Olympic Games 2024 - Paris

Somewhat ironically the 1.7 billion deficit was finally paid off (30 years later in 2006) by a special tax on tobacco products.

A Kim Jong Un impersonator walked through North Korea’s Olympic cheer squad

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The first two ladies are definitely going to prison for not showing enough disgust.

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Some justice being restored. After the Romanian team was brutally deprived of at least one medal, now the IOC fixed its mistake by finding a “face saving” stupidity of “inquiry filed after 1min deadline”. In any case, I am neither Romanian nor a big fan of gymnastics, but I happened to watch it as my wife is a huge fan and it was visibly wrong and wrong on every level during the event itself. I can only imagine the emotional rollercoaster that Ana Bărbosu has been going through in the last few days. Especially depriving her of the possibility to hear her anthem and see her flag being raised.

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The gold medal was won by Andrade of Brazil. So even if Bărbosu’s result had held, she would only see her flag but still hear the Brazilian anthem. :wink:

It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances. Chiles was the very last competitor on the floor, and like every gymnast she had a right to challenge the score via an inquiry. There were other scoring challenges throughout the competition as well, not just this one. But it was the last competitor on the last event so it was bound to cause an uproar when her score was changed and she moved into medal position.

This “face saving” fix is anything but face saving. If anything, it is Romanian gymnast Maneca-Voinea that was robbed by the incorrect deduction of 0.1 for stepping out of bounds, when she did not actually step out. Give her that 0.1 back, and she leapfrogs Chiles and her fellow countrywoman to take the bronze.

I agree with everything you said and my wife also corrected me by saying “you’re clueless, only gold medal winners hear the anthem”. But my point stands, the Romanian team was denied the emotion of seeing their flag being raised up.

Anyways, this is not in any way a criticism towards the Olympics in general. I personally, probably for the first time, enjoyed everything that was broadcasted whenever I turned the TV on. Well done France! What I saw was truly impressive, well done, organized and spectacular!

Fully agree. I also appreciated the Swiss commentators, who of course rooted for the Swiss athletes. But they also seemed genuinely excited for athletes that won and disappointed for those who just missed out on the podium.

Their appearance together on the first all-Black Olympics gymnastics podium produced one of the most iconic images of the Games as the Americans bowed down to Andrade.

Ah.

These referees were very weird but I would have thought they will give two bronze medals in the end. Anyways, I’m glad she received her well-deserved medal not because of the flag but because these girls work so much to reach this level. Competition is tough and new countries are also becoming very good (like Italy or Brazil). History would have recommended us for more medals :slight_smile: (there are at least 10 Romanian female gymnasts who invented exercises that are still executed by other gymnasts today, for instance the new star Simone Biles has made the Amanar vault her signature).
Anyway, great shows and executions from so many girls! I think it’s a pity the Russian gymnasts didn’t qualify for the Olympics, they were our traditional “rivals” (outside competitions these women have a great respect for each other and many are actually friends)

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I remember when I was a kid and we were being hammered with “the soviet athlete is the best athlete in the world…”. Almost feeling guilty if one was ever better. I trained athletics for a short time before moving to boxing and we were given soviet olympic reference points (i was 6 then) when i was told I’ll never make it. When my mom “unsubscribed” me, i remember, the coach was truly perplexed…what are you doing? This is how we motivate our young comminists. You’re making a mistske.

I’m so glad that now we’re at the phase where the new generations have had no influence from these motherfuckers and I cheer anyone who comes from a post soviet world. Nobody and i mean nobody understands the emotions here

A good part of the gymnasts that reached absolutely top level were from the post-communist era, like Catalina Ponor, Sandra Izbasa, Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar - to name just a few. (and you didn’t see them as promoted as it is the American team now) Truth is we don’t invest in sport as much as before and you can see the results. Not bad if we compare ourselves with other countries but everything is done with the support of the families, like in the case of the new swimming star David Popovici.
Anyway, these “mofos” from the communist era, like Karoly team (Martha and Bela) have raised the level of the American gymnastics. Besides, almost every former great champion, like Aurelia Dobre, Kati Szabo, Daniela Silivas etc etc etc are training the youth either in the USA or France etc. so I don’t think it’s fair to talk about any of the “eras” in these terms.
Athletes have worked hard back then and now, and to come back to this discussion - the attitude of some of the referees were very unprofessional, to say the least.