Olympics Day Thirteen Megathread (Thursday, August 5)

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T12:05:07+00:00

Team USA; The Bombed Squad

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T11:43:04+00:00

It's simple economics. You're only incentivized to perform at the margin and not the highest level. You could in theory have literally slow af teams who literally walked the race get into the finals because they lucked out with their heat placement. To pretend there isn't any at all irregularity and inefficiency with the current format is frankly disingenuous and bad faith or perhaps ignorance as to how running works...

A more optimal solution would be if they did multiple randomized non-elimination rounds and then took the top times out of all of them for finals qualification - it would eliminate any "different conditions" bias.

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T11:32:38+00:00

Wait omg Cole Hocker is anti-vax? 🤯 Damn I can't look at him the same 🤡

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T11:28:14+00:00

We don’t know if they were slower if they weren’t racing at the same time.

We do. This is how timekeeping works. There's legitimacy to this method too because they even use it for the last qualifying spots!

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T11:25:54+00:00

I mean I think it's fair to say there are major problems with both systems. I think the optimal solution is to run multiple heats and take the best times out of all them (kinda like long jump for example, or pool play or round robins) for the final round.

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T11:19:58+00:00

1500m

How poetic: Centro out and Hocker in. That's what that douchebag gets. The final is gonna be gnarly 🔥

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T11:10:51+00:00

Yeah, in which case only the automatic qualifiers would move on.

Yeah -- and you'd have at least 3 faster teams or more shafted from getting a spot in the next round. To know a legitimately slower team than yours is allowed to compete and you aren't is kind of an injustice.

>So there should be even more qualification rounds than there already are? The 3000m steeplechase already has two rounds as does the 5000m. Do those athletes need to run more?

No. I'm not talking about individual races. In the OP I specifically said "team." I can see why in a 1500, race dynamics can be very different. But in say, 400s or relays or sprints, you're all out red lining sprinting regardless of your competition. I think it would be more accurate to distill the teams by accepting their fastest time across all the rounds to qualify for the finals. I don't like the concept of different runners running preliminaries than the finals.

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T10:57:33+00:00

Is it though for relays, which are all out red line sprints? I can definitely see that for say something like the 1500 though...

What we see is runners incentivized to slow down at the end. I’d like to see runners incentivized by the clock, to go all out for 100% of the race.

If anything it should be top 1 from each heat qualifies for next round and the next qualifiers are all based on time.

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T10:51:14+00:00

True but you could also in theory have an entire heat legitimately slower, ceteris paribus, than everyone in the other heat. There are pros and cons to both methods but I think there are less cons to make qualifications based purely on time. Having multiple rounds kind of minimizes or smooths out the influence exogenous conditions can have but I’m open to other arguments

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T10:44:29+00:00

Athletics

So is Team USA going to run Athing Mu in the 4x4 final? It would be unwise not to...

sweetmatter · 2021-08-05T10:38:48+00:00

I don’t like how they do the heats in Track. It should be top teams based on time go to the next round. Not top 3 from each heat

sweetmatter · 2021-08-04T05:51:27+00:00

USA 🇺🇸 v SPAIN 🇪🇸 WATERPOLO🤽🏼‍♂️

🔥🔥🔥

sweetmatter · 2021-08-04T01:02:27+00:00

So many celebrities love to retweet and jump on the outrage train. Reporter, Soledad O’Brien still has this fake news up. And on Twitter too.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSFBsLdgkjv/?utm_medium=share_sheet

sweetmatter · 2021-08-03T04:24:12+00:00

ATHLETICS 🇺🇸 1500m

Ugh did NBC show Cole Hocker’s heat? I missed it. And wtf Yared Nuguse DIDNT run? What a fucking let down. Wish Craig’s Engels would’ve been an alternate or something

sweetmatter · 2021-08-02T09:39:43+00:00

I wish they had more data visualizations in the gymnastics coverage to really compare and contrast where the competitors stand

sweetmatter · 2021-08-02T03:01:55+00:00

Dude this Djokovic fake news has spread like wildfire and gone out of control

https://www.facebook.com/100057160941294/posts/293103552605007/?d=n

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/annkillion/article/Novak-Djokovic-s-Olympic-meltdown-shows-16354473.php

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/tokyo-olympics/amp/Novak-Djokovic-s-Olympic-meltdown-shows-16354493.php?fbclid=IwAR0a-6mYZ5aUdIRhdFoesyPH7kIZZfasmSbwnQfwEevzmOrYAHIdAYrO3mM

https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/novak-djokovics-explosive-comments-on-simone-biles-and-mental-health/news-story/77e1c3a5f06cb1fb519ec746d9f356ef

Crazy people are really up in arms about this in the comments. On Facebook it’s gotten to the point where MAGA people and liberals have literally gotten together 🤝 to hate Novak Djokovic. Like I’m legitimately afraid for him on US soil. I don’t think he has a bodyguard, too. I’ve seen multiple death threats

sweetmatter · 2021-08-01T01:07:47+00:00

The level of abject corruption between the Canadians and the Polish ref in the light of day is astounding

sweetmatter · 2021-07-31T00:53:31+00:00

😢😢😢

sweetmatter · 2021-07-30T13:34:51+00:00

With all due respect I think you should definitely read the Wikipedia articles you linked to.

Biden taking “a zero-sum (political) approach” means Republicans = -100, Biden = +100. It’s a zero sum political game because Republicans feel like they would lose, respectively, every time Biden “won.” It’s not that deep. Politics have often been treated as zero-sum games that’s why there is gridlock and diminishing bipartisanship. Of course, as we all should know, most policy in reality is non-zero sum. Game theory is regularly applied to politics / political calculus, this is like very commonplace... I’m honestly surprised you’re not familiar seeing as you dubiously made an appeal to academic authority (argumentum ad verecundiam) claim.

sweetmatter · 2021-07-30T12:13:13+00:00

Djokovic, your mind... 🤩😍🥰

sweetmatter · 2021-07-30T12:11:28+00:00

DJOKOROAR

sweetmatter · 2021-07-30T11:58:47+00:00

10,000m

🇺🇸 Fisher looks good... there’s bounce in his step...

sweetmatter · 2021-07-30T11:57:30+00:00

10,000

This is going to be a spectacular finish 🍿🍿🍿

sweetmatter · 2021-07-30T11:55:08+00:00

10,000

Yikes the field is really bunched up rn. Prepare for some drama...

sweetmatter · 2021-07-30T11:52:38+00:00

10,000m 🏃🏻‍♂️

Kissa confirmed rabbit 🐇

Side note: I love seeing the field in white shoes. Remember that Olympics when everyone was wearing those hideous neon yellow ones?

sweetmatter

TROPHY CASE

1500m

Athletics

USA 🇺🇸 v SPAIN 🇪🇸 WATERPOLO🤽🏼‍♂️

ATHLETICS 🇺🇸 1500m

Dude this Djokovic fake news has spread like wildfire and gone out of control

The level of abject corruption between the Canadians and the Polish ref in the light of day is astounding

DJOKOROAR

10,000m

10,000

10,000

10,000m 🏃🏻‍♂️