We watch the Olympics all day so you don't have to. A huge shame for Simone Biles dropping out of the team competition, referring to mental stress pressures. Oddly, last night I was watching yet another TV ad with her and thought, “Geez, she’s getting stretched awfully thin.” I know that this isn’t The Cause, nor directly related to that, but I’m sure it’s part of the larger picture. What isn’t clear in any of the articles I’ve read is if she’s pulled out of the rest of the Olympics, including the individual events that come later, or only from the team competition because she felt she would drag down the rest of the team. But in the individual events, however she does would only reflect on her alone, not impact others. Why the question also came to mind is that she showed up for the press conference and seemed to handle it well. And also, there oddly hasn't been all that much coverage about her decision, including on ESPN, which suggests she might possibly still be competing. I'll be curious to find out. I assume the answer will come soon. Another of my favorite lesser-known, offbeat events was on yesterday morning, Cross Country Mountain Bike. As I watched, I realized that in some ways it’s the dirt equivalent of another of my faves that I mentioned the other day, Whitewater Canoe Slalom, with the bike crashing up and down over rocks, across a twisting course curving back on itself and through pummeling nature. It’s a great treat, but I always wonder how in the world every rider doesn’t have their tires burst as the bikes fly over ledges and spin over boulders with sharp edges. And then, one of the leaders was knocked out of the race when his tire was shredded off the wheel and flattened. He was not a happy camper. I’m just shocked it doesn’t happen more. Yes, I’m certain their bikes are made special, but still, they’re bikes, tires and boulders. And as poor timing would have it, NBC had Whitewater Canoe Slalom on at the same time on another channel. After some moments of panic, happily they didn’t overlap. Katie Ledecky was back in the pool, winning her heat for the 200 meter freestyle. But it’s the 800-meter and 1500-meter races I’m most looking forward to. And she came back later in the day to win her heat in the 1500. But that’s not what so impressive. Because, although these two races were on TV Monday, it ignores the time difference in Japan, and – in reality – Katie Ledecky swam her 400 meter race in the morning, came back to win her 200 meter heat later, and returned to again swim, not a short race, but the longest of 1500 meters the same day! She’s quite remarkable. At one point, when I switched the channel, the event was skateboarding, and I heard the announcer tell us, “And so we have two 13-year-olds and a 16-year-old competing in the finals.” I watched for about a half-minute and then switched away. Not just for it being an event I don’t care enough about, but I’m also not sure if I could take hearing the winner weep, “I have wanted to do this my entire life.” I’m surprised how mediocre Jessica Mendoza is as an on-site commentator for women’s softball. Mendoza is good enough to have been made part of the Major League Baseball team for Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, where she does a very solid job. But here at the Olympics, she’s almost – I don’t know, the best word I can think of is “giggly.” She’s a former Olympian and clearly feels a closeness to the team, but that’s no excuse. I finally saw her do an okay job when in-studio, away from the team, giving her analysis – but then at the end she mucked it up by talking about how she’s wearing her “lucky braids.” She’s much better than this. Interestingly, the late afternoon coverage on CNBC is hosted in-studio by Shepard Smith. It's during the time slot when his news report would normally be on, but I'm sure he had the option of letting someone else handle the small assignment. He doesn't have all that much to do, pretty much just set up the event and send it off the the on-site announcers, but I still like that he's doing it. Nice moment in the women’s triathlon when Bermuda’s Flora Duffy took control of the race and ran away with it during the running portion, becoming not only the first athlete from Bermuda to win a Gold medal, but it made Bermuda the least-populace nation to ever have a Gold medal. Katie Zaferes of the U.S. was neck-and-neck in the early part of the run, but was able to hold on and easily win the Bronze medal. And it was all made more interesting for taking place much of the time during the rain – and having a rainbow pop through. Speaking of the triathlon, there was a strange occurrence the day before at the start of the men’s triathlon, when the athletes dove in the water to begin the race with their swim. But the starter pushed the buzzer too soon before a boat got away, blocking some of the swimmers. They all had to be called back to start again.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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