The Official XXIX Summer Olympics Thread

#652
#652
I've been trying to figure how long that oval is and how many times they've had to walk around it. I can't even imagine how boring that would be. "You see that telephone pole way, way down there? No, the one farther back. Walk down there as fast as you can, and then walk back. And then do it 40 more times. Hurry!"
 
#653
#653
Vercingetorix said:
I've been trying to figure how long that oval is and how many times they've had to walk around it. I can't even imagine how boring that would be. "You see that telephone pole way, way down there? No, the one farther back. Walk down there as fast as you can, and then walk back. And then do it 40 more times. Hurry!"
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my family is pretty big into running and track. i never could do distance running for that reason though. if i was running to compete, it had to be something short. anything over a mile and i wanted to step out into a busy intersection.

i ran the 400, but never was worth much in HS because i never trained. i just ran as hard as i could. if i was running i'd rather there be some kind of ball involved.
 
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#655
#655
I can run a 10K road race -- do every July 4, actually -- but no way would I want to do 25 laps around a track like they did the other night. It's one thing to run down the road for awhile, but around and around in circles? I'd want to stab my eyes out.

2.5 times as far tomorrow night? Excellent! 100 laps around that loop will make for some riveting late night TV, that's for sure.
 
#656
#656
If I walked that far, I'd get blisters on the inside of my thighs, just under my balls... That happens about 1-2 times a week because of work... so painful.

TMI?
 
#657
#657
How do you come back in a race like that? There's no final kick or anything, isn't it the same pace the whole time?
 
#658
#658
TMI. Geez. Half of those women looked like they had balls themselves; you just HAD to bring it up, huh?

I suppose the only way you come back is to hope that the leader either gets DQed or wears out and has to slow way down. I can see that being a sport in which it's really hard to keep up both the pace and proper form once exhaustion sets in. One or the other, but not both.
 
#659
#659
VOLatile said:
If I walked that far, I'd get blisters on the inside of my thighs, just under my balls... That happens about 1-2 times a week because of work... so painful.

TMI?
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#660
#660
the IOC is now criticizing Bolt's behavior after winning the 100 and 200. The IOC will find anything to complain about from lip syncing opening songs, to fake fireworks to how a gold medal winner celebrates, but they refuse to look into age allegations and improper judging for the home team. Nor do they even want to pretend that any of the human rights issues within the country of China are legit or even an issue. Unbelievable.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/trackandfield/news/story?id=3545687
 
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#661
#661
volfanbill said:
the IOC is now criticizing Bolt's behavior after winning the 100 and 200.
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I was under the impression that if you can beat the hell out of the guys you are racing, you can pretty much act the way you want.

From the quoted article:
"That's not the way we perceive being a champion," Rogge said.

"I understand the joy," Rogge said. "He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was 'catch me if you can.' You don't do that. But he'll learn. He's still a young man."

He'll learn? How arrogant can you be? I'm not the biggest fan of showboating, but that is exactly how I perceive "being a champion," which is finishing first. And his dance was perceived as "catch me if you can" because that's how it was intended, and they couldn't.

It drives me absolutely insane that the IOC president would feel he has the right to judge a player's celebration, and, typically, he picked a small carribean island with no significant international sports presence (before now) who cannot fight back. To top it all off, he picked a sport where every top competitor is a highly paid professional. It is a standing tradition that when you are beating the best in the world at the thing they are best at, you get to dance while or after you do it.

If he is going to examine a performance with a critical eye, perhaps it should be that of some of the gymnastics judges who cannot figure a start value and spend half of their time on the phone, or with the track and field officials who lost the pole of a pole vault medal hopeful--you know, people that actually work for the IOC. I do not know this Rogge fellow, but he seems to personify a great deal of what is wrong with Olympics.
 
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#662
#662
i agree completely Cotton. I've never seen a sprinter joke around for the camera as much as he does prerace, but I've seen several showboat as they cross the line and then afterwards. Let him have his fun. It's his moment, not Rogge's. I don't really see how his celebrating is any different than Michael Phelps' showing off all of his muscles in his celebrations. As you said, Rogge just needs to start making sure his judges are doing their job properly.

On a side note, I read so many articles about how the Chinese had invented or at least put to use instruments (i know VT has been experimenting with the same instruments for years) that could put out certain gases in the air that would eliminate rain during the Olympics. I'm not complaining, but why did i have to watch last night's events in the rain?
 
#663
#663
volfanbill said:
On a side note, I read so many articles about how the Chinese had invented or at least put to use instruments (i know VT has been experimenting with the same instruments for years) that could put out certain gases in the air that would eliminate rain during the Olympics. I'm not complaining, but why did i have to watch last night's events in the rain?
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You're talking about cloud seeding... using silver iodide to force a cloud to precipitate prematurely. The chinese have been using it to both 1) seed a cloud before it gets to Beijing, and 2)seed a cloud over Beijing. The first is done to kill dust storms in the desert to the west of the city. The second is to literally "wash" pollution out of the air inside the city.

Cloud seeding is pretty unreliable in its effects, as can be noted by the terrible pollution problem they had when the games started. A little rain here or there, along with some cooler temps and the air quality cleared up dramatically. My guess is that either 1) the chinese TRIED to seed this system, but it failed. or 2) they allowed it to come to Beijing to keep air quality up.
 
#664
#664
volinbham said:
This race walking is freaking me out - the slowmo shots make it look like they are made out of rubber.
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Despite your feelings about trampolining (sorry Memphisvol,) synchonized swimming, or rhythmic gymnastics, racewalking has got to be the worst Olympic sport. I don't understand the point in having a race where the rules dictate that you can't do anything that would make you go fast. Also, from the slow-motion replays, it appears that every single competitor is breaking the "lift" rule on every stride, which, according to the announcer, is fine, because the judges aren't able to detect that one of the only two rules of the sport is being broken. It also just looks stupid.

It is my opinion that, in the future, if they are going to include this event in future games, the competitors should be limited to people at least 75 years old and the track should be required to be inside a mall.
 
#667
#667
rwemyss said:
You're talking about cloud seeding... using silver iodide to force a cloud to precipitate prematurely. The chinese have been using it to both 1) seed a cloud before it gets to Beijing, and 2)seed a cloud over Beijing. The first is done to kill dust storms in the desert to the west of the city. The second is to literally "wash" pollution out of the air inside the city.

Cloud seeding is pretty unreliable in its effects, as can be noted by the terrible pollution problem they had when the games started. A little rain here or there, along with some cooler temps and the air quality cleared up dramatically. My guess is that either 1) the chinese TRIED to seed this system, but it failed. or 2) they allowed it to come to Beijing to keep air quality up.
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So the chinese can control that whether?......well that 's just swell
 
#668
#668
cotton said:
Despite your feelings about trampolining (sorry Memphisvol,) synchonized swimming, or rhythmic gymnastics, racewalking has got to be the worst Olympic sport. I don't understand the point in having a race where the rules dictate that you can't do anything that would make you go fast. Also, from the slow-motion replays, it appears that every single competitor is breaking the "lift" rule on every stride, which, according to the announcer, is fine, because the judges aren't able to detect that one of the only two rules of the sport is being broken. It also just looks stupid.

It is my opinion that, in the future, if they are going to include this event in future games, the competitors should be limited to people at least 75 years old and the track should be required to be inside a mall.
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... and now you come to the crux of my anger that they are removing softball and baseball from the repertoire, but have added BMX, and racewalking?!?!
 
#670
#670
US women are hopefully just 15 minutes away from a gold in soccer after scoring a goal in the 7th minute of the first extra time.

I've watched most of this match, but had to go check on my nephew for just a sec and missed the goal live... Figures
 
#672
#672
Regardless of your overall opinion of soccer, you should be watching this. Very exciting
 
#675
#675
doozer said:
i thought the ball that just hit the side net was in.

my heart sank for a second.
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My heart sank as well. What an all out blitz by Brazil. They had all the chances in the world in the second ET frame but just couldn't get it in.

GOLD FOR THE U.S.!
 
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