Olympics Discussion Thread

[Winston]

Jacques Rogge will probably feel compelled to declare Athens 2004 the best kept secret ever.

[SpencerH]

next stupid comment during the womens beach volleyball (it may have been bob costas I'm not sure)

on the advantages of beach volleyball:

"a lot of countries dont have that many volleyball players, especially the cold weather countries"

[Alexander's Horse]

Australia is having a great Olympics - we were actually first on the medal tally for about 10 minutes on Tuesday afternoon

Congrats to the US swim team on winning the 4x200 mens relay.

[Lung]

Yeah, the Aussies are going great My earliest memories of the Olympics were of Montreal amd me saying to my mum "Why doesn't Australia win anything??".

Sure, the East Germans won about 50 gold thanks to drugs, but we were truly crap back then

Thorpie's a true champion, knocking off Van Den Hoegaardenband () and that poser Phelps, although i must say, Phelps must be a hell of a swimmer to win anything with those wingnut ears of his causing all that drag

Watch for Jodie Henry to win the womens 100m freestyle and "Lethal" Leisel Jones to choke in the 200m breaststroke

As for the crowds, it was noted that in Sydney, Australians had to enter a ballot even to see a table tennis match between a Swede and a Mexican There was barely an event in Sydney that didn't require winning a ballot to get a ticket

[Imran Siddiqui]

Congrats to the US swim team on winning the 4x200 mens relay.

That was an amazing race, especially the last 50 meters with Thorpe trying to catch Keller.

My favorite moment though was in the Women's saber final, where Zagunis, who was in her first Olympics as an alternate ended up winning the gold. It was only because the Nigerians dropped out that there was a spot open allowing the 19 year old American to make the trip.

[Lung]

Thorpe would have caught him with another 10-20 metres, but Keller did come 4th in the 200m, so Thorpedo did well just to get as close as he did. I hate to say it, but the Yanks earned their gold in that race

[Jack_www]

Did you guys notice that no one in greece is showing up for the Olympics? I heard they were giving away tickets to get people to fill up the seats.

[Lung]

Just when the Greeks thought they had all the venues completed, no one bothered to come and fill them up! Every man and his dog tried to go to the olympics in Sydney. What's up with the Greeks??

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by Lung
Just when the Greeks thought they had all the venues completed, no one bothered to come and fill them up! Every man and his dog tried to go to the olympics in Sydney. What's up with the Greeks??

Explanation A: They are all on vacation somewhere else.

Explanation B: They are too busy trying to sell things to foreign visitors to actually attend themselves.

Explanation C: They will only bother turning up for finals, especially where Greek competitors have a chance of a medal.

Rip-off prices do seem to have kept foreign visitor numbers down though. Why pay that much when you can see far more on TV?

Actually I think this is good. My impression so far is that these games are much more about the athletes and competition than about promoting the host city/country or being purely commercially successful or about scoring political points.

[Sikander]

Greece is a small nation in terms of population, and relatively poor (compared to Australia or the U.S.). It seems that the tickets were priced too highly, and many people in Athens are away on holiday. Perhaps they could institute a program where anyone who bought a ticket at the regular price gets free admission to another event which is underattended.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Monk


That was Rikke Hørlykke, our delightful playmaker. She can actually be quite nice-looking under other circumstances.

I was actually a little turned on by that pic. I likes me viking women.

But Logan Tom (U.S. volleyball team) is my favorite chic so far. She looks just like the sort of girl I fell for in my teens.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by axi
As somebody who has watched all 202 countries march on TV during the opening ceremony, a big to Denmark. They have won the gold medal on having the hottest chicks in their Olympic mission.

Of all Olympic sports I totally fell in love with Judo thse days. The way the score can change from one moment to another is amazing. A great technical sport. Great outfit too (the judoki), everybody looks mean in it, specially if they're unshaven. Btw, does anybody know what marks the difference between a wazari and a yuki? And of course the Japanese fans are great.

Swimming is boring indeed, specially in the long runs. It is sometimes more boring than ping-pong.

About the Iraq football team: it looks to me really suspicious that of all sports, they are represented in football (which is popular) and they are doing surprisingly well against countries that are tactically participating in the world cup. Although I haven't watched any of their two games, it makes me suspect that they're doped to the bone and nobody dares say anything. Smells to me like a CIA plot to gin them an Olympic medal, hoping that this will appease the angry mob in Iraq a little bit, since football is the only reaaly popular sport there.

A judo match is scored thusly:

1 point is scored instantly means victory for the guy who scored it. This is called ippon. Ippons occur by forcing your opponent to surrender (usually with a painful arm bar), strangling him until he surrenders or become unconscious, pinning him for 25 seconds (different than pinning someone in wrestling, you just have to have control over him and he can't have his legs wrapped around your body or one of your legs), or by throwing him very forcefully flat onto his back.

There is also a half point scored (called wazari) by a slightly less impressive throw, or a hold that lasts 20 seconds. Two wazari equal ipppon, so that if I have already scored one wazari and hold you for 25 seconds I win.

There are two lesser points as well, and these are used to determine the winner in the case of no better points being scored, or in cases of ties (ie one wazari each) in the higher categories. The first and more valuable of these is called the Yuko. It is awarded for throwing your opponent on to his side, or for pinning him for 15 seconds.

The lowest mark in judo is the koka, and it is awarded for throwing your opponent on to his butt or hip, or pinning him for 10 seconds.

Btw, welcome to judo. It's an interesting sport.

[Drake Tungsten]

I think I'm going to start helping with the judo club at my school. Should be fun to toss some high-school kids around. Of course, given the fact that they're Japanese, I'll probably be the one getting tossed around (or choked out )...

[Winston]

Denmark got its first medal today!

In the Men's Shot Put, Joachim Olsen got a bronze with his best attempt at 21.07m, slightly behind Belonog (UKR) at 21.16m and Nelson (USA) at 21.15m.

It's big news every time we manage to get on the podium in something.

[Az]

congrats, Denmark