London 2012 Summer Olympics

[bono_man2002]

mckayla is not impressed

 

[yolland]

But hopping, skipping, and jumping aren't analogous to fly, back, breast and free.

This. There's simply no track equivalent to the various swimming strokes. I guess maybe if you had some sort of "medley" event where you had to alternate, say, race walking with running, then that might be somewhat comparable. But differences in distance (it's the same "stroke" for all sprints, i.e. 100-400m; the difference is in pacing), hurdling (swimming has no obstacle event), combined track and field events like decathlon (again, swimming has nothing like this)--those aren't analogous at all.

To me the most amazing thing about Bolt isn't his ability to set records in both the 100m and 200m--he's the very best, absolutely, but others have been world-class at both--but rather that someone who's frickin' 6'5" can block start and drive like that. That he can (seemingly) coast ahead so easily once at maximum velocity is less surprising, at that point the height's an advantage, but that's more than halfway through the race. He's great despite his build, not because of it.

 

[cobl04]

Jamaica is really bolting up the medal table, huh.

 

[Liesje]

But hopping, skipping, and jumping aren't analogous to fly, back, breast and free.

How about vault (two totally different types), bars, beam, and floor ex?

 

[DRay9911]

she has tonya harding eyes

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

 

[No spoken words]

This is a night for Americans.

 

[Popmartijn]

To me the most amazing thing about Bolt isn't his ability to set records in both the 100m and 200m--he's the very best, absolutely, but others have been world-class at both--but rather that someone who's frickin' 6'5" can block start and drive like that. That he can (seemingly) coast ahead so easily once at maximum velocity is less surprising, at that point the height's an advantage, but that's more than halfway through the race. He's great despite his build, not because of it.

And he's the first person to have successfully defended his Olympic titles on both the 100m and 200m. And this is not because the others are bad as those might've been the strongest 100m and 200m line-ups ever. At the 100m, everyone finished below the 10 seconds (Powell excluded, but he got injured midway through). At the 200m 5 runners finished in 20.0 seconds or less, compared to only 3 four years ago.
And Bolt beat them all. Amazing!

 

[cobl04]

 

[Purplereign]

love it ~ that poor girl is never gonna live it down!

um, those rhythm gymnasts (you know the sparkly bendy ones?) are slightly unnerving but oddly compelling!

 

[Axver]

The Olympics would be so much better if rhythmic gymnastics, sychronised swimming, and dressage were just cut from the programme.

 

[Purplereign]

The Olympics would be so much better if rhythmic gymnastics, sychronised swimming, and dressage were just cut from the programme.

No no no no no! The point and giggle ( ) factor alone makes the synchronised swimming and sparkly gymnastics fun in small doses - not sure that I've ever watched dressage and there must be an audience for it, hell there's an audience for the 10k swim so anything is feasible

oooh, more sailing gold for the Aussies! yay!

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Rhythmic gymnastics is fine, I don't care about the other two.

 

[Axver]

I'm surprised insomniacs aren't sent to watch synchronised swimming.

 

[Irvine511]

Synchro is hella hard, yo. Seriously. Those girls are in shape.

 

[Axver]

I'm not doubting that!

Still, if I can't sleep during the Olympics, I know what to watch.

 

[cobl04]

Hard does not equal entertaining

 

[nielsgov]

The most boring sport by far is open water swimming or whatever it's called. You just see some arms splashing in the water for two hours straight.

 

[Axver]

Gold to New Zealand in the women's 470 class sailing!

That's four golds - apart from when we scored eight in 1984, we've never passed three golds before. So this is our most successful non-boycotted Olympics ever!

 

[Hewson]

Hard does not equal entertaining

 

[Popmartijn]

The Olympics would be so much better if rhythmic gymnastics, sychronised swimming, and dressage were just cut from the programme.

As I read today in a blog post (paraphrasing to English): "You're not the best because you're the best. But you're the best because someone thinks you're the best. While someone else thinks otherwise. But that person wasn't on the jury that day."
Hence, I'll not miss those disciplines should be be cut from the program.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Yeah but leave speed walking and ping pong.

 

[DRay9911]

love it ~ that poor girl is never gonna live it down!

um, those rhythm gymnasts (you know the sparkly bendy ones?) are slightly unnerving but oddly compelling!

Yes, I know all about the sparkly, bendy ones...

 

[anitram]

To me the most amazing thing about Bolt isn't his ability to set records in both the 100m and 200m--he's the very best, absolutely, but others have been world-class at both--but rather that someone who's frickin' 6'5" can block start and drive like that. That he can (seemingly) coast ahead so easily once at maximum velocity is less surprising, at that point the height's an advantage, but that's more than halfway through the race. He's great despite his build, not because of it.

He is really built for the 400 and there have been many coaches and athletics commentators who have long held that the 400 would be his best discipline if he actually ran it. Would be interesting to see, in any event. He could probably also be spectacular in the long jump - in fact there was somebody who built a computerized model based on Bolt's running speed, size, length of legs, etc and maintained that he'd be easily be the world record holder if he tried. Not sure I buy that one.

Amazing what the Jamaicans have accomplished with their sprinters.

Dressage is ridiculous.

The fundamental purpose of dressage is to develop, through a standardized progression of training methods, a horse's natural ability and willingness to perform to it's maximized potential as a riding horse.

Sorry, but that ain't a sport. If dressage is in, then why not the types of activities that Lies does with her dogs? Flyball, dock diving, etc? They require an animal and a handler much in the same way.

 

[Axver]

As I read today in a blog post (paraphrasing to English): "You're not the best because you're the best. But you're the best because someone thinks you're the best. While someone else thinks otherwise. But that person wasn't on the jury that day."
Hence, I'll not miss those disciplines should be be cut from the program.

My father firmly maintains that if you can't time it, measure it, or score goals/points in it, it should not be in the Olympics.

I just can't bring myself to agree because I love the synchronised diving, trampoline, and artistic gymnastics.

But in general, yes.

Yeah but leave speed walking and ping pong.

Speed walking can go die somewhere, but the table tennis can be fairly exciting at times.

 

[Liesje]

Sorry, but that ain't a sport. If dressage is in, then why not the types of activities that Lies does with her dogs? Flyball, dock diving, etc? They require an animal and a handler much in the same way.

F'real. Actually, it was really interesting for me watching swimming and track this time, after doing flyball competitively. I now have a serious appreciation for starts, exchanges, finishes, and measuring time to the thousandth of a second. I explained to my family that at least in flyball, a thousandth of a second is like a minute, a hundredth is like ten minutes, and a tenth of a second might as well be a half hour!

Anyway, I know very little about equine sports, but with dog sports it all falls back on the dog so I can see why they are not included in the Olympics. You cannot win at the highest level in any of the dog sports I do just based on the experience of the human and the level of training and handling. It really is about the dog. I'm not sure if the same is true with horses or not. I used to watch this kids show (reality) about a bunch of kids who rode horses - I don't know what sport it was, the one where they jump - and part of the event was the top four kids had to round-robin ride each others' horses. That struck me as very different than the dog sports I do. For one I would never allow anyone else to attempt to handle my dogs and for two it seemed that what they were doing really was more about the human handling than the horse itself.

 

[BoMac]

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Thats kind of creepy...

 

[Pearl]

I'd like to see an African country host the Olympics someday, but I also wonder if any of them would ever come up with the money and security needed for it.

Olympics-Kenya seeks investors ahead of Games bid | Reuters

I also heard Toronto may bid for the 2024 Games.

 

[Hewson]

There are "adult film" directors all over the San Fernando Valley figuring out ways to tinker with this and incorporate into one of their "scripts".

 

[Purplereign]

Yes, I know all about the sparkly, bendy ones...

and there's your audience ladies and gentlemen

EDIT ~ pity the google doodle for this doesn't sparkle or bend!

There are "adult film" directors all over the San Fernando Valley figuring out ways to tinker with this and incorporate into one of their "scripts".

2 more days . . . booooooooooooooooooo!

oooh Matthew Mitcham up soon