Tokyo Olympics 2021

Thanks for that. I still think though that there should be a way ti communicate the calamity of the forming gap in TP, be it verbal or non-verbal. It rarely happens to the bigger (more experienced) teams, but when there is one riders stronger than the rest. My experience in TP is very limited (never in competition), but with a coach (and empty velodrome) it should be possible to warn the team with some kind of signal imo. Very easy to say from behind the tele though :)

Not so bendy when they fall?
The GB rider at 13 wasn’t even the youngest on the podium!!
And she almost needed a ladder to get out of the park

Most of the world’s professional skateboarders aren’t particularly interested in competing in the Olympics, for many, competition skateboarding would water down their image… this leaves kids who have been coached from a young age to compete. This is more obvious in the women’s group because there are less women involved in skateboarding to begin with and so there are less ‘willing participants’ aged in the older bracket you mentioned, they probably also have to think even harder about whether it is worth risking their hard-won reputation in a male-dominated activity.

Youngest ever medal winner? 12yo Japanese gold has to be up there.

Think there was a 10-yr old male gymnast in about 1908, but yeah, must be the youngest post-WW2?

Just watched Sky Browns bronze medal run.
Pretty brave to try the same trick you bailed on in both the earlier runs.

Also, really strong camaraderie with the skateboarding athletes, really happy for everyone elses runs and cheering every step.

(and as mentioned earlier, really young on the women's side)

Pretty brave to try the same trick you bailed on in both the earlier runs.

Amazing composure! I thought the same about the woman who won the BMX freestyle with the same kind of grit.

Wow. That’s a bit scarey.

How do you think people get across the Channel in cold water without fuelling?

Honestly, I'd never thought about it. It just not something that crossed my mind. I guess you learn something every day.

It's a real science for distance swimmers - needing to take on a mix of water, hot drinks, energy-dense foods that you can imbibe really quickly and your body can handle while constantly swimming. Feeds are usually done hourly and last 20 seconds max as every second you're not swimming, you're drifting. A lot of Channel training involves experimenting with nutrition. Probably a bit more straightforward for the 10km swimmers.

Climbing is great fun.

Ahh gutted I'm missing the climbing

What order are they doing the climbing in? Have I missed the lead?

Just checked and seen it's Speed, Boulder, Lead so I haven't

No - just the speed thing (for women) so far I think. Mens heats might have been already.

What order are they doing the climbing in?

bottom to top

Softies, climbing down is harder

Most of the world’ professional skateboarders aren’t particularly interested in competing in the Olympics, for many, competition skateboarding would water down their image…

Exactly this. It took three full Olympic cycles before the better/best BMX riders in the world started to go to the Olympics.

The standard of the Men's skating at this Olympics was pretty low this year too.

FFS now the Kiwis are falling off too. Such a shame as that minor final was unbelievably close up until then

Ballsed it up there nz, don't overlap wheels. Feel like we should have won that.

I never appreciated how good the BBC coverage used to be when they had the rights to show everything. Really a shame how restricted they are this year.

The standard of the Men's skating at this Olympics was pretty low this year too

That feels a little unfair, for example the US sent Nyjah Huston who's been doing similar competitions since the 00s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyjah_Huston
Jagger Eaton who's been going the same since the 10s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagger_Eaton

The French team send Milou who's been competing since 2014
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Milou

Peru sent Navarez, also competing since 2014
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Caro_Narvaez

etc

Amazing ride from the Italians, that was an excellent final

How on earth did Ganna drag back nearly a one second gap in three laps?! Outrageous. Delighted for Italy.

Wow, that was impressive.