. I had a number of hits searching for it and all but one gave a "Video not available." I wonder if the Olympics is claiming copyright infringement or something and forcing YouTube and others to pull it.

 

[MrPixel]

I wonder if the Olympics is claiming copyright infringement or something and forcing YouTube and others to pull it.

That would surprise me not at all. They are furiously defensive of their intellectual property, including the word "Olympics". On par or worse than Disney or Coca Cola. The info I found was that they are so aggressive because the IP is pretty much their sole asset. Tagging a video or whatever with "Olympics" on a commercial service such as YouTube is likely an immediate target.

 

[Voboy]

Thanks for the heads up. I was planning to watch it on catch up, so I know I'll have a lot of fast forwarding to do.

IMO, neither the opening nor the closing did justice to the level of competition at these Games (except for Breaking, which was sad to watch).

The Paris Olympics should go down in history for the quality of its athletics, which was very high, and for the majesty of its venues. Instead, it'll be remembered for the truly puzzling artistic choices Jolly made during the Ceremonies. That's a shame.

 

[TomTeacher19]

The closing ceremony was just as long and tedious and boring as every opening and closing ceremony for every Olympics always is. Except the opening for this one.

Putting it all on Peacock so you could watch as much of whatever sports you wanted was the best thing the Olympics had ever done.

 

[Voboy]

The closing ceremony was just as long and tedious and boring as every opening and closing ceremony for every Olympics always is. Except the opening for this one.

Putting it all on Peacock so you could watch as much of whatever sports you wanted was the best thing the Olympics had ever done.

The London opening was excellent.

Every now and then you get a good one. But in general, yes; the Ceremonies have become a victim of their own excess. Paris really did double down on that tendency.

 

[MrPixel]

(except for Breaking, which was sad to watch)

Glad I didn't. There are just some sports that were a big "...Uh... what?..." when they "test drove" them. I relegate skateboarding to that category, though it was (and still is!) a pretty feeble attempt to attract a younger audience. Did they have BMX this year? Didn't look. But the same thing. In my book.

 

[Voboy]

Glad I didn't. There are just some sports that were a big "...Uh... what?..." when they "test drove" them. I relegate skateboarding to that category, though it was (and still is!) a pretty feeble attempt to attract a younger audience. Did they have BMX this year? Didn't look. But the same thing. In my book.

I wasn't impressed by any of the skateboarding, nor by the "trick" BMXing. The BMX races? Wow. Those were as exciting as snowboard cross in the Winter games or kayak cross in Paris (also a new sport, but a hit IMO). All those short-race sports are great to watch: short-track speedskating, keirin, they're all fun. Skateboard racing would probably be fantastic.

Breaking was never a good idea. It perplexed me from the moment it was announced.

 

[ishtat]

As an Australian I like to see Aussies win. If they beat an American to Gold that's icing on the cake, because while the Stars and Stripes may inspire Americans, it's like a red rag to a bull for Australian competitors.

BUT, the USA deserves enormous credit for one thing; Athletes (all women) from three tiny nations won Domenica's, Granada's and Saint Lucia's first Gold medals ever. All were nurtured and trained within the USA college system. A few years ago for example, the 100m champion Alfred from Saint Lucia was running barefoot on grass or dirt tracks on Soccer fields. And she beat an American 'icon' athlete into silver.

 

[MajorRewrite]

As an Australian I like to see Aussies win. If they beat an American to Gold that's icing on the cake, because while the Stars and Stripes may inspire Americans, it's like a red rag to a bull for Australian competitors.

BUT, the USA deserves enormous credit for one thing; Athletes (all women) from three tiny nations won Domenica's, Granada's and Saint Lucia's first Gold medals ever. All were nurtured and trained within the USA college system. A few years ago for example, the 100m champion Alfred from Saint Lucia was running barefoot on grass or dirt tracks on Soccer fields. And she beat an American 'icon' athlete into silver.

For a nation with relatively low population, Australia wins a lot of medals at the Olympics.

The medals per capita ranking is interesting. The US is down in 47th. Australia is 9th. Grenada is #1!

https://www.medalspercapita.com/