2024 Paris Summer Olympics

[Muda69]

Let the bullcrap and infighting begin: https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-doping-salt-lake-wada-2788597f9f5e16e5afdb940bd60d38b7

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PARIS (AP) — The stream of threats, recriminations and anti-doping innuendo flowed freely again Thursday when tensions over a U.S. law designed to combat drugs in sports escalated on the eve of the Paris Olympics.

It’s a fight that’s been simmering for a decade, sparked by Russia’s brazen doping scandal at the Sochi Olympics. The reaction from the World Anti-Doping Agency and IOC was criticized as too weak by many, including the United States. So much so, that the U.S. passed a law in 2020 giving federal authorities power to investigate sports doping and cover-ups.

After details emerged about 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance - Chinese authorities blamed it on contamination from a hotel kitchen - but none were suspended and some went on to win medals at the Tokyo Olympics, the U.S. launched an investigation.

he latest round of backlash played out in a trio of news conferences in Paris, the highlight of which came when leaders at WADA suggested they might sanction one of their biggest critics, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, over the law.

“As a global regulator, one of our duties is to make sure our stakeholders are following our regulations and rules, and that the national legislation is in accordance with the world anti-doping code,” WADA president Witold Banka explained.

While some tried to calm things down, others could see a worst-case scenario: that the U.S. not be allowed to host big-time events such as the Olympics in the future.

Banka’s statement came a day after the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City, but cast a pall over that celebration by extracting a promise that organizers pressure U.S. lawmakers to scuttle the law, along with a related investigation into the Chinese doping case.

.....

I may try and catch the opening ceremonies,  mostly I just like to watch the athletes parade in,  but probably won't watch anything else.  I actually prefer the sports in the winter olympics.

 

[temptation]

Solid start.

[swordfish]

Well I have heard the term "Gay Pari" so yeah.....

[Muda69]

That opening ceremony was painful to watch.

I watch a few competitions over the weekend.  Fencing, kayaking, archery,  shooting, rugby, handball,  field hockey.   The women's rugby match was probably my favorite.  

 

[Muda69]

Paris Spent $1.5 Billion Cleaning Poop Out of the Seine, and It's Still Too Dirty for Olympic Swimming: https://reason.com/2024/07/30/paris-spent-1-5-billion-cleaning-poop-out-of-the-seine-and-its-still-too-dirty-for-olympic-swimming/

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As nearly 10,500 athletes from 184 countries floated down the Seine River in the pouring rain during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics at the end of last week, American sports commentator Mike Tirico announced that the E.coli levels in the famous river were "too high" for swimmers to compete in had events been scheduled to take place that day.

Paris knew the Seine would pose some serious health risks—the river has been illegal to swim in for over 100 years. After a spring with an abnormal amount of rainfall, tests of the river's water found that the levels of E. coli bacteria were more than 20 times higher than what World Triathlon considers acceptable. But the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, still jumped into the Seine earlier this month in an effort to instill confidence that the waterway was just fine. But a small dip is very different from submerging yourself for hours of racing.

 

Paris hasn't hosted the Olympics in 100 years, and the largest investment the city made for this global event was not a new stadium or sports arena but a $1.5 billion underground tunnel and water storage facility meant to purify the Seine for the triathlon and open-water swimming races. And if this fancy new system designed to clean one of the dirtiest rivers in the world didn't work? Well, Paris didn't feel the need to come up with a plan b other than postponing and possibly changing the triathlon to a duathlon. 

This is not the first time water conditions created controversy during the Olympic Games. Time and again countries prioritize the picturesque or television-friendly venues without considering the very real health risks that are present in many of the world's famous waterways.  In 2016, Rio de Janeiro wanted to put the swimmers off the beaches of Copacabana, and during the 2020 Tokyo Games the swimmers competed in Odaiba Marine Park—both locations the largest site of each prospective city's sewage runoff. 

In Paris, one athlete is taking matters into his own unwashed hands—American triathlete Seth Rider believes he can ward off serious infection by "increas[ing] my E. coli threshold" and not washing his hands after using the bathroom. Other athletes are upping their probiotic intake in the hopes of building a stronger gut to withstand an infection. 

The Olympic triathletes had their scheduled training sessions canceled on both Sunday, July 28 and Monday, July 29 because the E.coli level was still too high. And this morning, the men's triathlon, the first race that was scheduled to take place in the Seine, was postponed.

For the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the plan is to host the outdoor swimming events along Laguna Beach, which, for now, appears to be safer than the Seine. But the U.S. should still come up with a backup plan that doesn't involve wasting billions of taxpayer dollars or athletes making questionable hygiene decisions. 

 

[swordfish]

Not without controversy.. 

Yeahbut - "Khelif's passport says she is female"  Chromosomes be damned!!!

https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-boxing-gender-4b6eb881cce9c34484d30c68ad979127

VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — Imane Khelif of Algeria won her opening Olympic boxing bout on Thursday when opponent Angela Carini of Italy quit after just 46 seconds.

Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, and her presence at the Paris Olympics has become a divisive issue.

Carini and Khelif exchanged only a few punches before Carini walked away and abandoned the bout, an extremely unusual occurrence in Olympic boxing. Carini, whose headgear apparently became dislodged at least once before she quit, didn’t shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced, but she cried in the ring on her knees.

Afterward, a still-tearful Carini said she quit because of intense pain in her nose after the opening punches. Carini, who had a spot of blood on her trunks, said she wasn’t making a political statement and was not refusing to fight Khelif.

“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” Carini said.

Carini further said she is not qualified to decide whether Khelif should be allowed to compete.

 

For Paris Olympics organizers, female designation in passport key for boxers after world champs DQs

 

“I am not here to judge or pass judgment,” Carini said. “If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide. I just did my job as a boxer. I got into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart for not having finished the last kilometer.”

Khelif is an accomplished amateur who won a silver medal at the International Boxing Association’s 2022 world championships. The IBA — which has been banned from the Olympics since 2019 after years of disputes with the IOC — disqualified her from last year’s championships shortly before her gold-medal match because of what it claimed were elevated levels of testosterone.

The 25-year-old entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to a chorus of cheers, but the crowd was confused by the bout’s sudden end. Italy coach Emanuele Renzini said he discussed the matchup with Carini and offered to allow her to back out earlier, but the boxer had been “very determined” to fight until the opening minute.

“I am heartbroken because I am a fighter,” Carini said. “My father taught me to be a warrior. I have always stepped into the ring with honor and I have always (served) my country with loyalty. And this time I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t fight anymore, and so I ended the match.”

Khelif could clinch an Olympic medal with a victory in her quarterfinal bout on Saturday against Anna Luca Hamori, Hungary’s first Olympic boxer.

Hamori expressed no concern about fighting Khelif.

“I’m not scared,” said Hamori, who trounced Marissa Williamson Pohlman of Australia. “I don’t care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win.”

Khelif’s passport says she is female.

Hamori and Khelif have never sparred, but they have competed in the same tournament before. Hamori repeatedly said she isn’t paying attention to the controversy because it’s only a hindrance to her quest for gold.