The Summer Olympics Thread

wow, jamaica take gold, silver and bronze in 100m women... since arabs are sucking worse than ever im gonna be supporting jamaica this year

drucurl said:

I'm glad that gold and Silver went to a Jamaican and a Trini ...but now the Jamaicans are going to rub it in our faces for the next four years (Trinidad and Jamaica are eternal rivals in the Caribbean....but it's friendly)

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I get it, in Central America every small success one country has it's rub in the rest of the region face (and in many cases it isn't friendly), however since we all suck at the Olympics we're all quiet.

Congratz to Phelps (and his teamates that won or helped him win like half of his medals).

Men's basketball QF match ups:

USA - Australia
Argentina - Greece
Spain - Croatia
Lithuania - China


Also, the US swept the medals in the men's 400m hurdles.

Any people from Thai on the boards?

Dave Barry

BEIJING — The Olympic Games are not about winning or losing. The Olympic Games are about improving international friendship and understanding, by which I mean: winning.

Unfortunately, as I write these words, we are not winning. We usually win, which is why the Olympics are on television. But right now China, our new arch-rival, is beating us. Of course, they're getting gold medals in mutant events such as the 10-meter air pistol, which, if I understand it correctly without doing any research, basically means shooting a BB gun. Now I grant you that the BB gun is a fine tool for minor vandalism, but how can it be an Olympic sport? Why not Frisbee or lawn darts? Why not beer pong? We would KILL China in beer pong.

Another problem is that, in addition to China, our team is competing against a lot of smaller, noncelebrity nations, including, to name just a few that I personally never heard of, Comoros, Principe and Timor-Leste. I'm wondering how carefully the Olympic authorities checked these so-called ''nations'' out before letting them compete. I suspect that you and your friends could show up here in matching track suits and claim to be the team from, say, the Republic of Spaldoon, and they'd let you be in the Olympics, as long as you brought BB guns.

Speaking of interesting names: The winner of the gold medal in the women's 53kg weight-lifting event was a competitor from Thailand who lifted a total of 221 kgs, which, if you know anything about kgs, is a lot of them. According to China Daily, last year the woman changed her name because ''a Thai nun told her the new name would bring her good luck.'' Her old name was Chanpim Kautatian; her new name, which I am not making up, is: Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarak.

Those wacky Thai nuns! They are known pranksters. Although if I were you, I would not mention this to Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarak, because she could crush your skull like a grape.

If there were an Olympic event for best names, Thailand would dominate the world. They have a men's badminton player named Poompat Sapkulchananart and a women's player named Porntip Buranapraseatsuk. I don't know if Poompat and Porntip are romantically involved, but they should be, and I for one intend to make every effort, as a journalist, to start that rumor.

I actually went out to watch the badminton competition, even though I have been trying not to let the Olympics interfere with my busy schedule of going to restaurants and tourist attractions. When I got to the stadium, Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia was just about to defeat Boonsak Ponsana of -- it goes without saying — Thailand. (I saw no sign of Poompat or Porntip, but you know how those two lovebirds are about their privacy.)

The big match I saw was between Bao Chunlai, who is one of China's top men players, and Kevin Gordon of Guatemala. The crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Bao, because (a) we are in China and (b) the entire population of Guatemala is smaller than the staff of the typical Beijing restaurant. There was a small group of cheering Guatemalans on hand, but they were mostly drowned out by the Chinese fans, who were chanting the traditional Chinese fight chant, which goes: ''Something! Something something!'' (Literally, "Ref you suck!'')

The match was exciting for a while, but Bao ended up winning pretty easily. Badminton is another sport where China wins medals and we don't. We need to do something about this. I mean, it's all well and good that we have Michael Phelps dominating the swimming events, but we should also have a national plan for winning medals in the fringe sports. Fortunately, I have such a plan: We should enter Michael Phelps in all the events. I mean ALL the events: track, archery, volleyball, horse-riding, women's field hockey, everything. We should also use him extensively in the Winter Olympics. That's how dominant he is.

Of course, it's too late to follow that plan this year. For now, we should root for the team we have. We should also remember that the Olympics are just getting started; there's plenty of exciting competition ahead. Tonight, for example, I'm representing the Republic of Spaldoon in the men's 10-meter beer pong.

I second that in the part about the Olympic games!..There are some games that only CHina seem to play good, and therefore they are controlling the olympics. I also question the Female Gymnastic CHinease team.They look 2 young , and the judges obviously were not so fair!....The olympics ijn my opinion have takea great downhill!

Soldier said:

I second that in the part about the Olympic games!..There are some games that only CHina seem to play good, and therefore they are controlling the olympics. I also question the Female Gymnastic CHinease team.They look 2 young , and the judges obviously were not so fair!....The olympics ijn my opinion have takea great downhill!

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I don't find this obvious. I don't know why you claim this but it makes me feel like you don't know what is defined as "good" in Gymnastic.

I surely am not waiting for you to teach me that

^ Yet some more gold medals go into China's cabin today in Gymnastic

The Olympics are rigged, seriously.

China needs to win because the Olympics...ARE HELD IN CHINA. it reeks of controversy...

Phelps is using a new, undetectable steroid. I mean come on. The poor guy has ADD and he's screwing all the competition. *refrain from making a mean joke*

The US always has to prove to the world that they're better than anyone and everyone at absolutely everything. It gets old and annoying after a while. We have the best athletes, we have the best economy, we have the most fat people, we have the best athletes, we got this, we got that, we got the most nukes. (no offense to the American forumers), but it gets really annoying after a while, kind of like having sand in your a-hole.

Can't they just be a little humble like their GREAT neighbors of the north, Canada. One of our athletes said, and I quote,"We're just here to have fun and enjoy the Olympics."

The Olympics are nice, and it's cool when you win some medals that tell you you're good, but whatever happened to true Olympic spirit. these Olympics show us that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. All I ask is for some humility and sportsmanship. Whether it be Sprinting, Swimming, Gymnastics, Wrestling, Boxing, Volleyball, Softball, Football, Blowing your nose, wiping your ass, or wtv you want.

Nonetheless, I'll give Phelps the benefit of the doubt and give him my congratulations, he's a good guy with many medals, I just hope for his sake and for the sporting world's sake that he's not a fraud.

Milanista10 said:

The Olympics are rigged, seriously.

China needs to win because the Olympics...ARE HELD IN CHINA. it reeks of controversy...

Phelps is using a new, undetectable steroid. I mean come on. The poor guy has ADD and he's screwing all the competition. *refrain from making a mean joke*

The US always has to prove to the world that they're better than anyone and everyone at absolutely everything. It gets old and annoying after a while. We have the best athletes, we have the best economy, we have the most fat people, we have the best athletes, we got this, we got that, we got the most nukes. (no offense to the American forumers), but it gets really annoying after a while, kind of like having sand in your a-hole.

Can't they just be a little humble like their GREAT neighbors of the north, Canada. One of our athletes said, and I quote,"We're just here to have fun and enjoy the Olympics."

The Olympics are nice, and it's cool when you win some medals that tell you you're good, but whatever happened to true Olympic spirit. these Olympics show us that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. All I ask is for some humility and sportsmanship. Whether it be Sprinting, Swimming, Gymnastics, Wrestling, Boxing, Volleyball, Softball, Football, Blowing your nose, wiping your ass, or wtv you want.

Nonetheless, I'll give Phelps the benefit of the doubt and give him my congratulations, he's a good guy with many medals, I just hope for his sake and for the sporting world's sake that he's not a fraud.

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When you go to the Olympics, you participate in it because you are one of the best in the world. The Olympics is to win medals, and as many as you can. This is probably the biggest competition for any athlete participating in it (except soccer of course) and it's like winning the Champions League for example.

The Olympics this year had the most steroid tests ever done. They have super technology, don't you think they would find it sooner or later. I disagree with your Phelps argument. The guy was trying to get the world record for the most gold medals ever, why wouldn't he try and do that. No, he isn't on steroids man, it's all about the technology. My cousin, who is a very big swimming fan and swimmer himself, said the bathing suit or whatever you want to call it that Phelps has on costs 900$. Speedo and NASA worked together to make it. Cool, NASA you say, well so what? Well the technology that they have invented is when you go in the water the water slides right off of you, making you lighter. It not like one of the regular suits that the water goes right to your body making your suit heavier. It's all about the technology these days because 1 second is a HUGE difference in swimming. Also, Phelps is like 6 feet 3 inches if I'm not mistaken, and his feet are size 16. Yea, he's tall and he has flippers, huge advantage. But not only that, his diet is strict and astonishing for some of us. Let me quote this from bbc news. "Breakfast: Three fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; two cups of coffee
Lunch: Half-kilogram (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks
Dinner: Half-kilogram of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7562840.stm
Now that is what he eats every day. My friend told me he even eats more then that, like he has 3 steaks for supper. If you want to become a big athlete you will do anything to become one, except for steroids. And remember that you need all of the nutrients you can get especially carbs because swimming = draining sport, intense. Phelps is the real deal and a great athlete.



Oh ya, I do agree with your China thing though, I mean their female gymnasts seriously look 12 years old and I doubt they are of the legal age to participate in the Olympics.

Olympics issue for me is that ridiculness to make a country the winner by medals. C'mon! For example how the hell is a small country like Costa Rica who only took 8 atheletes, who are badly prepared (compared to other's), and who can't afford all the technology big countries atheletes to have, compete with US or China who took over 300 atheletes, who have all the technology available for them, whose goverments can afford to support them, who have all the best training grounds in the world (and who can also specialize on smaller sports)?

Instead of Costa Rica, who has basically no chance to win a medal...put Jamaica who has won several medals, how is it fair that the US or China beat them because they won more medals with their 300+ atheletes in their eleventy billion sports?

Mentioning Countries that cannot get Medal, Plz dont frget Lebanon..We have the same reasons as Costraica..But it is worse here!

Can't get a medal? WTF? Your population is over 4m. A lot of smaller countries compete for medals and don't whine like this. Some succeed to get one too. Or two

there will always be political bullshit behind events such as these. No matter, it can't run the Olympic spirit. If Munich couldn't, Chinese or North-American propaganda won't either.

Just enjoy the games, it's such a beautiful moment to see an athlete win a gold medal, no matter where he/she's from.

Jasper said:

Can't get a medal? WTF? Your population is over 4m. A lot of smaller countries compete for medals and don't whine like this. Some succeed to get one too. Or two

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We're 1.4 million and we get a medal every summer olympics

drucurl said:

We're 1.4 million and we get a medal every olympics

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Even the winter games?

China wouldn't top us in the medals per capita table even if they had won every single medal we haven't. Oh yes. OH YES.

Belgium is not doing well this year, we haven't got any medal yet, a lot of 4th places...really sucks

But let's hope our Belgium soccer team beats Brazil

crazy4milan said:

Olympics issue for me is that ridiculness to make a country the winner by medals. C'mon! For example how the hell is a small country like Costa Rica who only took 8 atheletes, who are badly prepared (compared to other's), and who can't afford all the technology big countries atheletes to have, compete with US or China who took over 300 atheletes, who have all the technology available for them, whose goverments can afford to support them, who have all the best training grounds in the world (and who can also specialize on smaller sports)?

Instead of Costa Rica, who has basically no chance to win a medal...put Jamaica who has won several medals, how is it fair that the US or China beat them because they won more medals with their 300+ atheletes in their eleventy billion sports?

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Is it fair that Milan beat Brescia (with all due respect) because we have 300+ employees working in different departments (e.g. Milan Lab)? Is it fair because we have far more money spent and far larger total value of players compared to Brescia? Is it fair because we have better technology?

Besides, there's no so-called winner country in the Olympics. There are only winners in different sports. The medals comparison table is only published by the media. It means nothing actually. (You don't get a cup because your country has the most medals)

P.S. Sleepy, gonna get some bed. Sorry if the above argument is not detailed enough. I will post again later if you want.

Jasper said:

Can't get a medal? WTF? Your population is over 4m. A lot of smaller countries compete for medals and don't whine like this. Some succeed to get one too. Or two

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The 4 Million You are talking about jasper, is mostly made up of very and very poor People! In addition, those 4 million people have went into wars with many opositions. Maybe, like other countries but we lack the funding for helping our athletes!+ We have alot of people that don't live in Lebanon!We have got medals before, but right now with most of the Athletes being produced just like Items are produced I find it hard to see us competing!(no disrespect for athletes) Being a very patriotic citizen , I will go with you with this argument all the way!(Lebanon is a very sensitive case for me)

I don't actually care much about the technology part (though it plays its part as well as other things, let's say it isn't that the thing that bugs me, it's more of a "and on top of that..." type of argument). I also don't care if my country sucks at it (which we do). I just think it's ridiculous that there is a medal table (and there is, there's a reason why people are caring if the US or China will bet the winners of the Olympics-aside from political views-, even if it's not official) that determines a country a winner, when lets say T&T brings 15 atheletes and wins 5 medals while one of the two super powers brings 300 and wins 75.

David-Regal said:

Besides, there's no so-called winner country in the Olympics. There are only winners in different sports. The medals comparison table is only published by the media. It means nothing actually. (You don't get a cup because your country has the most medals)

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Well there's a reason why people are caring so much about China or the US taking the games, so there must be a winner of the Olympics even if it's not official. Otherwise I agree, there are and should only be winners in different sports, and that's that.

We shall not go to politics, but I'm pretty sure everyone is interested in medals table. I mean you'd ask yourself about 10 times 'I wonder how many golds they have now?' if it weren't for that table. For me it's an interesting statistic and something similar to goalscoring table + athletes themselves have it in the back of their mind IMHO.

It is true that quality of life might affect chances of getting something and they wanted to add that parameter to MPC table too but in the end it won't deny the real desire. I mean how many poor countries have super-athletes who have massive will to get out of their problems. I think Kenya has been mentioned as one place where you need to 'run your way out'.

Obviously there are only few who can compete for topping overall medals and very unlikely they have a chance in MPC table(Norway did unreal things in Turin) but it's clear one should be proud if they achieve something. So...quit whining

Jasper said:

pic

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1:22 to 1:31,68

damn, our team officially sucks! our taekwondo athlete lost in her 1st match, meaning all (if i'm not mistaken) athletes from the Philippines lost their 1st match! this is what i hate with my country, we concentrate on basketball too much and therefore the other sports suffered because of this (we used to be great in asian football, even Barca's all-time leading goal-scorer is a Filipino!). Now we're not good in any sport (except billiarsds and bowling which weren't included in the olympics, and boxing) even in basketball because we're short!

Jasper said:

We shall not go to politics, but I'm pretty sure everyone is interested in medals table. I mean you'd ask yourself about 10 times 'I wonder how many golds they have now?' if it weren't for that table. For me it's an interesting statistic and something similar to goalscoring table + athletes themselves have it in the back of their mind IMHO.

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lol it's interesting how in this Olympics the US newspapers and all decided to rank the countries by total of medals (gold, silver and bronze) and not the amount of gold medals, just so they can top China

vani_pirlo_21 said:

lol it's interesting how in this Olympics the US newspapers and all decided to rank the countries by total of medals (gold, silver and bronze) and not the amount of gold medals, just so they can top China

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Oh...that's obviously over the top.

DID MICHAEL PHELPS REALLY WIN THAT 7TH GOLD MEDAL AT THE 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS

OR

WAS THIS A CONSPIRACY OF OLYMPIC PROPORTIONS?





http://100thofasecond.com/

For me Phelps head at first picture is more close to finish line so he was able to touch button first , I have no doubts on it. second pic is more dusky

handball,

oh yea, european champions (Denmark) are out (26:24)..so sweet revenge, now kick those dirty french side, revenge that defeat from group stages and try to defend gold medal from Athens, c'mon guys!!

semifinal,

Croatia - France

Iceland - Spain

Men's basketball semis
Friday, August 22

USA - Argentina
Spain - Lithuania