Paris Olympics

[Mekong]

Totally In Seine 

[bust]

The Battle Over Air-Conditioning

 

The debate raging across the Olympics athlete village is probably one you’ve had with your spouse—whether or not to turn on the air-conditioning. In an effort to make the Paris Olympics the most eco-friendly Games ever, organizers ditched traditional A/C units in the athlete dorms and instead planted shade trees, installed fans, and built an energy-efficient geothermal cooling system, which in theory, could get rooms down to 79 degrees Fahrenheit.

That plan works for some nations, but others have protested—specifically the United States and Australia. Apparently, our athletes are just too hot and sweaty for ceiling fans. USOC officials argued that elite athletes would literally lose sleep in the sweltering dorms, and this could impact their results. After battling Paris organizers for several months, the Olympic officials relented, and agreed to allow some nations to either bring their own A/C units or rent them in Paris.

“We appreciate the concept of not having air-conditioning due to the carbon footprint,” Australian Olympic Committee CEO Matt Carroll said about the matter. “But it is a high-performance Games. We’re not going for a picnic.”

[Mekong]

Bloody hell my Aircon runs at 26 C which is 78.8 F and it’s well cool enough 

[bust]

"shade trees, installed fans, and built an energy-efficient geothermal cooling system, which in theory, could get rooms down to 79 degrees Fahrenheit."

Sounds like perhaps they used a flawed theory

[Mekong]

I notice it is the countries which rely on aircon the most who are complaining 

[bust]

How the fuck are two blokes allowed to enter women' boxing in the Olympics 

 

[Coss]

I'm so old that I think that, even real women, shouldn't be allowed to compete in boxing. Wrestling is another story, with Jelly.

[Coss]

after the triathlon swim in the Seine river

 

 

[Mekong]

I liked this guy

 

 

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World Boxing boss Boris Van Der Vorst addresses gender issues as Angela Carini quits mid-fight against Imane Khelif

The head of the governing body that hopes to run the next Olympic boxing tournament said he supports the IOC's eligibility policies at the Paris Olympics, and he urged those without deep understandings of gender issues to entrust those determinations to medical professionals and scientists.

World Boxing president Boris Van Der Vorst also said that his organisation will always put athletes' safety first in developing its own policies on health and gender, while recognising that combat sports sometimes require extra considerations to protect all athletes.

Van Der Vorst still strongly disagrees with critics of the IOC's handling of the Olympic tournament, specifically the eligibility of women's boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan.

"I think it's very important that when people are eligible to compete here, we have to respect them," Van Der Vorst said. 

"I think it's a very sad situation for all boxers, everyone involved here."

The now-banished International Boxing Association, which World Boxing hopes to replace, claimed both fighters failed gender eligibility tests at its 2023 world championships after both had competed in amateur boxing for many years.

 

Khelif won her first Paris bout on Thursday when her Italian opponent, Angela Carini, emotionally quit after just 46 seconds and a few punches. 

Even though Carini said she wasn't making a political statement about Khelif, Carini's tearful abandonment of the bout became a worldwide sensation on social media and in Western culture wars.

"What happened today, it shouldn't be happening like this," Van Der Vorst said. 

"The pressure that there is from social media, from the press, from everyone else, it's not very helpful, and it's getting into everyone's head."

Criticism of the two boxers is based partly in the policies and decisions of the IBA, which has been out of the Olympic movement since 2019 after years of IOC concerns about its leadership, integrity and financial transparency.

The IBA disqualified Khelif and stripped Lin of a bronze medal because "of their failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women's competition, as set and laid out in the IBA Regulations".

Van Der Vorst's World Boxing is an alliance of several dozen nations who broke away from the IBA after an internal power struggle failed to oust its Russian president, Umar Kremlev. An IOC task force has run the past two Olympic boxing tournaments.

 

An emotional Angela Carini speaks to media after the fight.