I guess we need a Summer Olympics thread…?

He has Japanese citizenship now so that would be a conundrum.

If that’s the case, I bet Japan would be highly opposed to adding it as an Olympic sport.

Plus, the sport is just not evolved enough globally for there to be enough competitors from around the world.

Well, yeah, that’s why it’s a non-starter in the real world. But in the hypothetical world where it had, through some miracle, a chance of actually becoming an Olympic sport, I can see Japan opposing it so they don’t get embarrassed by another country.

There could be another fix, I suppose. Maybe the powers that be in Japanese sumo make some sort of rules that ban Olympic competition that target foreigners. I guess if they could somehow pull that off, then maybe they would go for it.

There was a stretch of 10 years until a few years ago during which not a single Japanese-born wrestler won a sumo tournament, and there was no Japanese-born Yokozuna (the highest rank) for just as long.
So the national sport is already under siege by foreigners (mostly Mongolians).

which discipline is the most dominated by one country? The options I can think of are china and table tennis, usa and basketball and as I found out yesterday, south korea and archery. anything else comes to mind?

IIRC, the international sumo rankings would be something like Mongolia >>> Japan >>> Bulgaria >>> Georgia > Brasil

Yeah, but it’s different when that reality is publicized on an international stage.

On the other hand maybe they’re not as petty as I’m imagining them and Japan would welcome sumo as an Olympic sport.

South Korea and short-track speed skating (I know it’s winter)?

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I’m liking the best trick part of skateboarding.

i have no clue about winter olympics at all

If Takayasu and Mitakeumi can wrestle for the Philippines, they are ranked #2 after Mongolia and ahead of Japan.

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Thinking about it further and assuming any rikishi could wrestle for a country he has blood ties to, in a two-man-team format, I have them ranked:

#1 - Mongolia: Hak and Teru
#2 - Japan: Kisenosato (out of retirement) or Asanoyama (out of suspension) and Takakeisho
#3 - Philippines: Takayasu and Mitakeumi

Rounding out the rankings are places like Bulgaria (Aoiyama), Georgia (Tochinoshin), and Russia (Amuru).

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I’m getting bombarded with ads while watching the skateboarding stream on CBC. Starting to get really annoying.

Here in Japan, the main broadcast is on public TV, so we get all-day Olympics with zero ads!

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It was just an ad every once in while but then all of sudden the ads started to really pick up. Mostly the same couple of ads for CBC shows. Seems to have gone back to normal now though.

I assume they switched the times of the swimming events for the american market.

You can watch Canadian coverage on Amazon Prime. I assume you have to be Canadian/use a VPN, not sure what the ads would be like on Prime but might be worth a look.

Always is crazy to me that they only allow each nation 2 swimmers per event. Most other sports seems like they allow 3 (or more), but for some reason for swimming they’ve stuck with 2 so you’ve got times where the a legit bronze contender doesn’t get to compete.

Tunisia!

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