Mobile 155

I was trying to remember when in my lifetime the Olympics was strictly and amature event? Yes for some nations it was but for others amature was just a word.

This year I learned there are professional vollyball players. Seriously? And who would have thought someone would cheat at Badminton?

I have enjoyed some of the events however.

dalameda

The olympics, or as John Madden likes to refer to them, "where we spend hours watching sports we really don't care about". I've watched very little of the evening show (here in the US) but the live streaming has been great.

bruce19

My issue is not with the athletes receiving money but with the corporate domination of the event. It's nothing but an advertising opportunity for corporations. And, once corporate money becomes involved you can bet corporations will have something to say about the administration and direction of the event. I read somewhere that people were not allowed into Olympic venues if they were wearing anything that had a logo that wasn't that of an Olympic sponsor. Anyone in GB know if that's true? It wouldn't surprise me.

bruce19

Here's all you need to know...drink Coke...eat McDonald's....Michael Phelps is the "greatest Olympian" ever.

AzTallRider

But she is one hell of a hitter.

himespau 

I agree with both points.

chasm54

They tried it, and the organising committee was briefly stupid enough to go along with them, but the media outcry was such that they backed down.

As I said earlier, you'd enjoy the BBC coverage. I haven't seen a logo or an advertisement through the whole event.

One of the things I like (apart from the cycling, of course, which has been terrific - I think I have seen every single race, heats and finals, on the track) is the ability to focus on sports that I know little about but look interesting. I wish I'd discovered rowing when I was younger, it looks absolutely ideal for cyclists who happen to weigh 200 lbs. LOL

bruce19

Someone mentioned better testing for banned substances. I'd like to think they are on top of it too but...https://www.courant.com/sports/sns-rt...,6631546.story. It seems like it never ends.

bruce19

Thanks for the update. One of the things I like about the Olympics is the availability of all those sports we rarely see or hear about. It took Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong to get cycling to even register here in the States. Formula One and Moto GP are good examples. Most Americans think the only racing that exists is NASCAR.

Garfield Cat

But does he really eat at Subway and even his mom?

Bikey Mikey

"They're making a left turn!" "NASCAR's a sport that's easy to follow when your hammered."
-Jeff Dunham/Bubba J

jdon

I am good with most of the Olympics but the equestrian events make me question athletic association. One of Canadas riders was in his 10th Olympic games at 65 years of age. The media is speculating at his appearance in Rio. Clearly, the horses are the athletes.

himespau 

+1. There are also several shooters over the age of 50 if memory serves. And the 71 year old Japanese equestrian dude who won't go to Rio because his horse will probably be too old and he doesn't want to train another.

chasm54

The Olympics is an umbrella for all sorts of stuff. They're including golf next time, maybe I'm the only person who finds that bizarre.

However, it's possible to be quite athletic in one's sixties. In our own sport, the hour record for 60-64 year-olds stands at 44.228 Km. I'd call him an athlete, if I could catch him.

Rowan

The complaints about commericialisatiion of the Olympic Games is misguided at best and ignorant at worst. Take a very close look at the hoardiings around the various arenas (I am watching volleyball at the moment) and there is not one skerrick of reference to Coca-Cola, McDonalds or any of the myriad other commercial partners that the IOC has.

The lack of advertising on venues is a policy that has been in place for decades. Even the athletes' competition uniforms are, I think, limited to a small logo of defined dimensions of the maker only.

This is unlike the American ideal of plastering a logo across everything imaginable place at a sporting event.

How your host broadcaster, NBC, handles the coverage and inserts incessant advertising for whatever product that angsts you is not the fault of the IOC's commercial arrangements with its advertisers.

As to certain moralities of the agreement that London (and any Games venue) has with the IOC, there are very strict limitations on what the hosting city can and can't do in relation to exposing the logos and advertising messages of businesses that in competition with Olympic sponsors. The agreement is onerous and exhaustive. There was an article published about it in the Australian media about the time the Olympics were unveiled.

One of the things that some posters here forget is that despite the commercialisation of the Games, they do still give competitors from countries that don't have the privileges and entitlements of the US to participate once every four years on an open stage for all to see. Some might not perform to your lofty expectations, and in the sports you want, but like the woman from Saudi Arabia in athletics and many others, they might not win medals but they win by participating.

chasm54

How do you know they forget that?

EsoxLucius

...

himespau 

Um, Americans are by no means the worst when it comes to that. Actually, american professional sports are some of the last I've seen to be free of advertisements on jerseys. Though that is slowly changing it's nothing like international soccer. There to skip commercial breaks, advertisement is truly everywhere.

qcpmsame 

jdon,
Have you ridden at a competitive level? Maybe you do/did, I don't know. My daughter rode English jumping and dressage for many years and I can attest to the amount of work/exercise that competitive riding is. yes the horses are magnificent athletes but the riders get more of a work out than you might think. I love the shooting events but do they present any athleticism by the standard you present? Just please consider the amount of athletic work that 65 Y.O. competitor has to do and their condition.

Rowan, very well put, I haven't objected to the corporate involvement because the Olympics wouldn't exist for anyone to enjoy. The tremendous expense is more than a sanctioning body could absorb for any sport I am aware of these days. Bruce, I watch a lot of Formula 1 and the various classes of MotoGP I can get here in the states. The track side, the pits and every edifice is plastered with advertising. And the promoters of these as well as the FIM World MX-1 and MX-2 motocross series doesn't even pay the riders a penny in finish money. Only what they get from sponsors is their pay out. I suspect that MotoGP is very similar, but wouldn't declare that as gospel.

We should agree to disagree I suppose, we all have different likes and dislikes, but I'll bet we can agree to take a ride today, weather permitting!

Respectfully,
Bill

Retro Grouch 

How are the Olympics costing out in the UK?

The TV people keep saying everything is sold out, but I'm seeing tons of empty seats in all of those beuutiful new venues.

chasm54

Another source of controversy. Each nation's Olympic committee gets a bunch of seats, so do corporate sponsors. Often, especially in the heats or the less high-profile events, those seats don't get used. So the result is that many ordinary punters are unable to buy tickets but then see plenty of empty spaces. They get irritated.

It has received a lot of publicity over here. The organising committee has threatened to name and shame corporate sponsors who don't use their seats and have asked them, and the Olympic committees, to return tickets they won't use so they can be sold to the public. That is happening to some extent.

I gather it was also a problem in Beijing.

qcpmsame 

Chasm,
Has the IOC mandate for the offending countries committees to return hoarded tickets helped out with the seating sales? I know that Stap tried to get some tickets and before he could complete the transaction they were sold out. Wondered if the preliminary track and field are having more attendance now. I like the throwing events as I competed in them way back in HS days (when we threw a stone for a shot put and Thagg scored us.)

Bill

Garfield Cat

Here's a link to Cervelo web site. It shows the guidelines of the IOC, even for bicycles and other gear in the Olympics

https://cervelo.com/en_us/news-blog/c...on-games/3021/

tcs

Actually, the IOC required a great big ol' payment from NBC for the broadcast rights. It's disingenuous to expect any commercial broadcaster who can meet the IOC's fees to distribute the broadcast free.

tcs

The 'amateur' thing was never about pure sport. It was so boys from the better families wouldn't have to take the playing field with people like Jim Thorpe or Major Taylor.