The Tokyo 2020/1 Olympics Thread *spoilers* (not the road race cycling)

elbowloh

I had no issues with the BBC coverage tbh. If they weren't showing what i wanted to see, i put Eurosport on instead.

Yeah, there was a bit of waffle in between coverage, but they could only show what they could show. If there was nothing happening at the time on the sport/feed they had a licence to show, what were they supposed to do?

Pross

rick_chasey said:

morstar said:

First.Aspect said:

Always makes me feel like the people who want to have this debate somehow have an undefined "British enough" litmus test that they apply.

Personally, to avoid unintended consequences of determining how British someone is by feel, or the how much are you like me test, I would be in favour or a set of objective rules accepted across the world.

Oh, wait...

My argument has been that in the marathon for example, Kenya should have more places so that flags of convenience are less of a thing. This could be at the expense of other sports being dropped as the IOC are keen to manage athlete numbers.

As it is mainly me discussing this from an anti perspective, it doesn’t really fit your portrayal of my argument.

I would rather the best marathon runners from East African nations compete under their own flags at the expense of second rate football and tennis tournaments.

It’s quite arrogant to presume you know what nationality the athletes really want to compete under.

I am reminded of the US’ most preeminent Russian foreign affairs expert - has worked under 3 different administrations to advise the US on Putin et al.

She’s unmistakably from The North in the UK and speaks with a thick Northern accent. Testified against Trump.

Made it quite clear she had rejected Britain where she felt her regional accent and class would have held her back. For her, “we” and “us” is America who have given her the opportunity she would never have in the UK and the UK is very much “you” and “they”.

It’s not up to you to define what nationality someone makes you feel they are.

Does this sound like a person who genuinely wanted to be Qatari

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saif_Saaeed_Shaheen

Can you not understand the point being made that if you take a nationalistic approach to winning Olympic medals and that it becomes a c0ck measuring exercise then there is a likelihood that some countries will provide inducements to attract talent away from other countries? It's thankfully rare though.

I think SC started the debate by suggesting that if medal tables are important to you then the most cost-effective way to obtain success is likely to be to entice talent from other countries. Examples like that above show that this has previously happened. It may be that it is purely a financial enticement, it may be the opportunity to live in and represent a different country or it may be because there is a surplus of talent in your event in a certain country (such as Ethiopia or Kenya in distance running) that means changing allegiance is the best chance of getting to an Olympics.

Maybe, as Morstar suggests, the answer is that only the top 'x' (probably 32 or 64 in most cases as a lot of sports seem to run in multiples of 8) ranked in their particular sport in each 4 year cycle get invited to attend and compete as individuals and you do away with the national element but that doesn't really seem to be in keeping with the purpose of the Games.

rick_chasey

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

morstar said:

First.Aspect said:

Always makes me feel like the people who want to have this debate somehow have an undefined "British enough" litmus test that they apply.

Personally, to avoid unintended consequences of determining how British someone is by feel, or the how much are you like me test, I would be in favour or a set of objective rules accepted across the world.

Oh, wait...

My argument has been that in the marathon for example, Kenya should have more places so that flags of convenience are less of a thing. This could be at the expense of other sports being dropped as the IOC are keen to manage athlete numbers.

As it is mainly me discussing this from an anti perspective, it doesn’t really fit your portrayal of my argument.

I would rather the best marathon runners from East African nations compete under their own flags at the expense of second rate football and tennis tournaments.

It’s quite arrogant to presume you know what nationality the athletes really want to compete under.

I am reminded of the US’ most preeminent Russian foreign affairs expert - has worked under 3 different administrations to advise the US on Putin et al.

She’s unmistakably from The North in the UK and speaks with a thick Northern accent. Testified against Trump.

Made it quite clear she had rejected Britain where she felt her regional accent and class would have held her back. For her, “we” and “us” is America who have given her the opportunity she would never have in the UK and the UK is very much “you” and “they”.

It’s not up to you to define what nationality someone makes you feel they are.

Does this sound like a person who genuinely wanted to be Qatari

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saif_Saaeed_Shaheen

Can you not understand the point being made that if you take a nationalistic approach to winning Olympic medals and that it becomes a c0ck measuring exercise then there is a likelihood that some countries will provide inducements to attract talent away from other countries? It's thankfully rare though..

Yeah I get that I just don’t see the problem, or at least, the problem is not solved in any other way.

It is also a cover for nativist attitudes.

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

morstar said:

First.Aspect said:

Always makes me feel like the people who want to have this debate somehow have an undefined "British enough" litmus test that they apply.

Personally, to avoid unintended consequences of determining how British someone is by feel, or the how much are you like me test, I would be in favour or a set of objective rules accepted across the world.

Oh, wait...

My argument has been that in the marathon for example, Kenya should have more places so that flags of convenience are less of a thing. This could be at the expense of other sports being dropped as the IOC are keen to manage athlete numbers.

As it is mainly me discussing this from an anti perspective, it doesn’t really fit your portrayal of my argument.

I would rather the best marathon runners from East African nations compete under their own flags at the expense of second rate football and tennis tournaments.

It’s quite arrogant to presume you know what nationality the athletes really want to compete under.

I am reminded of the US’ most preeminent Russian foreign affairs expert - has worked under 3 different administrations to advise the US on Putin et al.

She’s unmistakably from The North in the UK and speaks with a thick Northern accent. Testified against Trump.

Made it quite clear she had rejected Britain where she felt her regional accent and class would have held her back. For her, “we” and “us” is America who have given her the opportunity she would never have in the UK and the UK is very much “you” and “they”.

It’s not up to you to define what nationality someone makes you feel they are.

Does this sound like a person who genuinely wanted to be Qatari

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saif_Saaeed_Shaheen

Can you not understand the point being made that if you take a nationalistic approach to winning Olympic medals and that it becomes a c0ck measuring exercise then there is a likelihood that some countries will provide inducements to attract talent away from other countries? It's thankfully rare though..

Yeah I get that I just don’t see the problem, or at least, the problem is not solved in any other way.

It is also a cover for nativist attitudes.

I agree that it isn't much of an issue and virtually impossible to resolve without affecting genuine cases. I can also see your point on 'nativist attitudes' but I think FA jumped in with a suggestion people were heading that way when no-one had been.

First.Aspect

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

morstar said:

First.Aspect said:

Always makes me feel like the people who want to have this debate somehow have an undefined "British enough" litmus test that they apply.

Personally, to avoid unintended consequences of determining how British someone is by feel, or the how much are you like me test, I would be in favour or a set of objective rules accepted across the world.

Oh, wait...

My argument has been that in the marathon for example, Kenya should have more places so that flags of convenience are less of a thing. This could be at the expense of other sports being dropped as the IOC are keen to manage athlete numbers.

As it is mainly me discussing this from an anti perspective, it doesn’t really fit your portrayal of my argument.

I would rather the best marathon runners from East African nations compete under their own flags at the expense of second rate football and tennis tournaments.

It’s quite arrogant to presume you know what nationality the athletes really want to compete under.

I am reminded of the US’ most preeminent Russian foreign affairs expert - has worked under 3 different administrations to advise the US on Putin et al.

She’s unmistakably from The North in the UK and speaks with a thick Northern accent. Testified against Trump.

Made it quite clear she had rejected Britain where she felt her regional accent and class would have held her back. For her, “we” and “us” is America who have given her the opportunity she would never have in the UK and the UK is very much “you” and “they”.

It’s not up to you to define what nationality someone makes you feel they are.

Does this sound like a person who genuinely wanted to be Qatari

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saif_Saaeed_Shaheen

Can you not understand the point being made that if you take a nationalistic approach to winning Olympic medals and that it becomes a c0ck measuring exercise then there is a likelihood that some countries will provide inducements to attract talent away from other countries? It's thankfully rare though..

Yeah I get that I just don’t see the problem, or at least, the problem is not solved in any other way.

It is also a cover for nativist attitudes.

I agree that it isn't much of an issue and virtually impossible to resolve without affecting genuine cases. I can also see your point on 'nativist attitudes' but I think FA jumped in with a suggestion people were heading that way when no-one had been.

Not quite, but I'll happily accept that no one at the time realised that is the inevitable destination.

I can't recall ever having suggested an elephant was only slightly larger than an ant. Someone will need to refresh my memory on that.