London 2012 Summer Olympics

[Thora]

I haven't had time to watch any Olympics until this morning. Sad to have missed the Opening Ceremony because I was working, but it's taped and I'll get to it next weekend.

Woke up in time this morning to watch some synchronized diving and see Canada win the bronze.

I need to figure out which events are on and when, so I can plan my TV watching.

 

[DRay9911]

the swimmer that criticized phelps was tyler clary. 1st time olympian.

the funny thing, if i remember right, is the only reason clary made the team was because phelps backed out of one of the events.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

That's nice

I can't wait for the women's gymnastics. They're showing it now, but I guess that's from last night? I haven't watched any of it online, I went on the NBC Olympics site yesterday and just the schedule made my eyes cross. All you have to do is pick your cable system and log in with an account that you already have-or create a new account.

I'm rooting for Aly Raisman. She's from MA-she's incredible on floor exercise.

This morning I watched some of the tennis on Bravo-which is actually live. Andy Murray was playing.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

the swimmer that criticized phelps was tyler clary. 1st time olympian.

the funny thing, if i remember right, is the only reason clary made the team was because phelps backed out of one of the events.

Yes that was him. That seems like terrible form to me, to criticize your sport's icon when he's the reason you made the team. Plus it's the rookie and the "elder". There was also some female athlete (not a swimmer) who said that she didn't like Phelps because he didn't hang out and socialize with the other Olympians, that even the NBA players did that. She was talking about the last Olympics. Maybe that's just what he needs to do to focus, and obviously it worked last time. They say he's loosened up and become more social. Maybe that's just his personality too, who knows.

 

[anitram]

I can't wait for the women's gymnastics. They're showing it now, but I guess that's from last night?

No, it's from this morning. Jordyn Wieber failed to qualify for the individual all-around, huge upset.

 

[DRay9911]

gymnastics has been going on live since this morning. some of the countries who historically aren't very good at gymnastics were first up. there was a lot of ladies going out of bounds and falling off beams and bars.

the nbc site was confusing for me at first too. i couldn't sign in and then read the fine print: "To watch NBC Universal's live coverage, full events and rewinds online, you must subscribe to Cox TV Essential or Cox Advanced TV"

luckily i was able to borrow a friend's information to sign in

some of the feeds don't have commentary (which can be both good and bad), but from what i read after the fact was...

Spoiler

aly did very well and will be going for the all-around title. jordyn wieber was the third best american and will not

 

[Irvine511]

We watched it live and she was unreal in her final 100, almost comical. I wouldn't be surprised if something was amiss.

the trend seems to be Chinese athletes blowing people away on the last 100 (or 50). Sun Yang did it in the 400 free, destroying Park, and he also broke Grant Hackett's world record in the 1500 at the 2011 worlds with an unreal final 50. one difference is that Sun Yang has been on the rise for years and at least his splits are in context ... whereas Ye's final 100 in that IM was almost 3 seconds faster than any woman has ever swum a final 100 in the IM, including Stephanie Rice's suit-assisted 2008 WR from Beijing (where everyone was suit-assisted). it's just ... weird. all the swimming blogs are unhelpful as you're either yelling "HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED EPPO!" or "YOU'RE A RACIST" -- but discussion has begun. as it always does in women's swimming, thanks to the legacy of the GDR.

poor Rice. i liked her, despite the homophobic tweet a while back. she seemed like she'd be fun.

but except for her, the Aussie women are swimming lights out so far.

 

[Irvine511]

the swimmer that criticized phelps was tyler clary. 1st time olympian.

the funny thing, if i remember right, is the only reason clary made the team was because phelps backed out of one of the events.

Clary was 3rd in the 400 IM at Trials, beaten by Phelps and Lochte, and he would have been an easy medal contender if more than 2 athletes were allowed from a single country. he was pissed, because he didn't think Phelps was going to swim it. Clary made the team in the 200 fly (behind Phelps) and the 200 back (behind Lochte), and it is his first time. the swimmer who made the team when Phelps dropped the 200 free was Ricky Berens.

Clary said that Phelps had been "asking to get beat" for years, and that he has so much more talent than anyone else and doesn't have to work as hard, and when it comes to a distance event like the 400 IM in recent years, it seems to have come true. what was unfair about Clary's comments was that it seemed to be about Phelps' entire career, which is untrue -- he famously swam every day from the end of the Sydney Olympics through Athens (when he was 15-19).

i also think it's unquestionable that he's not in the same shape as he was in 2008, and i think it's also understandable. he was a phenom from the time he was 11, and has essentially been raised in a pool and wrapped in a bubble when not in the water. he also has millions of dollars and fame after 2008, and the mundanity of training for swimming must seem awful when you finally have the money to jet to Vegas for the weekend and party with girls in bikinis.

still, Phelps has had bad swims before and bounced back. so unless he's totally missed his taper, i expect him to swim well in the shorter events.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

That was tough for Wieber. She seemed pretty devastated when the result came in. I was rooting for her to take home the all-around Gold. Damn. Now we just need Aly and/or Gabby to bring it.

I call bullshit on all of the sensationalist headlines saying stuff like "Wieber's Olympic Dream Is Over", though. Shit ain't over. She can (and probably will) still win Gold in the team competition, and be a huge contributor there. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but she can still compete for a medal in an individual event competition, right? If she qualified in the Top 8 or whatever on a certain event? I think her floor routine might have been good enough. I'll have to check the numbers again.

And Maroney is gonna win the fuck out of Gold on the vault, and it's gonna be awesome.

I'm enjoying this water polo match on NBC right now.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Beach volleyball on a Sunday afternoon.

It's been four years. I forget. Do these women always hug after every point they score? Is that a thing?

 

[trojanchick99]

What a great day of Olympics so far.

US dominated the French. Not that surprising.

I've really loved watching archery. The women's team final was close and had a lot of weather.

Watched most of the Women's gymnastics qualifications. US has room for improvement but still finished first. Russia looked damn good and I feel bad that Jordyn Weiber didn't make the All-Around final.

Love watching volleyball and water polo and the US won in both today!

Finally, the swimming was so good. Glad to see Dana Vollmer get that World Record. The crowd reaction to Rebecca Adlington winning bronze in the freestyle was awesome. And finally the relay. Well, the French got their revenge. What a great anchor leg. Oh and Michael Phelps had the fastest split for the US. Good to see him bounce back.

Last of the day for me, beach volleyball. Watching the jennifer Kessy and April Ross from the US, and they are just dominating.

 

[deep]

are you watching online?


womens volleyball is 4 pm on my cable

 

[trojanchick99]

are you watching online?

womens volleyball is 4 pm on my cable

Yeah, I'm watching online. I can't wait for NBC to finally show these things 3 hours later.m

 

[mama cass]

I really didn't know much about Glastonbury itself, other than it was a place, and they had a big music festival there.

Thanks to U2's little ditty about it, I learned a little more about it, and then on one of the Palladia airings of the festival, the camera would occasionally pan to the distance, where the hill stood. You could tell there was something on top of it, but the camera never got close enough to see what it was. (is it a shrine or something?)

it's a little tower, i think it's called St Michael's tower (off the top of my head)...

 

[mama cass]

loved Danny Boyle's opening show, and loved Mr Bean - that made my night ha

was also amazed how much music history he got into the show, but i guess that's one of Britain's biggest exports!

haven't managed to watch any of the events yet though lol, but hoping to catch some equestrian footage this week!

 

[DRay9911]

Beach volleyball on a Sunday afternoon.

It's been four years. I forget. Do these women always hug after every point they score? Is that a thing?

yes. and they do it in women's team volleyball too.

isn't it great

 

[trojanchick99]

yes. and they do it in women's team volleyball too.

isn't it great

 

[deep]

ranked 115th

16 year old Ariel Hsing, gave no 2 ranked player a real scare

 

[Popmartijn]

Don't worry, it's the same in men's volleyball.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Equal opportunity hugging here at the games of the 30th Olympiad.

 

[cobl04]

Normally I love JB, but his coverage of the rowing last night was pretty close to insufferable. He did sound bored at first, but watching the lightweight women's double sculls was kind of embarrassing. We finished second, behind Greece, who apparently are the best lightweight woman double scullers the world's ever seen, and JB was all "WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE BY THE TWO AUSSIE GIRLS THEY HAVE FINISHED WITHIN A WHISKER OF THE WORLD'S BEST PAIR WE THOUGHT THEY'D GET TO THE SEMIS BUT WE THOUGHT THEY'D HAVE TO GO THROUGH A REPECHAGE. AND NOW THEY KNOW THEY CAN MATCH WITH THE BEST IN THE WORLD THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE"

It got a bit much. At least James Tomkins used to be a rower so he knew what he was on about.

 

[Axver]

I must admit, I kind of enjoy watching Australia's sporting ego get punctured by some of its failures in the pool.

Not that New Zealand's won any medals yet.

I lol'd at Dwayne Russell doing the equestrian events. Unfortunately there was no place he could mention 'from the paint' or 'shorts it'.

Wait, wait, they've sent Dickhead Russell to the Olympics?! To cover the equestrian? Oh my god.

People not from Australia, find a stream of this guy commentating something just so you can hear one of the worst commentators in the world. I actually don't know how he has a job.

Team Handball is something I enjoy watching every four years. And now that I can stream full matches, I'm thrilled.

Seriously love the handball. Can't wait to watch some of it.

 

[bono_man2002]

Maybe the media and some of the general public should just realise that maybe there are better athletes out there

 

[Irvine511]

And finally the relay. Well, the French got their revenge. What a great anchor leg. Oh and Michael Phelps had the fastest split for the US. Good to see him bounce back.

yes, this.

i think Phelps had the 2nd fastest split of the evening, after Agnel of France, who was spectacular. all said, the US did about as well as they could, maybe Grevers might have been a better choice than Lochte, but France went out and won the shit, so good on them. Phelps' first silver medal ever, and with the speed he showed he should be good from here on out.

and the Aussie men shit the bed on that one. wow.

i'm excited for women's gymnastic as well as Team USA competes against the Children of China.

too bad that Rachel Berry is out of the all around.

 

[cobl04]

We were fucking awful. All after our lead swimmer, James Magnussen, kept talking about how good we were.

I'm chuckling at the idiotic tweets from some Americans though.

"lol France who saved your asses in World War II? #MURICAAAA"

"France Wins swimming We Win WARS! lol"

 

[Irvine511]

i'm 99% sure those are tongue-in-cheek. anyone who says "MURICA" is mocking our former unspeakable president.

i feel like Magnussen is careful with his words, or has been, and hasn't said anything too terrible, but i always had the sneaking suspicion he was kind of a prick.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Wait, wait, they've sent Dickhead Russell to the Olympics?! To cover the equestrian? Oh my god.

People not from Australia, find a stream of this guy commentating something just so you can hear one of the worst commentators in the world. I actually don't know how he has a job.

It's okay as long as it keeps him from commentating Adelaide matches.

 

[No spoken words]

Jesus Christ, watching Andrea Joyce interview Aly Raisman with Jordyn Wieber right there in the background was horrible difficult to watch, at least for me. They're both just teenagers, no matter how seasoned or poised they might normally be. That's sports and those are the breaks but, fuck, that was a tough watch.

Glad to see Phelps look a lot better tonight.

Axver, glad you're digging Handball, too. It's a blast to watch.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Handball is the greatest. Became my favourite to watch during Beijing.

 

[cobl04]

There's a Chinese swimmer named Ye Shiwen... and yeah, she won