The 2004 Summer Olympics Thread

[koko_99_2001]

Congrats to Britain!

I think I'm going to turn on the tape from last night's gymnastics.  Didn't get to finish watching it.

[Grundy]

Britian?  

The poms suck at sport,  !

( And I have every right to say that. lol )

[koko_99_2001]

So far, trampoline's been interesting.  But the women's 100 sprint is on now.  Doesn't last long enough to get into it

[Jeysie]

Well, diving was a nail biter. But both ladies kind of squeaked in there. Gail Devers just squeaked into her 100m event semifinals too... Poor Alan Webb, though. Just barely denied in the 1500m.

And cheers to Canada in Trampoline! What a fun looking sport!

Edit: More drama in the men's gymnastics realm... the Koreans are protesting that all-around bronze medalist Yang Tae-young received a start value for his parallel bars routine that was a tenth too low compared to what it got in earlier competitions in these Games. Of course, if he got granted that tenth, he'd have had the gold medal score over Paul Hamm. Although I guess since they didn't protest right after the rotation in question, the official scores can't be changed, if the protest turns out to be justified. (Meaning Paul won't lose his gold.) Still, what a mind-bender.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[koko_99_2001]

I think he's just jealous that he didn't win.  But I heard that three of the judges did get suspended.  I have not yet heard if Yang Tae-Young is going to get a gold medal also.  But from what I've read, his protesting the decision came at the end of the competition...kinda like a coach protesting a call in a football game after the game's completed.

[Yonkey]

I missed it but my mom & sister saw this morning Canada getting another medal!  It was Silver for mens' 4-man rowing!  Britain got the Gold by 8-100th's of a second.

[Louisiana Night]

Has anyone else noticed, that "Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining" is on the news a lot(when talking about the Olympics)?

[koko_99_2001]

Nope, haven't noticed it...

[Jeysie]

Koko: Personally, I wish the Koreans had protested while the scores still could have been changed. Then it would have been fair... and after doing three solid routines, and doing two excellent routines in a situation where many gymnasts would be shaken, Hamm's winning silver would still have been a great accomplishment and more than honorable.

As it is... part of me thinks it's only right to award a second gold. But part of me knows that allowing score changes after an event when everyone has the advantage of video review is a slippery slope. I mean, *all* gymnasts would be very likely to get their scores changed in such a situation. (And lets be honest... many of them might not be for the better.)

The whining Khorkina's apparently been doing, on the other hand, is ridiculous. Never have I seen a gymnast who has so much potential waste it all on bad attitude. You can see it on her floor routines... she smiles, is full of life and grace, a joy and beauty to watch. Then every other apparatus, she's just like, get up there, get it over with. If she gave all her routines as much joy as her floor, she'd kick everyone's butts. As it is, you can be the best gymnast in theory, but if you don't pull it out when it counts, it doesn't mean much.

I love the way the Russians do gymnastics - grace, elegance and dance. And I think it's a shame that they do seem to be taking more after the USers' focus on power and technique. Hopefully with Khorkina gone, we can see fresh faces who know how to always give their best, and that the Russians get back to their graceful roots.

There is one thing I was happy to see... more older lady gymnasts! There were gymnasts who were in their early-to-mid twenties, and others in their late teens. I'm kind of tired of watching tiny little munchkins bouncing around the events. This is women's gymnastics, not little girl's gymnastics.

(Sorry for ranting everyone who could care less... it's just that gymnastics is my favorite sport. )

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Yonkey]

Canada just won Gold in the men's floor exercise! !  

WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

[Jeysie]

Nice! Canada gets it's first Artistic gymnastics medal, and it's gold!

Oh, and if you reveal who got silver and bronze, I'm going to hurt you.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Yonkey]

LOL!  They were live a few minutes ago, weren't you watching them?

[Jeysie]

I don't think any of the analog cable channels carry a live feed of the games here in the US. NBC won't air the gymnastics finals until tonight.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Yonkey]

Ok, but it was still pretty exciting to watch, because he was tied with but then they recalculated it with some weird mathematical forumla and Canada got the gold.  

[Jeysie]

Hee. Yeah, tie-breaking in gymnastics is weird... I don't even remember all the factors any more.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping one of the Hamm brothers would win gold, but I think Canada's win is a shining one for the history books. Maybe he'll snag gold in vault, too!

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Yonkey]

Hopefully!  We'll see tomorrow.

[Jump In Well]

Women's Marathon Just ended not too long ago. I can't bear to watch it because alot of the women look like they're bulemic but Japan won the the gold.

[koko_99_2001]

Jeysie, your point was made so much clearer than mine.  I completely agree about if he was going to protest, he should have protested before the event ended.  I would have felt then that it was fair.  But him complaining when it was too late to change the scores doesn't seem exactly fair.  

And what's this about the whining Khorkina's doing?  I haven't heard anything about it, but I've pretty much been away from Olympic coverage for the last couple of days.

Another congrats to Canada!  I know you guys are excited!!

Right now on NBC is beach volleyball...

[Jeysie]

And what's this about the whining Khorkina's doing?  I haven't heard anything about it, but I've pretty much been away from Olympic coverage for the last couple of days.

I've been keeping up on stories on NBC's Olympics page and MSNBC. I don't get to see much of the early time blocks, so I use the websites to keep up on what they don't cover during prime-time. (Do yourself a favor and turn off CSS and javascript while cruising the MSNBC site, otherwise it's seriously slow. NBC's "main" site is nice, though.)

Basically, she's just been whining that the judges were biased against her and Russia, as well as various other complaints. No different than her poor attitude during past Olympics, really.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[koko_99_2001]

I just read the story on MSNBC...Thanks Jeysie.  I agree...bad attitude.  Just because you can't win a gold on your own doesn't mean you can blame everyone else.