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Pharaoh RutinTutin

Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver

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51 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

"Why does gravity hate me?"

Gravity does not hate you.
It just ignores other people.
Ski Jumpers, for example.  The "best" ski jumpers are the individuals that gravity ignores most often.

Of course, when gravity stops ignoring a ski jumper you wind up in a Vinko Bogataj situation

 

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Mixed doubles curling.

Team events in Figure Skating, Luge, and Alpine Skiing that involve male and female competitors.

Now that there are events where men and women compete side by side, will any major athletic authorities organize or permit unrestricted competitions involving athletes who do not fit into binary gender categories?

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54 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Now that there are events where men and women compete side by side, will any major athletic authorities organize or permit unrestricted competitions involving athletes who do not fit into binary gender categories?

For that matter, why not simply have certain competitions be without gender categories? Like Sports Ballet Hippopotamus Evasion or Tightwire Crocodile Baiting.

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59 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Mixed doubles curling.

Team events in Figure Skating, Luge, and Alpine Skiing that involve male and female competitors.

Now that there are events where men and women compete side by side, will any major athletic authorities organize or permit unrestricted competitions involving athletes who do not fit into binary gender categories?

In most (not all) sports, the collection of the very best performers will be overwhelmingly dominated by people who are genetically male and at least grew up hormonally male. This is for two reasons: one being that males do have greater strength on the average, and the other being that males also have a larger standard deviation on many attributes.

Just as one example, in the 2016 Olympics the finalists in the men's 100-meter run had times from 9.81 seconds to 10.06 seconds, a span of a quarter second. The women's gold medal winner would not have qualified to even be in the men's final, and her gold-medal time was more than half a second slower than the slowest guy in the men's final.

In top-level officially-mixed competitions in most sports, I think it appropriate that the "female" participants, or a minimum number of them per team, have to test genetically and hormonally female, possibly with a special case for those with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome. (Pending some experimental testing to determine just what characteristics of one's sex matter.) Otherwise they may officially be mixed, but there'll be a strong tendency toward all-male teams.

There are sports where I suspect that sex - genetic, hormonal, or physical - is probably not a significant factor even at that level of competition. I'd put curling among sports where that is likely to be the case.

 

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9 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

There are sports where I suspect that sex - genetic, hormonal, or physical - is probably not a significant factor even at that level of competition.

Equestrian events are about the only Olympic competitions where I think this currently applies.

Of course it would take Ponies to bring fairness to sport.

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2 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Whatever shall come next?  Will a Jamaican Bobsled team get the gold in 2020?

Not likely.  I don't think they are building a Bobsled Sliding facility for the Tokyo games of 2020.
Now perhaps at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing...?

I have heard some commentary that these Olympic Winter Games were a disappointing finish for Team USA because they wound up in fourth place in both Gold and Overall medals.

I disagree.

True, the US didn't end up with a massive medal haul like in Salt Lake or Torino.  But I am from an older generation that still remembers when US athletes had almost no chance to win traditional Alpine or Nordic ski events.  I recall 1968 when Peggy Fleming was the only American to win Gold.  In 1980, there were five Gold medals won by one American, with a sixth won by an Ice Hockey team you may recall.

American Ladies no longer dominate figure skating.  This is because the American figure skating organizers did not adjust to new standards teams like the Russians were using that encouraged riskier maneuvers.  This is probably the biggest round of catch up US figure skating has been forced to undertake since the 1961 Sabena flight 548 crash.

Athletes from many countries that are not traditionally known for winter sports can now compete, and contend for medals, along side traditional powerhouse nations.  Short track speed skating that trains and competes on a hockey rink rather than a velodrome type oval has helped make this sport more accessible.  Many long and short track skater now have world class competition roller blading backgrounds.  Plus the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events where gymnastics, skateboarding, and surfing skills can be translated to the snow have allowed more warm weather competitors a way up to the podium.  More than a few people, my self included, assumed that the North Americans would simply dominate these X-Games type events for a very long time.  I am glad I was wrong.

Speaking of powerhouse nations, Norway once again dominated in a record setting fashion.  It wasn't that long ago Norway was sharing a Kingdom with certain other countries.  How is it, that in the divorce, the Norwegians got all the winter sports talent?

Still, these were good Winter Games.  Overall and for Team USA.  The best ever?  Maybe not.  But not a disappointment.

I will, however, repeat an earlier concern.

How does taking away the flag and uniforms from the 2018 athletes from Russia punish the Russian coaches, trainers, managers, promoters, and politicians from 2014?

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2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

 

Not likely.  I don't think they are building a Bobsled Sliding facility for the Tokyo games of 2020.
Now perhaps at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing...?

I have heard some commentary that these Olympic Winter Games were a disappointing finish for Team USA because they wound up in fourth place in both Gold and Overall medals.

I disagree.

True, the US didn't end up with a massive medal haul like in Salt Lake or Torino.  But I am from an older generation that still remembers when US athletes had almost no chance to win traditional Alpine or Nordic ski events.  I recall 1968 when Peggy Fleming was the only American to win Gold.  In 1980, there were five Gold medals won by one American, with a sixth won by an Ice Hockey team you may recall.

American Ladies no longer dominate figure skating.  This is because the American figure skating organizers did not adjust to new standards teams like the Russians were using that encouraged riskier maneuvers.  This is probably the biggest round of catch up US figure skating has been forced to undertake since the 1961 Sabena flight 548 crash.

Athletes from many countries that are not traditionally known for winter sports can now compete, and contend for medals, along side traditional powerhouse nations.  Short track speed skating that trains and competes on a hockey rink rather than a velodrome type oval has helped make this sport more accessible.  Many long and short track skater now have world class competition roller blading backgrounds.  Plus the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events where gymnastics, skateboarding, and surfing skills can be translated to the snow have allowed more warm weather competitors a way up to the podium.  More than a few people, my self included, assumed that the North Americans would simply dominate these X-Games type events for a very long time.  I am glad I was wrong.

Speaking of powerhouse nations, Norway once again dominated in a record setting fashion.  It wasn't that long ago Norway was sharing a Kingdom with certain other countries.  How is it, that in the divorce, the Norwegians got all the winter sports talent?

Still, these were good Winter Games.  Overall and for Team USA.  The best ever?  Maybe not.  But not a disappointment.

I will, however, repeat an earlier concern.

How does taking away the flag and uniforms from the 2018 athletes from Russia punish the Russian coaches, trainers, managers, promoters, and politicians from 2014?

The Curling gods didn't smile upon Canada this time around, as we only managed to win the mixed doubles gold. The Hockey gods were marginally forgiving as we at least got bronze for the men and silver for the women and it really showed just how much the men's side had relied so much on the NHL.

Freestyle Skiing seems to have been our strong suit this time around with 7 medals of which 4 were gold.

Overall, Canada didn't do too bad.

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3 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Speaking of powerhouse nations, Norway once again dominated in a record setting fashion.  It wasn't that long ago Norway was sharing a Kingdom with certain other countries.  How is it, that in the divorce, the Norwegians got all the winter sports talent?

I think it has to do with all the mountains and winter sports terrain we don't have in Denmark.

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14 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

How does taking away the flag and uniforms from the 2018 athletes from Russia punish the Russian coaches, trainers, managers, promoters, and politicians from 2014?

My (admittedly limited) understanding is that the taking away of flag and uniform is a sort of compromise. I guess the IOC is unable to levy fees against those that pushed for doping, so they opted to ban the Russian team from competing this year, but they didn't want to be harsh on the athletes that wanted to compete and were willing to follow the rules. The athletes can't use their country's flag or uniforms, because officially, the Russian team is banned from competing.

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They can strip medals from individuals and disqualify individuals. It's harder to punish a system. Basically they tried to punish the Russian system for endemic, systematic doping, while leaving a hole for individuals who don't participate in that system. I don't know if they required Russian athletes to be tested for drugs in the opening days of the Games, or not - I would consider it reasonable as a special case, without regard to how they treat athletes from other countries with no similar history of systematic usage of banned drugs.

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So now that these Olympic Winter Games are over, are there any grandiose or insane predictions for the upcoming Olympic Games?

2020, Tokyo?

2022 Winter, Beijing?

2024, Paris?

2026 Winter, TBD*?

2028, Los Angeles**?

*The IOC will officially select the host for the 2026 Winter Games when they meet in Milan in September, 2019.
**The IOC chose LA as the host for 2028 unusually early because LA and Paris were the only remaining candidates bidding to host 2024 and there were no serious candidates preparing bids for 2028.

Prediction.  Stadium construction in Japan will awaken a long dormant Atomic Monster who will ravage in the countryside in a manner that resembles a man in a rubber suit walking through sets of model trains and papier-mâché buildings.

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13 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Prediction.  Stadium construction in Japan will awaken a long dormant Atomic Monster who will ravage in the countryside in a manner that resembles a man in a rubber suit walking through sets of model trains and papier-mâché buildings.

If they don't have something like that during the opening ceremonies, I'll be disappointed.

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25 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Prediction.  Stadium construction in Japan will awaken a long dormant Atomic Monster who will ravage in the countryside in a manner that resembles a man in a rubber suit walking through sets of model trains and papier-mâché buildings.

Long dormant? Have you seen how often Godzilla movies come out these days? The poor thing is lucky if it gets half a decade these days.

12 minutes ago, Scotty said:

If they don't have something like that during the opening ceremonies, I'll be disappointed.

I think they may have a municipal ordinance in Tokyo that makes this mandatory.

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Thinking of dinosaur type monsters at the Olympics.

Back in 1990, the largest and most complete T. rex skeleton known to that point was discovered in Utah and was nicknamed "Sue".

In 2002 at the opening ceremonies of the Salt Lake Winter Games, a large reconstruction of the Sue skeleton rose up and peered over the edge of the stadium.

At the closing ceremonies, Sue was joined by another T. rex skeleton.  They were introduced as "the first family of Utah" and they started dancing outside the stadium.  Later in the ceremony, they were revealed to be puppets controlled by Donny & Marie Osmond.  The actual first family of Utah.

So there is sufficient precedent for Tokyo to include the Atomic Monster.  Beijing to include a Dragon.  Or LA to include Shaquille O'Neal.

 

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2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

So there is sufficient precedent for Tokyo to include the Atomic Monster.  Beijing to include a Dragon.  Or LA to include Shaquille O'Neal.

I absolutely refuse to have a model of Reptilicus erected if the impossible should happen and the Olympics should ever decide to visit Copenhagen.

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On 2/27/2018 at 0:26 AM, The Old Hack said:
On 2/26/2018 at 11:59 PM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Prediction.  Stadium construction in Japan will awaken a long dormant Atomic Monster who will ravage in the countryside in a manner that resembles a man in a rubber suit walking through sets of model trains and papier-mâché buildings.

Long dormant? Have you seen how often Godzilla movies come out these days? The poor thing is lucky if it gets half a decade these days.

I think they may have a municipal ordinance in Tokyo that makes this mandatory.

That's nothing, through most of the 60s and early 70s (and again in the early 90s and early 00s) Godzilla had roughly one adventure a year! (Well, technically the 80s/90s Godzilla movies were set in an alternate universe from the 50s-70s sequels, and the movies since then have been divided amongst a bunch of different universes, but those first two Godzillas still had long periods with little rest.)

Of course, the long dormant monster awoken by the construction might actually be a different monster... Which would actually mean twice the destruction, as Godzilla almost always shows up to defend his territory when a rival monster attacks Japan.

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28 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:

Of course, the long dormant monster awoken by the construction might actually be a different monster... Which would actually mean twice the destruction, as Godzilla almost always shows up to defend his territory when a rival monster attacks Japan.

Ohmigod.

It would be the return of... the Frozen Waffle.

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The XII Paralympic Winter Games are now underway in PyeongChang.

Long ago I realized that I am not athletic.

But I still find it depressing that men and women who are blind and/or have lost the use of arms and legs are much better skiers and skaters than I will ever be.

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13 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

But I still find it depressing that men and women who are blind and/or have lost the use of arms and legs are much better skiers and skaters than I will ever be.

My wife was born with spina bifida due to her father getting poisoned with Agent Orange in Vietnam. She has never been able to walk without crutches. She loves to swim, has had fun skiing and she has spent so much time being invisible in society that it immensely cheers her whenever society recognises the disabled as human beings who can accomplish great things. Which is not even nearly as common as it should be. I'm sorry, old friend, but I find I can endure your depression over this with great fortitude when I think of how little else society leaves for disabled people.

You can see, walk, possibly even run and even if you will never be Olympic level you can still become good at them if you practice. Better than you are now, that is for sure. Feel content with that, and spare a thought for my wife and many others who will never be able to something we take so much for granted as being able to... see, walk and run.

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