OT - London Olympics thread

[Winged_Wheel88]

More LA Kings timekeeping.
An Olympic Fencer Refuses To Leave The Floor After Getting Screwed

Heartbreaking.

 

[Darkstone42]

I finally saw the USA floor routines. Holy clutch performances, Batman!

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

I finally saw the USA floor routines. Holy clutch performances, Batman!

By that time the pressure was off. Russia fucked up pretty bad in their last event.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

I'm shocked that China did not medal, btw. Maybe all their gymnasts were the correct age this time?

 

[elocomotive]

The issue with putting it in base-10 would be that you would have to cap the difficulty somewhere. With this system, the athletes set the maximum.

No, you wouldn't. You just adjust it RELATIVE to the rest of the score. You make it impossible for individuals to actually get a 10 unless they are doing the hardest routines. So 3 of the score is difficulty and 7 is execution (or whatever ratio would be about the same. So unless a routine is the most difficult, you couldn't get a 10 b/c you'd only have a 2.25 or a 2.75 difficulty or whatever. It's the same system - same balance, just better numbers so the announcers aren't constantly telling us why a 15.7 is great and a 14.6 is a disaster.

 

[Darkstone42]

By that time the pressure was off. Russia fucked up pretty bad in their last event.

They were spotless, though. No mistakes. Even if Russia hadn't blown it, I don't think it would have been close. They won by five full points.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

The US girl breaking into tears after she completed her last difficult move was pretty cool.

 

[elocomotive]

Heartbreaking.

Wow, that is. It's funny b/c I was watching fencing the other day and the commentator said, "The use of high def instant replay has revolutionalized the sport. It's virtually impossible for officials to make a mistake now."

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Wow, that is. It's funny b/c I was watching fencing the other day and the commentator said, "The use of high def instant replay has revolutionalized the sport. It's virtually impossible for officials to make a mistake now."

 

[elocomotive]

By that time the pressure was off. Russia fucked up pretty bad in their last event.

Only positive is they almost all had one really bad event, so at least none of them had to feel like "I screwed up the Olympics for the team." Man I felt bad for them. They got the silver though. It's funny how expectations determine that - Russia was miserable and completely in tears with a silver. A U.S. swimmer was ecstatic tonight (yesterday) she snuck in and got a bronze.

 

[Darkstone42]

And now I've finally seen the men's 200m relay. That is the USA's event. Sheesh. Three seconds ahead of the French.

 

[mattola]

Heartbreaking.

holy crap that is terrible. that is really sad.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Only positive is they almost all had one really bad event, so at least none of them had to feel like "I screwed up the Olympics for the team." Man I felt bad for them. They got the silver though. It's funny how expectations determine that - Russia was miserable and completely in tears with a silver. A U.S. swimmer was ecstatic tonight (yesterday) she snuck in and got a bronze.

You are only a winner in your own eyes.

 

[Darkstone42]

Only positive is they almost all had one really bad event, so at least none of them had to feel like "I screwed up the Olympics for the team." Man I felt bad for them. They got the silver though. It's funny how expectations determine that - Russia was miserable and completely in tears with a silver. A U.S. swimmer was ecstatic tonight (yesterday) she snuck in and got a bronze.

Russia screwing up was still better than Romania performing just about as well as they could have. That says something about their program.

 

[elocomotive]

You are only a winner in your own eyes.

Damn. I thought at least a few of you liked me. Brutal.

 

[Darkstone42]

Damn. I thought at least a few of you liked me. Brutal.

You know how I feel about social scientists.

 

[Darkstone42]

Because I can't get enough of this, and I know you can't either.

Relive McKayla Maroney's Phenomenal Vault In Super-Slow Motion

 

[Vadered]

Because I can't get enough of this, and I know you can't either.

Relive McKayla Maroney's Phenomenal Vault In Super-Slow Motion

I don't know enough about the vault to say it was perfect, but damned if it didn't LOOK perfect. Certainly about 3 billion times more graceful than I could pull off, at least.

 

[Dacks]

No, you wouldn't. You just adjust it RELATIVE to the rest of the score. You make it impossible for individuals to actually get a 10 unless they are doing the hardest routines. So 3 of the score is difficulty and 7 is execution (or whatever ratio would be about the same. So unless a routine is the most difficult, you couldn't get a 10 b/c you'd only have a 2.25 or a 2.75 difficulty or whatever. It's the same system - same balance, just better numbers so the announcers aren't constantly telling us why a 15.7 is great and a 14.6 is a disaster.

The problem is, there is no "hardest" routine. You're setting an arbitrarily false ceiling and limiting separation by doing that. Suppose the hardest routine this year scores a 2.95 in your system. Four years from now, everybody can do that routine, and harder. So now all the top athletes have difficulty ranges in the 2.95 to 2.99 range. Now difficulty is meaningless past a certain point - why would I risk screwing up for an extra couple of decimal points? Better to do the 2.95 routine flawlessly than the 2.99 with a small mistake.

Sure, you can readjust every year - but what happens when a phenomenal athlete comes along and can do things on a scale people haven't anticipiated? Again, won't be rewarded for, or motivated to, attempt something out-of-this-world because the reward just isn't there in the scoring system.

Uncapped difficulty is the way to go - also allows for comparisons over time, like racing events.

 

[dash]

Silver in men's rowing eights for Canada - There goes the goose-egg in that column.

Canadian Men's Eight Wins Olympic Silver | - 2012 Olympics | Boating