China loses men's 10m platform synchronized diving!

I woke up to shocking news.

I'm not sure I've completely digested the news yet.

But, this is a case of no complaints. The fourth dive was terrible. There was no recovering from that with the kind of margins that exists at the Olympic level. It doesn't matter if the rest of the dives were still heads and shoulders above everyone else, the error on the fourth dive was absolutely horrifying. Honestly, the fact that they were still able to get silver despite the terrible error (the synchronization was completely off, it was like watching Americans dive) tells you the quality of the rest of the dives.

The thing I'm not happy about are people complaining that the athletes didn't have the right mental resilience to win, which is bullshit. These two were previous Olympic gold medalists and have won the international championship in synchronized diving. They've more than proved their mental mettle. What the team needs to do now is figure out why the error occurred and how to prevent this from happening ever again.

And the trend of Chinese men's failing at getting golds that they should be able to get continues. Air pistol, air rifle, now synchronized diving? What's next? Gymnastics? Table tennis? This is a horror show. 😱 Someone get these athletes a sports psychologist and fix this problem.

I still can't get over that fourth dive. Seriously, what is going on in the Chinese diving camp?

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Edit to add: OK, you know what? I think I'm getting over it. Even Messi misses penalties. Sometimes, disasters happen. Even more so in sports. The fact that China has managed to win men's 10m platform synchronized diving gold medal in four Olympics in a row is already an achievement. And the dream of winning all of the diving golds was always a long shot. We'll come back 3 years later and be stronger. 💪

中国跳水队加油！

Men's gymanstics team event live reaction

Geebus, Japan is insane. I have no confidence in China's chances now. Especially when half the team is dealing with injuries. I mean, this is normal for gymnastics, but it still hurts the team's chances.

Still cheering them on nonetheless. 加油！

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Why are American athletes always so obnoxious? Like would it hurt you to show a little humility? Just a smidgeon?

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OK, not the best start for Team China...there're still a lot of events left...

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Floor exercise is really not China's best event, is it? *bites nails*

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Pommel horse is the worst. Just...the most nerve wracking event ever. Why am I watching this?

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Chinese commentators making me more nervous than watching the athletes. I get it, the routine wasn't perfect, the rhythm was off, the team is beset by injuries, yadda yadda yadda. Now I'm a nervous wreck.

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It's do or die time on the rings. Either China can get lots of points and surge forward or they'll miss out on gold. Please, please, please no errors! Just...finish the routine without falling off the apparatus. That's all I ask. 🤞

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Points get! Still #3, only 0.002 behind Japan. At this rate, it's gonna come down to parallel bars. For now, it's onto the vault, which I hate. I just hate the vault. It's fast, quick, and too easy to lose points. (T_T)

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Aaaaaugh, table tennis is happening at the same time! Break for table tennis mix doubles final!

Edit: Oh wait, it's the bronze medal right now. Whew. Back to gymnastics and vaulting. Augh! I hate vaults.

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Thank goodness vault is done. Just waiting for the parallel bars while Russia kicks everyone's ass. Geebus they're scary good.

Russia's leading by 3.4 points after four events. I don't know how anyone can catch up to them. Unless Russian gymnasts fall off of their apparatus, it looks like they've got gold in the bag. Best China can hope for at this point is silver. (T_T)

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Russian's are so Russian. You'd never mistake one them for an American. Just look at that stoic expression. Look at those killer eyes. They are a warrior race and I am thoroughly intimidated.

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Switching between gymnastics and table tennis final now. This is insanely nerve wracking.

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Go Team China! Do not let Japan get the table tennis gold. Crush their spirit!

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Table tennis gold should be secure, time to see if Team China can secure gymnastics silver.

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China's landing have been bad over all. Silver is not guaranteed. Meanwhile, in table tennis, Japan took a set off China. Noooo, their spirits are not crushed. 中国队加油！

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Russia secures gymnastics gold, Japan gets silver. As expected, China's men's can't do it, resides at bronze. Back to table tennis, OH FUCKING HELL! C'mon, China, do not let Japan get this!

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This is terrible and I hate it.

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China fell apart in the end. (T_T) Oh for fuck's sake, I cannot believe we actually lost table tennis.

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I'm gonna go eat my pain away. Today was awful.

Sleepless night in China

Checked out Weibo (Chinese version of Twitter) and it's filled with people suffering from insomnia after the terrible day of losses left and right, with the loss of mixed doubles in table tennis capping everything off as the shittiest loss for the day.

The poor athletes are obviously suffering the most, especially since they desperately wanted to win this, as this was the first time mixed doubles entered the Olympics and they're nearing the end of their competitive career. This was their only chance at getting the mixed doubles Olympic gold. They'll have to settle for silver.

Just you wait, Japan. In three years, we're coming back for that crown and you'll eat dirt. (ﾉಥ益ಥ)ﾉ

Meanwhile, misery loves company, and I'm feeling better after reading how everyone is having a rough time dealing with the loss.

Table Tennis kerfluffle

I was not following the table tennis news, but apparently there's been some serious kerfluffle over the Tokyo Olympic's table tennis court size.

According to the head coach of the Chinese table tennis team, the athletes complained about the small size of the courts during warm-ups last week (July 21st). The coach, Liu Guoliang, then measured the courts and confirmed that it is indeed smaller than regulation. Table tennis courts use the "ratio" system (number of dividing boards used to encircle the court), with non-finals games played on 7x14 courts and finals played on 8x16 court size. The measurement for the Tokyo Olympic table tennis courts were 6x11.

The smaller court size means that Chinese athletes cannot accelerate at their usual pace safely due to the lack of space. This heavily impacts Chinese table tennis tactics, as one of their strong points is using the full width and depth of the court through their higher acceleration. This especially affects the men's team's performance due to the high reliance on this acceleration in their strategies. This acceleration is the meta which allowed Chinese table tennis athletes to dominate over foreign athletes, as this strategy has yet to be widely adopted by other countries.

Liu has lodged an official complaint, but it was too late to change the venue size.

As I have seen, the male Chinese table tennis athlete had played poorly through out the mix doubles tournament, as Liu said he would be the most impacted.

Remember, all of this was complained about five days ago. Well before the competition began.

So, that does help explain a bit more about why the performance was so terrible.

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And that reminds me that the crew team complained about the water for sculls (rowing) was not properly desalinated, which changed the friction coefficient and buoyancy on their tiny boats. This complaint was lodged by multiple teams, as sculls teams practice and compete in fresh water.

Just another example of the arena being very poorly regulated in this Olympics.