League of Their Own Olympians

 

Photo by Ribbie (2014) atop Forte Duque de Caxias in Rio

 

In these Rio Olympic games, some stories of domination are being written. In this segment called “In a League of their Own” from the Olympic desk of Ribbie’s weblog, Ribbie comments on the competition.   Ribbie was last in Rio during the 2014 World Cup, so the reporting is almost live.

The USA men’s basketball team is in a league of their own, and is expected to win Gold again. The league of their own, of course, is called the NBA.  And while other national teams sport NBA players, team USA’s roster is made up of ONLY NBA players.  Same is true of Team USA on the women’s side – an all WNBA roster.  The women have won 42 consecutive Olympic basketball games, or is it 43?  They are 58-3 all time winning Gold in the last 2 games.  The men have won 14 of 18 Olympic Golds since 1936.  Seems unfair that professional players play teams comprised of, well, in most cases, other professional players from far less competitive leagues, right?  In their first games, the NBA All-Stars beat China by 57 points and the WNBA stars beat Senegal, Africa’s best team, by 65 points. Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing these games; the lack of competition make the NBA/WNBA players seem even better than they really are, to be honest.  I don’t care for the lopsided scores; however, which must be somewhat of an embarrassment to the other teams, though to be fair, Olympians DO like playing against the best.  That said, the Olympics should be about fair competition, in my judgement, which is why I favor a return to a competiton of amateurs only.

Chinese Diving.  Wu Minxia has won more Gold medals in diving than any other Olympic diver in history and is the oldest diver, at 30, ever to win a Gold medal.  She’s still got the golden touch  and is the gold standard in the diving world.

Team USA in women’s gymnastics is in a league of their own.  They could be the best gymnastic’s team the world has ever seen.  In the team competition, they’ve left the other nations behind in the qualifying round, way behind. Simone Biles could win multiple Gold medals in the team competition, all-around and in some of the individual events, possibly as many as 5.  The others have a chance at Gold in their individual events when not up against Biles.

Beach Volleyball – the native California Kerri Walsh with partner Mysti May-Treanor won 3 consecutive Gold medals for the USA and is back for a fourth with a new partner, April Ross.  The towering 6’2″ Walsh is in a league of her own.

Team USA soccer, or football, if you like.  The USA women’s team has won Gold in the last three Summer Olympics and look to be on their way to successfully defending their title.  With the dominant captain Carli Lloyd scoring at will, team USA is clearly in a league of their own.

USA Swimming.  Michael Phelps, whose maiden wins date back to 2004, is STILL swimming and STILL winning in the pool. He’s won so many medals, he’s lost track.  Ask him.  I bet he won’t know how many he has, most of them Gold too. Mr. Phelps is undubitably in a league all his own.

The USA has been fortunate enough to have the great sisters Serena and Venus Williams represent, who have been playing in a league of their own winning 4 Gold Medals in Olympic competition. They could repeat as doubles champs.

Others leagues of their own include Italian Fencers, German and Slovakian  Canoeists, and Danish Rowers.  And the dominant French handballers, in a sport about as silly, but not quite as silly as Water Polo, where Hungary has traditionally dominated, look to be the team to beat.

Some “sports” are not Olympic

The summer Olympics have begun in Rio where it is technically winter.  And as I watch the games, I am struck for the first time by all the sporting events that shouldn’t be in the Olympics in my judgement.  If you take issue with my commentary, know that it is somewhat tongue in check…somewhat.

• Archery – pretty cool to watch.  It might have been one of the original Greek events, so it’s in.
• Badminton – seriously?  It’s a picnic game!  If badminton is in, croquet should be too.
• Basketball – of course. Too bad there’s no longer a U.S. U.S.S.R rivalry. I’d like to see Brazil do well.  Whatever happened to Oscar, or is it Oskar? He was like the Oscar Robertson of team Brasil back in the day.  And while I love watching basketball in the games, it somehow doesn’t seem fair for NBA and WNBA players to play.  I thought the Olympics were supposed to be for amateur athletes.
• Beach Volleyball – definitely, especially in a place like Rio.
• Boxing – hell yes. Those leather helmets are classic and keep the fighters’ head on straight…literally.
• Canoe slalom and sprint- wtf?  Sailing, fine.  Rowing, ok.  Canoeing (is that how you spell it?) That’s something you do on a vacation.  Not a sport.
• BMX and Mountain cycling – nope.  That’s for the Red Bull drinking X Games crowd.
• Road and Track Cycling – ok.
• Diving –  absolutely and as long as Cynthia Potter is the analyst.
• Equestrian –  I love horses.  Actually, I’d like to see rodeo competition in the games. Bull riding and bull running would also be fun events, but I’m not a fan of bull fighting. I’m not.
• Fencing – intense.  I’d also like to see deep water diving with those cast iron helmets.
• Field Hockey – nope.  Too elite prep school for my taste.
• Golf – nope.  They already have too many tournaments – and the thing takes all day.
• Gymnastics – yep.  Lots of flips and stuff.  It’s always hit or miss.  High drama. Made for TV. But not the rhythmic thing.
• Handball – never heard of it.  Isn’t that a penalty in soccer?
• Judo and Taekwondo – yep.
• Rugby Sevens – sounds like a card game, but it’s the next best thing to American football, so I say yes to the rough and tumble sport, mate.
• Sailing – a Christopher Cross song, not a sport.  Nope.
• Shooting – shooting what, the breeze? Not a sport.
• Swimming – yes.  synchronized, no.  Might be good for a Disney show but not for the Olympics.
• Table Tennis –  you mean Ping-Pong?  Sure, why not.
• Tennis.  No. Same reason as Golf.
• Track and Field – yes all day long.
• Trampoline – no, beause with diving and gymnastics it’s redundant.
• Triatholon – ok.
• Volleyball – only beach volleyball.
• Water Polo – NO. It’s just silly, like handball or dodgeball in the water.  They should use a nerf ball in my opinion.
• Weightlifting – definitely. I especially like when they drop the dumbells in disgust.
• Wrestling – ok, but I’d like to see some tag team championship wrestling.  And why isn’t grappling an event?

Most Memorable 2012 London Olympic Moments

I love the Olympics and have faithfully watched the broadcasts every 2 years for as long as I can remember.  This go round, I watched as much as I could, but unfortunately was not able to catch all of the events.  I didn’t see a wrestling match, or do they call it grappling?  I am sick to death that I did not see the ping pong and badminton matches – strange name for a sport, isn’t it, badminton –  but I hear there was some cheating going on.  No, not doping allegations, just strategic losing to gain an advantage – this is like anti-doping. I didn’t see the dodge ball and handball competitions.  Wait, isn’t a handball a penalty in soccer?  Excuse me, I meant to say football, ok, futbol. I didn’t see any boxing and weightlifting, which, to my knowledge, didn’t make the prime time broadcasts, but they may have had their own channels.  And whatever happened to Olympic Cliff diving?  GB has some great cliffs.  But I digress.  Here are the moments in my view for which the 2012 London Olympics will be remembered:

• Usain Bolt:  Still the fastest human alive and 3 Golds richer.

• Aliyson Felix:  Finally got her Gold in the 200 and 2 more in relays, including a world record in the 4 x100.

• Gabby Douglas: World’s best female gymnast.

• Manteo Mitchell:  Broke his leg on a leg of the 4×400 relay, but managed to finish helping the US qualify for the finals.

• Oscar Pistorius: Ran competitively on carbon fiber blades

• Mo Farah the British runner of Samali origin did the impossible winning the 5 and 10,000 meter runs.

• 10 meter platform finals:  What a finish – USA, China, Great Britain.  David Boudia won the Gold, ending a 24 year medal drought in individual events by American male divers.  The favorite, Qui Bo, finished a very close second and crowd favorite Brit Thomas Daley finished strong and took bronze and a celebratory pool plunge with team GB.

• Michael Phelps:  Still the world’s fastest swimmer and arguably the greatest Olympian of all-time.

• The golden women of team USA:   swimming and track relays, basketball, water (marco) polo, gymnastics, beach volleyball, rowing and soccer.  Domination.

• Events that should be in the X Games, not the Olympics:  BMX bike racing and beach volleyball.  You know it’s X gamey when an athlete gives an interview wearing a Red Bull cap.

• Picnic and arcade games that are not sports:  If badminton and ping pong are allowable, why not frisbee golf, fooseball, pinball, dodgeball, kick-the-can, twister and croquet in Rio.  In fact, I demand it!

• An explosion of athletes wearing kinesio tape: The stuff looks like leaches from the Thames or British sea slugs from the Isles of Man or Wight, one.

• Edible Medals: All the athletes were eating their medals which I believe were actually foil wrapped chocolates.

• The Brits:  The host country won 65 medals, 4th best and with 29 Golds, 3rd behind China and the U.S.  Down under in 2008, team GB won 47 medals, 19 Golds.

Congratulations London and team GB on a job well done!  Cheers!

Random Olympic Musings

In the equestrian events, do the horses of the winning riders receive a medal or any kind of special recognition or treat? Do the horses take part in the medal ceremonies?

I’m watching a field hockey match (for the first time) between the Netherlands and Germany. It’s been a great match – it has gone to penalty strokes. What troubles or fascinates me is the fact that the players have to bend their backs for most of the match as they move the ball along, pass, receive and shoot. Isn’t this extraordinarily uncomfortable? Field hockey players must have super strong back and abdominal muscles. I wouldn’t last a minute in that position – I don’t think I’d be able straighten up.

I watched the semifinal women’s handball match between Norway and Korea. Wow, what a close match! Norway pulled out a last second win with a spectacular goal after Korea had come from beyond to tie the game. I’m new to handball and was wondering if the court is padded? A lot of the players hit the court pretty hard after a shot. Also, what is the ball like? Is it soft and bouncy. How does it compare to a soccer ball?

In diving, I wonder if a diver has ever just said to heck with it all and performed a cannonball instead of a 3 and half with 2 twists?

Why isn’t golf an Olympic sport?

Why did the IOC vote to eliminate softball and baseball from the next Olympics? Any argument of USA domination no longer holds after team USA lost to an excellent Japanese team in the softball gold medal match. Baseball games in these Olympics have been competitive, and teams from the Americas have not dominated. Korea, in fact, has been the dominant team going 7-0 to date.

Has there been any talk of eliminating hurdles from track and field? I don’t have any statistics to back this up, but it seems that hurdlers suffer a disproportionate amount of injury compared to other runners.

In a pole vaulting event, has a pole ever snapped in two during a vault? I seem to remember seeing or hearing of such an accident. Assuming the athlete was not injured, would the vaulter be disqualified, or allowed another vault?

As reported in today’s Times Online, IOC president Jacques Rogge criticized Usain Bolt for disrespecting his competitors after his gold medal world record breaking performances in the 100 and 200 meter runs. Please! Every athlete expresses emotion and does some sort of victory lap drapped in a flag. Is he really expected to acknowledge each of his competitors? It is an individual race – not a team competition with the obligatory handshake line. After the race, the runners are spread out along the track anyway so logistically it would be unrealistic for him to find everybody for a handshake, hug or even to just say good race. He didn’t break any rules. And after his earth shattering performances, he earned the right to celebrate as he did.

2008 Beijing Olympics – Handball

I’ve been watching the Olympics for many years now, paying attention mainly to track and field, gymnastics, basketball, diving, boxing and swimming. However, during these Beijing Olympic games, I’ve begun to watch events I had no idea existed, such as handball and field hockey.

When I watched my first handball match, I was thinking the players should be dribbling the ball more, or kicking it, or throwing it at their opponents like dodge ball. The game didn’t seem natural – like water polo in a drained pool. Why not call it land polo? I have to confess my complete ignorance of the game, a fact I am sure is already apparent. I didn’t grow up playing it, and had never seen it played before, not even in the Olympics – has it ever been shown before on American TV? My reference points are games I played as a kid: soccer with a dodge ball on a basketball court with no goal; dodge ball; football; basketball; baseball and kickball on a dirt field.  I guess handball is hugely popular in Europe, but isn’t there another sport called handball – the one where you slap a small rubber ball against a wall.  Anyway, the Olympic sport is called handball, but why? – you can use your head, arms and knees apparently.  Why not call it above the knee ball? I think the sport might catch on in the U.S. if the players could also kick it or if they could charge the net with ball in hand to try to bowl over the goalie.  Ok, maybe not charge the net, but drop kicking might be cool.

Does the U.S. have a handball team? Or did they fail to qualify? Of the 12 teams in Beijing, Brazil is the only representative from the Americas, or maybe the representative of the Americas. I don’t want to sound like a homer, but go Brazil in Handball, and go U.S. women against Brazil in futbol – I mean soccer.  But shouldn’t it be called……

For more on handball, read my post Random Olympic Musings