THE PARIS
OLYMPICS
PART II
Revue by Pierre Maertin
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOADABLE POSTER
FOR GOLD MEMBERS

After months of anticipation for the Parisian Olympic Games of 2024, they happened in such a fast flurry it was over before you could grab a couple of events to view properly.

If you have mastered the art of speed viewing, well you are in luck, you will only miss a few beats taking in the sights and sounds of the Paris Olympics.

NBC Television’s premium online streaming service, Peacock, was the only American licensed mass

broadcasting network permitted to showcase coverage.  Without warning or notice to viewers who were looking forward to savoring a large selection of competitions, purportedly recorded by Peacock and made available to view at a subscriber’s convenience in VOD style (View on Demand), only for viewers to find out from Peacock that all recorded competitions would be removed 24 hours after the closing ceremonies took place. 

N    BC TV, operator of Peacock, never informed its subscribers, they became aware of this as the closing ceremonies were approaching, with 72 hours left to spare, and when previously recorded events started disappearing from the online dashboard with notices of impending removal suddenly appearing on the remaining recorded shows.

Many subscribers believed these recorded complete event playbacks would be available at least through the end of the month of August if not longer.

As of August 17th, most events playbacks were removed with only a smattering of highlights and select excerpts remaining for viewing.  For how long were these remaining highlights available?  Peacock did not elaborate nor inform its subscribers.

Needless to say, many viewers were grumbling their dissatisfaction to online forums.  A small sampler could be found when doing an online search at, of all places, Reddit.

Reddit moderators allowed some to express their surprise but knowing how Reddit works behind the scenes, from our own publication subscribers who formerly informed us Reddit systematically censors, suppresses and deletes most comments unfavorable to big media or to the Hollywood establishment.  What you might find there is most likely a tiny fraction of subscribers and viewers feeling slighted.

The problem is that The Olympics are basically overbooked in terms of competitions and events, and this overbooking did not start with Paris, it started a couple of decades ago.

“NBC’s Olympic obsession with celebrities is a little cringe …
The Los Angeles Times – Tracy Brown/Greg Braxton | July 31,2024

 
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Too many events are scheduled on a very short timeline, even those who manage to attend the Olympics in person can only attend a handful of events because so many take place simultaneously and at different venues across town or on in some instances overseas and on a different continent (Surfing competitions were held on the French island of Tahiti thousands of miles away). 

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This is not a French wrinkle, each official games hosting becomes the occasion for the IOC to extend a sport, not yet part of the Olympics, a demonstration invitation and then includes it as part of the competitions four years later. After sixty years of this model of inducting sports, the Games are super crowded in terms of lineups for viewers.

This summer the Paris 2024 Games featured breakdancing as a new Olympic sport on a demonstration basis but we learned after the closing ceremonies that “Breaking” will not be part of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, a first for the IOC.

EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOADABLE POSTER
FOR GOLD MEMBERS

On the stage of Women Gymnastics, Arianne Biles Owens, known to most Americans as Simone Biles became the new Olympic sweetheart. Hailing from Spring, Texas, Biles has been on the athletic circuit for many years now.

On the Men Gymnastics front, Carlos Edriel Poquiz Yulo, from Manila, Philippines, joined her on the stage of media popularity and paparazzi frenzy, unlike Biles, not because of gold medals count, but rather because he was his country’s first to win at the Olympics and he took home the gold, twice.  Carlos Yulo became the surprise favorite, an unexpected dark horse to emerge into the spotlight, as opposed to Biles, already a known superstar before the Paris Games and an early favorite to shine at these games.

FYI, Simone Biles had garnered four gold and one bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, plus one bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games where a t temporary illness   prevented her from competing in most of the gymnastics events and she lost the opportunity to fetch more gold (Biles was expected to win four gold in Tokyo).

In other words, Biles was already a known superstar and, some dare say, ready for retirement before the Paris Games.  Yet the national media was going all googoo eyes on her as if in Paris she was some newly discovered Mary Lou Retton to be crowned America’s Champion. 

Qiu Qiyuan from Fujian, China, only 17 years old, and her first Olympics tournament, took home the silver medal on the uneven bars event. 

The history of Fujian is long stretching into all seven dynasties and it is the birthplace of many highly respected martial arts forms, including Wing Chun and White Crane.  Bruce Lee was a student of Wing Chun before creating his own style. 

Qiyuan, merely a year earlier, although only 16 years old, had already collected three gold medals at the international Singapore gymnastics competitions and one gold in Antwerp (Belgium).

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DRAMA QUEEN BILES?

“looking at her two warm-up attempts, one of which she badly fumbled and tumbled grievously to the ground rather than stick the landing – Pierre Maertin, The Paris Olympics Revue Part II

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It’s understandable if we were at the 2016 Rio Games, Biles is short in stature yet extremely powerful and she sports the kind of sweet smiles for cameras that plastered Retton’s face all over cereal boxes for years. 

The media back then dubbed Retton “America’s Sweetheart” and Biles certainly fits the mold but we are no longer in 2016.  Incidentally, Retton retired two years after touching gold at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. 

Anyone from leading medical institutions such as … The Surgeon General … Cornell or Yale or Harvard interviewed on TV on the … “twisties” since 2020?
– More in the Gold Edition of the Paris Olympics 2024 Part II

How Faulty Would the USOC Management Team Need To Be For One-Sided Poor Performance For 16 Consecutive Years in Gymnastics?
– More in the Gold Edition of the Paris Olympics 2024 Part II

Another big star of the Paris Olympics Gymnastics circle, is Rebeca Andrade, from Guarulhos, Sao Paulo (Brazil).  Only two years younger than Biles, her first Olympics tournament was the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games where she ranked eleventh.

She won her first gold and silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games.  Andrade has too many firsts attached to her athletic career. She has a Who’s Who list of 20 gold, silver and bronze medals in the World Championships, the Pan American Games and the Pan American Championships. 

Andrade is the most decorated Brazilian and Latin American gymnast of all time, as well as the most decorated Brazilian Olympian in any discipline.  She won the Olympic gold for the Gymnastics Floor competition in Paris,
as well as two silver and one bronze.  In
total she has so far garnered nine Olympic medals for Brazil.

EDALS WINNERS

COUNTRY TOTAL
MEDALS
GOLD MEDALISTS IN SELECT COMPETITIONS
CATEGORY/EVENTS
OTHER MEDALISTS
SAME CATEGORY
AUSTRALIA 53 ATHLETICS/POLE VAULT WOMEN – NINA KENNEDY SILVER (2) BRONZE (4)
AUSTRALIA 53 SWIMMING WOMEN – 100M/200M BACKSTROKE/KAYLEE MCKEOWN, 200M/MOLLIE O’CALLAGHAN, 400M/ARIARNE TITMUS
SWIMMING WOMEN – 4X100M RELAY/BRONTE CAMPBELL, MEG HARRIS, EMMA MCKEON,
SHAYNA JACK, MOLLIE O’CALLAGHAN
SWIMMING WOMEN – 4X200M RELAY/SHAYNA JACK, MOLLIE O’CALLAGHAN, LANI PALLISTER,
JAMIE PERKINS, BRIANNA THROSSELL, ARIARNE TITMUS
SILVER (4) BRONZE (2)
AUSTRALIA 53 SWIMMING MEN – CAMERON MCEVOY SILVER (4) BRONZE (1)
BRAZIL 20 ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS WOMEN – FLOOR EXERCISE/REBECA ANDRADE SILVER (2) BRONZE (1)
CANADA 27 ATHLETICS MEN – HAMMER THROW/ETHAN KATZBERG.
ATHLETICS MEN – 4X100M RELAY/ELIEZER ADJIBI, DUAN ASEMOTA, JEROME BLAKE, AARON BROWN, ANDRE DEGRASSE, BRENDON RODNEY
 SILVER (1)
CANADA 27 ATHLETICS WOMEN – HAMMER THROW/CAMRYN ROGERS BRONZE (1)
CANADA 27 SWIMMING WOMEN – 200 M BUTTERFLY, 200 M MEDLEY, 400 M MEDLEY/SUMMER MCINTOSH (3 GOLD) SILVER (1) BRONZE (1)
CANADA 27 SWIMMING MEN –  NONE SILVER (1) BRONZE (2)
CHINA 91 ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS MEN – RINGS/YANG LIU.  PARALLEL BARS/JINGYUAN ZOU SILVER (3) BRONZE (2)
CONTINUES IN MEDALS AND MEDALISTS – THE TABLE BELOW, CLICK SMALL CHEVRON ON RIGHT HAND SIDE CONTINUES
MEDALS/MEDALISTS (MORE)
COUNTRY TOTAL
MEDALS
GOLD MEDALISTS IN SELECT COMPETITIONS
CATEGORY/EVENTS
OTHER MEDALISTS
SAME CATEGORY
CHINA 91 ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS WOMEN – NONE SILVER (2)
CHINA 91 ARTISTIC SWIMMING WOMEN – LIUYI WANG & QIANYI WANG, TEAM CHINA NONE
CHINA 91 ATHLETICS WOMEN – 20 KM RACE WALK/JIAYU YANG SILVER (1) BRONZE (2)
CHINA 91 RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS – GROUP ALL AROUND TEAM NONE
FRANCE 64  SWIMMING MEN – 200 M/400 M LEON MARCHAND (4 GOLD) SILVER (1) BRONZE (2)
GERMANY 33  ATHLETICS WOMEN – SHOTPUT YEMISI OGUNLEYE SILVER (1) BRONZE (1)
GERMANY 33 ATHLETICS MEN – DECATHLON – NONE SILVER (1)
GERMANY 33 RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS  WOMEN – DARJA VARFOLOMEEV NONE
GERMANY 33 SWIMMING MEN 400 M – LUKAS MAERTENS NONE
GERMANY 33 SWIMMING WOMEN 1500 M – NONE BRONZE (1)
GERMANY 33 TRIATHLON MIXED RELAY – TIM HELLWIG, LISA TERTSCH, LASSE LUEHRS, LAURA LINDEMANN NONE
GREAT BRITAIN 65 ATHLETICS WOMEN – 800 M KEELY HODGKINSON SILVER (2) BRONZE (2)
GREAT BRITAIN 65 ATHLETICS MEN – NONE SILVER (2) BRONZE (3)
GREAT BRITAIN 65 GYMNASTICS WOMEN –  TRAMPOLINE/BRYONY PAGE NONE
GREAT BRITAIN 65 TRIATHLON MEN – INDIVIDUAL/ALEX YEE BRONZE (1)
GREAT BRITAIN 65 TRIATHLON WOMEN – NONE BRONZE (1)
       
MEDALS COUNTRY/PODIUM

Did the media hijack the authority of the medical community when it unleashed the term “the twisties” on the public with the pretense it is a medical term?
– More in the Gold Edition of the Paris Olympics 2024 Part II

“U.S. men’s gymnastics team breaks 16-year Olympic drought with a team bronze
– NPR | Becky Sullivan, July 29, 2024

The Travails Of The Olympic Village | Paris 2024
the 2024 Olympic Games
THE PARIS
OLYMPICS
PART II
Revue by Pierre Maertin
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOADABLE POSTER
FOR GOLD MEMBERS

No Sex-Beds is One Thing, But 16 Years Of The U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Team Out To Lunch While Women’s Gymnastics Steadily Improving?
How Does That Square with Management in Baseball or Corporate America?
– More in the Gold Edition of the Paris Olympics 2024 Part II

Out To Lunch or Asleep At The Switch? Take Your Pick! Were America’s Corporate Sponsors Equally Lacking in Diligence For 16 Seasons of Sports? Wilson, Nike, Puma, Champions, Gatorade, Roar, Mobil One, Valvoline, Where Did They Go?
– More in the Gold Edition of the Paris Olympics 2024 Part II

Throughout the first week of the Olympics competitions in Paris, the national media in the United States put a lot of emphasis on the Olympic Village and its shortcomings. First it was the amenities that initially made “news” in 2020 Tokyo. The “cardboard beds” were extremely spartan and in Tokyo were dubbed the anti-sex beds as if sex was an Olympic sport of high priority at the Games. After COVID, Paris and the French IOC were happy to be dispensing condoms at their village.

Something of a ritual, and tradition, at the games, condoms at the Olympics made their debut at the Seoul 1988 Games as a measure to raise global awareness of HIV and possibly a means of limiting its spread. Since then, the distribution of condoms has become the occasion of many jokes in the media and by reporters and, depending on local culture, has turned into a tongue-in-cheek menu item at the Olympic Village, one which the IOC takes very seriously. 

This year, the IOC provided 230,000 condoms (200,000 male condoms and 20,000 female condoms), 10,000 oral dams and other protective items to the 10,500 athletes attending in Paris.

“FAKE, JUST FAKE NEWS
– Rhys McClenaghan, Ireland Olympic Team Paris 2024, Pommel Horse Gymnastics

IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO VIEW THE EXPOSE VIDEO,
PRESS THE NAVIGATION ARROWS ON THE EDGE OF SCREEN

Next on the Olympic Village complaints campaign was of course the lack of turbo charged cooling.  The human body cannot properly rest or go to sleep if it does not cool down properly. 

And in the heat of the summer in Paris, famed for killing many elderly residents, some Olympic athletes, mostly from the

United States, wanted none of it; the carbon-reducing environmentally-supportive electric fan cooling wouldn’t cut it, plus with sex on the brains after competitions means you gotta have extra cooling in the room and the combination of beds with really bad mattresses and barely cooled down summer heat, was too much for many,

The Frail
ANTI-SEX BEDS

Sex at the games is nothing new.  Athletes are young and train very hard, when the first wins strike medals, the adrenaline and endorphins are pumping in their systems and sex becomes a way of sharing intimacy when emotional walls have been put up to help in focusing on the competition. 

The opposite, letting someone in, becomes a natural reflex to being emotionally stoic and closeted for increasing your performance efficiency.  It is analogous to holding your breath while diving, you got to come up for air at some point. 

Plus, it has become part of the lore of the games for some Olympic team members to have sex after competitions, win or lose, it is part of celebrating or having a consolation prize.  As a bonus, the intimacy levels would be higher (more intense) than at any other point in these athletes’ lives so, for them, it is a must have, must do.

So yes of course some were bemoaning the cardboard beds in Paris while others were curious, and some, including many female Olympians, even made fun of the entire affair via self-made videos jumping on and testing these beds – video clips that sprouted all over the net and the worldwide web.

who decided to stay at hotels all over Paris rather than take stock of the camaraderie of the Olympic Village. 

Turns out that staying at hotels can also work against intimacy and the ability to create bonds with fellow athletes but

some came to Paris already with their Plus One in tow so moving to a hotel room helped them better focus on less friends from the Olympic Village and more performance on the floor.

For those who decided to stick it out in the Olympic Village, the final straw was the all-vegan food at the canteens and food service halls.  Paris, world famous for its top-notch cuisine and culinary chefs, shocked some “newbie” Olympians for the all-vegetable spartan menus items. 

Some athletes complained as if they were expecting five-star lunches and dining at the village.  You cannot expect Paris’ premier restaurant cuisine to be all catered in-house?  These athletes need to stretch their legs and go out on the town, browse a little, and treat themselves sparingly since staying fit and in shape for a very brief period of time is more important than treating your palate to some of the most extravagant delectable Cordon Bleu dishes that can be found anywhere on the planet.

We have 700kg of eggs and a tonne of meat have been the increases we have provided
to meet the needs of athletes.
 
– Etienne Thobois, Paris 2024 Chief Executive | August 1, 2024 | Mail Online (UK)

Le Buff Ate

The Foodies Fuss Ball

Yet laughably, the IOC folded to their athletes’ outcry and to visiting families and provided meats and all kind of supplementary food menu items at the village cafeterias

a few days after the opening ceremonies but not before the national media in the United States made a big circus of the entire affair.

On the controversy front, it is not Jordan Chiles’ story with her loss, then win, and currently possible loss but still uncertain status of her bronze medal for the Gymnastics Floor competition that gets our attention but rather the Simone Biles Vault performance that turned our heads.

WCMR-2024-Paris-Olympics-Jordan-Chiles-Tears-Up-in-Floor-Routine_8-27-24
SIMONE BILES
QUEEN OF DRAMA OR QUEEN OF THE VAULT?

Although Biles received a gold medal for the competition, we thought something was amiss when looking at her two warm-up attempts, one of which she grievously fumbled, tumbling to the ground rather than stick the landing.

Was she looking to be the drama queen and center of attention?  In fourty years of watching Olympic competitions, I have never seen an Olympic medalist fumble a landing in gymnastics as badly as Biles did. 

Sure, they might have drift (small bounce) or land one foot out of place, but they are usually very good at sticking the landing.  But Simone managed to get all eyeballs on her when she flew off the vault and splat tumbled completely on her back. 

“According to some sources ‘the twisties’ are when athletes in midair lose their sense of direction and have trouble coordinating muscles and motor functions which makes their chances of physical injury severe. Pierre Maertin

WCMR-2024-Paris-Olympics-Simone-Biles-Balance-Beam-Blog

Was she over-acting the “rusted muscles” put on?  The story goes she was set to win the gold in Tokyo (2020) but withdrew from the competitions at the very last minute because of a case of … hmmm … we never really got a medical explanation but the media called it the case of the “twisties” something supposed to inform viewers she had suffered mental stress issues and her ability to run through her routine on automatic was in trouble. 

THE WOMEN VAULT FINALS STARRING
SIMONE BILES,
REBECA ANDRADE,
AND JADE CAREY

THE SIMONE BILES VAULT FOR THE GOLD PARIS FOOTAGE

According to some sources “the twisties” are when athletes in midair lose their sense of direction and have trouble coordinating muscles and motor functions which makes their chances of physical injury severe.  A staff contributor opined “aren’t all gymnastics athletes subject to intense stress during competitions … so any or all of them could come down with the case of “the twisties”.  Convenient eh?”

“gymnast Samantha Cerio suffers devastating injuries during competition
– NBC News | April 8, 2019

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I don’t recollect anyone, any news report, and many did nationwide, covering the highly memorable traumatic injury of Samantha Cerio, the Auburn University gymnast who broke both legs at the knees in a gruesome accident while doing some floor gymnastic routines. 

I never heard of “the twisties” then and weeks later following intense coverage of her injuries and recovery efforts by the medical community.  Not one soul breathed the term “the twisties” in print or electronic broadcasts even just for reference of possible causes that could result in similar trauma.

Gymnastics in the Summer Games and Ice Skating in the Winter Games are two of my favorite Olympic competitions and two of the most popular and most watched competitions due to their demanding nature, the athletism and precision required to be in the games and to win.  I have been a spectactor of these sports since the 1980 Lake Placid Games.

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W hen was this term “the twisties” used first in gymnastics?  Who coined and when was the term “the twisties” coined for sports?  There does not seem to be any such record and in forty-some years of watching Olympic events, I personally never heard the term ever used in print or public broadcasts, until this year.

But in report after report online, the term now is being used to retroactively describe athletes suffering from it as far back as the 2016 Rio Games.  Interestingly enough there is no medical authority nor any medical references to this new health issue that is now a major roadblock for athletic performance.

Did Boss Biles have some kind of meltdown with her coach or other players on the USOC team and decided to withdraw from the games?  Yet not wanting to incur the wrath of her sponsors and supporters, out comes this story she was having a case of “the twisties”, a non-medical, never before used label to suggest some kind of unclear physical ailment.

And her final gold medal-fetching vault run was still a little off, with her landing suffering from a bounce and a drift.  In our opinion, Andrade should have received the gold medal for the vault, Biles the silver and Jade Carey the bronze.

W hen Simone Biles withdrew from the 2020 Tokyo Games, not one person anywhere brought up Cerio and her devastating injuries in 2019.  Even just for discussion’s sake or for comparisons and illustrations, nothing came up about “the twisties”.  So it took me by surprise when some reports claim “the twisties” went further back in time, yet it did not at any time get any airplay in 2019 with Cerio’s injuries.

And if the condition existed but not the term “the twisties”, Simone Biles and her withdrawal from the 2020 Games would have gotten Cerio’s injuries a ton of airplay at the time the media was seeking to explain to the public the danger behind “this condition”.

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The Jordan Chiles Story

N amed after Basketball great Michael Jordan, born in Oregon and raised in Vancouver, Washington, Jordan Chiles recently relocated to Spring, Texas to train alongside Simone Biles and USA National Gymnastics Team cohorts.  As of 2013, Jordan had already placed with the national gymnastics team, having collected an Olympic silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games, three gold and one bronze at the 2018 Pacific Rim Championships, one gold and two silver at the 2022 World Championships for vault and floor competitions, one gold, one silver and one bronze at the 2023 Pan American Games.  Her specialties are floor, vault and beam gymnastics.

At the Paris 2024, Chiles scored another gold medal for Team USA effort, but on the floor exercise she only placed in fourth place, her coach, Cecile Landi, contested the Judges’ score and hers was revised by a tenth to give her the bronze medal.  However, the Romanian Olympic team whose gymnast, Ana Barbosu, had placed initially third for the bronze and was dropped to fourth place challenged the new score of Chiles, claiming Chiles’ coach reported to the Judges outside the one-minute notification rule and thus was not qualified to have her score adjusted.  The Romanian team’s challenge was initially considered correct, Chiles’ score was downgraded to original value and Barbosu was now third for Bronze, with fellow Romanian, Sabrina Voinea, in fourth place and Chiles in fifth place.

WCMR-2024-Paris-Olympics-Part-II-Revue-Jordan-Chiles-Barbosu-Montage_Blog

CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE FOR LARGER VERSION

A fter all the tears, hand wringing and media outcry, turns out Chiles’ coach Landi had submitted their request for re-score within the one-minute limit and her third-place finish should have been upheld by the IOC.  As it stands, Barbosu is now the recipient of the bronze medal for the floor competition, Chiles refused to return her medal on account she and her team filed their complaint within the limit but the IOC panel failed to follow protocol and record who took the complaint and the time it was made.  Officially Barbosu won the bronze medal however the USOC continues to appeal the IOC decision.

You want to better dig into the details of the disappointing and dismal Men’s Gymnastics Performance at the Olympics? Access the Gold Members Edition with your Gold Membership and download bundles of original and exclusively created posters from West Coast Midnight Run™ for the Paris 2024 Olympics

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