Olympics

I have tickets to the women's gold medal match...man I hope the US women make it to Wembley. Also going to see men's quarterfinals football also at Wembley (hope britian is still in it, that will be about the best I can hope given our lack of qualifying), women's beach volleyball (yes!), mens 400m track final, and last but not least...weightlifting. I take off Friday morning for 8 days. I can't freaking wait!

 

Have enjoyed seeing sports I see once every four years (especially the swimming). Had to be cool Sulley to be in the arena when the girls dominated (seriously, some of the routines/acrobatics they do defy logic). Glad to see 70K went to Wembley to see the English women beat Brazil.

On the flip side, there is the cheating going on in badminton...yes badminton...really??

http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012 ... se-matches

 

Sounds like this incident wasnt handled well. First team to throw their match should have been punished so the other teams didnt do the same, but I know very little about this "sport" so I'll not venture any more opinions.

Another interesting controversy is with the 16 yr old Chinese swimmer who smashed her own personal best, broke the world record, and swam portions of her race faster than the most elite male swimmers. The Chinese are branding the Western media's suspicion as racism. I do wish the media would just shut up and let the process run it's course. That Irish swimmer that had a similar performance in '96 was eventually caught.

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/debate-over-chinese-swimmer-turns-nasty-in-asia/

Oh and Sebastian Coe says Michael Phelps is not the greatest Olympian ever. Puts forward names like Steve Redgrave and Daley Thompson instead. Does not mention Carl Lewis. Embarrassed for him I have no problem with debating athletes other than Phelps as the greatest Olympian ever, but his suggestions are . . .

 

Thanks for posting that article Mo, very interesting reactions all the way around. Swimming isn't gymnastics, you don't peak at 16. The fact she improved by 7 seconds in one year and the Chinese have been been caught doping again and again will raise red flags, but certainly can understand the Chinese response.

The good stories coming from the games far outweigh the controversy, e.g. the rowing where the 2 person ladies team from the UK won gold to the joy of the huge crowd was very cool (our girls missed out on the silver/bronze to finish 4th by milliseconds). However, this is footy based site and the coach of Japan deserves to be called out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics-- ... actic.html

This isn't the first time in international soccer that a team will play for the 0-0 draw to gain the advantage in the knockout stage, but not playing to win when you are clearly the better team is in my opinion, unforgivable. I would normally root for Japan to beat Brazil, but karma should prevail, and really pulling for Brazil to make the Japanese coach look like an idiot. The reason given to play a tougher opponent is beyond a :angry-banghead: for me, and that's traveling 300+ miles. Seriously, you've got to be kidding. We are talking about a 5 hour bus ride (and not the yellow school variety), or if they were really concerned jump on a plane for 30 minutes. This is one instance where the leadership on the team itself should of gone to the coach and told him he was wrong, and that this isn't the way the World Champions are going to play.

 

Let's keep this simple...Michael Phelps :bow-yellow: :character-beavisbutthead: :flags-usa: :handgestures-salute:

 

Loved the US women's first goal celebration - cartwheels. I have to assume they were in honor of the USA women's gymnastic team. Very nice. :flags-usa:

 

This morning NBC has decided not to interrupt it's regularly scheduled programming of the the Wiggles for the 2012 Olympics. :banana-dreads: :banana-blonde: :banana-jumprope:

 

It was a joy to watch her run. That's what the olympics is all about if you ask me, witnessing that level of sporting greatness. :bow-yellow: :bow-yellow: :bow-yellow:

 

The best olympic moment for me thus far. So happy Mo and Galen came in one and two, Alberto Salazar was one of my favorite runners back in the day.

 

US women play canada today in the semis. The Canadian coach says the US players use "highly illegal" tactics and he is going to try to raise awareness of this with the officials. yeah good luck to you too Canada. What a twerp for saying that.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-blo...man-u-s-women-use-highly-illegal-tactics.html

 

Ugh, down 1 - 0 at the half. I dont have a good feeling. US have just seemed flat the last few games. I fear they peaked a bit too early. I hope I'm wrong, though. Come On USA, summon the mojo! :flags-waveusa: :flags-waveusa: :flags-waveusa:

 

They do have a flair for the dramatic, don't they?