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2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

#121
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8/13/08 at 10:19am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Have you heard about the "Blue Screen of Death" during the opening ceremonies? Olympic's Blue Screen Of Death Moment - Geekologie
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#122
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8/13/08 at 11:08am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Man, I must be a geek because I found that to be funnier than I probably should've.
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#123
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8/13/08 at 11:13am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnRice
Did anyone catch Andrea Joyce's "interview" of the Gymnastics team captain after the competition. What a low brow bit of work from Joyce, who basically brow beat her until she was choking back tears. Everyone saw what a difficult time she had in the competition. This isn't some politician you are calling out. Tacky work from Joyce.

No, I missed that, but that is unfortunate.

ESPN - Team final result should not define Sacramone - Olympics

I think Sacramone is going to have a hard time dealing with this. I hope that it does not take away the joy of the Olympics for her.

Is it the general consensus that NBC's coverage is not good? I don't have anything to compare it to where I live, but I haven't found it to be bad. Then again, it is my only option.
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#124
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8/13/08 at 11:23am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

I don't think the coverage of the events themselves has been poor. But the soft personal interest stories and the post-event interviews are lame...how many times are you going to ask Michael Phelps how he feels after he just won a gold medal?
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#125
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8/13/08 at 1:37pm
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

**don't look if you are squeemish, graphic image**


Pictured: The horrific moment Olympic weightlifter turns his elbow back to front | Mail Online
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#126
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8/13/08 at 3:01pm
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

where else do you see a competition where the camera just focuses on the loser for SOOO long? i mean in awards shows, they might pause on the loser for a moment but then they'd go right to the winner. ditto for sports. but holy crap, here a girl falls flat on her @$$ and is holding back the tears, and the camera just inches closer to her, unwavering. she's not a reality tv contestant who just got voted off!


"now, if that's a fact, tell me... am i lying?"

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#127
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8/13/08 at 3:02pm
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Don't imagine we'll see that on NBC's coverage...
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#128
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8/13/08 at 4:05pm
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

I’ve never liked the soft features, but ever since the Olympics hit not only the main network (NBC) but the affiliated channels as well (in this case USA, MSNBC, CNBC, and so forth), there is more real sports on than I can watch. Even with my 2-tuner DVR I can’t get everything. So FF through the soft features is actually a relief and gets me a little extra time.

Don’t forget that much of the coverage by the cameras is via pool cameras. The feed received by NBC for every event is not necessarily under their control.
¡Time is not my master!
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#129
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8/14/08 at 1:49am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

I have no idea how NBC is covering the Olympics on TV, but I've found their online live streams to be great.

At this minute, I'm watching the team table tenis competition between the Korea and Chinese Taipei online. To see the Chinese crowd really get into a competition, please watch these ping pong matches. There are simultaneous competitions going on in the building, so sudden bursts of cheering occur quite often. For this match, the crowd is regularly chanting "Taipei team, jiayou!"

If you haven't heard of that last phrase, see this amusing story on the NY Times.
Lost in Translation: A Chinese Cheer - 2008 Olympics – Sports and News from China – The New York Times
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#130
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8/14/08 at 6:18am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirk Tsai
To see the Chinese crowd really get into a competition, please watch these ping pong matches.

I caught the match between China and Austria. They were chanting something, which I don't recall. Right now, I am watching the women's match between Korea and Japan, which has a bit of subplot of its own (at least to me).

Boy what a bad night for men's gymnastics.
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#131
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8/14/08 at 6:49am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Boy what a bad night for men's gymnastics.
Why? The standard of competition was very good. The fact that a favoured team didn't win doesn't mean the gymnastics were bad.

At the risk of getting inviting the wrath of Jeff for being anti-American (or something), can someone less touchy ()please tell me why Mr Phelps is being hailed as the greatest Olympian of all time? Before anyone flames me, let me say that I yield to none (even as a Brit) in my admiration for his swimming - he is superb, his technique is impeccable, and he richly deserves the accolade of being one of the truly great swimmers of this or any other age. Plus, I have no doubt that outside the pool he is a great guy to mix with and that he visits his sweet white-haired grandmother every Sunday. BUT (and this is a big caveat) his tally of medals is basically for the same freakin' race. The fact that we've seen other swimmers in the past (Mark Spitz et al) gain clutches of medals for the same clutch of races means one thing - the races aren't sufficiently different. In athletics, it'd be like having separate 100, 110, 120, 130 and 140 metre races and then being amazed that the same sprinter won all of them. But in swimming, nobody seems awake to this bizarre anomaly.
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#132
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8/14/08 at 7:24am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

And don't get andrew started on the boxing judges!
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#133
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8/14/08 at 7:34am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by andrew markworthy
Why? The standard of competition was very good. The fact that a favoured team didn't win doesn't mean the gymnastics were bad.
I think he was talking about the men's all-around competition. Yang Wei seemed to be the only consistent gymnast on the floor. NBC's commentators noted that great all-around gymnasts are harder to find these days.

Quote:
At the risk of getting inviting the wrath of Jeff for being anti-American (or something), can someone less touchy ()please tell me why Mr Phelps is being hailed as the greatest Olympian of all time? Before anyone flames me, let me say that I yield to none (even as a Brit) in my admiration for his swimming - he is superb, his technique is impeccable, and he richly deserves the accolade of being one of the truly great swimmers of this or any other age. Plus, I have no doubt that outside the pool he is a great guy to mix with and that he visits his sweet white-haired grandmother every Sunday. BUT (and this is a big caveat) his tally of medals is basically for the same freakin' race.
I agree. He *could* be the greatest of all time, but I think it's impossible to really determine that because you have to look at all of the sports. It seems like a lot of people are only determining the "greatest" by looking at the medal count, and that shouldn't be the method. You can only medal once in water polo, triathlon, etc.


The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
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#134
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8/14/08 at 7:53am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by andrew markworthy
At the risk of getting inviting the wrath of Jeff for being anti-American (or something), can someone less touchy ()please tell me why Mr Phelps is being hailed as the greatest Olympian of all time? Before anyone flames me, let me say that I yield to none (even as a Brit) in my admiration for his swimming - he is superb, his technique is impeccable, and he richly deserves the accolade of being one of the truly great swimmers of this or any other age. Plus, I have no doubt that outside the pool he is a great guy to mix with and that he visits his sweet white-haired grandmother every Sunday. BUT (and this is a big caveat) his tally of medals is basically for the same freakin' race. The fact that we've seen other swimmers in the past (Mark Spitz et al) gain clutches of medals for the same clutch of races means one thing - the races aren't sufficiently different. In athletics, it'd be like having separate 100, 110, 120, 130 and 140 metre races and then being amazed that the same sprinter won all of them. But in swimming, nobody seems awake to this bizarre anomaly.
Here's what Phelps has won gold in for 2004 and 2008:

100m butterfly (2004 and 2008)
200m butterfly (2004 and 2008)
200m individual medley (2004 and 2008)
400m individual medley (2004 and 2008)
4x200m freestyle relay (2004 and 2008)
4x100m individual medley (2004)
4x100m freestyle medley (2004)
200m freestyle (2004)

And of course, he's not done yet for 2008.

If you think those are "the same freakin race" I don't know how I can convince you otherwise. But I'll try:

First off: all of the strokes are completely different (try them some time). Way different muscle usage, tactical strategies, etc. The butterfly is completely different from the freestyle, both of which he's won.

He's won the medley, where he must do all four strokes. So I don't see how this race can be "the same freakin race" as say any of the individual strokes.

And of course he's won at 100m and 200m distances. Talk to your track and field buddies about if there's any difference between 100m and 200m. Then multiply that difference because you're in the water. I personally find it much easier to run 200m than swim 200m (I'd medal in neither).

Then of course there's the team races, where you're not just responsible for yourself but your team as well.

And finally, it makes no sense to enter in any more races. Your body can only do so much in a span of time. I don't think anyone else has entered in more swimming events than Phelps (someone feel free to correct me). If you enter in every race, you'll be racing multiple times a day, every day. You'll medal in day one, maybe two, then drown in day three.
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#135
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8/14/08 at 8:08am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

I think it should be a rule that you have to perform in the winter olympics, to compete in the summer, and vice versa

"Oh, so you can swim really well? But can you Ski Jump?"
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#136
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8/14/08 at 8:17am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

RE Andrew's point, I tend to agree, as the distances are pretty much the same. But that he can win the medley also puts him near the top of the list.

One of my nominations would be another Yank, Eric Heiden who won everything from 500 m to 10,000m at Lake Placid, and set records in 1,000m to 10,000m.

And don't forget Jesse Owens.
¡Time is not my master!
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#137
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8/14/08 at 8:53am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

I suppose an example of what andrew is saying would be the Decathlon versus individual track and field events.

The Decathlete must train for 10 events and compete in 10 events but only gets 1 gold medal. The training and competition schedule is so intense that they generally can't compete in individual events as well.

On the other hand, the training for a sprinter is not much different for the 100m or 200m and they also get to compete in relays, etc. which could get them 4 gold medals.
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#138
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8/14/08 at 9:03am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lew Crippen
RE Andrew's point, I tend to agree, as the distances are pretty much the same. But that he can win the medley also puts him near the top of the list.

One of my nominations would be another Yank, Eric Heiden who won everything from 500 m to 10,000m at Lake Placid, and set records in 1,000m to 10,000m.

And don't forget Jesse Owens.

Heiden would be my favorite for the greatest Olympic performance ever. No one has done it since and I've heard it described as being like a runner winning every event from the 100M Dash to the Marathon. Truly incredible.
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#139
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8/14/08 at 9:11am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by andrew markworthy
Why? The standard of competition was very good. The fact that a favoured team didn't win doesn't mean the gymnastics were bad.

ThomasC is right. Yep, I was referring to the all-around, and how every gymnast (except Yang Wei) kept making major mistakes along the way.
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#140
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8/14/08 at 10:00am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by andrew markworthy
Why? The standard of competition was very good. The fact that a favoured team didn't win doesn't mean the gymnastics were bad.
It is either quite ironic or quite telling that this highly assumptive (and incorrectly so) post preceded a dig at me for daring to claim any anti-USA bias on your part.

No offense Andrew, and I know you and I go round and round on this (so I accept the barbs thrown my way). However, when your first, last and basically only comments in this thread are either critical of American athletes or critical of American fans whom you automatically assume are USA-centric (which in this case couldn't be further from the truth), then in all honesty you should probably look to your own biases before criticizing mine.
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#141
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8/14/08 at 10:42am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by andrew markworthy
please tell me why Mr Phelps is being hailed as the greatest Olympian of all time? Before anyone flames me, let me say that I yield to none (even as a Brit) in my admiration for his swimming - he is superb, his technique is impeccable, and he richly deserves the accolade of being one of the truly great swimmers of this or any other age.
I agree. He may be considered the greatest Olympic "swimmer" of all time, but I have a hard time with all the accolades of "Greatest Olympian" simply based on quantity of medals won in a single sport. As mentioned by others, some athletes only have one medal opportunity per Olympiad, so it's really ridiculous to put Phelps on this pedestal simply because he has multiple opportunities to medal within the same sport.

To me, the "Greatest Olympian" would have to win gold in a variety of different sports. But that doesn't happen today as most athletes specialize in only a single sport or specific event within that sport.

And my beef with the NBC coverage is all those fluff pieces and the never-ending interviews. I want to see the competition period. I don't care what kind of food they serve on the streets of Beijing (there was some segment last night that had Bob Costas waving around a scorpion on a stick), or how young so-and-so was when they started training. All I want is the here-and-now of the event competition. Canadian Broadcasting Corp does this very well and I'm fortunate to have them as part of my cable TV lineup.

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#142
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8/14/08 at 11:06am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

I know it's semantics, but I have no problem with "Greatest Olympian." What is the point of competing in the Olympics? To win gold. Who has won more? No one.

Now if they said he was the greatest Olympic Athlete - I'd have definite beefs, because as people have noted, there other more demanding sports, and people who do (or have in the past, it really doesn't happen in modern Olympics) compete in a wide variety of events. So IMO it's very hard to prove anyone's the greatest "athlete" because that encompasses so many things.
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#143
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8/14/08 at 11:22am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by andrew markworthy
please tell me why Mr Phelps is being hailed as the greatest Olympian of all time?

WTF??? If you have to ask, you'll never understand.
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#144
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8/14/08 at 11:32am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlo Medina
I know it's semantics, but I have no problem with "Greatest Olympian." What is the point of competing in the Olympics? To win gold. Who has won more? No one.

Now if they said he was the greatest Olympic Athlete - I'd have definite beefs, because as people have noted, there other more demanding sports, and people who do (or have in the past, it really doesn't happen in modern Olympics) compete in a wide variety of events. So IMO it's very hard to prove anyone's the greatest "athlete" because that encompasses so many things.
Carlo, I agree with everything. It's a convenient shorthand, and some are reading too much into it, methinks. If an archer won a 10th gold medal today, he would be fully deserving of the title, pot belly and all.

Or we could call him as Yahoo News did (possibly an AP feed), the Winningest Olympian ever.

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#145
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8/14/08 at 11:34am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Looks like the State Media in China has one of the female gymnasts aging three years in a mere 9 months:

State-media story fuels questions on Chinese gymnast’s age - BostonHerald.com

Will the wonders of Communism ever cease?
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#146
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8/14/08 at 11:40am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

So many Olympic athletes have had their medals stripped by the IOC when drug use or doping was later discovered.

Do you think that the Chinese will lose some medals if and when the true age of their gymnasts is learned?

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

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#147
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8/14/08 at 11:49am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlo Medina
I know it's semantics, but I have no problem with "Greatest Olympian." What is the point of competing in the Olympics? To win gold. Who has won more? No one.

Now if they said he was the greatest Olympic Athlete - I'd have definite beefs, because as people have noted, there other more demanding sports, and people who do (or have in the past, it really doesn't happen in modern Olympics) compete in a wide variety of events. So IMO it's very hard to prove anyone's the greatest "athlete" because that encompasses so many things.
Bingo. Some nut on MSNBC has gone farther and called him the greatest athlete ever. And he used the word unquestionably. He then proceeded to say that because Phelps sport is in water, it's by definition harder than sports on land. And then he said "Have you ever swum a 100M?" to the interviewer (Lauer, I think)!?! For my answer to that, it would be: Actually yes...but I've never cycled the Tour De France 7 times in 7 years with a single nut. Your point?

1) Phelps is the Greatest Olympic Winner. I love the guy, and wholeheartedly support that claim.

2) Andrew is correct. He is effectively getting 8 medals for doing TWO things (sprint freestyle and sprint fly). That's the sport, though. They have a bunch of races.

3) There were stories beating around the bush on the (obvious age) of the Chinese gymnasts. Once they won Gold, it became even bigger. I feel that is disingenuous. It's too late to make a scene. It's either a big deal during the competition or it's not. We ignored it until they won. And they won by beating us. Let it go. I blame the IOC for letting them get away with it. But they did. No way the IOC is going to call 1.3 billion potential customers cheaters.

I feel bad for the girls, because they were spectacular.
Hey buddy...did you just see a real bright light?
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#148
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8/14/08 at 11:59am
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

They should lose their medals if they have broken the rules, but how would you ever prove the age of anyone in China?
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#149
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8/14/08 at 12:04pm
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck Mayer
I feel bad for the girls, because they were spectacular.
I agree. They were spectacular! But you can not convince me that this girl is near 16 therefore she should not have been there. I am not saying that we would have won (USA made major errors), but it would have definitely changed the competition with different athletes competing.
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#150
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8/14/08 at 12:06pm
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Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Carlo, that list is wrong.

Phelps this year has won gold in;

400m IM
200m Freestyle
200m Butterfly
4x100m Freestyle relay
4x200m Freestyle relay

He has not swam in the 100m Fly, 200m IM, 4x100m medley relay yet. Think the 200m IM is tonight.
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