London 2012 Summer Olympics

[Axver]

Didn't see it myself but just read The Age's write-up - sounds heartbreaking for him.

From what I saw earlier, the Mexicans have got a couple of very impressive divers in action.

 

[DRay9911]

The diving needs more triple lindy's

If anyone here knows what I'm talking about, +1,000 internets for you.

 

[Zootomic]

just saw the women's 4x100. damn!

Yes, that was impressive. Glad to see one of the women's world records from the eighties finally broken, and bonus that it was an East German record. Even with Jeter this US team is cleaner than that East German team. I just hope I live long enough to see Flo-Jo's totally tainted 100M record (from both doping and wind-aided) go down. The fact that a doped up Marion Jones couldn't touch it says a lot. Women's track has a hard time getting attention when they have no chance of setting a WR in the sprints. People know Usain Bolt could set a record every time out and they want to see it. Not so with the women.

Speaking of Bolt, for the sake of the future of track & field I really, really hope he is clean. My gut feeling, based on his career trajectory, tells me that he is. He was setting records at an early age and won junior championships. He has shown a natural progression of his natural talent, unlike those who get suddenly, suspiciously better. With his height, his body, his stride and acceleration, he just looks like he should be faster than the rest of them.

 

[cobl04]

I think he is too. Maybe I just love sport too much and have too much faith in my athletes. But I think he is. He's a beast, scientifically.

 

[Popmartijn]

Only 15 minutes until the hockey final starts. Netherlands - Germany, that'll be an interesting match.
And just after half time there's also the 4x 100m. I'm hoping the Dutch team can get a medal there, though their chances are slim.

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

What time does the Closing Ceremony start? NBC is streaming it live online, a reversal from the Opening Ceremony. I'm assuming it starts at 2 or 3pm ET?

 

[Purplereign]

holy shit! that was faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast!


and kinda heartbreaking for canada ~ wow.

 

[anitram]

Totally unreal. Wow.

 

[nielsgov]

It was to be expected, but still amazing of course.

 

[Zootomic]

Great run by the US team too. Ryan Bailey almost stayed with Bolt on the final leg. It seemed like Bolt wanted to keep the baton as a souvenir but they wouldn't let him. Is there a rule that the officials have to collect them after the race?

 

[DRay9911]

they also scooped up the baton's after the women's race. i was nervous for the one who came up and got it from jeter.

 

[DRay9911]

caught a replay on bbc. nice to see bolt run through the finish line.

had he done that thursday, he probably breaks his record.

he was perfect over 2 olympics. 6 golds, 4 world records.

 

[Zootomic]

caught a replay on bbc. nice to see bolt run through the finish line.

had he done that thursday, he probably breaks his record.

Maybe, but he was looking at the timer before he slowed down so he must have thought he wasn't going to get the record.

 

[ntalwar]

Maybe, but he was looking at the timer before he slowed down so he must have thought he wasn't going to get the record.

And he felt back pain around the curve in the 200m, so he didn't push it. No reason to risk injury in that case.

 

[deep]

He split 43.58 in the 4x400 in a Jamaican meet back in 2010. You'd probably want to add 1.2 seconds or so to that for estimating his (more or less untrained) time in an open 400, but even so it's certainly suggestive of potential for greatness. He famously loathes 400 training though (who doesn't!), so my guess is he'd put seriously working on it off until he and his coach figure he's past his peak for the shorter sprints. I had read that he's expressed interest in the long jump, and he would indeed seem to have the assets for it. He'd be in some very good company expanding into either or both events, too (Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, Michael Johnson, FloJo).

I got to believe he has given the long jump a try or two when no one was looking. I am sure his camp knows where the competition is at in these other events, and where he could expect to eventually place.

He is very impressive and likable.

 

[ntalwar]

I got to believe he has given the long jump a try or two when no one was looking. I am sure his camp knows where the competition is at in these other events, and where he could expect to eventually place.

And he makes enough money ($20 million a year) doing what he does. There's limited upside, and a lot of downside (e.g. injuries) to adding more events.

 

[deep]

I can't help but wonder if the following is what athletes think on the medal podium:

Gold - I won!
Silver - Shit, I almost won
Bronze - Well, at least I got something

maybe they should only give Gold and Bronze medals

it seems many of the Silver medal recipients act like they got robbed or cheated

the Bronze medal winners (along with the Gold) seem very appreciative of the award.

Gold - the best, the winner
Silver - the loser, 2nd or last - you are still a loser
Bronze - one of the very best, right up there with the winner.

 

[deep]

Viva Mexico !!!

Mexico, a decided underdog, won the country’s first Olympic gold medal at the London Games — and first significant international soccer trophy of any kind — with a lively 2-1 victory over Brazil at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.

 

[Hewson]

The diving needs more triple lindy's

If anyone here knows what I'm talking about, +1,000 internets for you.

I tell ya I don't get no respect, even when I go Back to School

 

[financeguy]

I was just looking at Ireland's medal tallies and wow, I'm stunned to see the disparity between Ireland's results and New Zealand's - especially that Ireland got no medals at all in 2004. New Zealand's worst Olympics since our boycott of 1980 (hence zero medals, though about four or five Kiwi athletes did go and compete independently) is when we only got four in Sydney. Don't know what government investment in minority sports is like in Ireland, but we have been pouring a fair bit of money into our realistic medal chances. In fact the poor performance of our velodrome cyclists this year might prove controversial given the money invested in them.

It looks like in general, New Zealand punches above its weight in the Olympics and Ireland tends to punch below its weight - though, in this Olympics, if we look at medals won per head of population, Ireland is broadly in line with the UK, and way ahead of US and China, while New Zealand is near the top the table:

Olympic Medals per Capita

Interesting about the NZ velodromers - in Ireland a lot of funds have been put into sailing, but with no medals won to date. The Irish sailors did not perform at all in Beijing and afterwards the head of our Olympics committee was openly saying that they had not justifed the investment in them. We actually came closer in this Olympics to winning a sailing medal than Beijing - Annalise Murphy was very narrowly beaten into 4th in the womens' radial.

 

[financeguy]

Viva Mexico !!!

Pleased for Mexico and all, but the way I see it, soccer really shouldn't be in the Olympics. They already have the World Cup.

 

[cobl04]

Murphy should have won a medal in the radial.

 

[financeguy]

Damn.

Heffernan just misses out on medal - Sport, Breaking News - Independent.ie

Glad I forgot to watch it, Annalise finishing fourth in the sailing was bad enough.

Murphy is cruelly edged out - The Irish Times - Tue, Aug 07, 2012

 

[financeguy]

Murphy should have won a medal in the radial.

Was gutted for her, but "should have" doesn't cut it. You win a medal or you don't. Maybe that's why the Olympics are so captivating at times - the difference between success and failure is so slight. Sport of any variety can be awful cruel at times.

 

[DRay9911]

I tell ya I don't get no respect, even when I go Back to School

 

[yolland]

Women's track has a hard time getting attention when they have no chance of setting a WR in the sprints. People know Usain Bolt could set a record every time out and they want to see it. Not so with the women.

Eh, I dunno...I think when it takes someone as ridiculously head-and-shoulders above the competition as Bolt to get people enthused about watching your sport, that probably doesn't say much for its potential audience. It seems to me you could just as easily argue (which I wouldn't, but just for the sake of it) that if anything, he's ultimately bad for the sport, because he feeds into the layman's fantasy that greatness=being such a once-in-a-century freak of nature as to make it look positively easy, rather than merely becoming the current best through a combination of talent and gruelingly hard work. 100M records are usually a matter of shaving off a couple hundredths of a second in a race that comes down to a lean, not the visually arresting spectacle of a guy with a dramatically different build from everyone else cruising a full two-tenths of a second ahead of the pack (while visibly slowing down to showboat, and having his shoelace untied...).

 

[Irvine511]

he feeds into the layman's fantasy that greatness=being such a once-in-a-century freak of nature as to make it look positively easy, rather than merely becoming the current best through a combination of talent and gruelingly hard work.

yes there are a couple of athletes we could say this about. no one likes to see the sausages being made.

slightly off topic: i loved watching the track relays this evening. relays in any sport are inherently thrilling. my question is how do they determine who staggers where in the start. it seems they are all 5m apart at the front, and this is made up when and how? and then after 1 full lap they all cut in to the inside lane and hug it?

i'm just curious as to how the staggering is correlated to the extra distance one must apparently run from the outside lane.

if if even made sense.

 

[deep]

The 4 x 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams comprise four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first 500 metres is run in lanes.
Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track.

wiki

 

[DRay9911]

slightly off topic: i loved watching the track relays this evening. relays in any sport are inherently thrilling. my question is how do they determine who staggers where in the start.

my guess is the best qualifying times are placed more in the center of the track.

both relays tonight were awesome.

glad i stayed up to watch on full screen HD

 

[No spoken words]

God, the relays the last two nights have been electric. Great way to end things.

Deep, the worst thing in the Olympics, to me, is 4th place. That must be gutting, especially if tenths or hundredths of a second were the difference.