The Olympics: Beijing 2008

[Munsu]

Here's the official thread for everything concerning Beijing 2008.

Phelps already got a gold medal with a world record in the 400 IM. Also watched Misty May and Kate Walsh dominated in the first match of the games earlier in beach volleyball.

That's about all I've watched so far, aside from a bit of men's gymnastics.

[Psyke]

The opening was absolutely fantastic. The amount of effort put in, to coordinate such a huge event was amazing. I waited around 2 hours just to see my country's team.

[TheBladeChild]

I agree the opening ceremony was amazying, the quality of choreography great.

[Eurasian]

The opening was quite a show. I loved the colors, the costumes, the different ways they expressed China's history...it was just amazing to watch. Zhang Yi Mou definitely delievered. I can't even imagine what it must have felt like being there live (except for the ridiculous heat...I don't want to imagine that). I wonder how London is going to top this opening ceremony.

[Buffalobiian]

India won it's first individual gold medal since....forever, I think.

Abhinav Bindra hence became India's most eligible bachelor.

I partially watched Australia get silver in one of the rowing contest and the duel diving.

[Animeniax]

I've been watching the Olympics avidly, mostly because there's not much else on TV where I'm at because they're preempting all other shows on 2 of the 9 channels available here.

Even though I'm from the US, I find myself rooting against them because really most athletes from other countries don't have it as good as the US, with our Olympic training centers and support systems.

Athletes from countries like China can distinguish themselves from the billion others of their kind by winning at the Olympics, whereas an America who wins will rarely achieve the same kind of social recognition unless they win several events or get caught cheating.

I'll admit the US has the best looking female athletes though.

[Buffalobiian]

Anybody watched Men's Gymnastics? It was quite shocking how everybody stuffed up in some way or another.

I came home from work and watched some hockey. I didn't know our hockey team was that good. Heck, I didn't even know we had a hockey team.

[Animeniax]

Personally I prefer women's gymnastics. Watching men prance around on the floor exercise is gross. They do some amazing moves on the pommel horse though.

@Buff: you're talking about field hockey, right? Ice hockey is the best event in the winter games and I don't recall Australia having an ice hockey team, men or women's.

[KrayZ33]

I agree the opening ceremony was amazying, the quality of choreography great.

I found it less amazing after I read this here

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_on_re_as/oly_china_lip_synched_song

for some reason these are news nobody wants to know, i feel so sad for the girl now, who was to "ugly" for the world.

but for some other unknown reason I don't care much about the olympics this year... normally I wake up in the morning to watch it... but this year I couldn't care less, all I did so far was looking the summary from time to time... I don't know why though

I even used to watch it with my whole family normally,simply because it was fun....didn't happen this time

[ChaosK]

Yeah, but the thing is that girl is happy to have been able to represent her country with her voice, even if she wasn't standing out on stage. You still feel bad for her but just goes to show how different the culture is there...


I'll admit the US has the best looking female athletes though.
I wanna have a threesome with Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson...now.

[Animeniax]

I think the international community will try to find fault with anything the Chinese do during the Olympics, turning otherwise trivial matters into conspiracies demonstrative of the communist iron fist that has its firm grip around its peoples' throats. It's a vicious cycle, causing the Chinese to up the ante and try to be even more perfect, causing more criticism.


I wanna have a threesome with Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson...now.I like Alicia Sacramone (gymnastics) and Logan Tom (volleyball) for that honor.

[ChaosK]

Fucking awesome moment in the Olympics. I wish Shawn and Nastia did this after they took gold and silver. http://i36.tinypic.com/14kbho2.jpg

[LaZie]

Fucking awesome moment in the Olympics. I wish Shawn and Nastia did this after they took gold and silver. http://i36.tinypic.com/14kbho2.jpg

What the eff!

I wouldn't take Nastia, but i'd definitely take Shawn. :p

[Animeniax]

Shawn Johnson looks like a little girl when she's in uniform. Otherwise she is a cutie pie:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/imgml/athletes/large/00619_142x190.jpg

Logan Tom (volleyball)
http://www.nbcolympics.com/imgml/athletes/large/01082_142x190.jpg

Alicia Sacramone (gymnastics)
http://www.nbcolympics.com/imgml/athletes/large/00622_142x190.jpg

[Sapphire]

2008's Sexiest Olympians (http://www.shoutwire.com/ecomments/184502/E_2008_s_Sexiest_Olympians.html)

[Abdula]

Uh, you guys sure know how to derail a thread.

Anyway so Phelps did it. Any thoughts?

[Animeniax]

Quite an achievement by Phelps. One caveat, 2 of his golds were team events, so imagine how bad it would have sucked to not get the 8th gold medal because someone else on the relay team messed up that last race.

I'm already tired of hearing people call him the greatest athlete ever. He's perhaps the greatest Olympic swimmer ever because his body is made for swimming, but that doesn't mean he'd excel at other sports.

edit: what's with the pseudo-mod action, Abdula? Without the discussion of hot Olympic chicks, this thread would have died already.

[ChaosK]

Uh, you guys sure know how to derail a thread.

Beijing 2008 Olympic chicks is still Beijing 2008 Olympics.


Anyway so Phelps did it. Any thoughts?
He did do it...didn't really shock me.


Quite an achievement by Phelps. One caveat, 2 of his golds were team events, so imagine how bad it would have sucked to not get the 8th gold medal because someone else on the relay team messed up that last race.

Yeah, the thing that kinda irked me was that all the commentators spoke as if the team was swimming for Phelps, with comments such as "And Jason Lezak with an incredible anchor leg giving the gold to Phelps!" These swimmers are all there for themselves and they should all be recognized individually for their achievement(s). Also, unless they're swimming in a relay, I'm pretty sure these guys are rivals most of the time.


I'm already tired of hearing people call him the greatest athlete ever. He's perhaps the greatest Olympic swimmer ever because his body is made for swimming, but that doesn't mean he'd excel at other sports.
True but he has successfully made the biggest achievement in Olympic history.

One thing did surprise me though as NBC ran a little bit of the interview with Phelps's mom before the relay; I had no idea Phelps had ADHD (I don't really pay attention to Phelps unless it's the Olympics) and I just think it's pretty incredible he won eight gold medals in spite of that.

[NM]

Alicia Sacramone (gymnastics)
http://www.nbcolympics.com/imgml/athletes/large/00622_142x190.jpg

I felt really bad for Alicia when I was watching the gymnastics event. First she messed up getting onto the bar and then landed on her ass on the event right after. Training 4 years just for that moment but screwing up due to nerves...that's just really hard to even think about. :(

As for Phelps, I expected no less from him. Definitely one of the most worthy swimmers out there. I was so pumped watching the swimming event with him in it. And bam, nabs his 8th gold medal. Dude is insane. Did you guys see how much he eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? He eats a shitload of carbs (but then burns it off later when he trains for 7 or so hours). :eek:

[Animeniax]

In uniform Alicia Sacramone is hot, much more so than in her pictures in civilian clothes. Strange how that's usually the opposite for gymnast chicks.

I watched her fail the mounting of the balance beam but missed the fall. I feel especially bad for her since she probably cost her team the gold medal. Maybe she can compete again in 4 years.

It's surprising how the medal counts are going so far. The US is basically limited to winning gold in the swimming events. Also 31 out of 65 medals were won in swimming. China is much more diverse, winning multiple golds in weightlifting, shooting, gymnastics, diving, and badminton.

[darkshadow]

China also has 1 billion people to pick from >_>

[Animeniax]

Yes, but it's a pool that is limited genetically. The US has diverse DNA and talents bred into its people to produce the best swimmers and (historically) runners.

China is unique in that they systematically still hand pick children from a young age and pretty much gear their entire life to the pursuit of one skill or field, and having 1 billion people to choose from helps in that cause.

[Zhan]

GO NEW ZEALAND! =P

[Sapphire]

Edit: Please delete! This post is a bit off topic. I will post it somewhere else.

[Buffalobiian]

Trash talk backfires at the Beijing Olympics (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-insidetherings&prov=ap&type=lgns)

Damn, I missed this. It was a good read, so it should probably have been a good show too.

[Sapphire]

World's Fastest Man Hasn't Hit Top Speed? (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news?slug=jo-bolt081608&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

[KrayZ33]

Ya I've seen that... that was so amazing I couldn't stop laughing!

He looked back and realized that no one was even *close* to him and started to run funny ^^

he's totally awesome (and of course, very fast ^^)
I couldn't find a video in english but here it is in german...
9,69 (http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=tGOjA2f_DXo)

The commentator at the end of the 100 meter course (after seeing Usain Bolt screaming for joy even though he didn't win yet) "Folks, what is this? a practice run?" ".... worldrecord... *shocked*"

[Sapphire]

Here it is in English (http://newscenter.zideo.nl/)

[Animeniax]

Freakin' sweet, the Japan women's softball beats the US in the gold medal match. The Japanese don't mess around when it comes to baseball/softball. It's kind of sad then that the IOC voted to remove softball from the Olympics due to lack of international competition.

[Sapphire]

Danng that's pretty impressive.

[Animeniax]

Yeah, the US women's softball team was undefeated dating back to 2000, with something like a 22-0 record. Leave it to the Japanese to put them in their place, on the silver medal podium. And now the US team can't redeem itself in Olympic competition until at least 2016.

[Sapphire]

Your Japanese pride brings tears to my eyes.

[XanBcoo]

Does anyone know what happened with the Chinese Gymnast victory? Either there's been no conclusion yet or I can't seem to find it.

If anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/23/AR2008082300226.html

China's gold medal victory in Gymnastics is under scrutiny because everyone seems to think the winners are younger than 16. Don't know if it's been settled yet.

[Animeniax]

Does anyone know what happened with the Chinese Gymnast victory? Either there's been no conclusion yet or I can't seem to find it.

If anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/23/AR2008082300226.html

China's gold medal victory in Gymnastics is under scrutiny because everyone seems to think the winners are younger than 16. Don't know if it's been settled yet.
Man that was a difficult read. One of the girls in question is named "He", so every time it said "He did this" or "He did that", you think they're talking about a guy.

The thing about gymnasts is that they are almost all dwarven in stature. Add the fact that these are Asian gymnasts and is it any question they look underage?

[Assassin]

hey, if some one can win olympic gold before they're even 16, who's to say they dont deserve it. thats one hell of an achievement.

[Animeniax]

I was thinking along those lines too, but in gymnastics, youth gives an unfair advantage. Once the hips widen and the breasts bud, it really throws off a woman's balance, making her less fit to be an Olympic-level gymnast. So the difference between a 14 and 16 year old gymnast can be a huge advantage for the 14 year old.

The US women's basketball team has won the gold medal the last 4 summer Olympics. Like women's softball, maybe it's time the IOC retired it as an Olympic sport? It would only be fair.

[Buffalobiian]

hey, if some one can win olympic gold before they're even 16, who's to say they dont deserve it. thats one hell of an achievement.

But that gives them an unfair advantage. If say the rules hadn't restricted age entry, then other countries would have had more contestants to choose from. Perhaps some who are better than their current candidates, but ruled out by the 16yr old policy.

[Buffalobiian]

36 facts about Olympic Medal Count. (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/36-facts-about-the-Olympic-medal-count?urn=oly,103037)