2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Thread

[SpringfieldFan]

Now that they are over, what athletes will you most remember? Certainly Phelps, Bolt, and others had unforgettable achievements, but beyond those of pure accomplishment were other performances I will admire most:

 

Dara Torres - for stepping up and getting the semifinal heat delayed so her fellow competitor could change her torn swimsuit. She simply explained that when outside the pool, her competitors are her friends. Yes.

 

US men's basketball team - They are millionaires and celebrities, but put it all aside for the sake of American pride. Even off court they were everywhere supporting Americans in other events, even asking Phelps for his autograph. Humility in American basketball = nice.

 

Johnson/Liukin - Despite the questions about scoring and ages, they did their business, didn't complain, and always respected the judges and competition. Each said going 1-2 in either order was more gratifying than individual gold - and I believe them.

 

Men's volleyball team - words won't do justice, so I won't try.

 

And the most painful moment: Lolo Jones leaning against the tunnel wall, all alone, crying in torment after clipping the hurdle and losing certain gold. Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch.

 

Admittedly, and probably to a fault, I watched with a focus on the Americans. However, but I must give props to the Chinese fans. They not only respected every nation's athletes, but cheered great performers, even if they weren't wearing red and gold. I hope we can do the same if the games come to Chicago.

 

SFF

 

[fathom]

I'll remember Sacramone also with her hair up (much better looking than when it's down).

[feistyboy]

I will remember most:

 

Canadian mens eight rowers- after the devastation of 2004 for these guys, the 5 of 9 that were able to return, to come through with the gold medal they were expected to win in 2004 was amazing to see. Of all the events this is the one I would have been most devastated if Canada had not won.

 

Rebecca Adlington- this little known British up and coming swimmer shocks the world by first stealing gold from Katie Hoff in the final stroke of the 400 free, then smashing Janet Evans 19-year old world record in her best event, the 800 free.

 

Misty May/Kerri Walsh: possibly the most dominant female athletes in history in any sport. It is just incredible to watch them. You often talk about it not being enough to be a champion just to do everthing very well but nothing that stands out, or something that stands out but have a glaring weakness or two, and that to be the best these days you need to do everything very well and atleast something that stands out. They though do pretty much everything better then everyone else except serve, hitting for power, digging, overall defence, blocking, variety of shot, team communication, setting, they all do more outstandingly then any other team. Just incredible to see how dominant they are.

 

Michael Phelps- what can you say. 8 gold medals, two of them seemingly that should have never happened the way the races played out. As Rowdy Gaines said it was almost like it was his destiny to win 8 golds here. 8 golds, that is halfof the swimming events for men. The scary thing is with swimming spread out over 2 weeks he might have been capable of winning even 9 or 10 golds, since he may have had a shot of winning one or both of the backstrokes even.

 

Usain Bolt- With all due respect to Michael Johnson and Carl Lewis I still think this is the single greatest display of sprinting, yes taking into consideration the timeframe each were in, that has ever been witnessed on the Olympic stage. What can you say about breaking your own 100 metre world record while gliding the last 20 metres and showboating, as much as some may not have liked it. Then coming back and breaking Michael Johnson's seemingly untouchable for many more years 200 metres world record, in a race he simply could have cruised to gold without going for the record by going relatively easy again, showing how far ahead of everyone else he is right now. His relay leg was fantastic too, and I really think with those long strides he could even be a contender to win at 400 metres if he really chose to focus on it, and if it were at all managable given all the stress and effort of sprinting.

 

U.S mens gymnastics team- The way this underdog team all pulled together and won their bronze medal with so much heart and passion was just incredible to see. The bronze was like a gold medal for this particular group of guys. So many great stories amongst these six. I was actually much happier to see them win a team medal without the nauseatingly overhyped Hamm twins.

 

Jan Frodeno- I always like to see the underdogs come through. It was exciting to see someone who had been on the podium in World Cup triathlon events 6 or 7 times the last 3 years but still never quite winning one come through to win gold in a sprint finish over a trio of much bigger names, even if in the end he denied Canada a gold medal. He seemed like a nice guy and really cool, and very excited with his victory so you couldnt help but feel good for him.

 

Nastia Liukin- I am sorry but I have to concede I am not a big Shawn Johnson fan. I know Shawn is a great kid and a very good gymnast but her gymnastics is just not my style for a female gymnastics star. I do believe star women gymnasts should be more artistic and elegant by nature and for Nastia to perform brilliantly and overhaul the Shawn bandwagon that seemed unstoppable for the AA gold I was thrilled with. It was nice to see this exquisite gymnast come out of Shawn's shadow she has been in for the last couple years by winning the most coveted prize in the sport.

 

Chen Ruolin- Again even though this also denied Canada a gold medal it was incredible to see a tiny 15 year old perform that extremely difficult 3.4 dive for 10s under all the pressure to win the gold she was favored for, and to keep China's hopes of a gold diving sweep alive.

 

Rumana Neykova- It was great to see this great Bulgarian sculler who has done it all in the sport except Olympic gold finally get her elusive Olympic gold, which she so heartbreakingly lost in a long delayed photo finish to her great Belarussian rival Karsten 8 years ago. Also great to see American sculler Guerette win a surprise silver, when people would have thought she would be lucky to even get a bronze with Neykova, Karsten, and Knapkova all in the field.

 

Japan and Korea winning softball and baseball golds- Nothing against the U.S women or Cuban men but it is just nice to see the apple cart shook up once in awhile. The sheer elation for both teams as they made the final winning play was an incredible sight to behold.

 

Low points of the games for me:

 

He Kexin- This is supposed to be a 16 year old!?!? Please, what a crock. She definitely is the 13 or 14 that the documents caught on the web briefly indicated. God, she looks like she is 11 years old. So horrible to see this massively underaged phone entried gymnast who does not even belong in the Olympics as the only female gymnast to win 2 gold medals.

 

Cheng Fei- this extremely talented WOMEN (I emphasize women in contrast to the disgraceful He) Chinese gymnast had a rough games. Picked by most to win both vault and floor she faltered miserably in both finals. She could have cost her team the gold to the U.S with her fall on beam, except for Sacramone's own sad meltdown. Instead of the 3 or 4 golds some predicted for her she leaves Beijing with only a team gold that had more to do with some of the underage phonies on her team then her usual excellence, and a couple pity bronzes by generous judges in the event finals for subpar (in the case of vault disaesterous) performances.

 

Tyson Gay- very sad situation for him. One year ago the king of sprinting. Injures himself at the trials, losing out on the 200 metre, cant recover in time for a good Olympic 100 metre, and then the baton drop in the relay. Leaves games with zero hardware, when a year ago he was the Bolt of mens sprinting, and like everyone else completely lost in Bolt's humungous shadow now.

 

Adam Van Koeverdan- dissapointing to see our flag bearer who I really thought had a great shot of 2 gold medals leave with an 8th place finish, and a silver medal after losing a huge lead in the final 200 metres. Most Canadians thought anything less then atleast 1 gold and 2 medals from him would be dissapointing. He is that good and has been that good this season. I feel badly for him as it is clear the pressure got to him as it does most of Canada's flag bearers.

 

Theo Bos- very sad to see this Dutch sprint cyclist who has achieved so much in the sport over the last 4-5 years flop miserably at his 2nd Olympics. Still all he has in his Olympic collection is one sole silver, and one wonders if he can come back at all from this.

 

 

[feistyboy]

Dang, I think we need an olympic event in sarcasm. I didn't make the "more medals for the Chinese" comment, but I did raise the trampolining issue. To set the record straight, I didn't raise it because the USA sucks at trampolining. I don't even know if we do, and for that matter we aren't such great golfers these days anyway. I brought it up simply because IMO golf is more worthy of being included. If you have ever watched the British Open, you'd swear it was at Epcot with all the nations represented. And yet they have trampolining...

 

SFF

 

Golfers would not even want to be in the Olympics. Tiger Woods basically said it woudl be a joke when asked about the idea.

[kapkomet]

One of my favorites was the Austrailian dude nailing 10's on his final dive to win the only gold medal in the diving competition that wasn't awarded to a Chinese athlete.

[SpringfieldFan]

One of my favorites was the Austrailian dude nailing 10's on his final dive to win the only gold medal in the diving competition that wasn't awarded to a Chinese athlete.

 

Yes, that! The guy had no clue and was just thrilled to have probably earned a medal. His lady coach or whomever she was grabs him and with a laugh of total shock says "You just won the Olympics!"

 

SFF

[Wanne]

Personally...I was a big fan of the Women Pole Vaulters!