Official ***Olympics 2004 - Athens, Greece ***Thread (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

I think College players in generally are more receptive to the Olympic style of play.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

What a relay that was, both the men's and the women's were awesome races. I watched the gymnastics as well, I knew the result going in but was curious to see it play out and it didn't disappoint. Those relays and the gymnastics tonight are why I love the Olympics.

I don't really have a problem with pros being in the Olympics, I'm not the type that thinks it should be all about the ametures, because while guys on those other basketball teams might not be playing in the NBA, they probably are playing in leagues in Europe or whereever and getting paid for it. Also look at soccer, how many countries are sending ameture soccer players to play in these games? Besides, I think in basketball America having sent its pros has raised the level of competition internationally which is good for the sport overall. Amateurism works for sports like swimming and diving and gymnastics and stuff, but when was the last time the team sports were all purely amateure teams at the Olympics. Plus, it really wouldn't be fair or necessary for the United States to say we're going to send amateures against your professionals.

However, having said all of that I'd still prefer it be the NCAA champions that go over. Yes, the point of the dream team was to help raise the level of international competition, mission accomplished end the experiment. I don't blame the current NBA players that are playing on this team for anything in so far as its not their fault the selection process was messed up. they're These are the guys that actually wanted to come over and play in these games., However, because its all about marketing we're missing out on guys that might want to play who would be perfect for this style of competition but aren't even being asked. You can't tell me that a guy like Michael Redd or Brent Barry wouldn't be thrilled to death to represent their country.
But, the college teams would be better skilled in the fundimentals of the game which helps in international competition. As Jan correctly said, the nation loves to cheer for the under dog, which could be interesting in many different ways. For example what if the year of the Olympics, you have a team come from nowhere and win the NCAA tournament as an under dog pulling off the upset win in the final 4. In college that is certainly still possible because its a single elimination tournament. Then the angle would be can the team that wasn't supposed to win it all, win the gold?

 

[Citizen87645]

I wish I hadn't seen the results before the broadcast, but that was definitely a case where the journey was just as important (if not more so) than the destination. Amazing series of events.

Has anyone mentioned the Greeks made great choices for the female attendants?

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I thought the point of the dream team was to win the gold medal, especially after the Soviets won the gold medal in 72 and 88.

Congrats to Paul Hamm! That was one fantastic comeback to win the USA's first men's gymnastics all-around gold medal.

 

[Lew Crippen]

A common misconception. Not doubt in part because most of the American public thought that was the reason—and fervently desired the result.

It was the IOC and international basketball that approached the USOC to get pros to play. The motiviation was to expand international basketball and get a ton of publicity for the games. The USOC actually resisted this for a while, but bowed to the twin demands of the international Olympic community (and basketball abroad) and public pressure at home (where everyone wanted a winner) and agreed to send our best pros.

 

[Patrick Sun]

While I had heard on the radio that Paul Hamm had won the men's all-around gold while driving around during dinner time last night, I turned on the TV later in the evening, and what did I see? I saw Hamm totally hose his vault landing, and I thought this was perhaps some other non-all-around event, and then later, it became clear that the other gymnast also faltered, and left the door slightly open for Hamm's almost perfect high bar exercise, and when he stuck the landing, I was totally amazed that he was able to win the gold, especially after that horrible landing on the vault. Pretty impressive way to compose yourself and never stop fighting for the gold medal. Hamm's landing from his high bar exercise will be one of those magical Olympic moments (like Kerry Scruggs's vault on one good leg that won the gold the USA women's team).

Of course, the crestfallen look on the 2nd place gymnast provided more testament to "the agony of defeat" in sports.

 

[Amy Mormino]

I saw a BBC special on the Olympics recently that really opened my eyes to why pros should play in the Olympics in every sport. Basically, it said that the Greeks saw nothing wrong with taking money for being a good athlete and that the amateur rule was instituted both out of misguided idealism and a desire to keep poor and working class players out of contention. The best players should be the ones playing period.

Also, I'm curious as to why India seemed to have so few players in the Opening Ceremony compared to China, Japan, and Korea. Is their athletic program not as developed?

And more congrats to Paul Hamm, who will probably be the big story of the Games. I wonder if this will lead to a bumper crop of little boy gymnasts after years of gymnastics as a girls' sport?

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Definitely is up to this point the biggest story at the Olympics that is a success, I think the U.S. Men's team sucking is the biggest story overall, at least around here but definitely not a success story.

With Michael Felps not in line to win 8 gold medals, this is the biggest Olympic moment so far, but it remains to be seen if this will boost Men's gymnastics in the states, because it still only gets covered at the Olympics and the best male athletes all want to do sports that might someday get them on ESPN, like play football basketball or baseball. Although, I'm sure what happened yesterday inspired someone out there and who knows that person might just partisipate in the 2008 or 2012 games and NBC can do the story on how that person was inspired by what happened at the 2004 games.

 

[Citizen87645]

Does anyone know which country has earned the fewest medals in Olympic history or none at all? I imagine much of it would have to be qualified - number of years participating, number of athletes sent, etc. I wondered about this after noting the top contenders seem to be generally the same every year.

 

[Holadem]

Did Paul Hamm really get the gold? I saw him screw up very badly last night as I was goint to bed! The commentators were all doom and gloom about it... someone should shut them up btw, they seem to relish in pointing out failures.

--
H

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

During the opening ceremonies they mentioned that 86 countries had never earned an Olympic medal. I'm not sure but I believe that number shrank at this Olympics, by at least 1 because I believe that United Arab Emerits won its first ever medal, and maybe other countries got their first as well, but it was 86 of 202. Also there was at least 1 nation making its debut at these Olympic games, and Iraq returned for the first time since 1988.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Well, in gymnastics, it is the mistakes that impact a score more than the success.

 

[Citizen87645]

I knew Paul Hamm had won, but I didn't know the particulars. When I saw his vault, I was shocked and then naturally intrigued about what was to follow. I figured Yang Wei would mess up somehow, but I didn't expect him to get zilch.

 

[Malcolm R]

I wish they'd ban all sports commentators. All we need is for someone to announce players names, events, etc., we don't need a group of idiots blathering on-and-on-and-on about nothing. Just let the events speak for themselves.

 

[Holadem]

I would advocate some restrain or sobriety instead. We do need someone to explain the particular or nuances of each game. Many of the rules are much less intuitive than I thought.

--
H

 

[Daren Welsh]

The thing is, I like hearing from an athlete's point of view while watching the events. For example, it's nice to have Shannon Miller explaining what the different moves are and why some are more difficult than others. What ruins it is the ass who sits next to her, pointing out every bobble as if he could do better. Kill the color commentary and just let the people who know what they're talking about do the work.

On a similar note, What Hamm did was absolutely inspiring. Yes, he boffed the vault landing, but like a true competitor, he kept going and tried his best on the final two exercises. After hearing the announcers completely ruling him out of the race for gold, I was so glad he stuck it to them by winning in the end.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I’m not entirely sure of the financial structure, but India, as a country has not made winning Olympic medals a priority.

They only consider a very few sports important, and what is their national game, cricket is not an Olympic sport. They have traditionally been very strong in field hockey and moderately strong in badminton.

China has made winning a matter of national importance and spends big bucks in developing athletes. Korea and Japan have also made athletics a matter of national importance—and they have (on a per capita basis) much more money to spend than India.

And they spend it.

 

[andrew markworthy]

And who said that America is insular in its attitudes?

Just to show how different countries have a different gloss on things, a big story in the Brit media this morning is how the American team is protesting to have the (German) winner of the three day equestrian event disqualified on a technicality but simultaneously protested when one of their winning swimmers was disqualified for a technical infringement of similar magnitude. You either play it one way or the other, guys.

 

[Amy Mormino]

In fairness, I've been watching the British coverage and it looks to me, admittedly not an expert, that the German equestrian win was a lot more suspicious than the American win. From what the experts are saying, what the German rider did would have resulted in disqualification in almost any equestrian event. In fact, one of the British commentators seemed quite indignant on behalf of the American that the complaint had been made and suggested that it might have been politically motivated.

As an American living in the UK, its been fascinating to compare their coverage. The announcers are not as intrusive (you usually don't even see them) and there are no "inspiring" profiles of the athletes to get you to root for them. Does the American coverage still do those profiles? In addition, the British team's wholehearted support of their, ahem, not quite so fortunate athletes is endearing.

 

[Amy Mormino]

In fairness, I've been watching the British coverage and it looks to me, admittedly not an expert, that the German equestrian win seemed pretty suspicious. From what the experts are saying, what the German rider did would have resulted in disqualification in almost any equestrian event.

As an American living in the UK, its been fascinating to compare their coverage. The announcers are not as intrusive (you usually don't even see them) and there are no "inspiring" profiles of the athletes to get you to root for them. Does the American coverage still do those profiles? In addition, the British team's wholehearted support of their, ahem, not quite so fortunate athletes is endearing.