• Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    3 months ago

    I think what the snooty professional athletes and organisers need to remember is that the general public don’t really care who is the fastest woman to run 250m through mud while wearing a rucksack. You can dedicate your whole life that and for the majority of us it doesn’t matter a jot.

    But somebody falls on their face or nearly drowns in the pool, and people will see that because it’s more newsworthy than “man jumps 1cm further than other man”.

    Eddie the Eagle. The Jamaican Bobsled team. Eric the Eel. These are the names that stick in the memory. We’ll only remember winners if they win a ton of medals, like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps or Simone Biles.

    Who even won the women’s Breaking gold medal? I’d have to look it up if I wanted to know. But we know who Raygun is for better or worse. So who’s the real winner here?

    • VerdantSporeSeasoning
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      3 months ago

      A Japanese woman, Ami maybe, won the gold. I really liked the Lithuanian kid who came in second, she was fun to watch. And I liked the girl from the Netherlands who came in 4th. Bronze went to China’s 671, but her dancing struck me as a power performance more than an art or a form of play.

      I didn’t see Raygun till now because I only watched finals. Just didn’t have the time to watch it all. Stupid music licencing rules causing things to disappear.

      • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        刘清漪, sounds similar to 671 if you say both in Chinese. Just in case anyone thought China was referring to their athletes by number.

        • VerdantSporeSeasoning
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          3 months ago

          The B girls went on by their own street names, 671 was the dancers chosen moniker. She was the first athlete to complete without an alphabetical name, I think I heard? The other Chinese dancer in finals went by a name.