#why is the IOC like this

[leeenuu]

anyways i still cant understand why single mixed relay is not in the olympics, like it’s the best thing, it lit gives more chances to countries who have mb one or two good biathletes for the entire team like ioc?? are u dumb??

#biathlon

[she-is-ovarit]

Click the link, this is fascinating.

What About Hormone Replacement Therapy?

Aren't males who compete against females on hormone replacement therapy, resulting in reduced performance? For those who support males competing in female only events, there are two basic lines of thought when it comes to determining whether a person has transitioned for the purpose of athletics: 1. "Trans women are women, period." (Identity is the only factor) 2. "Trans women are women, IF their testosterone levels are below a specific amount." (Identity & biology are factors) The second definition is seen by many as transphobic and even a denial of human rights since a person's expressed gender identity can go unrecognized based on biological factors. Because of this, some governing bodies are updating their policies to remove any qualifiers other than self identification. For example, public schools in 19 US States have no testosterone requirements for males who wish to compete against females. The Equality Act, which is supported by the majority of Representatives in the US House, would extend that policy to public schools in all 50 states. Because of policies based on "Trans women are women, period", males are competing against females without testosterone blockers, or other efforts to level the playing field. This makes direct comparisons of male to female athletic performances perfectly relevant to the topic of transgender athletic policy. How is this relevant to policies like the IOC's? The IOC's policy follows the second line of thought and requires that males have low levels of testosterone in order to compete against females. To my knowledge, none of the boys on this site had testosterone within the levels required by the IOC. If they did, they would almost certainly have not performed as well. Because of this, the statistics are not an apples to apples comparison to what competition between males with low testosterone and females would look like. However, the statistics demonstrate that the differences between the sexes are not trivial, so any attempt to create a level playing field between males and females must account for all differences between the sexes or risk allowing for unfair advantages. Policies like the IOC's effectively work on the over simplification that "male - testosterone = female". However, testosterone levels alone do not account for all sex differences that affect athletic performance. If it is important to have a policy to regulate the male/female testosterone imbalance, why are there not policies that regulate other distinctions, for example the male advantage of height? (For more, this Washington Post infographic details many of the biological differences that affect athletic performance.) If all of the performance related sex distinctions cannot be accounted for, should males be allowed to compete with females, even though there is no guarantee of a level playing field? This site serves as a reminder that even the fastest and strongest women in the world may not be competitive against boys. Allowing males in any capacity to compete in female only events will lead to the erosion of the level playing field.

#women's sports #save women's sports #data #feminism #gender critical feminism #science #athletics #female athletes #sports #gender critical #gender ideology

[jinxedshapeshifter]

k why is espio and charmy judging the javelin event funny to me?

was the ioc like "hmm have these brothers judge some events together"

do they also judge vector because that'd be a conflict of interest

#espio the chameleon #charmy the bee #charmy bee #mario and sonic at the olympic games

[winged-wolf-dreamer]

Some (Unorganized) Musings On A Year In the Unoverse

With Worlds 2023 over, it has been officially a year, more or less, of me having become a fan of Shoma, as I started following him at Worlds 2022 (so not exact year but I figured Worlds is easier to track than exact dates, sue me), so I felt like sharing some unasked for thoughts.

So this whole mess started with the Olympics, when figure skating was trending just about every day on tumblr. “But Wolf,” you might say, “Didn’t you say you became a fan of Shoma at Worlds?” Well, yes, cause see, it wasn’t Shoma that caught my attention, it was Yuzu. I saw gifs of him and people stressing over him showing up and found it mesmerizing, so I decided to follow along with his short. 

Well, we all know what happened at the short. The cursed hole.

Anyway, I watched a few of his other performances, mainly Notte Stellata and Hope & Legacy at Worlds 2017 and Ballade No. 1 at the 2018 Olys. And during all this, the doping scandal was going on and I got to watch, real time (I would look at live updates on the figure skating subreddit) as all that drama unfolded and got to witness the nonsense that was the IOC and ISU. Well, that soured me some, I feel, that plus the Olys being in Beijing and not having the energy to watch it all for one skater meant I didn’t watch the free, alas. I tried watching the gala, but that was my first real experience with how garbage skating coverage is in the US, but I did get to see Haru Yo Koi. It was beautiful.

And, by all indications, that was going to be it.

But wait, isn’t this supposed to be about Shoma? We’re getting to that, be patient! Why are you reading this anyway, I’m not important. This is just me rambling. Unorganized rambling where I’m getting the order of things and the exact circumstances confused...

Anyway, fast forward to Worlds a month later. I didn’t really care, tbh, I was still watching the subreddit, I think. And thing is, Yuzu wasn’t quite clicking with me. He is an amazing skater, but something wasn’t clicking with me that clicked with other people. I still liked him, and I loved watching his performances, very moving, but something was... missing for me. And as he would retire after Worlds, I may very well have left my brief look into figure skating at that.

Unfortunately, I saw this other Japanese skater wearing this gorgeous red costume do happy hops after completing his short at Worlds and I went, “oh I love him.”

AND I WAS DOOMED, I TELL YOU, DOOMED.

That was Shoma after finishing his short at Worlds. I don’t know if I saw it on twitter (twitter, that site I hadn’t logged into for over a year at that point and would wind up deleting once ownership changed, but I could still browse) or reddit or here, but I saw it and I loved it. Something about that grabbed me. I watched him do his free, I watched that glorious step sequence at the end and him claim his first World medal. I was hooked. My attention had been grabbed.

Why did Shoma catch my attention when Yuzu hadn’t, when I didn’t even watch Shoma’s performances at the Olys? I don’t know. Maybe it was cause Yuzu would wind up retiring after Worlds. Maybe it was something about the triumphant nature of Bolero at Worlds. Maybe it was the costumes. Maybe it was *sigh* the atmosphere of Yuzu’s fanbase was... not something I particularly liked. Maybe it was Shoma’s story of him going through a tough coachless year and him finding Stephane and how it all culminated, ultimately, in that first Worlds medal. Maybe it was cause, while Yuzu seemed like a spirit of the ice given human form to grace us with his beautiful skating, Shoma seemed like Just A Guy who went out there and Did His Best (and turned out his best was damn good), and I found him more relatable, ultimately, as I learned more about him as a person who loves sleeping and eating meat and hates vegetables. Mood.

Maybe I’m just gay and thought Shoma was more attractive than Yuzu. Maybe this all happened cause I’m very shallow.

Regardless, I became part of the Unoverse. I wound up keeping up with a lot of relevant twitter accounts even though I could only observe, wishing all of them were on tumblr. I followed several Unoverse tumblrs here (special shoutouts to @myjunkisyuzuruhanyu and @vilyae for all the info and pictures and such), I read the figure skating subreddit. I watched the fans deal with... an annoying amount of hate from others for reasons that infuriated and befuddled me. I learned way too much about the season schedules.

I watched Turandot at the 2018 Olys. I watched his triumphant DOMO at JNats 2019 (god, those twizzles. And that utter happiness during the step sequence). I watched La Vie En Rose at MoI 2019 (that skate is so beautiful and gentle...). I would slowly watch all of his programs at least once over the year and fall that cantilever every single time...

I watched his videos on his own YT channel where he could not do English, even as I myself didn’t understand a word he said. I watched Unowan and him constantly being attacked by puppies. I saved way too many pictures to my phone (as of this writing, 2434 photos).

I watched as the fans waited for him to announce his programs for the season. I watched the first performances of Gravity and Aria in shows. I then... got to experience the joys of watching figure skating in the United States without a VPN or Peacock. I wound up watching Aria from Skate Canada on NBC’s “highlights” broadcast, but for every other performance of the GP (INCLUDING THE GPF, WHY WASN’T THE GPF PROPERLY TAPED FOR A BROADCAST ACROSS ALL DISCIPLINES) I had to stick to embed videos on twitter, ultimately, besides maybe a few here and there on youtube (for whatever reason, it seems to me his programs this season are really hard to find on YT versus every other program he has, it’s annoying). I got to see him finally win the GPF. I got to finally watch a good performance of Padam, Padam from JNats on YT (before it got taken down).

And then I got to witness the emotional roller coaster that was this Worlds as he struggled with injury and I prayed he wouldn’t injure himself further and hopefully take the victory and defend his World Champion status.

And he did. I didn’t watch it live cause time zones, but I watched Aria on NBC’s highlights and saw it. It was a good thing to wake up to. The utter joy and finding out he’s the first Japanese man to win consecutive golds in Worlds.

And now here we are. There’s still WTT, but I still wanted to write this, now. Then the season will be over and we’ll be in the offseason, waiting for shows (including him and Yuzu skating together at SoI!), waiting for new program announcements. For it all to start again. There was a small article about him winning Worlds in my local paper today, and I was so happy. I hope to keep it.

I am... still not all that invested in figure skating as a whole, ultimately. If he retired tomorrow (he’s not retiring, for the record), I would peace out then and there. Even without the... Everything regarding the ISU and such (please don’t let Russia back in...), watching this sport in the US is... hard, and I don’t have investment in other skaters to make an effort, for better or worse. That’s not a slight on them, I just have other things in my life.

Still, I’ll be here until he does retire, and I hope that he’ll skate as long as he’s happy and healthy doing it. And maybe he’ll make it to the 2026 Olys and finally get that gold.

Ganbatte Shoma!

#shoma uno #figure skating #my way too long musings on this past year sigh #I did not edit this for the record please excuse any mistakes #also my memory is bad please excuse if I messed something up #long post

[thoughtdump]

Frustrating as fuck to see Evgenia’s statement on the ban of Russian athletes because I saw her as one of the more sensible/progressive Russian athletes….

They either really do not understand why their athletes are being banned or they do & they don’t give a shit/are being made to say pro-Russian statements. Either way, this whole victim persona they all put on is so fucking ridiculous. The only victims these athletes are are to their own countries abusive regime. Not any other country, not the IOC or ISU, nobody else but Russia. Don’t want to be banned? Have your government not start a genocide on Ukrainian people. Don’t want to have your team medal taken away? Don’t drug 15 year olds. Want your country to be represented? Don’t have a state run doping system where you cheat & lie & steal & expect everyone to just be okay with it because you’re you & we should all bow down to the “motherland”. Do you see any other country doing this shit? You know damn well if it were ANY other country who has the doping abuse Russia does that Russians would be beyond pissed off, throwing their tantrums & everything else because “it’s unfair”. Because guess what …!!! It IS unfair!!!!

And as for the reason they’re banned, the war, you are NOT the victims here. Ukrainian people & children are dying, they’re being raped & slaughtered & dumped around like garbage & their homes, lives, everything they’ve known & loved are being destroyed by YOUR government so shut the fuck up about being “migrants.” Especially when Ukrainian’s are forced to be literal Migrants because of Putin! Wtf! To even compare yourself to such a serious, very real humanitarian crisis is so beyond comprehension. How dare you. You’re so out of touch with reality it’s actually mind blowing. & I feel sorry for Russians who get this fucking brainwashed because it’s not fair to them & it’s not right. Even I gave them more credit but the distortion & overall Stockholm Syndrome of some Russians is so fucking sickening.

So many of us, myself included, tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, tried to cover all the bases as to why they say & think what they do. Is it all the propaganda & brainwashing? Or do they know better? Is it a statement they’re being told to make against their will? Or is it how they truly feel. Was she the vessel they used to spread this message because she did make seemingly anti-war posts so this is her “punishment”? Or do they just need their money now so they don’t care about the war anymore. Do they even know the truth at all? Can you blame them if they don’t know the truth? Is the silence because they can’t say anything? Or is it because they simply don’t want to. No matter the reason, at this point it’s too exhausting to try & hear them out when this type of shit keeps happening. It goes without saying that it’s not every Russian, I know that. The same way it isn’t every citizen of every country that has issues but my god. Two things can be true at once, we can know that they’ve been brainwashed & also not put up with their shit. I have no more patience for them anymore.

Russian athletes should not be allowed to compete & you fucking know it. IMAGINE, if the tables were turned. Hypocrites. No one wants you there because people don’t like cheaters & they want a fair chance at medals. Some of us don’t have to abuse, drug & treat our athletes like machines rather than humans to win medals. Take away all your cheating/abuse & you’re nothing. (& no, I’m not saying abuse doesn’t exist in other places because I know it does & I’m not saying none of the Russian skaters are naturally very talented because of course they are but come on) The ISU/IOC/whoever shouldn’t have even given you the right to be called ROC or OAR or any other bullshit “non representative” label they give you after Sochi just to appease you. There are real fucking issues in the world, people dying & Evgenia’s entitled statement, along with all the other Russian athletes who have done similar shit is so disappointing. Especially from Evgenia for me.

Nobody cares about Russian athlete’s feelings while their Ukrainian neighbors have to wonder if they or their loved ones will be alive for tomorrow. Get over yourselves, take it up with your own federation/country since they’re the problem here, not the rest of the functioning world. This is real life. (I understand that they’re put in such horrendous situations because of their government. I know that speaking out against Russia is serious & they’re in very tricky spots in regards to that but still, others have & regardless, that’s my whole point. It’s sad.)

💙💛

#figure skating #russian figure skating #evgenia medvedeva #Евгения Медведева #sorry about THAT rant #I’m just so sick of it & have a lot of feelings lol #I also do understand that it’s Russia & Russia is dangerous & that they can’t speak out #but unless she was forced to make this statement then she didn’t HAVE to #eteri tutberidze #team tutberidze #kamila valieva #Камила Валиева #alina zagitova #anna shcherbakova #алина загитова #анна щербакова

[opiatemasses]

Time for IOC policy change, now! A decade of evidence

Everything about sport is brilliant, right? This isn’t the case! There’s a concept known as ‘the great sport myth’, coined by Jay Coakley, which is the ideology that sport isn’t always the great phenomenon that most of us believe it to be.

The Olympic Games are no different from other sporting events, in that they hold some negative connotations and have consequences for the host nation. The Games are meant to be for the people and should leave a legacy, in terms of long-term regeneration, economic growth and social improvement. This doesn’t always happen and now is the time for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to make changes to its policies. Here's some of the evidence from the past decade illustrating the reasons why.

How would you like it if you were one day forced to move from your home? You wouldn’t, would you? One key impact that the Olympic Games have on people is displacing them from their homes and communities where they feel a sense of belonging. The relocation of people has been a consistent theme throughout the Olympic movement, and over the past 50 years, an estimated 2 million people have been moved because of construction, rent increases and gentrification. It’ll continue to happen if something doesn’t change now! Do you think the entertainment of the many is more important than the livelihoods of the few? See the specifics from the past decade below:

London 2012 - a minimum of 1000 people were moved to make way for the Olympic Park

Rio de Janeiro 2016 - construction of venues moved over 22,000 families

Tokyo 2020 - 300 households of people were moved for the Olympic sites

In the past, businesses have also been displaced. For the London 2012 Games, there were 350 businesses that either closed or were moved, which affected thousands of customers and employees! Within the UK construction industry, some short-term temporary roles were created, but these are insecure and don’t represent a positive impact from hosting a Games. This was the case in Brazil and after the Olympic site was constructed, roughly 30,000 people were let go. There weren’t many job opportunity improvements in Rio either, despite many believing a Games would bring benefits to a host nation. Remember, the Olympics are meant to be ‘for the people’. This doesn’t particularly sound like the brilliant mega-event you thought it was, does it?

Throughout the years, there have been many cases of ‘White Elephant’ structures left derelict in host nations. Rio’s citizens were promised that the Olympic facilities would be turned into leisure areas and recreational grounds. These turned out to be empty promises. There was also hope that educational improvements would be made, and facilities would also be turned into schools. However, many have been left abandoned in certain host countries, like Rio.

So, why talk about this now? As we can see from the clear evidence of the past decade, there are obvious issues. It’s evident that the problems affect people and the entertainment of the many does in fact disrupt the lives of the few, which arguably shouldn’t be the case. Did you know that the IOC doesn’t have any sanctions for a host nation if they inhibit their people in any way? Nor are there any for harming the environment, which has a knock-on effect for people as well.

I think highlighting these issues is important, as I’m sure many people may not be aware of them. Some organisations have had successful campaigns to highlight the issues and have succeeded in spreading awareness and educating people. The NoBoston2024 organisation managed to be the catalyst in stopping its country’s bid for the 2024 Olympics, for example. See their social displacement piece here.

So, what do I think needs to happen? The IOC needs to change its charter policies, to consider the people of a Games’ host nation and to put appropriate sanctions in place. How could we get the IOC to do this? Through spreading awareness via a social media campaign, which educates people about the issues that exist, much like the NoBoston2024 organisation managed to do. This would be a great catalyst and has proven successful time and time again. I think a petition needs to be written as well, to encourage the IOC to review its conditions and finally prevent similar problems from happening again in future Games.

Until reading this today, did you realise how much people were affected? That is exactly the case for the majority of people - until they’re exposed to the hard reality of the Games. Now is the time to act.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject and if you think these actions would help – please do share your views below.

N0890158

#Time for Change #IOC #the olympic games #olympics

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I don’t know why this blew my mind so much, but it did. I knew the thing about his middle name being “de Pfeffel”, but not that Boris Johnson’s first name isn’t even Boris. That’s just such a weird thing for me to not know, given the amount I have heard about this guy for years and years. Did everyone else know this? Am I the only one who didn’t?

When I heard Andrew Maxwell explain this, I immediately thought that can’t be true, so I Googled it, and what comes up right now if you Google Boris Johnson is a pretty depressing look at the state of the British nation at the moment:

His name is Alexander. He chose to go by “Boris”. That was his choice for a life in politics. Like how the Canadian representative on the IOC could have chosen to be publicly known as Richard Pound or Rick Pound or Rich Pound or Ricky Pound but for some reason he chose to go by Dick. Why?

I recently learned the Johnny Vegas isn’t just a stage name for Michael Pennington, like how Lee Mack is a stage name for Lee McKillop because Lee prefers to work under a slightly different name from his real one. Michael Pennington says he created a character named Johnny Vegas - everything I’ve seen Johnny Vegas do has been officially done by a character being played by Michael Pennington. I knew before about Michael being his real name, but only recently learned that he considers Vegas to be a character and not a stage name, and that blew my mind about as much as learning that Boris Johnson is “Al” in real life. It’s all theatre. It’s genuinely all theatre. And, you know, that’s fine when you’re doing shouty Northern accent comedy on panel shows. Less fine when you’re running a country.

I feel like a character in a 90s movie that just took a bunch of unspecified drugs and had an epiphany about seeing the world clearly. Johnny Vegas doesn’t exist, man. Michael Pennington made him up. And this whole thing, it’s just been a rich guy named Al messing with everyone. He probably came up with the whole thing in university and laughed about it. Just Oxbridge kids creating characters; on one side of campus the shit they invent becomes Footlights shows and 500 metres away they’re inventing future Prime Ministers (I think Alexander de Pfeffel was actually Oxford, but whatever, it doesn’t matter because nothing is real). I need to drink some water.

[freifraufischer]

Why are we suddenly talking about an 87 year old Soviet Olympian?

Larisa Latynina was the first superstar of artistic gymnastics and for half a century she held the record for the most Olympic medals won by any athlete man or woman before that record was broken by Michael Phelps.  She also holds the record for the most Olympics or World Championship medals won by an artistic gymnast which it was believed that Simone Biles tied in Tokyo.

Without question gymnastics was a different sport in Latynina’s age.  At the beginning of her career women had a choice to do routines on the parallel bars rather than uneven bars, the equipment provided little or no rebound and the sport had only recently moved indoors.  There are a lot of technical differences for fans to argue about when comparing the feats, besides changes in the sport itself the format of the world championships was once every 4 years and there were no separate finals so that event and all around medals were awarded after compulsories and optional routines.

Latynina was also famously a woman of legend before the sport turned towards increasingly younger girls.  She won 5 gold medals at the 1958 World Championships while 4 months pregnant.  She has been incredibly gracious to and about the athletes who broke her records.  She had requested to give Michael Phelps the medal that broke her record (and made sure she met him to show her respects when the IOC declined her request).  She said nothing but positive things about Biles and even has talked about how she can’t fathom the things modern gymnasts do.  Besides being an amazing and dominant athlete she has been nothing but a gracious sports woman for decades.

As it turns out Simone Biles did not tie her record in Tokyo.  Research by an American historian of the sport based on primary documents has revealed that Latynina had yet another medal that wasn’t included in her previous counts from the 1954 World Championships.  The event in question is called Team Portable Apparatus, this would be a group demonstration routine that would look to a modern viewer very much like group rhythmic gymnastics--but at the time rhythmic gymnastics did not exist.  It’s worth understanding that gymnastics events have often been in flux where there were not only these group routines, drastic changes in the apparatus people are familiar with, but rope climbing and even pole vaulting were at one point considered artistic gymnastics events.

To my knowledge neither Biles nor Latynina have responded to this news.  Unfortunately there has been a fairly ugly side of fan reaction.  I’ve seen several try to rationalize away this medal as not “really” counting because it’s not really artistic gymnastics.  That this is some kind of Russian propaganda (comparing it to Plushenko’s infamous platinum medal).  Some dismissing Latynina’s achievements because of the perception that her gymnastics was easy (even comparing it to a stunt done by the mascot at 2022 Euros on a modern vaulting table with modern spring boards).

What makes me sad about all of this is that I can’t actually imagine Simone herself would want to be elevated on these terms.  And you don’t need to.  All you have to say is that the sports were very different and direct comparisons aren’t really helpful.  On the other hand it’s given many people a chance to learn about Latynina and there are few sports people who are as good role models.

#gymnastics #larisa latynina #simone biles

[female-malice]

Swimming — like most sports at elite level — is tough. It demands early starts, long, gruelling hours of training, absolute dedication, and utter, single-minded determination.

You must face down disappointment and criticism and carry on. The mental resilience I developed as an Olympic swimmer — I competed in the 1976, 1980 and 1992 Games — has served me well over the past four years as I have campaigned for fair sport for females in the face of a ferocious campaign by a small but aggressive trans- activist lobby.

They have unleashed horrific, often misogynistic abuse and intimidation on anyone who disagrees with them. They issued threats to me and my children, calling me a ‘transphobe’, a ‘bigot’ and far worse.

I barely worked for three years because trans activists made my life hell. I have many friends in the transgender community, and all I have ever wanted is fairness. But the trans-bullies don’t care about that.

Their aim is to silence me, and anyone else who believes in a level playing field — if you’ll pardon the pun — in sport.

Transgender activists can do or say anything, it seems — no matter how vile — while those who disagree with them are silenced.

But, at last, common sense has prevailed, at least in swimming.

FINA, the world governing body, has passed a policy (with a 71 per cent majority) barring anyone who has experienced male puberty, or who has not transitioned by the age of 12, from elite female competitions. It did so after consulting members of 152 national swimming federations.

I couldn’t be more pleased about this decision, which was welcomed by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Nadine Dorries, yesterday.

It means that female-born swimmers who dedicate their childhood and youth to reaching the very highest level will no longer face being beaten before they have even begun — not by superior talent or training, but by biology.

Because that is what happens if female athletes are forced to compete against those born male who passed through male puberty before transitioning.

In swimming, the issue was brought to worldwide attention when, earlier this year, Lia Thomas, a transgender American swimmer, was photographed beside swimmers she’d beaten in a race.

The wider public immediately recognised the absurdity of the fact that someone who had been ranked 554th in the country when competing as a man beat three women with Olympic medals.

Why must feelings be allowed to trump biological realities? Whatever happened to equality?

Men and women’s bodies are biologically different from birth. After puberty, when testosterone levels in males increase, these differences are multiplied and magnified, permanently.

Larger lungs and hearts give biological males more oxygenated blood, greater muscle mass, greater bone density — and an overwhelming physical advantage that no amount of testosterone-suppressing drugs will eliminate.

Mediocre biological males will always beat even elite female athletes.

In America there are 13 and 14-year-old boys in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle who all swim faster than the women’s world record holders in these events.

I have some experience of this, to my cost. In the Olympics, I lost out to swimmers representing what was then East Germany who had been dosed with testosterone by their coaches, giving them on average a nine per cent advantage.

In Moscow in 1980 I was beaten to gold by Petra Schneider, who later admitted to taking testosterone.

Without it, she would have been 17 seconds behind me. The injustice still smarts.

My father, who was my swimming coach, spoke out against this. Strangely, he was never selected as an international coach despite training Olympic medallists.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) didn’t want to acknowledge the truth. Then, as now, it put politics and money above athletes.

I have more than one friend who came fourth in an Olympic final behind three testosterone-fuelled East German women.

My friends should have got gold, and if they had their lives might have been different, enabling them to build careers on their Olympic success. But today nobody even knows their names.

This injustice is partly why I have committed myself to fighting for fairness in female sport. Nobody stood up for my generation in the 1970s and 1980s.

But my campaign is also fuelled by the many phone calls and emails I have received from young female athletes and their coaches and parents.

Many are desperate: how can they and their families sacrifice so much — training before school and after school, and at weekends, as I did — when they would have no chance of winning against transgender competitors?

The young female athletes themselves cannot speak out. They are barred from doing so by their sports’ governing bodies which, like the IOC, tend to be dominated by men who make decisions behind closed doors, without consulting anyone except the trans lobby.

That is what the IOC did in 2015 when it changed its guidelines to enable anyone who has self-identified as a woman for a year and reduced their testosterone levels to ten nanomoles per litre of blood to compete alongside women.

Until then, you needed to have had surgery and lived as a woman for many years. Almost no one was in that position.

As far as I am aware, no athletes or governing bodies were consulted; nor were any independent scientists.

Despite this week’s victory, the battle is far from over. Incredibly, while FINA has listened to unbiased scientists, FIFA — football’s governing body — has just done the opposite, reversing a decade of hard-won gains for women in football by drawing up regulations suggesting that anyone who identifies as a woman is welcome in the women’s game. They don’t even have to take testosterone suppressants.

This is discriminatory and dangerous — women will be pushed out by biological males who are stronger and faster.

Forcing women and girls to compete against trans athletes who were born male leads not to greater inclusion, as activists claim, but to exclusion. It will push women out of sports, including cricket and rugby, where they have made great strides.

How will they get selected for a team or attract sponsorship if sponsors know they will never win because they are competing against those born male who are bigger, faster and stronger?

Those of us who point out these obvious, scientific facts are vilified.

Yet in a recent Twitter survey of 60,000 respondents — young athletes, parents, coaches and the public — 97 per cent thought that male-born athletes should not compete in female sport.

FINA has done what no other governing body has done. It consulted athletes, coaches and, most importantly, scientists, who were unequivocal: hormone suppressants cannot mitigate against the advantages male puberty brings.

Other sports’ governing bodies must follow FINA in recognising this, otherwise women will be eliminated from competitive sport altogether, turning the clock back a century.

FINA’s decision doesn’t exclude transgender athletes, despite what the trans-bullies claim. FINA is consulting on the possibility of a third category open to anyone, including trans athletes.

And transgender men and non-binary athletes — born female — often opt to compete in women’s competitions, against other biological women (provided they have not taken testosterone), as seen in U.S. college championships and the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Categories have always existed in sport to ensure fairness: we don’t have under-15s competing against under-11s, or heavyweight boxers against bantamweight. It would be dangerous and unequal.

Likewise, Paralympic sport categorises people according to their disability.

Common sense and science must prevail similarly when it comes to trans athletes.

We cannot throw fairness for female athletes under the bus of inclusivity and see female sport destroyed while men’s sport carries on unaffected.

The Government must instruct publicly funded sports’ governing bodies to ensure that girls and women can compete equally — that is, with each other — from the grassroots level upwards.

Otherwise, where will tomorrow’s female Olympians come from?

#holy shit umm... fifa wtf are you doing

[majachee]

What is YOUR personal favorite thing you've done/change you've made with Ides of Cybertron?

!!! OOOH THIS IS A TOUGHY

Not in a "I dunno lol" kind of way but in a "I HAVE A LOT OF FAVES" kind of way!

So first of all; Earth!

Now, I don't hate human characters in TF or hate it when the silly robots go to Earth. In fact, I find myself loving most of the human characters in Transformers, and the different takes on how they'd fit into Earth's culture! I also think it's annoying whenever people complain about there being humans in TF media like... cmon, the humans are there to better explain the world building for one. The humans are meant to be the characters we project onto and ask the questioms for us. "What's Vector Prime?" "What are the Decepticons doing on Earth?" "Why is X like X?" They're meant to add exposition cuz every continuity is different... also children. Kiddies who are just getting into Transformers will know NOTHING about the lore.

But anyway! In the early drafts of IoC, they end up on Earth because I really wanted something similar to the aesthetic of Hearts of Steel - showcasing different eras of technology! But then I realized... I had no reason for them... to go onto Earth... and it was causing me more stress than necessary, so I scrapped it! Which... allowed me to focus more on the world building and aesthetics of Cybertron itself, incorporating aesthetics I'd want to see in a Transformers continuity and Cybertronian world building based on prior concepts! I shifted my history hyperfixation away from the history of vehicles/machinery in warfare and towards ancient politics and religion!

And that, my friends, is how scrapping the Earth plotline lead to the story running more smoothly (imo), but also heavy world building that yall barely even gotten a TASTE of yet.

Second favorite thing I've changed; I made Swinlock canon. Hasbro wont do it so I did, because I'm not a coward.

Third!!! Bringing back Sunstorm!

Sunstorm is a fascinating character, in my opinion, but he isn't really... used anymore. I've heard he has a role in IDW2, but I'm not caught up with the comics yet.

The weird thing about Sunstorm is that almost everybody knows what his gig is (being radioactive and a religious fanatic in... One continuity.) But nobody knows where that came from.

No seriously, look me in the eyes and tell me how many people knos that Religious Sunstorm came from Dreamwave, not IDW1. In IDW1 he's nothing more than a background character who (SPOILERS!) kicks the bucket. And is never mentioned again.

The fandom has done my boy dirty, by not knowing which continuity his religious fanaticism came from, so I'm making him a super important character in my continuity (a main antagonist in the later chapters).

I've made him empathetic yet unnerving, I feel. He uses religion as an unhealthy coping mechanism, which causes him to fall into a cultish crowd.

#ask #text #long post #ides of cybertron #maja needs to shut up tag #lore #fan continuity

[shut-up-rabert]

/3 pakistan had invited wang yi to speak at the oic and the other islamic nations said nothing about it. i am sick and tired of pakistanis on social media acting high and mighty and saying stuff like "sikhs wouldn't get treated this bad in pakistan" like yeah they'd get treated far worse🙄 and the indians calling for international organisations to intervene and get rid of the current government🥴 have they ever read anything about other countries??

OIC is that one organisation that us more than willing to let go the fact that people are legit protesting all they can in PoK but get their panties in a bunch when literally nothing happens in J&K. No seriously, the timeline this is from, Indian Kashmir was very much in peace while PoK was burning. (notice how they use the word “Illegally” occupied. Why do all of them go deaf when Instrument of accession is mentioned?) Not to mention that they have none of the relevance or authority they believe to posses when they run their motor mouths, so obviously India makes sure to give them a reality check, lmao.

All in all, bith Paxtan and OIC don’t have the authority or the guts to tell China off, because china makes them piss dem pants. You can take for example the recent happening when wives of men from PoK were arrested in China for being Uygher muslims, neither Pak who had the right to object nor IOC whose so concerned about the muslims had anything to say.

And the person saying sikhs wouldn’t get persecuted in Pakistan? I agree, you won’t persecute them Paki bois, you’ll either convert them so they aren’t sikhs anymore

(The fact that they are asking EAM of the country “persecuting the sikhs”, Pak takes bigger Ls every day, both Hindi and English)

or just straight up kill them:

Goddamn it. And they have the nerve to call us out.

And people calling for international support to Oust NDA, yikes. They really think it will work? Lmaooo.

Tell you what, the only time PM is changing anytime soon is at 12 midnight, when it becomes AM. Oh, Modiji? Yeah, he ain’t goin anywhere.

These people will cry “dEmOcRaCy” in anything and everything and then insult the very same institute by trying to oust a democratically elected leader. The audacity to think they can direspect the people’s decisions like they are high above the rest tells you how much they know about democracy, and how much they need a reality check.

#desiblr #kashmir #jammu and kashmir #pakistan #oic statement on india #oic #organisation of islamic cooperation #behen ka lauda inka #pm modi #modiji #narendra modi #bjp #nda government #china #pok protests

[okwhotookmyusername]

Its still funny how my mom and I will start talking for like, just a second and then its an hour and a half later 😅

I had the sudden idea to ask my mom why she had kids, because she had not wanted them and I just wondered why she changed her mind yknow? No idea why 😅

Anyway an hour and a half and like 10 topics later we ended with me explaining that the Olympics can only be delayed or cancelled by the IOC and the host country has no say

No damn idea how that happened but I do know it had something to do with ghost rider being on 🤔

[cksmart-world]

SMART BOMB

The Completely Unnecessary News Analysis

By Christopher Smart

April 16, 2024

MUSIC HEARD AT TRUMP RALLIES

1 – God Bless the USA — Lee Greenwood

2 – Don't Worry Be Happy — Bobby McFerrin

3 – Rumors of Glory — Bruce Cockburn

4 – The Pretender — Jackson Browne

5 – Too Much to Hide — Joseph Arthur

6 – America Has a Problem — Beyoncé

7 – Friend Of The Devil — Grateful Dead

8 – I'm a Loser — The Beatles

9 – Guilty Filthy Soul — Awolnation

10 – Phone Call From Leavenworth — Chris Whitley

HOPELESS UTAH JAZZ SHOULD DRAFT CAITLIN CLARK

Hold on to your Air Jordans. The Utah Jazz losing ways could be over. Imagine buying seasons tickets not realizing that the front office would trade away all its good players so the Jazz would lose games. What? True story. At one point this season the Jazz were 26 and 26 — a .500 percentage that could get them into the playoffs. So they traded some players and ended the season with 31 wins and 51 loses. Gone are Simone Fontecchio, Ochai Agbaji and Kelly Olynyk. Last season, they traded Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. And before that Bojan Bogdanovic, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Royce O’Neale and Joe Ingles were shown the door. It's all part of a strategy to get good draft picks. Really? Let's trade away our good players so we can get some good players. OK, listen to this: A first round draft pick in the NBA will get millions but Caitlin Clark, if she goes first in the WNBA draft, will make less than $76,000. For real. It's not fair. So the braintrust at the Jazz should do this, offer Clark $5 million to come to Salt Lake City. She'd be worth every cent, maybe more. You're right Wilson, it probably won't' happen. But wouldn't it be nice to have a team you could really root for instead of The Replacements. There's always next year.

SUPPORT THE WINTER OLYMPICS — OR ELSE

If you're not excited about Salt Lake City's bid for the 2034 Winter Games, better keep your mouth shut. It's kinda like being a Republican in Congress who thinks Donald Trump is a blow-hard fraud and rapist with a a crush on Putin. You better keep it to yourself if you know what's good for you. Utah's leaders love the Olympics. Salt Lake City's 2002 Winter Games put us on the map. Finally, after all those years of insecurity we got noticed! Props for us! Now people know we're closer to Vegas than to Chicago, although they still can't pick us out on a map. The 2002 Winter Games were televised but viewers couldn't tell Mormons from heathens. People around the globe were watching and asking, where are all the Mormons. Funny how they blend in so well. The folks from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were here again sizing up the place to see if they should award the 2034 Games to Salt Lake City. Everyone knows that Mitt Romney saved the 2002 Games after Tom Welch was caught wrestling his naked wife in the garage when the cops showed up. It had something to do with his mistress. Not exactly the kind of news coverage Olympic boosters like. This time around, our leaders have been instructed — no naked wrestling.

Post script — That's a wrap for another beautiful spring week here at Smart Bomb where we keep track of O.J. Simpson, so you don't have to. The Juice is dead. It's been three decades since the so-called “trial of the century,” where the football and Hollywood star was on trial for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. O.J. was acquitted of homicide — a victory for all of black America — but later was found responsible for their deaths in a civil suit. Can't get more American than that. Moving on: Headlines this week included this from The Salt Lake Tribune: “In hunt for ‘white elephants’ in Utah, Olympic commission comes up empty-handed.” No Wilson, we have no idea why they were looking for elephants here. Weird. This headline is from The Washington Post: “Here’s why California is drought-free for a second straight year.” Even the band got that one — rain. Duh. From the Deseret News: “Climate change is forcing ants in Colorado to migrate.” News you can use? Daily Beast: “There’s Never Been Anyone More Relatable Than Bigfoot.” Huh? It'a actually a review of the new movie, “Sasquatch Sunset,” about a family of Bigfoot — or is it Bigfeet. And yes, Wilson, it's one of those flicks that probably would be better if you're stoned.

Well Wilson, history is being made as we speak. The Donald is on trial in New York City on charges he falsified documents to cover up a sex scandal involving a porn star right before an election. It's the first criminal trial of an American former president. The poor guy is on a real bummer. So maybe you and the band can give him a sendoff with a little something to brighten his day — or not:

Brother runnin' powder money Daddy's somewhere on a drunk In the hours, after washing I do my dreaming with a gun Well I come down from the country Find a lesson in the draw There ain't no secrets in the city It's hard living with the law They got machines, mama I can't figure They got a romance made for doing time Send me out child, running outside Out along a world of crime Gonna swing my scythe, got a hand upon the handle Gonna shade my children ways I understand Milk the trigger, kill the hunger Staring down this broken land So fetch on up your greasy apron Spread your lover in the straw Hear me baby, I'm nearly crazy It's hard living with the law

(Living With the Law — Chris Whitley)

[thankonomics]

It remained unclear on Tuesday when or how Palestine’s climbers could compete, such as in the upcoming Olympic games in Paris. The participants for the 2024 Olympic Games’ men’s and women’s competitions have yet to be finalized. Two qualifier events remain: Shanghai (May 16-19) and Budapest (June 20-23).

Israel — also a member of the IFSC — has waged an increasingly bloody war in Palestine after a terrorist attack from Hamas in October killed more than 1,000 Israelis.

Since then, Israel’s military incursion into Palestine has resulted in more than 29,000 Palestinian casualties.

Here is Bisharat’s statement in full:

I have immense respect for Hiba Shaheen, president of the Palestine Climbing Association, for her leadership and advocacy on behalf of Palestinian climbers. Of course, it’s nearly impossible for me at the moment to summon a genuine desire to celebrate this decision, as I watch the world sit back and simply just allow Israel to continue its brutal genocide and ethnic cleansing campaign against the Palestinian people. Given the IFSC took less than a week to decide to ban Russia for transgressing international law when it invaded Ukraine, I must question why — after more than 4 months of this century’s deadliest massacre in which almost 30,000 people, mostly women and children, have been slaughtered — why the IFSC and the IOC haven’t yet taken similar actions against Israel and its partners in genocide, including the United States. The IFSC would be wise to recall the history of how sporting organizations helped bring about the end of apartheid in South Africa through athlete boycotts. I want to celebrate the IFSC for welcoming Palestinian climbers onto the world comp climbing stage for the first time, but I would also like to use this moment to encourage the IFSC to do more by taking a strong stand against Israel’s illegal occupation and criminal genocide.

IFSC did not return requests for comment.

#Palestine #International Federation of Sport Climbing #IFSC #climbing #rock climbing

[edspectra2023]

Corporate Gladiators?

The Indian government is contemplating the establishment of monopolies in certain sectors, and has therefore summoned the existing companies in those sectors to a high-stakes debate. The stakes are indeed high, as the outcome of this debate will determine which company will remain independent and which will be merged with its competitors.

The company representatives are tasked with presenting their case to the government, arguing why their company should be the one to remain independent. They will need to highlight their company's strengths and cover weaknesses.

As each company will be fighting for its own survival. The company representatives must be quick-witted and persuasive, as they must convince the government that their company is the best choice to lead the sector into the future.

Here are some sectors and industries that could be considered for the scenario described:

1. Telecommunications Industry: Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.

2. E-commerce Sector: Amazon India, Flipkart, and Snapdeal

3. Automobile Manufacturing: Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, and Mahindra & Mahindra

4. Oil and Gas Industry: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), and Reliance Industries

5. Pharmaceutical Industry: Sun Pharmaceutical, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, and Cipla

6. Food and Beverage Sector: Nestle India, Britannia Industries, and ITC

7. Aviation Industry: Airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Air India

8. Information Technology: IT giants like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro

Your Allocations with respect to companies and industries will be released shortly.

Deliverables:

Presentation (PPT): Create a presentation outlining your sustainability-focused strategy. Include startup background, analysis, proposed strategy, implementation plan, and expected impact.

2.     Additional deliverables are encouraged.

ALL THE BEST!

[secureonlinedesktop]

What is Threat Hunting activity and why is it included in SOCaaS services

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes In today's digital world, cybersecurity has become a priority for companies of all sizes and industries. Cyberthreats are constantly evolving, and to stay ahead, organizations need to implement a variety of tactics and strategies. One of these is Threat Hunting, which has become a key component of SOCaaS (SOC as a Service). In this article, we'll explore what exactly threat hunting is, why it's so important in SOCaaS services, and how a SOCaaS service, like the one offered by Secure Online Desktop, can enhance enterprise security.

What is Threat Hunting?

Threat hunting is a proactive process of searching for and identifying advanced threats that may have gone undetected by traditional security measures. This process involves using a combination of data analysis techniques, human insights, and technology to track down suspicious or anomalous activity within a network. Threat hunting isn't limited to responding to alerts generated by security tools. Instead, it is an active and continuous search for as-yet-unidentified malicious activity. This proactive approach enables organizations to spot threats before they can cause significant damage.

Threat Hunting in SOCaaS Services - Why is Threat Hunting Important in SOCaaS Services?

SOCaaS services provide organizations with a dedicated security team that monitors, manages and responds to security threats. Threat hunting is a crucial part of this service because it allows you to identify and neutralize advanced threats that may escape standard security controls. Organizations are turning to SOCaaS services for a variety of reasons, including a lack of in-house expertise, the growing complexity of security threats, and the need to respond quickly and effectively to potential threats. Threat hunting adds another layer of protection, helping organizations stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.

The Different Types of Threat Hunting

Threat hunting can be performed in different ways, depending on the specific needs of the organization, its resources and its skills. The three most common methods are: - Hypothesis-driven threat hunting: This method is based on the intuition and experience of the security team. Assumptions about possible malicious activity are formulated and then tested through data analysis. - Machine-Based Threat Hunting: This approach uses machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to find suspicious or anomalous behavior patterns in network data. - Threat Intelligence-Based Threat Hunting: This method uses information from threat intelligence sources to identify possible threats. This information may include indicators of compromise (IOC), tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) used by cybercriminals.

How Secure Online Desktop's SOCaaS Service Can Increase Business Security

Secure Online Desktop offers a comprehensive SOCaaS service that includes Threat Hunting as an integral part of its security approach. This means that the Secure Online Desktop team doesn't just monitor and respond to threats, they actively search for possible malicious activity within your network. Secure Online Desktop uses advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to power its threat hunting activities. In addition, Secure Online Desktop's team of security experts have the experience and expertise to formulate and test hypotheses about potential threats. Investing in a SOCaaS service like Secure Online Desktop not only offers additional protection against advanced threats, but can also free up internal resources, freeing your team to focus on other important business initiatives. Additionally, thanks to the proactive nature of threat hunting, organizations can identify and respond to threats before they cause significant damage, thereby reducing potential costs and business disruptions.

Conclusion

Additionally, thanks to the proactive nature of threat hunting, organizations can identify and respond to threats before they cause significant damage, thereby reducing potential costs and business disruptions. The inclusion of threat hunting in SOCaaS services offers organizations an additional layer of protection against advanced and evolving threats. By investing in a SOCaaS service like the one offered by Secure Online Desktop, organizations can benefit from a proactive approach to security that goes beyond simple threat monitoring and response to include actively searching for potential malicious activity. This can help organizations stay ahead of cybercriminals, reduce potential security risks, and improve their overall security posture. - Cyber Threat Hunting: hunting for security threats - Partner - Security Operation Center as a Service (SOCaaS): What it is, How it works and Why it is important for your company Read the full article

#ThreatHunting