***Paris 2024 Summer Olympics: July 26-August 11*** USA dominates medal count; Finish tied w/ China for most golds - See ya in Milan 2026! (2 Viewers)

[Long Ball Larry]

Lee Kiefer takes down Volpi, and it'll be an all-American final in women's individual Foil fencing. Kiefer also won the gold in 2020, looking to repeat.

I thought that I watched the women’s gold final last night between a woman from Hong Kong and from Estonia. Is foil different from epee? I know that Sabre is a separate thing

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Watching surfing. I don’t understand the scoring, but I am glued.

Surfing looks awesome but way too dependent on things outside the athlete’s control. I can’t think of another sport that conditions can change so much between athletes

I only had it on in the background but weren't they all out there at the same time? Do they have to take turns or is it kind of just a free for all?

 

[Long Ball Larry]

of all the olympic sports that i don't understand, and there are a lot of them, i understand rugby the least

just watched a guy get tackled, fumble the ball, the opponent scoop and kick the ball way downfield where no one was.. out of bounds.. and the announcers commenting remarked how amazing the play was by both teams.

no idea what's going on

When we first discovered curling (Vancouver Olympics), we found that reading the rules on Wikipedia was a big help.

It also helped that those announcers were terrific.

good tip

where curling feels like it makes sense, nothing about rugby clicks for me. find myself watching it, though. probably time to learn the rules.

There are only three games left so maybe not worth it at this point. The first thing to know is Olympic rugby is - at best - “rugby lite” because it’s 7s. I watch a ton of rugby but only see 7s during the Olympics and don't otherwise bother because it's not very entertaining for me. However, it is popular, especially in the US. Second, it’s hard to understand rugby if you filter it through the American football lens. Think more soccer or hockey, forget about things like plays and downs. The gameplay in rugby is constant and when a ball carrier is tackled that’s when it gets interesting, rather than being the end of a “play.” When watching 7s, you naturally watch the ball but the key is spacing and creating overlaps so pay attention to how the defenders are lining up across the field as the ball is switched. Attacks are based on trying different things like spinning the ball wide, kicking ahead and keeping it tight to the scrum or ruck until you find a seam.

I thought 3 of the 4 quarterfinals were very entertaining games, with the exception being the dud the US put on against Australia.

i get some of the basics but how the guy being tackled can lay on the ball, then his teammate picks it up and continues play but the opponent .. apparently?.. can't touch it doesn't make sense to me.

then there are throws from OB to a guy who gets lifted in the air by his teammates... where the opposing team also lifts a guy in the air but he can't touch the ball? so it's like some sort of unnecessary performative scene... and there's some penalty for batting the ball the wrong direction?

i finished a game last night where the clock ran out but the winning team had the ball and instead of extra time or the clock ending the game, a player from the winning team ran around and the announcers were yelling for him to kick the ball OB to end the game. total mystery why that's necessary.


what constitutes a turnover or change of possession? seems like any time a player is tackled, there's a scrum and the tackled player's team gets to keep the ball until they score.

the only time i can recall (and forgive me, i don't watch a lot) a change in possession not resulting from a score is if a guy attempts a pass to a teammate but the ball is intercepted in the air and then i'm not even sure if the intercepting team retains possession.

The lineout is a means to put the ball back into play when it goes OOB. The rules on lineouts are designed to give the team doing the throw-in - a strong advantage in keeping possession. They have to throw it down the middle of the lineout but they've secretly called a play so they will be retaining the ball most of the time.

When the clock runs out in rugby, the play continues until there is a deadball. It gets crazy at times as the losing team tries to continue play. Once the winning team gets possession they immediately kick it out to end the game. A player on the winning team who has the ball may not feel comfortable that he can get the ball out on a kick, so may be running toward a sideline or somehow trying to get in position to make sure he gets the ball out of play. If he kicks the ball and it stays in play, that's potentially a terrible mistake. This is very rarely an issue.

The turnover question is harder to answer as possession goes back and forth frequently in open play and resulting from penalties or the ball going out of bounds. For terminology, "scrums" are much more rare than rucks. Possession is very fluid, like in hockey - players are constantly transitioning from offense to defense. In 7s, it is very important that all 7 player on the field are sure tacklers, can all handle the ball well and run with it, and can all kick on the run when needed.

Watching a little bit earlier today, these tackles and rucks and whatnot seem a little bit like a fluid version of American football. Like each time they get tackled they basically can set up a new “down” and “snap” it and start a new play. This continues until the defenders do a good enough of job of gaining possession of the ball or stopping overall offensive momentum or something. Is that close?

 

[Steve Tasker]

Lee Kiefer takes down Volpi, and it'll be an all-American final in women's individual Foil fencing. Kiefer also won the gold in 2020, looking to repeat.

I thought that I watched the women’s gold final last night between a woman from Hong Kong and from Estonia. Is foil different from epee? I know that Sabre is a separate thing

There's 3 different fencing disciplines - Foil, Sabre, and Epee. Americans have traditionally been pretty poor at Epee, both men's and women's. Both men and women have been strong in Foil in recent years, but it looks like it might be a down Olympics cycle for the men. Women's Sabre has been good in the past.

Best chances for medals are women's individual Foil (obviously), women's team Foil, and maybe sneak an individual medal in either men's individual Foil or women's individual Sabre.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

Watching surfing. I don’t understand the scoring, but I am glued.

Surfing looks awesome but way too dependent on things outside the athlete’s control. I can’t think of another sport that conditions can change so much between athletes

I only had it on in the background but weren't they all out there at the same time? Do they have to take turns or is it kind of just a free for all?

From what I can tell, they can all try to take any wave they want at any time, but only 1 can actually ride it and each surfer has an assigned “priority “ (p1, p2, p3) and whoever has the highest priority gets they choice of wave if more than one of them want it. Couldn’t tell how that priority was determined though.

 

[Steve Tasker]

Men's Epee semifinal going to overtime between a Hungarian and Japanese guy.

 

[Chemical X]

does NBC get paid extra for saying the word “emotion”?

 

[GregR]

Hobson really kicked the second half of that 400m IM semi-final to go from 6th to winning the heat.

 

[GregR]

SMITH!!!

 

[-OZ-]

Watching surfing. I don’t understand the scoring, but I am glued.

Surfing looks awesome but way too dependent on things outside the athlete’s control. I can’t think of another sport that conditions can change so much between athletes

I only had it on in the background but weren't they all out there at the same time? Do they have to take turns or is it kind of just a free for all?

Even if the entire field is in the water at the same time, they can’t all take the same wave. The conditions to try to make fair rules are more challenging than most.

 

[TripItUp]

penalty on the german defender...had a full hand of jersey for two seconds

 

[TripItUp]

Can somebody start a ban Tirico website?

 

[McBokonon]

Can somebody start a ban Tirico website?

Go for it: https://www.godaddy.com/

 

[General Malaise]

Sophia Smith is incredible.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

of all the olympic sports that i don't understand, and there are a lot of them, i understand rugby the least

just watched a guy get tackled, fumble the ball, the opponent scoop and kick the ball way downfield where no one was.. out of bounds.. and the announcers commenting remarked how amazing the play was by both teams.

no idea what's going on

When we first discovered curling (Vancouver Olympics), we found that reading the rules on Wikipedia was a big help.

It also helped that those announcers were terrific.

good tip

where curling feels like it makes sense, nothing about rugby clicks for me. find myself watching it, though. probably time to learn the rules.

There are only three games left so maybe not worth it at this point. The first thing to know is Olympic rugby is - at best - “rugby lite” because it’s 7s. I watch a ton of rugby but only see 7s during the Olympics and don't otherwise bother because it's not very entertaining for me. However, it is popular, especially in the US. Second, it’s hard to understand rugby if you filter it through the American football lens. Think more soccer or hockey, forget about things like plays and downs. The gameplay in rugby is constant and when a ball carrier is tackled that’s when it gets interesting, rather than being the end of a “play.” When watching 7s, you naturally watch the ball but the key is spacing and creating overlaps so pay attention to how the defenders are lining up across the field as the ball is switched. Attacks are based on trying different things like spinning the ball wide, kicking ahead and keeping it tight to the scrum or ruck until you find a seam.

I thought 3 of the 4 quarterfinals were very entertaining games, with the exception being the dud the US put on against Australia.

i get some of the basics but how the guy being tackled can lay on the ball, then his teammate picks it up and continues play but the opponent .. apparently?.. can't touch it doesn't make sense to me.

then there are throws from OB to a guy who gets lifted in the air by his teammates... where the opposing team also lifts a guy in the air but he can't touch the ball? so it's like some sort of unnecessary performative scene... and there's some penalty for batting the ball the wrong direction?

i finished a game last night where the clock ran out but the winning team had the ball and instead of extra time or the clock ending the game, a player from the winning team ran around and the announcers were yelling for him to kick the ball OB to end the game. total mystery why that's necessary.


what constitutes a turnover or change of possession? seems like any time a player is tackled, there's a scrum and the tackled player's team gets to keep the ball until they score.

the only time i can recall (and forgive me, i don't watch a lot) a change in possession not resulting from a score is if a guy attempts a pass to a teammate but the ball is intercepted in the air and then i'm not even sure if the intercepting team retains possession.

The lineout is a means to put the ball back into play when it goes OOB. The rules on lineouts are designed to give the team doing the throw-in - a strong advantage in keeping possession. They have to throw it down the middle of the lineout but they've secretly called a play so they will be retaining the ball most of the time.

When the clock runs out in rugby, the play continues until there is a deadball. It gets crazy at times as the losing team tries to continue play. Once the winning team gets possession they immediately kick it out to end the game. A player on the winning team who has the ball may not feel comfortable that he can get the ball out on a kick, so may be running toward a sideline or somehow trying to get in position to make sure he gets the ball out of play. If he kicks the ball and it stays in play, that's potentially a terrible mistake. This is very rarely an issue.

The turnover question is harder to answer as possession goes back and forth frequently in open play and resulting from penalties or the ball going out of bounds. For terminology, "scrums" are much more rare than rucks. Possession is very fluid, like in hockey - players are constantly transitioning from offense to defense. In 7s, it is very important that all 7 player on the field are sure tacklers, can all handle the ball well and run with it, and can all kick on the run when needed.

Watching a little bit earlier today, these tackles and rucks and whatnot seem a little bit like a fluid version of American football. Like each time they get tackled they basically can set up a new “down” and “snap” it and start a new play. This continues until the defenders do a good enough of job of gaining possession of the ball or stopping overall offensive momentum or something. Is that close?

I think the gameplay analogy is better with hockey or soccer due to the constant movement without breaks. I think comparisons to american football confuse things, but this is not necessarily wrong.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

interesting tiktok of an artistic swimmer Daniella Ramirez removing her hair gelatin

 

[General Malaise]

I don't have a 4K tv so I'm watching USA soccer on Telemundo and you know what? WAY WAY WAY better!

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Can somebody start a ban Tirico website?

Please yes make it happen. Dude sucks

 

[GregR]

Great first half for the ladies soccer

 

[General Malaise]

Sophia Smith is incredible.

God I love this woman!!!

 

[CletiusMaximus]

They look so much better than the team that played at the world cup last year. Emma has them better organized already. Rodman seems a level above anyone else out there. Smith is relentless - plays much stronger than she looks. I do think that, after this tournament, its time to start thinking about moving on from Horan and Naeher.

 

[Steve Tasker]

Lee Kiefer takes down Volpi, and it'll be an all-American final in women's individual Foil fencing. Kiefer also won the gold in 2020, looking to repeat.

Kiefer goes back-to-back gold in women's individual foil. Lauren Scruggs gets silver.

 

[Yo Mama]

Not totally sure how diving is scored but I would definitely give this a 10. Just beautiful.

x.com

x.com

 

[the moops]

Not totally sure how diving is scored but I would definitely give this a 10. Just beautiful.

x.com

x.com

That is funny. Was funnier in 2015 though

 

[heckmanm]

Lee Kiefer takes down Volpi, and it'll be an all-American final in women's individual Foil fencing. Kiefer also won the gold in 2020, looking to repeat.

I thought that I watched the women’s gold final last night between a woman from Hong Kong and from Estonia. Is foil different from epee? I know that Sabre is a separate thing

There's 3 different fencing disciplines - Foil, Sabre, and Epee. Americans have traditionally been pretty poor at Epee, both men's and women's. Both men and women have been strong in Foil in recent years, but it looks like it might be a down Olympics cycle for the men. Women's Sabre has been good in the past.

Best chances for medals are women's individual Foil (obviously), women's team Foil, and maybe sneak an individual medal in either men's individual Foil or women's individual Sabre.

Some of the swords are similar looking. I fin myself asking, “Is it epee?”

 

[Yo Mama]

Not totally sure how diving is scored but I would definitely give this a 10. Just beautiful.

x.com

x.com

That is funny. Was funnier in 2015 though

Darnit. I still give it a 10.

I’ll try to find the picture of that surfer’s butt from yesterday.

 

[Don Quixote]

Not totally sure how diving is scored but I would definitely give this a 10. Just beautiful.

x.com

x.com

That is funny. Was funnier in 2015 though

Darnit. I still give it a 10.

I’ll try to find the picture of that surfer’s butt from yesterday.

Art But Make It Sports had a good take on that one…

x.com

x.com

 

[heckmanm]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

 

[Long Ball Larry]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

Also this, which I find kind of attractive

 

[GroveDiesel]

Snoop being on about every broadcast is getting old…and get off my lawn.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

Also this, which I find kind of attractive

This is Portia Woodman, who plays for the NZ 15s and 7s team. I think its pretty rare to cross-over at this level, but she's been very successful on both teams: top scorer at Rio Olympics 2016, Won the 2017 world cup (15s), won gold in 7s at the 2020 Tokyo games. won the 2021 world cup and was again top scorer. At the beginning of this clip, she's making faces as part of the haka the New Zealand rugby teams do before every game.

 

[General Malaise]

Not totally sure how diving is scored but I would definitely give this a 10. Just beautiful.

x.com

x.com

That is funny. Was funnier in 2015 though

Lol....Bob Menery had his day in the sun. Seems to be a distant memory now.

 

[heckmanm]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

Also this, which I find kind of attractive

Snu-Snu?

 

[heckmanm]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

Example

 

[krista4]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

I saw a badminton match briefly this morning - Bulgaria, I think, vs. China - and honestly thought it was some sort of mixed event. The Chinese team was...not delicate.

 

[Jayrod]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

I saw a badminton match briefly this morning - Bulgaria, I think, vs. China - and honestly thought it was some sort of mixed event. The Chinese team was...not delicate.

There is mixed Badminton.

 

[heckmanm]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

I saw a badminton match briefly this morning - Bulgaria, I think, vs. China - and honestly thought it was some sort of mixed event. The Chinese team was...not delicate.

There is mixed Badminton.

But not with 2 guys on one team vs 2 women on the other

 

[heckmanm]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

I saw a badminton match briefly this morning - Bulgaria, I think, vs. China - and honestly thought it was some sort of mixed event. The Chinese team was...not delicate.

le mot juste

 

[krista4]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

I saw a badminton match briefly this morning - Bulgaria, I think, vs. China - and honestly thought it was some sort of mixed event. The Chinese team was...not delicate.

There is mixed Badminton.

But not with 2 guys on one team vs 2 women on the other

Exactly.

 

[the moops]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

I saw a badminton match briefly this morning - Bulgaria, I think, vs. China - and honestly thought it was some sort of mixed event. The Chinese team was...not delicate.

There is mixed Badminton.

But not with 2 guys on one team vs 2 women on the other

Exactly.

English only in here fancy frenchies

 

[Yo Mama]

Not totally sure how diving is scored but I would definitely give this a 10. Just beautiful.

x.com

x.com

That is funny. Was funnier in 2015 though

Darnit. I still give it a 10.

I’ll try to find the picture of that surfer’s butt from yesterday.

Art But Make It Sports had a good take on that one…

x.com

x.com

The surfer responded:

x.com

x.com

 

[Psychopav]

Lee Kiefer takes down Volpi, and it'll be an all-American final in women's individual Foil fencing. Kiefer also won the gold in 2020, looking to repeat.

That was a fantastic bout. The final was good too but this semifinal was really fun to watch.

 

[Osaurus]

Lee Kiefer takes down Volpi, and it'll be an all-American final in women's individual Foil fencing. Kiefer also won the gold in 2020, looking to repeat.

That was a fantastic bout. The final was good too but this semifinal was really fun to watch.

It was awesome

 

[identikit]

Forgive me if I've missed this, but are the Russian athletes banned from this Olympics?

Don't see them on the medals board; They're usually good for some medals.

 

[Senor Schmutzig]

Forgive me if I've missed this, but are the Russian athletes banned from this Olympics?

Don't see them on the medals board; They're usually good for some medals.

Technically, yes, but quite a few of them are from both Russia and Belarus and compete under the International Neutral Athletes (AIN) moniker. I read an article yesterday about quite a few more who changed nationalities when they realized they weren't going to be able to compete under their home banner.

The Secret Russians at the Paris Olympics

Russia's sports ministry said last August that 67 athletes have changed nationality since the start of 2022. But some independent observers suggest that is an understatement, putting the real number as high as 200, including some in non-Olympic sports such as chess

edit: It's behind the WSJ paywall. I saw it in the Saturday paper they delivered. My subscription ran out but they keep delivering it so I get the paper but no longer have access to their website articles.

 

[3C's]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

British Women's rowing has a male cox. https://www.britishrowing.org/gb-ro...&athlete_boat=Women's+Squad&athlete_keywords=

 

[Jayrod]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

British Women's rowing has a male cox. https://www.britishrowing.org/gb-rowing-team/meet-the-team/?athlete_role=senior-rowers-olympicparalympic-squads&athlete_region=&athlete_boat=Women's+Squad&athlete_keywords=

The coxswain can be any gender for any team since they don't actually do any rowing.

 

[beer 30]

Women’s table tennis and badminton feature a wide range of, um, femininity

I saw a badminton match briefly this morning - Bulgaria, I think, vs. China - and honestly thought it was some sort of mixed event. The Chinese team was...not delicate.

There is mixed Badminton.

But not with 2 guys on one team vs 2 women on the other

Au contraire, I know I saw two US women playing two Chinese men on Friday. Exhibition? Thought it was a legit match?

 

[3C's]

Watching Men's Pairs (rowing) on replay from yesterday and the Germans have a guy named J. Christ. That seems like an unfair advantage to me.

 

[GroveDiesel]

Watching Men's Doubles (rowing) on replay from yesterday and the Germans have a guy named J. Christ. That seems like an unfair advantage to me.

Heard he was also in the opening ceremony. :ducks: