OT: The 200 Meter Dash Tonight, and non-Lochte Olympics Open Thread
Tonight Usain Bolt, already the greatest sprinter in history, attempts to win his third gold medal in the 200 meter dash. It is the race he was born to run. No other man has repeated as a 200 champion, and he is attempting to win it for a third time. As in the 100 meter dash, he smashed and gutted the world record for the event, producing times that have not been approached by anyone else.
As a visual spectacle I actually have a bias toward the 200 when it features compelling athletes. The image of the runners sprinting full-out around the bend and catapulting down the straight is spectacular. I'm looking forward to this.
This has been something of a golden age for the Olympic games, with both Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt emerging as superstars and all-time greats in two of the crucial disciplines of the Games at the same time. Both merit and have received worldwide attention, athletes that transcend their sports and the Games themselves. In four years the Tokyo games will be notable for their absence, and it is likely that fan interest will be reduced as a result.
Should be a fun night. The team competitions are moving into the late stages of competition as well, medals are coming soon. Open thread time. About the games, not... legal issues.
August 18th, 2016 at 2:45 PM ^
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August 18th, 2016 at 2:45 PM ^
I'm really looking forward to the 200 tonight. I expect Bolt to win but the way that he wins is what has my interest. The fact that he just looks like he's not trying at the end while everyone else is charging full speed ahead is just not fair.
August 18th, 2016 at 2:52 PM ^
August 18th, 2016 at 2:57 PM ^
Denard, of course, is not as fast as Bolt. Ironically, though, Bolt is not particularly fast in distances that matter in football relative to other sprinters. He often trails at 35-40 meters before his massive stride length devours the last half of the 100. People speculate that he could be a great receiver (just heart Tirico and Michaels talking about it) but he really is born for this particular sport.
I have wondered how fast Randy Moss could have been if he had become a sprinter instead of a football player. Tall, lanky, fast? Sounds familiar. He's got millions of reasons to be fine with the path he chose, though.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:12 PM ^
Runners like Bolt and Calvin Johnson really aren't cut out for the NFL...
He jogged next to Jahvid Best and was ahead the entire race.
August 18th, 2016 at 6:35 PM ^
And that's simply due to the fact that there's no starting gun or whistle used in the combine; players take off on their own accord. However, in an Olympic race, the reaction time for a sprinter to simply initiate movement off the block can add another 0.2ish seconds.
Taking this into account, Usain Bolt probably runs at least a 4.25 at the NFL combine. You've also got the time it takes the timer guy to begin the timing. So all things considered, it's not inconceivable Bolt could push 4.1s
August 18th, 2016 at 7:23 PM ^
4.25 would put Bolt in Randy Moss territory, and I wouldn't be surprised by a 4.1. That's not what I'm talking about, though. If Bolt can run that fast, so can a dozen other sprinters--his true advantage is in the last 60 meters when his long stride distances the competition. Those last 60 meters are almost never a factor in football.
All of this is separate from the question about whether he is tough or agile enough to make good use of the speed. My point is that Bolt is, as a sprinter, not uniquely better suited to football than, say, Justin Gatlin.
August 18th, 2016 at 11:54 PM ^
It's just that he slows down less than other people so he gets further ahead of them.
August 18th, 2016 at 5:15 PM ^
photo shop one with Ellen Degeneres in it
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/ellen-degeneres-responds-accusation…
August 18th, 2016 at 5:38 PM ^
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August 18th, 2016 at 4:27 PM ^
August 18th, 2016 at 3:13 PM ^
The looking around stuff in that photo is what probably cost Justin Gatlin a place in the 200 meter final. I believe some runners got that habit from watching Bolt do it. Usain can get away with doing that because he's usually so far ahead.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:29 PM ^
Bolt does it more for a show, and Gatlin was trying to be the 2nd qualifier with using the least amount of energy. He did't see the guy in the lane 8.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:42 PM ^
August 18th, 2016 at 4:09 PM ^
Given Gatlin's performance-enhanced history, I can't feel all that sorry for him.
(Of course, there's a good chance he was running against other cheats, but in his case we know he was dirty.)
August 18th, 2016 at 4:24 PM ^
And if so, are there any allegations of doping now? I get being suspicious, but if the guy got clean, that'd be a nice comeback story.
August 18th, 2016 at 7:24 PM ^
How likely do you think it is that a guy cheats, wins a gold medal, gets caught cheating, comes back... and runs faster than he ever has at an age when most runners are in decline?
August 18th, 2016 at 8:36 PM ^
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August 18th, 2016 at 9:43 PM ^
You can check my posting history for more thoughts on that if you like (some discussion of this in my thread about the 100 meter), but not very likely at all.
But I think doping is much more widespread in most sports than people want to believe.
August 19th, 2016 at 12:09 AM ^
To be clear, I think it's extremely likely that Bolt, and probably the entire field that ran tonight for that matter, is dirty. But we can at least say that they haven't been caught thus far. Gatlin didn't even manage that.
August 18th, 2016 at 8:35 PM ^
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August 18th, 2016 at 2:53 PM ^
August 18th, 2016 at 3:01 PM ^
/begging for a Lochte joke...
August 18th, 2016 at 3:02 PM ^
Barring an injury, Bolt can't lose. I hope my fellow Canadian can give him a bit of a run and come away with the silver. For once I would love to see Bolt run through the line and put up his best possible time. He always seems to shut it down, even in the big races, instead of putting up times that nobody could ever touch. Hard to believe that I often think "what if" when it comes to the greatest sprinter of all time.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:17 PM ^
He can lose. Anyone can lose. And he had to run the semifinal harder than he wanted thanks to De Grasse, which he was apparently annoyed about.
But he is obviously a prohibitive favorite. Everyone is watching to see if he can do it again.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:06 PM ^
This happened yesterday, but I had the incredible privilege to watch my high school cross country teammate and friend win silver in the 3000m Steeplechase. Really an incredible feat. First mens US steeple medal since 1984 and broke an Olympic record that had stood since 1988 (granted Kipruto beat it by a better margin).
http://www.wsj.com/articles/at-rio-games-evan-jager-uses-his-man-bun-power-for-good-1471455976
August 18th, 2016 at 3:09 PM ^
Every night in prime time it's 2 hours of a race to determine a race, the same thing over and over and over.
Where's the fun stuff like discus, shot put, pole vaulting, javelin, rugby, hammer throw ..etc.? All I've seen is a 10 second clip here and there.
So much disappoint.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:30 PM ^
NBC Sports channel during the day. They show all of those events/sports.
August 18th, 2016 at 4:10 PM ^
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August 18th, 2016 at 3:17 PM ^
Bolt will win going away but it's still amazing history in the making.
You'd have to expect that NBC will downplay coverage of Lochte during tonight's broadcast and I'm more than happy to refocus on what really matters.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:30 PM ^
I haven't payed that close attention but they've been giving it coverage, even in prime time. What I saw last night was a bit of a gloss on Lochte, but Lauer did thoroughly recount a conversation with Lochte and identified some inconsistencies.
Re: Bolt - I can't remember another situation in an Olympics contest where a foreign athlete was such a popular figure in the United States. Just gauging from what I've seen, including social media, he is enormously popular, and it seems that most people prefer him to American athletes. Gatlin is kind of an obvious villain, but he's still American... but nobody is really getting behind other Americans, either. We are fascinated by Bolt.
And it's kind of cool. I'm not the type to get the willies at American jingoism as some are, but I still think it's enjoyable that Bolt is an international star, a citizen-of-the-world type that everybody can enjoy. I think his citizenship helps in places that aren't the US, and in the US our appreciation for talent and showmanship allow him to do just fine as well. Just look at how other athletes in mainstream sports respond to him.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:32 PM ^
They'll have to cover the story, but I suspect it won't be discussed much outside of studio sets and lead by Costas and Lauer. Some have already posted that Lauer seems to be defending Lochte and trying to excuse the situation.
Plenty of coverage elsewhere, to be sure.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:19 PM ^
August 18th, 2016 at 4:13 PM ^
Did they get interfered with?
August 18th, 2016 at 4:59 PM ^
Yes, the Brazil runner was basically lined up on the line with some of her body in the US lane as she camp up from croutched position interfering with Felix which made her lose her balance.
August 18th, 2016 at 5:05 PM ^
August 18th, 2016 at 3:24 PM ^
Bolt will win in a light jog.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:52 PM ^
He'll win easily and still won't be close to his world record time. His dominance in sprinting is incredible. They'll be showing flashbacks of his races for a hundred years.
August 18th, 2016 at 3:56 PM ^
August 18th, 2016 at 4:23 PM ^
August 18th, 2016 at 4:58 PM ^
beat a woman who was the 3-time defending Olympic champion. The storyline was very similiar to Karelin vs. Gardner back at Sidney 2000.
NBCSN aired it live, but I'm guessing NBC squeezes the replay into primetime.
August 18th, 2016 at 5:36 PM ^
I just found out that there is a men's field hockey. Does US even field a team for the olympics?
August 18th, 2016 at 6:12 PM ^
The USA is ranked #28 in the world in men's field hockey--nowhere near good enough to make the 12-team Olympic field.
One of the great forgotten international sports rivalries was India & Pakistan in men's field hockey: India won 5 golds and Pakistan won 3 from 1948 to 1984. Now the sport seems to be dominated mostly by Australia and Northern Europe.
August 18th, 2016 at 6:08 PM ^
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August 18th, 2016 at 8:42 PM ^
I just watched the race with Caster Semenya, the woman runner from South Africa. I'm just not sure what to make of her. She clearly has a lot of male attributes -- the musculature, especially, and the lack of hips. Not trying to be snide here; any thoughts?
August 18th, 2016 at 9:15 PM ^
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August 18th, 2016 at 10:01 PM ^
There is no way this can be discussed without violating politics, because this is a raging political issue. I don't even want to link articles I've read about the issue because they all necessarily have positions. Google it. There are reasons for what you are observing. What they mean? Draw conclusions for yourself.
August 18th, 2016 at 9:39 PM ^
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August 18th, 2016 at 9:42 PM ^
Bolt again. Amazing. Very slow time for him, yet he had the field crushed with 100 to go and was never challenged. He kinda ran out of gas at the end. Given the field, it seems like it was just a slow track/race. I don't know enough about track to understand how or why, though.
Winning anything three times in a row is amazing. Bolt owns it. Just remarkable.