Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Swimming This was the last day of competition. Michael Phelps insists it was his last too. Which constrains me to reprise what I wrote in this regard on the last day of competition at London 2012: He insists that he will now rest on his laurels, and who can blame him. But I fully expect… Read more.
Empty Venues I imagine nothing is more dispiriting to Olympic athletes than competing in practically empty venues. Hell, even I find it dispiriting just watching on TV. Unfortunately, this has become a quadrennial farce. Ironically, it originated at Beijing 2008, when empty seats betrayed all of the hype China had propagated about national interest in those… Read more.
Doping I wrote only yesterday that I see no point in commenting any further on doping among Russian athletes. But then I woke up to this “breaking news” on CBS This Morning: [D]oping expert Thomas Hoberman, who is based at the University of Texas, believed the IOC chose not to ban the entire Russian team… Read more.
Swimming The entire aquatics venue greeted the Russian Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay team with resounding boos last night. International media have been saturated with reports about doping among Russian athletes in recent months. Therefore, the boos were hardly surprising, and Russian athletes must expect no less at this point. What was surprising, however, was watching Lilly… Read more.
Over the next 16 days, athletes will compete in 41 sports — from Archery to Wrestling. This is up from 32 in 2012. But am I the only one who fears diminishing returns? Nothing indicates this quite like so many top golfers snubbing their sport’s return to the Olympics after 112 years. I decried this in “Withdrawing from… Read more.
Here is what I published within hours after Ye Shiwen of China blew away the field in the women’s 400 individual medley on Day 1: [T]houghts of juiced-up East Germans came to mind when Sun Yang’s first-ever win for a Chinese male swimmer in the men’s 400m freestyle (shattering the Olympic record) was followed in… Read more.
It’s not as if the London organizers were not aware that this might be the case. It boggles the mind, therefore, that they did not enlist tens of thousands of volunteers (from pensioners to school kids) to show up at a moment’s notice to fill seats if ticket holders do not show up. They could… Read more.
Cycling Despite my cynical comments about the men’s road race yesterday, I was positively captivatedby the women’s today; no, not that. It helped though that the women have not been caught in nearly as many doping scandals, which meant that one could be fairly impressed by their remarkable form. What made this race so captivating was the way the 87 miles… Read more.
Over the next 16 days, Olympic competition will be held in 32 sports – from Archery to Wrestling. But even though I shall be indiscriminate in my viewing (on TV and the Internet), I shall be very discriminating in my commenting here. (Incidentally, can somebody explain the appeal of Badminton, which seems to defy gravity by… Read more.
Is it just me or are you also wondering why, with over 1 billion people at their beck and call, China’s totalitarian leaders have not ensured that all venues are always packed with spectators? Frankly, I find it more than a little difficult to reconcile all the Chinese hype about these Olympic Games being such a source… Read more.
