Summer Olympics: Beijing, China

[misskitty]

I thought we should have a thread to discuss the Olympic sports, security, smog, terrorism and the hopes and dreams of our athletes.

OPENING CEREMONIES are on Friday! Will you be watching?

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Official website is: http://en/beijing2008.cn

[Google]

 

[femme fatale]

The games haven't officially started, but Sweden's women football (soccer) team lost their first game against China . 2-1.

Not the best start for us, althought I must admit I don't have any high hopes for the Swedish Olympic team, many have withdrawn or are injured so my hopes are low. I hope I'll be pleasantly surprised!

[misskitty]

Canada beats Argentina 2-0
GO CANADA!

The Canadian women's soccer team won its debut Wednesday at the 2008 Beijing Games, defeating Argentina 2-1 in Group E action at Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium.


Defender Candace Chapman, of Ajax, Ont., gave Canada its first goal in the 27th minute, while Oakville, Ont., native Kara Lang added the winner with a great header off a free kick in the 72nd minute.

Ludmila Manicler scored the lone goal for Argentina in the 85th minute.

The win also came at a price for the Canadian team. Forward Melissa Tancredi, who scored four goals in April's Olympic qualifying tournament, left the field on a stretcher in the 19th minute after she appeared to suffer a leg injury in a collision with Argentine defender Gabriela Chavez.

She returned to the field less than three minutes later, but was eventually forced to leave in the 42nd minute.

Soccer is the only sport starting play before the Olympic opening ceremonies on Friday. The top two teams in each of the three Olympic groups advance to the quarter-finals, with the next two best teams squeezing into contention.

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Canada now faces host team China on Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 6:45 a.m. ET).

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Canada beats Argentina 2-0 - Yahoo! Canada News

[misskitty]

Originally Posted by femme fatale

The games haven't officially started, but Sweden's women football (soccer) team lost their first game against China . 2-1.

Not the best start for us, althought I must admit I don't have any high hopes for the Swedish Olympic team, many have withdrawn or are injured so my hopes are low. I hope I'll be pleasantly surprised!

Sorry your team lost. Our women's team just won, but face China next. We'll see what happens.

Yes, we have already lost a few great athletes to injuries as well! I can't imagine how bad those athletes feel; training for so long and then not being able to compete.

[Newfherder]

I used to be an Olympic fanatic, but I just can't work up any enthusiasm for the Olympics any more Most of the sports bore me to tears, and I'm not going to re-arrange my life to catch the one or two track events that sort of interest me.

Wake me when the Winter Games roll around so that I can watch the biathlon and cross-country skiing

[VeronicaBelle27]

Olympic Fanatic Here!

Just checking into this thread to see what's going on... I really wish they would televise everything. With 500 + channels on my cable, why can't one of them be 24-hours Olympics, news, events, bios, games, trials, prelims???

Why???

[myrosiedog]

I AM still an Olympic fanatic!!! I still am upset that Hurricane Charley hit the day the Greece Olympics opened in 2004 and I missed the first 4 days of coverage including my all time favorite: The opening ceremony.
I get all teary eyed and goose pimply when I see the parade of atheletes all in their country's "uniform" marching in behind their flags.
I also get the same way when a US athelete wins and they show the medal ceremony with the raising of the flags and the playing of the National Anthem.
I am a real Olympic geek.
I have been waiting for this all summer and I purposely made no plans for Fri. night so I can watch the Opening ceremonies.
I know I will be glued to the tv for the next two weeks.

I adore the games and I watch everything. I really like gymnastics, swimming, diving and track and field. I like the equestrine events, but they never show those. Basketball, soccer, vollyball, meh, not so much.
I like the more individual events better.

Good luck everyone to your respective country's teams. I hope they all make respective showings and the atheletes suffer no more injuries.

ETA: Veronica, I feel the same way. Why can't they give us one dedicated channel for the entire length of the games. I'd watch as much as I could.

[Lois Lane]

Olympic nut here as well! During the Olympics--summer and winter--I don't like to go out. I'd rather stay home and watch the competitions. When I was younger I loved watching gymnastics and figure skating the most. As I grew older, my favorite meets to watch now are swimming and short track speed skating.
I'm with you all about the dedicated channel to the Olympics... Wouldn't it be wonderful to turn on one channel and at any time of the day or night, get to watch the Olympics?!!

Sigh...

[veejer]

If your cable or satellite provider carries the Canadian station, CBC, try checking it out for Olympic coverage. I know in the past we've seen events live on CBC that we had to wait until prime-time on the US station. Plus they seem to do more coverage of all the athletes in an event, not just the Americans and the front-runners.

[Lois Lane]

Originally Posted by veejer

Plus they seem to do more coverage of all the athletes in an event, not just the Americans and the front-runners.

Thanks for that tip, veejer. And can I just add that while I love rooting for the home team, I really do enjoy seeing other athletes compete as well--other than just the marquee ones. Sometimes the lesser known athletes exhibit the Olympic spirit more than the ones who are already making $5 million in endorsements. Don't get me wrong, I hope Michael Phelps gets his 8 gold medals. And not that Dara Torres is an unknown, but to me her accomplishment as a 40something mom competing in her 5th Olympics with a real shot at gold--well, that's something I want to watch even more.