Rio Olympics

present company excepted.

 

Any athlete who used dope or steroids or whatever, in the past, and got caught, should have been permanently banned!!

One strike, and you're out.

 

shouldn't usain be the face of chevy's new bev?

 

Aren't BEVs generally the other way round? They're really fast from the lights up to about 30mph and then (with the obvious exception of Teslas), they become a bit less impressive. So more of a Gatlin than a Bolt.

I assume the new Chevy BEV is "doped" by a good Samsung or LG battery pack. Perhaps a more appropriate ad would be Gatlin rubbing some suspicious-looking cream into the back of the car?

 

see, you're creating images in my head that might prevent me from sleeping tonight.

 

Feel the PWR.....

 

why does the u.s. dominate? is it geography? population? steroids? and why do so many of the worlds great athletes go to college and train here?

 

I assume it's down to a combination of population and money: I think you're the only country that's in the top 10 for both. And infrastructure: once you put the training facilities in place, you have them permanently. And history: the Olympics was for a long time a political battle battle between the US and the USSR, and I would assume your government ploughed a lot of money into beating the Russians, and there's still the infrastructure and culture in place.

What has me more mystified is how Britain got into second place in the medals table.

 

yes, they look great this year! i would like to know how much taxpayer money goes into the olympics. the u.s. olympic committee used to whine that they got nothing from government and only private donations. the cold war did have a serious effect on things. looks like we're back into another one, but russia isn't the ussr.

 

Not sure about America, but I can give you some figures for other countries: this article appeared in the paper a couple of hours after you posted this question.

Rio Olympics 2016: Medals come at a heavy price for Australian taxpayers

So... A few quotes (figures are in Australian Dollars, so we're looking at around US$ 8 million or so per medal):

Australia's underwhelming performance in Brazil is set to come at a cost of as much as $11 million per medal to the taxpayer.

....

In all, $340m has been injected into summer Olympic sports via the ASC's Winning Edge program in the four-year cycle leading up to the Rio Games. Using the national lottery funding model adopted by Great Britain in the lead-up to its home Olympics as an inspiration the money has been distributed with an enhanced priority on winning and sports in which Australia has historically been strong.
​

It is worth noting that Australia has done exceptionally badly in these Olympics - it has been hilarious watching our jingoistic commentators struggle with this fact - and that has pushed up the price per medal to a higher level than usual.

But to be honest, I'd rather than $340m was spent on something like underfunded schools in Outback Australia. Still, maybe that's just me.

But while Team GB, with £274m ($466m) pledged to their Olympic sports between 2013 and 2017 are still enjoying the afterglow of London by punching well above their weight here, the jury is still out for Australia's program.​

So that works out at £5m and a bit per medal for Britain, which is about the same amount. I think a lot of that money came from the National Lottery rather than tax, but again, I'm not convinced it's worth it.

 

I've certainly struggled with things like the cycling, where technology seems to make a huge difference, so it really is down to money, and it's less of an achievement on the part of the actual person.

Fortunately, though, there's still dressage, where, through sheer grit and determination, people fight their way out of the ghetto to achieve stardom. That's all down to the person.

 

i enjoy the more rare events like synchronized swimming. didn't they catch someone with a hidden motor and battery in their bike once?

 

ryan lochte and company should be banned from future organized swimming competition of any kind. what an embarrassment. punishment? maybe a year teaching underprivileged kids in rio. to swim, not vandalize. make them live in a metal hut.

 

The Brazilians yanked his passport, from what I've heard.
Raffle it off on eBay and let the bum stay down there for a while.

 

he snuck home, and left the other three holding the bag.

 

OK.
Gotit. Thanks for that.

I've been binge listening to audiobooks for the last 2-3 weeks to avoid watching the news, which is much more embarrassing than some young athlete stepping in it down in Brazil.
My CFO said something about 4 Olympic athletes getting mugged in Rio, and I told her that that just doesn't happen. I was down there a half dozen times in the 80s and 90's and as I remember it as long as you travel in groups and stay out of the favelas (which is easy because you have to try to get INTO them) then you're going to be probably better off than in some places in America.
Turns out that even inspector Clouseau could have figured that one out!

Then?
I started reading another book.
As far as the "Ugly American" angle?
I'm former military, so I take a little different view on such things.
In any highly visible group of very young and physically fit people, the outliers will be more visible.
I'm still pretty proud of the American efforts down there....basketball notwithstanding.

 

I'd like to see the missing 3 minutes of surveillance video before making a judgement of guilt. If one of the security guards pulled a gun and demanded that the 3 pay for damages to the rest room, that would be robbery.