
YOKED INDEED, Sam. Yoked indeed. Also, I like their tanks. If the female gymnasts like wearing sparkles, then great, but I rather wish they also just sometimes went basic and cool. A version of these for women would have looked great.

On Day 1, they wore white, and it's ALSO good. As is his toe point. Some female gymnasts do a better job than others incorporating the dance elements into their floor routines, but I've always resented that the women are REQUIRED to do that stuff and can't just make it about tumbling and skill, the way the men do.

Instead of watching these athletes compete, we got a retread of an old story about Michael Phelps/swimmers doing cupping, and Phelps putting on a Baby Bjorn. For real. NBC needs to understand that all that shit can go viral online if they like and be just as valuable to them if not more. Please don't tell me AGAIN that Maya DiRado has some nebulous "high-powered" job in Atlanta and is buying a house and is married and this is her first and last Olympics.

Pardon me, sir, but your pythons appear to have swallowed tiny bowling balls.

The hills are aliiiiiive...

The pommel horse is one of those apparatuses (apparata?) that seems BONKERS to me. I always wonder -- and I may have said this already even -- whether the women watch the men and think, "Thank GOD I don't have to do THAT f'ing thing," and the men watch the beam and think, "Thank GOD I don't have to do THAT f'ing thing." Now please admire the athletic and strong loveliness that is Mr. Leyva.

That is a nice flying glut right there.

Tim Daggett did give me ONE piece of analysis I hadn't heard before, which was that the men often have to let their fingers off the rings to prove to the judges that they're balancing correctly and not cocking their wrists. Also: TRICEPS.

Norway only made it through Day 1. I like the very simple tank. Why do, as Sam said, people call those pants "tights"? They're more like... streamlined sweatpants. I actually bet they'd love to get rid of those. They look like doing gymnastics in your PJs.

This is a very Donatella Versace color palette. No, really.

Another reason NBC whiffed by not showing any of this competition (and frankly, as I type this, they're showing women's gymnastics and still only bothering with our gymnasts, which is.... for a network that has said results are not as important as the drama, they are MISSING THE DAMN DRAMA) is that Ukraine basically quit. The theory is that once their gymnasts qualified for everything after Day 1, the team knew it didn't have a shot at a medal in the team comp and wanted to save the athletes' health for the individual events. So one literally walked out, grabbed the high bar, then let go and bowed and left. His introductory name and flag graphic were still up on the screen when he finished. It's.... INSANE. The analysts on the live feed were like, "What... is happening?"

The UK went with a blocky all-blue thing on Day One, in addition to an impressive man-bun. (I wish he'd borrowed glitter and clips from the women's team, just for fun -- I mean, the judges might be so amused by that, they could overlook a few demerits?)

On Day 2, it was a red version. All limb sculpting remained the same, and impressive.

This poor guy hurt himself -- not as badly as the French guy who snapped his leg, which was GRUESOME and I am not running a photo of it, but his entire lower leg basically turned left -- and then Kerri Strugged it and got his team into the finals, but was too hurt to compete in them. This photo makes me emotional.

Toby's teammates gave it their best delt. I mean, hot. I mean, shot.

"Hey girl, no big deal, just lying down in mid-air." I like the red and gold part of the uniform. More please. I wish the women's team's uniforms were entirely that.

Groovy shirt, groovy quads.

These are attractive uniforms. I am in favor of them. ARMS.

Brazil's team was truly hideous to look at, and not at all sculpted nor charming.

#goals. Except, I need to achieve this without... doing any of this. Such a pickle.

It seems I just kept downloading pictures. And kept downloading. And kept downloading.

And kept downloading.

Okay, but for all the ogling, it's worth repeating that the human body is capable of truly amazing things. I hold my breath during the Olympics for so many reasons, but gymnastics is truly the most astonishing sight.

They won gold in a VERY VERY tight clash with Russia. Kohei Uchimura, the six-time world champ, apparently wept beforehand when asked about the prospect of team gold. And they got it, and in kind of awesome retro-looking outfits that remind me vaguely of the Houston Astros of yore. I mean, not entirely, but that font is totally goofballs.
