just saw it - he really hit a wall the 2nd 100

not sure they would have got the gold with GB almost setting WR

I take it back after watching for hours this is what the olympics is all about.

Pressure is a privilege. The difference between 1st and second in elite sports has always as been as much mental as physical, if not more so. In this respect, we are absolutely right to give mental and physical health parity, and this is especially true for athletes.

What I don't get about Biles:

Everyone knows social media is toxic for mental health, but she's scrolling through her phone anyway. Athletes wouldn't fill their bodies with fast food and alcohol during the Olympics, so why do they think filling their mind with garbage is okay? Why isn't anyone on her entourage advising her (viz: telling her) to leave her phone at home for 2 weeks while she competes in a once in 4 year event - social media will still be there when she gets home.

Very impressive loss by ROCs Taimazova in the Judo just now, down like an absolute warrior

Simone is out of the all around too now.

I was underwhelmed by Apple in another race at the games but can't remember which one. Anyway surprised he was picked.

The 3x3 basketball final was good fun, like the format

Why are all the fun team sports that you don't see all the time already over? Aids

I've taken some time to reflect on your post nucleardonkey and I think you bring up a lot of good points. It's true we don't know the state of Bile's mental health, but it's also true that it isn't fair to compare an athlete getting shook by pressure to a person struggling with depression and/or severe mental illness. I believe I incorrectly took this leap.

Per Simone Biles, I have to think that there are some issues that are unknown at this point that will eventually come out.

I wonder if it's the people around her that are managing her career that are the problem. They should be making sure she is left alone as much as possible and it seems like just the opposite is going on with her. She's in every third commercial it seems like. Probably surrounded by people that are just trying to make money off her.

There could be any number of other issues there too, but I suspect the big one is how horribly she is being managed by people.

That 3x3 gold medal match was amazing.
ROC player seems to wearing antique shoes. The sole just fell off and he just reattached it by winding tape around the whole shoe.
Latvian player playing on one leg after turning an ankle twice

Why the **** are they playing 3 on 3 basketball

#7 for penny? lfg

gdit

nothing in the tank, 4th place when 2 crush the wr, gg

edit: or 3? lol
and nr for us? but 4th
kool

As part of my job, I support students who have mental or physical health issues. Some of them struggle so much with their mental health that they are unable to get out of bed for weeks at a time. Any athlete who has reached the top of their sport has de facto never suffered series mental health issues, or they would not have been able to achieve what they have.

That's not to say Biles or Osaka are in the midst of developing serious mental health issues. However, I suspect their issues are more akin to a student request to get a week's extension on a paper due to poor "mental health".

I certainly applaud them or talking openly and honestly about their issues, but I also think that looking from the outside in, it doesn't appear they are being advised that well.

It's understandable about Biles as that kind of pressure of being the GOAT and expected to win tons of gold or you choked is an insane kind of pressure. Phelps and Spitz both bemoaned it, not Simone. Enough to give someone those "twisties" ala the "yipsies" ... for sure. So if you kind of freeze and dissociate from your body, the whole superhuman mastery of proprioception thing fails. I think it's real like the yips.

I wanna see a slam dunk contest next Olympics.

Hot Dog eating

3x3 was great, coming up with watchable basketball might be the greatest accomplishment in sport

Two free throws on each foul is a great rule in 3 x 3 because it structurally disincentivizes fouling. Much better basketball than I had expected. It's a least as fun to watch as team handball, which is pretty much the same thing with gazillions of players and less movement.

Suni ends up winning with Biles out.

And goalkeeping, which automatically makes it better

It was good to see her take the bronze medal. I've always had a soft spot for people that fight until the end whilst being strangled.

1-1 might bring MJ out of retirement.

Slam dunk contest is more boring than the HR derby, which is saying something bad.