Olympics 2008 (May contain spoilers)

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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:08 am

We've removed the old thread because it had degenerated into a pointless slap-fest between members. Maybe some people forget what the Olympics actually represent. It's a celebration of the achievements of the individual/group efforts and success of the worlds greatest athletes.

We're sensible adults and I see no reason for members to simply bag one and others countries representatives with the intention of inciting an obvious response. People should be able to act in a professional, sensible manner to discuss and enjoy the games.

If you are unable to maintain this decorum, please find another forum that will cater to your Olympic needs.

If your post suddenly disappears, it is because you are a Muppet. You will also be suspended until the Olympics are completed, simply because we are protecting you from yourself.

Enjoy. Very Happy

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 1:46 am

No matter what happens in the Olympics, all the athletes are winners. happy crowd

<--- All the athletes of all the countries.

Let's see if anything else amazing happens in the next 6 days of the Olympics. I for one cannot wait to find out!

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 4:03 am

I'm pretty happy at how well New Zealand has done. 8 medals and counting. Still a couple of medal chances to go as well Smile

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:59 am

Shawn Johnson and Nastia Lukin bear a striking resemblance to one another, or is it just me?

And speaking of that, good for Shawn Johnson to win the gold. It was her dream.

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:22 am

An excellent start to the new Olympics thread, slightly off topic already. Laughing

That was a great routine by Johnson, well deserved gold.

An excellent race by Sally McLellan clapping

She was so excited just to get into the finals and she went mad when she got silver. Laughing

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:25 am

NZ through to the finals in the K1 and K1000 canoes.

Russia took Gold for the Womens 10K swim, well done,

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

Bolt breaks the world record in the 200 meters. That guy is unreal.

edit - I ran across an article on Michael Phelps on espn.com. I don't know why, but this part of the article cracked me up:

Shopping is in Phelps' future, too. After all, he's got a $1 million bonus from his swimsuit sponsor Speedo to burn. Tops on his list is a new car to replace his BMW.

"My friend's in the car business, so he's going to help me," Phelps said. "I've been looking at some Aston Martins and some Maseratis. It would be pretty sweet to get an old-school Aston Martin, some of the old-school [James] Bond ones. That would be sick."

Roy, I think he's calling your name. Laughing

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:24 pm

Belgium is doing pretty well at breaking their record of least number of medals that they set in 1932:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium_at_the_1932_Summer_Olympics

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:48 pm

New Zealand 2nd in the 'medals per capita' count.... after Slovenia!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10528184

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

Afghanastan got a medal, their first ever (bronze in judo, I believe.)

Good for them!

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:54 pm

Yeah like the Togo guy in the Canoeing. He was so stoked he snapped his paddle clean in half when he found out he's won a bronze.

It was a tad dodgy he was representing Togo though... he'd only been there once in his life.

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:56 pm

Who said table tennis is dominated by Asians? I beg to differ, and I found proof to back that up.

Great to see the dutch Li Jie

beating the Austrian Liu Jia

, who fortunately has another chance against the Luxembourgian Ni Xia Lian

. Us Europeans dominate the table tennis tournament. Laughing

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:33 pm

Damn that Usain Bolt is incredible.

Who just saw Bolt run the 200M? He even got the WR! Razz

EDIT several hours after original post...

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:55 am

I saw the German weightlifter win his gold. It was amazing. I was standing up on the couch yelling at him to hold it up. It's always fascinating to watch these guys.

Quote:

German weightlifter Matthias Steiner won the super-heavyweight gold and held up a picture of his late wife Susann, choking back tears over the promise he made to her that he would keep their Olympic dream.

"She is always with me, in the hours before the competition, she's there," said Steiner, who made the pledge to Susann at her bedside in hospital while she lay dying after a car crash in July 2007.

"I'm not the superstitious type, don't believe in higher powers, but I hope she saw me. I wish," said the 25-year-old.

Steiner, who won with a total of 461kg, claimed the title of strongest man in the world with a last-ditch lunge for gold, lifting just one kilo more than Russia's Evgeny Chigishev.

He snatched 203kg, a weight far below his closest competitors, but raised his weights dramatically for his final lift in the clean and jerk and hoisted up 258kg.

"I managed to lift it because I had this strong, innermost urge," said Steiner.

"I like to tickle people's nerves and I just risked everything. I didn't want a boring competition."

While Chigishev took the silver, Latvian politician and weightlifter Viktors Scerbatihs won the bronze.

Steiner was born in Austria but moved to Germany because Susann lived there.

She first saw him in a weightlifting contest on television and was instantly smitten. She emailed him, they met up and fell in love at first sight.

Dissatisfied with Austrian weightlifting and newly attracted to Germany, Steiner applied for German citizenship. He married Susann in December 2005.

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:01 am

Good eye, DB. No one would notice that Wink

Just Kidding.

Apparently it's because challenge is so tight in China. Read this for more info:

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=reu-tabletennisexports&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:27 am

I agree NN. That was quite a performance and his time on the award stand was very touching! Cool

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:55 am

Yeah weightlifting is very impressive to watch. The floor must be reinforced to hell.... they just drop those weights.

Wonder if the bar has ever snapped... it sure bends!

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:05 am

Speaking of weightlifting, who saw the guy whose elbow dislocated out of place?

So do you guys watch the lesser-known events that go on throughout the day? Is that how you know about these events? Or maybe you watch them online, or a European network for some of you does round the clock coverage?

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:10 am

to Maarten van der Weijden for winning the 10K marathon swim. Quite a story behind him too. Recovered from instant leukaemia a couple of years ago. Really amazing ..

Edit to add: The water polo final US-NED was a real thriller as well. Jeez, these girls are mean, most of them are black and blue after a game because of the underwater pinching, kicking, thumping .. great game though ..

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 720

GB best result for a Hundred years so far Smile

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:32 pm

simpsonman3000 wrote:

So do you guys watch the lesser-known events that go on throughout the day? Is that how you know about these events? Or maybe you watch them online, or a European network for some of you does round the clock coverage?

In New Zealand we get four channels of coverage on the internet, but only one channel on the TV. I think the TV coverage tries to show a bit of everything, as I watched a great Table Tennis match last night.

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:51 am

Unfortunate for the USA relay teams, ouch.

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:19 pm

Did someone say Ladlympics?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaz0ipCzsZg

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:18 am

What about the Cuban Taekwondo competitor who purposely kicked the referee in the head ?

LONGLINKY

They had a few controversial decisions in Taekwondo and maybe they'll bring in video referrals in future competitions.

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:51 am

^^ 'Angel', well chosen name Laughing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU3gwCXukrU

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