Olympic divers on the toilet. https://imgur.com/gallery/wFfUv
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Olympic divers on the toilet. https://imgur.com/gallery/wFfUv
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/201...lawyer-n633241
Perhaps it is time we stop having 3rd world countries host the Olympics? Between water turning green, hotels with exposed wiring, robberies, questionable finances and now this... yeah I'm thinking that would be a great idea to restrict it to countries that can actually put it together. Thankfully Japan will be hosting the next summer Olympics, they'll get it right.
Its beginning to look more and more like the swimmers lied to hide a night of whoring. US would act in the same manner. Come on Lewk I thought you were all for extreme punishment for false reports?
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That's right, restrict Olympics to countries without prostitution or something.
I am certain North Korea would put up a mint show.
This has been the worst summer Olympics I can remember. I used to think the Games in Greece were bad, because it meant a struggling national economy was hoping it could be turned around with an international sports event....but this is just as bad. They evicted poor people, then used poor people to build the stadiums/venues.
In a broader sense, from the consumer perspective....I think the Olympic Games has lost a certain luster. We know that US medal winners train in the US, but come from other nations. It's basically a sports racket, where the athletes are competing for endorsements.
Sport has become more political than we like to admit....
What a bunch of fucking morons. Way to represent America you idiots. Ryan Lochte is a massive douche, screw him. Hopefully he actually gets banned from further sporting events for his shitty behavior.
But you know that product endorsers are trying to figure out the opposite, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewkowski
That's overly simplistic. Getting second in the Olympics is quite an achievement by Team GB and the athletes (and coaches etc) have done incredibly well and the lottery funding has no doubt helped, which isn't tax payer money which is a good thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
However other nations have spent as much or more on their athletes without the same return of medals so that is not the whole picture. I believe Germany spent more than we did and the Aussies spent about the same and they each got a fraction of the medals.
Compared to the nineties when I was growing up in Australia, where they were all crazy about sport and the Olympics/Commonwealth Games and we just were not considered a sporty nation at all ... it is an unbelievable turnaround in just two decades.
This Olympic has been particularly enjoyable for the hilariously sexist and tone-deaf commentary :o
Curious why people think the Olympics are still about peace, fair play, and happiness. It has never been about that. It's nationalism without the guns.
To be fair, isn't that peace? Never heard of it being about happiness though fair play makes sense. People love rooting for a team/group/country - its a good effective means of channeling it positively. Also sports and more generally competition are what makes civilization and society tick and this is another positive way to express it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
I.e. Nationalism without the guns. :)
And no, there's more to peace than not killing each other (unless you define peace in such a narrow sense that it stops being something people actually aspire to). We're at peace with Canada; with Iran, no so much.
Canada has lulled us into a false sense of security.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUffop9NpJo
It's pretty clear that sports are the least entertaining aspect of the olympics :o
Nationalism without guns is peace or do you view nationalism as a dirty word in itself?Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
Fair play ... no drugs (supposedly).
Happiness I've never heard the Olympics being meant to be about that but the fun of enjoying it is happiness.
Well Iran sponsors terrorists so weather it is official or not we are at war with them. Proxy wars are still wars.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
EDIT: Also are you seriously suggesting that all national pride is bad? You can only be proud of something (realistically speaking) if it is comparatively better than something else. You're essentially bashing love of country you liberal hippy.
There are positive aspects to nationalism, particularly in countries where it's hard to rally everyone around a common (expensive) course. So in the abstract, sure, there are some benefits. Do I care for a bunch of people who know nothing about the sports they're watching booing real human beings to tears because of the latter's flag? Or claiming conspiracies against their country by the evil refs? Or blasting their own athletes for not showing sufficient dedication to the flag? No, not really.
Or taking pride in their compatriots successes?
Feeling pride and sympathy for their compatriots failures?
Taking pride in their own flag?
Why so negative nelly about it all? Sport can bring the best out of nationalism as well as the worst. Given most people by and large are good, overall the nationalism is good and not bad.
I agree mostly with the post but I actually don't think most people are good. Most people are lazy and selfish. It is only through incentives and deterrents that people behave themselves. Take away a deterrent and see how people act on-line (being anonymous takes away the deterrent effect). See what happens when law and order break down (massive looting during natural disasters and not just for necessary supplies but for TVs and shit).Quote:
Originally Posted by RandBlade
Except the only way to define who you are is to agree to what (or who) you are not. You can't have nationalism without foreign (or in some cases, domestic) enemies. It's difficult to be Brazilian without dislike Argentinians. Just like it's difficult to be Scottish without disliking the English. In both cases, the dislike is a key component of national identity.Quote:
Originally Posted by RandBlade
Bullshit. You can compete against others without viewing others as your enemy or hating them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
A Scot disliking the English who dislike the French etc is genuinely banter not hatred.
Sportspeople do not hate the people they compete against, unless there's some specific incident that has resulted in bad blood.
And outside a few rogue nations there isn't much hate between countries. I feel pity for most countries.Quote:
Originally Posted by RandBlade
:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewkowski
I hope you're being sarcastic here. :bored:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewkowski
I hope he's not :bored:
Excluding Taiwan there are 195 countries in the world, to pity most would mean pitying at least 98. There are many more than 98 countries in the world to have pity for. Even if you included Taiwan then I'd have pity for them too, so that doesn't change the maths. GGT/Loki, I don't think you realise just how lucky you are to be in the nation you are.
Fairly sure Lewk doesn't actually feel pity.
Quite possibly. However why would you "hope" for him to be a pitiless droid and not an empathetic human?
Pity isn't always necessarily an expression of empathy or sympathy, nor is it always appropriate.
Are you Gingrich now? Hope takes precedence over reality? Russia/Ukraine, Bosnia/Croatia/Serbia, Serbia/Kosovo, Russia/Georgia, Armenia/Azerbaijan, Armenia/Turkey, Japan/China/Taiwan, Japan/Koreas, China/Vietnam, China/Philippines, Indonesia/East Timor, Algeria/Morocco, Western Sahara/Morocco, Sudan/South Sudan, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Ethiopia/Somalia, Congo/Rwanda, Israel/every single Arab state and most non-Arab Muslim ones, America/almost every Arab state, Iraq/Kuwait, Saudi Arabia/Yemen, India/Pakistan, Bangladesh/Pakistan, India/China, Chile/Bolivia. That's just off the top of my head and excludes cases where only a political/ethnic minority hates another country. And cases where hate is a bit too strong a word.Quote:
Originally Posted by RandBlade
You think sporting rivalry = Russia/Ukraine?
You're absolutely bonkers. Besides which that sort of warfare and rivalry has sod all to do with athletes competing in sporting contests.
In context, Lewk's remark about there not being much hate between countries could be read as him saying there isn't much hate between countries even outside of sports.
Most countries have a much lower quality of life.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
How does that relate to there not being much hate between countries? And that's a pretty big truism. War doesn't do wonders to a country's quality of life.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewkowski
I may have misinterpreted your statement to mean 'I hope you are being sarcastic about pitying other countries' as opposed to 'I hope you are being sarcastic about there isn't much hate between countries.' That being said I still don't think there is much national hate between countries. Most of the hatred is drawn upon cultural lines (see conflict WITHIN Iraq between different groups) not national lines. The one exception would likely be Israel which is hated by default by the left and the Islamic world.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
Though that is still cultural. They hate the Jews, as a result they hate Israel.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewkowski
Which might be on topic if the Olympics and other international sport was warfare.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
http://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/37310337 More nationalism without the war part at the Olympics.
Once again, good that there's no war.
Incidentally good on the IPC for doing what the IOC and FIFA don't have the balls to do and ban the Russians outright.
He carried a Russian flag because he disagreed with their blanket banning from the Olympics, and he was banned because he violated the rule against political gestures during Olympic events. You're right, it's literally one step from this to jack boots, black jackets with arm bands and beating up immigrants!Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
What are you going on about?