[kiranknair]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

She would obviously want to fulfill her dream for as long as she can qualify. And, she has not participated but competed in four Olympics.

Thats the sad part, either we are not finding fresh talents among 1.4 billion people to fetch us olympic medals or there is some issue with selection. And we all know how our sporting federations headed predominantly by politicians or their likes function - so participating vs competing is somewhat questionable. Was sad to see Deepkia hitting 4 and 5 when Koreans and others were sad on getting 9 points. And Olympics is the one that really matters the most for sports like Archery unlike Tennis or Football.

[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by yosbert

No it is not. Not even by any wild stretch of imagination. Your point about distinct skill sets required for different swimming strokes is well taken. But it is ridiculous to compare that to a decathlon.
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I did not get your tangential points about financial or marketing success of different sports, nor did I get your Sharmaji comment. But they are totally besides the point I was trying to make.
Just to illustrate what I meant, if shooting was as successful as swimming in their event categorization, we would be having events in 10m, 20m, 25m, 40m, 50m, 100m, 300m rifle/pistol shooting along with prone/kneeling/standing/combined positions in each category along with individual, men, women and mixed teams for each.

I understood your point very well and hence gave the example of the high jump. The decathlon was probably an exaggeration but in line with what I wanted to convey that the only thing common to back stroke and butterfly is that both are in the water.

What I meant by bringing up financial rewards was to substantiate my comment of some sports excelling in marketing/ packaging and some others in maybe packaging it for the Olympics and thereby the fact that every sport is different and consequently different perks. Every sporting body has been successful at something, financial packaging or medals or glamour or something else. No point in comparing. Some of the most gruelling sports are struggling to enter the Olympics (squash) while some offers are on the verge of being thrown out (boxing). Do we compare them with others and say their athletes are more elite? It’s an exercise in futility. Also, as someone rightly brought out, there are certain sports where an Olympic medal is the primary achievement unlike some others where it’s a side show. So many different considerations…

Sharmaji ka comment was directed in a similar vein at all of us as a society and not at anyone in particular (definitely not you) seeing as how we are fixated about ‘fantastic’ comparisons, Djokovic vs Marchand or others of that ilk. None of these were tangential. Both are superhuman athletes and comparing them is apples to oranges.

Your analogy of shooting is partially correct. They do have 10, 25, singles, team and mixed. The 3 position 50m is probably akin to the IM how it combines different styles. Coming to think of it, I think they are indeed fashioning their packaging after swimming.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

IBA criteria is stricter than IOC criteria. In other words, IOC has more liberal criteria. .

Imagine you got a traffic ticket. But the ticket does not mention offence at all. Was it red light jumping, over speeding?

IBA keeps saying she failed the criteria. But what is the criteria. Is the criteria that she should look like something? Or is the criteria something else? Can you share the test report. Its like saying somebody broke the law without telling anybody law was broken.

Seems odd when the stakes are so high. When Athletes fail doping tests, the tests clearly communicate what criteria was used to disqualify.

Interestingly, the disqualification happened after she defeated an "undefeated" russian boxer.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by kiranknair

so participating vs competing is somewhat questionable.

Was sad to see Deepkia hitting 4 and 5 when Koreans and others were sad on getting 9 points. And Olympics is the one that really matters the most for sports like Archery unlike Tennis or Football.

Firstly, one needs to get past the qualifying score at recognised events to be able to seal a spot at the Archery event in Olympics. And I think as long as one is able to seal a spot for Olympics, the player earns the right to play.

Secondly, Deepika lost 4-6 to the Korean and I saw the match live. It was a closely contested match and not once during the match did Deepika scored a 4 or 5 !! She was scoring 10’s and won rounds closely. It was only in the fourth round that she faltered and that too despite scoring 10 twice but a 7 once !

One can say anything but no one can say that she did not compete !!

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

IBA keeps saying she failed the criteria. But what is the criteria. Is the criteria that she should look like something? Or is the criteria something else? Can you share the test report. Its like saying somebody broke the law without telling anybody law was broken.

Not getting into the whole debate but IBA had published a chronology of events on their website recently regarding this whole affair

https://www.iba.sport/news/iba-clari...-acknowledged/

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Not getting into the whole debate but IBA had published a chronology of events on their website recently regarding this whole affair

https://www.iba.sport/news/iba-clari...-acknowledged/

Finally some conclusion. But I guess this matter will not rest until an independent retest is done (and if its done)

Esp since IBA says one thing on one day and says other thing on another day

IBA President Umar Kremlev, an acquaintance of Russian President Vladimir Putin who spoke on a patchy Zoom from Russia, then said through a translator that the tests showed elevated levels of testosterone.

That appears in direct contradiction with an IBA statement from July 31, when it said Khelif and Lin “did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential.”

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said last week that the IBA gave the Olympic body the results of the testing done on Khelif and Lin, but it was “so flawed that it was impossible to deal with.”

As on his social media accounts, Kremlev spent much of his virtual speaking time attacking the IOC and President Thomas Bach, who has called the “hate speech” against the two boxers “totally unacceptable.” Kremlev was unable or unwilling to discuss the science behind the IBA’s tests in technical terms.

“We are going to open prosecution against Mr. Bach and others,” Kremlev said. “I will call upon all the prosecutors, all the judges in order to investigate this corruption coming from him. IBA will always protect and defend athletes.”

From Associated Press -> https://apnews.com/article/olympics-...3743f535ef9ed3

[NomadSK]

With this gender controversy, the only opinion I have, Boxing being an extremely physical dangerous sport, the chromosomes should take the precedence over the passport identity of an athlete, only for the safety of the boxers as there are numerous instances in the past where the boxers have been killed/paralyzed due to the strong punches. The potential for one boxer to get seriously injured in competition is all the more real, unlike in other non-physical sports. Any association be it IOC or IBA should give safety of an athlete as first preference or top priority.

[yosbert]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

Your analogy of shooting is partially correct. They do have 10, 25, singles, team and mixed. The 3 position 50m is probably akin to the IM how it combines different styles. Coming to think of it, I think they are indeed fashioning their packaging after swimming.

As I said right at the beginning, and I will say it again, I agree to almost all of what you have said.
The ONLY point I was making was that swimming as a sport has been very successful in event categorization at Olympics, something which some of the other sports have not been very successful at. That takes absolutely nothing away from the swimmers who are competing at these events. They are fantastic athletes and it is a joy to watch them.
Interestingly 50m rifle shooting used to have a prone category (apart from the 3P category) till 2012 Olympics. I do not know why it has been taken out as a category since then.

[ads11]

To hopefully draw a line under this whole shambolic boxing 'scandal' that's been drawn into the same old tired culture war BS, here you have it from the horse's mouth. Have a read through for their (the IBA) rationale, or lack thereof:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics...s/cq5dd2lz8y8o

The man gives no clear answer, let alone consistency between the rambling responses he does give between questions. If anything this smacks of the IBA being a farce, and this whole thing being a clown show that at worst is Russian chicanery that's part of a wider concerted effort to undermine the Paris games but at the very least is designed to be an unwelcome distraction.

What's sad about this getting drawn into gender identity discourse is that neither of the two women in the spotlight were ever anything other than women. They weren't men who transitioned, they've always been women who seem to have the same unfortunate circumstances of a Caster Semenya in that mostly they don't pass some window pane test for how a woman should seemingly look (let's be honest, that's more than half the fuel for this fire), but on a technical level, might be afflicted with elevated naturally occurring levels of certain hormones when compared to the average female.

I consider myself familiar with boxing. I hadn't seen the fight in question but having looked at some of the Italian's highlight reel I'm amazed. In her fight with Imane she was throwing overhand rights with her eyes closed - total amateur stuff. Plus this isn't the first time Carini has folded like a deck chair in a fight at the earliest opportunity.

As any long time boxing fan will know, it's probably the most institutionally bent sport there is and the business is regulated by essentially cartels or crooks. Olympic boxing is no stranger to this - one only needs to look at the shameful judging against Mickey Conlan, the pre-eminent pugilist at his weight class, at the 2016 games (same old IBA personnel involved - you're starting to see a picture).

To circle back to my opening statement, I'd like us to draw a line under the boxing farrago. Should it continue I'd ask the mods to siphon the relevant posts into it's own separate thread - there's enough room for discussion. Let's not drown out the Olympic trivia discourse that the thread was envisioned for.
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On that note: think it's worth drawing attention to the stupendous work of pole vaulter Duplantis. In Bolt-esque fashion the man has obliterated most of the records in the men's pole vault, holding the last 9 record breaking jumps. Small wonder then that there's tell his sponsors pay out 100k EUR each time he smashes the record. It very well seemed last night as if he could jump beyond the top of the poles holding the bar itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3N8...UJZHVwbGFudGlz

[ABHI_1512]

^^
Mondo Duplantis has managed to eclipse the great Sergei Bubka to be the new phenomenon in the world of Pole Vault, which is stupendous to say the least. Proves the adage that records are meant to be broken. What an athlete !

Meanwhile, Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the finals and his throw of 89 metres during the heat is something to be cherished. I hope he sets a new record this time. Also, Vinesh Phogat- what a player ! After what she went through in the run up to the Olympics and then coming up with the display that she showed today, shows she is made of pure steel if not titanium !!

@ads11- thank you for saying what you said above.

[ex-innova-guy]

Apparently, Duplantis had a hand injury and still broke yet another WR. It’s true that he deliberately jumps just 1 cm more than his previous WR in order to cash in a bonus for breaking a WR. People think he can jump as high as 6.40m. Can’t doubt them, given how easily he cleared yesterday’s WR. Man is in a league of his own and very rarely do we see such athletes.

Also, Keely Hodgkinson finally won the 800 m final yesterday after 2 silvers in the World Finals and a silver in the Tokyo Olympics.

[am1m]

Sport Climbing is seeing some action packed days with records tumbling.

Lead Climbing - probably fits closest to what most people think of when they think 'climbing'. Participants ascend an artificial wall using plastic 'holds' designed to mimic the kind of features on natural rock. Participants are roped up so the rope (and belayer) catches them if they fall. The participant that reaches the highest hold, or gets there fastest (if multiple participants reach the same height/top), gets the max points.

Bouldering - Participants attempt to top problems set at a max of 15-20 feet. Again, they use plastic holds, but there is no rope, participants fall onto crash mats that absorb their fall. Focuses more on strength and problem solving, rather than gaining height or endurance. More routes/problems topped, more points.

Speed - Participants square off against each other in pairs. Ascend a standard route using a standard set of holds with exact spacing. The climber that reaches the top the fastest wins.

When introduced, there was only one medal available for all 3 disciplines - Lead, Boulder, and Speed. Considering that Speed Climbing is a fundamentally different sport itself compared to Lead or Bouldering (100m versus marathon levels of difference), some of the best outdoor climbers in the world were not able to compete effectively. This Olympics, the Lead and Boulder events have one medal and Speed has a separate medal.

Apparently, this speed wall at Paris offers some really good friction, so speed climbing records have been tumbling.

[saket77]

Heartbreak for India as Vinesh Fogat is disqualified due to weight. The disqualification means not only hopes of gold are now gone, she will probably not be holding the silver too.

https://sports.ndtv.com/olympics-202...ndtv_topscroll

[kiranknair]

Originally Posted by saket77

Heartbreak for India as Vinesh Fogat is disqualified due to weight. The disqualification means not only hopes of gold are now gone, she will probably not be holding the silver too.

Terrible news.. Wanted her to get the gold badly - she was doing very well. Wondering if she could have shaved off the hair to reduce those 100 grams?

Hope Niraj Chopra gets the gold medal now.

[sagarpadaki]

100 grams overweight! I feel it's too harsh. A glass of water will add more than 100 grams to a person's weight! Is there a buffer given to the weight or the weight has to be on dot?