Summer Olympics: Beijing, China

[myrosiedog]

Originally Posted by FireWoman

You can buy a DVD of highlighs (at least) at : 2008 Beijing Olympics Store: Olympic T-shirts, Hats, Pins & More - Official NBC Universal Olympic Store

NBC is selling the 4 hour 2 DVD set of the opening ceremonies on their website.

Coventry goes to Auburn University and I think she was the SEC champion last year.

[Google]

 

[canadian_angel]

I just wish Canada would do something and finally get a medal. Even.. one.... I know the winter olympics are usually where we do a lot better, but still. This is pretty bad!

[FireWoman]

Originally Posted by canadian_angel

I just wish Canada would do something and finally get a medal. Even.. one.... I know the winter olympics are usually where we do a lot better, but still. This is pretty bad!

They did

Originally Posted by canuckinchile
Woot! Canada FINALLY got on the board with a gold in women's wrestling and a silver in the men's pairs in rowing.

Let's also add a Bronze in Women's Wrestling! Looks like the 8th day of the Olympics turned out to be a lucky day indeed!

[Critical]

I was surprised that Spitz became a little more gracious about Phelps. It might be that he started getting a whiff of the bad press and is trying to repair his already not-so-great reputation. On a side note, my boss told me the other day that her sister went out with Mark Spitz. When I asked her for details, she told me that one date was enough for her sis: he was an arrogant jerk over 30 years ago too!

I'm still in disbelief over the match between James Blake and Fernando Gonzalez from Chile. The fact that the ball clearly hit Gonzalez' racket and he didn't call it on himself is unforgivable. There's a column on Yahoo's official Olympic page with quotes from Blake (Blake calls poor sportsmanship on Gonzalez - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports ) and it's just shameful. Blake is right on when he talks about how tennis is supposed to be a gentleman's sport and, while the excitement of the event might get away from you at an event like the US Open, this is the Olympics and Gonzalez should have done the right thing. It's pretty clear Gonzalez absolutely knew the ball hit his racket. What a loser.

Nice to see Federer take the doubles gold. I do like him a lot and I hope he gets back his mojo. He's too young to have his game start failing him like this.

I'm watching the US men's basketball team play Spain right now. Good game! [[The game is over already - the US won 119-82 - but I'm still enjoying watching!]]

[fluff]

Originally Posted by Critical

I'm still in disbelief over the match between James Blake and Fernando Gonzalez from Chile. The fact that the ball clearly hit Gonzalez' racket and he didn't call it on himself is unforgivable. There's a column on Yahoo's official Olympic page with quotes from Blake (Blake calls poor sportsmanship on Gonzalez - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports ) and it's just shameful. Blake is right on when he talks about how tennis is supposed to be a gentleman's sport and, while the excitement of the event might get away from you at an event like the US Open, this is the Olympics and Gonzalez should have done the right thing. It's pretty clear Gonzalez absolutely knew the ball hit his racket. What a loser.

I LOVE James Blake and was so disappointed he was knocked out by Gonzales. I was so pissed off that Gonzales didn't acknowledge that the ball hit his racket.

I'm going to console myself by staring at this picture for a couple of hours.

[Critical]

He is so pretty. I was bummed when he cut off his dreds a few years ago, but I'm totally over that.

[canadian_angel]

Originally Posted by FireWoman

They did

Finally! I noticed they did after I made my post They certainly haven't peaked performed though.

[Bearcata]

I just checked out the womens all around result finals for gymnastics and Oksana Chusovitina, who is 33 yrs old and was on the German team and formerly on the Uzbekistan team placed 9th overall with a score of 60.125. I think it is fantastic that a women of her age can complete at that level with girls that are all basically old enough to be her children.

There is one thing I really missed in the all around finals, the programming used to be a bit more fair and showed other gymnasts, after all 24 women were competing but as far as NBC was concerned it was the Shawn and Nastia show. I think if NBC could have eliminated showing the Chinese women they would have. There was so much empty wasted time during the 3 hours it took to air this event where all the cameras did was show shots of the American and Chinese competitors and their coaches just waiting around, with their eyes closed and focusing on their routines. Yeah really exciting TV. I really wanted to see some of the other women. Routines are only 90 seconds to a 1 minute long and NBC only showcased 4 women that's alot of filler (4 routines per 4 girls at 1 minute each is 16 minutes) that could have been brilliantlly filled by viewing other athletes instead of listening to the constant dribble coming out of some of the commentators mouths. Once every 4 yrs do we, the viewing audience, gets a chance to see the top gymnast of the world. NBC seriously needs to address the Olympic credo and realize that there are other countries in the world besides the United States.

[sukee]

That is what I like about the CBC coverage, they show sports with other countries competing, even if there are no Canadians.
I do wish they would show less basketball and soccer though. I want to see some sports that aren't on TV all the time.

Originally Posted by Bearcata

I just checked out the womens all around result finals for gymnastics and Oksana Chusovitina, who is 33 yrs old and was on the German team and formerly on the Uzbekistan team placed 9th overall with a score of 60.125. I think it is fantastic that a women of her age can complete at that level with girls that are all basically old enough to be her children.

There is one thing I really missed in the all around finals, the programming used to be a bit more fair and showed other gymnasts, after all 24 women were competing but as far as NBC was concerned it was the Shawn and Nastia show. I think if NBC could have eliminated showing the Chinese women they would have. There was so much empty wasted time during the 3 hours it took to air this event where all the cameras did was show shots of the American and Chinese competitors and their coaches just waiting around, with their eyes closed and focusing on their routines. Yeah really exciting TV. I really wanted to see some of the other women. Routines are only 90 seconds to a 1 minute long and NBC only showcased 4 women that's alot of filler (4 routines per 4 girls at 1 minute each is 16 minutes) that could have been brilliantlly filled by viewing other athletes instead of listening to the constant dribble coming out of some of the commentators mouths. Once every 4 yrs do we, the viewing audience, gets a chance to see the top gymnast of the world. NBC seriously needs to address the Olympic credo and realize that there are other countries in the world besides the United States.

[Florimel]

I do not now think, nor have I ever thought, that Mark Spitz is an "arrogant jerk." I never knew him personally, but I know a couple of people who did years ago, and neither of them had a bad word to say about him. What he did still commands my respect and admiration, as does what Phelps has done. Spitz will still have one accomplishment MIchael doesn't in that Mark set a world record in every event in which he competed, while Michael just missed it in last night's fly final. I hope the team helps him complete his goal of eight golds in the medley relay.

Mark was completely gracious and articulate in his interview last night. I still absolutely agree that he should have been invited to the games and I was delighted to see Bob Costas, whom I think is one of the sports world's finest and most knowledgeable sports journalists, interhim. Those who disagree are entitled to their own opinions.