Official 2008 Olympics Thread (FINAL:USA most medals, China most golds)

[quote name='Rocko']Sure, but she got way too high of a score for failing her second jump. She didn't complete it. She fell. She did one successful jump. That does not deserve a medal.

Also, I like how you think two random people from another country speak for the rest of the world. Alicia Sacramone was wronged, plain and simple.[/QUOTE]

Who's to say falling doesn't deserve a medal?

The new FIG scoring rules are intended to encourage gymnasts to increase the difficulty of their routines... that's why they now start from 10 and deduct, with deductions being pretty low for falls / out of bounds / etc (relative to how hard a fall would've hit the score a few years ago).

I don't pretend to be an expert, but that's what the announcers said during the team final. No offense, but it definitely sounds like some unnecessary whining... the system is pretty fair, whether or not it accurately determines the superior gymnast is debatable but everyone knew how the scoring worked going in, and if the Chinese gals chose a routine with higher difficulty and won because of it, then that's Alicia's fault.

To me it makes no difference whether the winner lives 1,000 miles away from me or 10,000 miles away from me. Although I'm pretty disappointed in all the gymnasts this year... with the exception of Yang Wei. I guess it's more the direction of gymnastics than it is the gymnasts, but the routines aren't nearly as fun to watch as those 10+ years ago, when they were more theatrical and less technical.
 
[quote name='Koggit']Who's to say falling doesn't deserve a medal?

[/QUOTE]

Falling doesn't deserve a medal. If you up your difficulty and you fall, wouldn't that really be a failure to execute your more difficult routine?
 
Falling or missing a move of your routine negates the higher difficulty level. As such she should have gotten her difficulty level lowered and points deducted.

But really, it's simple that someone who fails her routine, does not complete it, only does one successful vault, etc. etc. clearly does not deserve to get a medal. The difficulty ratings are a risk-reward system, not a "do really hard shit and then you can fail and still win" system.
 
No offense but it sounds like you're arguing for how the event should be judged... which I agree is debatable. But that's not how they are judged, and both competitors knew how they were judged, so it's really hard to fault anyone other than Alicia. No errors were made in judging (that I'm aware of).
 
I'm sure it's a gymnast thing. I noticed none of the others do it so I'm guessing it might be something her coach suggested.
 
[quote name='anomynous']Shawn Johnson's good and all, but why does she walk so weird?[/quote]They mentioned during the team competitions that one of her shoulders haven't developed fully yet and so she carries that shoulder much lower than the other. I think it gave her particular problems on the vault. Not sure if that's what affects her walking though.
 
The commentators noted that there was a huge error in the judging on that vault. I honestly don't see how anyone can believe that vault deserved such a high score and a medal. Blows my mind.
 
Kai just thought that the Chinese team shouldn't have been scoring so high, but he's not exactly impartial... he's been saying the same thing all week in every event. He even acknowledged his bias when interviewed by Costas.
 
The USA complains about medal wins when we are basically denied them due to biased judging. If the USA kids had landed on their knees and we won the medals, our USA commentators would be the first to start the "DID WE DESERVE TO WIN?" drama on all the TV networks....and some of those Chinese are like 12 freakin years old...you can have your secretive commie government alter all the documents you want, at least two of those girls are clearly pre-pubescent.

Remember kids there's only one thing we enjoy more than raising our heroes up, its knocking their asses down :)

Phelps is already catching shit for endorsing Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes over Wheaties.....the cereal that like 4 people actually eat. Soon fat rednecks from Arkansas are gonna be suing him because their diabetic 400lb lumpkins are dying in 4th grade because "Phelps said it was good to eat a box of Frosted Flakes..per meal".
 
[quote name='anomynous']Shawn Johnson's good and all, but why does she walk so weird?[/quote]

She's a Terminator. Actually, I feel bad joking about her. She seems to be the most genuinely decent person in a sport where there's a lot of egos and false appreciation for others. Like how she was the only one to not look crushed at all when Sacramone lost it, and even tried to comfort her when everyone else wouldn't go near her. Someone asked if it felt bad to get silver and she said she treasures the silvers as much as her gold.

Lol, it's true though what the guy said above. Only four people eat Wheaties, and out of that four, four of them are assholes.
 
You would think they'd know not to step on the lines. I guess maybe in the heat of the moment they weren't paying attention.

Bring on the women's volleyball!!
 
Your legs are moving so fast and the lines are just second nature to you as a track runner. You just don't really notice it.

Usain Bolt's 100m/200m double WR/double Gold and possible triple in the 4x100m coming up is the most impressive thing I have ever seen in my life. I thought Johnson's 200m mark of 19.32 would stand for the rest of my life. It is about equivalent to a 56 game hit streak in baseball. People come close, somehow, but noone really comes close. And now its Bolt's

AWESOME stuff.
 
[quote name='cdietschrun']Your legs are moving so fast and the lines are just second nature to you as a track runner. You just don't really notice it.

Usain Bolt's 100m/200m double WR/double Gold and possible triple in the 4x100m coming up is the most impressive thing I have ever seen in my life. I thought Johnson's 200m mark of 19.32 would stand for the rest of my life. It is about equivalent to a 56 game hit streak in baseball. People come close, somehow, but noone really comes close. And now its Bolt's

AWESOME stuff.[/QUOTE]

Naw I think that is a bad comparison. runners times are always dropping as conditioning and training improves. So those records(swimmers as well) drop as everyone improves. With a 56 game hit streak the batters are improving but so are the pitchers and fielders.
 
[quote name='jlarlee']Naw I think that is a bad comparison. runners times are always dropping as conditioning and training improves. So those records(swimmers as well) drop as everyone improves. With a 56 game hit streak the batters are improving but so are the pitchers and fielders.[/quote]

Im just talking about how ridiculous it is and how some can come close, but none really seriously challenge it. Not so much the semantics of the sports.
 
Women's beach volleyball, with their bodies toned to athletic perfection, glistening in the rain.

Huzzah.:drool:

USA wins!!! May and Walsh are undefeated in 2 straight Olympics.
 
[quote name='Strell']They have a record of 460-18 over the last four years.

460?

460.[/quote]

Yeah, that's great. Now about those bodies...




I'm a lonely man.
 
Walsh isn't hot, Misty May most certainly is. The Chinese chick is the hottest, though.

I think us west coasters are about to get Bolt's 200m... 9pm here. What time did it air in other regions? I think we're 2 hours behind Central, 3 hours behind Eastern.
 
yeah we saw it aournd 9 ish central time

Anyone think that Bob Costas has the best job ever? Interviewing super athletes, getting paid millions, gets to watch a ton of olympic games
 
Man, I hate NBC. I hate NBC hard. 9:36... still no Bolt for the west coast. It's after midnight in New York. We get... gymnastics gala?

God...
 
The lack of pictures or links while mentioning hot, glistening bodies disturbs me. I pretty much missed all the events last night. Damn you Mythbusters.
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']The lack of pictures or links while mentioning hot, glistening bodies disturbs me. I pretty much missed all the events last night. Damn you Mythbusters.[/QUOTE]

The way they fell to their knees in the sand and rain and gave each other full body hugs after winning the gold was strangely erotic. :razz:
 
[sarcasm]Yeah, Bolt looked like he was really struggling between the longer distance and that "headwind". [/sarcasm] xD Geez...

The Volleyball stuff was pretty great too. I've decided Misty May isn't cute too...
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']The lack of pictures or links while mentioning hot, glistening bodies disturbs me. I pretty much missed all the events last night. Damn you Mythbusters.[/quote]

Here's one from their win in Athens.
captolyvbb11808241914greece_olympics_beach_volleyball_olyvbb118-thumb.jpg

A shot from last night.
Img214570058.jpg

Interesting...
volley.jpg

A shot from a different match.
Misty%20May%20Cumulu-14.jpg

These are just for fun.
beach_volleyball.jpg


beach_volleyball_49.jpg
 
congrats to the US Women's Soccer team...taking out Brazil with out your best attacker.. that is seriously great news.. makes up for the softball team blowing it...
 
[quote name='DJSteel']congrats to the US Women's Soccer team...taking out Brazil with out your best attacker.. that is seriously great news.. makes up for the softball team blowing it...[/quote]
It seems like Brazil had about 10 oppurtunities at the end there. That was a great game.
 
[quote name='neocisco']Here's one from their win in Athens.
captolyvbb11808241914greece_olympics_beach_volleyball_olyvbb118-thumb.jpg

A shot from last night.
Img214570058.jpg

Interesting...
volley.jpg

A shot from a different match.
Misty%20May%20Cumulu-14.jpg

These are just for fun.
beach_volleyball.jpg


beach_volleyball_49.jpg
[/quote]
And the gold medal goes to you!

I still get confused which one's May and which one's Walsh. Not that it really matters. The Brazilian indoor volleyball team has one particularly good looking player. Off to find a pic to post if I can.
 
The Jan 1 1994 date found on Chinese websites is the whole reason the allegations began, weeks ago.

I'm not saying I don't think she's underage, and I don't condone cheating, but there is absolutely no proof: all of the allegations are based on appearance and the age that was posted on a Chinese site, neither of which are conclusive.

Nationalism is so petty and pointless. Give it a rest.
 
[quote name='Koggit']

Nationalism is so petty and pointless. Give it a rest.[/quote]

Dude, all your other arguments may be fine, but I'm sick of you being on a soap box above the rest of us. NATIONALISM IS NOT PART OF IT AT THE FACTUAL LEVEL.

HERE ARE THE RULES:

You must be 16 to compete!

If she is proven to be 14

SHE IS INELGIBLE AND WHOEVER THE fuck placed after her earns their TRUE MEDAL.

Stop acting like the rest of us are bitching and moaning all the time because we're all covered up to our eyeballs in GO USA shit. Half of this thread probably would pounce on USA policies and not to mention half the fuckin internet thinks its histerical to make fun of our President.

/rant, but fuck you.
 
Actually as I see it, *IF* there is proof and the Chinese gov't actually covered up her age, then they should disqualify every single one of their damn athletes.
 
[quote name='keithp']Now THERE'S a shocker! /sarcasm

Two doughnuts says nothing is done about it, although it'd be great to see He disqualified.[/quote]

I'd actually prefer she keep the medal, and China be punished some other way. I sure as heck wouldn't be betting those two doughnuts though.
 
[quote name='cdietschrun']Dude, all your other arguments may be fine, but I'm sick of you being on a soap box above the rest of us. NATIONALISM IS NOT PART OF IT AT THE FACTUAL LEVEL.

HERE ARE THE RULES:

You must be 16 to compete!

If she is proven to be 14

SHE IS INELGIBLE AND WHOEVER THE fuck placed after her earns their TRUE MEDAL.

Stop acting like the rest of us are bitching and moaning all the time because we're all covered up to our eyeballs in GO USA shit. Half of this thread probably would pounce on USA policies and not to mention half the fuckin internet thinks its histerical to make fun of our President.

/rant, but fuck you.[/QUOTE]

"fuck you"? Super mature.

Maybe it's hasty of me to chalk up interest in He's age to nationalism, but you gotta admit it's not much of a leap. What foreign media do you see covering the age controversy? Yet Fox News' article borders on defamation, the way they present allegations as material fact. Americans have been quick to say "They won because of a judging error", "they won because they cheated", "they won because we were unjustly disqualified", "They won because the judges were wrong", etc, etc. Then when we win it's "In your face, Frenchies!!!"... when the French say "It is impossible. It must be drugs." Americans LOL and call them sore losers.

Nationalism is definitely playing a role in Olympic discussion on every forum I visit...
 
[quote name='keithp']Actually as I see it, *IF* there is proof and the Chinese gov't actually covered up her age, then they should disqualify every single one of their damn athletes.[/quote] I think that is going too far. You would be punishing every athlete in the nation who worked hard for 4 years (or more) for the Olympics. It's not like the Chinese gold medal winning wrestler had a say on whether the officials should allow a supposed 14 year old compete in gymnastics. Cheating is cheating. The people who got caught doping were disqualified, banned and had their medals taken away if they were earned. I think the same should result in this situation if she really is underage. I wouldn't punish hundreds of other athletes for it though.
 
[quote name='doraemonkerpal']I think that is going too far. You would be punishing every athlete in the nation who worked hard for 4 years (or more) for the Olympics. It's not like the Chinese gold medal winning wrestler had a say on whether the officials should allow a supposed 14 year old compete in gymnastics. Cheating is cheating. The people who got caught doping were disqualified, banned and had their medals taken away if they were earned. I think the same should result in this situation if she really is underage. I wouldn't punish hundreds of other athletes for it though.[/QUOTE]

I understand your point, but how else do you punish an entire government? If there's proof the Chinese govt was cheating, there has to be some way to punish them. I agree it's unfair to the other Chinese athletes that trained and worked hard for 4 years, but they represent their government too. And yes, Koggit, if the United States tried to cheat and cover-up one or more of our athletes, then I'd say disqualify all of the USA's people too.
 
I disagree... I don't think disqualifying a nation's athletes is punishment for the nation, and even if it were, I don't think a nation should be punished for the actions of a few bad apples.
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']The lack of pictures or links while mentioning hot, glistening bodies disturbs me. I pretty much missed all the events last night. Damn you Mythbusters.[/quote]

Kari > ___
 
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