2024 Olympics

[Aine Thompson]

The men's speedclimbing finals were insane, watched the boulder and lead last night as well and that was ridiculous.

Woke up to Raygun memes from the breaking and can I just say I've never been prouder to be Australian.

 

[June Davenport]

Wow I'm so proud of my country so small compared to others but we achieved an new record of gold medals for The Netherlands at an olympic games.

And just saw Sifan Hassan, she is incredible just won the marathon and two times bronze at 1000m and 5000m. Crazy to run that much in a few days.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

The men's speedclimbing finals were insane, watched the boulder and lead last night as well and that was ridiculous.

Woke up to Raygun memes from the breaking and can I just say I've never been prouder to be Australian.

Honestly Raygun and her breaking have become an overnight internet sensation and I'm so here for it. Girly didn't give a heck about anything and just went out there to do her thing, honestly what an icon

 

[Aine Thompson]

How good a games was it for Aotearoa! Awesome showing, we were cheering for the girls in the cycling last night.

Omnium sounds like something that should be in a sci-fi game though.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

The Paralympics are on! If you enjoyed watching the Olympics, do try and catch some of the para sports if you have access to it in your country because the athletes there deserve just as much love and support! I watched some of the wheelchair rugby last night, it's brutal.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

I also happened upon some wheelchair rugby the other day (apparently there is no women's team so the USA has the first woman competing for our team ever and one of the very few women to ever compete in the sport at the olympics). It was interesting to watch!

I also watched some of the swimming, but I'm hoping to catch some more this weekend. I know the Paralympics have sports that are specific only to them (like wheelchair rugby) so if folks have any specific suggestions, let me know!

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

I recommend the archery just because seeing the archers nail the targets when they don't have arms to draw the bow is incredible to watch! I just watched Australia win the bronze in the wheelchair rugby, which was also awesome.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

It's funny you mention archery because my mom apparently knows of someone from around here who is doing archery at the Paralympics so she's been watching it! I need to see if I can watch some of it back. I might take some time to watch some today since it's a holiday here, but I also need to work on a paper.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

I find the team events really interesting because there's a lot of strategy - not just in who plays what role but in team building under limits (i.e. each athlete will have a rating depending on their level of physical limitation and the team has a maximum total rating). It was fascinating with the mixed medley relay in the swimming - something that already has a bit of strategy in terms of where you put your male and female swimmers. Not to mention the strategy of who swims the heats to get the right time to make it to the final and who swims the final (if you need to conserve energy for your strongest swimmers). The good thing there is all members of the team get medals, even if they only swam the heat and not the final.

Which is also to say Alexa Leary from Australia is a total legend - she was in a horrific accident 3 years ago and during the last Paralympics was in a coma and doctors suspected she wouldn't wake up - but did, with an acquired brain injury and had to learn to walk again. Overnight she anchored the team to win the mixed 4x100m medley She's so joyful and funny and I'm so thrilled for her and the whole team! (Apologies to the Netherlands who were looking to win the gold before that )