Olympic thread

Been out all day missed the mens Triathlon, taped an just watched, wow what a finish, been some great results, well done.

 

It's been going on for a few years now, apparently the IOC usually trust the relevant Governing body to oversee the events, however they've been warning the International Boxing Association for some time that they don't meet the required standards of governance...the IBA is run by a Russian and funded by Gazprom...I read an article recently about the shenanigans in the IBA that made Sepp Blatter's Fifa look like honesty personified.

 

That lower case i in the PARiS 2024 logo is bugging me way more than it should.

 

Just watching the (ahem) walking thing.
One thought......you lot are really NOT walking!

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/29608543/paris-2024-olympics-pan-zhanle-swimming-hawke/

If he doesn't fail a drugs test then that's that.

 

Much more entertaining with the Benny hill theme playing in the background….

 

Incredible performance, let’s hope it’s not an enhanced performance….

 

Archery is one of the sports that annoy me these days, so many pulleys, stabilisers etc, its ridiculous. Then I saw the rifle shooting and they give them a bloody platform to rest on!. Surely being able to hold the things steady is part of the sport!

 

The first of the boxing matches happened this morning with one of the boxers who were banned by the IBA. The opponent had her nose broken and was crying her eyes out and abandoned the fight saying 'it's not right' and that's she's never been hit so hard. It lasted less than a minute.

 

I know what you mean, but I really like the logo.

 

Shouldn't come to a broken nose to stop males fighting against females. Really felt for that Italian woman, all the work and hours of training she put in and that is her Olympic experience.

 

Just seen that boxing with the Italian woman. Shocking.

 

We've definitely let things go too far, raising a man's hand for punching a woman in the face is disgusting.

 

It is possible that Khelif is intersex, but this is her second Olympics. Last time out she was beaten by gold medalist Kellie Harrington in the quarters and has only won 9, lost 5 of her fights.

 

She’s not ‘male’ though - it isn’t as black and white as a man fighting a woman.

Not saying it’s right, certainly has safety concerns, but Khalif is neither a man nor transgender.

The way she was born can be deemed as an unfair advantage - fair to point that out for sure. (We are only summising she may be intersex, akin to Caster Semenya, this seems relatively plausible given the circumstances).

Though is it fair some people are born with bigger lung capacity, or bigger hands and feet? Taller? There is a line somewhere.

One thing for sure, it isn’t Khalif’s fault, she’s not a cheat.

 

A few of these guys train in and around Leeds, and occasionally do the local parkruns. It's incredible to see them apparently gliding around the course and achieving ridiculous times.

It's incredibly technical, with one foot having to stay in contact with the ground at all times. That's the fundamental difference that separates it from being classed as a run.

 

Me growing up as child was always taught never to raise my hand to a woman and I have passed this down to my boy, and now in 2024 the Olympics are pretty much glorifying it and allowing it to happen it’s very wrong

 

From the bits of the boxing coverage I've seen, I think there are quite a few boxers who can legitimately have a gripe about their Olympic experience, mainly as a result of dubious judging decisions. Despite its flaws, I much preferred that transparency of the previous system where live points were scored throughout the fight, rather than this farce.

The coverage of Khalif is uncomfortable, as much of the social media bile assumes that she's transgender, and has qualified after undergoing a sex transition, which isn't the case. As others have pointed out, this is more aligned to the Caster Semenya case. However, she does look physically different to her opponents and it's unpleasant viewing see her box against them. It's not her fault, and in the situation she finds herself in, the only thing she can do is try to win her bouts. I'm not sure what the 'correct' solution is in this case, but watching her beat up much smaller women isn't it. However, this is a different situation to those where biological males have been allowed to compete in female sports after transitioning.

NB: Even after all these years, I still struggle to cope with the fact that Caster Semenya's name is a perfect anagram of "Yes, a secret man."

 

The only solution is to allow her to compete.
However uncomfortable that may be for people.
Firstly it's unfair.
But most importantly it's bloody dangerous.

 

The Olympics boxing is categorized by weight. Khalif is fighting women that weigh the same as she does - they can't be "much smaller" - they both weigh under 60Kg.