Oops! Media boat botches the Men's Triathlon, forcing a do-over at the Olympics

Is the Olympics on? Blimey, I’m getting really good at not knowing what is happening in the media.

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I enjoy it immensely. At work we had a Chemist… Karl (known as The Fluorine God amongst the Inorganic Chemistry cognoscenti) who medaled in several US and international fencing championships. Epee. He would train and coach his son in our company’s multi-event auditorium at our recreation center. Karl and I knew each other from overlaps in our respective jobs, but also from the rec center and the many shared activities there. I occasionally watched he and his son training at the center. One day Karl asked me if I would be interested in being trained by him. (I later learned he was coaching several other students back then; an injury in the 60s effected his chance for the Olympics, so I believe his fallback was to train an Olympic champion.) Anyway, he said I was the “type”… skinny and quick. I was very tempted, but had way too many irons in the fire back then… so… :disappointed:

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This Karl the Fluorine God?

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Yep! That’s him! Super, super nice guy… even when some stuff of his was stolen from his office. His chair their had fancy cushions hand-made by his wife. One day the cushions disappeared from his locked office. He went to Security to report the theft and – lo and behold – the cushions were there, being used by one of the guards. Karl pointed out the cushions. The Guard: “Oh. Are these yours? I found them in the garbage, but you can have them back.” Karl made no complaint to the guard’s boss. He told me he figured that, since he had the goods on the guy, his office wouldn’t be violated again. So he let it go. (Me? I would have looked to have him walked out the door. I’m not super, super nice.)

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Maybe I misunderstand the role of the starter but I feel that they’d be a lot more useful at making sure the path is clear for when things start, given that none of the sportspeople are looking forward. My understanding was that it’s the sportspeople that need to be ready for the starter, not the other way around.

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