XXXI Olympic Games - Rio 2016




In less than a week, the Rio 2016 Olymipcs will finally be here. Months of stories leading up to the games which included outbreaks of major diseases and environmental concerns, corruption and political crisises, doping scandals and bans, and terrorist threats will be put on the back burner as stories of the athletes and the pageantry begin to dominate the news.

Despite the bans and high profile celebrity athletes declining to participate, the Rio Olympics is not short on captivating storylines and high profile, must see action:
  • In the pool, Michael Phelps makes what will presumably be his final Olympic games as he looks to extend his impressive resume. While he won't be going for 8 gold medals, he has qualified for 3 individual events and will almost assuredly participate in his fifth Olympic Games at 31 years old.
  • On the court, Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski looks to lead the NBA All-Stars United States to another basketball medal where the paint is a trapezoid. While this is more guaranteed to happen than the Soviet Union Ice Hockey team winning in 1980, this will be Coach K's last Olympic games.
  • Simone Biles is apparently one of the most hyped gymnasts of all time, and a run away favorite to win gold. But will she be able to live up to the hype or crack under the pressure?
  • The Worlds Fastest Man Usain Bolt seeks his third straight triple gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100, relay
  • For beach volleyball, Kerri Walsh Jennings pursues Olympic Gold once more with a new partner on the women's side. For the men, one of my favorite athletes from the 2008 Olympics, Phil Daulhausser also looks to return to gold after a disappointing 2012 games.
  • Soccer is a thing that people watch, and I don't know anything about soccer besides hometown Brazil is pretty good and Germany is always talked about. But there is soccer!
  • Golf returns to the Olympics after an 100+ year absence while Rugby makes its debut. I'm excited to actually learn what the heck rugby is. All I know is Invictus and that the crazy New Zealanders do a haka dance. But I'm intrigued none the less.
And so many more stories in a variety of different events! I will definitely be chiming in with my thoughts as I watch as many of the weirder Olympic events such as Handball, Water Polo, Men's Beach Volleyball, Badminton, Fencing, the fighting and martial arts, and whatever else I can fit in before the games end. :)
 
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Well my family will definitely have the olympics on a lot. I'm really into basketball, so I'll be watching the us stomp everyone (though the aus women's team is 2nd in the world, it's not inconceivable that they challenge the us), while everyone else in my family will be watching for the swimming, since my sisters both swim competitively and will be breaking down people's performances. Off the top of my head, Cam McEvoy is a favourite to win gold in something or another and the Campbell sisters are really good. Australia usually tends to do pretty well overall so it should be good

Also obligatory brazil is a fucked up place lol
while Rugby makes its debut. I'm excited to actually learn what the heck rugby is. All I know is Invictus and that the crazy New Zealanders do a haka dance.​
NZ is bloody unstoppable when it comes to rugby js. Although having said that, it's sevens, which practically no-one plays outside the olympics.
 
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I have a very loose interpretation of how the hell rugby is even played. I have no idea what the differences between rugby and rugby-7 is besides that it's shorter and has less people. Stallion tried to tell me now cricket and rugby were played and they went over my head for the most part. I get lost when a Tri is worth 5 points and all the different types of "scrums" and line outs and things.

If anyone has a good explanation of rugby/rugby-7 before I just start watching it and learning that way, it'd be appreciated. :)
 
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DHR-107

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Holy ouch:

NOT SAFE FOR LIFE IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH!

https://twitter.com/DeejayGlenn/status/761992231083474944

I don't care where you're from that's gotta hurt...

Massive fan of the Olympics, don't really mind how well team GB do to be honest, it's all about the taking part and seeing people break records again and again. Unusual mens road race in the cycling... Nibali fell as well as Geriant Thomas (Who is getting medical attention) in the final descent of the race. Thomas managed to finish, I'm not sure about Nibali. One of the other riders went down and broke his collarbone too. Harsh track with some nasty climbs and some scary descents. The Belgian rider went on to take Gold.

Adam Peaty set a world record in the 100m breast stroke qualifying rounds too! Destroyed the rest of the field as well as team mate Ross Murdoch \o/

William Fox Pitt is showing his utter class in the equestrian events too... Let's hope he keeps it up :)

USA took the first gold this morning in 10m Rifle. Lots of Rowing, Boxing, Judo and Gymnastics today too! Also Rugby Sevens is pretty good to watch as well.
 

ZoroDark

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The men's cycling road race was absolute madness. You guys probably can't imagine how insanely excited/happy everyone in Belgium is right now. To paint a picture: cycling is the second most popular sport in Belgium after soccer, but our 5 riders were outsiders at best since this was an incredibly harsh track with tons of climbing. The winner, Greg Van Avermaet, is easily one of the most entertaining riders in the entire sport, but in his whole career he's pretty always come up just barely short. This will undoubtedly be the win that defines his career and he deserves it as much as anyone. To top it all off this is Belgium's first gold medal in 20 years. The Olympics could end tonight and this would already be a success for us.

i fucking love the olympics
 
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shade

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NZ is bloody unstoppable when it comes to rugby js. Although having said that, it's sevens, which practically no-one plays outside the olympics.
fiji are actually the kings of rugby sevens (mens at least).

sevens is better than standard rugby union but worse than rugby league imo. sevens is the easiest form to watch and i reckon it will be a hit with ppl who watch it though
 

GOAO

Banned deucer.
Watched brazil 5 x 1 sweden (women's soccer) for olympics on the stadium, will watch beach volleyball, volleyball and table tennis finals on stadium as well. Olympics r neat
 
So pretty solid start to the olympics for aussie. Beat France in basketball which is impressive since they're a top 3 team in the tour, picked up 2 golds in swimming. Mack Horton took the 400 free after calling out Sun Yang like a fuckin champ, while the Campbell sisters went full beast mode to get us the 4x100 free relay with the WR.

Also comparing between rugby codes is interesting. I know bugger all about sevens, but I'm inclined to agree that league is more enjoyable than union, limited tackles are more interesting and union tends to over-rely on penalty kicks which simply aren't as entertaining imo. Also scrums may be silly in league, but they don't bog down the pace unlike in union where it often takes several attempts to get it working. That said, I don't play footy so I may just be spouting bullshit here idk
 

Stallion

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Australia leading in gold medals ATM. We're the greatest!

I know it's gonna last for all of a day, so might as well savor it now. I am hoping for a top 5 finish in terms of Gold's though
 
On Men's First Round - Group C, the Fiji team (trained by Frank Farina) is 1-0 vs Mexico (half time). That's a real surprise.

Edit: 1-5 was the final result. Do you think Mexico's players bet 1 HT/2 ET ? :D
 
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ok... so my man nibali crashed in road cycling and didn't win... BUT MY MAN FUGLSANG FROM MY COUNTRY GOT FUCKING SILVER!!!!!!! FUCK YES!
 

Stallion

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I said before the Olympics that our basketball team could take a Bronze, we're looking really good so far
 

Stallion

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Boomers are up 5 at half time vs. Team USA in basketball. Still very unlikely that we win, but I'm dreaming....would be one of the biggest upsets in basketball history.
 

Plus

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klay is garbage, me7o is a god in olympics play and carried the US to that W.
 
US have so many US sports in the Olympics its practically free medals

so new Zealand lose 2 group games and go through in the Ruby... what the?
Team GB getting medals they don't usually win \o/ bikes Bats and horses tomorrow, should be a fair few more on top of the 3 we have
 

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