Let the games begin - 2012 Olympics

[michael saint]

Originally Posted by ejls

Woke a little after 4 am and got to see the final countries entering and the torch. Personally, I would have chosen someone other than Paul McCartney singing "Hey, Jude". Probably most of those athletes never heard that song.

Well done, London!

McCartney certainly fucked up the ending for me, just when they had the chance to smash it with a huge climax they wheel out a fucking old has been, who was never a great performer at his best.



Still a good show overall though.

[baller16]

Originally Posted by sockaraus

Did anybody else think, just as the countries started doing their flag parade...... Oh their doing a parade of all the countries Britian has fucked about the last 1000 years....

I'm not gonna lie... when I saw the white competitors from Zimbabwe and South Africa, I got angry. It didn't help that it was after seeing many other countries that, as you so eloquently put it, Britain (or other European countries) has fucked (not so much the last 1,000 years though).

[deviousdave]

Originally Posted by baller16

I'm not gonna lie... when I saw the white competitors from Zimbabwe and South Africa, I got angry. It didn't help that it was after seeing many other countries that, as you so eloquently put it, Britain (or other European countries) has fucked (not so much the last 1,000 years though).

Why did it make you angry ? Does it make you angry that the US is populated by white people too ?

[baller16]

Originally Posted by deviousdave

Why did it make you angry ? Does it make you angry that the US is populated by white people too ?

It made me angry for a few reasons. For one, it is the right of every countrymen to represent HIS or HER country in the Olympics, not one that was forced on his or her people. Secondly, they mention things like the "Commonwealth" as if it's a good thing to be a part of that or as if they had any choice in the matter. Lastly, because every time they mention the problems in these countries, they never once mention the fact that the Europeans ruined them in the first place
.
Nope, because the US isn't populated by mostly one ethnic group of white people. Most of the people in the US came over with no money or were even forced over. People like the Irish had their land stolen from them so where exactly were they supposed to go?

Not the case in places like South Africa. Stop trying to make your little non-comparisons to deflect blame from your country.

[deviousdave]

Originally Posted by baller16

Nope, because the US isn't populated by mostly one ethnic group of white people. Most of the people in the US came over with no money or were even forced over. People like the Irish had their land stolen from them so where exactly were they supposed to go?

Not the case in places like South Africa. Stop trying to make your little non-comparisons to deflect blame from your country.

But at least the African people have their countries back from the europeans. The native Americans do not.

[baller16]

Originally Posted by deviousdave

But at least the African people have their countries back from the europeans. The native Americans do not.

Because Europeans killed most of them.

And do they really have their country back? Not when they've got white people living there they don't.

[deviousdave]

Originally Posted by baller16

Because Europeans killed most of them.

And do they really have their country back? Not when they've got white people living there they don't.

I dunno, Ask them? There are Japanese people that live in China, do China have their country back from the Japanese?

[baller16]

Originally Posted by deviousdave

I dunno, Ask them? There are Japanese people that live in China, do China have their country back from the Japanese?

China doesn't even have their country back from Britain. Who cares about the Japanese?

[Heyesey]

Originally Posted by baller16

China doesn't even have their country back from Britain. Who cares about the Japanese?

Britain never occupied China.

[Heyesey]

Originally Posted by baller16

Because Europeans killed most of them.

And taking over someone's land plus killing almost all of them, is somehow less offensive to you than merely taking over someone's land?

[kikidude2]

FUCK THE OLYMPICS..... WASTE OF FUCKING TIME...

[69magpie]

Ooops , Wiggins and his UK team mates misjudge the road race...the winner is 39yr old Alexandr Vinokourov from Kazakhstan.

[richief]

How did this go from being fun to being an argument, oh yeah it got Ballerised.

So far I have watched two boxing matches.

[ejls]

Michael Phelps just barely qualifies for the 400 IM

The superstar of the Beijing Games came stunningly close to missing the medal round of the 400 IM, snagging the eighth and final spot in the race by out-touching Laszlo Cseh by .07 seconds – 4:13.33 to 4:13.40. His time was almost six seconds slower than both his qualifying time in this year’s Omaha trials and his preliminary time in Beijing four years ago.

[ejls]

Eleven hours after the queen officially opened the Games of the XXX Olympiad and seven British youngsters lit the Olympic cauldron, the first gold medal of the Games was awarded. China's Yi Siling was victorious in the women's 10-meter air rifle shooting, an event which began before noon Saturday in London.

Yi narrowly finished ahead of Poland's Sylwia Bogacka in the competition. The two went shot for shot through much of the 10-shot competition before Yi, the prohibitive favorite entering the event, pulled ahead for the victory. Bogacka settled for the silver medal.

Yi's Chinese teammate, Dan Yu, finished with the bronze medal. This was Yi's first Olympic competition. The "Shooting Beauty," as she's been known, won the world championships in the 10m event in 2010.

Two Americans -- Jamie-Lynn Gray and Sarah Scherer -- were in the top eight, finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.

Defending Olympic champion, Katie Emmonso of the Czech Republic, struggled to make the final and could only muster a fourth-place finish. She is the wife of American shooting gold medalist Matt Emmons.

[stumbler]

I liked the USA/Croatia Womens Basketball game. And I was kind of surprised how Croatia hung in the game at least through the first half.

I'm watching women's soccer now North Korea (didn't even know they had a team) and France Its kind of interesting actually even though I'm not usually much of a kick ball fan.

[Heyesey]

Phelps could only manage fourth place, behind his teammate Lochte.

In the women's equivalent, a Chinese 16 year old has just smashed the world record, despite being 1.5 seconds outside it at the three-quarters mark ... not that the Chinese have a history of sports stars appearing out of nowhere, smashing world records and then disappearing again before they've taken very many drug tests. Oh deary me no, not the Chinese.

[stumbler]

France scored what I could only describe as a brute force goal just before the end of the first half. It was a driving header that seemed to take out half the North Korean team and their goalie.

I'll be interested to see the second half because for my own ethnocentric reasons I thought North Korea would play like their lives depended on it because maybe they do.

[kikidude2]

Good for him.... arrogant cunt that he is... fuck him... and I laughed when I read that the team USA's uniforms were made in China and they wore french beret's.... looked like a bunch of queers

[Heyesey]

Originally Posted by 69magpie

Ooops , Wiggins and his UK team mates misjudge the road race...the winner is 39yr old Alexandr Vinokourov from Kazakhstan.

No misjudgment. A team of four can't catch a group of twelve that is working together; and all the other countries who had world-class sprinters who could have claimed medals, all slit their own throats in order to stop Cavendish winning a medal.

Greipel, for instance, would probably have taken silver and possibly gold, if his teammates had done some of the donkey work. As it is, he came about fifteenth. I wonder how his mood is tonight.

[stumbler]

France has scored two goals in the past two minutes; 3-0. And while I don't know anything about this game to my untrained eye France is pretty; good. As in not just good but making it pretty.

[sockaraus]

should team sports be allowed in the Olympics?

[stumbler]

Four minutes to go and France has destroyed North Korea 5-0 so far.

[xnxxbob]

I LOATHE politics in the Olympics. I will not watch.

[stumbler]

Damn Micheal Phelps got smoked by Ryan Lochte.

[AZRIEL]

Originally Posted by ejls

Michael Phelps just barely qualifies for the 400 IM

Originally Posted by Heyesey

Phelps could only manage fourth place, behind his teammate Lochte.

Originally Posted by kikidude2

Ryan Lochte whips Michael Phelps to win 400-meter individual medley

Originally Posted by stumbler

Damn Micheal Phelps got smoked by Ryan Lochte.

orca.jpg

[stumbler]

OK I might need some help on this one. It's a woman's game, that's for sure. Its played indoors but has a soccer net. It has something that looks like a basketball key but all they are doing is throwing a ball around.

What is this game?

[smcaaphd]

It might be netball

[stumbler]

Originally Posted by smcaaphd

It might be netball

It took me a google search and about another two minutes of research but I suspect this time you might be right.

Thank you. Otherwise I would not have even known where to begin the search.

[69magpie]

Originally Posted by stumbler

OK I might need some help on this one. It's a woman's game, that's for sure. Its played indoors but has a soccer net. It has something that looks like a basketball key but all they are doing is throwing a ball around.

What is this game?

Sorry Smc but I think he means Handball....and both men and women play it.
It's huge in Europe and Scandinavia.

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

[origen01]

I'll just be watching track and some damn good football...

Deutschland, Sieg Heil!

[ejls]

France's women's soccer team is one of the best. Games between the US and France are must see's.

[ejls]

Swimming » She’s “disappointed” that 12th medal does not include spot in relay final.


By Elliott Almond
San Jose Mercury News




London • Natalie Coughlin’s historic 12th Olympic medal rested in a black box held by her long-time coach Teri McKeever.


Coughlin didn’t receive it during the medal ceremony Saturday night at the Aquatics Center after the United States set an American record to earn the bronze medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay.



Only the four women who swam in the final got the privilege of having their medals draped around their necks.


Coughlin had an impressive swim in the morning preliminaries to help the U.S. women advance to the final. But for the first time in her illustrious career, she was relegated to a reserve role.


As a result, Coughlin, 29, felt the sting of disappointment despite joining Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres as the most decorated female Olympians in U.S. history.


"I was a little bit disappointed because I tend to get better as the meet progresses," Coughlin said. "But I don’t envy the coaches what they had to go through."


On a night the United States won four medals in swimming, the one earned by Coughlin was perhaps the most bittersweet of her career.


"I have no idea what to think of it so far," she said a half hour after the Americans finished behind Australia and the Netherlands. "I’ll have to take it all in tonight. I’ve never been on a morning relay before, so it’s a little different."


It also was bittersweet for McKeever, the coach who has guided Coughlin to greatness since 2000. They have been a team through 12 years but McKeever had to wear her U.S. coach’s hat in making a decision based on the times of the morning swims.


"We all gave our opinions," McKeever said. "It wasn’t unanimous."

[richief]

Team Archery - Italy gold. USA - silver. A close match with one point in it.

[ejls]

Overall Medal Count


Rank/Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 China 4 0 2 6
2 Italy 2 2 1 5
3 United States 1 2 2 5
4 Brazil 1 1 1 3
4 South Korea 1 1 1 3
6 Australia 1 0 0 1
6 Kazakhstan 1 0 0 1
6 Russia 1 0 0 1

[69magpie]

North Korea was allowed to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics after it was banned by FIFA from competing in the 2015 Women's World Cup following a doping scandal at the 2011 World Cup in Germany in June-July.

Five players tested positive to steroids and received bans of up to 18 months, while the team's doctor was banned for six years.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle4437302/

[ejls]

[stumbler]

Originally Posted by ejls

And somebody calls this boat racing????

Even if you had a way of trolling, which you don't. those paddles would scare the fuck out of the fish.

[ejls]

[stumbler]

Originally Posted by ejls

Ok no fair on Queen Elizabeth. That's got to sway the vote to begin with. Of all the things I might have imagined about Queen Elizabeth being a great sport and getting it on one taker was not two of them.

That was just really damn something I thought.

[ThomP]

Originally Posted by ejls

France's women's soccer team is one of the best. Games between the US and France are must see's.

Not hard to beat the North Koreans in the air

[Rexxracerr]

Originally Posted by ThomP

Not hard to beat the North Koreans in the air

that's funny thom.

go get 'em Misti, and Kerri.
they won their first match tonight.

[cijababe]

I've seen rowers up close - awesome, they not only use their arm muscles, the seat slides so they use their thighs too - the power they produce is amazing, and a synchronised team is quite something to see. I'd quite like to give rowing a shot

[ejls]

Back when my knee was still good, I would use the rowing machine at the gym. I would imagine being on the water. Would love to try it, just once.

[umpire2]

Originally Posted by 69magpie

Sorry Smc but I think he means Handball....and both men and women play it.
It's huge in Europe and Scandinavia.

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

I was wondering what it was for about 20 minutes until one of the announcers finally called it 'handball' and I was shocked.

I've played HANDBALL and it is nothing remotely like this game.

[umpire2]

HANDBALL

0.jpg


0a.jpg

[ejls]

I never would have guessed them to be the same sport. I guess the court had to be modified to allow an audience.

[umpire2]

The Olympics are both great and incredibly, incredibly, INCREDIBLY STUPID.

They make up games out of their ass all the time to suit someone (politically, probably)......the 50 Yard Air Rifle Competition? What next? Tiddly-Winks?

Yet RUGBY and BASEBALL have no place in the Olympics. I guess not enough countries play those sports world-wide (only dozens) and more countries play competitive nose/spoon balancing.

[cijababe]

What about the toe wrestling championships? Did you know the performance arena is called the Toedium?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...pionship.html#

[69magpie]

Originally Posted by umpire2

The Olympics are both great and incredibly, incredibly, INCREDIBLY STUPID.

They make up games out of their ass all the time to suit someone (politically, probably)......the 50 Yard Air Rifle Competition? What next? Tiddly-Winks?

Yet RUGBY and BASEBALL have no place in the Olympics. I guess not enough countries play those sports world-wide (only dozens) and more countries play competitive nose/spoon balancing.

Enough countries play Rugby and Baseball,
Baseball has been in the olympics first played in 1904 until it was eliminated for these games......sorry for the wiki link ....and Rugby Union was also played until it was eliminated after a pitch invasion by fans in 1924.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basebal...ummer_Olympics


I would love for someone to explain to me why sychronised swimming gets a berth.