Category: Sports Bar
Well, it's that time again, the 2008 Olympics! So who's ready for it and who's not? Will anyone be watching them? Does anyone have a favourite team or player? Favourite sport? I'm rooting for Ellada (Greece), of course, but don't have any favourite players/sports. I just want us to take home the gold! Anyway, if you wanna check out your team and see the schedule, the link is here.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/
I enjoyed both the summer and winter olympics much more when I had enough vision to enjoy the more artistic sports such as gymnastics, diving, figure skating, etc. So now that I can't see, I just pay the most attention to the sports where the athletes are racing against a clock or each other.
Now that was an interesting response. I never even thought of that but that's probably because I've been blind since I was two-months-old. I could never get into those kind of sports. I always lost interest.
Yeah, it's hard to stay interested based on just what the commentators for the network are reporting. You really need to see the gymnasts, figure skaters, ski jumpers, synchronized swimmers, etc. to appreciate the beauty and grace and have opinions on who should win. But the team sports and different sorts of racing events are still fun for me to listen to.
same here libraa lady. i used to watch the olympics, but now i can't watch them so well. as I write I've got the opening ceremony in one ear and jaws in the other.
I've always enjoyed the Olympics, even its more visual aspects. (I'm totally blind, and for some reason absolutely love watching figure skating) For the most part I have a decent idea of what's going on thanks to the TV comentators and any sighted people who might be watching with me. This year's Opening Ceremonies were a bit difficult though. I was the only one watching them and the TV guys had gone quiet towards the end so I had no idea what that gymnast with the torch was doing. Aside from that though, I've really been enjoying the Games this year. I love getting to watch the lesser-known sports, like rowing and water polo. And this morning's US vs. China basketball game was a lot of fun.
the gymnast who lit the flame ran around the outside of the bird's nest stadium right on the rim until he reached the torch. he then lit the flame.
I love the olimpics but the gymnastics are some what boring cause I can not see them. I love water polo, baseball, wrestling, and of course the basketball! enjoy and go Phelps!
Opa! I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets all psyched up. Still waiting for the sports where Greece dominates like athletics and throwing, though, cause we haven't won any medals yet. But I'm sure we'll bring home something. *smile*
Been watching the olympics almost nonstop since they started last week. I've alwys enjoyed them and this year isn't any different. The drama of Michal 's quest to break the golds record and Shawn/ Nastia's dominance of the gymnastics all around transcends vision to me. Can't wait to watch the rest.Phelps
Whoohoo! Mike Phelps has 8 gold medals in one Olympics, 14 gold between this and the last Olympics, and 16 medals overall. He has tied Mark Spitz with breaking 32 world records.
greece are having drugs problems aren't they?
Yes, I noticed that they seem to be the only, or at least the main country having athletes disqualified for drug use.
I got a kick out of hearing a Swedish wrestler had his bronze medal stripped because he basically threw a hissy fit about getting only the bronze. He walked off the podium and threw his medal on the ground. I'm glad he had it taken away, the big baby. LOL
how disrespectful to the olympic ideal is that? I'd have had him banned completely ffrom the next olympics. hehehehe.
lol, it's hard though when you've put so much into somethig and all you get is bronze. It's totally childish but I understand how the man must have been feeling so let's not be too harsh on him.
The Greek athletes seem to live of a diet of steroids and illegal drugs, that's rather sad to see and very anti Olympic spirit, I hope they'll have a big clean up when they get back home.
Phelps was amazing, Rebecca Addlington from the UK and the Chinese girl who smashed the 200m women's butterfly record were awesome too. The speed and breadth of the swimming at these olympics was quite astaundig. Phelps's achievement is bigger than Spitz's because the competition is much harder today than it was i the 70s, not to take anything away from either of these great men. Bolt is another one to watch, the 200m will be interesting, unless they were today and I missed them.
cheers
-B
Back in Spitz's day swimmers wore pretty ordinary suits, not aerodynamically specialized suits like they do now. In addition, Mark swam with a full head of hair and a mustache. Today's male swimmers either shave their heads or wear a cap and have no facial hair. Again, this is for best aerodynamics. There are constantly new techniques and inventions to help swimmers get faster and break records in each Olympic year.
Having said all that, I'm sure not saying Phelps isn't better than Spitz, just that you really can't compare one to the other given the 36 year difference and changes that have been made in that time.
Regarding the unsportsman like conduct of the Swedish wrestler, I know getting a bronze would be a disappointment, but I think any athlete good enough to make his or her country's Olympic team should be proud of that accomplishment. A medal would just be icing on the cake, and I don't think they should think of winning a silver or bronze as a loss. Of course, I'm not an athlete and might feel differently if I were and came away with a silver or bronze instead of a gold. But I really hope all the athletes who won silver and bronze are proud of those medals and that their families and friends are proud of them.
Hey Becky
I didn't mean in terms of time exactly, I meant the competition for medals is much harder now than it used to be, you can see it from the qualifying times and the difference between the medalists and/or the first 16, sometimes now it's less than a second, it used to be a lot fewer good swimmers and less compeition, regardless of today's better equipment and shaving rituals. Not to belittle Mark's achievements, he was an amazing athlete and an inspiration to anyone who chose swimming as a main sport (and those are cool people).
Well, I just know what it feels like to put such incredible effort into something and then get below expected results, especially in sports, because you just really exerted yourself, gave everything, then there's a couple of minutes of just madness and frustration once you find out you didn't do like you expected and you need to really try hard to calm down and start seeing things for what they are. I'm sure he regretted it right after and anyone should be incredibly proud of an olympic bronze medal, you just can't think like that right after you find out you didn't get as far as you wanted. I'm sure the man feels ashamed, as he should, but I still think we shouldn't blame him too much for his reactions.
But, all in all, excellent olympics, it's been awesome to watch.
Go Iceland now, if you get a chance to watch a handball game.
cheers
-B
Hey B
I was wondering if Iceland was represented. I've just mostly been watching the NBC coverage, and they don't cover everything. I think I would make a lousy athlete. I'm sure the pressure of competing would kill me. Sometimes I even have a hard time watching sports because I get too upset when my favorite athlete or team does not seem to be doing well.
The wrestler actually didn't do it just because of the bronze. He claimed the judging in his match was falty. A lot is being made of that runner who celebrated even before winning the race.
Usain Bolt is the guy to whom you refer. That truly was an astonishing run though. I mean to break a World record in any discipline is impressive, but to do it in the fastest of all races, without even appearing to be trying especially hard is nothing short of remarkable. From the descriptions I've read of the race he got to a little passed the half-way point, looked left and right to see where the competition was, saw he had them all beaten and started celebrating. You can't help but wonder what time he could clock if he ran the entire one hundred meters.
Great Britain, or team GB as we're apparently supposed to call them for some ludicrous reason or other, Some thing about it being politically incorrect to have the word great as part of our name! Anyway we're actually having a fantastic Olympics too. We are, and yes I'm pinching myself even as I write this to make sure I'm not dreaming, 3rd in the medals table behind the US and China. It's hard to describe the sense of joy I get just from looking at the medals table and seeing both Australia and Germany below us. Of course the fair-minded among us may point out that Australia has only about 1 3rd the population to pool it's athletes from, but why let a little thing like sensible statistical analysis get in the way of the fact that for once, and what an all too rare occasion it is too, we're kicking their antipodean backsides!
If you're interested in checking out who's doing how well at this years Olympics then here's a link to the
BBC medals table.
Enjoy. Dan.
I read that Usain Bolt also celebrated and slowed down before getting to the finish line in the 200 meter semi final. I did hear that he was talked to by his coach or someone about how his actions in the 100 meter final showed disrespect to his fellow runners, and he supposedly is toning things down.
Dan, I hate to burst your bubble, but according to www.nbcolympics.com, GB is currently in fourth place in medals, behind USA, China, and Russia.
maybe the nbc are shit? after all, they have a US axe to grind. i'd trust the bbc any day over the nbc, and the US sensor the bbc news channel anyway, so you are fed adulterated news in the US. Usaime bolt won the 200 metres today in 19.3 seconds. a world record time, beating that of michael Johnson, who's record stood for twelve years.
The NBC site allows you to watch events live from the Olympics and has charts listing the number of medals for each country. I don't think they are putting false info up there because anyone can double check by checking a number of websites and newspapers.
I was glad to see that Bolt did run full tilt to the finish line in the 200 meter race and saved his celebration until he crossed it. It's fun to see someone so obviously enjoying the Olympics and his accomplishments.
Did you guys hear about the boxer that pulled a Mike Tyson? Apparently he was losing, and when the match was pretty much over, he decided to bite his opponent on the shoulder/neck. First the reports said the neck, but then they said shoulder, so I'm not sure which it was, but it doesn't really matter. One thing that made me mad about it, is the fact that, according to reports, the biter didn't even really get in trouble for his actions because he was still wearing his mouthguard. How ridiculous is that!
Fear not miss Becky, you didn't burst my bubble. The reason that your seeing a different table to me is because many of the US based news carriers, NBC, CNN etc. are showing the tables calculated on number of medals won, and not the number of golds won. Apparently the correct way is golds. I have no idea why this is, sinics I'm sure would suggest that the US are top based on number of medals won while they're only second based on golds won behind China hense the reason to display the medals table in this mannor. For the record in case that sparks a bitch fight, I don't subscribe to this view because decisions as to how the tables would be calculated would surely have been taken in advance of any medals being won, but anyway, that's why the table you see is different from the one I'm seeing.
All that said we'd still be above Australia and Germany based on golds won, or number of medals won over all so It's all good with me!
Dan.
OK Dan, so you were only talking about gold medals apparently and I was talking about overall medals. Sorry for the misunderstanding. In terms of gold medals only, as I write this at 12:38 a.m. Eastern time, China has 46 golds, USA has 29 golds, Great Britain has 17 golds, and Russia has 16 golds.
BTW, the announcers on TV do say Great Britain, so I guess they aren't being politically correct. LOL. I hate all that political correct shit.
I missed the Olympics because I was away with my boyfriend. I'm not sure if they're still going on but I'll check. Need to go there to see if Greece won any medals anyway. I really hope we did, especially in athletics and the throwing sports.
Indeed miss Becky. The Icelandic team, today, made it to the handball final, to be played against France on Sunday.
The country is celebrating wildly and all official life has practically closed down, the interbank markets were not closed but not a single trade was processed during the semi final against Spain, which we won convincingly.
If we manage to win I think the gold per capita will be Iceland's seeing as we only have a population of 300000 which would correspond to at least 200 gold medals for the UK (of course such a way of measuring this is bullocks, but it is fun when it suits you).
Great games for Icelandic handball, mr Bolt has provided a lot of entertainment, the man is just in a different class, the Americans have basically been very disappointing in many events, Phelps aside, especially their track and field team, I expected more of them.
But they won beach valleyball and I don't see them losing the basketball. Great games over all.
Yeah, the Americans are usually good in sports. Good job Iceland! I like to see small countries win big.
That's great about the Icelandic handball team.
The Americans have been disappointing in a lot of the track and field events, though we did win the decathlon and swept all three medals in a couple of the running events. The men's and women's relay teams were a miserable failure, screwing up when passing the baton and not even making it to the finals.
Happy happy happy. We're now on the score board at number 58. I didn't understand how they were doing the medals but it looks like we got nine altogether. What happens? I leave and the Greek team wins? What a nice welcome home present. *smile* Maybe, I should go away for the paraolympics too. lol
Well, the Olympics are now over and it looks like we won only four medals. Two silver and two bronze. I guess it's better than nothing, but it's still kind of sad. What's wrong with us? lol