2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China (1 Viewer)

[DavidJ]

Is it just me (or maybe us USA folk) or do the Olympics kind of go out with a whimper? It seems to me that near the end of the Olympics people kind of tire of it a bit and that there are not many marquee events to generate interest (I understand that this could be more regional in effect). Why not save something like gymnastics for the last several days? Thought?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Actually that nasty brigand Capt. Nicholls grabbed it for his patron the Duke of York.

 

[Cees Alons]

"Brigand" is too nice a word actually for that scandal Nicholls (and his cabin cat).

OK, Nicholls and Stuyvesant later became the best of friends and were often spotted raising a good glass while verbally reviving old battles they had been in.


Cees

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I don't know about everybody else, but I definitely get more jazzed when events are live than when they're taped. Ironically, British Summer Time being only five hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time (as opposed to Beijing Time's 12 hour lead) will make it virtually impossible to get any big events live for American audiences on the East Coast; instead of being the next morning like in Beijing, events would have to launch at 1:00 am for an 8:00 pm primetime showcase in the U.S. of A! Obviously, that's not going to happen.
To sum up, the math: Spectacular opening ceremonies + an American public too poor to vacation this summer = Best ratings for an event in U.S. television history.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

I guess I'd take issue with the U.S. men's basketball win being called "great." They've had the talent in every Olympics to walk away with the gold and never played as a cohesive unit...every player seemingly with his own agenda. I'd say they merely did what was expected of them. The U.S. men's volleyball win...that's another story. First gold medal in 20 years...first medal of any kind in 16 years. All of this after their coach missed three games while mourning for his father-in-law who was murdered in China.

 

[Edwin-S]

deleted

 

[andrew markworthy]

I think that's a fair analysis. I believe the Netherland's fundamental secret weapon was tolerance. By allowing freedom of religious expression etc, intelligent people came together and found pragmatic solutions that weren't immediately suppressed because some poo for brains religious leader or monarch thought that time honoured tradition was threatened. But because the Netherlands like the UK also has a rather puritan streak in its culture, this pragmatism tended to be directed towards business rather than pleasure.

Anyway, back to the Olympics - the Brit papers had various things to say about Boris this morning (as usual). But more space was probably devoted to a slight gaffe at the Brit-hosted reception afterwards when a video display as part of a 'great things about the UK' presentation showed a momentary image of a picture of Myra Hindley in an art gallery. [Myra Hindley was a notorious child murderer in the 1960s].

 

[Marty M]

While watching that skit I asked my wife if that is the way the British usually wait for a bus? No telling what the British might come up with during the closing of the 2012 Olympics if Chicago is awarded the 2016 Olympics - bootleg gangsters being chased by Elitot Ness?

 

[Walter C]

I agree, and I thought it was very classy of them, to give Coach K their gold medals.

And I always enjoyed the track & field, which is what got me into watching the Olympics in the first place.

Great closing ceremony, and very tough act for the next host to follow. Then again, I thought the same with Beijing, after the ceremonies in Athens. I'm glad that the interviews were cut down, and not in the middle of the ceremony.

I always enjoy hearing Bob Costas' final thoughts and the closing credits that follow, which closes the book on the Olympics for me.

Until then, it's 18 months until Vancouver (or 4 years if you just follow Summer only).

 

[Marianne]

Or watching the F1 European Grand Prix on Speed!

So I still haven't seen the closing handover ceremony because I couldn't stay up until 3am (to see something that happened many hours before and wasn't live so why didn't they repeat it earlier!).

 

[Marianne]

The handover skit is produced by the next host country, so if Chicago gets it they will be producing their own skit.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Absolutely - it's up to the next host country to make an ass of itself.

 

[Marianne]

The Aussies are so pissed that they were beaten by GB in the medals that they are looking at using Lottery Funding to boost their prospects in London 2012.


BBC SPORT | Olympics | Australia consider British route

 

[Holadem]

Never liked the winter thing, though figure skating is fun. Summer is everywhere. Winter isn't. Those games feel like an exclusive club, and it's a bit annoying that they are called Olympics, which has a universal connotation, when they are anything but. Kinda hard to relate.

--
H

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Come now, with rare exceptions it's all an exclusive club. Athletes in the Olympics are either rich enough to pay for elite training instead of working to survive (the American model) or from a country that subsidizes their existence for the prestige.
Even though the scale of the Winter Olympics is nothing like the Summer Olympics, coming from the Northeast I can relate a hell of a lot more to the winter events. Skiing, ice skating, hockey are all fixtures of my childhood -- and, in some cases, my adult winters. Swimming, track & field, volleyball are all things I haven't done since gym in high school.
In fact, one could argue that the summer games are just as exclusive of the cold weather countries as the winter games are of the warm weather countries. There's just a lot more warm countries than cold countries.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Yeah, I agree. None of the top athletes have just been self training to get better. Big bucks are being spent to reach their level. Maybe for smaller nations, very little money is spent, but then they're not usually getting there athletes to even the quarterfinals.

Yes, you can go out and have a pickup game of basketball or baseball easier than you can get a competition going on a downhill ski slope. At the elite level, it's big bucks either way. The swimmers aren't wearing suits from WalMart either.

I love the Winter Olympics...but I also love to ski. Unfortunately, I'm lucky if I get to ski once a season.

 

[Holadem]

('cept, in case this bears repeating, which it shouldn't, cold countries are not cold year round )

--
H

 

[Yee-Ming]

Jamaican bob-sled team...

(says the guy from a tropical island sitting nearly on the Equator)

But point taken, Winter Olympics are almost completely alien for those of us in South-East Asia. There is simply no interest at all, because we have no experience with skating on ice, skiing on snow etc. Although I wonder if in years to come Dubai (with their artificial indoor ski slopes) might participate...

 

[Walter C]

I understand what Holadem is saying, and can see why not as many people enjoy the Winter Olympics as much as the Summer. Basically, if one didn't grow up in places that has winter, they're not likely to have interest in the Winter Games. I like the Winter Olympics, but then again, I grew up skiing and ice skating, and enjoyed watching the Flyers play ice hockey.

Heck, the NHL has tried to expand hockey to places that is warm all-year around, and so far, has failed miserably.

I get more upset when certain "experts" (like Bryant Gumbel) start complaining that the Winter Games shut out anyone that isn't white, when Asians have been competing in them for some time now.

 

[dany]

Don't recall many athletes from the state of Alaska but i might have missed them.