Your Vibe Code Guide to the Olympics
Unsure what to watch? Chill. I've got an app for that.
It’s that time of the biennial when we gather around the television and root for the very best athletes in the world as they compete for Olympic medals.
From the opening notes of The Bugler’s Dream (daaaah–DAAAH da-da da da da…), to the athlete backstories, to the fierce competition and international rivalries, the Olympics are generally a time of good vibes. And, whether it’s the sheer speed of downhill skiing or the artistry of figure skating, there’s usually something for everyone.
I realized this week that just about every Olympic sport can be narrowed down to five basic types of competition—at least in terms of how they’re scored:
Speed
Accuracy
Strength
Distance
Artistry
Sometimes there’s overlap in categories, like figure skating. You might think this sport is solely scored on artistry, but the Technical Element score reflects precision (accuracy) and physical difficulty (strength).
I also realized that most Winter Olympic sports have parallels to other sporting events. Sometimes the parallels are more obvious, like snowboarding and skateboarding, and speed skating and running around a track. Other times, it’s less obvious, like bobsledding and kayaking.
Here’s a spreadsheet I put together to show how it all fits:
Full disclosure: I built this chart in about 15 minutes and took several creative liberties, so I’m sure there are things you might disagree with.
Still, using this handy guide, you can now decide which Olympic events to watch based on how you like sports to be scored—or based on other sports you already enjoy.
Have fun.
Oh—you’re one of those strange people who don’t like spreadsheets?
You’d prefer “an app for that” instead?
Okay, fine. Let’s make an app.
“Vibe coding” is all the rage these days. What is vibe coding? It’s AI-assisted coding—think coding for people who don’t really know how to code. You simply tell your favorite AI what you want to build, and it writes the code for you.
Recently, Anthropic’s AI, Claude, made headlines for how well it handles vibe coding, so, I signed up for yet another AI account and decided to give Claude a shot.
I uploaded the spreadsheet above, along with a copy-and-pasted list of TV event times from here and gave Claude this prompt:
“Using the attached documents, develop a spinner app that lets you pick an Olympic sport to watch based on what types of activities you like or how sports are scored, then display the day and time that sport will be on TV.”
The first app it built was in a .JSX file that I had no idea what to do with. Claude walked me through it all, but I still wasn’t sure how to upload it to the web, so I asked if it could build the app in a web-friendly code. A few minutes later, out came an HTML version.
Below, my friends, is a screenshot of the app:
To me, this is genuinely impressive. Not only did Claude do what I asked, but it also added icons, colors and animated falling snowflakes. Mind you, I have no coding skills, nor did this require any.
If you’d like to try the spinner yourself, you can do so HERE on Netlify.com—an app hosting site Claude also told me about. By the way, I did all of this with the free versions of Claude and Netlify.
Good vibes, for sure.
The goal here wasn’t to create an award-winning app, but to simply give vibe coding a try. If you’re a young person looking to make yourself more competitive in the marketplace, I’d strongly suggest giving vibe coding a try—employers will be wanting to know if you can do this type of thing. If a middle-aged guy like me can do it, I’m confident you can too.
Now, it’s time to go watch a team-based event scored by accuracy—otherwise known as hockey.