Summer Olympics 2024 Cont'd

Gabby Thomas takes Gold in the 200m!

It's more or less been all-Olympics, all-the-time here at The Signal Watch.  

We've moved into Track and Field, which - sometime about 16 years ago - became my favorite part of the Olympics.  The "Athletics" or "Track and Field" portion of the Olympics - racing, throwing things, jumping... always feels, to me, like what I came here for.  I was annoying Jamie by watching the trials earlier this year.  I am invested in the success of Sha'Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles.  I want to see Gabby Thomas run like hell and Ryan Crouser hurl a shotput further than is reasonable.

We can watch swimming and thrill to 800 meters under water, but... a very small part of me also sees the monitors in sport coats walking along the edge of the pool at the same rate as the fastest swimmer in the world.  So, give me someone on the blocks and a starter pistol and less than ten seconds, and that's why I pay the price of admission.

And some times it's real, real close.

sometimes you win by .0005 seconds or something ridiculous - Noah Lyles in the Men's 100m

That's not to diminish other sports.  But can I watch soccer any time?  You better believe it.  Can I see badminton death matches any time I so choose?  Well, no.  But, oddly, it rarely comes up. Do I need dressage more than every four years?  Sure!  Show it to me.

But give me a good relay race any day.

US mixed 4x400 relay team won Silver!

Snoop, Medal Counts and Broadcasts

First - shout out to Mike Tirico who has done an outstanding job hosting the evening broadcast, and Maria Taylor for generally being Maria Taylor.

But also, kudos to NBC for *mostly* reigning it in and remembering - it may be life or death for the athletes, but we also want to have fun.  To that end, we've had America's unlikeliest Funcle in the form of Snoop Dogg everywhere at the games.  Heck, if the sight of Snoop and his pal Martha Stewart at Equestrian doesn't warm your heart, I can't help you.

American royalty

This go-round, NBC has eschewed medal color obsession.  I've heard reports that other countries are big mad that we're pointing out how many total medals we've won - which, you know, indicates something - but I also think:

• we're just in the first days of track and field and we're gonna kill it out there.  We know we can play the long game.  Not having the most Golds in the first seven days doesn't mean at the end of the games we won't have the most, so why be ugly about it?
• NBC has learned part of having fun for the viewer is not letting the reporters chide athletes for not winning Gold as they stand there with a Silver.

Of course you want to see the US win Gold in as many places as possible, but, also - we can recognize excellence comes from everywhere, and not everything is our sport.  If we never take Table Tennis and air pistol, I'm fine.  We take fencing medals and grabbed a gold in surfing, so...  you know, it's fine!  Spread the wealth.  The games are not about our cultural imperialism, I hope.

One last note, NBC:  If the US isn't even in it, diving is boring and a bad use of Primetime coverage.

The League Ponders Kids and Sports

one day the medals will be chocolate instead of gold, but until that day...

It's been remarkable watching the US Women's and Men's gymnastics teams as they've managed to actually stick the landing (if I may use the obvious phrase here).  US Men's Gymnastics was shown during broadcasts every Olympics, but hasn't been a major force on the international stage.  But, hey, the US took Bronze in the team competition!  And we have a guy enjoying an unexpected 15 minutes of fame for his role in the team event and then taking the Bronze in pommel horse.

Likely you're well aware of Simone Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles, and it's been interesting to see them change the sport in real time.  By this I mean:  to be perfectly honest, the only reason I watched gymnastics for many Olympics was because Jamie insisted.  I watch a lot of dumb stuff I don't care about, so if she wants to watch something that is not dumb, but not my jam every four years, fair is fair.  But I also struggled with what I saw as something I wanted to compare to... veal.  

Until pretty much the 2020/1 Olympics, gymnastics unofficially required athletes be under 20.  Why?  I dunno.  Smaller and lighter is more flippity-dippity, I guess.  But it always made me wonder what was athleticism and what was rote muscle memory of trained, small children. 

Simone Biles is 27, married and a homeowner.  And she's performing at the peak of her talent AND developed skills.  Suni Lee is in college and has not been sequestered to a compound where she's been taken from her parents, misses school and human contact to do flips all day.  

The team this year is performing athleticism and technique in their sport that is new and welcome.  It no longer looks like a kid counting off steps told them by a coach, it looks like disciplined athletes fully aware of their every movement.  It's the difference between watching a talented kid play the music note for note and someone who understands the music and can hit those notes and the meaning behind the song.

Kids shouldn't be treated like greyhounds because they can do a handstand really well when they're 8.  And a sport should show mastery.  And I think we're there, or getting there.  I won't be shocked to see the age of competitors drift up.

Steven "Pommel Horse Guy" Nedoroscik

By the way, weird sports parents are as nuts as stage parents, but that's a whole separate topic for another day when we want to talk America's Pay-to-Play systems that - thanks to soccer - are finally just starting to get looked at.

And I'm delighted every time a pal tells me their kid is playing a sport we absolutely did not have 30 years ago in high schools. (Or participating in a robust musical theatre program).

GOAT?  Or NOT(E)?

I'll start here by saying - you just saw me praise Simone Biles and Co.  And I truly believe they've improved and pushed a sport with their will and determination.  I feel like Roy Batty pondering what he saw before releasing a dove.

That should be fun to declare at customs

That said:  Biles has 11 medals, but that's nine fewer medals than the lead gymnast, Larisa Latynina.  And I don't really get why NBC can't bring that up.  What's the difference when we're calling Biles the GOAT?  

Surely Biles is the greatest the US produced to date, but by medal-count, she's got another two Olympics to go to catch up.  

My guess as to why she's now discussed this way:  

• She's the best American, and that's all we really mean, and that's good enough for us
• also, old school Soviet Olympics were good for their time, but not a patch on what we see now.  It's like the advances in figure skating from the 1950's to today - they're not in the same ballpark as a sport.

Anyway...

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Simone Biles in a double backflip off the vault... I watched floor routines with a twelve-foot vertical leap. All those moments will be lost in time, like Olympic mascot merchandise... 

Time for track...

Beach Volleyball

Both women's US Beach Volleyball teams were eliminated in what will surely be much discussed in the world of pro volleyball.  It's a bummer.  I've been following the sport on and off since the days of Misty May and Kerri Walsh, and we have no shortage of medals.  

I was enjoying Kloth and Nuss, in particular.  Maybe because they were the underdogs all along, not getting the press attention in the same way as Cheng and Hughes.  But given their equal performance, hopefully they'll get a shot in 2028 in LA.

Huh.  I can jump approx. 4" off the ground.  Maybe 2.5" off sand.

Taryn Kloth in a bikini is a thing to behold, and I'm not mad about it.

And the rest..!

There's been an infinite number of narratives this Olympics.  Air pistol got press when people realized how cool it looks, and a suave Korean drew attention with her get-up, and a chillaxed guy from Turkey didn't bother with anything but eye protection.

US Basketball is dominating.  US Women's Soccer is headed for the Gold/ Silver game with Brasil.  Equestrian was at @#$%Versailles.  The drama at the 1500m Men's fizzled as two Americans medaled.  Fencing is in the loveliest venue I've ever seen.  Artistic Swimming is... insane to behold.

Lest we forget, a French pole vaulter smacked his dong on the bar on the way over and became an immediate sensation.  

Truly, this is a very 2024 Olympics.

Now, we're waiting for the 400m hurdles, with American Sydney McLaughlin-Louvre and Dutch hurdler Femke Bol facing off in what is going to be the race of the Olympics.

SO WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING?