Olympics thread

Facime

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I noticed no one else has so much as mentioned the olympics here so I thought I might start this thread and blow the horn of a couple Oregon athletes while I was at it.

The women swept the individual saber fencing event. Mariel Zagunis took the gold and Becca Ward took bronze, both fighting out of Portland OR and the Oregon Fencing Alliance. Sada Jacobson took the silver to complete the sweep. Way to go ladies!

Michael Phelps took his first gold of these games in the individual medley and hes on his way to being the greatest olympic swimmer of all time.



Im a huge olympics fan and remember going back to my childhood rooting for the USA and hating the russians and to this day will watch the most obscure sport played at the games if there is a chance of an american medaling in it, lol. Please feel free to post results of athletes local to you or pass on stories you hear as the games take place, but PLEASE...lets leave the politics OUT of this thread.

Go USA! ::salute::
 
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iwannadie

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I really like the coverage this time around compared to the past. They actually show full events even for not so popular teams. In the past I remember just seeing the US compete or other top events and only snippets of them. Its nice having a channel just for boxing and just for soccer.

The downside, living on the west coast all the stuff is tape delay. I kinda have to live in a bubble to avoid knowing who won an event before it airs. I think NBC has Really dropped the ball not airing stuff live for the west coast.
 

Facime

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Yes, the west coast always gets screwed when it comes to sporting events and TV coverage.


So far the US athletes have done well and shown themselves to be good representatives. I just heard today about voluntary "super testing" being done on some athletes to prove them to be clean of performance enhancing substances. Michael Phelps is one of those who volunteered and I find this incredible that a guy SO dominant in his sport got that way without the help of drugs. Admirable to say the least.


I also think the olympics has lost some of its appeal due to the volume of internatinoal competition these days. X-games, world championships, goodwill games, etc waters down the significance to some extent, but I still like hearing the personal stories of triumph that get reported.
 

gurley0916

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im pretty pissed about the man gymnastics and the womens diving doubles, the judges are basically not giving us shit when we are out doing the other teams in my opinion.
 

Facime

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wow
The mens 4x100 freestyle relay was a great race. The french had been talking shit and were the favorites going in and had a commanding lead going to the last length of the last leg...but were out swam by anchorman Jason Lezak who swam a record split to help the US team DESTROY the world record and take home the gold! Well done men!


Phelps keeps alive his dream of 8 gold medals in one olympics as well.
 

iwannadie

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CTsupra;1101716 said:
I hear China is getting their asses handed to them. In everything... HA!

By 'assses handed to them' do you mean 'Gold Medals handed to them'? Because, china does lead the gold medals having 7 followed closely by the USA with ...3. China is 2nd in total medal counts holding 10(7g - 3s) vs the USA 12(3g 4s 5b).

So, Im not sure how china is having their asses handed to them in everything lol. (besides basketball)
 

Facime

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So ok..Michael Phelps is a friggin superstar. Here is a kid that showed up to these olympics with 6 gold medals already. Chasing records set by names like Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz and even "the Flying Fin" Phelps was already in an elite class coming into these games, but now he stands alone as the greatest olympic athlete of ALL TIME.

11 lifetime olympic golds medals so far (3 more likely to come)
of the 5 event finals he entered so far, all 5 have been gold, and ALL 5 have been world record as well.

Ya know whats even cooler than all that? He volunteered to be part of the banned substance "super testing" program. Screw sports idols like Barry Bonds, Bill Romanowski and Marion Jones. Michael Phelps is the kind of sports role model kids need these days. How can ya not like the guy?
 

Tae361

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It's true I rank Michael Phelps up there with Tiger Woods in the worlds greatest athletes. Both show domination and complete and utter dedication to their respected sports. And yes that mens 4x200 freestyle relay was a work of art.

As for the olympics broadcasting I'm pretty upset because some of the events have not been shown over here on the east coast, such as Judo, Weight Lifting, Archery and Shooting. As well the USA mens basketball games are broadcasted so damn earlier since they are live from China.

Once track and field gets started up I think we will catch up to china in gold medals, not to mention the medals that Phelps has still to win, as well as Women's beach volleyball and BMX. I'm really interested in seeing what events are going to be offered in the BMX as this is the first year it is introduced into the olympics.

BTW Kim Glass(US Women's Volleyball Team) and Amanda Beard(swimmer) are freakin hot. I dont give a crap if Kim Glass is 6'3", I'd still marry her. Too bad Amanda Beard isn't competing this year, must be the fame she got from playboy and the last Olympics.
 

Poodles

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How about the underage chinese girl gymnasts?

What sucks about the way that they cover the olympics is you NEVER see all the events, which really sucks. They could easily have a station running 24 hours a day to try and show everything even if it's just recorded...
 

iwannadie

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Poodles;1104495 said:
How about the underage chinese girl gymnasts?

What sucks about the way that they cover the olympics is you NEVER see all the events, which really sucks. They could easily have a station running 24 hours a day to try and show everything even if it's just recorded...

I saw a girl they claimed was 16, she looked 13 to me... The idea of having an olympic passport is interesting to prove age and stuff.

I have like 5 different channels that show event in 4+ hour chunks all night long and most of the day. Some show duplicate events but for the most parts its pretty varied. Ive seen more events this time around than Ive ever seen in the past.

Ive seen, weight lifting, water polo, archery, trap shooting, sculling, fencing, field hockey, table tennis and badminton, plus all the usual events. Ive never seen these odd ones show in full rounds in the past, usually they just show highlights.
 

ForcedTorque

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Phelps has Gills!

I felt bad for the American Gymnast that fell on 2 straight events. That flip onto the balance beam that she fell on is INSANE when she does it right like she did in the Prelims.

I felt bad again last night for the Chinese guy who was the favorite, as he had a very nasty looking fall from the Rings.
 

Facime

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that fall from the rings was so wierd, my first reaction was "OMG, the ring broke!" it snapped out of his hand so fast. I felt bad for him too. Also felt bad for the german who fell from the high bar, but that frenchman seemed pretty happy with the surprise bronze.

Gynastics new format and scoring kind of ruined it for me. It lacked the energy of previous years.
 

Fuzz420

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s000pra89T

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Fuzz....nice one. :biglaugh:

I really hope there's no controversies in him winning all those golds, unlike Marion Jones.

Facime;1104613 said:
....Gymastics new format and scoring kind of ruined it for me. It lacked the energy of previous years.

Yeah, if ppl don't know the scoring system...it's like, she got a 15.58....is that good?


On another note...I don't think Walsh and May will be beat in beach volleyball. :bigthumb: