***The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics***

[Peter King]

Wasn't it Atlanta or similar where we only won 15 medals? I think one gold was in sailing and then we put all the lottery money into our sportspeople.

I've been interested in the returns from all the money spent this time round - two self-funding athletes won Gold (in BMX) and our rowers did really badly for the £25 million spent supporting them.

Well, you had the good luck of having the Olympic games in London, that generated loads of money for the athletes and their success caused more kids choosing sports I would assume. You will reap the benefits of this for at least 2 more Olympic games, what comes after that is of course anybody's guess.

 

[Tender Branson]

After the Summer Olympics is before the Winter Olympics ...

If the Alpine and Nordic Ski and Luge World Championships are any indication, we should be in for a good haul.

But who knows ...

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2021 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2021 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

2021 FIL World Luge Championships - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Peter King]

After the Summer Olympics is before the Winter Olympics ...

If the Alpine and Nordic Ski and Luge World Championships are any indication, we should be in for a good haul.

But who knows ...

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2021 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2021 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

2021 FIL World Luge Championships - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Austria is always good at all skiing events and ski jumping, just like the Dutch are great at anything with skates and speed. We are only good at the Olympic winter games because we are great at speed skating and short track.

But Austria is also good in other winter sport events, unlike the Netherlands

 

[ecofarm]

Thread title is misleading. I thought we'd be cursing the Olympics.

 

[Peter King]

This is the worst and most avoidable nightmare and it all hinges around the Japanese custom of needing to "save face" because to cancel the Olympics would mean shame, dishonor and loss of face.
It's an incredible example of the worst of human nature.
We have our own version, a kind of "Ugly American" style arrogance that we spread around everywhere.
That's ours, saving face is Japan's.
It's the same fear of losing face that kicked in during the Fukushima accident, "must not lose face and bring dishonor", everything is fine.

And untold numbers of athletes and service workers are going to get gravely ill and many will die, all so the wealthiest and most powerful people in Japan, and a handful of IOC VIP's can "save face".
And that is why I won't watch it this time around.
I'll shed tears for the athletes who will wind up gravely ill and who wind up dying.
But I will not watch.

Japanese people are a funny bunch, I know I have worked for some of them. They were in the office for a lot of hours, way more than in most Western countries but what they did in those hours usually does not surpass the work Westerners do.

They are bendy though, especially if someone higher in rank visits. Then they bend down in a flash and as low as humanly possible. I find such servility inappropriate. But hey, I no longer work for them and if I would ever have to go back to the workforce I would steer very clear from anything Japanese.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Japanese people are a funny bunch, I know I have worked for some of them. They were in the office for a lot of hours, way more than in most Western countries but what they did in those hours usually does not surpass the work Westerners do.

They are bendy though, especially if someone higher in rank visits. Then they bend down in a flash and as low as humanly possible. I find such servility inappropriate. But hey, I no longer work for them and if I would ever have to go back to the workforce I would steer very clear from anything Japanese.

I used to have a wonderful distribution deal with a Japanese distributor for my Leon Russell DVD.
They'd purchase about two or three thousand dollars worth of DVD's about every six months or so and resell them in Japan to what is apparently a fiercely loyal contingent of Japanese Leon fans.
Well, I screwed up and lost that deal last year....wait...TWO years ago.
I made a reference to the Leon fans being a bit like the kids who love all that Elvis/leather jacket/poodle skirt stuff and somehow, without knowing it, I must have come across as insulting, and believe me, that was the last thing I had in mind. I was trying to say that it was wonderful that the Japanese were in love with what would seem to be an obscure corner of American culture (Leon, that is...) and that I was thrilled that they were expanding into something outside of the typical 1950's American stereotypes.
I don't even remember what I said verbatim but suddenly the room grew cold, they signed my check and bid me best wishes...and then when another six months came around, they weren't interested in any more wholesale purchases of the Leon show anymore.

Sigh, I guess I will never learn what I said wrong...

 

[Linc]

I’m disappointed in the negativism and nativism in this Olympics thread, but not surprised. It’s a theme we continually see in themed sports threads.

INDIVIDUALS and TEAMS of INDIVIDUALS win medals, not countries. INDIVIDUALS sacrifice their whole lives for this, not countries, no matter their size.

 

[vesper]

30 of the US Medals (as of yesterday) came from Swimming. Next highest was six from shooting. China gets a bunch in sports with far less medals than Swimming-they dominate table tennis, diving, and do well in badminton, weight lifting, but struggle in the two big glamour sports-swimming and now track. The USA wins almost as many medals-traditionally-in track-as it does in swimming and that is this week's big medal opportunity.

When I woke up today and checked the medal count during the middle of the night Team USA managed to gain another gold overtaking China while smoking them in silver and bronze. Life is good

 

[Peter]

I’m disappointed in the negativism and nativism in this Olympics thread, but not surprised. It’s a theme we continually see in themed sports threads.

INDIVIDUALS and TEAMS of INDIVIDUALS win medals, not countries. INDIVIDUALS sacrifice their whole lives for this, not countries, no matter their size.

On the other hand, teams doing well will help the morale of the other athletes in that team.
I've seen a few interviews with athletes who have mentioned that the team spirit gave them a lift to compete at their best.

 

[armycowboy]

I’m disappointed in the negativism and nativism in this Olympics thread, but not surprised. It’s a theme we continually see in themed sports threads.

INDIVIDUALS and TEAMS of INDIVIDUALS win medals, not countries. INDIVIDUALS sacrifice their whole lives for this, not countries, no matter their size.

What's the difference between Americans rooting for the the National team and people from Detroit rooting for the Lions, Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings?

 

[Peter King]

I used to have a wonderful distribution deal with a Japanese distributor for my Leon Russell DVD.
They'd purchase about two or three thousand dollars worth of DVD's about every six months or so and resell them in Japan to what is apparently a fiercely loyal contingent of Japanese Leon fans.
Well, I screwed up and lost that deal last year....wait...TWO years ago.
I made a reference to the Leon fans being a bit like the kids who love all that Elvis/leather jacket/poodle skirt stuff and somehow, without knowing it, I must have come across as insulting, and believe me, that was the last thing I had in mind. I was trying to say that it was wonderful that the Japanese were in love with what would seem to be an obscure corner of American culture (Leon, that is...) and that I was thrilled that they were expanding into something outside of the typical 1950's American stereotypes.
I don't even remember what I said verbatim but suddenly the room grew cold, they signed my check and bid me best wishes...and then when another six months came around, they weren't interested in any more wholesale purchases of the Leon show anymore.

Sigh, I guess I will never learn what I said wrong...

You will never know, they are backwards like that, be very polite to your face even though they felt hugely insulted.

They are also very inflexible, that is also why they are how they are, that is why they HAD to organize the games, they could no longer change their public opinion because that would mean loosing face.

I used to work for a distributor of engine parts, a Japanese engine of course. They made a planning for an entire year for their factory and estimated which parts needed to be produced for one single year. Even if their parts sold out very quickly, they would not start producing them until the next year. We had a small but important part for which 20,000 were produced, however in April they were sold out. When asked our Japanese bosses said to tell our customers they had to wait for next year until the parts were produced again.

Japanese organizers just could not cancel without loosing face, something very very very important to the Japanese.

 

[TurtleDude]

When I woke up today and checked the medal count during the middle of the night Team USA managed to gain another gold overtaking China while smoking them in silver and bronze. Life is good

very different strategies.

The USA puts most of its money into the big tv glamour sports-track, basketball, ladies gymnastics, beach volleyball, and of course swimming. Our college programs help develop track, swimming, volleyball and of course basketball. Soft sports get almost no support. Some are still successful despite no real press-US Shooting I believe is the third leading source of medals over the years behind track and swimming.

China tries to cover all the bases. some sports are nationally beloved in China-such as table tennis and badminton and their large numbers and top flight coaches makes it easy for them to develop top table tennis and badminton players. Other sports, the average citizen has no access to, but China puts lots of money into training to gain medals-the shooting sports and archery especially. and China is very very good at what are essentially the disciplines (rather than sports) such as diving, (again) shooting, and weight lifting. They also have done well in rowing. At one time, China had some amazing swimmers and women's distance runners but doping scandals wreaked havoc in those sports.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

You will never know, they are backwards like that, be very polite to your face even though they felt hugely insulted.

They are also very inflexible, that is also why they are how they are, that is why they HAD to organize the games, they could no longer change their public opinion because that would mean loosing face.

I used to work for a distributor of engine parts, a Japanese engine of course. They made a planning for an entire year for their factory and estimated which parts needed to be produced for one single year. Even if their parts sold out very quickly, they would not start producing them until the next year. We had a small but important part for which 20,000 were produced, however in April they were sold out. When asked our Japanese bosses said to tell our customers they had to wait for next year until the parts were produced again.

Japanese organizers just could not cancel without loosing face, something very very very important to the Japanese.

I really want to learn HOW to deal with them better.
It's a minefield for us gaijins, I'm afraid.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a market for this music in South Korea...I suspect there might be but I won't dip my toe in the water until I am sure I can negotiate without stepping on my own lower lip the way I apparently did with the Japanese distro guy.

If I thought calling up and apologizing profusely might help I'd do it in a hot second.
It was rather nice getting that extra six to eight thousand every year.

Fortunately I may be getting a distro deal with a German outfit, and they're also interested in my (as yet unreleased) Nitzinger show too.
(They opened for Leon on the same day in 1972)

 

[TurtleDude]

I am pretty much a hard core summer Olympic fan-I try to watch as much as possible-especially the stuff that you don't see on the average American TV in the non-Olympic broadcasts-table tennis, archery, skeet, handball, water polo, track, rowing, badminton and real volleyball. The close of the games is always a bit bittersweet. For many of the athletes, the closing ceremonies mark the end of the highest point in their lives. True, some athletes-even if they never make another Olympic games, will be able to parlay their performances into life-altering rewards. The winner of the ladies All-round gymnastics title, for example, has traditionally been a marketing darling for decades to come. The swimmers-like Katy Ledecky-who win several medals are set for life-as will be the case of Allyson Felix as she broke Carl Lewis's record of ten track medals. The people who spent their lives training for the sports that are only thought about for two weeks every four years, even if they won, are quickly forgotten. Some can handle it and move on, some never can. I have been blessed to know several Olympians-including one who is universally regarded as the greatest in his sport. He gives back by coaching and is active in other sports-though no longer competing in the sport where he gained fame. A couple others, had a hard time adjusting, once the limelight was no longer going to shine upon them

 

[Patriotic Voter]

Thread title is misleading. I thought we'd be cursing the Olympics.

"We" did not include me, the thread starter. I was never in the "cancel them" crowd.

 

[Patriotic Voter]

After the Summer Olympics is before the Winter Olympics ...

and the Summer Paralympics are next. The Closing Ceremony featured a video that explains how important they are to the athletes and display their talents so people who watched it can't say it is nothing and nobody cares.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

Well, you had the good luck of having the Olympic games in London, that generated loads of money for the athletes and their success caused more kids choosing sports I would assume. You will reap the benefits of this for at least 2 more Olympic games, what comes after that is of course anybody's guess.

No, if you look at the table below:

The real change was from Atlanta 1996 Olympics when GB took home 15 medals - only one Gold and that was in rowing with Pinsent and Redgrave. That was seen as a national embarassment and it really exposed that we weren't putting any financial support behind anyone wanting to be an athlete.

Our national lottery was founded in 1994 and a major switch happened so lottery money was put into supporting sports across the UK as well as Olympic sports. We've gone from 15 medals to expecting around 60+ every Olympics. Some sports don't get funded though and that has caused a bit of a rethink...

Sport UK decided to fund men's BMX and the guy above got silver. Women's BMX got no funding and the girl above won a Gold medal by crowdfunding until about 6 months ago. That obviously raises the question of how money goes and where we get the best return -

We put 200,000 into weightlifting and won 1 bronze.
We put £26million into rowing and won 1 silver and 1 bronze

Full table of spending and the medals won here.

Tokyo Olympics: A look at how Team GB fared sport-by-sport compared to their funding.

How Great Britain fared sport-by-sport at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games relative to their funding.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Peter King]

No, if you look at the table below:

Not really, in the run up to the games companies and governments start upping the financial support for all Olympic sports, the idea that in 7 years the Olympics would be hosted by London, making that the government and athletes had 7 years to prepare for the London games. And before the announcement the GB team scored below the 6th place, afterwards they rose to 4th, at the London games they came in 3rd and the Rio games you even got 2nd, and if not for the Japanese now hosting it and getting much more medals than usual, or else the GB team would have again scored 3rd.

The only reason Brazil did not get such a bump from their Olympics is because Brazil is poor and cannot put hundreds of millions in sports like archery and other Olympic sports.

So the London games made the medal count and the ranking for team GB go to the top of the rankings.

 

[Patriotic Voter]

The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics are over after a mostly boring closing ceremony. Now it is time to move on to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympics for those who have any interest in it.

 

[ecofarm]

"We" did not include me, the thread starter. I was never in the "cancel them" crowd.

I thought the title read: **** the Olympics. Oh well.

 

[Peter King]

A news report just reminded the Dutch that we are champions of the EU at this Olympics, no country in the EU has come higher in the rankings.