Olympics

Women’s soccer started today. U.S. women had a pretty easy time of it against New Zealand:


Men’s Soccer tomorrow, but I don’t think the U.S. men are playing this time around. Opening Ceremonies are Friday.


Debbie Ferguson is there as a T&F coach for the Bahamas and is sending pictures back if you aren’t following her on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/fastfergie16

Games to open against backdrop of contrasts
David Barron
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And yet for every Bach or Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s suspended president, or Alexander Zhukov, the aggrieved president of the Russian Olympic Committee, there are in Rio de Janeiro hundreds of men and women like Glenn Eller, the Houston native and Army sergeant who at age 34 has spent almost half his life as an Olympic athlete.

https://twitter.com/NCAAResearch/status/761214527014862848

Olympic doping started with a gun-shooting beer drinker and has gotten worse

The first Olympian suspended for doping was a Swede named Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall. He competed in the modern pentathlon, which consists, quite amazingly, of a 200-meter freestyle swim, show jumping with a horse, fencing and a combined event that marries a 3,200-meter run with the discipline that doomed Liljenwall: pistol shooting. Before the race, Liljenwall did what any normal person about to shoot a gun would do to calm his nerves: slammed a couple beers. He tested positive for ethanol. Sweden lost its team bronze.

ESPN USAGE OF OLYMPICS VIDEO FOOTAGE RESTRICTED UNTIL NBC DAILY COVERAGE ENDS

Since NBC is the rights holder for the Summer Olympics holder, ESPN will be restricted in the amount of video it can show on its news programs and digital platforms. As of Aug. 3, the network won’t be allowed to show highlights from the Olympics until after NBC’s coverage has ended on the west coast.

Las Vegas bookmakers offering Olympic bets for first time since '98

From Lane 8

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/764991253868150784

https://twitter.com/fastfergie16/status/764993459828711424

https://twitter.com/Deadspin/status/764994056569122817

https://twitter.com/HamiltonESPN/status/764997676261789696

https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/764997705269710848

https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/764996994913935360

NBC’s tape-delayed Olympic coverage not keeping up with times

Low ratings suggest that NBC’s Olympic formula that viewers will continue to watch hours-old events in prime time may have run its course.

NBC EXEC EXPECTS RECORD PROFITS FROM OLYMPICS DESPITE LOWER RATINGS

The media company had sold $1.2 billion worth of ad time on its TV networks and digital outlets before the Games in Rio opened last Friday. It has added $30 million more since then. “Our advertisers are happy,” Lazarus said.

Mens Basketball:

https://twitter.com/johnschuhmann/status/765384754984288256

What Happened To The Long Jump?

Four-time Olympic long jump champion Carl Lewis says the state of American long jumping is “pathetic” and that U.S. men’s track is stuck in a “culture of mediocrity.” (Mike Powell has reportedly expressed the same sentiments.) Lewis, currently an assistant coach at the University of Houston, might as well be talking about the event in general. Henderson’s winning jump of 8.38m ranks as the 344th-longest long jump of all time. Lawson’s leap of 8.58m at the U.S. Olympic trials is the best jump this decade; it only ranks 61st all-time.

Pretty cool article showing the history of the 100M over time in the Olympics.

https://twitter.com/thebowerman/status/765724158898544642

https://twitter.com/ExperienceTheH/status/766006449734639617

https://twitter.com/NCAATrackField/status/766092077520289792

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/766293159781494788