The Rio Olympics

[WestCoastRunner]

Rosie McClennan defends her Gold from London.

Still only women winning medals.

Canadian men must suck!

Why don't you say what you really mean.

[WestCoastRunner]

A few sexist quotes at the rio olympics:

"It took only a few steps from Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen during the Opening Ceremony for the CBCs Peter Mansbridge to quickly recognize who was doing the walking. His question: Isnt that Mrs. Tom Brady?

"When Majlinda Kelmendi became the first person from Kosovo to ever win an Olympic medal, gold in the womens 52kg judo final, a BBC commentator described the final as a catfight.

"And when three-time Olympian Corey Cogdell-Unrein won a medal in trapshooting, the Chicago Tribune didnt even mention her name in a tweet about her achievementinstead proclaiming that the wife of a Chicago Bears football player won bronze."

"The following morning, in interview-acrobatic feat, Ron MacLean managed to steer the conversation from Oleksiaks silver medal-winning performance to a video of her older brothers NHL draft day. MacLean then asked if Oleksiaks brother has ever told her stories about Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn. I havent heard a lot about Jamie Benn but Ive watched him play, Penny answered."

"MacLean also prompted a video of Pennys brother scoring his one and only NHL goalnever mind that Penny already has two Olympic medals around her neck. And if the Oleksiak family were not in Rio, but instead back home, they could have picked up a copy of the Toronto Sun with Oleskiak on the cover with the headline: Pretty Penny.

"So while Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is the two-time reigning Olympic champion in womens 100-metre, her countryman Usain Bolt has the distinction of being the two-time reigning 100-metre Olympic championnot mens 100-metre.

"And yet, as Jessica Ennis Hill returns to Rio to defend her Olympic gold medal in heptathlon from London 2012, plenty of media coverage from the U.K. is focused on her recent marriage and post-pregnancy performances, not her attempt to repeat her gold-medal performance."

This is just scratching the surface.

[Hal 9000]

You have blinders on.

Calling Katie Ledecky 'the female Michael phelps'. Wtf!

WTF indeed, It's an undeserved compliment. But is comparing her to the most successful swimmer in history really so terrible. BTW, they've also compared Phelps to some female gymnast.

On Simone Biles: she may go higher then the men. Why the need to compare to men.

Another compliment - speaking to her strength.

Crediting the gold medal Hungarian swimmer to her husband. He didn't swim!

Some would say - her coach! Coaches get credit all the time regardless of gender.

Commenting on a competitors leotards. Seriously?

I have no idea what this comment was - or was about.

Our women are doing great and here you are complaining about very minor comments - and they are minor. You're angry, you hate men, i get it, but why not relax and try to enjoy the success of our Canadian women - you're wasting what should be a great moment.

[WestCoastRunner]

Calling Katie Ledecky 'the female Michael phelps'. Wtf!

WTF indeed, It's an undeserved compliment. But is comparing her to the most successful swimmer in history really so terrible. BTW, they've also compared Phelps to some female gymnast.

On Simone Biles: she may go higher then the men. Why the need to compare to men.

Another compliment - speaking to her strength.

Crediting the gold medal Hungarian swimmer to her husband. He didn't swim!

Some would say - her coach! Coaches get credit all the time regardless of gender.

Commenting on a competitors leotards. Seriously?

I have no idea what this comment was - or was about.

Our women are doing great and here you are complaining about very minor comments - and they are minor. You're angry, you hate men, i get it, but why not relax and try to enjoy the success of our Canadian women - you're wasting what should be a great moment.

Heh. Of course I'm a man hating feminist nazi.

[Big Guy]

Except you, because you think her achievements are tainted by Anti-Doping measures right?

What I believe is what I post. What you state is bogus.

I will give the credibility to her achievements that I believe and you may ....

Then there is:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/08/12/chinese-swimmer-chen-xinyi-provisional-doping-suspension/88624452/

But of course, all dopers are being caught so ...

[WestCoastRunner]

Calling Katie Ledecky 'the female Michael phelps'. Wtf!

WTF indeed, It's an undeserved compliment. But is comparing her to the most successful swimmer in history really so terrible. BTW, they've also compared Phelps to some female gymnast.

On Simone Biles: she may go higher then the men. Why the need to compare to men.

Another compliment - speaking to her strength.

Crediting the gold medal Hungarian swimmer to her husband. He didn't swim!

Some would say - her coach! Coaches get credit all the time regardless of gender.

Commenting on a competitors leotards. Seriously?

I have no idea what this comment was - or was about.

Our women are doing great and here you are complaining about very minor comments - and they are minor. You're angry, you hate men, i get it, but why not relax and try to enjoy the success of our Canadian women - you're wasting what should be a great moment.

If you can't understand the issues that women find with these comments, nothing I can say would matter.

[Hal 9000]

If you can't understand the issues that women find with these comments, nothing I can say would matter.

Women have issues...or is it you that has issues with these comments?

First off, as I said, this olympic games is all women - all the time. Almost all the features , interviews and even commercials on CBC are female centric. You'd be hard pressed to even know there were Canadian men at the olympics by watching CBC. As for mens coverage, I hear the Name Michael Phelps a lot, but beyond that, there is very little.

Second, Comparing Katie Ledecky (an american swimming star) to Michael Phelps ( an american swimming star) is not as nefarious as you'd like to believe. I would bet anything that she has no issues with the comparison. I think it's you (or your imagination) that has this issue.

Kadinka Hosszu - Coaches in swimming as in gymnastics and figure skating get featured in these competitions - always! You're issue is that this particular coach is a man and also her *gasp* husband - and lets face it, crediting a husband for the success of the wife just won't do. That's the real issue, isn't it?.

Simone Biles - Well, Is it really so horrible that some commentator is suggesting that this woman could compete equally with the men?

Mike Fisher - I've heard commentators refer to Mike Fisher as Mr. Underwood - many times, and with no outrage.

The issues really are yours and how you're viewing this. You could choose to be happy and proud of our women athletes, but you're choosing to scratch around for some injustice - it's sad actually.

[The_Squid]

Well that escalated quickly.

Penny Oleksiak wins her 4th medal of the games. With Canada's first Gold of the games BTW. That makes her the most successful Canadian Summer Olympian ever and puts her a medal behind Cindy Klassen as the most successful Canadian Olympian ever.

AND SHE'S 16!!!!!!

Lock for the Lou Marsh this year.

Meh... If hockey gave out 4 or 5 medals, Crosby would be up there too...

How do you compare a sport that has several different events with a sport that only hands out 1 medal?

[The_Squid]

Second, Comparing Katie Ledecky (an american swimming star) to Michael Phelps ( an american swimming star) is not as nefarious as you'd like to believe. I would bet anything that she has no issues with the comparison. I think it's you (or your imagination) that has this issue.

Has a male athlete ever been called the male-version of a female athlete? Ever?

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-11/michael-phelps-is-katie-ledecky-and-other-male-female-athlete-equivalents

[Hal 9000]

Has a male athlete ever been called the male-version of a female athlete? Ever?

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-11/michael-phelps-is-katie-ledecky-and-other-male-female-athlete-equivalents

Well, I have seen it, can't say I've seen it often, but I have seen men compared to the Williams sisters. Cite? No, I won't do that because it really doesn't matter.

So, you're issue is that women get compared to their male counterparts - and this is a problem! Would the alternative be to not bother comparing them and simply writing off women in sports as being inferior? The women's 100m sprint is nearly a second slower than the men's and I would suggest nearly every (if not every world record in track, swimming, biking etc) world record is held by a man. All the world records in swimming are held by men. The best hockey player, golfer, basketball player, tennis player etc etc are all men.

We know that men and women compete on different levels. The best female swimmer wouldn't even medal if she was competing with men, so we can either compliment a woman by comparing her to her male counterpart or we can say "she's very good - for a girl", which I would find insulting. I think that there would be outrage if we said "yeah, you can compare her to other women, but please don't compare her to Michael Phelps and there would be outrage (as we see) when we do compare her to Michael Phelps - essentially, WCR just wants to stir it up.

I like watching many women's sports more than men's sports, and I think it's great what our women are doing in this olympics.

[-TSS-]

I can see Canada has two gold-medals. I don't know where they are from but well done nevertheless.

I sincerely hope that Finland doesn't get a single medal in these games. That would serve right all those big fat sport-bosses whose number in Rio is bigger than the number of actual athletes.

My hope may come true. The only realistic medal-chance in the remaining events is men's javelin. Shooters and sailors used to be big hope for Finland but both have thus far failed miserably.

[SpankyMcFarland]

I wish the TV channels would keep one just for Olympic track and field. I missed both 10k finals which would never have happened on Brit TV. By mistake, I ended up recording hours of Olympic golf, the penultimate abomination, despite Bell promising lots of other sports (although I would not count anything even I can do well, like golf, as a sport). The ultimate horror figured later - baseball (ugh) which figured in one TSN 'Olympic' spot I recorded. I hope I never have to see A-Rod crying again in the years left to me.

[Big Guy]

Some people watching the games are surprised that most athletes get paid for winning medals. The amateur thing is of the past. Canadian folks get $20,000 for a gold, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for bronze.

http://www.moneysense.ca/olympics/rio-olympics-2016-how-much-prize-money-canadian-gold-medalists-win/

Do you think Canada should be paying our athletes for medal placings?

If you do, how much should each medalist get?

[WestCoastRunner]

Some people watching the games are surprised that most athletes get paid for winning medals. The amateur thing is of the past. Canadian folks get $20,000 for a gold, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for bronze.

http://www.moneysense.ca/olympics/rio-olympics-2016-how-much-prize-money-canadian-gold-medalists-win/

Do you think Canada should be paying our athletes for medal placings?

If you do, how much should each medalist get?

This is a no brainer. Of course they should and I think much more considering the years of training and sacrifice.

[Hal 9000]

Some people watching the games are surprised that most athletes get paid for winning medals. The amateur thing is of the past. Canadian folks get $20,000 for a gold, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for bronze.

http://www.moneysense.ca/olympics/rio-olympics-2016-how-much-prize-money-canadian-gold-medalists-win/

Do you think Canada should be paying our athletes for medal placings?

If you do, how much should each medalist get?

They should get more than that AFAIC - And sponsors should give them more for appearances and TV spots too. CBC (or whoever) should pay them for interviews. I think our athletes gets exploited by Canadian TV and their sponsors.

In the US, they say that a gold medal is worth a $million dollars to an athelete.

[capricorn]

Some people watching the games are surprised that most athletes get paid for winning medals. The amateur thing is of the past. Canadian folks get $20,000 for a gold, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for bronze.

Triple that payout. Also, could we not spend more money into preparing our athletes for international competitions? One more thing, am I wrong or are professional golfers competing in the olympics. If so, I am totally against this.

[eyeball]

Let supporters pay for it. I have no more interest in funding Olympians than I do our military adventures.

[capricorn]

Let supporters pay for it.

In the grand scheme it's not a huge amount of money. It might just foster peace and love among some countries.

[Boges]

Andre DeGraisse won Bronze last night in the 100m Finals. That's HUGE!!!! Usian Bolt still won his third straight Gold but DeGraisse is set to be the next Donovan Baily.

Is Usian Bolt the greatest Olympian ever?

Edited August 15, 2016 by Boges

[Big Guy]

...

Is Usian Bolt the greatest Olympian ever?

What objective criteria would you suggest be used to make that decision?

[Boges]

What objective criteria would you suggest be used to make that decision?

Currently undefeated in every event he's entered. He's won the signature Olympic even in 3 consecutive Olympics. He currently has the World Records in each of the events he's entered in too.

[Big Guy]

Currently undefeated in every event he's entered. He's won the signature Olympic even in 3 consecutive Olympics. He currently has the World Records in each of the events he's entered in too.

I respectfully ask why would you consider his achievements as superior to those of Michael Phelps? I won't bother reciting his records but the numbers appear greater than those of Bolt.

[Boges]

I respectfully ask why would you consider his achievements as superior to those of Michael Phelps? I won't bother reciting his records but the numbers appear greater than those of Bolt.

See the debate earlier. The volume of events Phelps competes him allows him to rack up medals. He can specialize in Two Strokes, Individual Medley's and Relays. He's also racked up his medal count over 4 Olympics.

Being the fastest man in the world is more prestigious than being the world's best swimmer.

It's a lively debate, but I don't think going by medal count should be the most important factor.

[Hal 9000]

See the debate earlier. The volume of events Phelps competes him allows him to rack up medals. He can specialize in Two Strokes, Individual Medley's and Relays. He's also racked up his medal count over 4 Olympics.

Being the fastest man in the world is more prestigious than being the world's best swimmer.

It's a lively debate, but I don't think going by medal count should be the most important factor.

I agree with the prestige aspect and I also think that there are way too many medals to be had in swimming, but c'mon Phelps has an average of 7 medals (mostly gold) in each of the last 4 Olympiads - that's complete domination of a sport.

[Guest]

Daley Thompson was pretty good. I think an athlete should do at least ten events to be considered best of all time.