2024 Paris Olympics megathread

[Josquius]

I'm struck by how young the female skaters are. The Chinese one was 11. The men on the other hand are in their 20s and 30s.
Wonder why.

I've watched some of the beach volleyball. One thing that seems odd to me is that the women compete in bikinis but the men in "normal" sports outfits with shorts and t-shirts. Shouldn't the men be in speedos? I'm confident the crowd would like it, and it would give a more equality-focused impression.

It also seemed weird to have the big audovisual show before the men's 100 m final but not before the women's 100 m final. Or did I miss it?

Gymnastics too.
Men in trousers and tank tops.
Women in showy tight leotards.

[crazy canuck]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

[The Brain]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

What's the connection?

[garbon]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

I'm outside of all of this but as I suggested earlier, way too many swimming distance by stroke competitions.

[The Brain]

I definitely think the slow swimming styles are silly and unnecessary. You don't win Olympic gold for running backwards or on all fours, and no one misses those events.

[Tamas]

I'm struck by how young the female skaters are. The Chinese one was 11. The men on the other hand are in their 20s and 30s.
Wonder why.

I've watched some of the beach volleyball. One thing that seems odd to me is that the women compete in bikinis but the men in "normal" sports outfits with shorts and t-shirts. Shouldn't the men be in speedos? I'm confident the crowd would like it, and it would give a more equality-focused impression.

It also seemed weird to have the big audovisual show before the men's 100 m final but not before the women's 100 m final. Or did I miss it?

Gymnastics too.
Men in trousers and tank tops.
Women in showy tight leotards.

Same with pretty much all of athletics, really. I suspect most of the ladies are handed their uniforms by their national organisation, so the perverts are there somewhere.

[crazy canuck]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

What's the connection?

Different types of athletes excel at different distances.

If you answered a marathon we would never see Bolt, as an example.

[crazy canuck]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

I'm outside of all of this but as I suggested earlier, way too many swimming distance by stroke competitions.

Why do you think that?

[The Brain]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

What's the connection?

Different types of athletes excel at different distances.

If you answered a marathon we would never see Bolt, as an example.

But what's the connection with weight classes?

[crazy canuck]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

What's the connection?

Different types of athletes excel at different distances.

If you answered a marathon we would never see Bolt, as an example.

But what's the connection with weight classes?

Try answering my question and provide a justification.  You might start to see the connection.

[garbon]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

What's the connection?

Different types of athletes excel at different distances.

If you answered a marathon we would never see Bolt, as an example.

But what's the connection with weight classes?

Try answering my question and provide a justification.  You might start to see the connection.

Socrates, bye.

[The Brain]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

What's the connection?

Different types of athletes excel at different distances.

If you answered a marathon we would never see Bolt, as an example.

But what's the connection with weight classes?

Try answering my question and provide a justification.  You might start to see the connection.

[crazy canuck]

Hey, if you guys don't want to discuss the positions you have taken, and their potential weaknesses, that up to you.

But then they just left with your assertions that you are correct and that's hardly fun or enlightening.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

A question for those who don't like weight classes, what is your view about races of different distances in swimming, track etc?

Would you endorse picking one distance to be the one that determines who the best swimmer, runner etc is?

What's the connection?

Different types of athletes excel at different distances.

If you answered a marathon we would never see Bolt, as an example.

But what's the connection with weight classes?

Try answering my question and provide a justification.  You might start to see the connection.

Race distance and weight class are not comparable, except at the highest level of "way to segregate a competition".  Their nature is completely different.

A weight class reflects something an athlete is.  An athlete cannot choose what weight class to participate in.  The competition organizers put them on a scale and tell them, based on the reading, the one and only competition they can enter.  The parameters of the competition are otherwise identical between the weight classes.

In contrast, a race distance is a parameter of the competition.  There are no hard exclusions for athletes; any swimmer can attempt to compete at any distance they wish, and most compete at multiple.  Only their performance under the particular parameters affects their ability to compete at high levels.

So no, abolishing weight classes for an event is not analogous to defining a single distance for an event.  They operate on different mechanisms and have different purposes.

[Gups]

It's analogous if you want to cut down the number of competitions but are unable to give a good reason for doing so.