Olympics Discussion Thread

[Alexander's Horse]

HEY! I like the badminton.

[Drake Tungsten]

It's over now. The team with the only attractive Chinese woman won.

[Alexander's Horse]

They all gave me the horn.

those muscular thighs....

[Drake Tungsten]

Oh, the bodies were all great, legs especially. It was the faces that left a lot to be desired.

[The Mad Monk]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Mariel Zagunis?

Champ basks in thrill of victory

MIKE PRATER
Gannett News Service
August 18, 2004


RODNEY WHITE / Statesman Journal
Team USA’s Mariel Zagunis of Oregon is lifted after winning the gold medal in the Olympic women’s individual saber. She defeated China’s Xue Tan on Tuesday at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

ATHENS, Greece — Oregon fencer Mariel Zagunis wasn’t supposed to be on the U.S. Olympic team. Now she has a gold medal — and a huge slice of history.

In what might be the biggest underdog story of the 2004 Summer Games, the 19-year-old Beaverton resident won the women’s individual saber Tuesday night inside a packed Helliniko Fencing Hall.

She is the first American to win a fencing gold in 100 years, and she joined teammate Sada Jacobson as the first female U.S. fencers to win an Olympic medal. Jacobson won bronze as USA Fencing celebrated the biggest night in the organization’s history.

With U.S. flags waving everywhere, Zagunis defeated Xue Tan of China 15-9 in the final of the one-day, single-elimination tournament. Zagunis and swimmer Natalie Coughlin are the only U.S. women to win gold so far in Athens.

In May, Zagunis was an Olympic alternate, not even part of the two-woman U.S. team. It wasn’t until a Nigerian fencer dropped out that she was invited to Athens because she was the highest-ranked fencer without an Olympics spot.

Zagunis was seeded third for the Olympic tournament, behind Jacobson and Anne-Lise Touya of France.

“I’ve been the underdog this entire time,” Zagunis said, smiling wide and clutching a green “Oregon” T-shirt that her brother, Marten, tossed from the stands as his sister won gold.

“This is great, just fantastic. It’s my sister and I believe in her so much, but I can’t believe it happened,” Marten said.

The brother, along with Zagunis’ fencing teammates, rushed onto the stage after she nailed Tan with her final successful strike. They tossed Zagunis into the air, and she began running around the stage with a U.S. flag flying behind her.

“There’s no better feeling than being thrown up into the air after becoming a champion of anything,” said Zagunis, who’s off to college later this month as a fencer at Notre Dame.

“This feels great. I don’t even know what to say. I’m just so happy right now.”

Zagunis jumped on Tan for a quick 9-2 lead. Despite giving up four consecutive touches that made things interesting at 9-6, Zagunis dominated the bout with attack after attack.

“I felt so good today. I felt in a zone, and I knew I was going to win this,” she said. “There was no stopping me.


MICHAEL SOHN / Associated Press
USA’s Mariel Zagunis sports her gold medal in the Olympic women’s individual saber.




MICHAEL SOHN / Associated Press
The United States’ Mariel Zagunis celebrates a victory that earned her a gold medal Tuesday at the Olympic Games in Greece.




RODNEY WHITE / Statesman Journal
Team USA’s Mariel Zagunis (right) faces China’s Xue Tan on Tuesday during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in Greece.

First gold EVER in women's sabre, first American gold in ONE HUNDRED YEARS for fencing!

[Drake Tungsten]

Who gives a **** about fencing?

[Alexander's Horse]

Yeah if noone gets in killed in the fencing, I'm not interested.

[Drake Tungsten]

They should wear bikinis. Would increase the chances of injury and give us all some eye candy to enjoy.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Who gives a **** about fencing?

Burglers.

[Drake Tungsten]

Vaclav Chalupa just lost in sculling. How can a man with a name that cool lose?

[Monk]

Originally posted by Winston
Denmark got another bronze in Badminton, and is already secured another either bronze or Silver in some sailing event.

So far, we've got four bronze medals out of... well, four in total. I guess it's better than nothing, but still this puts pressure on our #1 gold medal hopes, the women's handball team.

Well, actually the rowing team is probably our #1 gold medal hope, but I'd rather post pictures of those precious handball girlies. It's extraordinarily unfortunate, though, that Christina Roslyng isn't included. Only the gold will be sufficient to compensate for this disgrace. Still,

[Drake Tungsten]

What is this horse****? Now China is taking on Hong Kong in men's doubles table tennis. Aren't they the same country now?

[Kropotkin]

Yeah, China, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong... same, same but different.

[Drake Tungsten]

Taiwan is an independent country in everything but name. Hong Kong is a part of China, though, so why in the hell do they have their own team?

[Kropotkin]

No not Taiwan, Chinese Taipei!