Summer Olympics - Japan 2021

[GroveHillWanderer]

Thank you. It doesn't seem to resolve my footie problem, but yes, BBC should do nicely for what I need.

AIS Play has 16 dedicated Olympic channels and they're all available FTA as far as I can tell (I can watch them all and I don't have a subscription) though you may need to have an AIS mobile number.

[GroveHillWanderer]

What is the best TV channel for following the Olympics here in Thailand please? I'm currently trying to watch Japan vs GB ladies football via my usual footie source and it's painful.

Japan vs GB ladies is available on BBC iPlayer catch-up if you still want to watch it.

[Big Boy]

LOL - I actually have the full AIS Play package x 3. I don't use it very often, but spotted it last night when Mrs BB was changing channels. Actually, I'm enjoying the BBC coverage using my VPN - perfect, but nice to know I have a backup, thank you.

[Lost]

So the star of the Olympics pulled out of a few events. Doubt we'll see her in any more this Olympics to be honest.

Simone Biles cited mental health reasons for the decision (after seeing the disturbing documentary 'Athlete A', I'm not surprised). She decided to quit after fluffing her lines in her first vault attempting an Amanar, a difficult vault with two and a half twists. She lost her bearings in the air completing only one and a half twists before bailing out on the mat. This could have had disastrous results.

She mentioned she'd been struggling a bit with 'the twisties'. A gymnast's nightmare apparently. Sort of like writer's block for an author, I guess. Except an author doesn't risk being paralysed trying to push past it.

Real bloody shame.

This past year we've seen Emma Raducanu, Naomi Osaka (got her Netflix doc on in the background atm) and now Simone all struggle with pressure/mental health issues. Two world #1s and a newcomer.

For me, social media has a big part to play in this. Either that or, coming from someone who has suffered with poor mental health, are we all just big namby-pamby cream puffs now?

[handdrummer]

or me, social media has a big part to play in this. Either that or, coming from someone who has suffered with poor mental health, are we all just big namby-pamby cream puffs now?

No! The pressures in society are much greater now than they've ever been. One slip and the cancel culturists are on your case.

Yes, social media plays a large part in the lives of well known people. Once those "likes" start rolling in, the pressure to maintain and grow those numbers of "likes" becomes enormous and everyday brings more anxiety; will they still love me tomorrow?

I've dealt with some of that fame and it's difficult to maintain your mental balance when everyone is telling you how great you are and you can't go out in public without being noticed and approached. Then, when you go home and look in the mirror or listen to your recordings and you wonder, am I really that good and the answer is no, so you feel like a charlatan. Either that or you believe your own BS and really end up in a mess.

Everyone in the public eye goes through it and everyone deals with it in their own way. Some quit, others become recluses, others can cope with it and maintain their sense of who they really are and realize they have a lot of work to do just to maintain, let alone improve.

[Lost]

I've dealt with some of that fame and it's difficult to maintain your mental balance when everyone is telling you how great you are and you can't go out in public without being noticed and approached.

Now I'm intrigued! Who are you, handdrummer!? Do we have a famous face on the forum?

[handdrummer]

I've dealt with some of that fame and it's difficult to maintain your mental balance when everyone is telling you how great you are and you can't go out in public without being noticed and approached.

Now I'm intrigued! Who are you, handdrummer!? Do we have a famous face on the forum?

I don't exist, I'm only a figment of your imagination. There may be a famous face on the forum but it's not mine.

[Thailightzone]

Now I'm intrigued! Who are you, handdrummer!? Do we have a famous face on the forum?

Don't be too excited or impressed Lost. Hitler & Charles Mason were also famous

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

[sateeb]

I'm all for equal opportunities in sport but this is ridiculous.

Laurel Hubbard: The reluctant history-maker at the centre of sport's transgender debate

"I'm not here to change the world," said Laurel Hubbard in 2017, the year she first competed as a female weightlifter.

"I just want to be me and do what I do," she told a reporter in her native New Zealand, after returning home with two silver medals from the World Championships.

Two years later, her victory in the +87kg category at the Pacific Games in Samoa provoked accusations of unfairness - due to the fact she had lived as a man for the first three decades of her life before coming out as a transgender woman aged 33 in 2012, then resuming her sports career.

Those with disabilities now have the Paralympics so I guess in these gender fluid days there should now be the Transgenderlympics

[Thailightzone]

It's still officially the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (not the Japanese 2021 Olympics)

[Lost]

Our youngest ever olympian, Sky Brown, starting on bbc1 soon. It's skateboarding so I don't imagine most forum members will be particularly interested tbh.

[Lost]

^^^

Easily into the finals coming first in the prelims. She didn't even need to get out of first gear! Finals are on at 04:30 UK time if anyone wants to stick it on.

[Lost]

Cracking stuff, that! Bronze medal for young Sky Brown. She had to dig deep after falling on her first 2 runs. Pulled off a smashing last run. Having nearly killed herself in a horror accident 2 years ago (fractured skull, broken ribs etc) the bravery of this kid to just jump back on the skateboard is astounding!

Good job, Sky!

[HHTel]

Team GB has moved up to fourth in the medal table after securing two more golds at the Tokyo Olympics.

Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre dominated in the Enoshima Yacht Harbour, winning a sailing gold in the women's 470 class.

Meanwhile, Ben Maher endured a tense jump-off against five other riders to win gold in the individual showjumping.

[pharvey]

^ Hell of an achievement - fair play.