“The Olympic Champ,” a 1942 Walt Disney theatrical cartoon featuring Goofy, directed by Jack Kinney and narrated by John McLeish.
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Ryan Lochte, champion Olympic swimmer and America’s Sexiest Douchbag, is in the news, but not for winning his 12th Olympic medal in Rio. He went to a party at Rio’s Casa França with swim team pals Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger and they got drunk. On their way back to the Olympic Village in the wee hours of August 14th, they had their cab driver stop at a gas station in Rio’s Barra da Tijuca neighborhood so they could take a pee. The restroom door was locked, but boys will be boys and nature abhors a full bladder, so they broke down the door and trashed a soap holder, a mirror, and a “Please Do Not Enter” sign. Two impatient athletes peed against a wall. In other words, just another boys night out for privileged American jocks.
But this didn’t go over so well in upscale Barra da Tijuca. An armed security guard appeared, and the drunken bros paid about $51 toward the damages before their taxi was allowed to pull away.
Ryan Lochte (“So Sexy, So Dumb“) had a short-lived reality TV show called What Would Ryan Lochte Do? In this case what he did was lie, as any spoiled frat boy would. When the teammates got back to the Olympic Village, they claimed they were robbed of $400 at gunpoint by crooks masquerading as police, and Ryan Lochte even told that lie to his mother.
This all fell apart when security video surfaced showing that the four had their wallets when they passed through metal detectors on their return to the athletes village. Surveillance footage from the gas station even showed them breaking down that door.
Swimmers Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were pulled off a US-bound plane in Rio on August 17th and questioned by police. Teammate Jimmy Feigen was forced to pay $11,000 to a Brazilian charity before he was allowed to leave the country. And Ryan Lochte, in the true spirit of “I’m-a-celebrity-get-me-outta-here,” left Rio on August 16th, before any of that happened.
So after the 2016 Olympic Games observed their closing ceremonies, the people of Rio remember how America’s spoiled millionaire athletes trashed their city and its reputation and taxed its already overburdened justice system. And total bro Ryan Lochte went back to his 130 pairs of shoes, hip-hop-tropical-frat-boy wardrobe, and a T-shirt that says “I am Ryan Lochte. Google Me.” Only now when you Google “Ryan Lochte,” you’ll get the word “liar.” That’s one Lochte Olympic record that will never be broken.
Let’s face it, not every sport in the Olympics has the excitement of race walking or horse dancing. There’s definitely room for something new at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Here it is:
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The Boy Who Learned to Fly, an animated film based on the life of Usain Bolt. Directed by Limbert Fabian and Jacob Wyatt for Moonbot Studios and Gatorade.
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s largest city, prepared for the 2016 Olympics with a heroic feat of urban removal, evicting hundreds of families from the town’s poor neighborhoods, the favelas. Rio certainly didn’t win the gold medal for human rights.
More:
“2016 Olympics: what Rio doesn’t want the world to see,” Johnny Harris, Vox
“How evictions have laid bare Rio’s real Olympic legacy,” Niko Kommenda, The Guardian
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The organizing committee for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo has recommended adding five additional sports to the international athletic competition: Baseball/softball, karate, sports climbing, skateboarding, roller derby and surfing.
More:
“One Step Closer: Surfing In The 2020 Olympics,” Jake Tellkamp, Surfing Magazine
“Surfing included in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” Surfer Today
“Surfing In Line To Ride The Waves To Olympic Gold In 2020,” Jill Scanlon, HuffPost Australia
“World Surf League relishes chance to showcase surfing to Olympic audience at Tokyo 2020 Games,” Anthony Pancia, ABC News (Australia)
“Surfing as an Olympic Sport for the Tokyo Games?” Bill Dorman, Hawaii Public Radio
“Surfing and skateboarding among proposed additions for 2020 Olympics,” David Wharton, Los Angeles Times
“Surfing makes cut for Tokyo Games but not squash,” Jacquelin Magnay, The Australian
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The organizing committee for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo has recommended adding five additional sports to the international athletic competition: Baseball/softball, karate, sports climbing fantasy football, surfing and skateboarding.
More:
“Olympics: Skateboarding & surfing among possible Tokyo 2020 sports,” BBC News
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Image (“Woman with a Skateboard, after Fernand Léger”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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On Friday all eyes will be on Sochi’s Ice Cube Curling Center as Canada takes on Great Britain in the Men’s Olympic Curling Finals.
That’s how hip Curling is now. The sport’s venue is named after a famous Rap star.
Related:
“Curling: Right on the Button,” Kristi Finefield, Library of Congress blog
Sir David Attenborough describes Olympic curling [video]
“Curlers more likely to hurt themselves than lugers, speed skaters,” Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post blog
“Getting to the Core of Olympic Curling Stones,” Julie Leibach, Science Friday
“Why Curling Ice is Different Than Other Ice,” Smithsonian Magazine, Erica R. Hendry
World Curling Federation website
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“The Bobsled Song,” written and presumably performed by Sidney Mills and Jon Notar, produced by Groove Guild.
Just in time for Sochi’s two-man bobsled competition, the Jamaica Tourist Board has released this music video supporting the island’s bobsled team, led by veteran Winston Watt. The retro 8-bit animation is a turn-by-turn representation of the 1365-meter (4478-foot) course at the Sanki Sliding Center.
Related:
“It’s Bobsled Time (in Warrenton, Va.),” Tim Regan, WCP City Desk
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Sochi, on the Black Sea, is the Pearl of the Russian Riviera, with a subtropical climate, palm trees, historic hotels and spas, and wide beaches. Just the place to hold the Winter Olympics!
Now Sochi has a trio of ugly mascots, couples toilets, rampant corruption, 70,000 gallons of borcht,and a torch that’s been to outer space, but but no garlic picking, booze, dogs, yoghurt or gay people. In Sochi, Olympic Corruption seems to be this year’s demonstration sport.
“Freezing Sochi: how Russia turned a subtropical beach into a Winter Olympics wonderland,” Duncan Geere, The Verge
“Meet the man who plans to ski down Sochi’s slopes in a mariachi-style suit,” Allison Jackson, GlobalPost
“Will Sochi Have Enough Snow?” Tim McDonnell, Rolling Stone
“Welcome to Sochi, would you like a ceiling in your room?” Alphonso Van Marsh, CBS News
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