I wish any athlete from any country to be admired for their excellence and commitment. I'd never wish any to lose. But I am proud to say I feel a special thrill when America wins. I am an American, Our athletes do it by choice or their families choice. Not taken as children because they are suited to it. But I was also thrilled for France when their men exceeded their usual best and won the gold. And Japan for getting the silver they rightfully won.
:applause: Well said, senpai! I'm really proud of our Canadian spirit as well. Even though we've only won four bronze, it's a big deal for us, and we're so proud of our athletes. It's tough competing against amazing powerhouses like China and the USA, so any win, whether it's a metal, or a personal best, is a wonderful celebration here. I really like the way our peeps are covering the Olympics!
Eve wrote:
Wow!!! What a night. The girls gymnastics and the swim relay were almost overwhelming. Crying all night.
Go USA!
Fa real! The Fab-Five were amazing!
We Canadians celebrated when we came in 5th! Considering we've never qualified before and we all thought we'd be eighth.
I am shocked that both China and Japan didn't make it to the podium. _________________
What's an Olympics without scandal? We've had doping, racism, and now players losing on purpose to secure a favourable draw for next round. It's been eventful so far for London 2012, that's for sure.
Eight badminton players disqualified for 'throwing games'
Eight badminton players at the London Olympics have been dramatically disqualified after being charged with trying to throw their matches.
The extraordinary move follows farcical scenes on Tuesday which led to the competitors being booed by spectators. All four pairs of female doubles players had already qualified for the next round and appeared to be trying to manipulate which team they would have to face in the quarter-finals.
The Badminton World Federation said early on Wednesday it had charged the players, from China, South Korea and Indonesia, with not using their best efforts to win a match and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport".
Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli, the Chinese top seeds, and their South Korean rivals, Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na, were booed on Tuesday as the players repeatedly hit shots wide or served into the net. The referee, Thorsten Berg, warned the players over their conduct.
The other match also involved a South Korean pair, Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, up against the Indonesians Meiliana Juahari and Greysia Polii. The Koreans eventually won by two sets to one.
Lord Coe attacked the performances, branding the behaviour "depressing" and "unacceptable", and asking: "Who wants to sit through something like that?" The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, meanwhile, said the crowd had "a right to feel very, very let down by what happened".
LOCOG, however, said it would not refund tickets for the matches. Paul Deighton, the chief executive, said spectators had been able to watch another match in the session adding: "You get in to all sorts of strange precedents if people aren't satisfied with what they see – it is very grey and dangerous territory."
South Korea's head coach, Sung Han-kook, blamed the Chinese for Tuesday's events. "If they played right, the Chinese team, this wouldn't happen," he said. "So we did the same."
The incidents prompted Gail Emms, the former British badminton star, to tell the BBC: "You cannot do this in an Olympic Games, this is something that is not acceptable �c it was just disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful."
Emms said that the potential for spot-fixing was raised in a manager's meeting on Monday but that the referee had dismissed their concerns.
"All the managers got together with the referee and said, 'look, this has happened; in Group D you will find some very dodgy matches going on in the evening because of it' and the referee laughed and said 'oh don't be silly'," she said. "And the managers said 'we know the game, we know the players and we know the teams and we know this is going to happen."
She added: "Badminton, in the Olympics and in all tournaments across the circuit, it's never played in a group stage, it's always a straight knockout system and for some reason they decided that the Olympic Games in 2012 should be this group stages.
"And as soon as I heard that I went 'it's going to bring up match fixing', that was my first thought, and lo and behold last night that is exactly what happened."
What's an Olympics without scandal? We've had doping, racism, and now players losing on purpose to secure a favourable draw for next round. It's been eventful so far for London 2012, that's for sure.
I couldn't believe this when I heard it on the news. How stupid of these players. What a shameful thing to do. And it adds to insult seeing that they didn't even hide the fact that they were cheating. As if they could get away from it. Shameful. _________________
Coach of Japan women�fs soccer team admits telling players not to win against South Africa
Following Tuesday�fs Olympic badminton scandal in which eight female doubles players were disqualified for trying to lose matches to rig a preferred place in the tournament, Japan women�fs soccer coach Norio Sasaki has admitted that he told his players not to win their final group-stage match against last-place South Africa. But instead of trying to lose, Sasaki, who led Japan to its first Women�fs World Cup title last year, merely wanted a draw, which Japan got when the match ended 0-0. This helped ensure that his side would finish second in Group F and remain in Cardiff for its quarterfinal match against Brazil instead of traveling 400 miles to Glasgow, where group winners Sweden will play its quarterfinal against France on Friday.
From the AP:
�gIt was a different way of playing compared to the usual game, but the players were on the same page as me,�h he said.
He said [he] introduced one striker, Yuki Ogimi, late in the match, so �gwe could take one goal back�h if South Africa, one of the weakest teams in the competition, was lucky enough to score.
�gI feel sorry we couldn�ft show a respectable game, but it�fs my responsibility, not the players�f, why the game was like that. It was important for us not to move to Glasgow.�h
FIFA has already announced that Japan will not be punished for this strategy, stating that �gthere are no sufficient elements to start disciplinary proceedings�h for �gunlawfully influencing match results.�h Strategically playing for a draw by taking up a more defensive approach (known as �gparking the bus�h) is a fairly common tactic, but one usually employed by weaker teams that can�ft compete with their opponents�f more dangerous attack. It is also one with which all managers do not agree.
Asked if she would ever have her team do as Japan did, U.S. coach Pia Sundhage was clear in her response. From the AP:
�gAbsolutely not. Never ever crossed my mind,�h coach Pia Sundhage said. �gBecause I think: Respect the game, respect this wonderful tournament and respect the team. �c We want to win. If we have that approach to every game, I think we�fre in the best mindset.�h
If Sasaki�fs strategizing pays off or backfires now that Japan must resume actually trying to win will determine whether that criticism quiets down or intensifies. Either way, a knockout match against Brazil is rarely something teams try to arrange.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:18 pm Post subject:
Some people ARE large, and some people LIVE large.
==================
15 Olympics Officials Spent $69,000 on Lunch in London
Thursday, August 2, 2012, by Gabe Ulla
Welcome to Receiptrocity, bringing you the strangest and most entertaining receipts America's restaurants have to offer. If you've got an interesting, notable or funny receipt, scan/photograph it and send it over to [email protected].
eater-receiptrocity-olympics-lunch.jpgA Reddit user (who has since deleted their account) posted a photo of this receipt and commented, "My friend's a waiter and this is a receipt for an official lunch for 15 Olympic Bosses in London. Now we see where all the money's going." While the authenticity of the receipt can't be verified, the total racks up to ��44,660.26 (about $6,9424.37), which works out to approximately ��2,977.35 (about $4,628.29 per person). Most of the stuff on the bill �\ ice cream, vegetable fried rice, fruits �\ isn't particularly exorbitant, especially for a party of that size.
But things do tend to get a little crazy when one decides to accompany all of that with a bottle of Hennessy 1853, priced at ��19,000. The post does not reveal the name of the restaurant.
It appears St. John's co-owner Trevor Gulliver was right when he said, "Every single sports federation across all sports across the world, every event organizer, politician, agent, sponsor, sponsors' client, sports lobbyist, celebrity �\ if they are on expenses �\ they will be here.
Finally the athletics programme gets underway. Now we've got Bolt to look forward to, and Blade Runner makes history!
Oscar Pistorius makes history as he finishes second in 400m heat
"Blade runner" Oscar Pistorius has made it through the opening round of the 400m heats in a season's best time, making history in the process as the first double amputee to compete in the Olympic Games.
Pistorius came second in the opening heat of the 400m in a time of 45.44sec, behind the Dominican runner Luguelín Santos, who finished in 45.04sec.
Pistorius has said many times that he considers himself the same as any other athlete, but the 80,000 pairs of eyes in the Olympic Stadium were only trained on one man.
Running in lane six, even his warm-up drew cheers from the crowd as he settled into his blocks. He accelerated into the second half of the race, before slowing at the finish as he realised he was in a position to qualify for Sunday's semi-finals.
"I was so nervous this morning," said Pistorius. "Thanks to everyone for showing their support. I didn't know whether to cry, I had a mixture of emotions. It was the most amazing experience."
The four-time Paralympic gold medallist became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympic Games following a long journey that involved not only the usual punishing training regime but also a lengthy court battle against his sport's governing body.
Other athletes have competed in both the Olympics and Paralympics before, the South African swimmer Natalie du Toit among them, but as the first to do so in track and field he has become one of the biggest stories of these Games.
South African journalists who have followed his career in exhaustive detail said he was unusually nervous ahead of his Olympic Games debut, despite having last year competed in the world championships in the 4x400m relay.
His inclusion in the South African team for the biggest stage of all, in both the 400m and the 4x400m relay team, inevitably reignited the debate about whether his carbon fibre blades give him any advantage.
A court of arbitration for sport ruling in 2008, overturning an earlier International Association of Athletic Federations ban, ruled definitively that they did not.
"I think often there's a lot of debate about the advantages, but there's not much said about the disadvantages," said Pistorius this week. "If this was such an amazing piece of equipment that's been around for 14 years, then how come thousands of other Paralympic athletes aren't breaking world records and challenging even a 45- or a 48- or a 49-second 400m?"
He also points out that he has been racing on the same set of blades for years and his times have improved through talent and dedication rather than technology.
Pistorius had his legs amputated at the age of 11 months having been born without fibulas in both. He was a keen rugby player.
However, it is only since missing out on the Beijing Games that he has applied himself to a rigorous training regime and his times have hugely improved.
Congrats to the American gymnast team and Gabrielle Douglas becoming the first black to take gold. Bulldogs to the myth that blacks can't do gymnastics. I am looking forward to see the Romanians make a comeback too.
Has anyone noticed one older woman (short crop) from the German team competing? I think her name is Okana. I was really speechless when I saw her on the balance beam. I dunno whether she has taken any 'supplements' to keep her form but my utmost respect to her for her tenacity. She would have retired if it hadn't been for her sick child. All the rest of the girls weren't even born when this lady started competing.
China's women team looked burnout. Nope, they didn't deserve to win. They should learn something from the Chinese diving team, totally unshakeable.
I used to find fencing cool....the garb and sabres flashing until i saw the new gear. Gosh, those aluminium foil-looking jackets and lights blinking over their heads make them look more like aliens......or Wall-E.
BY THE WAY, I KEEP GETTING MR BECKHAM ON THE TV SCREEN. ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO GET RID OF IT?
Is King Kohei gonna to appear on 1 jan 2013 (Red and White Song Fest)?
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玉木宏、藤木直人、佐藤健 
They should learn something from the Chinese diving team, totally unshakeable.
