The 2004 Summer Olympics From Athens, Greece

[Mariner]

didn't they beat Iraq??

Yep. Iraq plays in the bronze medal game.

[QuinntheEskimo]

Are you kidding? Probably the reason it's not getting coverage in the states, is because the US is not in the competition. Let's face it, in every country they tend to show quite a bit of the home athletes, but I feel like NBC goes overboard just a tad. The baseball is fine as it is, and has gotten quite a bit of coverage elsewhere in the world.

No, i'm not kidding... and i dont think the IOC is kidding either when they say there is a very good possibility that baseball wont see the 2008 Olympics. Maybe basbeall is being covered- 4 am on msnbc? good time slot for it really- as the better quality of play is on later in the day when the Little League World Series resumes...

i'm impressed with the NBC coverage so far! Outside of the prime time- 8p-12m show which is all American interest sports... any other time of the day (msnbc, bravo) is very rarely showcasing an American participant. Considering they are airing 1200 hours of coverage- they would be hard pressed not to show every event in some capacity.

eta- quick research- IOC gave a temporary reprieve to baseball and softball in May and extended them thru 2008- Beijing.
Found a little something that explains why the IOC wants to axe baseball-
"the International Olympic Committee reared its sleazy, scandalous head once more, this time proposing to drop baseball and softball, as well as the modern pentathlon, from the Summer Olympics beginning in 2008... 'It’s all financial,' Marquess (former USA coach) said. 'They want the best players, and they’re not getting the best players.' Basically, the Olympics wants to be able to market the very best athletes in each sport, and Major League Baseball, unlike professional basketball and hockey, has not made it feasible for its players to participate."

i'm a bit bitter- i guess- I want to see our national pastime continue to be globalized- however our game still lacks a quality World Tournament- and this could be the only venue for some years to come- and its a shame the world's only baseball tourney is played at such a low level!

[Lucynda]

We have two networks covering the olympics here. One is commerical and tends to just show the sports we are in or the big name sports like the 100mtrs and well most of the athletics and the highlights of other things. The non commercial station shows the other sports that we dont have a competitor in, such as the handball and volleyball and table tennis and the full length games that we may have a competitor in but the commercial station only plays the last few minutes of like the soccer, hockey and baseball, unless its for a gold medal and then they both play the whole thing. The only problems we are having is with the time difference so we missed some sports and the commerical station which has it on all day and night tend to replay the same things over and over and over. The non commerical station has it on from about 8:30pm
Basically what I am trying to say is that I think we are getting a pretty good coverage of all sports even if we are not in them, which is very different from previous years.

[coksy]

The floor is the best apparatus to perform on, so I'm amazed that they didn't show any men on it. I saw a few of the routines, was Carly the only one to perform on floor? And it seemed to me that CBC didn't even show any gymnastics at all, unless I completely missed it. Anyone know if they did?

They also showed the Romanian who won the gold on floor. I don't know about CBC but SRC didn't show any of it. Both of these networks are not big on showing gymnastics, so I'm not surprised that they didn't show the gala as it is not a "competition"



As for the coverage, I really appreciated the gymnastics' coverage (besides for the gala). I don't know if they would have shown as much had the USA not been as competitive as they were this year though. As for the two canadian networks (CBC and SRC) They tried to cover everything, but only in small parts, except for the swimming, track and field and the few events where we have a chance of medalling. When canadians are participating but not doing well, the event gets some coverage and the canadians way too much since they are not doing well (Like the qualification night of gymnastics, where we saw every canadian routines and about 2-3 of the top countries routines.) Sorry for talking about gymnastics so much, but that is the only sport I truly watched so that's the one I use to compare stations.

We also have 2 sports networks (one french, one english) that cover a bit of the Olympics. I don't know about TSN, but RDS mostly shows Baseball, Softabll, Soccer and other such sports.

[fluff]

It was sad to see Allen Johnson crash out of the 110m hurdles in the semi last night.
I was hoping he'd at least medal and preferably, although unlikely, win

[leeinsmyrna]

The mens basketball team beat Spain!

[fluff]

The sprint relays heats have begun.
I love relays

The US women absolutely smoked the opposition in their heat.
They finished nearly a second and a half ahead.

[combatcutie]

Congratulations to the US Women's soccer team

Just won the Gold medal in over time against Brazil 2-1

Way to go US

[pineapple]

Congrats on 2 more medals for Canada!
Silver in mountain biking for Marie-Helene Premont
Bronze in kayaking for Adam van Koeverden

[DJeterFan]

pineapple, is the medal count for Canada in your signature for the swim team or the entire team??