Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Other Diversions › After Hours Lounge › 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China - Page 10

post #271 of 440
8/18/08 at 5:56pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

i dont think he's hilarious.
he is making a joke of it and he is showing up his competitors.
Reply
post #272 of 440
8/18/08 at 6:11pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

not in prelims... many first placer's slow up near the end when there's a wide margin. it's pretty much accepted.
Reply
post #273 of 440
8/18/08 at 8:12pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve_Tk
So no one is talking about Luiken getting the EXACT same score as the chinese gymnast, but she got the silver in the Uneven bars?
This didn't bother me too much as there seemed to be clearly established protocols for breaking the tie. I forget exactly how they explained it, but it sounded logical and was better than simply flipping a coin.
Reply
post #274 of 440
8/18/08 at 8:51pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

man, the coach for that US female pole vaulter (silver medalist) is a total douche... one thing to say stuff like that in private, another to say it in front of a 100 million people...
Reply
post #275 of 440
8/18/08 at 8:53pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

First of all, Liukin was robbed. Her routine appeared much cleaner to me. Second...I've seen several contests where athletes are tied after events and they share a medal. Instead of handing out two golds or two silvers, they decide to run through about 50 tiebreakers in gymnastics. Why the inconsistency at the Olympics?
Reply
post #276 of 440
8/18/08 at 9:16pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
man, the coach for that US female pole vaulter (silver medalist) is a total douche

That guy was a complete jerkweed. I think a silver medal is outstanding for a relative newcomer like Stuczynski and to have her "coach" essentially shrug his shoulders is pathetic.
Reply
post #277 of 440
8/18/08 at 9:22pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Hopefully he won't be coaching too many other pole vaulters in the near future. Can't see how you can justify such a-hole-ness after a silver medal performance, unless he's the Great Santini reincarnated.
Reply
post #278 of 440
8/18/08 at 9:40pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Malcolm R
This didn't bother me too much as there seemed to be clearly established protocols for breaking the tie. I forget exactly how they explained it, but it sounded logical and was better than simply flipping a coin.

I posted an Si article on the previous page that goes into some detail on the matter. It is a pretty crazy tiebreaking system and its fairness is not above reproach. I don't understand why they don't allow the tie. I mean, if after all that they go through the score ends up being the same to the thousandth then [i]just let it go![i] It worked well in the past and seems more inline with the vaunted Olympic spirit.
Reply
post #279 of 440
8/18/08 at 9:48pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricW
man, the coach for that US female pole vaulter (silver medalist) is a total douche... one thing to say stuff like that in private, another to say it in front of a 100 million people...

In all fairness, I don't think you can expect him to have the expectation that it will be broadcast for everyone to hear. I actually understood what he was saying (well sort of ) and where he was coming from. Some of the best coaches can obviously be demanding hard-a$$es. That is not always easy to turn off. She was obviously upset and he was trying to explain what went wrong. To me his ending comments were trying to say that the silver isn't exactly "chopped liver."

Now his body language...that is another matter. I would like to think if I was in that situation that I could be more focused on her. I would also put the emphasis on the success and wait to later to discuss why she fell short (she may have asked).
Reply
post #280 of 440
8/18/08 at 10:38pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Anyone know if select events(swimming, diving, gymnastics) are coming out on dvd? Seems like a good idea, but the Athens olympics didn't have one.
Reply
post #281 of 440
8/18/08 at 10:45pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Yeah DVD or Blu-Ray (really unlikely) would be cool.

Actually, a great idea would be a "Build Your Own" disc. You can choose the sports finals (let's just say it's the medal rounds because it would be too much to try and capture all the events and all of the rounds), and you pay per event. They build a DVD/BD based on your choices.

Of course, that will pretty much never happen. So it's time to hope that people who recorded the Olympics off-the-air in HD make their stuff available online.
Reply
post #282 of 440
8/18/08 at 11:21pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

The "build your own" would be great. I'd be down for that. Not sure how much since it makes from a business standpoint, but it would be cool.
Reply
post #283 of 440
8/18/08 at 11:25pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Yeah the business sense is its biggest downfall. Kind of reminds me of those CD stalls you used to see in record stores back in the early 90s, where you could "build your own CD" by choosing songs and it would make a CD for you. Didn't fly then, so I doubt my idea will fly now, but hey, dare to dream, right?
Reply
post #284 of 440
8/19/08 at 7:02am

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

I can't believe how well Great Britain is doing! We have 16 gold medals which would place us 3rd in the Medals Table (if you use the gold medals are more important than bronze medals system!).

More golds than Russia, Australia and Germany! Of course, it probably won't last, but still bodes well for 2012 in London.

Breaking News Edit: Christine Ohuruogo just won the 400 metres, so that's 16 golds now!

Reply
post #285 of 440
8/19/08 at 7:29am

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidJ
I posted an Si article on the previous page that goes into some detail on the matter. It is a pretty crazy tiebreaking system and its fairness is not above reproach. I don't understand why they don't allow the tie. I mean, if after all that they go through the score ends up being the same to the thousandth then [i]just let it go![i] It worked well in the past and seems more inline with the vaunted Olympic spirit.
What I understood the commentators to say, was that normally the high and low judging scores are thrown out. I've always thought this was to an effort to remove low and high biases from the judging. In case of a tie, the highs and lows come back in. That doesn't make sense to me.
Reply
post #286 of 440
8/19/08 at 7:58am

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Angell
What I understood the commentators to say, was that normally the high and low judging scores are thrown out. I've always thought this was to an effort to remove low and high biases from the judging. In case of a tie, the highs and lows come back in. That doesn't make sense to me.

No, in case of a tie, the next lowest score is thrown out. The original highest and lowest never come back in.
Reply
post #287 of 440
8/19/08 at 10:19am

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Well, at the third tie breaking scenario they threw out the lowest of the remaining four scores. The Chinese gymnast's was actually lower, but her average of the three remaining was higher. You could've just as easily had a another "fair" tie break that favored Liukin. I just still think it is crazy that when is a tie even to the third fairly arbitrary tie break that they don't both receive the medal. This scoring and judging has been at times plain weird, but I'm not really that upset for Liukin. She has had a great meet.
Reply
post #288 of 440
8/19/08 at 10:23am

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
I can't believe how well Great Britain is doing! We have 16 gold medals which would place us 3rd in the Medals Table (if you use the gold medals are more important than bronze medals system!).

It's GB's highest total since the modern Olympics properly got underway. We got 50+ medals in 1908, but back then only 20 or so countries competed (as opposed to the 200+ today).

Realistically, we could still get a couple more athletics golds, another couple in the sailing/windsurfing, another in the canoeing and perhaps one in the boxing.
Reply
post #289 of 440
8/19/08 at 11:00am

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

And so it begins:

The REAL Olympic medal count - Fourth-Place Medal - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

Only 1300+ responses to the short article. *snort*
Reply
post #290 of 440
8/19/08 at 12:29pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

I agree that the tie breaker decision was very controversial and they should have awarded 2 gold medals (as they have in previous Olympics). I don't think anyone is saying the Chinese girl's performance wasn't as good as Liukin's - just that they should have accepted that it was a tie.

I wonder how upset you all would have been if the tie-break decision had been in Liukin's favor? It still would have been unfair IMO.

As far as all the other controversial decisions and the possibility of "under-age" competitors from China, then I think the US has good reason to complain.
Reply
post #291 of 440
8/19/08 at 12:39pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marianne
I wonder how upset you all would have been if the tie-break decision had been in Liukin's favor? It still would have been unfair IMO.

You are probably right in in your supposition that the outcry would not have been as great. I like you think that it still would've been unfair. I may be naive , but I'd like to think that most here at the HTF would feel the same. I am of the opinion that they need to overhaul the system (again).
Reply
post #292 of 440
8/19/08 at 2:07pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

It is clear to me that a lot of people don't understand how scoring works in subjective sports. I had to shake my head at some of the comments that accompany that "Real Olympic medal count" article.

Like it or not, when normalized scoring is used, missing a landing does not necessarily mean that a person automatically is out of contention for a medal.
Reply
post #293 of 440
8/19/08 at 2:24pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

They went through the explanation of why the points were awarded the way they were on the BBC, and it does appear that the rules were applied fairly. Bear in mind that for every 'obvious' error that Joe Public sees, there's a host of mistakes that only the experts notice. E.g. the BBC showed a section of a routine that looked great to the uninitiated, but once you were made aware of what the judges were looking for, was obviously riddled with errors.
Reply
post #294 of 440
8/19/08 at 2:56pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
I wonder how upset you all would have been if the tie-break decision had been in Liukin's favor? It still would have been unfair IMO.

even the Bela guy on NBC wasn't too upset at the process that derived it, but more so the judge's scores that were used in the calculations (most specifically the australian judge's score). still, he was in favor of 2 golds handed out.
Reply
post #295 of 440
8/19/08 at 3:30pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Quote:
But on that podium you are representing your country before the world. Acting like an infant not only disgraces yourself, it disgraces your country. Sweden deserved better.
Have you seen the footage of the wrestler "throwing" down his medal? He calmly shakes the other bronze medal winners hand, calmly walks out to the center of the mat, places the medal on the floor, and walks off. Hardly a tantrum.

Bela K's comments last night were very interesting. His claim is not that the judges are corrupt... rather that they are incompetent / inexperienced. Judges can not be from competing countries (to avoid bias). However, the best (most experienced) judges are from countries with a strong gymnastics background. Thus, we are stuck with 2nd tier judges for international events like the Olympics (who rarely see techniques / tricks at these levels of difficulty). I have seen gymnasts from multiple countries getting 'screwed' by the judges... it's just that NBC makes a bigger deal about it when an American competitor gets a lower than expected score.
Reply
post #296 of 440
8/19/08 at 3:35pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Oh yes... if you want to talk about poor judging then just look at Paul Hamm's gold medal in the last Olympics (where the Korean gymnast got _completely_ screwed by an obvious error and should have won gold). The error wasn't even in the subjective judging... it had to do with the computed start value of the routine.
Reply
post #297 of 440
8/19/08 at 7:02pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

Anyone see the men's 200m semi with Bolt? He didn't even look like hewas breaking a sweat. He is just toying with the field.
Reply
post #298 of 440
8/19/08 at 7:04pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

while Phelps has been the winningest athlete in these games, Bolt is by far the most dominant.
Reply
post #299 of 440
8/19/08 at 7:50pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

maybe it is just me but is there any humility in the olympic runners?

seems to me there is always someone who showboats and shows up the other runners or someone with gold shoes or something on the bottom of the
show that is shiny or reflective.
Reply
post #300 of 440
8/19/08 at 7:57pm

Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

btw the race Lolo Jones just lost was crazy.

heartbreaking seeing her standing by her self in one of the tunnels.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: After Hours Lounge
Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Other Diversions › After Hours Lounge › 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China