PLEBAns Olympic thread...

[Merc]

Today is the big day - there's only a few hours 'till the big openinig ceremony in Athens!

So I thought, let's have our own Olympic thread where we can discuss the games, the results, post pics of our favourite participants and teams etc.

Enjoy the games and may the best teams win!

...I hope some of you PLEBAns are as crazy about The Olympics as I am...

 

[verte76]

Unfortunately I'm going to miss the Opening Ceremonies because I have a medieval faire thingie this weekend and I have to leave in a couple of hours. I'm looking forward to the gymnastics competitions.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I like the Winter Games better, but in Summer I LOVE gymnastics

Also diving and swimming, and track and field.

And I NEVER notice the guys' bodies

 

[Liesje]

OMG, I'm about pissing myself! I've been OBSESSED with gymnastics since I was little (I hide it better now though) and I'm having trouble containing myself. I keep having to go out for long walks with loud music to calm down. I want Courtney McCool to win SOOOO BAD but she's got her work cut out for her just making it to AA finals. The Polish gymnast fell today in podium training and is hospitalized with a spine injury I'm cheering for Carly Patterson, Courtney McCool, Oana Ban (ROM), and Monica Rosu (ROM) (my favorite Romanian was already replaced b/c of injury).

 

[Jack In The Box]

I like see all the sports, but I wait specially for Tae Kwon Do and my favorite Victor Estrada

 

[Ultraviolet Light]

Olympics
two weeks of sports on tv all the time

Watching gymnastics makes me realize how badly I need to get back into the gym (Lies, we need to make a pact to go to open gyms or something, it's rediculous how inflexible I've become), but I can't wait for women's qualifying tomorrow.

Speaking of gymnastics, I know women's is much more popular, but I just caught the end of the men's qualifying, and I was wondering who the German gymnast was with the glasses - he looked like he couldn't have been more than 14 or so.

I was also mesmerized by the diving today, probably because the last time I tried to dive I attempted a 1.5 tuck and hit the water so hard I thought my eyes were going to come out of my head.
The 10m platform diving is terrifying to even think about.

And they need to show more of the football matches here - they showed Iraq/Portugal, but I think from now on they'll probably only show U.S. vs matches.


I'll stop babbling now.

 

[Liesje]

Comments after men's prelims...

- NBC sucks. They made it sound like Saowo Kato is such a horrible judge for telling our guys they weren't getting credit for that skill (yeah, also THANKS NBC for NOT telling us what skill it was...) in their bar routines, but serisouly, that happens all the time and at least the judge told them before the meet. They were probably not going the skill right anyway.

- Blaine Wilson suck and I hope Raj Bahvsar kicks his ass. He took Raj's spot on the team and then missed an event b/c he was dizzy?!?!?!? What a looser. The most consistent thing about Blaine is that he never fails to screw up when it counts

- that Asian gymnast (Japanese I think) that messed up like the second to last skill in his P-horse routine could've got a 10.0 considering he got a 9.337 so if you add back in the .5 for falling, that's already 9.837 and he also took deductions for loosing connection bonus for the missed skill. On top of that, he missed the only chance to qualify for the P-horse final. Poo

Also...

- diving is so cool (and Ellen, I remember that dive of yours and as for the platform, I told my dad I wouldn't try that jump if there was $100 at the bottom of the pool)

- the Thorpedo is way hotter than Michael Phelps (but I'm still cheering for him!)

- I can hardly sit and wait for women's prelims to start. I'm trying to keep myself from checking scores beforehand.

 

[Ultraviolet Light]

- Blaine Wilson suck and I hope Raj Bahvsar kicks his ass.

- the Thorpedo is way hotter than Michael Phelps (but I'm still cheering for him!)

-Does Blaine still chew on his tounge stud whilst he competes? That drives me nuts, I wanna smack it right out of his head.

- Ian Thorpe Didn't he fall off the blocks at trials (the 200 free, I think?) and then basically bullied the guy who got his spot into dropping out so he could go? Yeah, so not hot. (wow, I sound like a teenybopper.)
Pieter Vanderhoodernooder is better anyway.
[My favorite thing about the Olympians from the Netherlands: their two star swimmers are named Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn. hehehe, they're so Dutch.]

Whilst Lisa Skinner was on beam one of the Dutch gymnasts' floor music was a song from the Gladiator score. *nerd*

And someone needs to tell whoever choreographed Courtney Kupets' floor routine that controlled flailing does not equal dance.




Have I mentioned I like the Olympics?

 

[verte76]

I'm enjoying the gymnastics competition also. It's unfortunate that Courtney made those mistakes. She really is a wonderful gymnast. Hell, if they end up with the team silver that's not exactly shabby. The Romanians are excellent and they are really tough to beat. I swim myself so I enjoy the swimming competitions as well.

 

[Liesje]

My dear, dear Courtney McCool. *sigh* Oh well, I wasn't expecting her to make finals anyway since her SVs aren't as good as the other finalists. She's also young and the most inexperienced on our team (you can tell by how she sometimes over-corrects). I hope she sticks around b/c she twists better than anyone. Patterson looked REALLY good and I didn't even realize she was in first place until I checked scores today.

Ellen, don't you also love how none of the commentators can pronounce "de Bruijn"? It means "brown" but is pronounced more like "brine". Duh!

 

[Ultraviolet Light]

Good on the Greeks winning the men's 3m synchronized springboard - the first Greeks to ever win gold in an Olympic diving event.

Women's field hockey:
I bet if you played field hockey your whole life you'd end up with really bad posture.


Women's synchronized 10 m platform diving finals:
Sweet merciful crap. I don't consider myself afraid of heights, but I do consider myself afraid of hitting the water at 30 mph and of cracking my head on a cement platform. anyone able to compete in this event

Men's gymnastics team finals:
The U.S. should have been deducted for Brett McClure's haircut, and the Romanians should have been awarded points for Marian Dragalescu being hot.
I missed the first half of the competition again, what in the hell happened to China and Russia? 5th and 6th? And Alexei Nemov, a 9.037 on pommel, wow. Did they all just fall a lot?

I'm going to have to unplug the computer tomorrow to keep from checking the scores on the women's team final.

Oh, and does anyone know if they're having a trampoline competition? I would assume they are since they did for the first time in Sydney and I don't think they make a practice of taking sports out of the Olympics, especially when they just brought them in, but I haven't heard anything about it. I suppose I could check the Athens website, but I'm lazy.

And I love how none of the American commentators can pronounce any of the remotely "foreign" sounding names.

 

[verte76]

The Chinese had to count a really low score on their first apparatus, I forget which one that was. They posted some really high scores but they just couldn't get the job done. (Autistics memory strikes again). The Russians couldn't either. I was really shocked that Nemov bombed that routine! The U.S. men, by contrast, were really good and I'm really glad they got the silver.

 

[verte76]

Damn. I just screwed up and looked at a news website and it was announced who'd won the gold in the women's gymnastics competition. I won't say who it was, but gosh, am I ever pissed off at myself.

 

[kellyahern]

I was weak myself and had a peak

Just as well, I can't seem to stay up past 10 p.m. anymore anyway and I have a headache

Now I can just concentrate on the dumb things the commentators say

for example : "Nobody kisses Svetlana!"

Thank you Al Trautwig, for your insightful and on topic commentary

 

[verte76]

I'm going to crash myself, I'm tired!

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I couldn't stay awake either last night for the womens gymnastics-those commentators annoy me They nitpick mercilessly on those girls

 

[Lilac]

I couldn't stay awake either last night for the womens gymnastics-those commentators annoy me They nitpick mercilessly on those girls

and also how that woman reporter seemed like she was even trying to make the girls feel bad about a silver medal! They seemed happy and proud of what they had accomplished, and they should be, but the lady reporter seemed to nag them. She didn't even say congrats.

Romanians gold, US silver, Russia bronze

on the all around and individual apparatus!

 

[verte76]

I agree, Lilac. What's wrong with a silver medal at the freakin' Olympics? So what if they made a few mistakes? Gymnastics is incredibly difficult and they're human. I'm really angry seeing these headlines like "mistakes cost U.S. the gold". Dammit, they *won* the silver medal. They beat the Russians and the Chinese. Why can't they give them credit for their accomplishments? I agree about the commentators, they are really nit-picky.

 

[Kristie]

Angie (my roommate) and I watched the gymnastics final last night. I think our lack of technical knowledge will show here
-Angie was outraged at the really tall Russian girl's score on the beam. Her comments included "But... she flipped all the way around the beam!!" We also agree she needs to both eat and smile more. She's much less scary looking when she smiles.
-Why do the Americans insist on wearing so much makeup?
-Whoever that extra-short Romanian girl is, she could freakin jump over my head.

Personally, I wish NBC would show more of the other countries athletes. You could have gotten by not even knowing China was there.

 

[Ultraviolet Light]

I definitely agree that the silver is nothing to sneeze at, but the U.S. women were considered the gold medal favorites by the media going into this, and they're the defending world champs - essentially the press is disappointed they didn't live up to the hype they created for the team (and I think the team was expecting to live up to that hype as well - interview or not, you could tell Carly Patterson was disappointed with her performance).
The media is doing the same thing with Michael Phelps - they're acting like he's not doing so well because he won't break Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals, but he wasn't really ever expected to win all 8 events he's competing in, and he's still on track to win 8 medals period, which I think would be a record for and American swimmer or something.
for them winning the 4 x 200 relay, by the way.


And I agree the comentators are picky, but so are the judges, and so should the gymnasts be - with 3 up, 3 count there isn't room for mistakes unless every team makes them, and as the announcers KEPT saying (agh, that drives me crazy), every bobble, balance check, or step on a landing costs you, and those can add up.


Don't get me wrong, the announcers do drive me absolutely NUTS.



And Kristie, the hip circle Svetlana Khorkina did on beam? I used to do that, so you know it can't be that difficult.
I hate how the American announcers always complain about how she never smiles. Yes, she looks scary, but God forbid she concentrate on what she's doing and not be all bouncy hyper excited like a teenybopper.
Of course, this is coming from the one who was told not to do happy floor music because it would look stupid if I fake smiled through the whole thing, so take that for what it's worth.

I hate how NBC only shows the teams in medal contention - I didn't even know the French team had qualified, and I didn't know the Chinese team had dropped to 7th. And I was disappointed that they didn't show ANY of Elena Zamolodchikova.


I think it's an interesting juxtaposition between the reaction of the Russian team in Sydney and them in Athens - they were ?ber pissed they got silver to the Romanians in Sydney, and here they seemed just happy to medal.

 

[Liesje]

omg. Paul Hamm. omg

 

[oliveu2cm]

omg!! I'm so glad I stayed up late for it!! I love the gymnastics events and can't wait for the women tonight!

 

[verte76]

Yeah, Paul Hamm is da man!

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

That was AWESOME I have managed so far not to find out the womens results

Btw, is it wrong that I keep staring at Michael Phelps' chest? Considering he's probably 18 or something, it's wrong

Oh what the heck

 

[dazzledbylight]

yea Olympiads! :aplause:

I was wondering if any of you were going to put up some commentary, since I remebered a few of you commented on your passion for gymnastics when we had our "tell us about yourself thread".

I usually don't know much about any of the teams, especially sinse i seemed to have missed the NYT's Olympic guide that would have given me more info.

I'm half Greek-American so I'm thrilled to see The Games retun to their ancestoral home. I thought the Opening Ceremonies were very elegent- loved them! The rings-fire in the water, the sikirt that became the world maP, the parade of Greek history with all those people dressed & sometimes painted just so with Eros flying above, AND THE SCULPTURE THAT BECAME THE GREEK ISLES.. wONDERFUL STUFF & VERY TECHNICALLY IMPRESSIVE, TOO.

OOP PINKY SLIP UPE. I've also seen imposing, interesting, historic sports stadiums. But never a ***beautiful*** onje till these games.

I live both the Summer & Winter games. Here I love best the Gymnastics -both women & men's and I love the rythym gymnastics too esp The Ribbon. Equestian and pole vaulting are my other 2 favs.

I catch bits & pieces of other things I like...broad jump, jAvilin, short relays.

Is half-pipe slated to become a Summer O-sport at some point. I love thaT.
One of these days i'll get to one of the few skateboarding parks they have here in nyc and go watch.

Enjoy!

 

[verte76]

Tonight I had a taping disaster. I was trying to tape the gymnastics competition on one television and the TV stopped working. I couldn't figure the fg thing out so I went downstairs, turned on another TV, and stuck in a tape. Imagine my chagrin when the tape broke! Aagghhh! This was about a half hour ago. I decided to screw it, now I'm calming down before I hit the sack. Whew! So, I missed the women's all-around.

 

[Leeloo]

Verte, it JUST NOW ENDED! Did you get to see the finale? Carly won!

Blast Yahoo though, it showed the winner before it was over and spoiled the surprise for me! I felt sorry for the Russian girl who got bumped to 4th and cried.

 

[Pearl]

I'm glad Carly won. I had to check Yahoo because the suspense was killing me, but yeah, its nice that she won.
How cool is this? Both US men and women win the team silver, and now both a male and female gymnast win the gold! I wonder what the event finals would bring?
As for Svetlana Khorkina, she amuses me. I have a lot of respect for her, and she was one of the gymnasts I was rooting for. But, wow, she can be something else.
Also, I'm glad Carly won, mostly because I think this means more then when Mary Lou won because the 1984 Games were boycotted and they took place in the US. These Olympics are in another country and they're fully assembled.

So, anyway, yay for Carly!

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I fell asleep AGAIN

Maybe Svetlana could lose the 'tude and get over herself a bit-I read in the paper this morning that she said at the press conference, while sitting right next to Carly, something like "I'm still Olympic champion in case someone doesn't know "

 

[Leeloo]

I agree about Svetlana's 'tude. In this article she leaves the impression Carly was chosen because she was an American. Oh no, better routines, not to mention being 9 years younger had nothing to do with it, huh? If you saw Carly's floor and especially her balance beam as opposed to Svetlana's it amazing Svetlana even came in second. I think Russia's Anna Pavlova was better than Svetlana and the Chinese girl who came in third. I do think perhaps politics played a role in squeezing in the Chinese girl since China's mens' and womens' teams had been disappointments and had won no medals despite high expectations.

Here is the article where Sveltana acts like such a snot:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/special_packages/olympics/9444806.htm?1c

I give credit for Carly not feeding the press anything juicy, calling Sveltana 'gracious' in her interview last night, though she had to know that wasn't true. She just didn't want her medal tainted by any controversy, and, unlike Sveltana, she didn't want to appear arrogant.

This was Sveltana's rreal problem, 'too tall, too old'

http://sports.yahoo.com/oly/gymnastics/news?slug=ap-jimlitkegym&prov=ap&type=lgns

she has done a lot in her long career and she shouldn't tarnish it by acting like a diva now.