2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Thread

[CanOfCorn]

My wife (All-American in High School, swam competitively at Rice U.) was screaming (quietly, had a sleeping baby), up on her feet and couldn't believe Lezek was 3/4 of a body length behind with 50m to go and caught up...Bernard tanked that last 50 and swimming a 46 flat 100 by Lezek, is absolutely ridiculous.

[Buehrle>Wood]

I'm talking about beach volleyball, water polo, bike racing, swimming with Phelps, not stuff like diving, equestrian, dancing.

 

Beach volleyball has national TV deals with NBC and can be seen every weekend if you're interested.

 

 

Anyways, I know I'm late on this but I was shocked to see Dalhausser/Rogers lose to team Latvia in beach. Has to be the biggest beach upset ever. They looked good today though and should be back on track.

[YASNY]

I have to ask ... does the Star Spangled Banner ever have more meaning to you than when it's played at the Olympics?

[kapkomet]

I have to ask ... does the Star Spangled Banner ever have more meaning to you than when it's played at the Olympics?

Yes (meaning there's other times it's more powerful), but I do have to admit it's pretty powerful when you are watching the olympics and the medal winner is the best of the best. From a SPORTS perspective, that's when the anthem has the most meaning.

[Reddy]

haha so jokingly i said to my friend "i wonder if i could friend the gymnasts cuz i bet they're on facebook" (conversation came after mentioning that alicia sacramone was hot). went to facebook stalker-style and searched her and my friend dared me to friend her. so i did. it's still pending but i'll let you all know the outcome.

 

and it's ok cuz i'm only a year older than her, for the record.

[RockRaines]

My wife (All-American in High School, swam competitively at Rice U.) was screaming (quietly, had a sleeping baby), up on her feet and couldn't believe Lezek was 3/4 of a body length behind with 50m to go and caught up...Bernard tanked that last 50 and swimming a 46 flat 100 by Lezek, is absolutely ridiculous.

I went nuts, his swim was one in a million. Unbelieveable.

[Reddy]

I went nuts, his swim was one in a million. Unbelieveable.

 

actually i did too, jumping up and down. my bro was like 'since when do you care about swimming?' and i was like i dont know but that was the greatest thing EVER! i was so swept up in it.

[whitesoxfan101]

I had never watched swimming in my life until these olympics started, and I went nuts at the end of that race too. It was just one of those things that is captivating, like when a team comes back from a huge deficit in one of the major sports when it seems impossible. And the fact it was an athlete doing it for his country, and our country, made it even better.

[whitesoxbrian]

Why are they showing USA vs SAF in Badminton rather then USA vs Angola in basketball?

[kev211]

Why are they showing USA vs SAF in Badminton rather then USA vs Angola in basketball?

Because how often do you get to watch badminton? Badminton is awesome. I can't wait for the table tennis.

 

Looking at the listings though the basketball game is going to be on USA at 7am(Live). So I don't really know what your talking about.

Edited August 12, 2008 by ScottPodRulez22

[whitesoxfan101]

Man the Chinese basketball team had their chance to advance out of the prelims and into the round of 8, and blew it. Obviously they aren't done yet, but they had a 14 point lead heading to the 4th against Spain, only to see it evaporate. Spain eventually won it in overtime. If anything though, that performance makes the U.S.A. domination of China look a little more impressive. Speaking of the U.S.A., they pretty much sleepwalked to a 30 point lead early in the 4th against Angola, and ended up winning by a little over 20 I believe it was. Not much can be read into that, the U.S.A. probably didn't take the game seriously and understandably so, Angola is not really a challenge. Aregentina bounced back from their opening game loss to Lithuania by beating Australia handily. The Aussies aren't a great team, but Patrick Mills looks exactly like he did last season helping St. Mary's to a great season. He's going to have a good NBA career eventually.

Edited August 12, 2008 by whitesoxfan101

[southsider2k5]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/1...ref=mpstoryview

 

Olympic opening uses girl's voice, not face

 

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A 7-year-old Chinese girl was not good-looking enough for the Olympics opening ceremony, so another little girl with a pixie smile lip-synched "Ode to the Motherland," a ceremony official said.

 

 

9-year-old Lin Miaoke had the 'cute' face that Olympic organizers wanted for the opening ceremony.

 

A member of China's ruling Politburo asked for the last-minute change to match one girl's face with another's voice, the ceremony's chief music director, Chen Qigang, said in an interview with Beijing Radio.

 

"The audience will understand that it's in the national interest," Chen said in a video of the interview posted online Sunday night.

 

The news follows reports that some footage of the fireworks exploding across China's capital during the ceremony was digitally inserted into television coverage, apparently over concerns that not all of the 29 blasts could be captured on camera.

 

China has been eager to present a flawless Olympics image to the world, shooing migrant workers and so-called petitioners who come to the central government with grievances from the city and shutting down any sign of protest.

 

The country's quest for perfection apparently includes its children.

 

Lin Miaoke's performance Friday night, like the ceremony itself, was an immediate hit. "Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke becomes instant star with patriotic song," the China Daily newspaper headline said Tuesday.

 

But the real voice behind the tiny, pigtailed girl in the red dress who wowed 91,000 spectators at the National Stadium on opening night really belonged to 7-year-old Yang Peiyi. Her looks apparently failed the cuteness test with officials organizing the ceremony, but Chen said her voice was judged the most beautiful.

 

"The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and a good grasp of the song and look good on screen," Chen said. "Lin Miaoke was the best in this. And Yang Peiyi's voice was the most outstanding."

 

During a live rehearsal soon before the ceremony, the Politburo member said Miaoke's voice "must change," Chen said in the radio interview. He didn't name the official.

 

So Peiyi's voice was matched with Miaoke's face.

 

"We had to make that choice. It was fair both for Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi," Chen told Beijing Radio. "We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance."

 

A photo of Peiyi posted Tuesday on popular Web site Sina.com shows a smiling girl with bangs and crooked teeth. A China News Service story posted with the photo says a China Central Television reporter asked Peiyi whether she felt regret over the opening ceremony.

 

Peiyi responded that just having her voice used for the opening ceremony was an honor.

 

Whether the move was unethical, or unfair to both girls, has become a hot topic among Chinese and is racing across the country's blogosphere.

 

"The organizers really messed up on this one," said Luo Shaoyang, 34, a retail worker in Beijing.

 

"This is like a voice-over for a cartoon character," Luo said. "Why couldn't they pick a kid who is both cute and a good singer? This damages the reputation of both kids for their future, especially the one lip-synching. Now everyone knows she's a fraud. Who cares if she's cute?"

 

Zhang Xinyi, 22, who works in marketing in Beijing, disagreed.

 

"I can understand why they picked the prettier girl. They need to maintain a certain aesthetic beauty during the opening ceremonies. This situation is not so bad, especially since it gives two people an opportunity to shine rather than just one."

 

Peiyi is a first-grader at the Primary School affiliated to Peking University. Her tutor, Wang Liping, wrote in her blog that Peiyi is both cute and well-behaved, with a love for Peking opera.

 

"She doesn't like to show off. She's easygoing," Wang wrote. She and other school officials couldn't be reached Tuesday.

 

Miaoke, however, was a minor celebrity even before the opening ceremony. The third-grader appeared in a television ad last year with China's biggest gold medal hope, hurdling champion Liu Xiang, and she was in an Olympics ad just before Chinese New Year, China Daily reported.

 

Miaoke has her own blog, and one of the latest photos posted since the ceremony shows her looking up nervously at the ceremony's director, film director Zhang Yimou. "Giving the child encouragement," the caption says.

 

Her father, Lin Hui, told China Daily he learned Miaoke would be "singing" only 15 minutes before the opening ceremony began. The newspaper wrote Lin "still cannot believe his daughter has become an international singing sensation."

 

It was the second straight Olympics where the opening ceremony involved lip-synching.

 

Luciano Pavarotti's performance at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin was prerecorded. The maestro who conducted the aria, Leone Magiera, said earlier this year that the bitter cold made a live performance impossible for Pavarotti, who was in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis. Pavarotti died in September 2007 at age 71.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/12/fake.fi...eref=rss_latest

 

Beijing enhanced Olympics show with faked 'fireworks'Story Highlights

Olympics fireworks display was enhanced by prerecorded footage, organizers say

 

Huge footprints were shown trudging in the Beijing sky to the National Stadium

 

Some of the footage shown to TV viewers featured a computer-generated 3D image

 

"Most people could not tell the difference," says spokesman for image's maker

 

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Not all was what it seemed during the spectacular opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

 

 

Beijing Olympic organizers say their opening-ceremony fireworks were enhanced by prerecorded footage.

 

Beijing organizers confirmed Tuesday that some of the fireworks display featured prerecorded footage.

 

Fireworks that burst into the shape of 29 gigantic footprints were shown trudging above the Beijing skyline to the National Stadium near the start of the ceremony.

 

Though the footprint-shaped fireworks were real, some of the footage shown to television viewers around the world and on giant screens inside the "Bird's Nest" stadium featured a computer-generated three-dimensional image.

 

"It was confirmed that previously recorded footage was provided to the broadcasters for convenience and theatrical effects -- as in many other big events," Beijing organizing committee spokesman Wang Wei said. "On the day of the ceremony there were actual footprints of fireworks from the south to the north of the city.

 

The computerized images were produced by Crystal Digital Technology Co. of Beijing.

 

"We did our best to create a rendering that would look like the shot was taken live," company spokesman Lei Ming told the Beijing Times. "Most people could not tell the difference."

 

NBC said broadcasters Bob Costas and Matt Lauer told viewers the display was cinematic.

 

"This is actually almost animation," Lauer said on the air.

 

The ceremony won rave reviews around the world and was watched by more than 1 billion people.

 

In the United States on NBC, the ceremony averaged 34.2 million U.S. viewers, making it the biggest American television event since the Super Bowl.

[DBAHO]

Aregentina bounced back from their opening game loss to Lithuania by beating Australia handily. The Aussies aren't a great team, but Patrick Mills looks exactly like he did last season helping St. Mary's to a great season. He's going to have a good NBA career eventually.

We've been terrible thus far. Bogut is playing injured, and Mills has been the only shining light. He's probably too small to be a starting PG, but he'll be a dynamite PG to have off the bench in the years to come.

[ChWRoCk2]

Was I the only one yesterday who thought the US mens gymnastics team was getting the shaft on some of their scores?

 

 

How is China getting all their medals? Ridiculous.

Edited August 12, 2008 by ChWRoCk2

[DBAHO]

Weightlifting I think, and they're doing well in Diving.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Was I the only one yesterday who thought the US mens gymnastics team was getting the shaft on some of their scores?

 

 

How is China getting all their medals? Ridiculous.

MSNBC is about to talk about the scoring system problems in a few minutes.

[whitesoxfan99]

Was I the only one yesterday who thought the US mens gymnastics team was getting the shaft on some of their scores?

 

 

How is China getting all their medals? Ridiculous.

 

Any sport where there is a subjective scoring system is inherently flawed. The scoring system now gives a competitor a starting score based on the difficulty of the routine and the US for the most part was starting a few tenths below the Chinese before a routine began. Plus, I think reputation plays a huge role in a subjective scoring system. Well known and top gymnasts or skaters tend to get a lot more benefit of the doubt when they make mistakes than their counterparts.

 

I have more of a problem with the fact it is pretty clear China is cheating by having girls that are too young on their women's team.

Edited August 12, 2008 by whitesoxfan99

[Soxbadger]

Some of the scoring is crazy, I saw a girl just completely wipe out in a vault get a better score than some one who landed a different vault.

 

A lot of the problem is reputation if you are supposed to win the judges seem to fall over themselves to make sure it happens. On the other hand I feel that no matter what the US did on pommel horse they were getting a bronze, the judges werent going to let them pass the Japanese and werent going to let them fall below the Germans.

 

I have more of a problem with the fact it is pretty clear China is cheating by having girls that are too young on their women's team.

 

Its not necessarily cheating as it should be a disadvantage to have younger athletes than older more experienced ones. They are just breaking the rules if its true.

 

And its basically impossible to prove as there is no real test to determine age.

Edited August 12, 2008 by Soxbadger

[Steve9347]

A lot of it is the difficulty of the programs they are running. The Chinese are running events of 8.200 difficulty while the Americans' are all around 6.200. That starts you off with a 2 point advantage.

[whitesoxfan99]

Some of the scoring is crazy, I saw a girl just completely wipe out in a vault get a better score than some one who landed a different vault.

 

A lot of the problem is reputation if you are supposed to win the judges seem to fall over themselves to make sure it happens. On the other hand I feel that no matter what the US did on pommel horse they were getting a bronze, the judges werent going to let them pass the Japanese and werent going to let them fall below the Germans.

 

 

 

Its not necessarily cheating as it should be a disadvantage to have younger athletes than older more experienced ones. They are just breaking the rules if its true.

 

And its basically impossible to prove as there is no real test to determine age.

 

It isn't cheating if you break a rule to get a better gymnast on the team who wouldn't be able to compete under the rules? Not following.

[Soxbadger]

Well cheating to me implies getting an advantage.

 

For example:

 

A player can get suspended from the olympics for doing illegal drugs, these drugs include steroids and marijuana.

 

If some one was caught doing marijuana I would consider it breaking the rules, not cheating as they are unlikely to be getting any benefit from it.

 

If some one was caught doing steroids, it would not only be breaking the rules but cheating.

 

I just dont necessarily see the advantage of using a younger athlete when generally athletes that young are not as good as those a few years older...

 

Now if we just go by the definition of cheating, then yes it is as it is some sort of trickery, but Im going by the gaining an advantage standard.

[whitesoxfan99]

Well cheating to me implies getting an advantage.

 

For example:

 

A player can get suspended from the olympics for doing illegal drugs, these drugs include steroids and marijuana.

 

If some one was caught doing marijuana I would consider it breaking the rules, not cheating as they are unlikely to be getting any benefit from it.

 

If some one was caught doing steroids, it would not only be breaking the rules but cheating.

 

I just dont necessarily see the advantage of using a younger athlete when generally athletes that young are not as good as those a few years older...

 

Now if we just go by the definition of cheating, then yes it is as it is some sort of trickery, but Im going by the gaining an advantage standard.

 

The whole purpose for placing a younger gymnast on the team is because they are better than the alternative. They are using it to get a competitive advantage. And the older equals better theory does not fly at all in women's gymnastics.

[Soxbadger]

I never said older is better, I said that generally 14 is below the peak age in terms of gymnastics.

 

Nadia was 14 in her first Olympics (back then 14 was allowed to compete) and its interesting cause Koralyi was her coach.

 

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

 

My opinion still is that 16 is generally the peak age for a gymnast, the reason that a 14 year old would want to compete is that the next Olympics would be out of there peak range (they would be 18.)

 

Maybe it is cheating, maybe it isnt. I really dont care as if they are good enough to compete in the Olympics, they should be able to.

[SoxFan1]

Outside of tennis, Serbia has been a dissapointment. 0-2 in water polo and volleyball, as well as 0-1-1 in soccer. Hell, even in tennis, Ana Ivanovic dropped out due to injury. Nothing is over yet, but a huge disappointment to a country that came in with high expectations. Right now, we're banking on Cavic, Djokovic, and Jankovic to get us some medals. Hopefully Sapic, probably the best water polo player in the world, gets things together with the team and get wins in the next 3 matches, starting against the USA on Thursday.

[fathom]

Outside of tennis, Serbia has been a dissapointment. 0-2 in water polo and volleyball, as well as 0-1-1 in soccer. Hell, even in tennis, Ana Ivanovic dropped out due to injury. Nothing is over yet, but a huge disappointment to a country that came in with high expectations. Right now, we're banking on Cavic, Djokovic, and Jankovic to get us some medals. Hopefully Sapic, probably the best water polo player in the world, gets things together with the team and get wins in the next 3 matches, starting against the USA on Thursday.

 

Who carried the flag for Serbia?