Olympics!

edited July 18 in Sports
So, I've reached some interesting conclusions.

If Michael Phelps were a country, he'd be in 12th place for total medal count. He alone has more medals than Spain, France, Finland, and most other European countries.

Also if he were a country, he'd be tied for 3rd place with South Korea in total gold medal count. The only countries that have more golds than he are China and the US.

America. Fuck yeah.
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Comments

  • edited August 2008
    We lost the gold in gymnastics to 12 year old girls.

    America. Fuck Yeah.
  • edited August 2008
    Yeah, but we beat China in gymnastics in 2004. Circle of life, I guess.
  • edited August 2008
    Fuck, those 12 year olds were really good. I'm not ashamed.

    I felt bad for the one girl on the U.S. team who kept messing up though. I only watched a few of the events, including the trials the other day... I saw her mess up in just about everything I saw her do. She must feel horrible :(
  • edited August 2008
    I noticed that there have been two or three world records broken a day in swimming. It's madness.
  • edited August 2008
    There was an article in my newspaper about some local woman who was in the '54 Olympics for swimming. She broke the record, tied for first place, and for some reason they gave her a silver medal.
  • edited August 2008
    America is currently only 3 medals ahead! We had closed China's gold medal lead to 4, but now it's back up to 7. We have many more silvers and bronzes, but most of China's lead is solid gold.

    There are still more events to go tonight, and plenty of more days to go, so nothing is certain yet. But America must prevail!

    If nothing else, we have more multiple medal holders than any other country.
  • edited August 2008
    Well there's still more diving and gymnastics to go through so China's gonna be ahead for awhile but I'm hoping America can close the gap when the track and field events start.
  • edited August 2008
    Yeah, that should be our chance to pull ahead in gold medal count. My friends here have all expressed concern for Track and Field.

    In this thread, we should all yell America at the end of every post. Especially if you are British.

    America!
  • edited August 2008
    I thought we had a fair chance against China in women’s gymnastics, but looks like we only got silver :(.

    America!
  • edited August 2008
    I thought I'd shed some light on the gymnastics issue.

    Here is an article from the NY Times about a month ago about the passport/age discrepancies of some of the athletes:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/olympics/27gymnasts.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

    It's long, read it yourself.

    But, I can understand that there might actual just be mistakes. Most people in China do not have their birthdays on their official documents correct. I've found this out from friends who celebrate two birthdays: they have their official birthday, and their actual birthday. This is due to unnecessary complications with the one-child policy. Many families who have their children tend to not report them to authorities right away, and they tend to delay registering for weeks, sometimes months after they're born. I'm still trying to understand the details, but this is fairly common here.

    Furthermore, it is entirely possible that reporters in other newspapers did not care to do due dilligence in their research for articles they published that caused the discrepancies. Newspapers are state run, so they don't exactly have to compete.

    Then again, this is an authoritarian country that really wants to win the Olympics they're hosting, so, judge as you will. America sure as hell isn't clean with its hundreds of athletes that have been caught doping. I'm just presenting both sides of the argument.
  • edited August 2008
    Bah, I don't much care about the summer games anyways. Now when winter rolls around - we'll show the world what for again.

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  • edited August 2008
    They should add skateboarding to the Summer Olympics. Shawn White needs more gold medals.
  • edited August 2008
    I was a thrower for track in high school. Watching some of those throwing trials made me splooge a bit in my pants. seriously, they're frickin amazing. Throwing a 16lb ball 60+ feet is ridiculous.

    And don't even get me started on the hammer throw. holy christ I'm surprised more people don't die every year doing that thing.

    AMERICA!
  • edited August 2008
    Takeru wrote: »
    They should add skateboarding to the Summer Olympics. Shawn White needs more gold medals.

    you know i was actually having a discussion about this the other day with kyle... he was telling me they added BMX bikes to the summer games - but only as a race. i honestly for see the olympics taking on a lot more of the freestyle competitions which have a growing popularity, especially in our generation. I mean, who would've guessed there'd be a snowboarding half pipe competition in the olympics? I think that to draw an audience - if for no other reason - you'll start to see more sports like skateboarding and BMX starting to arrive in the olympics. Now if street luge, roller blading, and flugtag make it... i'll be scared.
  • edited August 2008
    Olympic capture the flag. Come on.
  • edited August 2008
    Gasp! Olympic Night Banana!
  • edited August 2008
    YES!
  • edited August 2008
    The big screens and home broadcasts would have night vision so you could see all the players! Best of three rounds! It would take hours. Wonderful, glorious hours.

    Someone start a petition.
  • edited August 2008
    What the hell is night banana?
  • edited August 2008
    sorry dude, first rule of night banana is... well... you know... can't really talk about it.
  • edited August 2008
    Wait, by telling us what the first rule is, aren't you breaking the first rule?
  • edited August 2008
    i didn't say what the first rule was or was not... just that i can't really talk about it.
  • edited August 2008
    The official wording of the rule is as follows:

    "Those knowledgeable about the inner workings and basic framework of Night Banana are forbade from revealing said attributes in candid discussion to those not yet informed, except to explain that they cannot reveal said attributes in candid discussion. The first rule may be recited or printed for digestion by said uninformed to help elaborate on this restriction."
  • edited August 2008
    Mish42 wrote: »
    Fuck, those 12 year olds were really good. I'm not ashamed.

    I felt bad for the one girl on the U.S. team who kept messing up though. I only watched a few of the events, including the trials the other day... I saw her mess up in just about everything I saw her do. She must feel horrible :(

    Yeah, Geoff, Kyle and myself watched a bit of that at trivia on Tuesday...

    I have mixed feelings about gymnastics in the olympics.

    On one hand, I understand that gymnasts reach their peak at a very young age...but on the other hand, I think that people under 18 shouldn't be allowed to compete.

    Don't get me wrong, all of those girls are amazing at what they do. I just think they are too young. That's too much pressure to put on kids.
  • edited August 2008
    iwas paraphrasing, which hopefully you all now appreciate, given that mine was much easier to read. so... like i said...

    can't really talk about it.
  • edited August 2008
    I want to see Moon Olympics. Basketball would be awesome.
  • edited August 2008
    hmm... lemme try that on...
    Winter Games 2014: The Moon... in space.

    yea, i'm comfortable with it.
  • edited August 2008
    Serephel wrote: »
    America sure as hell isn't clean with its hundreds of athletes that have been caught doping. I'm just presenting both sides of the argument.

    The thing that irks me though is that there's really nothing that can be done about what the Chinese are doing. People that dope get caught all the time and it's hardly endorsed by the national government, it's one person deciding that winning no matter what is better than an equal test of skills. But with China, all we can do is say, "Gee, she looks a little young". Then the government pulls out documents that could be forged just as easily as they could be legit, says, "You're wrong", and that's that, end of discussion. And with them winning the gold it's not like they're gonna stop anytime soon.
  • edited August 2008
    We are cleaning up in medals today! We took Gold and Silver in Women's Individual All-around gymnastics, which China has been dominating so far this year. And we are collecting swimming medals like we invented the sport.
  • edited August 2008
    This is what makes the Olympics amazing. China and US win lots and lots of golds, but stories like these are so much better.

    Afghan medalist wins a house, cheers from country
    KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -Noor Ahmad Gayezabi said a silent prayer while watching the small family TV with his 13-year-old son. "Help Nikpai. Help Nikpai. Help Afghanistan.''

    Then he watched his country win its first-ever Olympic medal.

    Rohullah Nikpai defeated world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain on Wednesday to earn the bronze medal in the men's under 58-kilogram taekwondo competition, sparking applause, wide smiles and laughter in homes, restaurants and ice cream parlors around the country.

    "When I saw that he won, I jumped up and hugged and kissed my son,'' Gayezabi said. "I was crying.''

    President Hamid Karzai immediately called to congratulate Nikpai. He also awarded him a house at the government's expense, said Humayun Hamidzada, the president's spokesman.

    "I hope this will send a message of peace to my country after 30 years of war,'' Nikpai said.

    The victory led all of Afghanistan's evening newscasts.

    "I am so happy. I cannot express my feelings in words,'' said Mohammad Akbar, 33, who watched on a TV at his Kabul pharmacy. "While I was watching the match I was clapping I was so happy.''

    Nikpai, who is 21, started learning the Korean martial art when he was 10 because his brother had found a club in Kabul to train. Not only was it an escape from the daily rigors of life in a country that not been at peace since the 1970s, he turned out to be good at it.

    Exceptionally good.

    When Gayezabi met Nikpai, they were both living at a refugee camp in Iran during the years of war that embroiled Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s. The two competed together on a refugee taekwondo team.

    Nikpai came to Kabul four years ago, Gayezabi said. In the mornings he lifted weights and in the evenings he practiced martial arts. In between he earned money cutting hair as a barber.

    With success came better training conditions. After being selected for the national team six months ago, he was able to use a special gymnasium.

    But in a country where sports take a distant place behind the realities of war, few resources are dedicated to training athletes.

    "My training situation is a lot like the situation in my country,'' Nikpai said. "It's not good.''

    Gayezabi had a lucky few hours of electricity that allowed him to watch his former teammate's victory. He feared he would only be able to listen on the radio since Kabul averages about four hours of municipal electricity a day.

    "I was crying because I was remembering back when we were both on the Afghan refugee taekwondo team in Iran,'' Gayezabi said.

    Only four Afghan athletes came to Beijing, representing a country that had never won an Olympic medal and is sinking ever deeper into war as the Taliban insurgency escalates.

    Sprinter Robina Muqimyar - who in 2004 broke the gender barrier on the Afghan Olympic team - was last in a field of 85 women in the 100 meters, with a time of 14.80. She ran with a scarf covering her head.

    Teammate Massoud Azizi finished 76th in the men's 100. He trains in Kabul's National Stadium, where the Taliban once staged regular public executions, wearing jogging shoes because his spikes won't dig into the track's cracked, concrete surface.

    But Nikpai, who is 21, has claimed a spot among his sport's elite.

    Afghanistan will get another chance at a medal in taekwondo. Nesar Ahmad Bahave is competing in a heavier weight class.

    Hussein Rachmati, a taekwondo teacher who works in the gym where Nikpai trains, said Nikpai prepared for the Olympics with a Korean teacher. He placed second in the World Taekwondo Federation's qualifying event in Vietnam last year.

    Afghans gathered around an ice cream shop TV in Kabul broke out in wide smiles and passed around congratulations to one another after watching Nikpai's win, said Abdul Wafi, a 28-year-old university student.

    "It is wonderful that an Afghan athlete can win a medal in the world Olympics,'' said Wafi. "It is a great achievement for Afghanistan.''

    The top U.N. official in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said the Olympic win shows that Afghanistan can compete on the global stage against the world's best athletes.

    "Young people should draw hope and inspiration from this Olympic win,'' Eide said in a statement. "Today, Afghanistan has demonstrated that it can and will succeed in the face of adversity with the determination, commitment and hard work of its most precious resource - the young people of Afghanistan.''

    Along with the president's offer of a house, Nikpai's bronze medal comes with a cash prize.

    Ehsanullah Bayat, chairman of the Afghan Wireless Communication Company, earlier announced that he would award any Afghan athlete who won an Olympic bronze $10,000, along with $50,000 for a gold medal and $25,000 for a silver, said Khalid Andisha, a spokesman for AWCC.

    "It is a great victory for Afghanistan,'' said Mohammad Sukran, an 18-year-old student. "In a country like Afghanistan, the only thing we hear about all the time is violence and fighting. This is finally good news for Afghanistan.''