Summer Olympics: Beijing, China

[psycobabe007]

Originally Posted by MsDiva2007

Actually China is the one that feels anything less than gold is not good enough. The China team had some sort of directive that Gold is the only medal of importance.

China is definitely a country who instills a value that if it is not the best than you have failed. I think in America we are people that will cherish any medal no matter what. Look at the Mens gymnastics team, who was not expected to medal at all and they walked away with the Bronze! They were ecstatic about it and I was too!

Women's Gymnastics just came out with the Silver and congrats to them! I know they were probably looking for the Gold but it was a tough competition and a great competition at that!

[Google]

 

[MsDiva2007]

Originally Posted by psycobabe007

China is definitely a country who instills a value that if it is not the best than you have failed. I think in America we are people that will cherish any medal no matter what. Look at the Mens gymnastics team, who was not expected to medal at all and they walked away with the Bronze! They were ecstatic about it and I was too!

Women's Gymnastics just came out with the Silver and congrats to them! I know they were probably looking for the Gold but it was a tough competition and a great competition at that!

yes China calls it Project 119. There are 119 Gold medals up for grabs and China has had Project 119 as their goal for the olympics.

[Critical]

Can we please slap a gag on Al Trautwig? I can hardly watch the gymnastics what with him yammering on and spouting those inane sound bites. The guy was a skier. What the hell is he doing commentating gymnastics. I remember hating him back in '84 when they had him covering volleyball and he kept asking about the rules of the game.

John Tesh was a weird choice for commentating gymnastics years ago, but at least he knew when to keep his mouth shut.

I just got to see that 4 x 200 freestyle relay and, yeah, it was pretty funny that they had to pan back so far to get all of the swimmers in the frame. I'm glad they won, but I like it when the race is closer, like the relay the other night.

It seems like China needs a little refresher on the Olympic creed:
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."


I love watching all of the sports, but I'm getting excited for Track & Field to start!

[CrossingGuard]

I love Nastia! I don't know why I do, but she's my favorite out of all the women on USA's female gymnast team. Even though I made fun of her name earlier (which I later found out is a nickname for "Anastasia"), I think she's great at what she does.

I feel terrible for Alicia Sacramone. Her two falls were what contributed the most to Team USA's loss. But what can ya do, mistakes happen. All 3 girls that participated in the floor exercise (Alicia, Nastia, & Shawn) stepped out of bounds, so it's not only Alica that made mistakes. And they still got silver, which is great!

[CrossingGuard]

^Actually, I was wrong. If you add the Alicia's .9 deduction (.8 for the fall and .1 for stepping out of the border) with Nastia and Shawn's deductions (.1 for both for stepping out), you get 1.1. That still wouldn't make up for the points that China had on Team USA at the end (they beat them by 2.375 points). So Team USA was still going to get the silver even without the deductions.

But I still fell horrible for Alicia. I think she feels that it was her own fault that her team lost. Andrea Joyce later interviewed Alicia, and Andrea wouldn't stop bringing up the fact that she fell twice. With almost every question, Andrea brought it up, saying, "So how do you fell about falling on the beam? What about the time you fell on your back during the floor exercise? And what about stepping out of the boundary?" And then later on when she interviewed the whole team, she brought up Alicia's deductions again. Alicia looked like she was going to cry.


ETA: lol, I just found this...



Hooray for USA domination!

[Bunny555]

Originally Posted by CrossingGuard

I feel terrible for Alicia Sacramone. Her two falls were what contributed the most to Team USA's loss. But what can ya do, mistakes happen. All 3 girls that participated in the floor exercise (Alicia, Nastia, & Shawn) stepped out of bounds, so it's not only Alica that made mistakes. And they still got silver, which is great!

Since I don't know a lot about gymnastics, let alone floor exercises I was wondering if points are deducted for not using the entire floor? The US girls stepped out of bounds but they used that entire floor while the Chinese did not.

On another note, Mark Spitz has a beef with the Olympics:

Mark Spitz is miffed at Beijing snub | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Everybody in the pool -- not so fast, Mark Spitz.


Spitz is miffed that he wasn't officially invited to Beijing to witness Michael Phelps' assault on his record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics.

"I never got invited," he told Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong. "You don't go to the Olympics just to say, 'I am going to go.' Especially because of who I am. I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously? That's almost demeaning to me. It is not almost -- it is."

Spitz, 58, accomplished his feat swimming in the Munich Games in 1972.

"They voted me one of the top five Olympians in all time," said Spitz, a stockbroker. "Some of them are dead. But they invited the other ones to go to the Olympics, but not me. Yes, I am a bit upset about it."

Earlier this month, asked about going to Beijing, Spitz told the Free Press:

"During the course of the first couple of days of the Olympics, I'm in Hong Kong. And then I have to go back to the States because I have some business, and then I'm off to Detroit. That's where I'll be. My son is in a basketball tournament there and my wife and I will be there for that."

[sukee]

Originally Posted by MsDiva2007

Actually China is the one that feels anything less than gold is not good enough. The China team had some sort of directive that Gold is the only medal of importance.

Quite a few athletes from quite a few countries seem to think if they don't win a gold medal they have lost. I have a feeling that if Michael Phelps does not get 8 gold medals he will feel like he failed. The American women gymnasts were very upset they were not getting gold. I saw an Australian weight lifter crying because she didn't get gold but got silver. I know most countries do pay athletes who win gold so I guess that is one motivation.

They should all take a page from the guy who won the first ever Olympic for his country, he was overjoyed with bronze.

The fans don't seem to care, they cheer whichever medal their athletes get.

[dagwood]

Originally Posted by Critical

Can we please slap a gag on Al Trautwig? I can hardly watch the gymnastics what with him yammering on and spouting those inane sound bites. The guy was a skier. What the hell is he doing commentating gymnastics. I remember hating him back in '84 when they had him covering volleyball and he kept asking about the rules of the game.

Is he the idiot that was so negative about all the routines? The one that stands out was the disaster remark when Alicia fell on the floor. I wanted to deck him.


I felt bad for Alicia. Especially after the floor routine and she went off by herself for a second. She was sitting there with her head in her hands trying not to cry and the damn camera had to be right in her face. Leave the girl alone for a minute. I didn't see the interview, CrossingGuard, but that has to be the stupidest question. What is she supposed to say? I feel great? It's like the reporters who interview people who have been in disasters or had relatives killed and ask "How are you feeling right now?"

[sukee]

I was watching on CBC, I think they use the US feed. I was very annoyed that the camera kept trying to get in as close as possible to see the woman cry...

Originally Posted by dagwood

Is he the idiot that was so negative about all the routines? The one that stands out was the disaster remark when Alicia fell on the floor. I wanted to deck him.


I felt bad for Alicia. Especially after the floor routine and she went off by herself for a second. She was sitting there with her head in her hands trying not to cry and the damn camera had to be right in her face. Leave the girl alone for a minute. I didn't see the interview, CrossingGuard, but that has to be the stupidest question. What is she supposed to say? I feel great? It's like the reporters who interview people who have been in disasters or had relatives killed and ask "How are you feeling right now?"

[myrosiedog]

I've been amazed at all the camaras surrounding the gymnasts. You can see dozens of camaramen in the background as they try to get in the athelets resting area. It's disgusting.

I'm still scratching my head why ABC has Chris Collingsworth, an American Football commentator working the games. Even he had the grace and humor to admit he's at a loss because he knows football.