2012 Summer Olympics - London, England (1 Viewer)

[Ockeghem]

Walter,
Yes, the false start rule is different for these Olympics. There is no warning. One false start, and you're gone.
I watched the interview with May and Walsh last night. I knew Bob Costas was going to ask if they'd be back for Rio. At this point, one of them appears like she will be at Rio, while the other will not. I would be quite happy having them go out the way they did at this Olympics, with the gold medal.
I was so happy for Allyson Felix as she crossed the finish line of the 200m. She looked so strong, and her strides seemed almost effortless. I wish I knew specifically what she may have done differently this time around during her training regimen. I remember her silver medals and the disappoinment of past Olympics, so when she won the gold medal this time around I was ecstatic for her.

 

[Sumnernor]

Originally Posted by Ockeghem /t/322614/2012-summer-olympics-london-england/120#post_3960193
Walter,
Yes, the false start rule is different for these Olympics. There is no warning. One false start, and you're gone.

That is sort of correct. I've seen a couple of cases where someone was very slightly false started. He was able to remain in the race and there was a warning on his lane.

There is also a question with a false start with the decathalon. Yesterday in one of the 400m heats - there was a false start but was allowed to continue.

 

[Sumnernor]

Originally Posted by Walter C /t/322614/2012-summer-olympics-london-england/120#post_3960028
I did catch some of the Russia-Lithuania game, and I may have overlooked the Russian team myself. I thought the Lithuanians would win that game easily, since they did play the US very tough, and would have that extra incentive against the former Soviets. I'm also hoping for a US-Russia finals matchup.

I was at the baseketball final in 1972 Olympics in Munich where Russia played the US. I've forgotten the problem but the US complained way too late and Russia was the rightful winner.

 

[Walter C]

Well, the new false start rule just is just cruel, ending someone's Olympics before it even gets started. I liked the rule when the whole line gets a warning for the 1st false start, followed by DQ's. Though I did read somewhere it was changed, because some runners used it as a tactic to throw others off their game. I don't think Tom Hammond or any of the other broadcasters made mention of the new rule.

Also, I remember May saying that if she was in Rio, it would be as a spectator and not as an athlete. Similar to what Phelps said, though in his case, his family is trying to convince him to compete in another Olympics.

Originally Posted by Sumnernor /t/322614/2012-summer-olympics-london-england/120#post_3960200
I was at the baseketball final in 1972 Olympics in Munich where Russia played the US. I've forgotten the problem but the US complained way too late and Russia was the rightful winner.

That must have been truly something, to see that game in person. I'm not sure of the details myself, but I used to think it had more to do with the fact that they lost to the Soviets than anything else. I remember they played each other again in the gold medal game, in Seoul, with the US losing again.

 

[Citizen87645]

I became aware of the false start rule at the track and field trials. Here's more info about it: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/olympic-track-sprinting-rule_n_1729622.html

It sounds like swimming has similar false start rules...

 

[Ockeghem]

Well, the new false start rule just is just cruel, ending someone's Olympics before it even gets started. I liked the rule when the whole line gets a warning for the 1st false start, followed by DQ's. Though I did read somewhere it was changed, because some runners used it as a tactic to throw others off their game. I don't think Tom Hammond or any of the other broadcasters made mention of the new rule.

Walter,
I wish it had not been changed either. I thought it worked rather well.
There is so much to watch again tonight, even with the results known in advance. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Sumnernor /t/322614/2012-summer-olympics-london-england/120#post_3960200
I was at the baseketball final in 1972 Olympics in Munich where Russia played the US. I've forgotten the problem but the US complained way too late and Russia was the rightful winner.

I'm not so sure about that as the US was in an immediate uproar over that travesty. I will never accept them as the rightful winner from that year and neither has the American players including Doug Collins, who refused to accept their silver medals. To this day, that whole episode has tainted my view of the Olympic Games as I watch them since that year with a suspecting eye.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

If Manteo Mitchell doesn't personify the Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius I don't know who does.

 

[DavidJ]

Wow. That's tough.

 

[Stan]

Trapped on the treadmill again at the gym today so got to watch the men's 4x400 meter relay where sadly the South African team had a fall and didn't make it to the next level. Was really looking forward to how Pistorius, the double amputee would do. Apparently they were going to file a protest or something similar, not sure how things turned out, but hope he gets a chance again.
Also got the last 15 minutes or so of women's 10K swim. I've run 10K races a few times, but can't even imagine what it must take to swim that distance. Even with that distance and the amount of time the race took, the difference between 1st and 2nd place was only 4/10ths of a second. Incredible to watch that final push to the end.

 

[Sumnernor]

Today was the men's 10KM race which lasted circa 110 minutes. The winner waws from Tunisia and the first 8 were within a minute gbut the end of the race was not really that close. I think he had a leader of circa 500m. He naturally slowed down near the end and the others tried to catch him. In my opinion the race was not really that close.

 

[Ockeghem]

Trapped on the treadmill again at the gym today so got to watch the men's 4x400 meter relay where sadly the South African team had a fall and didn't make it to the next level. Was really looking forward to how Pistorius, the double amputee would do. Apparently they were going to file a protest or something similar, not sure how things turned out, but hope he gets a chance again.
Also got the last 15 minutes or so of women's 10K swim. I've run 10K races a few times, but can't even imagine what it must take to swim that distance. Even with that distance and the amount of time the race took, the difference between 1st and 2nd place was only 4/10ths of a second. Incredible to watch that final push to the end.

Stan,
Pistorius will run the relay, as he (they) won their appeal.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/athletics/9464077/Oscar-Pistorius-Olympic-dream-back-on-track-as-South-Africa-successfully-appeal-4x400m-relay-spot.html
BTW, I agree and marvel on swimming 6.2 miles. In my thirty-five years of running (that's roughly 32,000 miles total) I have had one injury (twenty-five or so years ago), a tibial stress fracture which I received when I came back too fast (mileage-wise) after I had run a marathon. During the time I had the injury, I began swimming. I eventually worked up to five miles a week, which I thought was quite a lot. But when you think of swimming a 10K race at one time, that's quite amazing.

 

[Sumnernor]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford /t/322614/2012-summer-olympics-london-england/120#post_3960427
I'm not so sure about that as the US was in an immediate uproar over that travesty. I will never accept them as the rightful winner from that year and neither has the American players including Doug Collins, who refused to accept their silver medals. To this day, that whole episode has tainted my view of the Olympic Games as I watch them since that year with a suspecting eye.

I really don't want to argue about this. I was there. I was not listening to perhaps a biased announcer. I was rooting for the US not Russia However I have fotgotten exectly detail execpt that the US did not protest at the time but waited unitl the game was over. I was not "in the heat of battle" like the US players and coach. As the end I did not feel cheatered with the fact that Russia had won

 

[Ockeghem]

Sumnernor,
For my own part, the result (and especially the controversial finish) of the U.S.A. - Russia basketball game (51-50) was gut-wrenching for me, and the memory lingers on for many. Yet that particular Olympics -- despite the tragedy that far outweighs the result of any of the events -- still remains my favorite Games (Winter or Summer) that I have ever seen. I was riveted to the television during that summer for many days, and Munich is the Games that I think of whenever I think of the Olympics. To this day whenever I am on one of my runs I can't help but think of Shorter, Korbut, Prefontaine, Spitz, Wottle, et al. Those athletes have over the years inspired me to do my very best when I am training. There was so much to love about those Games sports-wise, and the memories of so many of the events are etched in my mind forever.
Speaking of Munich 1972 --
I thought this was a very nice gesture on the part of Aly Raisman:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185361/Olympics-2012-U-S-gymnast-Aly-Raisman-reveals-gold-medal-winning-routine-tribute-1972-Munch-Games-massacre.html

 

[Ockeghem]

Russia and Spain (men's basketball) are now underway. I hope Spain -- or later, Argentina for that matter -- don't spoil the party.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Here in the UK we use the official medal table, which uses numbers of gold medals only to decide position in the table (numbers of silver and bronze are only taken into consideration in the case of a tie). However, I caught a brief snatch of a US programme (sorry, program) last night and in that table, the UK were fourth, behind USA, China and Russia. The only way you can do that is by treating gold, silver and bronze equally and simply counting up the number of medals won (i.e. no weighting for the different types of medals - e.g. 3 for gold, 2 for silver, 1 for bronze). Is this how the USA usually works out medal tables, please?

 

[Jason Charlton]

Yes.

As with so many things (see "Metric System") we 'mericans seem to favor arbitrary, nonsensical methods of evaluation.

We just don't go throwing logic into everything willy, nilly...

 

[Ockeghem]

A feature remembering the 1972 U.S.A. - Russia basketball game is now on the ESPN page.
http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/basketball/story/_/id/8242346/remembering-1972-us-olympic-squad-40-years-later

 

[andrew markworthy]

We just don't go throwing logic into everything willy, nilly...

Thank you!

 

[andrew markworthy]

A feature remembering the 1972 U.S.A. - Russia basketball game is now on the ESPN page.

I'm not sure how much you'll like hearing this, but I remember that game very well and the reaction in the British press afterwards, which in the main lambasted the American players for being such bad losers, regardless of the fairness (or otherwise) of the outcome. The event is still replayed on Brit TV every once in a while, and typically the presenter cannot resist a comment about how the players still haven't collected their medals.
I'm not taking sides on this (heck, even though I'm not a football fan, I still think Maradonna should have been publicly executed after the 'hand of God' stunt, and there's a certain German racing driver I'd like to offer similar treatment to), just offering a different cultural perspective.