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Olympics | Pad Patter 2.6

My hubby's been watching the Olympics but I've only seen a few events. He's much more into it than I am.
 
I'm NOT watching this year - for personal reasons, but I never was a huge watcher. When I did watch, I loved the luge and the speed skating. I've always loved ice skating, so I don't care if it's an Olympic event or not and it's on at other times of the year. The discipline of ALL the sports amazes me - I can't even imagine having that much discipline - it's awesome!!!
 
I usually watch the olympics, mainly because my oldest DD is an avid watcher. She is in Japan and she is stuck at her apartment because she was around someone who had Covid and she is a teacher and they are making her stay at home. The only highlight is she can watch it now. I am just not interested. I didn't like the opening ceremony at all. I like ice skating, bobsledding, luge. I am very upset at how China treats their athletes. It is awful
 
Are you watching the Olympics? No, I usually don't, but this year I definitely wouldn't — basically the same reasons as Courtney.
Do you have a favorite winter sport? Figure skating!

Fun fact, as a teen I skated, plus worked as a cashier my senior year of high school, at a local ice rink. The former assistant manager/skate fitter of that rink is in Beijing as the official skate tech for the US figure skating team. He was also in Sochi, Russia with the team in 2014.
 
I love the Olympics -- I'm amazed at the athleticism and dedication of the athletes. I have Peacock and this is the first time I'm really "streaming" the Olympics rather than just watching on a network. It's actually pretty great - I can decide what I want to watch and when. Last night I watched the finals of the men's Big Air ski jumping. That's a pretty crazy sport - ski jumping off a huge jump but with flips. Half the time the start by skiing backwards or even take off sideways which I didn't realize you could even do on skis.

bestcee said:
Sara touched on it in beautiful words of course! I have no issues with an athlete choosing to go and participate.

I hate to bring politics to the Pad, so all I will say is:
There's a diplomatic boycott because of the way China represses and badly treats the Uyghurs. I was sad to learn that human rights activists tried to get people to boycott Berlin in 1936 over the Germans treatment of German Jews and failed. Also, I have been deeply troubled by the way China has backed down on it's promises to Britain about Hong Kong, and have silenced those who speak up about it. So, while I may not make a difference being one little person in Midwest America, for me, it's my way of protesting against these wrongs.
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I am going to have to think about this. China is repressive to numerous groups and I believe in the power of boycotting. And I think the idea of that the Olympics is supposed to be apolitical is nonsense. A challenge is that the IOC needs to decide the Olympic location so far in advance that it may dilute the effect of boycotting. And in the absence of an effect on the actual country selection, maybe not watching would mostly harm the interests of US companies (NBC) and athletes who rely on US sponsorships. Still, sometimes you just have to do SOMETHING (I still boycott Tom Cruise and Woody Allen movies, for instance, even though I'm sure it has no financial effect on them) and it is definitely something to consider.
 
I haven't had time to follow it this year but I've caught a few tid bits here and there, we enjoy watching the figure skating, bobsleigh and all the skiing events in our house!
 
dawnmarch said:
A challenge is that the IOC needs to decide the Olympic location so far in advance that it may dilute the effect of boycotting.
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When they awarded these Olympics in 2015, there were 2 countries to be considered. Kazakhstan was the other. Evidently Norway dropped out when the IOC demanded luxury treatment for the IOC committee. It is just so expensive to build the venues needed to host an Olympics any more that most countries will no longer be able to do it.
 
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