Athens 2004

[thop]

Yes they should be disqualified for 2008 because of very poor sportsmanship. Common sense and fair play both lost today. Sad day. The court didn't even decide on the case, just declared that the appeal comitee had no jurisdiction over the case, not that what they decided was wrong. GB/USA/FRA can be really proud on their medals.

It's sad that the lawyers and beancounters have taken over the olympics. Peirsol would've been disqualified yesterday, however the judges report was not accepted because of a formality: he didn't report the mistake in perfect english! What is wrong with those people?

Please note that i think it's a good thing Peirsol kept his medal, just an example on what is going on behind the curtains.

 

[Deepak]

Chinese/Japanese/Aussies are doing extremely well, US is not doing as well as expected and Russia poorly.

Greene lost in 100 mtrs. Must have been an exciting race.

 

[Crusher]

With first through fourth being separated by only 4 hundredths of a second, and all 4 under 9.90s, it was a hell of a race. I don't think any of them can be disappointed with their performance, but it's nice to see the loudmouth having to settle for a bronze.

 

[Crisidelm]

HHhehhheeyyyyyy... tomorrow Hungary-USA water polo...

My old country plays with my new country...

Hungary is far the best in Water Polo, period. Nobody ever made more medals, won more cups in this sport. (World Cup, World Championship, Olympics, everything together.)

I'd be suprised if somebody else would get the gold, frankly.

May I say Italy? When the Italian water polo team is off with a bad start, that means they'll finish on top

Bah. Italian league made up from Hungarians like Kasas - he's name is 'Del Piero of Water Polo' in Italy...

UPD: I'm not sure he's still paying in Italy actually...

BTW US got spanked by Hungary: 5-7... Hungary is still performing flawlessly...

Yesterday, Women Water Polo Quarter F.: Italy-Hungary 8-5

 

[T2k]

HHhehhheeyyyyyy... tomorrow Hungary-USA water polo...

My old country plays with my new country...

Hungary is far the best in Water Polo, period. Nobody ever made more medals, won more cups in this sport. (World Cup, World Championship, Olympics, everything together.)

I'd be suprised if somebody else would get the gold, frankly.

May I say Italy? When the Italian water polo team is off with a bad start, that means they'll finish on top

Bah. Italian league made up from Hungarians like Kasas - he's name is 'Del Piero of Water Polo' in Italy...

UPD: I'm not sure he's still paying in Italy actually...

BTW US got spanked by Hungary: 5-7... Hungary is still performing flawlessly...

Yesterday, Women Water Polo Quarter F.: Italy-Hungary 8-5

Yeah, I know. I don't think anybody really count on their Women team...

But their Men are still 100%: 4 won out of 4 played... 8)

 

[T2k]

Chinese/Japanese/Aussies are doing extremely well, US is not doing as well as expected and Russia poorly.

Greene lost in 100 mtrs. Must have been an exciting race.

There are a lot of other sports on the last days... The medal table will change a lot, I guess.

 

[horvendile]

For some reason I'm quite satisfied with women's heptathlon and men's triple jump... but that does not come close to my satisfaction with men's high jump! 8)

 

[thop]

Chinese/Japanese/Aussies are doing extremely well, US is not doing as well as expected and Russia poorly.

Don't forget that Russia has been split up. You should add the medals of White Russia, Ucraine, etc. to the Russian medals.

 

[Deepak]

But in Sydney Russia was 2nd I think, did they compete alone or under CIS banner??

 

[Crusher]

Men's high bar gymnastics tonight was just absurd. The judges should all be fired, have their pay rescinded, and be barred from judging any other events, olympic or otherwise.

 

[Miksu]

For some reason I'm quite satisfied with women's heptathlon and men's triple jump... but that does not come close to my satisfaction with men's high jump! 8)

Heh, you had a nice weekend. Second largest finnish newspaper titled Sweden as the "savior of european athletics".

Finland isn't doing that great, only one silver medal from shooting. And I suppose that's the only medal we will get.

 

[jvd]

How many medals does italy have ?

 

[DemoCoder]

Btw, did anyone else find the US athletes' attire at the opening ceremony somewhat inappropriate?

Pretty much every other nation's team was wearing nice, clean-cut, tasteful and mature attire.

There you go again. Lame ass unsubstantiated crypto-antiamericanism/eur snobbery. Atleast you could have found something more substantial to criticize this time. Pretty much every other nation's team was clean-cut? Give me a break. Japanese posters in international forums are still reeling from Japan's pajama-like technicolor-dreamcoat outfits. Burundi's carried spears. Tajik's wore hot pink. Bermuda, well, wore really gay looking Bermuda shorts and shirts and looked like stupid tourists. Others wore grass skirts. The Swiss men wore *capri pants*.

But no, Americans wear baseball caps backwards, and all of a sudden it's inappropriate?

*Some* countries (like France) wore suit and ties (or Spain with skirts and heels for the women). But who went and made this rule that atheletes must wear non-casual clothing in hot Greek weather at a sporting event? Who says what is tasteful to wear at the olympics. This is an international event, and different cultures have different ideas of what is appropriate to display during the parade of nations.

L233 Euro-snobbery in action again. Atleast the Americans can blame Canadians for their outfit. (it's a Canadian sports supplier)

I'm still waiting of Iceland to apoloigize for Bjork.

 

[DemoCoder]

Chinese/Japanese/Aussies are doing extremely well, US is not doing as well as expected and Russia poorly.

Don't forget that Russia has been split up. You should add the medals of White Russia, Ucraine, etc. to the Russian medals.

Maybe the US states should be allowed to compete separately? Because of a general limit on the number of athletes a country can field for each event, a divided country will always be able to send more athletes than a unified country. UK alone is fielding 1/2 the number of athletes the US is. Now, you could argue this rule must exist, otherwise China can flood all competitions with too many contestants, but you must also realize, that if you bisected China with an arbitrary political border, you could easily increase the medal count of the combined two territories. This even exists today: China + Hong Kong + Taiwan (why is Hong Kong still fielding atheletes under a separate flag?)

I'm tired of judged events at the olympics. IMHO, any event that cannot be scientifically measured or judged according to strick binary rules, should not be a sport. Synchronized Swimming? Come on. Why isn't Ballet an olympic sport then? Synchronized diving? Why not synchronized running?

I don't even like the proliferation of swimming medals. The object of the the race should be to get to the other side as fast as possible. Use whatever stroke, kicks, or technique you want. Are runners penalized for "running technique?" Why isn't there a "back run" 100meter dash? Oh wait, there is the "race walk"!

It seems every olympics more and more judged events and medal variations are allowed.

 

[Deepak]

DC, I agree with you that too many events are included in Olympics. I remember earlier there used to be three medals per weight category in weightlifting, one each for snatch/clean&jerk/total. That was crazy. Likes of softball/handball/blah-blah should be discarded and likes of Chess should be included.

 

[nutball]

I don't even like the proliferation of swimming medals. The object of the the race should be to get to the other side as fast as possible. Use whatever stroke, kicks, or technique you want. Are runners penalized for "running technique?" Why isn't there a "back run" 100meter dash? Oh wait, there is the "race walk"!

Well hold on, there's one version of the 400m where one bloke runs it on his own, another where one bloke runs it jumping over sticks, and yet another where four blokes take it in turns to run a small bit of it with a stick in their hand...

But you're right though, the Olympics has become "fat" to the point of being devalued. It is difficult to draw a line though, especially since the amateurism rules were abolished. That essentially means it's anything goes.

(Or maybe we should try it in the style of the original games, ie. no women, and all competitors in the nuddy )

 

[rabidrabbit]

Yes, the Gay Olympics are closer to the original spirit of Olympic Games

 

[Diplo]

I'm tired of judged events at the olympics. IMHO, any event that cannot be scientifically measured or judged according to strick binary rules, should not be a sport.

Why does this statement not suprise me from you, Mr. Spock? You have just ruled out the vast majority of sports - there goes boxing, gymnastics, football (and any other ball sports), judo etc. What is wrong with diversity?

Synchronized Swimming? Come on.

Having watched a programme on synchronised swimming, you appreciate how damn tough a discipline it is. Not only do you have to hold your breath upside down underwater for up to a minute at a time, you have to have great strength and co-ordination. Try attempting a few of the moves yourself. Whilst it might not be to everyone's taste, it could be argued that it takes far more skill than pumping yourself up on steroids and running in a straight line for ~10 secs.

Why isn't Ballet an olympic sport then?

Because ballet isn't a sport, full stop? It's rather like saying why isn't acting a sport.

Synchronized diving? Why not synchronized running?

Maybe because running in synch with someone is easy, where as diving isn't?

I don't even like the proliferation of swimming medals. The object of the the race should be to get to the other side as fast as possible.

Yes, why even restrict this to having to swim? Drain the pools and make them run, since swimming is artificially adding a limit to the speeds which can be naturally achieved.

It seems every olympics more and more judged events and medal variations are allowed.

So? What exactly is wrong with giving talented people the opportunity to achieve their dreams? Just because you decide that some sports are unworthy doesn't mean that the people who dedicate themselves to excellence within them shouldn't have their chance, too. Often the people who participate in the 'minor' sports you denigrate embody the true spirit of the Olympics - they are unpaid amateur athletes who dedicate themselves to their discipline with little hope of financial reward or recognition. They don't have college sponsorships, they don't pump themselves up on drugs, they don't have the services of highly-paid coaches and nutritionists, they don't go around bragging they are the best, they don't have temper tantrums and burst into tears when they loose, they don't compete just for money, ego, fame and lucrative sponsorship deals.

 

[Deepak]

And not to forget Iraq's performance in Football, they reached semi-final I think.

 

[DemoCoder]

Why does this statement not suprise me from you, Mr. Spock? You have just ruled out the vast majority of sports - there goes boxing, gymnastics, football (and any other ball sports), judo etc. What is wrong with diversity?

No, it does not rule out most sports. At the very least, all sports should be judged by *instant replay* in slow motion. Why is it that we can all watch football and see games that were lost because of bad judgement calls because modern sports refuse to use video replay, the same technology that *everyone* who watches the sport has (including the live commentators)

Tennis for example has the HawkEye system, which completely eliminates the need for line judges, except in cases where the machine might fail and you need to review a video record.

Fencing is another great example of a sport which now has electronic assist.

Tell me, do you advocate olympic swimming and running invents be judged by old fashion judges and stop watches?


However, I would certainly get rid of ice skating, dancing, gymnastics (unless they remove "artistic" judgements), and other sports which have subjective evaluation methods.

Synchronized swimming is just water dancing. Why isn't Ballroom Dancing an olympic sport too? Both are judged events. Both require some athleticism. Both require skill and experise. And both are competitive.


The Olympic Motto is: Swifter, Higher, Stronger. It should represent sports which push these limits. I'm sorry, but Ice Dancing just doesn't do it.