2016 Olympics

[pogoowner]

Phelps has evidently tied Leonidas of Rhodes' 2,168 year old record for individual wins at the Olympics.

https://deadspin.com/michael-phelps-tied-a-2-168-year-old-olympic-record-1785077553

[hefdaddy42]

[KevShmev]

This is Michael Phelps' word. We're all just swimming in it.

 

[SchecterShredder]

Penny Oleksiak!!  Canada's mini-phelps. 16 year old competing in her first Olympics now has 2 bronze, 1 silver and a gold she's sharing with Simone from the US (olympic record too!)

[Big Hath]

and a gold she's sharing with Simone from the US (olympic record too!)

that was an awesome race.  she and Simone both seemed to come out of nowhere the last 25 meters to win it.

[gmillerdrake]

Womens Soccer Team should be ashamed of themselves. Although, they haven't played that well at all in any of the games this Olympics so it's not surprising they just lost. How you miss (2) Penalty kicks as a professional soccer player is confusing. Their two misses were horrid misses. Oh well, can't win them all....but they looked distraught after losing.

[Jarlaxle]

What I don't like is the US goalkeeper calling Sweden "cowards" and that rant as a whole. In football (american) and hockey especially teams are praised for playing good defence and shutting down superior offences, but in soccer ita cowardly suddenly? Didn't Iceland get called out for it in the Euros too? You lost to a team that game planned specifically for you, and it's on you for not being able to alter your tactics on the fly, especially as professional athletes who do this every day.

[SchecterShredder]

What I don't like is the US goalkeeper calling Sweden "cowards" and that rant as a whole. In football (american) and hockey especially teams are praised for playing good defence and shutting down superior offences, but in soccer ita cowardly suddenly? Didn't Iceland get called out for it in the Euros too? You lost to a team that game planned specifically for you, and it's on you for not being able to alter your tactics on the fly, especially as professional athletes who do this every day.

I've never been a fan of Hope Solo. She's a real sore loser, no doubt about it.

On a more positive note, Katie Ledicky in the 800m freestyle was borderline obscene to watch. Possibly the most dominant win I've seen in the pool.

[Big Hath]

she's swimming a different race than everyone else in the pool and it is amazing to watch

[Lucien]

all you guys talking about swimming and i'm sitting here amazed at U.S.A.'s women's gymnastics team

also simone manuel went to my high school

[pogoowner]

all you guys talking about swimming and i'm sitting here amazed at U.S.A.'s women's gymnastics team

also simone manuel went to my high school

That's awesome! I was getting emotional when I watched her win. And I'm a big fan of the gymnastics as well. There's just a certain drama to it that's irresistible.

[gmillerdrake]

all you guys talking about swimming and i'm sitting here amazed at U.S.A.'s women's gymnastics team

also simone manuel went to my high school

I was surprised that there wasn't a country or individual from another country that was even in the same ballpark as far as skill is concerned. Our ladies starting difficulty level on each event averaged a full point more difficult....that's insane!


And I think Gabby Douglas deserves all the flack she's getting. First off, she shouldn't have even been on the team. She didn't qualify and was a 'coaches pick' solely due to her performance 4 YEARS AGO. They left off more talented girls who busted their butts and beat her fair and square. So then, when she doesn't make the all around competition...sure you can see she's upset and ticked she didn't make it but in several different interviews afterwards in multiple instances she was given many chances to congratulate the two girls who did make it. But she didn't...she didn't mention them...congratulate them...nothing. Spoke about herself the entire time. Finally, while watching Simone and Aly compete she clearly looked like she was being held hostage and did not want to be there while the other ladies on the team smiled and cheered and lived in the moment, because they were grateful. I hope with all hopes that she does not win on the parallel bars because she's acting like a spoiled little, ungrateful brat.

[Train of Naught]

Wow, the brother of a dude I used to work with just won a bronze medal with the eight rowing team men, small world! (or rather, small country)

[Dublagent66]

I love the Olympics, both summer and winter.  Some truly remarkable athletes out there.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

I'm way more of a winter fan than summer fan, but I can still enjoy summer Olympics. Hurray for the gold in high jump too.

[KevShmev]

I have to say, all of this "Bolt is a better Olympian than Phelps" chatter the last few days makes zero sense to me. The last time I checked, 23 gold medals is more impressive than 7. Plus, swimming entails so much more than simply running fast. Not saying running fast is easy, or that being the fastest man alive isn't impressive, but to me there just seems to be a greater level of difficult in dominating swimming, which has more facets to it.

[SchecterShredder]

I have to say, all of this "Bolt is a better Olympian than Phelps" chatter the last few days makes zero sense to me. The last time I checked, 23 gold medals is more impressive than 7. Plus, swimming entails so much more than simply running fast. Not saying running fast is easy, or that being the fastest man alive isn't impressive, but to me there just seems to be a greater level of difficult in dominating swimming, which has more facets to it.

I think it's difficult to compare the 2 since the sports are so different from each other. That being said, Phelps has 23 gold fucking medals!! And the sweep of all 8 events in Beijing was dominance of the highest order.

[gmillerdrake]

I have to say, all of this "Bolt is a better Olympian than Phelps" chatter the last few days makes zero sense to me. The last time I checked, 23 gold medals is more impressive than 7. Plus, swimming entails so much more than simply running fast. Not saying running fast is easy, or that being the fastest man alive isn't impressive, but to me there just seems to be a greater level of difficult in dominating swimming, which has more facets to it.

I think it's difficult to compare the 2 since the sports are so different from each other. That being said, Phelps has 23 gold fucking medals!! And the sweep of all 8 events in Beijing was dominance of the highest order.

It shouldn't even be a conversation. If Bolt is still dominating after his 5th trip to the Olympics then 'maybe' it starts to become remotely debatable. Right now it's just insulting to Phelps who is on an entirely different level than Bolt. Phelps is Master class.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

I have to say, all of this "Bolt is a better Olympian than Phelps" chatter the last few days makes zero sense to me. The last time I checked, 23 gold medals is more impressive than 7. Plus, swimming entails so much more than simply running fast. Not saying running fast is easy, or that being the fastest man alive isn't impressive, but to me there just seems to be a greater level of difficult in dominating swimming, which has more facets to it.

I think it's difficult to compare the 2 since the sports are so different from each other.

It shouldn't be happening at all. Comparing the two is pure silliness. Phelps competes in far more events than Bolt so comparing medal count 1:1 is very purposefully biased. They're both GOATs at what they do.

[ariich]

I have to say, all of this "Bolt is a better Olympian than Phelps" chatter the last few days makes zero sense to me. The last time I checked, 23 gold medals is more impressive than 7. Plus, swimming entails so much more than simply running fast. Not saying running fast is easy, or that being the fastest man alive isn't impressive, but to me there just seems to be a greater level of difficult in dominating swimming, which has more facets to it.

I don't think Bolt is any better than Phelps, but I also strongly feel that Phelps' 28 medals (23 gold) massively overstates his success. Olympic swimming is pretty ridiculous as there are just such an absurd number of medals requiring pretty much identical skill. So if someone dominates in swimming (as Phelps has done), they can get dozens of medals. If someone dominates in basically any other sport (except, arguably, gymnastics) then they couldn't hope to come close to that number without a much greater range of skills.

[soupytwist]

Talking as Neutral coming from Britain (currently second in the medal table!!!) Bolt is much bigger star here than Phelps. 

[KevShmev]

I have to say, all of this "Bolt is a better Olympian than Phelps" chatter the last few days makes zero sense to me. The last time I checked, 23 gold medals is more impressive than 7. Plus, swimming entails so much more than simply running fast. Not saying running fast is easy, or that being the fastest man alive isn't impressive, but to me there just seems to be a greater level of difficult in dominating swimming, which has more facets to it.

I don't think Bolt is any better than Phelps, but I also strongly feel that Phelps' 28 medals (23 gold) massively overstates his success. Olympic swimming is pretty ridiculous as there are just such an absurd number of medals requiring pretty much identical skill. So if someone dominates in swimming (as Phelps has done), they can get dozens of medals. If someone dominates in basically any other sport (except, arguably, gymnastics) then they couldn't hope to come close to that number without a much greater range of skills.

I think you're underestimating swimmers.  Swimming the backstroke is much different than swimming the breaststroke, for example.

[ariich]

I have to say, all of this "Bolt is a better Olympian than Phelps" chatter the last few days makes zero sense to me. The last time I checked, 23 gold medals is more impressive than 7. Plus, swimming entails so much more than simply running fast. Not saying running fast is easy, or that being the fastest man alive isn't impressive, but to me there just seems to be a greater level of difficult in dominating swimming, which has more facets to it.

I don't think Bolt is any better than Phelps, but I also strongly feel that Phelps' 28 medals (23 gold) massively overstates his success. Olympic swimming is pretty ridiculous as there are just such an absurd number of medals requiring pretty much identical skill. So if someone dominates in swimming (as Phelps has done), they can get dozens of medals. If someone dominates in basically any other sport (except, arguably, gymnastics) then they couldn't hope to come close to that number without a much greater range of skills.

I think you're underestimating swimmers.  Swimming the backstroke is much different than swimming the breaststroke, for example.

I'm not underestimating swimmers, I'm saying that it's overstated in comparison with other sports. Sure they're different specific skills (in Phelps case, it's more front crawl and butterfly), but then his medals are doubled up by doing everything in both 100m and 200m, for example. There's similar duplication in athletics, though not quite as extreme (for example the relays are 4x100m and 4x400m which is more distinct than 4x100 and 4x200).

They added golf this year, but they don't have separate medals for accurately hitting it 100m, 200m, 300m, putting, short play, etc. They just had 2 medals - one men's, one women's. Now that's an extreme example at the other end of the spectrum, but still.

[Anguyen92]

^^ I wonder if Mini-Golf is going to be a thing in future Olympics?

[kaos2900]

I think Darts, Bowling, and Billiards should be added. If badminton and ping are in there why not the others?

[Stadler]

Everything Phelps appears to be, Ryan Lochte is not. 

[chknptpie]

Everything Phelps appears to be, Ryan Lochte is not.

ha thats always been the case!

[bl5150]

In the name of the Olympic spirit I have decided to adopt an underdog , a team that isn't expected to do well.  In fact I am considering flying over to provide them with as much encouragement as I can.  Whatever they need.

The Brazilian (twins) synchro swimming team.

[Tomislav95]

The Brazilian (quadruplets) synchro swimming team.

[Cyclopssss]

That mic's a bit low though....remind me of another classic meme.... 

[bl5150]

The Brazilian (quadruplets) synchro swimming team.

 

[KevShmev]

In the name of the Olympic spirit I have decided to adopt an underdog , a team that isn't expected to do well.  In fact I am considering flying over to provide them with as much encouragement as I can.  Whatever they need.

The Brazilian (twins) synchro swimming team.

[Stadler]

One of the Dominican Republic volleyball players was brought to my attention over the last day or so, and, well.... I like volleyball. 

[gmillerdrake]

Everything Phelps appears to be, Ryan Lochte is not.

I'm not saying he and these other D-Bag swimmers who fabricated the robbery story should get jail time or anything.....but there needs to be some sort of consequence other than them offering an apology. What they did and how they handled themselves was extremely disrespectful to America and Rio....

[cramx3]

Everything Phelps appears to be, Ryan Lochte is not.

I'm not saying he and these other D-Bag swimmers who fabricated the robbery story should get jail time or anything.....but there needs to be some sort of consequence other than them offering an apology. What they did and how they handled themselves was extremely disrespectful to America and Rio....

I believe the swimmers who didn't get out of Rio are paying fines.  I would personally hope something gets to Lochte as well for the embarresment to our country, but maybe he gets away with it since he made it home.  The news was saying a possible suspension from the Olympics seems very possible.

However, since when was phelps a good boy?   I mean, a DUI and caught smoking a bong aren't the worst things in the world (like I can talk  ), but it's also not like he's a model citizen either.