London 2012 Olympics Thread

OA260 · Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:07 am

Congratulations to Greece for their first Bronze medal. Its going to be a tough games for them and probably will be their worst medal count ever but good that Ilias Iliadis got the first medal for judo .

.
Team GR leaving ATH on specially chartered flight OA2260 ATH-STN .

Aleksandar · Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:05 am

Quoting OA260 (Reply 150):
Congratulations to Greece for their first Bronze medal. Its going to be a tough games for them and probably will be their worst medal count ever but good that Ilias Iliadis got the first medal for judo .

I am glad Greece got at least one medal and I am sure it won't be the last in London 2012

imiakhtar · Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:31 am

A big well done by the South African LW4 in getting the gold. Excellent race. Probably the best row of the Olympics.

Quoting BarfBag (Reply 125):
The continuing ticketing fiasco reflects very poorly on the LOCOG and Coe certainly isn't helping with his Baghdad Bob 'all is well' act, after dismissing the security breach during the opening ceremony.

I'd advise those making this personal whether they really look good in doing so. Do you really want to pretend there's nothing going wrong during the Olympics ? AP, Reuters and the rest aren't a section of the Iranian propaganda ministry.

Need we mention the farce of the athlete accommodation during the Commonwealth games in India?

CPH-R · Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:39 am

Quoting imiakhtar (Reply 152):
Probably the best row of the Olympics.

Indeed, just a bit gutted that Eskild Ebbesen couldn't finish with a 4th gold medal (5th medal in total). Then again, he seemed quite happy with it, and with .32 between gold and bronze, it was a wide open race in the end.

[Edited 2012-08-02 04:39:33]

OA260 · Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:46 am

Quoting imiakhtar (Reply 152):
Need we mention the farce of the athlete accommodation during the Commonwealth games in India?

I think thats something most Indians would rather forget.

http://www.pamil-visions.net/india-commonwealth-games-disaster/219300/

They just cant cope with such events and neither should they . The country has so many other more humanitarian issues to solve and infrastructure to build.

---

The Indian team are not doing so well at London 2012 sadly .

London 2012 Archery: Misfiring archers smashed for a six at Lord's

London: Indian archers, spearheaded by world number one Deepika Kumari who was touted as a strong medal prospect, produced a super flop show at the London Olympics and drew a blank in both team and individual competitions.

http://sports.ndtv.com/olympics-2012...archers-smashed-for-a-six-at-lords

Aleksandar · Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:47 am

Not to forget, but there was something where London completely met my expectations. They gave us great music to accompany those games

http://youtu.be/Mec8GZkEpD4

OA260 · Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:54 am

Quoting Aleksandar (Reply 155):
Not to forget, but there was something where London completely met my expectations. They gave us great music to accompany those games

http://youtu.be/Mec8GZkEpD4

Thanks for that link . There was so much at the ceremony that was iconic and enjoyable but this was just amazing this bit . Love the music. Im hoping that they produce a DVD of the opening ceremony . I really want to buy it . Its still hard to take in the achievement and makes one proud to be British born.

Aleksandar · Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:45 pm

Quoting OA260 (Reply 156):
Thanks for that link . There was so much at the ceremony that was iconic and enjoyable but this was just amazing this bit . Love the music. Im hoping that they produce a DVD of the opening ceremony . I really want to buy it . Its still hard to take in the achievement and makes one proud to be British born.

They definitely will make DVDs but I am afraid it would be too expensive.

canoecarrier · Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:32 pm

Quoting Rara (Reply 148):
Please do share!

Here's the article I found that has been running around Twitter the last few days. Not sure if it will work overseas but I can't imagine there's not a way to get around the geographic restricts anywhere.

http://lifehacker.com/5930437/how-an...pics-coverage-and-overcome-nbcfail

I'm using Tunnelbear a DNS routing service. It is free for a week or you can pay $4.99/month US.

GDB · Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:08 pm

That's the modius operanti .

Quoting OA260 (Reply 156):
Love the music. Im hoping that they produce a DVD of the opening ceremony . I really want to buy it .

The commentators during the ceremony mentioned that the soundtrack would be available to download once the show was over that evening, presumably on the BBC?

OA260 · Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:28 pm

Quoting GDB (Reply 159):

Yes I think so I also saw it earlier on iTunes .

Congrats to Team GB . Another Gold .

777 · Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:49 pm

Another great gold medal for our women's fencing team foil!
These girls are really in the legend!!!

After the horrible performance of the Italian swimming team (both men and women), we may finally enjoy this fourth gold medal!

[Edited 2012-08-02 12:51:18]

Gingersnap · Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:59 pm

What are you Americans feeding Phelps?

777 · Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:12 pm

Phelps=alien

O_o

Rara · Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:19 pm

Things are decidedly turning sour for the German swimming team as well. Worst performance since, wait for it, 1932 - a couple of functionaries will lose their jobs over it.

canoecarrier · Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:36 pm

Quoting gingersnap (Reply 162):
What are you Americans feeding Phelps?

I watched the diving last night and told my wife that the Chinese don't train their divers they program them. They are amazing. I'd be worried about the Chinese in the other events not Phelps

fruitbat · Thu Aug 02, 2012 9:19 pm

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water / back on the track.....Team GB canoeists / rowers / cyclists turn up!!

Plus some bloke with a shotgun took gold in the double trap (not bad for a country where not even the police are armed

)

Seriously though, some brilliant Team GB results today. Gutted for Pendleton and Varnish, but as VP said afterwards perhaps the occasion got to them and they lost concentration. However the men had their revenge, with Sir Chris and the boys getting gold and the men's pursuit team posting a phenomenal world record in the heats.

More tomorrow - Go Becky Adlington, plus the rowers, plus the cyclists, plus......

And I haven't even mentioned Phelps, the Judo, the Gymnastics, the Basketball........just brilliant isn't it?

CPH-R · Thu Aug 02, 2012 9:36 pm

Quoting Aleksandar (Reply 155):
Not to forget, but there was something where London completely met my expectations. They gave us great music to accompany those games

http://youtu.be/Mec8GZkEpD4

And me being an Underworld fan, I found it amusing just how many samples from their own tunes they managed to sneak into the Opening ceremony. There were even some incredily obscure ones, where I had to re-listen to make sure

(And Caliban's Dream has the incredibly obvious sample at the end from Two Months Off)

Gingersnap · Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:20 am

I must say our Cyclists are lucky Mr Hindes didn't screw it up for them. In the BBC interview immediately following the Gold medal win, he stated that he intentionally fell off the bike to get a restart to ensure he had the fastest race possible.
Caused a stir and he later retracted that statement saying that his back wheel slipped and he lost control of his bike.

The ICU have stated the result is not being put in doubt, so he got lucky with his initial comments.

blink182 · Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:52 am

Big congrats to the hosts GB on the first two golds in two classically british sports, though its a shame they couldn't capture a gold in either the mens or womens 8+.

Anybody hear about the Azerbaijan-Japan boxing match?
http://deadspin.com/5931226/was-this...raceful-olympic-boxing-match-fixed
Well worth listening to the NBC broadcasters' reaction at the end.

Quoting gingersnap (Reply 162):
What are you Americans feeding Phelps?

Cheeseburgers and french fries. What else is the US known for?

.

canoecarrier · Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:40 am

So proud of the US women's 8 rowers today! I know a lot of women that rowed in college and all their friends are now rowing for the US. My Facebook blew up today with congrats!

Did anyone hear this story about this Chinese diver?

http://deadspin.com/5931182/chinese-...d-her-grandparents-died-a-year-ago

There's other links, but here's the headline, "Chinese Diver Wins Gold, Is Finally Told That Her Mother Has Cancer And Her Grandparents Died A Year Ago"

Sad.

BMI727 · Fri Aug 03, 2012 5:11 am

Quoting zckls04 (Reply 134):
Unless you're participating, that's the limit of what sport is.

There's a difference between being entertained by the events themselves, versus getting interest based on the stories behind the events. Most of the Olympic sports have a minuscule following in America, so the media has to sell the human interest side.

There's usually the same cast of characters:
-The young phenom who bursts onto the scene.
-The aging great taking one last shot at glory
-The overcomer who faced some great obstacle to get there.
-The perky gymnast, or her wintertime counterpart the figure skater, who works hard in school and loves her parents and puppies too.

The names and details change, but it's mostly the same stock athletes.

Quoting zckls04 (Reply 134):
I don't watch either of them; US coverage of sport is universally abysmal, and the Olympics is the epitome of that.

The nice thing is that there is good coverage out there. Local radio and newspapers usually have at least a few decent sports minds, plus plenty of quality content scattered around the internet from various people makes it possible to avoid the blowhards and big network spin and fluff that ESPN gives everything and NBC gives the Olympics. It's not that much better than the North Korean media coverage.

Anyway, based on what I've gleaned from Deadspin, NBC's coverage is just a comedy of errors. The latest is an unfortunate commercial following analysis of gymnastics:
http://deadspin.com/5931498/nbc-aire...stics-at-the-most-inopportune-time

By the way, how about that USA vs. Nigeria game? For the Nigerians the situation could be charitably described as a setback. Carmelo Anthony averaged over 2.6 points per minute. Of course, after the Lehigh thing I can understand Coach K taking nobody for granted. And when your scrubs include the top draft pick and some NBA all-stars...

[Edited 2012-08-02 23:07:38]

LX138 · Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:26 am

Quoting Rara (Reply 164):
Things are decidedly turning sour for the German swimming team as well. Worst performance since, wait for it, 1932 - a couple of functionaries will lose their jobs over it.

Don't worry I'm sure they will win in a few events! You have the rowers too (there was the mens eight!) and the cyclists to rely on. The Australians are doing far worse than Germany.

Quoting fruitbat (Reply 166):
And I haven't even mentioned Phelps, the Judo, the Gymnastics, the Basketball........just brilliant isn't it?

Yep its great. Looking forward to more rowing, cycling, gymnastics and swimming in particular!

zkojq · Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:04 pm

Through the performances of Mahe Drysdale, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, New Zealand has won two golds in the last two hours, both in the rowing. Our family had a small party/get together to watch it - everyone is ecstatic. It feels so good to bask in the glory of the national anthem being played as the New Zealand flag is raised. Yesterday (or this morning to be precise) Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen also rowed to gold. And a Frenchman came second in one of the above races, which is also something for me to celebrate.

In the last few days I have been particularly enjoying the equestrian, road cycling, swimming (the NZ team trains at my local pools), sailing (same again) and the rowing. I really love the Olympics because most of the athletes (even the really good ones) don't do the sports professionally and as such don't get the year-round credit for their efforts that some of their counterparts in Football, Rugby and Tennis do. Their chance to shine doesn't come very often.

Quoting OA260 (Reply 40):
Congrats to NZ I bet there was great rivalry between these two nations.

You bet! Currently we have more gold medals than our trans-tasman cousins, which is always something to celebrate (in good spirits, obviously). Not sure how long it will last.

Quoting trident3 (Reply 56):
Consequently commentators are being drafted in to provide coverage of sports with which they are not entirely familiar so you end up with a F1 commentator (Jonathon Legard) doing volleyball, rugby league (George Riley) doing beach volleyball and cricket (Jonathon Agnew) doing Archery along with rugby commentator Eddie Butler!

Same thing is happening on this side of the world. It is amazing how good some of the commentators are, considering they must be far from their comfort-zone. It is always entertaining to hear them try to pronounce some of the foreign names when trying to speak quickly!

Quoting Rara (Reply 84):
Yay, double-gold for Germany in the equestrian!

From what I watched, that was very well deserved, your riders did seamless performances.

Kiwirob · Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:20 pm

Quoting zkojq (Reply 173):
Through the performances of Mahe Drysdale, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, New Zealand has won two golds in the last two hours, both in the rowing.

I read an article today in some online paper where they said Murray and Bond produced the most dominant display of rowing excellence in the history of the sport, being undefeated since pairing up 4 years ago makes them pretty special.

OA260 · Fri Aug 03, 2012 5:13 pm

Medal count for Team GB so far :

Gold 7
Silver 6
Bronze 7

Also in other news :

Australian Rower Josh Booth has been sent home after being arrested for damaging shops !

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...stody/story-fn9dirj0-1226441861116

[Edited 2012-08-03 10:35:12]

Gingersnap · Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:11 pm

That's another Gold for Team GB just come through in the last 5 minutes.

It's taken them a while, but they're bringing them in.

Medal Tally

Gold 8
Silver 6
Bronze 7
Total 21

This moves Great Britain up to 3rd in the medal table.

[Edited 2012-08-03 11:12:20]

fruitbat · Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:48 pm

Go Becky!

Go Becky!

Go Becky!

fruitbat · Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:57 pm

Congrats to Ledecky - gutted for Becky Adlington, but otherwise what a day for Team GB - and particularly for Pendleton after the trials and tribulations last night.

sbworcs · Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:01 pm

Quoting bjorn14 (Reply 79):
Huh huh, a 16-year old girl swims a faster 50m free split than the Men's 400 IM winner Ryan Lofte after swimming 300 meters? She swims the race 7 seconds faster than she did just 6 months ago. That's some 'special seaweed'. Reminds me a little bit of Michelle Smith. Usually when something 'special' happens in swimming it's chemically induced.

So can we assume then that Micheal Phelps is on something after all it is unusual for someone to win so many medals?

What about Katie Ledecky who just won the 800m freestyle - only 15 and so far ahead of everyone else - must be dodgy!

Why, until proven otherwise, can't people just accept that exceptional things DO happen and do no have to be chemically enhanced?

Gingersnap · Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:13 pm

We had a few family over, and 3-4 of them are adamant Ledecky is on PEDs

Then again if the US coach can question other country's competitors...

It is in a similar vain, because from what I can find out she shaved 5 seconds off her previous time to qualify for the US team.

[Edited 2012-08-03 12:15:01]

flood · Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:20 pm

This sums up NBC's coverage:
http://deadspin.com/5931689/nbc-spor...rcial-right-before-a-critical-goal

BMI727 · Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:23 pm

Quoting sbworcs (Reply 179):
Why, until proven otherwise, can't people just accept that exceptional things DO happen and do no have to be chemically enhanced?

Reality. If you insist on being naive and idealistic go ahead, but don't try and guilt everyone else into doing the same. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably Lance Armstrong.

And there isn't much way to be proven otherwise. Not testing positive means that they didn't test positive, not that they didn't do anything. Dopers and cheaters are almost always a step ahead of testing.

bjorn14 · Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:27 pm

Congrats to USA's Cullen Jones who is the first ever black person to win an individual medal in Olympic swimming. He took silver in the 50m free.

zckls04 · Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:52 pm

Quoting BMI727 (Reply 171):
There's a difference between being entertained by the events themselves, versus getting interest based on the stories behind the events.

You're referring to the NBC montages; the pathetic inserts they put in every time the rest of the world is actually watching some athletes from other countries participating. They are indeed awful, and a result of this toxic idea that winning gold is the only thing that matters.

If you saw proper coverage you'd know what I mean. The stories play out without any help from the commentators and without any nauseating filler (and without Ryan Seacrest, mercifully). They are told through the medium of the sport.

Quoting BMI727 (Reply 182):
Reality. If you insist on being naive and idealistic go ahead, but don't try and guilt everyone else into doing the same. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably Lance Armstrong.

In this case of course, it doesn't look or quack like a duck. She might be on drugs or she might not, but the evidence against her is weak- just that she swan slightly faster in her fastest leg than one of the male US swimmers did in his slowest. Hardly convincing.

sbworcs · Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:55 pm

Quoting BMI727 (Reply 182):
Reality. If you insist on being naive and idealistic go ahead, but don't try and guilt everyone else into doing the same. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably Lance Armstrong.

So do you accept that MIchael Phelps and Katie Ledecky are likely on something too then?

BMI727 · Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:19 pm

Quoting zckls04 (Reply 184):
The stories play out without any help from the commentators and without any nauseating filler (and without Ryan Seacrest, mercifully).

They do. They just aren't stories that I, and a lot of other people apparently, are interested in. So many athletes have come out of the woodwork, but how many of those names will people remember in six months?

Quoting sbworcs (Reply 185):
So do you accept that MIchael Phelps and Katie Ledecky are likely on something too then?

First, it's swimming so I'm indifferent to all of it for the most part. Second, the answer to your question is yes. Nobody should be above suspicion and a negative test is just that.

Gingersnap · Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:55 am

Ian Thorpe's comment that Ledecky's improvement was more impressive than Ye Shiwen's has turned a few heads on various forums I frequent.

I wonder if more questions will be raised after this?

ltbewr · Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:40 am

As to Phelps carzy number of medals (20 , 17 Gold in has cumulative multiple Olympic appearances), it is indeed a great performance. Still, he is winning by micro-fractions of a second, perhaps his experience is enough making that extra centimeter of start jump of kick off the turn, so I am far less suspicious of his being on something than some others who improve so much in little time. By the way, Missy Franklin, who is from Aurora, Colorado, has been a 'golden mermaid' with as of today 3 Golds and 1 Bronze in individual/team event.

An American woman, Kayla Harrison won Gold in a Judo event. She is a sexual assault survivor from a (now jailed) former coach when she was in her mid-teens. She left him and found a former Bronze medal winner to help her get to Gold.

Of course Americans are very proud of the 'Flying Squirrel' Gabby Douglas, with her Gold in Gymnastics Individual All Around. She is the first African-American women to win in that event, is a tough, cute and great competitor. It is too bad the Russian women just didn't have it, they seemed to just push it under pressure.

No doubt some fantastic performances from all competitors from around the world, I wish there was more attention to non-Americans in our NBC coverage on the prime time broadcasts.

zckls04 · Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:18 am

Quoting BMI727 (Reply 186):
They do. They just aren't stories that I, and a lot of other people apparently, are interested in. So many athletes have come out of the woodwork, but how many of those names will people remember in six months?

Precisely- and winning is not a guarantee of being remembered, nor is losing a guarantee you won't.

As it happens, the Chinese badminton players probably will now be remembered, but it won't be because they won the gold.

zkojq · Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:42 am

Quoting KiwiRob (Reply 174):
I read an article today in some online paper where they said Murray and Bond produced the most dominant display of rowing excellence in the history of the sport, being undefeated since pairing up 4 years ago makes them pretty special.

That sounds about right. They paired up just after Beijing and have yet to be defeated. In the following video you can see that they won their race last night very comfortably.
http://bit.ly/MamF7W

blink182 · Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:02 am

Quoting ltbewr (Reply 188):
No doubt some fantastic performances from all competitors from around the world, I wish there was more attention to non-Americans in our NBC coverage on the prime time broadcasts.

I agree fully, though the online coverage is much more comprehensive and CNBC and MSNBC show events not involving the US or swimming/T&F/gymnastics.

I think there is only so much that can be fit into a primetime broadcast, and the average american family(ie, not worldly a.netters) may not care about an Azerbaijani weightlifter or a Canadian trampoline jumper, for example, no matter how compelling their story or performance--especially when the US regularly wins medals.

As much as I don't like NBC's broadcasts, especially in the evening, I like to think that they know what the majority of their viewers want to see.

kiwiinoz · Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:30 am

Quoting zkojq (Reply 173):
You bet! Currently we have more gold medals than our trans-tasman cousins, which is always something to celebrate (in good spirits, obviously). Not sure how long it will last.

It wont last long. We are only good for one, and possibly two more golds and they have at least seven more in them. But I reckon their head swimming coach might be looking for a new job

Kiwirob · Sat Aug 04, 2012 6:39 am

Quoting Kiwiinoz (Reply 192):

It wont last long. We are only good for one, and possibly two more golds and they have at least seven more in them. But I reckon their head swimming coach might be looking for a new job

I think potentially we have 4/5 more golds in us, Adams, Willis, Hewitt, lightweight double sculls, womans single sculls, either way you look at it on a per capita basis we are kicking Aussie butt!

sbworcs · Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:23 am

Quoting BMI727 (Reply 186):
First, it's swimming so I'm indifferent to all of it for the most part. Second, the answer to your question is yes. Nobody should be above suspicion and a negative test is just that.

So what would it take (apart from all the testing carried out) for you to believe that these various sporting feats were not chemically enhanced?

BMI727 · Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:50 am

Quoting sbworcs (Reply 194):
So what would it take (apart from all the testing carried out) for you to believe that these various sporting feats were not chemically enhanced?

Probably nothing. It's just the reality of sports today and we have to accept the fact that no event will ever be guaranteed to be completely free of drugs.

Baseball has taken steps in the right direction, but while PED use isn't as rampant as before, it still happens. There's probably no way to ever clean up sports completely since dopers are usually a step ahead of testing.

Obviously, some people arouse more suspicion than others. If someone's head blows up to cartoonish proportions or the home run numbers double at age 34, you'll have to ask more questions than of some skinny guy, but that's in no way a guarantee string bean isn't cheating too.

us330 · Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:19 pm

This Brazil-Honduras game is rather interesting. More cards than at a poker table in Vegas...and an epic dive by Neymar.

varigb707 · Sat Aug 04, 2012 8:05 pm

Meanwhile at the brazilian delegation team...
http://www.imperfectenjoyment.com/wp...ads/2012/07/lucimara-da-silva1.jpg

[Edited 2012-08-04 13:05:50]

varigb707 · Sat Aug 04, 2012 8:07 pm

Congratulations to Michael Phelps!!!

canoecarrier · Sat Aug 04, 2012 8:18 pm

Quoting blink182 (Reply 191):
As much as I don't like NBC's broadcasts, especially in the evening, I like to think that they know what the majority of their viewers want to see.

I disagree. We don't have a choice but to watch what NBC is broadcasting. My wife mentioned that they only showed 3 of the men's gymnastics events during the all around and even then they mainly showed only the US athletes. I think if given the chance people here would much rather see a more balanced coverage.

This isn't the first time NBC's done this. They take a days worth of events and edit the popular sports down so it fits in their prime time coverage. When the Olympics were in Vancouver they tape delayed those events as well.

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