19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2023

[Saffron Lenin]

Tomorrow will be India vs China semis in women hockey!!! It will be an extremely difficult match!! May be 60-40 in favour of China!

[PKBasu]

How does Neeraj do this? He comes up with just what is needed to get ahead of those chasing him. Almost every time. What a legend.

Absolutely! The other thing about him is that his first throw is normally his best -- and often suffices to win the gold. His first throw today may well have been his best (close to 90m), but it was deemed a foul. The official (Japanese? or perhaps Chinese) was absolutely ludicrous: he tried pulling the same stunt on Jena's second throw, but Neeraj immediately intervened, forced a review and reinstatement of that throw as a legitimate one. Someone should have been on hand to do the same thing for Neeraj's first throw. Anyway, he did come through brilliantly with that 88.88m throw in his fourth attempt. He is an absolute legend -- especially in Indian sporting history, but increasingly also in world javelin throw history.

[arjun2761]

Also his accuracy is legendary. Who else could come up with exactly 4 8's in their throw? I wonder how many times it has been done by anyone in world class competition.

[PKBasu]

And to do it in China is all the more special. 88.88 is the perfect lucky number in Chinese lore. (That is why the Olympics in Beijing started on 8/8/08, for instance).

[prasen9]

Neeraj is the first Asian to get a gold in athletics in the Olympics as far as I know. So, he is at least an Asian legend. Zelejny is, of course, the GOAT javelin thrower.

[indiansportsfan]

I think 100 medals and 25 golds is realistic estimate. Total medals as per list posted by Ankit and 7 more golds ( 3 in archery, 1 in cricket, 1 kabaddi, 1 in squash, 1 in hockey). I think we have 50% chance of gold in Kabaddi women, Hockey women and squash mixed doubles and another gold in compound archery) and some 10 to 20% chance of getting a gold in badminton and/or wrestling. So, at best we can even get to 30 but anything below 25 will be somewhat disappointing from this point.

Hey, you are forgetting bridge and chess. Also I would rate squash mixed doubles as slightly higher chance (~70%) than mens singles (~50%). Kabaddi and hockey women may be somewhat lower.

[jayakris]

Actually, I lived in Qatar and they like it when a Qatari wins gold, whether she or he has immigrated to Qatar or not. Which Olympics medalist in the U.S. is barely above poverty line (without having invested in speculative investements and lost their winnings) especially in athletics?

On example from a few years ago - Rower Megan Kalmoe is an Olympic medalist -- and she lives just above the poverty line

Kalmoe is broke and afraid because she is a United States Olympic athlete. But not just any Olympic athlete. She isn't some newbie. She's a veteran elite of the U.S. women's national rowing team who's earned a pair of World Championship silver medals ('11, '14) and gold in 2015, a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games, and U.S Rowing's Female Athlete of the Year honors in 2014 and 2015. And in April 2014, those years of hard work and medals and accolades are earning her exactly $800 per month. Before taxes. "I'm one of the best athletes in the country," says Kalmoe, who will know on June 20 whether she has made a boat for the 2016 Rio Games (Aug.5-21). "And I can't sleep when I have to buy new running shoes."

She is not alone. For every Ryan Lochte and Bode Miller, there are 50 Kalmoes, athletes who spend as much time worrying about car payments and electric bills as winning gold medals. "Is it a surprise? Absolutely," says Nathan Crumpton, who, as an Olympic development athlete (skeleton), served on the USOC's Athletes' Advisory Council on revenue allocation. "There are many athletes fighting to stay above the poverty line."

I think there are quite a few of such cases. May not be under the poverty line, but having a tough time making a living, and earning well below the national median income.

[Kumar]

There is no safety blanket for Olympic athletes .. there are too many articles about struggling olympians

Look at this one, this from 2012
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/olympics/ ... d=16940902

This article from
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness ... -get-paid/

Still, many athletes aren't at the Simone Biles or Lindsey Vonn level of fame—and that makes scraping together an income much harder. Roughly 60% of Team USA's athletes in Tokyo made less than $25,000 a year, according to Forbes.

If u have great looks or play sports that has high visibility, there are no issues. These athletes spend all their life going for Olympic glory and when they retire , what is their second option ?

[arjun2761]

Neeraj is the first Asian to get a gold in athletics in the Olympics as far as I know. So, he is at least an Asian legend. Zelejny is, of course, the GOAT javelin thrower.

Did you mean in Javelin? Liu Xiang of CN won gold in 110m hurdles in 2004 and it's likely there may be others. I think Japan has won 7 G's in Athletics as well.

[arjun2761]

There is no safety blanket for Olympic athletes .. there are too many articles about struggling olympians

If u have great looks or play sports that has high visibility, there are no issues. These athletes spend all their life going for Olympic glory and when they retire , what is their second option ?

Many of them find jobs to pay the bills. My sons rowing coach (when he was rowing) was a two time Olympian who is also a realtor to pay the bills and coaching is his side gig. I know Walmart also employs some number of Olympians while they practice and train beyond the stipends from the Association. Also, the so called near poverty line folks in US likely have better quality of life than some of the low level government employees in India (even if they are above India's poverty line). She driving a Ford Ranger and is eating at fancy sandwich-entree takeout joints.

Li'l Red fires up easily and Kalmoe drives eight minutes to downtown Princeton for lunch. The sun shines. A breeze cuts the humidity. Princeton, so pastoral it looks as if it should be under a snow globe, bustles with Saturday afternoon traffic of both the foot and four-wheeled varieties. As she searches for parking, Kalmoe makes certain she's not misunderstood. "I'm not complaining," says the 5-foot-10 Kalmoe. "I love being an Olympic athlete."

She and teammates Grace Latz, Amanda Polk and Katelin Snyder convene at Olives, a fancy sandwich-entrée takeout joint. Containers of buffalo macaroni-and-cheese and Thai chicken salad in hand, they head across the street and find a table in the shade of the public library.

[Kumar]

Swapna Barman makes some accusations about Nandini. Irrespective of truth or relevance of those, one thing is evident.. there’s no camaraderie between these compatriot athletes.

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/asian-ga ... 2.ece/amp/

What a whiner. Does not seem to be something done at spur of moment, but is accusing deliberately.


I personally do not like the athletic rule that athletes with naturally higher level of testosterone must take suppressing hormones . It further marginalizes such girls.

It may not be fair to girls with normal testosterone level, but isn’t any athletic victory a result of winning genetic lottery.

[Sin Hombre]

It is good to be a successful athlete in India.

Odisha state government just announced a 1.5Cr cash prize for Kishore Jena, which adjusted for PPP is like 700k USD. That's pretty good.

[sameerph]

Both Antim and Pooja Gehlot thru to QF in Women's wrestling. But, Antim against Japanese world championships Fujinami next while Pooja against Mongolian.

[Sin Hombre]

PVS got crushed in the QFs as expected.

[sameerph]

Both Antim and Pooja Gehlot thru to QF in Women's wrestling. But, Antim against Japanese world championships Fujinami next while Pooja against Mongolian.

And Manasi got a bye to QF but up against Japanese too
..