And lo, the 2008 Olympic games begin

[ray245]

Woot! Singapore finally get the chance to win our second medal!

[Dartzap]

Britain just got anouther Gold - it was against France, so it was pretty predictable really

[CaptainChewbacca]

I want you all to meet the future Mrs. Chewbacca, Olympic Gold Medalist and smokin' Russian Hottie, Nastia Liukin:



YOWZA!

[RedImperator]

For a while last night, it looked like Misty May and Kerri Walsh might actually lose a set (not a match, mind you, just a set) to an unknown Belgian team which squeaked into the elimination tournament in a play-in. The Belgians got five set points but couldn't seal the deal before the Americans came back and beat them.

As punishment for their temerity, May and Walsh shellacked them in the next set by 11 points.

[aerius]

I want you all to meet the future Mrs. Chewbacca, Olympic Gold Medalist and smokin' Russian Hottie, Nastia Liukin:

The only way you're getting her is if she somehow ends up on a Russian mail order bride site.

[Darth Wong]

Not the first time Spanish sport has demonstrated a scary racist streak. Anyone remember the manager of the Spanish Soccer team refering to Henry of France as "a black shit" or the racist abuse they subjected Lewis Hamilton to?

Spain has never given a shit what other countries think of it, as a nation. Anyone who has ever followed their giant fishing supertrawler escapades knows that.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I want you all to meet the future Mrs. Chewbacca, Olympic Gold Medalist and smokin' Russian Hottie, Nastia Liukin:

The only way you're getting her is if she somehow ends up on a Russian mail order bride site.

She's Russian-American, actually.

[Adrian Laguna]

Michael Phelps has won his seventh gold in the 100 metre fly, with only 0.01 seconds to spare. Though looking at the slow-motion replays on the TV, it seriously appears that the Serbian silver medallist, Milorad Cavic, got there first. The man's coach is filing a protest on his behalf, but he was all smiles upon receiving the silver medal. I think there is grounds for shaving that hundredth of a second off the Cavic's score and calling it a tie.

Notably, for the first time Phelps did not break the world record. He was 0.18 seconds behind. Either the man must be getting tired, or the guy who set it for this event is something else. I figure the latter, because in a lot of swim events so far not only is the record broken, the swimmers take a piss on it. I've seen more than one time where three or four swimmers simultanously surpass the old record.

[The Original Nex]

Phelps made it first. Cavic deigned to coast the last meter and a half while Phelps squeezed in another stroke. It was won by fingernail distance and Phelps' extra stroke let him slap down right on the sensor .01 seconds ahead of Cavic.

Serbia lost the protest at any rate.

As for the smattering of shattered world records, the commentators are giving lots of credit for that to the new body suits which cut drag moreso than bare skin.

[phongn]

As for the smattering of shattered world records, the commentators are giving lots of credit for that to the new body suits which cut drag moreso than bare skin.

The pool is also specifically designed to reduce turbulance - it's deeper, the gutters don't reflect waves much and the lane guards further absorb turbulance. Combined with the new suits, this means shattered world records.

[Gaidin]

As for the smattering of shattered world records, the commentators are giving lots of credit for that to the new body suits which cut drag moreso than bare skin.

The pool is also specifically designed to reduce turbulance - it's deeper, the gutters don't reflect waves much and the lane guards further absorb turbulance. Combined with the new suits, this means shattered world records.

Indeed. The only records that aren't gettign shattered are the 50m races. Because there's no turbulence in the water anyway.

[mr friendly guy]

Woot. We are now in fourth place on the medal tally. We might even be able to get third. It does look like the top two spots would be fought over by the US and China though, what with the games half way through.

[Lord Pounder]

For winning that 7th race Phelps earned a cool $1 Million from his sponsors. This will of course lead to more whiny bastards moaning that the LZR Racer is cheating. Other criticism I've heard is that there are too many swimming events and that no man should be in the position to even challenge for eight Gold Medals.

[hongi]

For winning that 7th race Phelps earned a cool $1 Million from his sponsors. This will of course lead to more whiny bastards moaning that the LZR Racer is cheating. Other criticism I've heard is that there are too many swimming events and that no man should be in the position to even challenge for eight Gold Medals.

Whiny gits, if the swimming events were cut down, how would we get practically all our medals?

[FSTargetDrone]

So a Swedish wrestler had a hissy fit and is stripped of his bronze medal. How amusing:

Angry Swedish wrestler ditches medal

Last Updated: Saturday, August 16, 2008 | 12:27 AM ET

A Swedish wrestler threw down his Olympic bronze medal on Thursday in Beijing and said he's quitting the sport in anger over his semifinal loss to the eventual gold medallist.

Ara Abrahamian discarded the medal he received in the 84 kg greco-roman competition after falling by a slim margin in the semifinals to Andrea Minguzzi of Italy.

Abrahamian took the bronze from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped off the podium and dropped it on the mat before walking off.

"I don't care about this medal. I wanted gold," he said.

Abrahamian, considered a contender for the title after taking silver at the 2004 Athens Games, said he was quitting wrestling.

"This will be my last match. I wanted to take gold, so I consider this Olympics a failure," said Abrahamian, who scored a 5-1 win over France's Melonin Noumonvi in the bronze-medal round.

Abrahamian was upset by the officials' decision to award Minguzzi a 3-2 victory in their semifinal bout.

The Swede shouted at the referee and judges, and had to be restrained by teammates.

Abrahamian later said he believed his loss to Minguzzi was "totally unjustified." The wrestler said his friends "called me just 20 minutes before the (bronze) competition, begging me to compete."

"I decided that I had come this far and didn't want to let them down, so I wrestled," he said.

Swedish coach Leo Myllari did not say if he intended to lodge a formal protest over the decision by referee Jean-Marc Petoud of Switzerland, judge Lee Ronald Mackay of Canada, and mat chairman Guillermo Orestes Molina of Cuba.

What a mope. Lodging a protest is one thing, but to act like an insolent child who doesn't get his way is just poor showing.

[Grog]

Swedish media seems to think that the wrestling world is quite corrupt and that the judge never would let Abrahamian win or something like that.

[Ford Prefect]

Well, the main event came about last night. Who else watched the 100m men's dash? Holy shit, Usain Bolt can run. I was slightly dissappointed in Asafa Powell's performance - I was hoping for a much closer race between the two. I was also hoping to see Tyson Gay on the track as well. Not that it would have really mattered - Bolt dominated the field. He was in his own race.

This was basically the only event I was interested in. The timing of it was terrible, though. I shouldn't have to stay up until 12:30 to watch the best event of the Olympics.

[Adrian Laguna]

A Romanian woman, Constantina Tomescu-Dita, age 38, just won the women's marathon like she was the only one running the race, and also setting the record for oldest woman to do so. She pulled ahead at around the half-way mark, and basically left everyone else behind. At one point she was 50+ seconds ahead. It was interesting because she refused to look back, so she didn't really know the extent of her lead until she was very close to the Olympic Stadium, at which point she dared a look back... and then looked back again because she couldn't believe it. Constantina finished with a time of 2:26:44, and took advantage of her lead during the lap around the stadium's track to take it easy and blow kisses at the crowd. The second and third place winners were 20-something seconds behind in crossing the finish line.

[Buddha]

I saw some of the Olympics and I can say that my opinion of the Chinese has improved. At least the people are good at putting on a show and their athletes are working hard and giving their all out there. Good luck, guys.

[Adrian Laguna]

Phelps just got his eighth gold medal and seventh world record. Surpassing the record for most golds won in a single Olympiad, but not the record number of world records broken. He's tied with Spitz at 7 for one Olympiad and 32 (22 individual, 10 relay) total. Phelps is getting a recognition award from the Olympic Committee for his feat.

[Edward Yee]

Incidentally re: that article, I should note that in contrast you have the men's gymnastics team which won bronze despite the loss of the Hamm brothers, while the women's team themselves took it better than Martha Karolyi -- albeit with Scaramore blaming herself -- and they did go on to win the individual all-around gold and silver, so I don't think that the whining was really that bad, it was just the high-profile (here) thing with the Karolyis.

In contrast, Abrahamian's reaction is EPIC.

[Darth Wong]

This will of course lead to more whiny bastards moaning that the LZR Racer is cheating.

Is that such an unreasonable argument? The Olympics are supposed to be about the pinnacle of human athletic ability, not the pinnacle of really expensive gear that gives you a significant advantage over competitors.

Obviously, if two guys both have the same suit and one guy wins, the loser can hardly complain about the suit. But I think it's a fair point to make when someone who doesn't have the super-suit loses to someone who does.

[Dartzap]

Obviously, if two guys both have the same suit and one guy wins, the loser can hardly complain about the suit. But I think it's a fair point to make when someone who doesn't have the super-suit loses to someone who does.

As I recall, one of the terms attached to them being allowed to use the suit in the games is that all competitors have to be given one by the company making them, be they American or Zimbabwean.

I could be wrong on that, of course, I'll have to go check for where I saw it, heh.

[Block]

I know they were made available to everyone, I'm not sure what the conditions were for that availability however, and whether or not everyone used them.

I'm still not sure this is the biggest Olympic accomplishment ever, but it is certainly up there. I mean there are a lot of sports where you can really only go for a single medal, so it's hard to judge how it stacks up exactly.

[Dartzap]

And bloody 'ell, we're ahead of the Ozzies in the medal tables! It wont last, of course 3rd place behind the juggernauts, blimey....