Olympic Correspondent Royer's Olympic Disappointments

So Olympic Correspondent Royer is taking over the blog, that's okay, he watches way more events than anyone else I know!  Before he jetted off to Pittsburgh for the weekend, OCR has left us with his disappointments of the week, along with a look of what to look for over the weekend!

Disappointment is Part of the Games

Only 3 people win medals in each event. I can’t place the quote but I remember an announcer during an opening ceremonies saying that “for many athletes this will be the highlight of their games.” All of the Olympians are the world’s best but most go home without any hardware. While the past few days our Olympians have put in some amazing performances not everyone has new bling. To acknowledge this aspect of the Olympic Games, the theme of this post will be disappointment.

Personal Disappointment in NBC Primetime Olympic Coverage: I heart the shit out of America and I will stand by our athletes in good and bad times. After the men’s gymnastics catastrophic opening events in the team event NBC started ignoring them all together. I’ve noticed this as a general theme of their primetime coverage. Once something goes sour they cut it out entirely (unless it is Jordan Wieber crying, because they sure as hell have shown enough of that). They also don’t cover when an American gold medal favorite doesn’t win. Flag Bearer Mariel Zagunis lost in an early round and NBC covers it up. Not every Olympian’s dreams come true but we should still be proud of what they did. NBC step up your game. Also, why have we not seen Men’s Rings? What do you have against rings? I thought this was America.

 Disappointing Games for Taylor Phinney: While not in the league with Lochte, Felix or Misty & Kerri, Taylor Phinney was America’s hopes for road cycling medals. He got noticeably more media attention leading up to the games, especially with some romancing with Shawn Johnson in Beijing. While he seemed to give it his all, Taylor finished 4^th in both the roadrace and time trials. He is young so definitely has some more Olympics in him but finishing in 4^th has to be the hardest. Hopefully this is will only motivate him more for Rio. Both his parents are Olympic cyclists with medals so I’m sure he will come back strong to keep the family tradition alive.

Distraction much?

Beyond Disappointed about the Women’s Badminton Scandal: Have you watched one of the thrown matches? It is like they are slapping their competitors in the face every time they blatantly hit the birdie out of bounds or into the net. They have disgraced themselves and their countries.  I am so happy quick and decisive action was taken to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. These athletes should probably be deported from the planet for their blatant disrespect of the Olympic games and everything they stand for. General BOOO.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/badminton/highlights-badminton-players-try-to-throw-match.html

Disappointed I Didn’t Watch Women’s Fencing More: Not surprisingly Italy took the women’s team foil in dominating fashion after sweeping the individual competition. I have a new contender for hottest Olympians: Elisa Di Francisca. 

She was the individual champion and now team champion. Domination. She has a lot of passion while fencing, she does this weird floppy hand thing that fascinates me and has a good war cry. Elisa, you are probably in my top three at this point.

"I'm Italian, hear me roar!"

Editor- Apparently Olympic Fever transforms you into an Asian Elephant?
I may need a doctor to confirm this...

But I don’t want to leave on a bad note. I am sitting in the airport right now watching the first day of TRACK & FIELD!! Shit is about to get real. Swimming was just a warm-up for my main focus. I am already sleep deprived but I’m about to go Asiatic Elephant (apparently they only need 4 hours of sleep a day. For such a large-ass animal you would think they need lots of shut-eye to digest or something. Is it all elephants or just the Asian variety?) Ok, Asiatic Elephant rant over, onto what to watch during the next four days as I visit my own Olympic-loving family in Pittsburgh.

Friday

Men’s Shot Put: Have to highlight one of the first track gold medals. Royer’s Prediction: USA takes at least the silver.

Men’s 50 Free: Going to be a good race. I hope the drifter does well.

Women’s Keirin: This is apparently a cycling race. I have no fuckin clue, that is why I am going to watch. Royer’s Prediction: Home team for the gold (they might not even be in it, who knows?).

Saturday

Women’s Trampoline: Not really sure when this became a sport. Apparently our neighbors to the north are a powerhouse. I’ll give them some props. Royer’s Prediction: Canada for Gold.

Men’s 10,000: I feel a USA comeback in distance running. Royer’s Prediction: Rupp for bronze.

Women’s Single Skulls: Watch for Newton local Gevvie Stone.

Sunday

Men’s 100: I have never liked Usain. Someone please finish the race and wait to throw your hands in the air until you are actually done.

Women’s Marathon: I love Shalane Flanagan. Royer’s Prediction: Shalane for the bronze.

Women’s Vault: McKayla Maroney is a fuckin beast.

Monday

Men’s 105kg Weightlifting: This will be one of my random guesses. Royer’s prediction: Ivan Efremov from Uzbekistan takes gold.

Men’s 400 Meters: We swept in Beijing. Royer’s prediction: USA takes Gold.

Royer’s Prediction Scorecard

Correct: 5

In the ballpark but still wrong: 5

Not even close: 2

Happy Friday everyone. Remember to wear your red, white & blue.

Nick Inserts His Spare Olympic Thoughts: I had the pleasure of viewing Thursday night's prime time Olympic coverage with Olympic Correspondent Royer himself, who was all business, and even took the Sports Illustrated to scrapbook with after he had a Hebrew beer and enjoyed national IPA day the right way.  Here are some other thoughts:

• The Olympic boxing system is silly, and the referee's aren't helping themselves.  I saw a couple fights where a guy gets knocked out but not counted out and the bout kept going?  There was the time the ref dq'ed a guy for holding twice?  And the constant standing counts? Here's a secret to help improve IOC, they're wearing head gear so if they're still standing and making an effort to box, they don't need to be counted!
• Little known fact, yelling at the TV for rowers, swimmers, runners, etc. to "go faster!" does indeed help the athletic performance of those individuals. Truth...
• "That sideline reporter needs to be taken out and put out of her misery"-Olympic Correspondent Royer on the Andrea Kramer, sideline reporter for swimming events on NBC
• They are really hammering the Mom demographic with all these commercials.  It's like "Hey Mom, if you buy Kellogg's for breakfast or Tide to wash my clothes, maybe I'll grow up to be a world class athlete in some obscure sport people only pay attention to every 4 years!"