Olympics 2008, Beijing

[LoveYouSaber]

Yeah...poor luck for the US. Though if i recall correctly it's not the first time they dropped the stick...I think the US team might get nightmares about relays after these episodes.

[Blaat]

Originally Posted by Kakashi

BBC is getting so tremendously excited about Britains progress. You better believe reporters have been saying: "So lets find out what's made Great Britain so 'GREAT'...this Olympics."
Maybe we can re-establish that empire we had a while back?

Watching the Olympic games on the BBC has become unbearable now. It took the UK 100 years to get more then 10 gold medals in one Olympic and only 1 day to become cocky and arrogant about it.

[Quzor]

Well, women's football is officially over. Germany comes away with the bronze medal, defeating Japan 2-0, and the US defeats Brazil 1-0 for the gold in extra time.

The gold medal game was actually pretty amazing to watch. All things considered, it was easily the best football match of the Olympics thus far (only the mens medal games remain). A hard fought, aggressive game that yielded no score until 6 minutes into extra time. There were some points where the officiating may have been a little harsh, and others where it may have been a little lax, but a match like that is something that should not be determined by officiating, and indeed it wasn't.

Congratulations to all the teams walking away with a medal, and congratulations to the US and Brazil for providing the Olympics with 120 minutes of what it needed; a gutsy, all out, hard fought match to determine who the Olympic champion would be.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Quzor

Congratulations to all the teams walking away with a medal, and congratulations to the US and Brazil for providing the Olympics with 120 minutes of what it needed; a gutsy, all out, hard fought match to determine who the Olympic champion would be.

That was so very entertaining. I thought the match was going to go to the route of tie-breaking which would have been a shame. They played their heart out. Other than some of those corner kicks, that was a fine display of the game of Football (soccer).

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Quzor

...the US defeats Brazil 1-0 for the gold in extra time.

The gold medal game was actually pretty amazing to watch. All things considered, it was easily the best football match of the Olympics thus far (only the mens medal games remain). A hard fought, aggressive game that yielded no score until 6 minutes into extra time.

Not to take anything away from USA — which played an exciting game — but Brazil were, in fact, the better team. They kept attacking all the way, and were creating more goal opportunities throughout the match. My heart goes out to Brazil's Marta. She played the best she could, but in the end, luck was simply not on her side — it went instead to USA's Carli Lloyd, who scored the winning goal in the 95th minute.

Originally Posted by Blaat

Watching the Olympic games on the BBC has become unbearable now. It took the UK 100 years to get more then 10 gold medals in one Olympic and only 1 day to become cocky and arrogant about it.

If you think that's bad, you should see how the English behave whenever the Fifa World Cup comes around — they keep thinking that it'll be 1966 once again, only to end up sorely disappointed every time. It's hilarious how deluded an entire country can really get.

Originally Posted by Mystique

I was skimming how much semi crappy the coverage is from NBC, was gonna say can't you guys just watch live from the net as we do from the BBC?

We can't, not unless we access the BBC from a territory that is allowed to watch the video feed.

Alas, I haven't been able to follow the Olympics as closely this week due to work, and the Games are not as fun when you don't get to watch them live. Luckily, I managed to catch Usain Bolt's superlative performances in both the 100m and 200m sprints. He has definitely been the big name of the week, a welcome change to all the media coverage on Phelps last week.

Talking about media coverage, there were a couple of dramatic stories which have not been mentioned in this thread:

Disabled swimmer a winner despite 16th placing
South African Natalie du Toit — who lost her left leg after a traffic accident — hung with the lead pack during most of the women's 10km race on Wednesday (Aug 20), but couldn't keep up when the pace quickened toward the end of the two-hour ordeal. She finished 1min 22.2sec behind Russia's Ilchenko, but du Toit's time of 2hr 49min 9sec put her ahead of nine others, including 16-year-old American Chloe Sutton, who broke down in tears after finishing, every part of her body cramping and aching.

Isinbayeva answers Stuczynski's challenge
Yelena Isinbayeva only looks up — at the world record heights she always scales in the women's pole vault. She doesn't deign to look down — not at an American rabble-rouser, one who has never beaten her. Not even once. The Russian won her second Olympic gold medal in a row with just two jumps on Monday night (Aug 18), in between lie-downs on the infield, and forced Jenn Stuczynski to eat humble pie. The American had said in an earlier interview: "I hope to do some damage, and you know, kick some Russian butt."

By the way, as expected, Cuba's Dayron Robles clinches gold in the men's 110m hurdles. It's a shame, almost an anti-climax, that Liu Xiang had to withdraw because of injury. It would otherwise have been an epic match, cheered on by an entire nation of Chinese.

I also managed to catch a glimpse of the gymnastics gala last night, where the organisers got all the medal-winning gymnasts in this Olympics to perform their routines to a packed hall of spectactors. Highlights included the Italian rhythmic gymnastics team, which gave a stunning display on floor, and Nastia Liukin's breath-taking performance on beam — a beautiful combination of ballet and gymnastics. One of the commentators called Liukin the last of the "classical gymnasts" who combine graceful elegance with virtuoso brilliance. I agree. The mainly Chinese audience demonstrated their love and appreciation of the sport when Shawn Johnson appeared. Having seen her perform during the finals, they know she's among the world's best and they duly welcomed her with several rounds of unstinting applause.

And finally:

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Most importantly, the question of who these athletes and coaches really represent is not nearly as important as the validation of their individual skill and perseverance on a world stage. It's as much a victory for these individuals, as it is a victory for the country they chose to represent.

My apologies for flogging a dead horse, but I think this article is interesting in relation to the above quotes: Nation-switchers trouble Olympic chiefs

In my opinion, the trend highlights something important: We live in an increasingly borderless world, where nationalism is gradually losing its old meaning.

Meanwhile, Singapore's foreign import, Li Jiawei, meets her arch-nemesis Zhang Yining once again in tomorrow's women's table-tennis singles semi-final. Here's hoping Li gets another medal, for herself if not her country.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Quzor

The gold medal game was actually pretty amazing to watch. All things considered, it was easily the best football match of the Olympics thus far (only the mens medal games remain). A hard fought, aggressive game that yielded no score until 6 minutes into extra time. There were some points where the officiating may have been a little harsh, and others where it may have been a little lax, but a match like that is something that should not be determined by officiating, and indeed it wasn't.

i wonder if anyone is going to ask Greg Ryan if pulling Hope Solo in the World Cup was the right move?

[Kang Seung Jae]

Got back from Beijing, and I have to say I don't know either to be happy or sad at all the uncivilized actions of the Chinese during all Korean matches.


Just as I suspected: China is a long way from being a superpower.

[yezhanquan]

Too many people to educate. Amen to that.

[WanderingKnight]

Got back from Beijing, and I have to say I don't know either to be happy or sad at all the uncivilized actions of the Chinese during all Korean matches.


Just as I suspected: China is a long way from being a superpower.

Wait, you need to be civil to be a superpower?

That's news to me. I thought it involved something a bit more practical like, you know, actual power. Which China has, and loads more than Korea.

Or are you suggesting that South Korea is a superpower, or at least more powerful than China due to its civility?

[james0246]

^We all know that civility is what really matters. England Conquered the world because they raise their pinky while drinking tea. It all makes sense.

Let's not let this thread stray too far.
...
Thanks TinyRedLeaf for the articles.

[WanderingKnight]

England Conquered the world because they raise their pinky while drinking tea. It all makes sense.

Must've been the monocles.

[Kang Seung Jae]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Or are you suggesting that South Korea is a superpower, or at least more powerful than China due to its civility?

A superpower has both hard and soft power.


Clearly, China lacks soft power.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Kang Seung Jae

A superpower has both hard and soft power.


Clearly, China lacks soft power.

China has plenty of soft power

[WanderingKnight]

Last offtopic remark:

"Soft power", whatever that means, is built afterwards. You think the Roman Empire fell under a shower of roses and courteous words from friendly barbarians?

As long as their people are united (read: as long as the ruling class can manipulate or coerce them to attain their goals) nothing else matters. The rest is just rainbow-colored fantasies that don't actually have a weight when it comes to the big scheme of things.

[Hari Michiru]

Originally Posted by Kang Seung Jae

Got back from Beijing, and I have to say I don't know either to be happy or sad at all the uncivilized actions of the Chinese during all Korean matches.


Just as I suspected: China is a long way from being a superpower.

That's MY home country you're dissing .

China may not be the most civil country (well, no one is really civil these days anyway), but we are close to being a superpower.

The Mongols were not civil, and yet they managed to conquer most of Asia in the 12th century...

[Terrestrial Dream]

The semifinal for baseball is today and from the looks of it WBC comes to mind. Korea won all of its match just like in WBC and its opponent in semifinal is Japan again. I really hope the result does not end up same as WBC . Also does this Olympic seems kind of one sided? As in many of the sports have been dominated by a single team or individual.

[Kang Seung Jae]

Originally Posted by Hari Michiru

That's MY home country you're dissing .

And?

You're free to diss my homeland if you have a good reason. After all, I had to put up with ultranationalists shouting "Korea, lose!" during the Korea-Cuba baseball semifinal match and the Korea-China women's handball semifinals.


Manners, do they exist in the Chinese crowd?

Originally Posted by Hari Michiru

China may not be the most civil country (well, no one is really civil these days anyway), but we are close to being a superpower.

We'll see.

Originally Posted by Terrestrial Dream

The semifinal for baseball is today and from the looks of it WBC comes to mind. Korea won all of its match just like in WBC and its opponent in semifinal is Japan again. I really hope the result does not end up same as WBC . Also does this Olympic seems kind of one sided? As in many of the sports have been dominated by a single team or individual.

I'm hoping we take our rightful place in Baseball.


As for domination..... I see it only in Archery and Swimming.

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by Kang Seung Jae

I'm hoping we take our rightful place in Baseball.


As for domination..... I see it only in Archery and Swimming.

I wouldn't say rightful place but I am just hoping that we go through semifinal. And I really wish that our soccer was strong as baseball. And there is domination in basketball by the US, Bolt also dominated, and I saw few of the soccer match and I thought Argentina pretty much dominated other team though I only started to get into soccer only few months ago so I really can't say much.

Originally Posted by Kang Seung Jae

At least we don't scream at other athletes to distract them.

I don't know, it is understandable as I think we would do similar things against Japan.

[Lathdrinor]

Originally Posted by Kang Seung Jae

At least we don't scream at other athletes to distract them.

True. But you did riot over beef

[Cox]

So whats with the news that the one Chinese Gymnast is 14? I was watching the news today and some security firm searched the net and found age documents from a Chinese site saying she was born in 1994. I wonder if the IOC will investigate or just ignore it...

BTW this was news as of today (proof that discredits her passport)