The Olympics/Paralympics 2012

[Captain Seafort]

And now the universe is about to implode. Andy Murry managed to beat Roger Federer in the singles to get gold. Bye bye universe!

Beat him? He stomped all over him. By his own standards Federer was shit. Call it revenge for Wimbledon - on the same court, over the same number of sets, between the same two blokes.

[Dartzap]

Silver in the doubles. No shame in that.

Bronze in the omnium as well.

[Zaune]

I don't really follow much about the Olympics, but is this par for the course?

Warning: Potentially NSFW

http://imgur.com/a/emAVG

How do you think gymnasts are trained?

Here's how they do it in Australia.

Muscles currently trains for 8hrs each week for gymnastics. I know that sounds like a lot at 7 years old….But she really, really does love it. She is in The National Gymnastics Program Level 2.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

That being said, I can tell you from my somewhat limited secondhand experience (my younger sisters are both into gymnastics, and have competed at the regional level) that the Chinese kids in the pictures FaxModem1 posted are being pushed much further at a younger age than a British trainer would consider safe.

[Dr Roberts]

Bolt won! Although most people saw it coming.

[weemadando]

Pistorius sadly went out in the semis. Would have been great to see him in the final, but obviously everyone's paranoia about his blades was overreaction.

[Broomstick]

The fear some able-bodied guy was going to a lose to a guy with no feet was ridiculous. I heard people saying Pistorius had as "advantage"? Oh really? If he had we would have seen able-bodied runners right and left sawing their lower legs off to get their own cheetah blades. If they were an "advantage" we would have seen a slew of footless runners in the Olympics before now.

Regardless of how improved modern prosthetics are, they aren't as good as natural feet. Pistorius is a remarkable athlete, but he's a marvelous runner despite his disability, not because of it.

I still would have been thrilled to see him medal, though.

[Block]

Regardless of how improved modern prosthetics are, they aren't as good as natural feet.

Yet. Give it another couple years and they'll get there, and the concern isn't necessarily this guy, but the one after him, or the one after that.

[Broomstick]

I think it's going to take longer than just a couple years. It's not just the legs, it's also who is wearing them. The legs aren't magic. What they really are is a fancy spring. He's running on springy stilts. It's his brain and body that are maintaining balance and moving those legs.

I'm not going to worry about it until I see world-class athletes with perfectly normal, healthy legs getting them sawed off so they can use prosthetics.

It shouldn't be impossible to design running legs that allow the legless to run without giving them an unfair advantage, just as we can design eyeglasses for, say, the shooting events that brings a myopic competitor up to the same vision as the competitors who don't require refractive correction without giving them an advantage through their "enhanced" eyesight.

Doesn't Pistorius still have a leg of a relay race to run? He could still take home an Olympic gold if his team wins. (He'll almost certainly take home gold from the Paralympics, which he is also participating in next week.)

[fgalkin]

So, the Olympics are still a week away from being over, and already the heads of our swimming, fencing, and shooting programs have resigned. I'm reasonably sure a few more will join them before the week is out. I suspect Athletics will be next.

On the plus side, it may mean that we will be somewhat better than total rubbish in 2014.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Hillary]

So, the Olympics are still a week away from being over, and already the heads of our swimming, fencing, and shooting programs have resigned. I'm reasonably sure a few more will join them before the week is out. I suspect Athletics will be next.

On the plus side, it may mean that we will be somewhat better than total rubbish in 2014.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

I can see the UK swimming and judo ones up for the chop as well.

[Dartzap]

Really? First Judo medal for us in,.....however long and they'll get the chop? :/ Swimming I'll grant you, though. It's not been a good games for 'em

[Hillary]

Really? First Judo medal for us in,.....however long and they'll get the chop? :/ Swimming I'll grant you, though. It's not been a good games for 'em

My understanding is that in general we've done fairly poorly in judo this time. Obviously the couple of medal gave it a bit of a shine. I could be wrong though.

How brilliant was Saturday night - 3 golds in less than hour; we only got 1 gold in track and field last time.

[fgalkin]

Not so brilliant for us (Russia). That gold was ours!

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Coop D'etat]

Christine Sinclair shows why no team with her on it can be counted out. 1-0 Canada in the semi-finals.

EDIT: Now early in the 2nd half US ties up with corner. Preventable goal against but the Americans had so much offensive zone the odds of getting lucky at some point was pretty good.

[Coop D'etat]

Christine Sinclair shows why no team with her on it can be counted out. 1-0 Canada in the semi-finals.

EDIT: Now early in the 2nd half US ties up with corner. Preventable goal against but the Americans had so much offensive zone the odds of getting lucky at some point was pretty good.

OK, I won't spoil the rest of the 2nd half for American audiences because it was a hell of a match so far and people should watch it.

But by gods that was brutal officiating. That game should not have been were it was at the end of the 2nd.

[Block]

Christine Sinclair shows why no team with her on it can be counted out. 1-0 Canada in the semi-finals.

EDIT: Now early in the 2nd half US ties up with corner. Preventable goal against but the Americans had so much offensive zone the odds of getting lucky at some point was pretty good.

OK, I won't spoil the rest of the 2nd half for American audiences because it was a hell of a match so far and people should watch it.

But by gods that was brutal officiating. That game should not have been were it was at the end of the 2nd.

If this is a good example of women's soccer, no wonder it's not very popular by comparison. They play like boys high school teams with all the kick and chase and long passing. No one on either team seems to have ANY playmaking ability at all, the few runs they make all depend on them being superior athletically rather than any sort of technical ability and it's so very very slow.

edit: and they won't show it in prime time so you don't have to worry about spoilers, it's on live on one of the less NBC sports channels.

[Coop D'etat]

Christine Sinclair shows why no team with her on it can be counted out. 1-0 Canada in the semi-finals.

EDIT: Now early in the 2nd half US ties up with corner. Preventable goal against but the Americans had so much offensive zone the odds of getting lucky at some point was pretty good.

OK, I won't spoil the rest of the 2nd half for American audiences because it was a hell of a match so far and people should watch it.

But by gods that was brutal officiating. That game should not have been were it was at the end of the 2nd.

If this is a good example of women's soccer, no wonder it's not very popular by comparison. They play like boys high school teams with all the kick and chase and long passing. No one on either team seems to have ANY playmaking ability at all, the few runs they make all depend on them being superior athletically rather than any sort of technical ability and it's so very very slow.

edit: and they won't show it in prime time so you don't have to worry about spoilers, it's on live on one of the less NBC sports channels.

Its the dramatics that made it a great game rather than particular quality of play.

How often do you see a player score a hat-trick in the biggest game of their life against arguably the top squad in the world. Plus the constant back and forth on scoring and the dagger goal against at the very end of extra time. Ludicrous sequence that gifted the 3rd American goal though, lots of Canadians suddenly pissed at Norway today.

Although I think part of the choppy nature of the game is deliberate by Canada to neutralize a far superior team on overall talent.

[Block]

The lead up to the penalty was bad, but the penalty itself was the correct call according to the replay I saw. The US's defense looked awful in the air, or is she that superior to them in leaping ability?

[Coop D'etat]

The lead up to the penalty was bad, but the penalty itself was the correct call according to the replay I saw. The US's defense looked awful in the air, or is she that superior to them in leaping ability?

Penalty was give or take. Ball basically shot right at their arms with little prospect of getting out of the way. There was a more blatant hand ball by the Americans on a cross that got was aloud to slide so it rankles.

I'm no expert but from what I know Sinclair is arguably one of the best scorers in the history of the woman's game (143 goals total, .76 goals per match, closing in on Hamn's record). So you can probably chalk that up to her just plain being better than the defenders.

Heartbreak for her, best chance of winning a World tournament for a top player who plays on a squad that can beat up on CONCAF competition but isn't that great at the highest level. Scores a hattrick against a superior squad and they still come up short.

[Jub]

I don't know beans about soccer/football, but that match between Canada and the US seemed fairly exciting. Then again team Canada was playing in a historic match against a long time rival and it was high scoring so that could account for things.

Block, could you explain to somebody who knows nothing about soccer why that game would have been less entertaining than the men's soccer played at the Olympics?

[Dartzap]

Best games for GB since 1908. Which is nice.

Apparently the Ozzie sports minister will be filling her end of the standard Olympic bet.

Also The The French are contemplating the use of magic wheels as the only logical explanation for GB success in the Velodrome

[Captain Seafort]

Apparently the Ozzie sports minister will be filling her end of the standard Olympic bet.

Are they still losing to Yorkshire?

[mr friendly guy]

We are ahead of the Kiwis now. How many medals would a theoretical Yorkshire win?

[Lost Soal]

So, the Olympics are still a week away from being over, and already the heads of our swimming, fencing, and shooting programs have resigned. I'm reasonably sure a few more will join them before the week is out. I suspect Athletics will be next.

On the plus side, it may mean that we will be somewhat better than total rubbish in 2014.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

I can see the UK swimming and judo ones up for the chop as well.

The knives are also out for anyone in British Fencing involved in the selection process, especially the performance director.

[mr friendly guy]

more sheenanigans

Swimmer admits to breaking the rules during gold-medal performance in London

LONDON – Men’s 100m breaststroke winner Cameron van der Burgh has admitted to cheating during his victory at the Olympics, which came in world-record time.
In breaststroke, competitors are allowed to take one dolphin kick at the start and one after each turn before starting their breaststroke kick. But with no underwater video judging, swimmers are sometimes able to sneak in an extra dolphin kick – a whip-like motion generated from the hips.

Video replays appear to show van der Burgh taking three of them.
Van der Burgh, who is from South Africa, spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald and admitted to breaking the rules. He also said other swimmers employ the same tactic.
“If you’re not doing it, you’re falling behind,” Van der Burgh told the paper. “It’s not obviously - shall we say - the moral thing to do, but I’m not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it.”
This is not the first time the dolphin kick issue has surfaced in breaststroke races. Silver medalist Brenton Rickard appeared to use dolphin kicks at the start last week, and at the 2011 World Championships, 50m breaststroke winner Felipe Silva used a dolphin kick at the finish.
In the Sydney Morning Herald story, Van der Burgh said there was underwater video technology used at a meet in Sweden in 2010.
“‘It was really awesome, because nobody attempted it,” van der Burgh said. “Everybody came up clean and we all had peace of mind that nobody was going to try.”
Although there’s no way for FINA to review the race at this point and make adjustments to the finishing order, there is some precedent from the IOC to do so. Eight badminton players were kicked out of the Olympics last week after they were accused of deliberately not trying during matches to give themselves a lower seed in the later rounds – effectively securing an easier trip to the finals.
Just like the badminton case, the van der Burgh incident is a fair play issue. Since the race happened over a week ago, however, it’s looking less and less likely that the IOC will take any action.
What’s more realistic is that FINA could revisit their policy of not using video review. With only judges along the pool deck to look for illegal kicks and strokes, that’s probably not enough. Especially when the Olympic champion admits to breaking the rules.