kenjilina wrote:i feel for victoria pendleton. she finished her magnificent cycling career yesterday with a silver(got a gold earlier in the week) but hardly gets a mention on the news as the press here are so wrapped up in our gold medal tally. :shakehead:
I read that she got booed by some of the crowd when she lost to Meares? That's a shame.
:omg: Italy beats US in men's volleyball
:finger_devil: Japan beats China in women's volleyball. Amazing. It has never happened before. So if Japan meets Brazil, it becomes David and Goliath match?
Glad to see the invincible divers from China overtaken. It has been a long wait since Greg Louganis's days. The German divers had horrific accidents. One landed on his back, the other dislocated his shoulder in the last dive (10m platform). Hope to see Martin Wolfram on the podium four years later (he scored over 90 points with a dislocated shoulder.....i say 'whoa !')
Brazil's loss to Russia in Men's volleyball was :smack:
The Spanish synchronised swimming team had one of the most memorable performances (i wonder still, why they didn't get the gold) :puppydog:
Glad the Queen wasn't around at the Closing Ceremony... :hehe:
Despite its waning popularity in the last 20 years, track and field--thankfully--still remains the crown jewel of the Olympics. In terms of drama, competition, emotion, and history athletics (what track and field is formally called) was pretty tough to beat.
Usainity--love him or hate him, he was the most charismatic athlete at these Games. And he produced. Big time.
It's always nice to see the home country's athletes do well, and the Brits have much to be proud of with the successes of its Olympic team. Something I found culturally striking was the wild adoration for its two most high-profile athletes: heptathlete Jessica Ennis,who is bi-racial, and distance runner Mo Farah, originally from Somalia. I think many Americans tend to think of Great Britain as this strictly homogeneous society, but it really isn't anymore.
Credit to NBC for providing a lot of coverage via numerous channels and media; big boos to NBC for its slavish overhyping re: U.S. men's basketball, U.S. women's soccer, U.S. girls gymnastics, U.S. swimmers, both male and female.
Top Five favorite sports that I watched:
1. Track and Field
2. Weightlifting
3. Team Handball
4. Water Polo
5. Rowing
Honorable mentions: archery, fencing, beach volleyball
Re: Closing Ceremonies--it was supposed to highlight the greatness of British popular music. So to not even acknowledge the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, never mind Elton John, Van Morrison, or Sarah Brightman (who incidentally, has performed at two Olympic Games) . . . wtf.
Getting back to the sports themselves: Each Olympic Games provides its own special imprint. Of the four summer Olympics held this century, I enjoyed watching this one the most.
^ Re: Insane Dolt, er, Usain Bolt... I'm glad he's not an American runner or we'd have to suffer multiple, brain-numbing news cycles about him, a la Michael Phelps 2008... :bleh:
I'd have to say I'm most happy to see Allyson Felix get her gold in the 200m as well as in the two relays (4x100, 4x400)... Most deserving. :applaud:
bmwracer wrote:^ Re: Insane Dolt, er, Usain Bolt... I'm glad he's not an American runner or we'd have to suffer multiple, brain-numbing news cycles about him, a la Michael Phelps 2008... :bleh:
It does get tiresome listening to him praise himself. But his track accomplishments are "insane": six for six in Olympic finals and holds both the world and Olympic records for all three events he runs in. Plus the guy makes 20 million dollars a year and celebrates his 100 meter victory by partying with three gals from the Swedish bikini team--er, I mean the Swedish team handball team.
bmwracer wrote:I'd have to say I'm most happy to see Allyson Felix get her gold in the 200m as well as in the two relays (4x100, 4x400)... Most deserving. :applaud:
So you don't hold it against her that she's a USC grad? :hehe:
Did you know that Allyson Felix is a valley girl? Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, she was a child prodigy in track. Hopefully her career will not follow that of another SoCal child prodigy, Marion Jones.
shin2 wrote:So you don't hold it against her that she's a USC grad? :hehe:
Every person has a dark side. :mrgreen:
Did you know that Allyson Felix is a valley girl? Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, she was a child prodigy in track. Hopefully her career will not follow that of another SoCal child prodigy, Marion Jones.
I hear ya... I think she's clean, though... 'SC grad notwithstanding. :hehe:
I perceive an honesty, humility, and down-to-earth-ness about her... Again, 'SC grad notwithstanding. :rofl:
Only a handful of doping scandals.....could it be the laboratories for testing have caught up with the latest doping technology or the doping techniques have become increasingly untraceable ?
still the feel good factor here in the uk. these olympics have done us good in these hard times. initial criticism has turned to praise for the games. paralympics still to come. :mrgreen:
Eyeyore wrote:Only a handful of doping scandals.....could it be the laboratories for testing have caught up with the latest doping technology or the doping techniques have become increasingly untraceable ?
kenjilina wrote:still the feel good factor here in the uk. these olympics have done us good in these hard times. initial criticism has turned to praise for the games. paralympics still to come. :mrgreen:
I thought the UK did a fabulous job at these Games. We enjoyed all of it thoroughly. I didnt have time to do anything but watch the games while they were going on. Other than some occasional work, LOL!
Well I enjoyed watching the Olympics despite NBC. I describe their coverage as choppy, they went from one thing to another. At times it just didn't flow well for me. Then there is the interrupting coverage to air their shows. :sweat:
Of course, the sweetheart of these games was Aly Raisman. But Kayla Harrison should get mentioned as well. Kayla is the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in judo and she overcame the abuse she suffered from her former coach. :applaud:
Jav_sol wrote:Well I enjoyed watching the Olympics despite NBC. I describe their coverage as choppy, they went from one thing to another. At times it just didn't flow well for me. Then there is the interrupting coverage to air their shows. :sweat:
Of course, the sweetheart of these games was Aly Raisman. But Kayla Harrison should get mentioned as well. Kayla is the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in judo and she overcame the abuse she suffered from her former coach. :applaud:
I thought their coverage was better than usual. It has been terrible in the past. At least they showed sports and not those lame "Olympic Moments". I was expecting them to almost ruin the events.
And I thought Kayla deserved a lot more exposure too.
Many people were complaining that unless you had the channels in your subscription/package you couldn't see them. That includes online as well. In the past all those channels opened up for everyone during the Olympics.
I thought the UK did a fabulous job at these Games. We enjoyed all of it thoroughly. I didnt have time to do anything but watch the games while they were going on. Other than some occasional work, LOL!
i think we even surprised ourselves! not sure how the olympic lanes(traffic lanes for athletes and olypmic officials only) went down in london though but as i don't live there i don't care! :hehe:
If you are a British, this is something I wanna share:
People in China were asked how they feel about the Olympics in London. A Chinese journalist replied," In the Beijing Olympics, China showed the world that she is strong. In London Olympics, Great Britain made the world feel she is strong."
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