Men’s 4x400 relay
 

Anyone catch the race last night??

USA v Botswana. USA has a population of about 330 million. Botswana has a population of about 2.6 million. USA won by .1 - that is point 1 - seconds.

And……..?

he didn't even mention the 4x100m - although that has become something of a tradition

And…. China and India have well over a billion people. Where were they? They should have won by at least a half a second. lol

In my experience, the larger the population pool, the better chance you have of getting better athletes. That is the reason that most states have separate divisions for sports. The large schools play large schools and the small schools play small schools.

There are exceptions which is why Hoosiers was such a great story. It was based on Milan High School winning the 1954 Indiana state championship against Muncie Central High School, a school ten times its size. If Muncie had won, it would not have been a great story.

The story of the runner from St. Lucia (with a population of under 200,000 - a little bigger than the Villages) beating Sha'Carri Richardson in the 100 was an amazing story.

As to the 4x400, the fact that a country with a population less than half the population of the Miami metro area can come within a tenth of a second of beating the USA is a story.

This doesn't hold with sports. For a number of years Jamaica had the best sprinters in the world. Trinidad and Tobago have had some great athletes also.

Than you have places like Kenya whose athletes do very well in long distance racing

The three most populous countries are India, China, and USA. I didn’t realize India just passed China.

The two countries that dominated in the Olympics were USA and China. India, despite its huge population, is a third world country so I would not expect them to do very well at the Olympics.

Countries with smaller populations such as Canada or Australia are far more developed in sports which explains their success. African countries do very well in track but they didn’t do well in swimming, kayaking, or equestrian.

I agree that Jamaica has fantastic sprinters. But overall, the US dominates Jamaica. Didn’t see many Jamaicans surfing, playing water polo, or basketball.

There are exceptions to population predicting the results which is what makes the Olympics so exciting. The little country upsetting the larger country makes for great television. Serbia almost beat an NBA all star team! Norway winning the decathlon and Netherlands beating the USA in mixed 4x400, are not something you expect to see.

Agreed that what is exciting are the athletes we don't expect to win come out ahead. I've always thought if you're caucasian you have NO CHANCE to win running races against black people, but this year Norway and Netherlands were freakishly ahead in some instances. Call me jaded but I kept thinking they must have figured a way to cheat. 100 meters ahead and not out of breath?!! If it's just great training, good for them!!!

The 100M winning sprinter won by .8 seconds over the winner…wait for it…100 years ago. You’d think with modern training, equipment, diet, etc., that gap would be greater.

Why would anyone watch these anti christian olympics?

Light it up much? Why would anyone barf this? Goal?

Cause they can...cause it's interesting...cause these athletes are the best in the world and their skills are incredible..cause we appreciate the athletes and the world coming together under sport. Cause we are human.

In my opinion the Olympics are about bringing the world together through athleticism and excellence, not divisiveness. They don't hold any religious meaning to me either way. If they were heavily religious based/biased I think that would drive away more than it would attract.

Botswana put together a great team that made a fantastic showing in several track events. Good for them!

One thing never ceases to amaze me about Talk of The Villages. No matter how innocuous or innocent an original post might be, there is always someone who can find a way to make a snarky comment about it. Really Boogie, if you and other like minded individuals are that jaded or unhappy with your life, please don't invite the rest of us to share your misery.