Reported AGAIN, Senden. Unacceptable.
[QUOTE=Beentheredonethat;8796147]
Reported AGAIN, Senden. Unacceptable.[/QUOTE]
I reported you three times. care to keep count? Mods have never locked any of MY threads.
Gosh, you have no sense of humor! Chill out. This is just a BB. you started crap, and I decided to take you up on it and have some fun.
Don’t play if you can’t keep up! 
Mods can talk to me if they have a problem, but they never have.
I’ll just leave this right here then
Have a nice afternoon
[QUOTE=Beentheredonethat;8796095]
Unacceptable.[/QUOTE]
:eek: Are you a moderator now? Lordhelpus.
One of the commentators on the current live stream for the showjumping just said something along the lines of “I’ve never seen such a large crowd for day 1 qualifying. I expect there’ll be huge crowds for the finals”.
[edit]
So back on the Olympics, I have been quite impressed with how well they seem to be going (???)
I wish the streaming was free though, I feel locked out of the coverage since i don’t pay for cable. I’d be willing to pay a fee for access to all the Olympic coverage, or even just pay for the equestrian coverage.
I guess I’m spoiled with USEF network. Instead of the olympics I watch Pony Finals. And also some of the youth QH world- something different.
OMG…lmao!
Originally Posted by Beentheredonethat: Reported AGAIN, Senden. Unacceptable.
SendenHorse:I reported you three times. care to keep count? Mods have never locked any of MY threads.
We are tattling on each other? Children, children… smh :no:
Please keep the discussion focused on the main topic vs. personal commentary with each other.
We’ve removed several posts for that reason.
Thanks,
Mod 1
[QUOTE=Ghazzu;8795694]
Right. Like Munich, where the competitors get murdered.
Sheesh.[/QUOTE]
Or Atlanta, where an insane American set off bombs to kill fellow Americans as well as anyone else who happened to be around.
But the guys dressed up as Rio cops and holding up foreign athletes in a taxi is a new one on me. I want to say “insane and inexcusable” but at the same time I’m thinking well it wasn’t a bomb set off in the middle of a public place. Still insane and inexcusable, though. And last night I was thinking about what Ghazzu posted. I saw that cute tweet Cody Miller put up, and subsequent tweets and I was thinking “Thank heaven they’re safe and able to post and the only pics of their bedrooms are of medals on pillows.”
Shudder, remembering Munich.
[QUOTE=Equibrit;8795740]
[B]
If you don’t take the show to the world, then the world will not want to take part in the show.[/QUOTE]
I don’t know about that. Look at all the African athletes who come to every Olympic Games. Then think about how many Olympics have been held in Africa, in either hemisphere.
[QUOTE=Anonymoose;8797448]
I don’t know about that. Look at all the African athletes who come to every Olympic Games. Then think about how many Olympics have been held in Africa, in either hemisphere.[/QUOTE]
There are not that many Africans, say compared to North America (only two countries). There are 54 countries in Africa and it is the 2nd most populous continent. Qualification is limited by country.
Ummm… not quite.
North America, a little more than two countries… currently 23 countries and many more possessions and territories. Central America and Caribbean are usually considered part of the North American continent.
Sorry wasn’the being clear. The comparison was between 2 countries in NA and 54 in Africa. USA sent 552 athletes, and Canada 312.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/sports/olympics/summer-olympics/participating-nations.html
Re the OP- Please note - Stands are full for the Jumping qualifier today.
Brazil has a very good chance for a medal.
I look at the equestrian event attendance and cringe. They obviously don’t know how to even give away free tickets to fill the seats! It’s just beyond pathetic.
:no:
If I ruled the world I’d build the permanent Summer Olympic facility in Greece and that would be that. Not because I dislike South America (or anywhere else) but because Brazil is the latest “poster child” on Olympic excess. Note it’s just the latest, not the only! 
Brazil is a Third World country once you leave the big cities. This the CIA Factbook on Brazil. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html It’s intersting reading. Only about 15% of their roadways are paved (not including roads in the major metro areas) and just about 20% of the runways in Brazilian airports are paved. They rank 11th in the world in railway trackage, and a lot of that is narrow gauge. Average Brazilian wage runs about R$2000/mo. (the Real is worth R$3.19/$1USD; do the math). Folks in Rio will do better than folks in more rural areas but that’s not a whole lot for a country trying to industrialize. In short, Brazil might be one of the poorest countries to ever put on the Games. That they have done as well as they have is remarkable.
It’s also a tropical country. The Games are there during the Brazilian winter which is not a bad time to be there. The climate is generally quite pleasant. Rio is on the ocean; that means there will be ocean influenced weather. Tropical countries are home to all sorts of things that will bite, sting, or stick you. Some have really negative consequences (like really lethal venoms). Most are just annoying.
Brazil has a very large agricultural sector and a huge animal husbandry industry. They have the worlds largest commercial cattle herd. They also have a deep equestrian tradition that is much more American cowboy than European equestrian. Take a look at the leader board of the Professional Bull Riders Association if you don’t believe me. The worlds largest rodeo takes place in Barretos in Sao Paulo State. Attendance tops 1.5 million over about 14 days. If they don’t come out for Dressage and Stadium Jumping that doesn’t mean they don’t have a big equine interest.
How this will all play out for Brazil in the end is not at all clear. They’ve sunk huge sums of money into infrastructure, much of that money borrowed, and they may not be able to pay for it all. They have a serious political crisis ongoing (about to impeach the elected president) and big problems with corruption (some of the bribes uncovered in the investigations of wrongdoing at Petrobras, the national oil company, exceeded $200 Million USD; multiply that time R$3.19 and you get an idea of the magnitude of the issue).
Brazil is what it is. When they won the bid in 2008 (IIRC) they were one of the up and coming “economic tigers”, BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India, China). They were going great guns and were going to show the world how to build a Third World country into a First World country in 8 years. Now all the BRICs have issues and they are finding out that “great leaps forward” don’t work all that well. My Brazilian friends are openly complaining about the corruption that is rampant and responsible for much of the trouble getting venues completed and services established for the 2016 Games. In that sense it’s shades of Sochi. Brazil is a very socialist oriented country and “top down” management is the order of the day. Individual initiative is not rewarded there as it is in the U.S. or E.U. My friends bitterly criticize this, too.
The Olympics are the World’s Largest Circus. Like any circus it has clowns, acrobats, entertainers, ringmasters, and charlatans. If you don’t like the circus, don’t watch the Olympics. The Brazilians didn’t make it this way; it was this way long before they got the “bug” to be the big tent.
G.
[QUOTE=Equibrit;8797618]
Sorry wasn’the being clear. The comparison was between 2 countries in NA and 54 in Africa. USA sent 552 athletes, and Canada 312.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/sports/olympics/summer-olympics/participating-nations.html[/QUOTE]
I did think you were clear. Even if you look only at the North American Continent, still more than 2 countries.
If you look at “North America” then the stats I quoted were accurate with respect to number of countries.
Many of those Caribbean countries did send athletes, many of whom excel in Track and Field
And yes, North America does send more athletes than Africa. Jamaica alone sent 59 athletes, Mexico 126.
Or what am I missing as whether North America or North American Continent, still more than 2 countries
[QUOTE=MontysGal;8792685]
I think it’s a combination of this and unexpectedly horrific traffic:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rio-olympics-wait-line-up-venue-security-1.3710362
http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/rio-2016/the-traffic-olympics-after-all-the-concern-over-security-zika-and-other-threats-transport-could-turn-out-to-be-rio-games-biggest-problem
My dad is down there working for CBC and he said the traffic is so bad that there have been numerous crews and fans (hopefully not athletes!) missing their events because of the hours it takes to get anywhere.
That wouldn’t account for the totally empty venues, but likely accounts for something.
Anyway, no blanket ban for SA - but definitely depressing to see the empty seats. I’d have loved to be there![/QUOTE]
Tell your Dad I am loving the CBC coverage. Thanks
Great post, Guilherme.
My husband and I visited Brazil last fall (Rio, and Paraty) and fell in love—it is one of the few places in the world that I felt an urgent need to return to very quickly, and we will likely be going back over Christmas. I feel sorry for anyone who says there’s “nothing to do down there,” as they are missing out on one of the most freakishly beautiful countries I’ve ever been to, combined with truly vivacious and kind people, great food and culture.
Also, notice that the stands for show jumping yesterday were very full—Rodrigo and Nelson Pessoa are household names there according to most Brazilian we met (both rich and poor), so I wasn’t surprised to see that.
[QUOTE=stoicfish;8797970]
Tell your Dad I am loving the CBC coverage. Thanks :)[/QUOTE]
yes faNTASTIC. great job CBC
What is the best link to thank CBC
This has been the best equestrian Olympic coverage ever from CBC I think-
I want the right link to send thaNKS
Some have on their FB page. I imagine if your go to their website there will be some links to contact them.
[QUOTE=Tha Ridge;8798394]
Also, notice that the stands for show jumping yesterday were very full—Rodrigo and Nelson Pessoa are household names there according to most Brazilian we met (both rich and poor), so I wasn’t surprised to see that.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, they might not have come out for eventing and dressage, but I think show jumping has been a strong interest in the country for a while (remember, they won the Bronze in '96). The commentators noted that that was about the most people in the stands for day 1 as they had ever seen (and Hadley is on Olympic Games #10).
I mean I love the sport, but if I was forking over $$ (or $$$$ really) for tickets, I’d probably pass on day 1 since it is just part 1 of determining who advances to the ind finals and team order of go. (Actually I think when I went to Atlanta, I had a seat to that event because I bought a bloc, but I still chose to skip it to save on hotel nights)
