❄️ WINTER OLYMPICS ❄️ - Today's Events: Skiing, Luge, Skating, Hockey, Snowboarding, Curling, Biathlon

ZenMode said:
Yes. The country will never be perfect in the eyes of everyone. No matter who is president, there will be a decent portion of the country that does not like them or their policies.
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I agree wholeheartedly with this point. My point is that the president sets the diplomatic tone for the country. When Trump is spewing negativity constantly, on social media and in person, it's really difficult for me to correct an athlete's comments when they are innocuous by comparison. Were MAGA Trump to say something like, ""Just because I wear the flag doesn't mean that I represent everything that's going on in the US" we would consider that comment tempered and even downright diplomatic.
 
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ZenMode said:
Yes. The country will never be perfect in the eyes of everyone. No matter who is president, there will be a decent portion of the country that does not like them or their policies.

Trump isn't the United States and he doesn't define the United States. He's just one person.

Athletes aren't there representing Trump, ICE, Republicans, Democrats or anything else. They are there representing the greatest country on the planet.
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Trump and the corrupt incompetent members of his administration, ICE ,and the craven cowardly GQPers in Congress also represent the United States and define our country today.

They bear the blame for the booing that our American Olympic team is suffering. We may have been a shining city on a hill in years past but we are not today, and the rest of the global free world knows it.

Today we are no longer the "greatest country" on the planet unless you include Russia, China, and Hungary in a tie with us for "greatest country "

I feel sorry for our wonderful Olympic athletes who have to bear the burden. I don't blame them if they are reluctant to bend the knee and pretend that what the whole free world is seeing is not what is happening.
 
Zoo_View said:
I think gymnastics has cleaned itself up enormously.

Figure skating? I doubt it. Too much post-Olympics Icecapades money.

And, the skating “team event” is just BS. Made for TV viewers. Why does a victory by hundredths (0.00) get a 1.0 point differential? Add up the individual scores and determine the team winner.

I’m not a big “team” Olympics fan.
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That's all well and good but is moving the goalposts from your initial criticism.

If you don't like watching the sport, that's completely fine. It's not my favorite either. Neither is gymnastics. But if your biggest issue was the subjectivity/corruption angle, they have done a lot of work to try to address that.
 
ZenMode said:
Yes. The country will never be perfect in the eyes of everyone. No matter who is president, there will be a decent portion of the country that does not like them or their policies.

Trump isn't the United States and he doesn't define the United States. He's just one person.

Athletes aren't there representing Trump, ICE, Republicans, Democrats or anything else. They are there representing the greatest country on the planet.
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Right, and this is why the Trump/MAGA attempts to impose a vision of America that is defined by a singular vision of what they believe to be singularly "American" culture are so offensive. Countries with 350 million people can't be homogenous, and it is insane to attempt to impose homogeneity on them, especially in the USA which has always celebrated being a pluralistic society (and, I think pretty clearly, been stronger for it).
 
sringwal said:
"Just because I wear the flag doesn't mean that I represent everything that's going on in the US."

I'm not sure what the difference is, to be honest, between what he said and what you just wrote.
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I was talking about the comment about having "mixed emotions" or "mixed feelings" about representing the US.

Don't know if it was Hess or the other athlete who said it.
 
ZenMode said:
I was talking about the comment about having "mixed emotions" or "mixed feelings" about representing the US.
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In the history of social discourse, even as it relates to athletes, that is an entirely benal statement. That is the dry wheat toast of political expression/dissent.
 
www.theguardian.com

Norwegian biathlete wins Winter Olympics bronze and then tells TV interview of affair

Sturla Holm Lægreid broke down in tears after winning bronze in the men’s 20km biathlon and apologised for having an affair
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Johan-Olav Botn won gold, with the Frenchman Éric Perrot in second, but it was Lægreid who stunned television viewers in Norway after opening up to the broadcaster NRK about his private life over the past six months.

“There is something I want to share with someone who may not be watching today,” he said. “Half a year ago I met the love of my life. The world’s most beautiful and nicest person. Three months ago I made the mistake of my life and cheated on her, and I told her about that a week ago. This has been the worst week of my life.”

Buddy… this is not the time.
 
nrsair said:
. . .. Buddy… this is not the time.
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Despite have been married for nearly 45 years, I readily admit I know nothing about marriage. But I'm pretty sure a televised Olympic podium is not the place to either reveal or repent from a marital infidelity. This is more of a "let me rub your nose in my feces" than it is a "look how sorry I am" moment. But then, he is a biathlete, so his wife probably shouldn't have been expecting faithfulness. Also, I never knew being bi was an Olympic sport.
 
ChileG said:
Tommie Smith and John Carlos should have just kept their fists down and mouths shut, apparently.
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Yeah !

I watched that medal ceremony and thought that those negroes did not appreciate how lucky they were to represent the greatest country on the planet.

And yes, their fists were raised as a defiant statement against the systemic oppression of black people in the US, but why couldn't they just be good negroes and put that aside for the Olympics and turn a blind eye to what was going on in 1968 at the time.

Isn't that what America is all about ? Yes, we have the right to protest and exercise our 1st Amendment rights, but do we really need to bring those issues into the Olympics for the whole world to see ?
 
05C40 said:
Despite have been married for nearly 45 years, I readily admit I know nothing about marriage. But I'm pretty sure a televised Olympic podium is not the place to either reveal or repent from a marital infidelity. This is more of a "let me rub your nose in my feces" than it is a "look how sorry I am" moment. But then, he is a biathlete, so his wife probably shouldn't have been expecting faithfulness. Also, I never knew being bi was an Olympic sport.
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Definitely agree that it’s not the place but they weren’t married and if the timeline he gives is right, he cheated 3 months into a 6 month relationship. Makes it somewhat stranger.
 
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