Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics

[Edweis]

Gaelle, I hope the French basketball team can beat the US

And they didn't I saw pictures, they were in tears at the end, truly sad they missed this opportunity. USA was in the lead all along and we made some mistakes, but they fought well and weren't far behind. They can be proud of themselves
It's good news for 2024 though, they have room for improvment and will want to win more than ever on homesoil.

 

[ShoeFlo]

Until a few days ago, it looked like we would comfortably reach our goal of 40+ medals.
In the past days however we had some tragic and unlucky incidents for some of our best athletes (injuries of our best Decathlon & Karate athlete, and a "horse disaster" for our best female Modern Pentathlon athlese which costed her a safe gold medal), moreover our Canoe racers surprisingly flopped, apart from our Men's 4er boat. So now it looks like we could remain below 40 medals which would be historical disaster for Germany.
We are at 37 medals now. Hinze in the women bicycle sprint, our Equestrian jumping team & our javelin thrower Vetter are our last good medal contenders to avoid the disaster, moreover our female 10.000 metres runner Klosterhafen and two of our Keirin racers at least have underdog chances to win something. But after the last couple of days I am just happy when this Games are over for us

 

[ShoeFlo]

The Top 15 longest javelin throws since 2020:

Now, can you imagine that the guy named Vetter ends up on 9th place in the Olympic Final? I can't do either.

I don't know why but half of the German top athletes are either badly prepared for Olympics or simply mental wracks but I wonder why is that because the average German is a couch potato who only cares about football of all sports. There is less medial pressure here, they are far from being superstars in spotlight (then again they aren't financially backed as superstars either, which is the core of the problem regarding the bad sports promotion in Germany)

Well, nevermind, I am happy for the success of "smaller" nations this time, there are quite a few who did well this time. First and foremost the Netherlands and Italy, but also Norway with repectable four gold medals, and Austria who left London 2012 with a blank sheet, won 7 medals this time. India (admittely not a small country, but small in sports) have also win respectable 7 medals, and even one in gold Turkey also achieved their highest score - 13 medals

I am hoping for a nice last day tomorrow and a joyful closing ceremony

 

[esc87fan]

As I went to bed, picked up another bronze medal, this one in women's C-2 500m

With that, Tokyo 2020(1) surpasses Atlanta 1996 and Rio 2016 for the most medals won by at a non-boycotted Summer Olympics. And with all the top 5s recorded and national records smashed, I could only imagine what the haul is going to be like at Paris 2024

Our closing ceremony flagbearer(s) will be announced at 6:30pm Toronto time

 

[EscGeek]

5 medals with 3 gold ones translates to our most successful summer olympics ever, but i guess I'll have to wait at least three more years for our first medal in team sport.



I find team sports successes much more beautiful than one person from my country dominating the shit out of everyone else. (I'm grateful for those too, don't get me wrong)

 

[cegs5]

And they didn't I saw pictures, they were in tears at the end, truly sad they missed this opportunity. USA was in the lead all along and we made some mistakes, but they fought well and weren't far behind. They can be proud of themselves
It's good news for 2024 though, they have room for improvment and will want to win more than ever on homesoil.

Congratulations on the Gold Medal in Men’s Volleyball though!
I’m curious about the French media coverage amd people’s reaction. Is volleyball popular in France? I guess any gold medal would make people talk about it, but just wondering how impactful it actually is.

I am currently in Barcelona and had to follow the match via Eurosport Spain, which is painful (Eurosport UK were much better informed). The comentators has been underestimating the French team continously. I’m sure they had no clue France has won EuroVolley and World League in the past. Just wondering if it is the same in France, if people are aware they have been a strong team for years, although Olympics were elusive until today.

 

[Edweis]

Congratulations on the Gold Medal in Men’s Volleyball though!
I’m curious about the French media coverage amd people’s reaction. Is volleyball popular in France? I guess any gold medal would make people talk about it, but just wondering how impactful it actually is.

I am currently in Barcelona and had to follow the match via Eurosport Spain, which is painful (Eurosport UK were much better informed). The comentators has been underestimating the French team continously. I’m sure they had no clue France has won EuroVolley and World League in the past. Just wondering if it is the same in France, if people are aware they have been a strong team for years, although Olympics were elusive until today.

Thanks

To answer your question, Olympics have a great audience so millions of French saw it live. 2 hours ago "ILS L'ONT FAIT" and "Monstrueux" were our top 2 of twitter trends, our handball and volleyball wins will be on the cover of many journals tomorrow without a doubt.

Football is obviously the most popular sport here, the national teams' matches are shown on the main TV channels and plenty of people follow our national championship and the CL. When it comes to other teams sports, their TV coverage is almost non-existent. In that sense, they can't pretend to have 5% of the popularity football has.
Our expertise in handball is quite common knowledge too, and this 3rd title in 4 Olympics will secure it, however those who are not interested in sports in general have no idea.
If they are, they know we aren't useless when it comes to volleyball. As you said, we won the World League 2 times (I remember that in 2015 it made the big news), and are always decent in championships. Still, it was the first time we even reached quarter finals in Olympics so I don't blame Eurosport Spain for underestimating us : we have been great yes, but to the point of winning the whole thing ? No one would have bet on us, which makes this victory even more impactful, especially as the coach will retire.

Now if we talk more about the number of players : volleyball federation comes only at 17th place in the number of members ranking with 144 000. It's quite low, especially compared to basketball (6th, 516000) and handball (5th, 550 000).
If anyone's curious to see which federations make up the top 35 : https://sportbusiness.club/dix-millions-de-sportifs-licencies-en-2019/
Still, I finished my 6th year in Sports Science, I always had at least 1 player in my class (out of 25 or so). Surprisingly, they were always girls.

I have no doubt this win will bring new people to volleyball clubs, as it did with judo after 2012 and 2016.

 

[cegs5]

Thanks

To answer your question, Olympics have a great audience so millions of French saw it live. 2 hours ago "ILS L'ONT FAIT" and "Monstrueux" were our top 2 of twitter trends, our handball and volleyball wins will be on the cover of many journals tomorrow without a doubt.

Football is obviously the most popular sport here, the national teams' matches are shown on the main TV channels and plenty of people follow our national championship and the CL. When it comes to other teams sports, their TV coverage is almost non-existent. In that sense, they can't pretend to have 5% of the popularity football has.
Our expertise in handball is quite common knowledge too, and this 3rd title in 4 Olympics will secure it, however those who are not interested in sports in general have no idea.
If they are, they know we aren't useless when it comes to volleyball. As you said, we won the World League 2 times (I remember that in 2015 it made the big news), and are always decent in championships. Still, it was the first time we even reached quarter finals in Olympics so I don't blame Eurosport Spain for underestimating us : we have been great yes, but to the point of winning the whole thing ? No one would have bet on us, which makes this victory even more impactful, especially as the coach will retire.

Now if we talk more about the number of players : volleyball federation comes only at 17th place in the number of members ranking with 144 000. It's quite low, especially compared to basketball (6th, 516000) and handball (5th, 550 000).
If anyone's curious to see which federations make up the top 35 : https://sportbusiness.club/dix-millions-de-sportifs-licencies-en-2019/
Still, I finished my 6th year in Sports Science, I always had at least 1 player in my class (out of 25 or so). Surprisingly, they were always girls.

I have no doubt this win will bring new people to volleyball clubs, as it did with judo after 2012 and 2016.

Thank you for your detailed answer. It’s clearer now for me now.
Hoping for the development of women’s volleyball in France too. I know their national league has been growing lately, but the good results will take more time.

 

[esc87fan]

Decathlon champion Damian Warner has been chosen as Team Canada's flagbearer for the closing ceremonies

 

[njdevils94]

5 medals with 3 gold ones translates to our most successful summer olympics ever, but i guess I'll have to wait at least three more years for our first medal in team sport.



I find team sports successes much more beautiful than one person from my country dominating the shit out of everyone else. (I'm grateful for those too, don't get me wrong)

Have you become a sports climbing fan now after Janja Garnbret's gold?

 

[Milos-BC]

Our female basketball team lost against and unfortunately no medal for us. Nothing bad can be said, the girls gave their best, they are still the current European champions, but a better team took the bronze medal on this tournament.

The season was exhausting, and they didn't have the energy to pull this off until the end. Also, we had several victories against in important matches, it wouldn't be realistic to win now as well. The teams have equal quality.

Congratulations @Edweis !

 

[EscGeek]

Have you become a sports climbing fan now after Janja Garnbret's gold?

I'm still not familiar with the points system, but it was entertaining to watch.

 

[esc87fan]

Gold medal for in track cycling - Kelsey Mitchell won the women's sprint!

7 gold for Canada - this ties Barcelona 1992 for the most gold medals won by Canadian athletes in a non-boycotted Games

 

[Edweis]

Our female basketball team lost against and unfortunately no medal for us. Nothing bad can be said, the girls gave their best, they are still the current European champions, but a better team took the bronze medal on this tournament.

The season was exhausting, and they didn't have the energy to pull this off until the end. Also, we had several victories against in important matches, it wouldn't be realistic to win now as well. The teams have equal quality.

Congratulations @Edweis !

After the losses against in big competitions (like the bronze medal match in Rio) they wanted to win more than anything But it was once again a great fight.


Now let me gush about the Women's Handball win As for the men, we were facing our 2016 opponent, to whom we lost to, and as for the men, we got the title I'm so happy to see both teams showing their true strength at the same time again after they both won the 2017 WC.

 

[Edweis]

Time to talk about these two weeks. First, it has been great to see some semblance of normality once again, it would have been tragic for these athletes not to be able t defend their chances.

Obviously, I have a thought for the Japanese people who couldn't benefit from these Olympics, culturally and economically. There wasn't much more to do, but it's still sad.
That's why I don't want to miss the opportunity to go to Paris 2024. For a sports lover, having the Olympic Games in your country is a dream come true so count on me for rushing to the tickets once the box office opens. I WANT to go to that opening ceremony.


The notable moments :
- The shared gold in the high jump, screw play-off, they decided to keep the gold for both of them. I don't think many athletes would have decided to fight to break the tie, but still, it was a nice moment.
- I really wanted Armand Duplantis to break that world record. He almost had it, he was just lacking some depth but it's a great sign for the future. He's so young, he'll hopefully be there for a long time so I can't wait to watch him because the god of pole vault.
- Some thinking needs to be done about the format, but I'm glad climbing entered the Olympics. It's great to watch on TV and is a very interesting sport in general.

I'm proud of all the French athletes who won a medal or didn't win any, but if I had to note a few :
- The gold medal in the judo's team event. They truly seemed more than happy than when they won their individual medals, and beating Japan in Japan was a huge feat.
- The volley gold medal, for a team that spent the last decade building itself with the help of coach Laurent Tillie, who's gonna retire with the best award he could have ever won. It didn't happen overnight and this ultimate consecration is something that will hopefully be remembered for a while and will bring kids to volleyball grounds in September.
- The double win in handball couldn't have been more perfect.
- Kevin Mayer's silver in decathlon, our only medal in athletics, which is a very low outcome. Like I said, he was injured, after the first day it wasn't even sure he would be able to finish on the podium, but he fought and did a great performance in high jump, pole vault and javelin to get silver.

In the end we got 33 medals and 10 in gold. It's our lowest total since 2004, in that aspect it's quite a disappointment. However we got as much gold as in Rio so it's not as bad.


Our flag holder during the closing ceremony will be Steven Da Costa, our karate gold medalist. As karate won't be in Paris (I hope our organisation committee change their minds and invite it back) and hence he won't be able to defend his title, I think it's a nice gesture to let him have this honour.

Next stop is Beijing 2022. Despite the fact I'm quite reserved about Beijing's legitimacy in hosting the Winter Olympics of all things, I'm excited. After all winter sports are my area of expertise.

 

[AlekS]

From gold to bronze:

Even though we've got only 1 gold, by quantity it's equal to 2012, within our usual pattern of 19-23 medals Only 2016 was a total flop (just 11).

 

[Milos-BC]

And we managed to close the tournament in the best possible way - with Olympic gold in water polo

A perfect conclusion of these amazing Olympic games and this particular gold means a lot to us. Unfortunately, some players are retiring from the national team, but it was a great run. 13 years of continuous success for this particular line up, it was a good run indeed. These people deserved to retire with style and this is why this gold is so important.

I have to congratulate as well, they really grew as a team, and I think they have a bright future ahead.



Also congratulations to our female volleyball team on a well-deserved bronze medal.

Even though many wanted more, bronze medal is just as awesome as well. I am proud of everything they achieved on this competition.


All in all, 9 medals for . It could have been better, it could have been worse, but it is our best result since the end of and it is a good result. I am sad the Olympic games are over, I really enjoyed these two weeks, but I am looking forward to Paris and I am sure will be a great host.

 

[Looren]

Well it's the end of these OG for us !

The Moroccan hero is of course Soufiane El Bakkali, congrats Soufiane for bringing this gold medal, I always believed in you (sometimes even felt like I was the only one believing in him )

A gold medal is clearly enough for us, see y'all in Paris !

 

[Edweis]

From gold to bronze:

Even though we've got only 1 gold, by quantity it's equal to 2012, within our usual pattern of 19-23 medals Only 2016 was a total flop (just 11).

Kinda OOT, but I really love the colors of the Ukrainian clothes

 

[esc87fan]

I'm looking forward to Paris 2024, I know the French will host an amazing event