2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China (1 Viewer)

[drobbins]

Have you heard about the "Blue Screen of Death" during the opening ceremonies? Olympic's Blue Screen Of Death Moment - Geekologie

 

[DavidJ]

Man, I must be a geek because I found that to be funnier than I probably should've.

 

[DavidJ]

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.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

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?

 

[Steve_Tk]

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


Pictured: The horrific moment Olympic weightlifter turns his elbow back to front | Mail Online

 

[EricW]

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!

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Don't imagine we'll see that on NBC's coverage...

 

[Lew Crippen]

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.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

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

 

[Walter C]

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.

 

[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.

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.

 

[Marianne]

And don't get andrew started on the boxing judges!

 

[ThomasC]

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.

 

[Carlo_M]

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.

 

[Josh Dial]

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?"

 

[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.

 

[Marianne]

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.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

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.

 

[Walter C]

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.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

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.