DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum 2000 Summer Olympics---July 23, 2021

Incredible race... her move off of the second to last hurdle was amazing... great race...

Man... talk about execution!

She accelerated through the tape and left everyone staring at her shoe soles.

Amazed.

Yeah, that didn't even look right... a different level.

Having that kind of fuel left in the tank to finish a 400m hurdles by destroying a world record holder is not something you see everyday.

If you think running, sprinting and most running is stupid and you don't like gymnastics then the summer Olympics are just a waste of attention that come around 4 years too often.

When are the winter Olympics?

If you don't like hitting and think throwing and running an oblong shaped pigskin up and down a field is stupid, then football isn't for you. What's your point?

So you noticed that he took off his hat too, I see.

In ways I agree with you. I enjoy the Winter games. There is very little I enjoy about the summer games, but I don't think they are a waste because my opinion on the matter doesn't matter.

There are people who do and the athlete's competing have dedicated their life to what they do, so do what I do, cherry pick the events that do hold some interest and don't watch the other stuff.

j/c

TOKYO -- Fans were banned from the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics which will open in two weeks, following a state of emergency on Thursday, Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa told the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

The ban was announced by the International Olympic Committee and Japanese organizers, reducing the games to a made-for-TV event.

Fans from abroad were banned months ago, and the new measures announced by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will clear venues around Tokyo - indoor and outdoor - of any fans at all.

The emergency declaration made for a rude arrival in Japan for IOC President Thomas Bach, who landed in Tokyo on Thursday just hours before the new measures were announced. He was to spend three days in self-isolation at the five-star hotel that lodges IOC members.

Suga said the state of emergency would go into effect on Monday and last through Aug. 22. This means the Olympics, opening on July 23 and running through Aug. 8, will be held entirely under emergency measures. The Paralympics open on Aug. 24.

"Taking into consideration the impact of the delta strain, and in order to prevent the resurgence of infections from spreading across the country, we need to step up virus prevention measures," Suga said.

Suga, who had long favored fans, hinted at a no-fan Olympics in announcing the state of emergency.

"I have already said I won't hesitate to have no spectators," he added.

Just two weeks ago, organizers and the IOC allowed venues to be filled to 50% of capacity but crowds not to exceed 10,000. The state of emergency has forced a late turnaround, which was always an option if infections got worse.

"We will have to consider the option of no spectators," Marukawa said in opening remarks with the IOC and others as they went into meetings to discuss a ban on fans.

The main focus of the emergency is a request for bars, restaurants and karaoke parlors serving alcohol to close. A ban on serving alcohol is a key step to tone down Olympic-related festivities and keep people from drinking and partying. Tokyo residents are expected to face stay-home requests and watch the games on TV from home.

"How to stop people enjoying the Olympics from going out for drinks is a main issue," Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said.

The present state of emergency ends Sunday. Tokyo reported 896 new cases on Thursday, up from 673 a week earlier. It's the 19th straight day that cases have topped the mark set seven days prior. New cases on Wednesday hit 920, the highest total since 1,010 were reported on May 13.

The no-fan atmosphere will include the opening ceremony at the $1.4 billion National Stadium, which is traditionally the most watched event during the Olympics.

"It's not too late. Cancel or postpone it," said Yukio Edano, the head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party to Suga's LDP

The uptick in infections has also forced the Tokyo city government to pull the Olympic torch relay off capital streets, allowing it to run only on remote islands off the Tokyo coast. It's unclear how the torch will enter the stadium for the opening ceremony.

"The infections are in their expansion phase and everyone in this country must firmly understand the seriousness of it," Dr. Shigeru Omi, a top government medical adviser, said.

He urged authorities to quickly take tough measures ahead of the Olympics, with summer vacations approaching.

Omi has repeatedly called for a ban on spectators, and has said it's "abnormal" to hold the Olympics during a pandemic.

Separately, a government COVID-19 advisory panel met Wednesday and expressed concerns about the ongoing resurgence of the infections.

"Two-thirds of the infections in the capital region are from Tokyo, and our concern is the spread of the infections to neighboring areas," said Ryuji Wakita, director-general of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

The Olympics are pushing ahead against most medical advice, partially because the postponement stalled the IOC's income flow. It gets almost 75% of its income from selling broadcast rights, and estimates suggest it would lose $3 billion to $4 billion if the Olympics were canceled.

About 11,000 Olympians and 4,400 Paralympians are expected to enter Japan, with tens of thousands of officials, judges, administrators, sponsors, broadcasters, and media also entering. The IOC says more than 80% of resident of the Olympic Village will be vaccinated.

Nationwide, Japan has had about 810,000 cases and nearly 14,900 deaths. Only 15% of Japanese are fully vaccinated, still low compared with 47.4% in the United States and almost 50% in Britain.

https://6abc.com/japan-declares-state-of-emergency-covid-olympics-2021-tokyo-olympic-games/10870996/

It's almost as if they shouldn't be doing this (the Olympics) at all right now....

The majority of Japanese citizens agree.

Makes me shake my head....

Me too. It seems pointless at this time.

Is it just me, but do the Olympics really generate that much interest?

I admit I have long said I prefer the winter games, but even those, how much do people really watch? I know, every game has some story that takes people by storm, but other than certain events, I don't find them all that watchable.

For me, my waning interest has coincided with the darker side of the Olympics coming out into the open over the past decade. From the financial side of hosting games (and outright lies pushed on developing countries to get them to do so), to the various judging corruption scandals, to some checkered human rights decisions involving the IOC... the list is long and getting longer.

Here's the answer to the question of why they're still being held...........

Tokyo Games cancellation would cost Japan $17 billion, Nomura says

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/0...cellation-cost/

No doubt that is one of the reasons. We could point out many different reasons. I was speaking in a broader spectrum.

No doubt money plays a role. The host country had to bid on the games, requiring many $millions in investment. In return, the host country should see a ROI.

No county invests that much simply for the love of the games.

So we agree it all revolves around the money aspect. Maybe differing money aspects but it's all about money. Let's face it, a city under a state of emergency lock down during a pandemic wouldn't be holding the Olympics under those circumstances for any other reason.

But we all know how it works. Do we choose ROI over corpses? Of course we do.

Good bad or indifferent, life is about money.

Spectators are banned at the Olympics, according to this: https://www.yahoo.com/gma/covid-19-rules-tokyo-olympics-130854114.html

Athletes, coaches, journalists, etc must be tested twice before arriving in Japan, and will be tested daily while in Japan as well.

While vaccinations for those people are not required, they are highly recommended.

Seems to me they are doing everything possible to keep everyone safe. They are using the same protocols that we use here, plus.

Remember, something like 99.5% of people that are dying from covid - whatever variant - are those not vaccinated as of the last I read about it.

The vaccine doesn't prevent the virus, it prevents most deaths and/or serious illness from the virus.

Both the Moderna and Phizer vaccine are about 90% effective in preventing you from contracting the virus.

And you're right. Good, bad or indifferent, it's all about money.

‘Real world’ study by CDC shows Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were 90% effective

A new study suggests the messenger RNA vaccines produced by Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership appeared to be 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infection in a real-world setting.

The study was released Monday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, an online journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

https://www.statnews.com/2021/03/29/real...e-90-effective/

There's more to the article and sources everywhere that confirm this. This was in March. The facts about this have been out for a long time now.

Pretty much what I said, but Last word dude can't accept my statements.

The vaccines def. prevent you/a person from getting seriously ill or death.

This is what you said.

Correct.

So when something prevents something 90% of the time, it doesn't prevent something? Alrighty then.

Studies show that COVID-19 vaccines are effective at keeping you from getting COVID-19. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine will also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19. Learn more about the benefits of getting vaccinated.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html

Thank you. "Getting a COVID-19 vaccine will also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19"

I absolutely love the olympics... I try to watch as much as I can.... absolutely love the swimming and track... will try to watch as much s I can of everything else...

I'm sorry you can't read. I even bolded it for you. And even the part you did comprehend, you left out the "will also" after the bolded part. As Strother Martin said, "Some men you just can't reach."

Me too.

Know what I love about the Olympics? It's not football, basketball or baseball, and unless one is a junkie with 20 sports channels, we only get to see them once every 4 years.

Love the uniqueness, love the rarity.

That's exactly where I'm at. I can totally get into that brief period every 4 years. It was awesome when I couldn't wait for Usain Bolt's next race, Michael Phelp's next event, The USA/Canada women's soccer and hockey matches. What happens to these folks/teams in the 4 years between? I haven't a clue.

yupyupyupyouright, son.

Summer, Winter... doesn't matter.
I love this stuff.

It's also a way to honor my time spent with My Pops. My love of the Olympics was instilled by him. Every 4 years, I'd hear the same speech:

"Bobby- this is special. For 2 weeks, everyone gets together to see what the rest of the world looks like, when they're wearing their 'Sunday best'. Norwegians look like Norwegians. Nigerians look like Nigerians. You see us? America looks like The World."

Every 4 years.
Winter or Summer.

Man, how I've missed that speech.
I'm glad you helped me remember it tonight.

Put me in this group. I played football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and golf growing up. Nothing close to a pro level but I have some understanding of what it takes to be good at those sports. Watching swimming and gymnastics and some of the other sports, I'm just in awe of what these athletes can do.. I have no basis to understand it, but I love watching it.

I also enjoy the human-interest back stories to some of the athletes. I will admit that sometimes they seem to go overboard just a little trying to make it seem like every athlete overcame some kind of life changing traumatizing event when a lot of them are just "Well, that's kind of sad".. but I still like watching them.

1. I swam in HS, so I'm all about the Aquatic events. (Yes, even Water Polo and Synchronized Swimming).
2. I did entry-level gymnastics when other kids were playing Pop Warner (tumbling, trampoline, rings, P-bars, floor exercise-).
I try not to miss any of those events. Men's, Women's... all of it.
3. Three of my childhood best friends became Track & Field phenoms in HS, so I developed a real love and appreciation for those talents and disciplines, as well.

There are parallels between sports training and the regimen that developing musicians undertake. After all, there are only so many ways to train a human body to do specialized tasks. The specific tools may differ from discipline to discipline, but the basic approaches are strikingly similar. I know from first-hand experience what these people went through to hone a craft/specialty.

I gotta admit: the prevailing world atmosphere (COVID 19) has put a damper on my enthusiasm, but not my fandom. At some point, we will no longer be dealing with a life-threatening global pandemic, and The Games will again look and feel like they always did.

But I'll also say this: once I hear that Olympic theme blasting into my TV room, I'm sure I'll be right back in the thick of the moment.

Once every 4 years.
A handful of opportunities in a normal lifespan.

Rarity makes this something special, every time.
If I make it to 72, there will have been only 18 Summer and Winter Olympic games presented in my lifetime... two of each, I was too young to experience.

I'm not missing a moment of these events, if I can help it.

j/c

U.S. Olympic Gymnast One Of Growing Number Of Tokyo 2020 Athletes To Test Positive For Covid-19

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurke...sh=1201815230fa

Unfortunately, I'm leaving for Colorado on Sunday and returning on the 7th of August. My son's getting married in Boulder, and we're going to be exploring the area and Rocky Mountain National Park in the days before and after. I'll try and catch some events in the evenings, but I'm going to miss most of the Olympics for the first time in forever.

jc

I didnt think much of the opening ceremonies yesterday. But today I really enjoyed the skateboarding and swimming.

I agree Eve, the skateboarding was an interesting event, I was surprised.

Really? I found the skateboarding event to be a total snooze-fest. The few people I've mentioned it to agreed with me, so I am sincerely glad there are people out there that found it entertaining.

The crime against humanity that was the skateboarders' uniforms was the only thing that kept me awake (for the wrong reasons). The best-looking getup was the Aussie who was wearing the Asics polo... and with him they were probably just like "we're Asics... we don't make skateboarder stuff.... just give him a polo that 3 sizes too big and call it a day".

I was trying to figure out what moves they were doing to match the name of the trick.

Today I watched a bunch of events, but I really appreciated that they showed the Dressage. I used to do dressage with my horse so I enjoyed that.

I dont understand why they arent showing any of the medal ceremonies. Are they trying to avoid political crap? I have watched events on various channels, and havent seen any politics. Which makes me happy. But I would like to see medal ceremonies.

i agree. In fact, the entire coverage has confused me. I can’t find some events, channels, never know what’s live, etc. It seems like it could be produced in a much more efficient way