The Olympic Games Thread...

[Anna0499]

Date: 8/20/2008 3:55:14 PM
Author: meresal
How did I never see this thread?!?!

Did anyone see the interview with Bella and another gymnast person(??) about the judging, it was on Sunday or Monday night, I believe during the 6 or 7 o'clock hour CST. They were talking about how the Olympics are trying to represent as many countries as they can, as far as judges go. Well, what this means, is that there are going to be very inexperienced judges that can be very easily influenced by crowd reactions. Did you all notice how no matter what the Chinese did, they always ended with a fist pump, and a huge smile. The crowd went crazy no matter what. I think this attitude factors in alot with judges that aren't as veteran, and don't notice all the deductions they should be seeing.

FYI: One of my friends is running tomorrow night in the 400m Men's Final. His name is Jeremy Wariner. FI is already padding the walls, because he knows I'm going to be screaming for him. LOL!!!

I'm so excited!!! This is his second Olympics, but he has another USA sprinter that is running against him and their times throughout the past year have been very close. So if anyone knows who he is, please cheer!!

I highly doubt the Olympic judges are "inexperienced," I know the Aussie judge had over 20 years of experience judging professional gymnastics. That's why I hated Tim's (?) comment about none of them having gold medal Olympians from their countries. I think you can be a good, qualified judge without your countrymen winning a gold medal! People sitting at home who don't know much about gymnastics will get riled up based on the announcers' biased comments. Based on this year, that would only leave like 3 or 4 countries who are qualified to judge...but then you'd have huge biases when they are judging their own people, so that comment just didn't make sense to me. Anyway, I would like to think that Olympic judges have more professionalism than to be swayed by fist pumps & the crowd. If they were swayed by such things it is a shame but IMO, Yang Yilin's uneven bars performance had less visible errors than Liukins or He's (even the announcers didn't really have much to criticize there), with the same difficulty level, her dismount form was beautiful & she stuck her landing perfectly...everyone knew she was underscored, even Nastia & Valeri have admitted so. If anyone was robbed, I think it was her. It kind of showed me that the judges weren't *too* favoring of China, at least for uneven bars. As for the tiebreak rule...the judges didn't come up with it, so it will need an administrative change from the IOC/FIG if the next Olympics will apply different rules. I thought it was weird that the actual gymnasts/coaches didn't know the rules already & had to have them explained multiple times.

I *have* seen Wariner & he seemed great in his heat. Hopefully he can defend his title!

 

[meresal]

IG: I was just making a statement, becuase it was an interview that no one had brought up yet. I read your posts in the "Around the World" thread, and understand that you have very strong opinions towards the entire games in general... I would very much not like to be part of this debate. Thank you.

ETA: Also find it odd that no one knew the rules before the competition... very strange indeed.



To no one in particular:

As an athlete I watch the Olympics for the pure joy of 2 straight weeks of wonderful competition. I know a few people that have trained their entire lives for this chance, only to feel the families defeat when they don't qualify for the US team, or have the ability to cheer them on from my TV over 14 hours away, screaming at the top of my lungs becasue I can. I love the thrill, I love the excitement, and I enjoy being anywhere and looking up to see that everyone around me is staring at the TV watching Michael Phelps win 8 Gold medals in one week. It's a phenomenal show, and it's amazing that athletes are given the chance to take their skills to an international level. We, as athletes, are very lucky. Just my opinion.

 

[Anna0499]

Date: 8/20/2008 4:52:35 PM
Author: meresal
IG: I was just making a statement, becuase it was an interview that no one had brought up yet. I read your posts in the 'Around the World' thread, and understand that you have very strong opinions towards the entire games in general... I would very much not like to be part of this debate. Thank you.

To no one in particular:

As an athlete I watch the Olympics for the pure joy of 2 straight weeks of wonderful competition. I know a few people that have trained their entire lives for this chance, only to feel the families defeat when they don't qualify for the US team, or have the ability to cheer them on from my TV over 14 hours away, screaming at the top of my lungs becasue I can. I love the thrill, I love the excitement, and I enjoy being anywhere and looking up to see that everyone around me is staring at the TV watching Michael Phelps win 8 Gold medals in one week. It's a phenomenal show, and it's amazing that athletes are given the chance to take their skills to an international level. We, as athletes, are very lucky. Just my opinion.

Meresal - What debate?

I only wrote maybe three or four sentences that pertained to your post. I'm sorry if you thought my quoting your post was in an attempt to spark a debate with you, it wasn't. My post wasn't by any means personally aimed at your opinion, I was stating my opinion on the judging & performances, as well as a fact about one of the controversial judges, just as everyone else has. Everyone has been discussing their feelings on topics back & forth for over five pages & I think it's been great. My posts in Around the World had to do with the age controversy & Chinese ethics in particular & those are separate issues unrelated to the actual competition, so I purposefully didn't continue posting about them here. Anyway, I appreciated your post but since you felt somewhat uncomfortable with my response to your post I won't reply to your posts anymore to avoid any future confusion as to my motives.

 

[meresal]

Date: 8/20/2008 5:02:12 PM
Author: IndyGirl22
Meresal - What debate?

I only wrote maybe three or four sentences that pertained to your post. I'm sorry if you thought my quoting your post was in an attempt to spark a debate with you, it wasn't. My post wasn't by any means personally aimed at your opinion, I was stating my opinion on the judging & performances, as well as a fact about one of the controversial judges, just as everyone else has. Everyone has been discussing their feelings on topics back & forth for over five pages & I think it's been great. My posts in Around the World had to do with the age controversy & Chinese ethics in particular & those are separate issues unrelated to the actual competition, so I purposefully didn't continue posting about them here. Anyway, I appreciated your post but since you felt somewhat uncomfortable with my response to your post I won't reply to your posts anymore to avoid any future confusion as to my motives.

My fault, I was mistaken. No need to ignore me.

No more confusion.

 

[Anna0499]

Date: 8/20/2008 5:05:55 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 8/20/2008 5:02:12 PM
Author: IndyGirl22
Meresal - What debate?

I only wrote maybe three or four sentences that pertained to your post. I''m sorry if you thought my quoting your post was in an attempt to spark a debate with you, it wasn''t. My post wasn''t by any means personally aimed at your opinion, I was stating my opinion on the judging & performances, as well as a fact about one of the controversial judges, just as everyone else has. Everyone has been discussing their feelings on topics back & forth for over five pages & I think it''s been great. My posts in Around the World had to do with the age controversy & Chinese ethics in particular & those are separate issues unrelated to the actual competition, so I purposefully didn''t continue posting about them here. Anyway, I appreciated your post but since you felt somewhat uncomfortable with my response to your post I won''t reply to your posts anymore to avoid any future confusion as to my motives.

My fault, I was mistaken. No need to ignore me.

No more confusion.

Oh I didn''t mean ignore you! I reread my post & realized that wording made it sound like that so I editted it really fast (nto fast enough!). I just meant I won''t quote your post unless I''m trying to debate with you! I enjoy reading your posts everywhere on PS, so I didn''t want you to think I was trying to start anything!

No worries, I will be cheering for your friend Wariner!

 

[diamondfan]

Indy, one thing I did hear was the judges are not allowed to judge from their country and that they had judges who have limited exposure to top tier gymnasts so their less likely to get some of the nuances a Russian or American judge would. (I think Australia was mentioned).

Not trying to pick a fight, have not read all the posts, just a bit of back and forth. Just adding that in, I did hear them say it is done to be fair on one hand but it does leave an issue on the other hand.

I also was really SHOCKED AND DISGUSTED by our silver medal pole vaulter''s coach. HE SHOULD BE SPANKED for humiliating her on tv like that. What a dick. She NEARLY got the gold and was only beaten by the TOP pole vaulter in the WORLD. He is a major a hole for talking like that when she just won the silver. What terrible sportsmanship and attitude to show the world. She was nearly in tears.

 

[snlee]

Date: 8/20/2008 7:49:26 PM
Author: diamondfan

I also was really SHOCKED AND DISGUSTED by our silver medal pole vaulter's coach. HE SHOULD BE SPANKED for humiliating her on tv like that. What a dick. She NEARLY got the gold and was only beaten by the TOP pole vaulter in the WORLD. He is a major a hole for talking like that when she just won the silver. What terrible sportsmanship and attitude to show the world. She was nearly in tears.

I agree! I was shocked to see/hear her coach's reaction!!! I can't believe he said, "well, a silver metal isn't bad for poll vaulting only 4 years." He didn't say anything positive! I felt so bad for her. It should be a time of excitement and she should feel proud of herself. Did you see during her interview, she said something like I can't wait to get back to my coach and family to celebrate? Ahhhhh! Your coach is a complete A$$!

 

[Anna0499]

Date: 8/20/2008 7:49:26 PM
Author: diamondfan
Indy, one thing I did hear was the judges are not allowed to judge from their country and that they had judges who have limited exposure to top tier gymnasts so their less likely to get some of the nuances a Russian or American judge would. (I think Australia was mentioned).

Not trying to pick a fight, have not read all the posts, just a bit of back and forth. Just adding that in, I did hear them say it is done to be fair on one hand but it does leave an issue on the other hand.

I also was really SHOCKED AND DISGUSTED by our silver medal pole vaulter's coach. HE SHOULD BE SPANKED for humiliating her on tv like that. What a dick. She NEARLY got the gold and was only beaten by the TOP pole vaulter in the WORLD. He is a major a hole for talking like that when she just won the silver. What terrible sportsmanship and attitude to show the world. She was nearly in tears.

Oh, I know no fighting DF!

I definitely agree that the judging was inconsistent...I just don't see a solution in such a subjective sport, but I'm sure others with more gymnastics expertise may have some ideas & changes will be made for London because of all the controversies this year. It makes sense that judges are not able to judge their own countries; imagine the controversy potential there!

However, because it seems like the same countries have the top tier gymnasts I would assume (maybe incorrectly) that the Olympic judges chosen had judged several international & professional level events in the past. I have just been

at several of the announcers' comments & that one by Tim just seemed unfounded. I could also see a particular style of gymnastics not being favored by the judges, but I agree with you all that the scoring system needs to be more easily deciphered by those watching at home for the good of the sport...I just don't think it will ever be perfected to a point where no controversy at all exists due to the subjective nature of it.

ETA: I also was

at Al Trautwig (who doesn't have a gymnastics background to my knowledge) saying about He Kexin during the medal ceremony, "Does she really think she won the gold?" I mean those types of comments don't make any sense & are disrespectful no matter what country the gymnast comes from IMHO. I'm sure some people thought Nastia's beam routine was better than Shawn's but he would've never said that about Shawn, who didn't tie. I know my posts seem to be defending China very heavily but I couldn't be happier with the success of the US team; I guess I'm just sick of the media blaming various things whenever the US doesn't win gold...sometimes you just get out-performed or it's not your day.

I felt really bad for the pole vaulter...she looked so disappointed, almost like a child who had just been scolded; definitely not like someone who had just won a silver medal! It should've been such a happy time for her & her coach made her feel like an underachiever.

Has anyone else been following diving? I find it crazy that the same diver can get a 10 & an 8.5 for the same dive, but there hasn't been much controversy there because the gold medalists have been so dominant...

Do the hurdle events scare anyone else?! After seeing Lolo get tripped up I fear for every hurdler everytime!

 

[Anna0499]

Is anyone watching the gold medal beach volleyball right now? Playing in the rain must be insane! I can''t believe how skimpy the bikini bottoms are...they are just like any other bikini, but they move around so much I''d be so scared of going for a dig & being exposed!

Not to mention our girls are wearing WHITE in the rain! haha

 

[meresal]

Date: 8/20/2008 11:03:40 PM
Author: IndyGirl22
Is anyone watching the gold medal beach volleyball right now? Playing in the rain must be insane! I can't believe how skimpy the bikini bottoms are...they are just like any other bikini, but they move around so much I'd be so scared of going for a dig & being exposed!

Not to mention our girls are wearing WHITE in the rain! haha

I just came on here to post the same thing. That crowd is going crazy!!

The whte kinda caught me off guard as well. I felt odd watching at first because it looked like they were wearing silk boy shorts!! LOL

ETA: IG- I have really enjoyed watching the diving this year. I'm sorry, but the Chinese divers just have an elegance/grace that no one else can compete with. It's unreal to watch, and WHO makes splashs that small?!? I'm really pulling for Wilkinson though!!

 

[Anna0499]

Hahaha if I was wearing white & it started raining I would've definitely changed to a different color. The bottoms also have what looks like a mesh area at the top for more air, making it even more skimpy! I actually probably wouldn't want to wear white anyway in beach volleyball, where you're sweating so much & the material is so little. I'm amazed that the bottoms stay on so well.

I guess they are just used to it like the male divers haha

ETA: I think the Kinesio-tape thing is hilarious! As an athletic trainer in college I am all too well aware of the placebo effect athletes experience for such things!

 

[meresal]

Date: 8/20/2008 11:13:08 PM
Author: IndyGirl22
Hahaha if I was wearing white & it started raining I would''ve definitely changed to a different color. The bottoms also have what looks like a mesh area at the top for more air, making it even more skimpy! I actually probably wouldn''t want to wear white anyway in beach volleyball, where you''re sweating so much & the material is so little. I''m amazed that the bottoms stay on so well.

I guess they are just used to it like the male divers haha

ETA: I think the Kinesio-tape thing is hilarious! As an athletic trainer in college I am all too well aware of the placebo effect athletes experience for such things!

At least athletes are starting to admit that some of the stuff is in their head. LOL!! You should see the amount of crap that FI wears for softball games...

. It''s absolutely ridiculous. He almost wore black eye last week, at it took a 5 minute arguement on my part, to convince him how idiotic he would look. I swear he has more "ailments" than a professional football team, and it drives me crazy. If we complained about anything, we didn''t get to play, so I don''t understand why he doesn''t just suck it up.

Woooh, I have to apologize... I''ll step off my box now.

Haha, he laughs at me when I get all riled up. oops

 

[Anna0499]

Meresal - yeah, it's so funny sometimes. I'm sure Kerri knows that logically a piece of thick tape on her skin doesn't do much, if anything, to stabilize the joints of her shoulder, but if she didn't have it she would be so nervous! That's funny about your FI! Eyeblack?! LOL My BF wears calf sleeves & chopats when he plays baskebtall & has a different "injury" every other week & seeks me for advice. Most of the time I tell him to stop being such a wuss.

ETA: Okay, back on topic...I love watching volleyballl with the rally scoring! My friend was an All-American setter in NCAA D1 volleyball & currently plays in Spain, but she tried beach volleyball (& actually met Casey & Kerri), but she said it was the most exhaustive experience of her life! This game is so great! Both teams are awesome!

 

[meresal]

LEFT elbow??? HAHA!!! I'd be sitting there thinking... total BS. I figured something was up when she started rubbing here eyes a few volleys ago. The sand is soaking wet, it's only getting in your eyes unless you take one in the face. LOL.

However, I would kill to have the power behind her serves. If she was complaining about her right elbow then maybe I would believe her.

 

[meresal]

YEAH!!!!

FYI: Did you see the dancers in the corners in red bathing suits? LOL.

 

[Anna0499]

YAY for another gold medal for the USA! They are so dominant but China gave them a good game...must better than I expected, at least. I'd be surprised if I didn't see the injury delay strategy all the time in collegiate athletics. It's kind of like when a RB fumbles & then acts like he was hurt on the play or when a point guard gets the ball stolen away from him/her & lay on the floor like they are hurt. Very much mental. If you're injured no one wants to criticize you. I wish beach volleyball played 3 sets to win, though. The cheerleaders are so cute; they dance around no matter what lol!

ETA: NBC did a piece on the cheerleaders, who aren't all Chinese; they are meant to bring a more "festive" feeling to timeouts & breaks in play. There are tons of them & they wear different costumes depending on what event they are working...the fencing cheerleaders had like flowy gowns on! Haha

ETAA: Awww, I hate seeing athletes cry after competing. Poor Haley

HOW CUTE were Kerri & Misty?! I loved Kerri's "Thank you Mr. President" & "I need a baby!" They are adorable! My friend said that Kerri & her hubby were super nice as well...& live in an AMAZING house right on the beach (of course)!

 

[meresal]

Famous Gold Medalist words:

"I want a baby more than I can begin to tell you!!" I love it!!!

ETA: Fabulous house right on the beach. I'll come over for an afternoon of beach volleyball and cookout!!

 

[diamondfan]

Hurdles are very scary to me. I watch my son''s track meets and see the kids fall and I cannot imagine the speed and navigating a hurdle.

I also was telling hubby about white bathing suits in the rain, and how skimpy they made their outfits. It drew more fans to the sport according to commentators...really? Skimpy outfits draw more viewers? Shocking! I am amazed that they could jump and fling themselves around in those tiny outfits. I think the only time in life I was wearing less than they were was the day of my birth!

As for judging, it is tough for something when one person can view it and say it is amazing and one judge can think it was less than great. there are absolute deductions, 1/10 for X and 3/10 for Y, but what if one judge does not happen to see the bobble? Do you say, hey judge, you missed that misstep, you must now watch the slow mo and catch it on the replay? I mean, what if a judge blinks while it is going on? (I hate to say that and sound dumb, but how else can you explain the same routine getting such different points once the mandatory deductions are taken and the subjective artistic stuff is scored? No other way to make sense of the discrepancy).

 

[diamondfan]

Meresal, is he the track star who wears the sunglasses? I hope he wins!!! Yeah for him! We need some more good stuff in track and field!

 

[FrekeChild]

Beach Volleyball is so much harder than in a gym. The sand is either FREAKING hot or really cold, and it hurts to try and dive on. Not to even mention running on it. Which is a serious workout. But trying to run AND hit the ball...not fun.

It''s still on diving here. I''m hoping for some Walsh/May-Treanor action...YAY! Speak of the devil!!!

 

[meresal]

DF: I don't think they were referring to bobbles so much, it was more where to look for pointed toes, and separation of feet, and placement of hands off the vault. The things that only floor judges can see, and they may be more worried about the actual flight than making sure everything is executed perfectly up to the flight as well. (ie, the girl that fell to her knees, apparently there were lots of deductions that should have been taken before she even left the vault)

ETA: Yes, that's HIM!!!

 

[Anna0499]

Date: 8/20/2008 11:56:25 PM
Author: diamondfan
Hurdles are very scary to me. I watch my son's track meets and see the kids fall and I cannot imagine the speed and navigating a hurdle.

I also was telling hubby about white bathing suits in the rain, and how skimpy they made their outfits. It drew more fans to the sport according to commentators...really? Skimpy outfits draw more viewers? Shocking! I am amazed that they could jump and fling themselves around in those tiny outfits. I think the only time in life I was wearing less than they were was the day of my birth!

As for judging, it is tough for something when one person can view it and say it is amazing and one judge can think it was less than great. there are absolute deductions, 1/10 for X and 3/10 for Y, but what if one judge does not happen to see the bobble? Do you say, hey judge, you missed that misstep, you must now watch the slow mo and catch it on the replay? I mean, what if a judge blinks while it is going on? (I hate to say that and sound dumb, but how else can you explain the same routine getting such different points once the mandatory deductions are taken and the subjective artistic stuff is scored? No other way to make sense of the discrepancy).

LOL DF! I understand it's "beach" volleyball, but seriously...I wonder how many players have had their "bits" accidentally exposed during a match. I would be so nervous in front of all those cameras & fans. White just seems like a very impractical color generally!

I guess the averaging of several judges scores is an attempt to eliminate some of the discrepancies between judges not seeing things, but obviously it is not perfect when the current tiebreak rule is applied & deductions from certain judges count while others do not. That's also why the instant replay is a tricky situation...slower results, yes, but perhaps more accurate & might make judges more accountable if used more frequently...trade off decision to be made there.

ETA: There are also ranges in some deductions that can be taken, i.e. one judge may take off .2 for form on a dismount, another .1 depending on what they feel was wrong with it, so that explains some of the difference in scores as well.

*Sniff*sniff* for the amputee story of Du Toit...she is truly amazing. I couldn't imagine having a limb amputated! She is adorable, too!

 

[diamondfan]

Well, not being an expert, some of the uneven bars looked good but when the commentator said, oh, she was supposed to be vertical there or she should have not had a separation of her legs there, I COULD see that. I mean, the routine might still have looked pretty good, but once I was really paying attention (and not speaking of something clearly bad like falling off of the beam or missing a release move) I could see some flaws to the overall execution. Again, if the judges know that separation of legs on a handstand is a 1/10th deduction, that is not subjective. Maybe one judge likes a more flowy routine and one likes a more powerful routine, and that is where the subjective aspect comes into play in judging...

 

[meresal]

Date: 8/21/2008 12:05:12 AM
Author: diamondfan
Well, not being an expert, some of the uneven bars looked good but when the commentator said, oh, she was supposed to be vertical there or she should have not had a separation of her legs there, I COULD see that. I mean, the routine might still have looked pretty good, but once I was really paying attention (and not speaking of something clearly bad like falling off of the beam or missing a release move) I could see some flaws to the overall execution. Again, if the judges know that separation of legs on a handstand is a 1/10th deduction, that is not subjective. Maybe one judge likes a more flowy routine and one likes a more powerful routine, and that is where the subjective aspect comes into play in judging...

Yes, I agree, those are definitely not subjetive... honestly I didn't hear anything about the uneven bars scoring. What I heard that they missed on the "controversial" vault were hands placed right of center on the vault, her shoulders were not square to the landing when first touching vault (ie, her body was already turning), and her feet were separated when her hands left the vault. These are just examples of the things that they may be saying are subjective. When they are running 15 mph (???) how keen of an eye do you need to see that her shoulders were not square?

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Meresal, how cool that you're friends with Jeremy Wariner??? I watched him last Olympics and was super-impressed - he made running look so effortless (and as a former sprinter, I seriously admire mid- and long-distance runners!). I'll definitely be cheering for him - his event is up in 20 min. or so here.

And for those of you who will be watching track tonight, PLEASE watch the qualifiers for the 400 m relay for women and men. And then come back to PS and comment. I'll say no more.

ETA: I HATE the new scoring method for gymnastics, for the same reasons others dislike it - it really does seem to reward less than perfect difficult maneuvers, versus fluidity and clean routines. I was watching Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton's events on YouTube, and it's amazing how perfect and flawless those routines were. The jumps and flips may be more difficult now, but there's something about watching their routines that makes me so MAD about the effect of the new scoring system!!

And can we talk about the men's high bar? Jonathan Horton did so well! Although my favorite routine was Alexei Nemov's from the 2004 Olympics...now there was someone who was seriously cheated of a medal.

I discovered this thread last night at 4 am - I'm still catching up!

 

[Anna0499]

Those vaults happen so fast, I think that is definitely the hardest event to judge & replay should be used there, regardless of the wait time. That new technology where they can separate the sequence frame by frame is amazing & would definitely help judges to spot everything. I think most would agree with its use if it could somehow be assured that the scoring was more accurate, i.e. higher accountability for judges, due to the controversies this year...even though the US coach blamed the replay for maybe psyching out Alicia on the beam, I bet she would''ve been fine with its use for Cheng''s vault. (I''m not sure if they used it or not, I''m just assuming they didn''t; if they did, please disregard!)

NBC had an article about the IOC criticizing Usain for his "antics" during & after the 100m. The IOC official said that he needs to learn more about "being a champion" & congratulate his fellow runners before doing his victory dances, etc. I agree. It is entirely up to him & the IOC isn''t taking any action against him, but out of common respect for your competitors I think it''s proper to shake their hands or pat their backs or whatever before you start posing & dancing. I bet some runners were still running when he was doing these things.



***SPOILER***
How disappointing for our men''s 4x100 team to be DQed in the prelims?! Mental error in dropping the baton, for sure.

Looks like major upsets in softball & water polo as well. I am proud of them for getting silver though; it must be so difficult to compete with nothing but gold expectations. Water polo is such an intense sport, I couldn''t imagine ever playing it.

***SPOILER ENDED***

 

[meresal]

Date: 8/21/2008 8:58:59 AM
Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl
Meresal, how cool that you''re friends with Jeremy Wariner??? I watched him last Olympics and was super-impressed - he made running look so effortless (and as a former sprinter, I seriously admire mid- and long-distance runners!). I''ll definitely be cheering for him - his event is up in 20 min. or so here.

The FINAL?!?! How are you watching it??? I hate that we have to see it at 9pm tonight!!! Sucks for anyone with a job.

 

[meresal]

Date: 8/21/2008 9:22:49 AM
Author: IndyGirl22
Those vaults happen so fast, I think that is definitely the hardest event to judge & replay should be used there, regardless of the wait time. That new technology where they can separate the sequence frame by frame is amazing & would definitely help judges to spot everything. I think most would agree with its use if it could somehow be assured that the scoring was more accurate, i.e. higher accountability for judges, due to the controversies this year...even though the US coach blamed the replay for maybe psyching out Alicia on the beam, I bet she would've been fine with its use for Cheng's vault. (I'm not sure if they used it or not, I'm just assuming they didn't; if they did, please disregard!)

NBC had an article about the IOC criticizing Usain for his 'antics' during & after the 100m. The IOC official said that he needs to learn more about 'being a champion' & congratulate his fellow runners before doing his victory dances, etc. I agree. It is entirely up to him & the IOC isn't taking any action against him, but out of common respect for your competitors I think it's proper to shake their hands or pat their backs or whatever before you start posing & dancing. I bet some runners were still running when he was doing these things.



***SPOILER***
How disappointing for our men's 4x100 team to be DQed in the prelims?! Mental error in dropping the baton, for sure.

Looks like major upsets in softball & water polo as well. I am proud of them for getting silver though; it must be so difficult to compete with nothing but gold expectations. Water polo is such an intense sport, I couldn't imagine ever playing it.

***SPOILER ENDED***

FYI: Softball and Baseball are no longer going to be olympic sports, at least that's what I heard.

Baseball is apparently too unprofessional, and Softaball is too dominant (how ironic, right?)

 

[Anna0499]

Date: 8/21/2008 8:58:59 AM
Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl
Meresal, how cool that you''re friends with Jeremy Wariner??? I watched him last Olympics and was super-impressed - he made running look so effortless (and as a former sprinter, I seriously admire mid- and long-distance runners!). I''ll definitely be cheering for him - his event is up in 20 min. or so here.

And for those of you who will be watching track tonight, PLEASE watch the qualifiers for the 400 m relay for women and men. And then come back to PS and comment. I''ll say no more.

ETA: I HATE the new scoring method for gymnastics, for the same reasons others dislike it - it really does seem to reward less than perfect difficult maneuvers, versus fluidity and clean routines. I was watching Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton''s events on YouTube, and it''s amazing how perfect and flawless those routines were. The jumps and flips may be more difficult now, but there''s something about watching their routines that makes me so MAD about the effect of the new scoring system!!

And can we talk about the men''s high bar? Jonathan Horton did so well! Although my favorite routine was Alexei Nemov''s from the 2004 Olympics...now there was someone who was seriously cheated of a medal.

I discovered this thread last night at 4 am - I''m still catching up!

Oops - I already commented on the 4x100 relay...but I did include the spoiler headings, so no one should read it if they don''t want to know what happens. These headlines are all over the internet & news, so I didn''t think there was anything wrong with it as long as I prefaced it with spoiler warnings. I won''t comment on the 400m just in case no one wants to read it yet!

Horton did very well; save the step on his landing & he would''ve had a gold medal. He was so happy! Alexei''s routine was very good, but he had the major deductions which hurt him bad. I think after he knew he had messed up he just went for it & did wonderfully. I was amazed at how many men fell off the bars! It is always so scary!

I agree the scoring system does need work, but I don''t know the solution. There were so many disputes & controversies in gymnastics in Athens, I think the FIG/IOC felt like they needed to do something fast & no system will please everyone.

 

[meresal]

:::::SPOILER:::::

ETA: DARNIT!!!

He lost by a FULL second. I have to know what happened!!!

Well, yay for the US anyway!! Gold and Silver AND Bronze!!