[QUOTE=BAC;6466900]
If they want to “get a chance” they need to be good enough. This is the Olympic Games, supposed to be the best athletes in the world competing. not some watered down event to make everyone happy. What BS.[/QUOTE]
Who knew they had Affirmative Action in the Olympics?
Nobody said these athletes haven’t met the minimum qualifications, and nobody tried to make the IOC “into some high moralistic organization.”
Yeah, let’s make the qualifiers for all sports truly “the best in the world” and see if the USA doesn’t get shut out now & again. And again.
[QUOTE=Anne FS;6467030]
Nobody said these athletes haven’t met the minimum qualifications, and nobody tried to make the IOC “into some high moralistic organization.”
Yeah, let’s make the qualifiers for all sports truly “the best in the world” and see if the USA doesn’t get shut out now & again. And again.[/QUOTE]
If the US gets “shut out” then let them work harder.
At this level you make your own luck.
If your ride your line and have a balanced horse who is presented to the obstacle at a good distance, then the horses jumped the jump. No jump was unjumpable by any of the horses.
And I didn’t see anyone leave the start box who made me wince and think “Here is a train wreck about to happen; it is only a matter of where”.
The possible exception being the horse who slid and fell on the steep hill. But even then an argument might be made that the speed of the approach to the jump and the balance of the horse as he started down the hill played a role in the slip and fall.
[QUOTE=Horsegal984;6466754]
It seemed to me that there were a lot of just bad luck falls, more than actual issues with fences/poor riding. [/QUOTE]
Or the horse who seemed to just slip on the grass a stride after the drop.
Or did somebody post that they thought that was rider error? It looked like just a slip, but I haven’t seen any replay.
I completely agree - out of the rides that I saw, at least (which was about 15), everyone looked appropriately ready to roll. Even at the WEG, when I was there in person and saw virtually all the horses, there was a couple where you just cringed.
I also felt that all the fences seemed like pretty fair questions, but I am NOT an eventer so I will leave it to the experts to evaluate the course.
The Olympics has never in history been “the best of the best,” nor was it designed or intended to be. It’s an exercise in international relations, first and foremost. Each nations brings the alloted number of their best athletes. And they all commune together peacefully, and after the competition they shake hands and part friends. Or at least that’s the idea.
Before professionals were allowed to compete, the Olympics comprised of each nation’s best wealthy amateurs, since the po folks couldn’t afford the training, equipment and travel (except for a few that found wealthy patrons.) However, as time marched on, more of the audience was starting to see through the sporting hype. And then and then, and the decision was finally made to bring the true best of each country, regardless of pro status.
I think of it as like a big international picnic, with sporting events … 
NBC would like sports fans to think the Olympics is worth watching for sport, cuz if the international happiness were the big focus over and above the sports, I think the audience would be small. 
But again and again incidents like the gymnastics qualifiers and the old figure-skating scoring scandals kind of peel back the pure-sports facade.
However … no matter how many additional riders would have been on course today to truly showcase the best in the world, the XC today was a sterling view of some of the best riding in the world. It was inspiring. Loved it! 
The best-of-the-best competitions are available every year in multiple international sporting venues that are open to all qualifiers. Badminton is an example.
Does anyone know how Hawley Bennett-Awad is, direct from good sources? I doubt the media has the latest information at this point. All I found is that she is in the hospital.
That says he is the commentor for the BBC, not NBC online. Unless the NBC live online feed is using his commentary? Can that be confirmed?
That was me!! Thank you!!
Is EN doing its live chat tomorrow for SJ? H&H isn’t.
Looks like EN piggybacked on H&H, so if H & H isn’t doing a live chat, then EN wouldn’t be either, most likely.
My “live” feed was more than two hours off by the end and the BBC took the channel off the air.
[QUOTE=OverandOnward;6467090]
The Olympics has never in history been “the best of the best,” nor was it designed or intended to be. …
The best-of-the-best competitions are available every year in multiple international sporting venues that are open to all qualifiers. Badminton is an example.[/QUOTE]
THIS. Every sport out there has top level competitions, and even better, they come around more often than every four years. It’s just that few outside those sports know a thing about those results, and we all get so hung up on the phrase “olympic gold-medalist”. It’s super sad in women’s gymnastics, those girls age out of that sport so fast they only GET one shot, and at 16 you can feel like you’ve lost everything you’ve worked your whole life trying to achieve.
[QUOTE=OverandOnward;6467107]
Does anyone know how Hawley Bennett-Awad is, direct from good sources? I doubt the media has the latest information at this point. All I found is that she is in the hospital.[/QUOTE]
equine canada should be releasing a statement soon
[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;6466736]
Everyone will do the first round to determine the team medals. Top 25 will do a second round to determine individual medals.[/QUOTE]
Why dont they just use individual overall scores for the individual medals? Why must they jump twice? That makes no sense to me…
I saw that Hawley is expected to be released tomorrow. While trying to verify that via Google, I found this tidbit:
"Before the Olympics began, Bennett-Awad told the Vancouver Sun that her horse, Gin and Juice, had a history of bucking and had already sent her to hospital three times.
"
I almost strained my eye rolley muscles when I read it.
[QUOTE=wcporter;6467205]
Why dont they just use individual overall scores for the individual medals? Why must they jump twice? That makes no sense to me… [/QUOTE]
It used to be that way but it is against IOC policy to issue two medals for the same performance, though it went un-noticed since like for ever.
[QUOTE=wcporter;6467205]
Why dont they just use individual overall scores for the individual medals? Why must they jump twice? That makes no sense to me… [/QUOTE]
Because someone at teh IOC thougth it wasn’t fair to all the other sports for an Athlete to get two medals for one performance. So the team competition is technically a “qualifier” for the the individual competition, kind of like the way it is in Dressage and Showjumping, except that it’s not anything like Dressage and SJ as you are using an extra round of the final stage to determine the outcome of a three stage sport.
In 1996 they actually held separate team and individual competitions, i.e a rider had to compete either as a team member or an individual.
They did it at Sydney in 2000 as well, when DOC won his gold medal.
Oh, that’s an important distinction. Thanks for clarifying it. It helps.
I suppose, then, that World Championships can be considered the “top competitors in the world” – at least in this sport?
Random thoughts
Age of riders [and horse!] It IS sad, to think that as a gymnist, you think your life is over once you hit 18 or so, gosh the youngest rider today was Nina wasn’t it, and she was 20!You are barely getting started in eventing at 20. There were a LOT of riders there today in their 50s. And how about Lenamore? I heard variously that he was 19 or 20. He looked great as he finished.
clean vs falls vs retirement; I haven’t seen the stats yet, but I got to watch most all of it live and don’t think I saw anyone stop at a fence twice, or have two stops on course. If there were any eliminations due to anything other than falls, I don’t yet know about it. But isn’t it strange that there were no retirements? [at least as far as I know.]
as far as our team, I am disappointed, but don’t think we were shameful. We had 3 great rounds, and two that weren’t too bad in the scheme of things. How about the terrible luck of the rider from Jamaica whose horse’s feet slipped out from under him right in front of the jump! He went down, but they got up and finished. We need to improve our dressage. Period.
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