Summer Olympics: Beijing, China

[CCL]

Originally Posted by Newfherder

That's nothing. Speedo offered me $5 million to never again wear their products in public. I turned them down, of course--I just look too darn good in Speedos

But of course, Newf!

Just finished watching the women's gymnastics on NBC (taped from yesterday). While I could see some of the announcers' points about some athletes getting scored too high I noticed that they (the announcers) were also very lax in pointing out any errors that the Americans made. When the Chinese athlete was up on the beam, for example, they kept talking about her balance checks, whereas when Shawn Johnson made a couple of balance checks, they didn't mention anything.
I was glad Nastia won the gold, however.

[Google]

 

[Broadway]

Originally Posted by Lois Lane

I hope he wins all the golds and can relax a little. Supposedly he won't be training again until Feb. so maybe he can take a vacation with his girlfriend and just have fun. He's said he wants to compete in the next Olympics in London as well. At this point, he's saying that he wants to try a few different races and it seems like that Olympics will be less about winning a certain number of gold medals...although as competitive as he is, who knows?

I do think he's at his peak now. At 27, I think he might be too "old" to compete at the same level as he is now and in so many races.

When's his last race? This Sunday? Or tomorrow?

His last race is Sunday, Beijing time... which means Saturday night for us.

Tonight's 7th goal was so controversial. WOW... I was so certain he was second, but FINA's review supported Phelps. I think I didn't trust it until I saw the underwater view and you could see that Cavic coasted in and touched the white portion above the black timing pad while Phelps got the pad directly. Cannot get any closer than 1/100th of a second! Amazing..

[PaleHeart]

OMG! OMG! OMG! I was on my feet (literally) the whole time, thinking he wasnt going to make it but he did!!! By 1/100th of a second?!?!? I am VERY ASTONISHED. OMG!!!!!! That was soooo amazing!

This will definately go down in history.

Phelps <3 <3 <3

[psycobabe007]

In regards to the judging for Gymnastics, there are quite a few people who are protesting the whole scoring system itself. Coaches and former gymnasts such as Shannon Miller have publicly protested the code of points that is currently in place. They feel that the new scoring system favors extreme difficulty over form and artistry, which would account for a lot of the discrepancies last night in the scoring and why the Chinese were able to win so many of the gymnastics events so far.

Michael Phelps was amazing tonight! This is why I love that man, lol! God blessed that boy with a body for swimming!!!

[fluff]

Originally Posted by CCL

Just finished watching the women's gymnastics on NBC (taped from yesterday). While I could see some of the announcers' points about some athletes getting scored too high I noticed that they (the announcers) were also very lax in pointing out any errors that the Americans made. When the Chinese athlete was up on the beam, for example, they kept talking about her balance checks, whereas when Shawn Johnson made a couple of balance checks, they didn't mention anything.
I was glad Nastia won the gold, however.

The commentators were so biased it actually spoiled my enjoyment of the competition.
I know they want to support their countrywomen, but it did get rather ridiculous, particularly after one of the Chinese women was scored too highly.
I ended up turning it over to the Canadian coverage.

[muslady]

Originally Posted by fan*addict

I was glad to see both go 1-2...and yes Nastia is graceful, Shawn powerful...great that two different "styles" were able to finish 1-2.....
P.S. I think she gets her graceful poise from her parents...it is the Russian influence in her gymnastics that makes her pleasing to watch!

ITA about the two different styles because I really didn't think either was better than the other just different. I truly enjoyed both equally well. However, Nastia did stick one more landing which probably accounted for the .600 of a point.

[muslady]

Originally Posted by mindy384

Well, tonight all the commentators mentioned more than once that the judging was biased... in fact one of them said in reference to one athlete's score (China) "that's wrong" and later "that's way too high." I wish that there was some recourse for Russia and Romania because that is just not fair.
What on earth is going on here... even little ol' me... non-gymnast and mere spectator..can see the discrepancies in the judging. Despite the outcome, I believe this should be looked into to prevent further problems...someone should let these judges know that they can't give/deduct points because they feel like it...especially when two people do similar routines with similar deductions and someone comes out points higher (do they think we are deaf and blind?). I am really shocked and I believe this only lends to the controversy surrounding the gymnastic portion of these olympics. What do you guys think? Anyone else notice this?

IMO as long as the events are subjective there is no way to keep the bias out of judging. I also feel the free world judges appear to be more fair than those of a dictatorship because they probably have to answer for the scores they give their own countrymen.

Unfortunately, there really is no way to put a clock on sports like gymnastics and ice skating. There will always be someone that thinks the other person should have won.

[Amy Lee]

Originally Posted by Lois Lane

I hope he wins all the golds and can relax a little. Supposedly he won't be training again until Feb. so maybe he can take a vacation with his girlfriend and just have fun.

That girlfriend better be me.
Anyway, I thought Shawn Johnson did better then Nastia 'lemon face' Luikin.

[Lois Lane]

Originally Posted by FireWoman

Last I heard he was single, hehe

Is everything I read in Sports Illustrated wrong? I swear... they said in a recent issue (last couple of weeks) that Phelps' girlfriend is a stunning dark haired beauty... Hey, I'm dark haired...and I've been known to stun some people... oh, they mean that other kind of stunning... Ha ha! Go get him FireWoman!

Originally Posted by Broadway

His last race is Sunday, Beijing time... which means Saturday night for us.

Thanks girl! You know where I'll be Saturday night!

I taped tonight's race and will be watching to see it. I always wondered why they coasted in instead of swimming all the way to the edge. Whenever I see them kind of coast, I wonder if someone will zoom past them...

Did anyone see Mark Spitz congratulating Phelps? It just aired about 20 minutes ago and he was very gracious in his interview from Detroit. The fact that it took 36 years to TIE his record shows what an awesome feat he really did achieve. He (Spitz) may come off like an arse sometimes, but he was very nice tonight. It looked like Michael might cry a little...an emotional time I am sure!

[Ellen]

Originally Posted by Amy Lee

That girlfriend better be me.

You saucy minx! Wentworth'd better not be reading this . . .