Paris Olympics

[El Presidente]

I hadn't realised until yesterday that it had started 

Who loves them? Who hates them? Who couldn't give a hoot? 

Favourite event (s)? What will you watch if anything? 

Regardless, good luck to hosts France for a successful event! 

[Chitmo]

No hoots given for me, most of the world feels the same based on the fact only 2 cities applied to host. 

[MoeFOH]

8 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I hadn't realised until yesterday that it had started 

Same. Just said to my son, last night, I didn't realise they had started or even that this was an Olympics year. Lol. 

Care factor is still virtually zero now that I know. Big shift from when I was younger, used to love watching it. 

[Nevrknow]

4 minutes ago, MoeFOH said:

Same. Just said to my son, last night, I didn't realise they had started or even that this was an Olympics year. Lol. 

Care factor is still virtually zero now that I know. Big shift from when I was younger, used to love watching it. 

That hit home. Same here, I couldn't wait for them to start. Now? Meh.

[chasy]

I like them, but feels like each Olympics is less of a thing than the last. What happened to the old fashioned cheer for your country and against the others?

[westg]

Apparently the worst opening ceremony ever. I did see a little and it resembled some sort of gay Mardi Gras. I always watch the men's and women's 100m and 200m sprint events. (A good six part series on Netflix in regard to this is called Sprint). I hope that Jamaica's sprinters wipe the floor with the USA sprinters. 

[teamrandr]

1 hour ago, Nevrknow said:

That hit home. Same here, I couldn't wait for them to start. Now? Meh.

Same

[avitus]

Honestly, I just don't get the Olympics. Like, what's the pleasure to watch, say, a basketball game USA vs El Salvador (team on the right, blue & white uniform) with final score 19 - 114???

[chasy]

I’d rather watch a one sided match than what we currently see where an athlete in Country A can’t make the team, so they get citizenship in Country B (which doesn’t have competitive athletes in the sport) and competes under a totally unrelated flag.

[Ken Gargett]

52 minutes ago, avitus said:

Honestly, I just don't get the Olympics. Like, what's the pleasure to watch, say, a basketball game USA vs El Salvador (team on the right, blue & white uniform) with final score 19 - 114???

how the hell did they get 19? were they allowed step ladders in the 2nd half?

[Greenhorn2]

7 hours ago, westg said:

Apparently the worst opening ceremony ever. I did see a little and it resembled some sort of gay Mardi Gras. I always watch the men's and women's 100m and 200m sprint events. (A good six part series on Netflix in regard to this is called Sprint). I hope that Jamaica's sprinters wipe the floor with the USA sprinters. 

Easy now. Those Jamaican sprinters are tough, about like those long distance runners from Ethiopia. Run 40 miles and never get winded.

[Ken Gargett]

8 hours ago, Chitmo said:

No hoots given for me, most of the world feels the same based on the fact only 2 cities applied to host. 

not sure you can base it on cities bidding any more. they have come to realise how insane the costs are. so you only get cities with imbecilic egotistical politicians bidding. hence why we have it in 32 i think? isn't that going to be a disaster.

that said, i still have a reasonable interest. i tape overnight stuff (time differences) and then whizz through it quickly the next morning. and stop and watch anything that is likely to be a bit special. so some of the swimming, especially that incredible Titmus. also jess fox's amazing last run in the kayak. what a great performance.

this morning, whizzed through the strangest soccer match of all time - our women v Zambia. you could not make that up. we are supposed to be contenders. turns out Zambia has two of the world's best players (the two highest paid anyway). they score within 40 seconds. we score a few minutes later. then they score. twice. we get one back. suddenly they are leading 5-2. those two players scored all five including some truly stunning goals - messi would have been proud. but i think their goalie might need to ask for asylum in France after a shocker. we get back with an own goal. then the goalie makes a horror miss. we get another and VAR says no. so we get the equaliser a minute later. then a great goal in the 90th minute for a 6-5 win. you could not make it up. 

i'll watch the swimming. but i don't have the obsessive fascination with it i once did. used to love the boxing. spent an evening in Havana with the guy who was dudded by the refs against Mayweather in 96, but he won a silver in Athens (and a couple of world amateur titles). we met him when he was sweeping the floors in a bar (this was before Athens - he was no longer sweeping floors after that). he was a terrific bloke.

i would watch a lot more but this year i have a heap of deadlines, then i am away fishing for the second half so will miss it all. won't be that bothered. 

[Fuzz]

Mildly interested in the Games. I have had it on the TV late at night while I'm playing games on my tablet. Last night saw Jess Fox get her elusive gold medal in the kayak event. Only saw half of the Matildas match before deciding to go to bed.

Didn't watch the opening ceremony, and won't watch the closing ceremony. Got better things to do.

[MickVanWinkle]

Didn’t realize until my family’s group chat found a way to make it a divisive topic (keeps things interesting).

I attribute the lack of interest to the variety of entertainment alternatives at our disposal.  As a kid, the Olympics dominated the few cable channels available. Now, I have to actually seek it out, or I may miss it entirely. 

[Li Bai]

9 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I hadn't realised until yesterday that it had started 

Well when one lives near Paris one has been reminded daily about it for a couple of years, but I could have missed it completely if I wasn't living there.

I agree with all that's been said, I'm not particularly interested either but I watch a bit of this a bit of that...

7 hours ago, westg said:

Apparently the worst opening ceremony ever. I did see a little and it resembled some sort of gay Mardi Gras.

It's a bit harsh but lots of people reacted this way here in France too. There have been phenomenal moments (I wasn't expecting Gojira to perform 😍😍), visually it was quite incredible from the beginning until the end, they've used space in a wonderful manner and made Paris look much more beautiful than it actually is.

The problem with art is always the same to me, art can't and shouldn't have an agenda and sadly this ceremony was what one would expect from a western nation in 2024. The "catwalk" part ruined everything but most of the rest was a lot better than I expected, to be fair.

[westg]

6 hours ago, Greenhorn2 said:

Easy now. Those Jamaican sprinters are tough, about like those long distance runners from Ethiopia. Run 40 miles and never get winded.

Yeah I agree. I am going for Jamaica in these events all day long.

[ha_banos]

Glorified Eurovision song contest. 🙄 Haven't had an interest for many years.

[cnov]

Not my cup of tea but it's good seeing how much the kids enjoy watching it.

[bmac]

Weirdest ever and who knew the Seine was full of poop. Quite odd seeing the mayor of Paris swim in it…

[Li Bai]

35 minutes ago, ha_banos said:

Glorified Eurovision song contest. 🙄 Haven't had an interest for many years.

Agreed. I wouldn't have watched it if my wife had left me the choice. I think it was the first time I watched an opening ceremony. 🤔

[Li Bai]

4 hours ago, bmac said:

Weirdest ever and who knew the Seine was full of poop. Quite odd seeing the mayor of Paris swim in it…

Fun fact, technically it's not the Seine that crosses Paris but the Yonne. Anyway, I wouldn't swim in it 😅

[cnov]

It's a pretty sorry state of affairs that in this day and age we fill our rivers and seas with copious amounts of shit.

[bmac]

3 hours ago, Li Bai said:

Fun fact, technically it's not the Seine that crosses Paris but the Yonne. Anyway, I wouldn't swim in it 😅

Expert commentary. 

[Chibearsv]

We will watch events here and there. A lot of the athlete stories are amazing. 

We watched the opening water parade of athletes and gave it a couple minutes before turning it off. Horrible boring announcing. And then Snoop and Peyton Manning started commenting? That was enough for me.

[Ruggerpgh99]

I love the Olympics, I really enjoy watching sports I don't usually get to watch. Handball, canoeing, anything that isn't my normal fodder. I only wish we could get some 15's rugby in addition to the 7's.