Category: Understanding Sports

Summer Olympics: All About Judo

All About Judo

Judo is the Olympics’ only sport which stems from an Eastern martial art. Invented in the 1880s, Judo began as a martial art emphasizing principles of “maximum efficiency, minimal effort” and “mutual welfare and benefit”. Judo is acrobatic combat, impressive in its speed and suddenness.

How Does Judo Work?

Although the phrase “Judo chop” somehow entered the vernacular (I blame Austin Powers), there is no striking allowed in competitive Judo. Points are awarded for throwing one’s opponent to the floor. There are three degrees of throw: ippon, throwing an opponent to the ground on their back, and holding them there for 20 seconds, wazari, in which one of the elements of an ippon is missing, — for example, maybe someone landed mostly on their back but also on one elbow or was able to escape after 18 seconds — and yuko, when an opponent is thrown onto their side or immobilized for only ten seconds. Any single ippon ends the fight and wins it for the judoka performing the throw. Otherwise, bouts are either four or five minutes, with an untimed, sudden-death period if the score remains tied after that.

Why do People Like Watching

One rationale for why ALL sports are popular is that they all, in some way, simulate combat and that the urge to watch people fight is built into most people. Boxing and football, among other sports that model themselves on combat of different sorts, have become very guilty pleasures, thanks to what we now know about brain injury. Judo is a perfect antidote. It’s a combat sport without the guilt!

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

Judo, like boxing, has weight classes to provide some level of parity between opponents. Judo is organized into seven weight classes for men and women, starting at 132 lbs and ending at over 220 lbs for men and ranging from under 106 lbs for women and over 172 lbs for women.

How Dangerous is Judo?

Judo is not terribly dangerous. It seems to be one of those activities that’s actually much more dangerous for beginners than experts. Beginners are more likely to hit someone in the face illegally when they’re trying to grab them or break a bone falling to the mat than experts are. At the Olympic level, injuries are unusual.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Judo?

Judo has the same number of weight classes and therefore medals available for men and women. However, more men will compete for those medals than women. 220 men and only 146 women qualified for the Olympics. Women’s Judo matches are also only four minutes compared to five for men.

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Judo is from Saturday, August 6 to Friday, August 12.

Read more about judo on the official Rio Olympics site.

Summer Olympics: All About Handball

All About Handball

The United States is a different sporting environment than the rest of the world in lots of ways — American Football is king, soccer is of debatable worth, etc. — but its lack of handball as a major sport is the single most confusing difference. Handball seems ideally suited for the American sports landscape. So much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if a single spark started a major growth of handball in this country. I’d love it!

How Does Handball Work?

Handball is played by teams of seven players – six and a goalie – on an indoor court roughly the size of a basketball court. In fact, in the last Olympics, it was played on the Olympic basketball court. The object of the game is to throw a ball about two to four inches smaller than a volleyball into a goal almost as wide and a little bit shorter than a field hockey goal. Like basketball, players are restricted from running with the ball indefinitely. Unlike basketball’s relatively stringent traveling rule (yes, even though it almost never gets enforced,) players in handball are only required to pass or dribble the ball after three complete steps. The more meaningful restriction in handball is a territorial one. No field player on offense or defense is allowed to step into an area around each goal starting from six meters or almost twenty feet from the goal and curving around on either side. Players on offense are allowed to leap into that area as long as they shoot or pass the ball before landing in it. Goals are common and in the hour-long game, scores of up to 35 goals on either side are normal.

Why do People Like Watching Handball?

As an American sports fan, watching handball is like discovering a new continent ripe for the taking. Handball has all the teamwork, strategy, athleticism, physicality, and hand-using of all of our favorite sports and is higher scoring than them all. It’s no surprise that Bill Simmons, dean of a particular brand of American sports writing, has been campaigning for years for the U.S. to simply field a team of American basketball players in this event and see if they can win.

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

Handball simply has a men’s and a women’s competition.

How Dangerous is Handball?

Handball is pretty dangerous. It’s a full contact sport with lots of moving parts. Playing goalie in handball is not only a usually thankless task but a bruising one as well. In a recent New York Times article about handball, the job of being a handball goalie was described as extremely difficult on the mind and body:

Handballs weigh just over a pound. Opponents will jump into the goalkeeper’s D-Zone, equivalent to soccer’s penalty area, and while airborne hurl the handball at speeds approaching 100 miles an hour, at point-blank range. The goalkeeper’s job is to get something, anything, in the way: chest, legs, arms or face… the risk of injury is also high. [Goaltender Thierry] Omeyer missed three months last year after an operation to fix a ripped biceps sustained while making a close-range save.

Expect all the injuries normal in basketball plus a few you’d expect from rugby.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Handball?

Almost perfect. There are 12 women’s teams at the Olympics and 12 men’s teams. The only difference in the game between genders is that the women use a slightly smaller, slightly lighter ball. This reminds me of basketball where the debate of whether or not to lower the rim for the women’s game has raged for years. The argument for it would be that by adjusting a piece of equipment to accommodate women’s smaller (on average) bodies, it allows women to play a more similar game to men than they would be able to (on average) otherwise. Either way, it’s a small difference.

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Handball is from Saturday, August 6 to Sunday, August 21.

Read more about handball on the official Rio Olympics site.

Summer Olympics: All About Field Hockey

All About Field Hockey

The fact that I grew up in an area of the world where field hockey is pretty much only played by women is one of the key regrets of my childhood. Field hockey is awesome. We should all play and watch more field hockey!

How Does Field Hockey Work?

“Field hockey (just called hockey in most of the world outside of the United States and Canada) shares a lot of rules with soccer. Hockey, like soccer, is played with two teams of 11 players each on the field. There are goals on either side of a large rectangular field. Unlike soccer, where natural grass is the optimal surface, the best hockey is played on artificial turf. This is likely because its ball is much smaller than a soccer ball and would be effected more dramatically by the vagaries of a natural surface. The goal of the game, just like soccer, is to get the ball into the opponent’s net more times than they can get it into yours. Also like soccer, there are fairly dramatic limitations on how a player can play the ball. In field hockey, the ball is really only supposed to be hit with one face of the stick that each player has. Field hockey sticks are usually around three feet long and end with a j-shaped hook at the bottom. It’s not the most convenient stick to play a sport with. Its short length makes reaching for and hitting the ball more difficult than in hockey, and the requirement to only use one side of the stick seriously increases the amount of skill necessary to run with the ball. Although field hockey is a sport with a lot of body contact, almost all intentional collisions are illegal.

Games are divided into four 15 minute quarters. Goals can only be scored from within a semi-circle drawn around the goal with a radius of 48 feet. One very common way to score a goal is off a penalty set piece called a penalty or short corner. During one of these, five defenders (including a goalie) are start on the goal-line, usually stacked up within the goal. The attacking team passes the ball in from the corner of the arc around the goal and sets up a quick shot to get off before the charging defenders can reach them. On this play, like all others, only the goalie is allowed to touch the ball with anything other than his or her stick.”

Why do People Like Watching Field Hockey?

Field hockey at an amateur level can be frustrating to watch. The limitations on how one can hit the ball and the stringent rules over contact between players make it a very difficult sport to play gracefully. Luckily, as Olympics viewers, we don’t have to worry about that at all. Olympic hockey players make the sport look easy. Olympic hockey is fast moving and exciting, with lots of clever stick-handling, teamwork, and scoring chances.

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

Field hockey has a men’s and a women’s event.

How Dangerous is Field Hockey?

Field hockey is extremely dangerous. It has all the stick swinging menace of ice hockey but with virtually none of the protective equipment. Hockey players are at great risk of being hit in the face or head by sticks. Goals cannot be scored on some types of shots that are deemed “dangerous” by dint of being lifted too high in an area with a lot of players. Still, they do happen, and being struck by a hockey ball is no fun either. Add to that all the normal potential knee and ankle injuries from a running team sport, and field hockey adds up to quite a dangerous past time.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Field Hockey?

Around the world, field hockey is played in roughly even numbers by men and women and this is displayed in the Olympics organization of the sport. There are two gold medals available, one for women and one for men, and each medal has 12 teams competing for it. Although it is quite equitable in gender terms, left handed people have reason to complain. Only traditionally right handed sticks are allowed in field hockey.

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Field Hockey is from Saturday, August 6 to Friday, August 19.

Read more about field hockey on the official Rio Olympics site.

Summer Olympics: All About Cycling

All About Cycling

Although it has a much lower profile than swimming, track and field, or gymnastics, cycling is a big part of the summer olympics. There are eighteen different cycling events offering a wide variety of tactical and visceral thrills to viewers. From splattering mud to splintering wood, solo feats and teamwork, cycling has a little something for everyone.

How Does Cycling Work?

It’s just like riding a bike! Jokes aside, most of us kind of know how bicycles work, even if we couldn’t describe why they stay up scientifically. Every cycling event has one goal and rewards one quality — speed. Finish first, and you win.

Why do People Like Watching Cycling?

Each cycling event has its own appeal. I enjoy watching the road races the best because of their complex team tactics. Like in the Tour de France most of the riders are race their hearts out in order to set up one of their teammates for victory. That type of self-sacrifice touches me. BMX cycling brings aerial thrills and, if you are unscrupulous to admit it, the promise of spectacular spills. All together though, cycling is enjoyable because you’re watching athletes do something you CAN do in a way you can’t even imagine being able to do.

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

There are 18 different cycling events in the 2016 Summer Olympics – nine for men and nine for women. An easy way to categorize them is by looking at the surface of the race. Two are on roads, one on mountain trails, one on constructed dirt courses, and five on an inclined wooden oval track called a velodrome.

Of the two races on roads, one is mostly a team event and one basically an individual one. In the road race, all the cyclists start together and riders from each country will work together to create the conditions for one of their riders to make it onto the podium. In the time trial, cyclists start staggered in 90 second intervals and, unless they are passing or being passed, are mostly alone on the road.

In mountain biking and BMX, riders start together and battle it out to finish first. The BMX competition is organized like many of the swimming and running races with initial heats that you have to finish in the top half of to qualify for the finals.

The velodrome is where things get confusing. There is the sprint and team sprint, when competing riders or teams start together, and the team pursuit where teams of riders start on opposite sides of the track and chase one another (although almost never catch each other). There is the keirin, where cyclists have to stay behind a dude (or dudette) on a motor scooter until the last three laps when they get to go as fast as they can. And, finally, there is the Omnium, which consists of six different types of races. I won’t go into detail on all of the six here, but some of them are truly wacky and it’s fun to watch and see if you can figure out how they work!

How Dangerous is Cycling?

Cycling is very dangerous. True, there aren’t cars around to hit these cyclists or door them, but on the other hand, they are going really, really fast. When a cyclist going 45 mph hits the ground, it barely matters if it’s asphalt, dirt, rocky dirt, or wood, it’s going to tear skin and maybe break bones.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Cycling?

On paper, cycling looks like a pretty good sport for gender equality. The only difference is that women’s races are slightly shorter in some events. Alas, because I know a bit more about cycling than some of the other events, I know that the actual state of gender equality in cycling is awful. Women’s teams are not supported even one eighth as well as men’s, and there is a distinctly chauvinist attitude throughout the sport.

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Cycling is from Saturday, August 6 to Sunday, August 21.

Read more about cycling on the official Rio Olympics sites for BMX, Mountain, Road, and Track.

Summer Olympics: All About Equestrian

All About Equestrian

So many Olympic events are enjoyable because of how they reduce sport down to its essential elements — who can run faster, lift more, throw farther, etc. Equestrian bucks (pun intended) that trend. There’s nothing reductive about precisely prancing around or leaping obstacles on a horse. And because of that, in the midst of all the simple events, equestrian counter intuitively becomes a complicated relief to watch.

How Does Equestrian Work?

Equestrian events are split into or contain three separate disciplines of horse riding. In dressage, riders perform a set of movements with their horse on a flat surface with no obstacles in sight. Some of the required movements are the piaffe, “a calm, composed, elevated trot in place,” the half-pass, “where the horse goes on a diagonal, moving sideways and forward at the same time” and a pirouette. Dressage is also known as “horse ballet” which gives you a feel for what it looks like. The second discipline is jumping. In jumping, horses and riders must clear a series of obstacles on a course. Runs through the jumping course are timed and many of the barriers are set up with a set of horizontal bars so that if the horse doesn’t completely clear it, a. no one dies and b. each bar that gets knocked down can be converted into a time penalty which gets added to the time of the run to create a score. The final discipline is cross-country which is basically jumping but on a longer, more naturalistic course with barriers that don’t have bars on them. You either get over them or you don’t.

Why do People Like Watching Equestrian?

Each equestrian discipline has its own appeal. In dressage, the synchronization between horse and rider is astounding. It’s like watching sychronized swimming if half the team was a different species! Jumping promises suspense because you and the rider in question often know before they start, exactly what they need to do to succeed. The cross-country is a more high-speed thrill with riders and horses moving at full tilt.

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

Dressage and jumping each have team and individual events. In team events, each country is limited to four riders and the bottom score is dropped from each team. In individual events, riders get three cracks at it and take their best two scores. The third event is called, believe it or not, eventing. It’s a combined event with a dressage, a jumping, and a cross-country competition.

How Dangerous is Equestrian?

Any time you get on the back of a beast that’s bigger than you, there are inherently some dangers involved. When you also endeavor to do crazy things on the back of said beast, it gets more dangerous! Still, at this level, accidents rarely happen.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Equestrian?

Whoa! Equestrian is the one Olympic event where men and women compete against each other. Cool!

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Equestrian is from Saturday, August 6 to Friday, August 19.

Read more about equestrian on the official Rio Olympics site.

Summer Olympics: All About Water Polo

All About Water Polo

Water Polo is my favorite Olympic Sport. Why? It combines so many great elements of what I like in other sports into a mysterious and confusing yet riveting package. Some of its elements, like what the point of the game is, who is on what team, and how to score, are intuitive. Others, like what all the whistles mean and how is it possible to play this sport without drowning, are a source of wonder!

How Does Water Polo Work?

Water Polo is a team sport played with seven players on each team in a rectangular pool around six feet deep. At either end of the playing area in the pool, there are two rectangular goals with nets, like miniature soccer goals. These goals are three meters wide and a little less than a meter (90 centimeters) high. Players try to throw a ball, about the size of a soccer ball, into this net. In the pool at any given time are six regular players and one goalie. Unlike soccer, all the players can use their hands (just try to use your feet in a pool!) but goalies are the only ones who can punch the ball, catch it or block it with both hands, and touch the bottom of the pool. Games are 32 minutes long divided into four eight minute quarters. If that sounds long to you, you’ve stumbled onto the essential truth about Water Polo. It is HARD WORK.

Water Polo players are the toughest athletes out there. Imagine spending half an hour swimming as fast as you can back and forth in a pool, interrupted only by periods of treading water during which you’ll have to churn your feet and legs fast enough to propel your upper body out of the water to catch or throw a pass or shoot. Meanwhile, there’s another team that’s basically trying to drown you in order to get the ball back. It’s pretty amazing. Water Polo is not an anything-goes sport, there are refs, and there are rules (although they’re mostly inscrutable to beginners) but there’s only so much that refs walking on the concrete next to the pool can see. During the last Olympics, NBC installed under-water cameras and the rough play (and unintentional nudity) was impressive.

Why do People Like Watching Water Polo?

Well, since I said this was my favorite Olympic sport, I should say why I like watching Water Polo. First, it’s a lot like many of the other sports I love — soccer, ice hockey, basketball — but in a different setting. The fact that it’s played in water makes it different in interesting ways. First, the relative speed of passing and swimming is much different than that of passing and running or skating. This changes the tactics of the game. Secondly, the constant swimming adds an element of toughness to the game that I enjoy — I can’t imagine swimming for that long without touching the bottom, much less playing a game, much less playing a game where people are trying to drown you! It’s tough and crazy and impressive.

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

Water Polo is just Water Polo — there is only one event – with medals for men and women.

How Dangerous is Water Polo?

Water Polo players are extraordinarily strong and take a lot of punishment during an average match. That said, injuries are relatively rare. The most common are shoulder injuries, thanks to the inhuman speed with which players throw the ball on top of already fatigued muscles from swimming. Other than that, errant (or aimed) elbows and fists can leave a mark, and scratches are a fact of life.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Water Polo?

Meh. Men and women basically play under the same rules. Women are often put in a slightly smaller pool though. In this Olympics, there are 12 men’s teams competing and only eight women’s teams. This is a classic vicious cycle of there being less support within countries for women’s sports which gives international competitions cover to accept smaller fields which discourages more countries from investing in women’s sports.

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Water Polo is from Saturday, August 6 to Saturday, August 20.

Read more about water polo on the official Rio Olympics site.

Summer Olympics: All About Synchronized Swimming

All About Synchronized Swimming

Synchronized swimming, along with rhythmic gymnastics, are the misunderstood teenager of the Summer Olympics. Hidden in plain sight beneath an aesthetic obsessed exterior is a strikingly difficult and physically demanding sport, worthy of olympic-sized respect.

How Does Synchronized Swimming Work?

Teams or pairs of swimmers dive into a pool and, without touching the bottom, perform two to four minute routines. During that time, none of the swimmers are allowed to touch the bottom. The competition is split into two routines – a technical routine and a free routine. In the technical routine, certain required elements must be performed in a particular order. For example, one required element is a Fishtail, which is: “From a Front Layout Position, a Front Pike Position is assumed; one leg is lifted to a Fishtail Position, the second leg is lifted to a Vertical Position (ending is optional)” The free routine is, you guessed it, free of required elements. Routines are done to music, which is also pumped into the pool under water to help swimmers stay on tempo. The routines are scored by a panel of judges who give the performance a technical and artistic score.

Why do People Like Watching Synchronized Swimming?

I think there’s something innately fascinating and impressive about synchronization. Marching bands, geese flying in formation, the pattern of an industrial machine — all of these are mesmerizing in their own way. Synchronized swimming combines this allure with truly impressive athleticism. Try counting the seconds these athletes spend under water, without breathing, while contorting their body into all sorts of positions!

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

There are only two synchronized swimming events – the women’s duet and the women’s team competition.

How Dangerous is Synchronized Swimming?

Synchronized swimming is shockingly, surprisingly dangerous! Due to the arms race for tight formations, synchronized swimmers now regularly smash into each other as they transition from one element to another under water. All of these collisions add up and concussions are very common. A recent New York Times article on the topic suggested that somewhere between half and all of synchronized swimmers will suffer a concussion. Furthermore, “swimmers are sometimes slow to recognize they have a concussion because many of the symptoms, like dizziness and blurred vision, can be caused by swimming upside down and holding their breath for long periods.” WHOA!! This sport is dangerous!

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Synchronized Swimming?

There are no men in synchronized swimming! Make what you want of that fact, I guess. You could see it as a rare sport that favors women or as a cynical instantiation of misogynist culture that restricts women to superficially beautiful activities and therefore minimizes the achievement of world class synchronized swimming or even as unacceptable discrimination against men.

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Synchronized Swimming is from Sunday, August 14 to Friday, August 19.

Read more about Synchronized Swimming on the official Rio Olympics site.

Summer Olympics: All About Taekwondo

All About Taekwondo

Taekwondo is a modern martial art turned sport that originated in Korea. It rewards daring attacks during which a fighter opens themselves up to a counter-attack.

How Does Taekwondo Work?

Taekwondo fighters wear protective headgear and a chest protector called a hogu. Points are awarded for solid kicks to the head or hogu and punches to the torso. Extra-points are given to fighters who complete a strike that opens themselves up to being hit — basically if you spin while striking, you get an extra point. The way this all sorts itself out is this: a kick or punch to the trunk is worth one point, a kick with a spin to the hogu is worth three points, a kick to the head is worth three, and a kick to the head with a spin is worth four. No punches to the head are allowed. Bouts are divided into three two minute rounds with a minute of rest between. The fighter with the most points at the end of the time wins. If there’s a tie, a fourth round is fought with the first point winning. If there’s still a tie after a fourth round, the referees decide the winner! Another way to win the fight is by knocking out one’s opponent.

Why do People Like Watching Taekwondo?

Taekwondo combines the potential for sudden and spectacular violence of boxing with the artistry of judo. It doesn’t have the anything-goes feel of UFC or MMA, but for fans of those sports, this might be the closest Olympic equivalent.

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

There are eight events in Taekwondo, four for men and four for women. Each event represents a weight class, beginning at 127 lbs for men and 108 lbs for women and maxing out at over 147 lbs for women and 176 lbs for men.

How Dangerous is Taekwondo?

Any sport where you can win by knocking your opponent unconscious is inherently dangerous. Concussions and sub-concussive brain injury is common. Still, bouts are relatively short and if you watch a few of them, you’ll notice that not many kicks land solidly to the head in a given bout. Outlawing punches to the head, which I imagine would be easier to land, is another safety measure.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Taekwondo?

Perfect! Four weight classes for men, four weight classes for women, and exactly the same number of athletes in each.

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Taekwondo is from Wednesday, August 17 to Saturday, August 20.

Read more about Taekwondo on the official Rio Olympics site.

Summer Olympics: All About Canoe/Kayak

All About Canoe/Kayak

When you or I think of canoeing, we probably think of the classic ponderous green painted boat and arguments between the person in the back and the person in the front over who is pulling harder and why can’t the person steering do a better job. For kayaking, we might thing of overly fit middle-aged people who put us to shame. Olympic canoe/kayak is a completely different animal. These are streamlined boats that skim over the water at breakneck speed, driven by powerful athletes who rarely, if ever, argue about who is pulling harder.

How Does Canoe/Kayak Work?

There are two different types of boats and two different types of races. The two boat types are canoes and kayaks. In recreational use, these are very different looking boats. In their Olympic racing forms, you’d be forgiven for not being able to tell the difference. The key visual difference to my eyes is one that is true of recreational boating — kayakers use double bladed paddles and stroke on both sides while canoe racers have a single bladed paddle. Racing kayaks also have rudders controlled by foot pedals. The two kinds of races are sprints, which are straight ahead races judged only by speed, and slalom races which require competitors to navigate white-water rapids while weaving between preset gates. In slalom races, the time an athlete takes to complete the course may be modified by time penalties for hitting or missing gates entirely.

Why do People Like Watching Canoe/Kayak?

Despite the large differences between sprint and slalom races and between canoe and kayak forms, the general attraction is the same. The thrill of watching Olympic Canoeing is in seeing powerful athletes who seem to be in perfect sync with their crafts. I find paddling an awkward, unnatural motion, but in the hands of a broad chested, granite shouldered Olympian, it looks completely natural. Sprinters at their peak pace are fluid to the point of being uncanny, like a poorly done CGI monster that doesn’t seem to have enough weight in its movement.

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

Within the sprint category of races, events are separated by distance, gender, and number of people in each boat. The range is from 200 meters to 1,000 meters and from one person in a boat to four. Within slalom, there are only three events — one person and two person canoes, and one person kayaks. Each slalom event is on the same course, although gates may be placed in different places.

How Dangerous is Canoe/Kayak?

While boating down rapids can be very dangerous in real life, here, in a controlled environment, with world-class athletes wearing helmets, there’s very little threat of real injury. The sprints, meanwhile, are even safer.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Canoe/Kayak?

Piss poor. In slalom, women only get to compete in one person kayaks, while men do that plus one and two person canoes. In sprinting, the men have eight events to the women’s four, including shorter and longer sprints in kayaks (women seem to only get medium distances). Looking at this again, it becomes clear that women do not compete in any canoeing events, only kayak ones. Someone please explain why women shouldn’t be allowed to canoe??!

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Canoe/Kayak is from Sunday, August 7 to Saturday, August 20.

Read more about canoe/kayak on the official Rio Olympics site. Here’s the page on slalom and the one on sprint,

Summer Olympics: All About Boxing

All About Boxing

The death of Muhammad Ali provided a reminder of a time when Olympic boxing could launch a victorious athlete into international stardom. Since the 1960 Olympics in Rome, when Ali won the light heavyweight gold medal, boxing has gone through many changes. As its popularity waxed, the importance of the amateur-only Olympics lessened. Then, thanks largely to a disorganized and corrupt galaxy of competing promoters, leagues, and organizing bodies, professional boxing itself began to wane in popularity. These days, only a fight once every two years or so gets the wider public excited. From an American perspective particularly, things have been uninspiring over the last few decades. We haven’t had a star to root for. In this great boxing vacuum, it’s just possible that the Olympics once again become a place where stars can be born.

How Does Boxing Work?

Olympic boxing in 2016 will look a little different from how it has in the past. Between the 2012 Olympics and 2016, a number of changes were made, most of them shifting the Olmypics toward professional boxing. First, professionals are now allowed to compete. Second, for men, the soft helmets that had long been required at the Olympics have been removed. This is an interesting move — it follows increasing understanding of how concussive and subconcussive blows damage the brain — and it means that fans can see their boxing heros more clearly as they fight. Unlike professional boxing, bouts in the Olympics are relatively short, but boxers must fight multiple times in a short period. The headgear, although it did not protect against brain injury, did help boxers avoid cuts and swelling. Fighting without a helmet when you know you have to fight again soon means that fighters will need to find ways to avoid getting cut. A fighter who can fight through a cut to win a bout may still find him or herself having to withdraw from the competition before the next fight. Another change is the judging system — five judges score each round of each fight, with the winner of the round getting a score of 10 and the loser a score between six and nine depending on how close it was. At the end of the bout, a computer randomly choses three of the five judges whose scores are tallied to determine a winner.

Why do People Like Watching Boxing?

In my article about why people like boxing, I identified four key reasons: boxing is elemental, boxing is highly technical, boxing tests athletes to their limit, and boxing has great stories. In a competition full of elemental sports (run fast, swim fast, lift the heaviest thing, etc.) boxing is right up there in its elemental nature. Two fighters step into a square area (confusingly called a ring) and punch each other. Elemental does not mean angry though — you almost never see fighters lose their tempers. Part of what makes a boxer good is her or his ability to think calmly and analytically even when they’re getting punched in the head. Although the shorter Olympic boxing format reduces the drama of watching two boxer push themselves to the limit of their endurance in a single bout, the cumulative effect of fighting many opponents in a short period will make the eventual champion extraordinarily impressive. Will their be great stories in this year’s Olympic boxing? Only time will tell.

Check out some highlights from the 2012 Olympics:

What are the different events?

Boxing is divided into weight-based categories. This is like a quick first pass at making sure bouts are reasonably even. There are ten men’s weight classes ranging from light flyweight (less than 49 kg or 108 lbs) to super heavyweight (over 91kg or 200 lbs) and three women’s classes: flyweight (less than 51 kg or 112 lbs), lightweight (less than 60 kg or 132 lbs), and middleweight (over 75 kg or 165 lbs).

How Dangerous is Boxing?

There’s actually very little risk in Olympic boxing of dramatic sudden injury. Thanks to the short format, knockouts (when one boxer knocks the other boxer unconscious or otherwise unable to continue fighting) are very rare. On the other hand, if you consider long term brain injury to be a danger, then boxing is pretty the most dangerous sport imaginable. Even without the headgear on the men’s side, the light, cushioned gloves mean fighters can take more damaging punches without losing consciousness, causing more damage over time. Boxing is not safe.

What’s the State of Gender Equality in Boxing?

In addition to their being many more weight classes (and therefore gold medals and competitors) for men than women, the rules are also different in curious ways. As mentioned earlier, men are no longer using cushioned headgear because going without is safer in the long-run. So, why are women still wearing them? Surely it’s because some chauvinist somewhere thinks either that women can’t handle being cut or that no one would enjoy watching them get cut. That’s absurd. Men’s bouts are also a minute longer (nine instead of eight) and cut up into longer rounds of three minutes each instead of two.

Links!

Bookmark the full Olympics schedule from NBC. Boxing is from Saturday, August 6 to Sunday, August 21.

Read more about diving on the official Rio Olympics site.