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2012 Olympics; General discussion
Topic Started: Jul 28 2012, 01:01 PM (1,955 Views)
karl pilkington
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I know American and Chinese fans are used to seeing their nations win multiple gold medals in a single day but in the Uk we are not quite so accustomed to that. Until Saturday that is as GB won multiple golds in a variety of sports but it was in athletics where most of the attention was placed as GB won 3 golds on Saturday, Greg Rutherford with a surprising gold in the long jump while Jessica Ennis, the British face of these Olympic,s won the heptathlon gold pretty convincingly. She had an enormous amount of pressure on her but responded beautifully. Then 10K runner Mo Farah outkicked the Ethiopians and Kenyans and with an exhiliarating last lap won gold in the 10,000m. A nice scene at the end as his training partner, the USA's Rupp finished 2nd too.

And to add to British joy, Andy Murray won Wimbledon! Er, he won at Wimbledon, upsetting Roger Federer in the gold medal match with a straight set victory. The enarly man of tennis, Murray comes close but neevr seems to win the big matches...until today. Well done to Murray. And to Serena Williams who yesterday won the women's gold after crushing Maria Sharapova in the final. Serena Williams was as dominant as I have ever seen her throughout this entire tourney.
"You can only talk rubbish if you're aware of knowledge."
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Pique
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I live on the west coast of the US so thanks to f'ing NBC I won't see the 100m men's sprint final until about 9-10 pm tonight, or in about 7-8 hours! :angry:

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The race of course just ended and thanks to the internet I read where Usain Bolt just won another Olympic title with an Olympic record 9.63 sec. The guy is simply phenomenal. Yohan Blake of Jamaica was 2nd, Justin Gatlin of the US, back from a drug suspension, was 3rd.

NBC are getting excellent ratings in the US so I guess they feel justified in delaying broadcasts until prime time so they can get more viewers. The Olympics attract casual viewers who are mainly looking to be nationalistic and watch a spectacle, sports fans, however, don't go for these tape delays which is why the futbol and basketball games are shown live. Those are the sports I'll watch, to hell with watching 8 hour tape delays which become a jingoistic celebration of nationalism!
Esas son las leyendas de futbol mexicano,
En todo Mexico hay un Chiva hermano!
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hobbes
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I enjoyed the 10k quite a bit. I’d never even heard of Mo Farah until the race stated, but it was a great finish.

And after Murray’s heart-breaking apology at Wimbledon I was pretty happy to see him beat Federer.

I don’t understand U.S. broadcasting, but surely they could do what we do: show everything live and then in prime time on the east coast you put together a nice and slick three-hour package that focuses on the cheesy human-interest Olympic stories, makes a tidy narative and cut out all of the dead time (say the 30 minutes of hype and posturing before the 100m final). Mix in some medal reaction interviews and it’s perfect for the casual fan who cares about sports every four years.

Speaking of the 100m, what was with the guy was taunting Bolt at the start and then threw a bottle on the track at the gun? Incredible. I presume he was arrested?

cheers,
hobbes
Saskatchewan for the CPL: multis e gentibus vires
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xeneize
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The fan taunting didn't seem to effect Bolt did it? He still won by .12 of a second which in a 100m sprint is a blowout. And he did it vs an excellent field. I'm a little sad a convicted drugs cheat like Gatlin medaled (bronze) but then again another drug cheat Vinokourov won gold in cycling.

You can't really dislike Federer and it is a little sad he's never won a gold in singles before but you also have to feel happy for Murray. And I was ecstatic for Del Potro defeating Djokovic for the bronze. Argentina's first medal of these Olympics.

Speaking of first medals, good for Guatemala whose race walker Erick Berrondo won silver, the Central American country's first ever Olympic medal. Stories like that are as warming, if not more, than counting how many golds a multi discipline athlete wins or how many one of the giant nations take home.

hobbes your suggestion makes too much sense, probably why NBC won't adapt it. Then again their ratings seem to show people, like sheep, just accept it. Not me though as I have watched less than 30 minutes total of non football coverage in these Olympics.
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Yogi
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Speaking of the 100m, what was with the guy was taunting Bolt at the start and then threw a bottle on the track at the gun? Incredible. I presume he was arrested?

He was arrested, and his act did not go without some pain,

Judo bronze medalist Edith Bosch of the Netherlands claimed on her Twitter account that she had been watching the final from near the start line and had physically "beat" the man responsible for the bottle.

The men's 100m final was on at almost 4 pm central time, perfect time to show it live, and then, as hobbes mentioned, show a replay later in prime time. But instead NBC was showing horse jumping. Yes HORSE JUMPING instead of one of the signature events of the Olympics!!! It is disgusting but NBC doesn't care because people are tuning in in large numbers to watch these tape delays. The viewers don't evidently care as this is a TV show to them not a sporting event. But they at least do show football, basketball and tennis live because fans of those sports would not put up with tape delays.
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Don Balon
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Bolt's win was once again both compelling and impressive. I am amazed that viewers in the USA did not see it live. Even more amazed that there is not more public outcry about that. In Spain there would be demonstrations in front of the TV network (we are good at demonstrating!)

Yelena Isinbayeva, the undisputed star of women's pole vault failed to win the gold medal in what will be her final Olympics, she finished third, Suhr of the USA and Silva of Cuba finished 1-2 ahead of her. This is one of the major upsets of Olympic athletics.
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shelsoccer
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I didn't stay up to watch the 100 meter final. Tried, but packed it in when NBC kept pushing it back. Not only did they lose me (no big loss), but think about young kids. When you delay the showing until 10:30 p.m. or so, you're eliminating a lot of viewers and potential viewers down the road.
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Martin
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I did not get home last night until almost 11 pm and decided to turn on NBC's broadcast and see what they had on, and lo and behold there was the 100m final, starting at 11.10 pm PT, or about 9 hours 20 minutes after it took place!

hobbes is absolutely right about what NBC should do but to them this is a TV show, not a sporting event. As Yogi noted those sports whose fans really demand live coverage like football, basketball and tennis, do have their sports on live on one of NBC's affiliated channels, the rest are tape delayed and shown as part of an ultra-nationalistic TV spectacle.

Other than World Cups some of my best sporting memories from my youth are from watching Olympics, Dave Wottle and Mark Spitz in 1972, Alberto Juantorena, Teofilo Stevenson and Sugar Ray Leonard in 1976, Allan Wells and Miruts Yifter in 1980. But the blatant commercialism and nationalism of the Olympics have turned me off and especially with all but team sports being shown tape delayed in the US now, I do not think any recent Olympic events will quite stick in my mind like they did in the 70s and early 80s. I still remember the winners of most of the track & field events from the 70s and 80s, but other than Usain Bolt and Shelly Ann Fraser and Veronica Campbell, I can't even remember who won the events 4 years ago in Beijing!

And it is not I think a case of just being nostalgic for events from my youth as recent football events still bring back good memories for me as much as they did when I was younger. But am I really going to get thrilled watching track & field when NBC shows it in my time zone 8-9 hours after it's completion and interrupts it with constant commercials?
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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Onslow
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I am absolutely amazed in the US you are not getting most of these events live. That is really beyond belief for me. That reminds me of the days 30-40 years ago when international sporting events would be on delay because they had to fly a tape of it back home to be broadcast. But this is the bloody 21st century! Apparently just not for US TV.

Just to follow up on Karl's post on Britain's glorious Saturday, Mo Farah's 10,000m win was the cherry on the top of the cake but the real thrill was seeing Jessica Ennis respond to the pressure and easily win her event. She has been the face of the Olympics here in Britain but she also is such a gracious and composed individual. It always is enjoyable seeing sportsmen and women like her succeed.

The men's 400m race was won by Kirani James, a 19 year old from Grenada. An 18 year old from Dominican Republic, Lguelin Santos finished 2nd. Was this the Olympic 400 or the world junior championship?

As for Usain Bolt, well what can you say? He truly is spectacular. Do not bet against him also winning the 200m, he says that is his best event.

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Don Balon
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We are down to the quarterfinals in basketball, coming into yesterday's final day of group matches, the US and Russia were the only unbeaten teams but Russia were surprisingly beaten by a last second shot by Australia. Australia's reward for beating Russia? A quarterfinal matchup with the US! Argentina were only behind by 1 at the half in their last group game versus the US but got smacked in the 2nd half. Still Argentina did not really care and rested two of their regulars-Scola and Nocioni. Spain's mediocre play in the Olympics contineud a sit lost to Brasil. Spain has good interior play but without the injured Rubio and with Navarro playing hurt, the outside game for Spain ahs been weak in London. This is not as strong a Spain team as we have seen in recent years.

So the quarterfinals are set, beginning on Wednesday:

United States-Australia
Brasil-Argentina
Russia-Lithuania
France-Spain

Some very good matchups, plus an expected US blowout of Australia.
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Sporting
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Spain has just picked up its first gold medal, a woman in one of the sailing events, which was greeted in my street at least by the sound of a hot wind and various old men slumbering after their after-lunch cognacs...

No disrepect to the woman concerned, by the way...her name is Marina Alabau, from Sevilla, who won at windsurfing. Spain has performed very disappointingly at these OG so far, though many of its teams still have chances of medals. The question is whether these disappointing performances are due to individuals doing badly on the day, poor planning, bad luck, or the economic crisis in general. Jury's out so far, I'd say.
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Yogi
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Haha, no sailing fans on your street then Sporting? Spain's lack of medals is surprising considering how well that nation has seemed to do in so many sports in recent years. Then again Rafa Nadal's withdrawal due to injury and the football team's failure did not help. I read by the way Luis Milla, the coach of Spain's U21 team has been sacked.

On the subject of bad luck Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, the gold medal winner 8 years ago in Athens was looking for his redemption after he had to pullout of the Beijing Games with an injury 4 years ago. But today in his first heat, he struck a hurdle and went down injured. Good news for Cuba's Dayron Robles the 110m hurdle favorite, bad news for the unfortunate Liu.
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Merengue
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Sporting,Aug 7 2012
07:19 AM
Spain has just picked up its first gold medal, a woman in one of the sailing events, which was greeted in my street at least by the sound of a hot wind and various old men slumbering after their after-lunch cognacs...

No disrepect to the woman concerned, by the way...her name is Marina Alabau, from Sevilla, who won at windsurfing. Spain has performed very disappointingly at these OG so far, though many of its teams still have chances of medals. The question is whether these disappointing performances are due to individuals doing badly on the day, poor planning, bad luck, or the economic crisis in general. Jury's out so far, I'd say.

Marina Alabau won her gold medal in windsurfing as she is from that windsurfing hotbed of inland Sevilla! :lol:

A couple of silvers on Tuesday for Spain too in triathlon (Javier Gomez Noya finished in between Great Britain's Brownleee brothers) and in synchronized swimming. Overall it has been a disappointing Olympics for Spain but perhaps some of the team sports, namely handball and basketball can provide some medals. I can't pinpoint a reason for this poor showing Sporting, but in addition to those you cited I would add the possibility of being cautious about doping in wake of the Operacion Galgo investigation and subsequent doping controversies involving Spanish athletes. Then there is the bad luck of nadal's injury, the poor performance from the football team and so far less than stellar play by the basketball squad (man do they miss the injured Ricky Rubio.)

Australia has been having a pretty poor overall Olympics too as its normally triumphant swimmers did not do too well this year but they got some redemption as 100m hurdler Sally Pearson took the gold edging out a trio of US hurdlers. Pearson has been the world's dominant female hurdle rin recent years.

Onslow discussed Kiriani James the teenaged winner of the men's 400m a few nights ago. In a preliminary round he ran in the same heat as Oscar Pistorius and James made the nice post race gesture of exchanging bib names with Pistorius. What Pistorious accomplished as a double amputee was incredible in just making the games. But James nice gesture showed to me he has a maturity well beyond his 19 years. A runner to watch in the future for multiple reasons.

Taoufik Makhloufi, that is the name of the Algerian gold medallist in the 1500m, usually one of the highlights of any Olympic athletics. But the race has been robbed of big names in recent years and even the typical Kenyan favorites faltered this year as Makhloufi won, the American Manzano finished 2nd and Moroccan Abdalaati finished 3rd.
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hobbes
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Great finish in the men's handball QF between Spain and France.

I never understand why handball isn't more popular over here. I got to play it briefly and I enjoyed it tremendously.

cheers,
hobbes

[edit] the finish to Hungary-Iceland was insane as well. It's nice to see a sport have the height of drama occur on the biggest stage.
Saskatchewan for the CPL: multis e gentibus vires
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enganche
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Argentina-Brazil had two big matchups yesterday in team sports, Brazil won at men's volleyball, Argentina at men's basketball. I'll take the hoops victory as that is a sport which interests me more! :P Actually plenty of big rivalries in the basketball quarterfinals, in addition to the Argentina-Brazil matchup, Russia beat Lituania and Spain beat France in a physical game. The US also advanced as they blew open a competitive game with Australia in the last quarter. The basketball semifinals will be:

United States-Argentina
Russia-Spain

For what it is worth, each semifinal is a rematch of a game in group play where the USA and Russia won their respective games. But never count out Spain in a big match. As for Argentina, it has been a great run, including the 2004 gold medal but this will be the last hurrah for the "Golden Generation" of Argentine basketball. I don't expect any miracles in their matchup with the powerful US squad.
Prefiero morir de pie que vivir arrodillado
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