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2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China (1 Viewer)

Chuck Mayer

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I think of rowing as a UK bulwark, and we did see some 2 man scull semis on Saturday, where the Brits crushed the field (though Greece did real well). US coverage is focused on BBall, gymnastics, and swimming (as to be expected). I'd like to see some more rowing.

In swimming, I was really impressed with Park Tae-Hwan (South Korea) as well. He's only 18, so he is probably going to be a monster in 2012 London. South Korea is always a very strong Olympic competitor, in both seasons.

Missed the men's gymnastics on the east coast :frowning: Can't stay up until 1:30 AM on work nights.
 

ThomasC

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:confused:

It ended at around 12:30am EST, I'm sure of it. I have heard a report of an affiliate that delayed its feed by exactly an hour on the eastern time zone for some reason.

What's your affiliate, Cameron?
 

Jeff Gatie

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Personally I assign a value:

Gold = 3
Silver = 2
Bronze = 1

Then toss it all out the window because if those "women's" gymnastics competitors on the China team are 16 years old, then I'm ready to collect Social Security. Apparently puberty in China sets in around the time they graduate from High School. :crazy:

I've not seen a more blatant flaunting of the rules since the female East German swimmers of the 80's who were shot full of so much testosterone and steroids, they were sprouting chest hair.
 

Steve_Tk

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You know the Chinese government made the male gymastics coaches sign contracts that the athletes would not get injured.......Strange stuff.
 

Marianne

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I remember the old days when "professional" athletes were not able to compete. The first Olympics to officially accept professional athletes was 1988 in selected sports and 1992 in the remainder.

Of course, before that there were athletes who were not "paid" but who had endorsement deals and then there were certain countries whose top athletes were in the military and were able to do full time training without having to worry about having a job!

An example of this would be men's basketball where you would have a US team made up of amateurs playing a team from the USSR made up of soldiers who did nothing but play basketball.
 

Patrick Sun

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And in the scratching one's head area: China used a pretty child to lip-sync a great singing performance by a not-so-pretty child in the opening ceremony, that's just a bit tacky. Also the "helicopter" footage of the fireworks from the sky were CGI'd and piped in to produce the illusion of a spectacular footprint fireworks display.
 

Jeff Gatie

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I've also heard they built elaborate facades on some of the downtown buildings to hide the decrepit conditions of some areas. False and misleading images being projected to the rest of the world is nothing new in a totalitarian country. Then again, most of the Super Bowl halftime performances are lip synced, so who are we in the US to talk. ;)
 

Malcolm R

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Nothing really new. It was common practice in the US music industry in the 90's to put thin, attractive models on-stage and in videos to lip sync the vocals of the overweight/unattractive vocalists that could actually sing.

Sounds like a lot of what's gone on in China, and the Opening Ceremonies, was just so much smoke & mirrors. I'm defininitely less impressed than I was a couple days ago.
 

Jeff Gatie

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Yeah, but then I also eliminate the "not a sport" sports, and I don't even want to open that can of worms. As to statistical gymnastics (pun intended) used to make the US the leader, I personally prefer the Winter Olympics. Which means I can hardly be called US-centric because the US medal totals in the winter are traditionally much less than the summer games.
 

Jeff Gatie

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Nope. It is usually to the detriment of the US. Rhythmic gymnastics, ballroom dancing, synchronized anything.
 

Edwin-S

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After these farcical Olympics are finished we will be reading reports about how the family of the musical director got a bill for the bullet that is used on him.

The only good thing about the Chinese government making a mockery of the "grand event" is that it reveals what a carnival sideshow the Olympics have become.
 

DavidJ

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And the pressure that was on that kid (Sasha Artemev) to perform was amazing. He was originally left off the team because of how inconsistent he had been on the pommel horse. He was the team's best performer on the apparatus when he is on, but he blew like 3 of 4 tries during the trials and was left off the team. So for it to come down to him was an amazing story. And he had one of those crazy waits while they reviewed the previous attempt. Of course, the whole US team really stepped up and Jonathon Horton was rock-solid all night.

I don't understand the scoring system. We are told that a mid to high fifteen score is a great score, but then there are scores in the sixteens that are really great scores. And it depends on the event whether a 16 or 15 is a great score and on some events a high 14 is good. How is anyone supposed to keep track of that? :crazy:

Did anyone see the kayaking? Togo earned its first ever medal when Benjamin Boukpeti took the bronze in the K1 event. Stuff like this is one of the reasons I love the Olympics. He was so excited when he knew he had earned a medal that he snapped his paddle.
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andrew markworthy

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I agree. What was wrong with the old scoring system restandardised? When you alter a behavioural measure, you keep the same scoring system when you revamp the test. Why not the same in gymnastics?
 

Holadem

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OK -- move over imperialists, make room for the lil guys ;-)

Boukpeti: Togo's hero in Olympics



BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Like a spring, Benjamin Boukpeti burst on to the Olympic stage, winning Togo's very first Olympic medal.

Without the Olympics, Boukpeti might still remain nobody. The 27-year-old snatched a bronze in men's K1 slalom (Umm... Kayaking. I had to look it up. --H) with a result of 173.45 seconds, combining semifinal and final here on Tuesdday.

[...]

Boukpeti's father is a Togolese while his mother a French.

"I was born in France with my brother while my two sisters born in Togo. My father and mother used to teach in Togo,"said he, who lives in Toulouse of France.

On why he chose to represent Togo rather than France, Boukpeti said: "I started young for the French team selection. This is a very hard selection process. I suffered injuries and once I recovered I was too old for the French team. Because of this I decided to try for the Togo team."

Beijing Games was not his Olympic debut, four years ago in Athens, Greece, Boukpeti finished with a 18th place, failing to advance to the final. The result was then the best for Togo in Olympics.

"In Africa it's all about soccer but in France they have a lot more money to build training courses and facilities. I have two worlds."

That's why Boukpeti has been training in France, together with Fabien Lefevre, silver medalist of the event.
"Deep down, I tried really hard. A long time ago I beat him in competition, so I thought now would have been a good time to do it again. I would have loved to have beaten him again,"said Boukpeti.

Though a Togolese, Boukpeti has been to Togo only once when he was very young. (WTF is up with that?! --H)

"But now I have a very good reason to go back." (Yeah mofo -- we forgive you for being "tsi gbe" i.e., "lost in the wild", as we call those who have lost their roots in some foreign land ;-) Woezon! (Welcome back!) --H.)

Boukpeti: Togo's hero in Olympics_English_Xinhua

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H -- :D
 

MarkMel

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I prefer the sports that have non-human scoring i.e. swimming/track where the clock/tape is the judge or scores where the points decide the outcome.

Although I am always amazed at the athleticism of the woman's/men's gymnastics and diving but I wish they had a more objective way to judge.

Watch the movie Stick It for a fun look at this.
 

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