London 2012 Summer Olympics

[Irvine511]

heh.

Usain Bolt is OUT OF HIS MIND ... at least according to Bruce Jenner ... who doesn't think the Jamaican sprinter was living in reality when he called himself the greatest athlete of all time.

Jenner -- who took home the gold in the decathlon in the 1976 Olympics -- was leaving LAX this weekend when we asked him about the declaration of greatness Bolt made about himself after dominating at the Olympics last week

"He's the best sprinter," Jenner said ... adding, "He can't pole vault, he can't throw anything ... that's an athlete."

Jenner made it clear ... he believes decathletes rank the highest when deciding "most athletic" ... and when asked if Bolt would be able to compete in his sport, Bruce didn't hold back ..."He would be terrible."

Bruce Jenner -- Usain Bolt is DELUSIONAL | TMZ.com

i wonder who would win in the plastic surgery olympics?

[Jive Turkey]

Decathletes are the definition of jack of all trades, master of none.

[DRay9911]

Originally Posted by elevated_u2_fan

Dude... Like 3 posts up

Doh! I'm an ass!

Apologies MrsBruce

[Liesje]

I rate "athletes" based on their training regimens. Since elite gymnasts train 8 hours a day, 6 days a week year round since they have no "season" (and generally train this much by age 11) I rate them at/near the top. It's interesting that a child actor can't film movies on that schedule because it is considered "work".

[Irvine511]

I find gymnasts the most impressive. I am more impressed by, say, Kayla's vault than I am by how fast Bolt runs. I understand the elemental, primordial appeal of "fastest man alive" ... But watching someone push the boundaries of what is known and unknown, to find new ways and new limits of the ways in which the human body can perform in increasingly complex ways, that's thrilling to me.

I could run 100m right now, rather slowly.

I couldn't even begin to do a back handspring.

[Pearl]

Originally Posted by Liesje

I rate "athletes" based on their training regimens. Since elite gymnasts train 8 hours a day, 6 days a week year round since they have no "season" (and generally train this much by age 11) I rate them at/near the top. It's interesting that a child actor can't film movies on that schedule because it is considered "work".

Even though I love to watch gymnastics because I'm always amazed by what the body can do, I often wonder if training 6 days a week is even worth it. Why can't they just do 5 days? Also, you hear so many stories about the young gymnasts being overtrained and mistreated by their coaches. I'm sure you've heard about what Dominique Moceanu wrote in her book. While its true that not all gymnasts suffer abuse (Dominique Dawes and her coach Kelly Hill had the ideal athlete-coach relationship in my mind), I just wonder if that much dedication is worth all the sacrifices and heartache.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

I find gymnasts the most impressive. I am more impressed by, say, Kayla's vault than I am by how fast Bolt runs. I understand the elemental, primordial appeal of "fastest man alive" ... But watching someone push the boundaries of what is known and unknown, to find new ways and new limits of the ways in which the human body can perform in increasingly complex ways, that's thrilling to me.

I could run 100m right now, rather slowly.

I couldn't even begin to do a back handspring.

But that's exactly the logic that has me more impressed with Bolt. He does what every single person on the planet (save those with serious physical disabilities) can do and he does it better than every single one of them.

Gymnasts do things that most of us have never tried and we have no way of knowing how we would be. If somebody had taught you to do a back handspring at 7, you'd probably be able to do it eventually, with varying degrees of success.

[Jive Turkey]

Not to mention, it's probably fair to say that Bolt is the fastest man to ever exist thus far. With the level of nutrition, training, and science behind both of them these days, it's not much of a stretch to say that no human has ever run so fast in the history of the species. That's pretty impressive

[Irvine511]

It's not that Bolt isn't impressive, but I find gymnastics much more thrilling.

It just looks so much harder, and there's an element of fearlessness (like with platform diving, as another example) and being on-the-edge that is really compelling to me.

[Jive Turkey]

I had no idea how dangerous pole vaulting was until last week. Apparently it has the highest occurrence of deaths per athlete out of any sport. Scary stuff

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

heh.





i wonder who would win in the plastic surgery olympics?

Gold


Silver


Bronze


Lost bronze on tiebreaker

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by Hewson

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Lost bronze on tiebreaker

Well played.

[Jive Turkey]

I think it's kinda homophobic that you put the two old lesbians last

[cobl04]

Bernstein: Usain Bolt Is Probably Doping (And You Know It) « CBS Chicago

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by Pearl

Even though I love to watch gymnastics because I'm always amazed by what the body can do, I often wonder if training 6 days a week is even worth it. Why can't they just do 5 days? Also, you hear so many stories about the young gymnasts being overtrained and mistreated by their coaches. I'm sure you've heard about what Dominique Moceanu wrote in her book. While its true that not all gymnasts suffer abuse (Dominique Dawes and her coach Kelly Hill had the ideal athlete-coach relationship in my mind), I just wonder if that much dedication is worth all the sacrifices and heartache.

I don't know about Dawes and Kelly Hill. She legally adopted Dominique, who lived with her. To me that's beyond over training and just...weird. I don't know, I hope that someday as a parent I have boundaries. I can understand situations like Gabby living temporarily with another family to train, but living with the *coach* and allowing the coach to make legal sort of decisions is too far.

ETA: If you wonder whether the training is necessary look at Nastia. She could not even do her routines at Nationals or trials and thus did not make the Olympic team. It's not that she wasn't good enough and her routines would not have helped but that she had not trained enough and was not in shape to be performing at the level required. You have to train full time just to be in shape enough to attempt elite level routines, not to mention the technique and actually learning the skills.

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by anitram

But that's exactly the logic that has me more impressed with Bolt. He does what every single person on the planet (save those with serious physical disabilities) can do and he does it better than every single one of them.

Gymnasts do things that most of us have never tried and we have no way of knowing how we would be. If somebody had taught you to do a back handspring at 7, you'd probably be able to do it eventually, with varying degrees of success.

You'd be waaaay behind if all you could do at age 7 was a few backhandsprings!

It is true that elite level gymnastics is not something that is attainable for everyone to try whereas any able-bodied person on the planet can at least try a 100m sprint. There are many skills that are not genetically possible for certain people regardless of the commitment or level of training. For example flexibility is genetic and cannot be forced. There were several skills I could not do because I have no hip flexor flexibility. I was put in stretching "machines" and had all sorts of torturous ways of working on flexibility and after doing it daily for years I gained maybe 10 degrees in my splits and no hip flexor flexibility at which point I decided to just work around the lack of flexibility. Since I was a bars specialist this wasn't an issue. Others are just born with it and don't lose it even if they never stretch.

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Bernstein: Usain Bolt Is Probably Doping (And You Know It) � CBS Chicago

If you don't want to punch that guy in the face for blatant hate mongering, you'll certainly want to after looking at the smarmy photo he chose for his profile

[Vlaco]

What Mo Farrah and David Rushida did was at least as impressive as Bolt's achievements, but I won't take anything away from Bolt. He's obviously the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen.
My point is: endurance runners almost never get the credits they deserve. Years and years of determination, training regime, fysical and mental strength, diets and so on. I think you have to make much more sacrifices being an endurance athlete than being a sprinter.

[speedracer]

Originally Posted by Liesje

It is true that elite level gymnastics is not something that is attainable for everyone to try whereas any able-bodied person on the planet can at least try a 100m sprint. There are many skills that are not genetically possible for certain people regardless of the commitment or level of training. For example flexibility is genetic and cannot be forced. There were several skills I could not do because I have no hip flexor flexibility. I was put in stretching "machines" and had all sorts of torturous ways of working on flexibility and after doing it daily for years I gained maybe 10 degrees in my splits and no hip flexor flexibility at which point I decided to just work around the lack of flexibility. Since I was a bars specialist this wasn't an issue. Others are just born with it and don't lose it even if they never stretch.

I think I pulled something just reading this paragraph.

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

I think it's kinda homophobic that you put the two old lesbians last

But they do make a lovely couple.