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The Rio Olympics


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There is still javelin left to compete but I wouldn't place too much hope on our guy.

I'm glad that Finland is doing totally shit. The fat highly-paid sport-bosses and other bureaucrats may be sacked, which serves them right.

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About half of the countries participating the olympics don't get a single medal. Some of them are actually quite big countries as well.

Then look at India; their tally is one silver and one bronze. A country of over 1bn population. However, they don't seem to care. I have never heard Indians complaining how relatively badly they perform at the olympics. It's just not a big deal for them.

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About half of the countries participating the olympics don't get a single medal. Some of them are actually quite big countries as well.

Then look at India; their tally is one silver and one bronze. A country of over 1bn population. However, they don't seem to care. I have never heard Indians complaining how relatively badly they perform at the olympics. It's just not a big deal for them.

There are different ways to look at the medal count:

Medal Count

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The Brits have done something right in the past 20 years. In Atlanta they got one gold medal, which was a dismal performance by their standards. Now they got 27.

Hosting an Olympics will do that. No host country wants to be embarrassed like Canada in Montreal and Calgary.

Heading into the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada made an effort to support athletes that had a legit shot at Medals (Own the Podium). Since then, they've been a Winter Olympics power. They've even Beaten the US in Gold Medals won in most of the past few Winter Olympics.

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So the Russians have been banned from the Rio Paralympics:

Ban

What a joke this is becoming. The Paralympics have been fighting for credibility ever since inception and now Russia gets banned. How many of these athletes are on pain relieving drugs - and if they are - who cares!!!

So the guy missing his right leg can swim faster than some guy missing his left leg.

This may give some people a fuzzy feeling but what does it mean when somebody with a handicap beats somebody else with a similar (but not necessarily the same) handicap? Who, besides politicians and parents of participants actually attend these games?

This extension to the real Olympics has been a loss for every Olympics and this latest joke, removing the handicapped from Russia, may put the nail in that coffin. And good riddance!

Edited by Big Guy
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Paralympics should be held at a bit longer time away from the actual olympics. Preferably another year. People might get interested in a different way. Now it's just "not again olympics" for most people.

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Paralympics should be held at a bit longer time away from the actual olympics. Preferably another year. People might get interested in a different way. Now it's just "not again olympics" for most people.

All the infrastructure is currently there already. Won't be the same doing it next year.

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The IOC didn't have the guts to ban Russians from the olympics because of state-sponsored doping because too much was at stake but they banned Russia from the paralympics as if doping was a big problem in paralympics. Such spineless muppets those guys are!

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So the Russians have been banned from the Rio Paralympics:

Ban

What a joke this is becoming. The Paralympics have been fighting for credibility ever since inception and now Russia gets banned. How many of these athletes are on pain relieving drugs - and if they are - who cares!!!

So the guy missing his right leg can swim faster than some guy missing his left leg.

This may give some people a fuzzy feeling but what does it mean when somebody with a handicap beats somebody else with a similar (but not necessarily the same) handicap? Who, besides politicians and parents of participants actually attend these games?

This extension to the real Olympics has been a loss for every Olympics and this latest joke, removing the handicapped from Russia, may put the nail in that coffin. And good riddance!

What an incredibly thoughtless post. The Paralympics are the 2nd largest sporting event in the world and your post reduces paralympic athletes to nothing more than competing for the amusement of fully abled people.

Why don't you consider the inspiration and hopes they provide to both the disabled and others who are not disabled. When I see someone competing in a wheelchair or on a sled with loss of limbs I feel humbled and inspired. Obviously it doesn't turn your crank but don't take away the glory from these athletes.

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What an incredibly thoughtless post. The Paralympics are the 2nd largest sporting event in the world and your post reduces paralympic athletes to nothing more than competing for the amusement of fully abled people.

Why don't you consider the inspiration and hopes they provide to both the disabled and others who are not disabled. When I see someone competing in a wheelchair or on a sled with loss of limbs I feel humbled and inspired. Obviously it doesn't turn your crank but don't take away the glory from these athletes.

We obviously see things differently. The post is not thought less, in fact it is an position I have had for a number of years questioning how government money and resources were targeted in athletics.

I have watched some of the competitions and do not find a person with no arms, using a particular kick, competing with others in the same (or similar) disability transporting across deep water to be humbled or inspired. I find it bizarre and not dissimilar to things I had seen in the past in carnival shows displaying deformed people as a highlight. I find nothing amusing about that.

When I see "someone competing in a wheelchair or on a sled with loss of limbs" I feel very good for them and applaud their ability to deal with life's bad turns but what has that got to do with athletics and competition?

Just because you are handicapped does not mean that you are stupid. These folks understand that the vast, vast number of handicapped people on this planet not only have a shortened life expectancy but certainly not the support and funding to compete in anything. This is a showcase for rich, entitled handicapped folks.

I would much prefer that any monies Canadian taxpayers have NOT be put into this questionable spectacle be put towards prosthetics and transportation devices for those who cannot afford them - just to survive - not to compete.

BTW - I may disagree with your opinions but I do respect where they are coming from. I do appreciate your criticism and hope they never end.

Edited by Big Guy
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I am curious how they "level" the playing field with people competing with different disabilities in the same event.

For example there's an ad they've been showing of a swimmer with obvious cerebral palsy. Does she compete against only people with similar cerebral palsy? Or does she have an advantage or disadvantage over other people because her condition is worse or less.

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I am curious how they "level" the playing field with people competing with different disabilities in the same event.

For example there's an ad they've been showing of a swimmer with obvious cerebral palsy. Does she compete against only people with similar cerebral palsy? Or does she have an advantage or disadvantage over other people because her condition is worse or less.

That is why I have great difficulty with the Paralympic concept. It tries to ride the coattails of the "real" Olympics but has nothing really to do with competition and or deciding on who is better than whom. It may make supporters "feel good" about setting up an artificial criteria for competition but has no validity in reality.

The other difficulty I have is the money spent on this event could be spent on providing prosthetics to people so they could just find employment rather than paying for certain handicapped people to get to these artificial and useless events.

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Soccer has largely escaped politics unlike the olympics where two olympics were ruined by boycotts. First the 1980 olymoics which the USA boycotted and then the 1984 olympics which were a tit-for-tat boycott-games on part of the eastern bloc. There have only been two times that politics influenced decisions in soccer was in 1992 when Yugoslavia was banned from the European Championships and the first occasion when in 1950 Germany was banned from the world cup.

However, I expect this to change as the 2018 world cup will be in Russia. If Ukraine and the Netherlands qualify they will most likely boycott the tournament and many others will refuse to participate a tournament boosting Putin's ego.

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