London 2012 Olympics Thread

[patrick1]

?, this issue was really brought forth by a BBC commentator and an American swim coach unaffiliated with the team. The speed of her last 50 was incredible, surpassing the top males. Some people have just become real skeptical given all of the doping abuses from every country.

Tbs, USA swimming is doing quite well on its own. I havent gotten a sense of sour grapes. Then again I avoid sports commentators and analysts like the plague. Im sure they are trying to brew up some controversy.

True it was initially a BBC commentator who first quipped about her. But then Leonard and the western media jumped on the bandwagon and irresponsibly implied that there must have been doping without any proof. At the very least they should have stated they hoped drug test results were honest.

Finally after the drug test result came out, Team USA distanced itself from Leonard's comments. You can't deny these are just sour grapes by losers. No one accused Michael Phelps of doping when he won eight golds in a row four years ago. It's a good thing the IOC punishes the most blatant forms of unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Anytime anyone beats there personal best by that much (5 or 6 seconds), people will talk.  With good reason there are still suspicions about Lance Armstrong, who came from nowhere to win 7 Tours in a row.  The comparison to Phelps 08 is a bad one because he was a known quantity going into Beijing having won some medals in Athens and crushed at the Worlds. He was expected to make history or at least challenge it.

The swimmers Ye beat are world class athletes, championship winners and medalists. I think linking them with the appellation of sour grape losers is as unfair as jumping to a conclusion about doping.

[patrick1]

Insane final of the men's 200m butterfly, Chad le Clos juuuuust edges out Phelps for gold with a massive final 15. Stunning race, and Phelps now equals the highest total medal count with a couple of events left.

Yeah, that was a great race and his emotional reaction during the SA anthem was excellent. I'm glad he won the gold because it just meant more to him that Phelps- who has plenty of hardware at this point.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

And the USA crushes at the 200m freestyle relay to give Phelps his 19th medal.

[BaldEagle1991]

Congratulations to Michael Phelps for becoming the most medaled Olympian in history.

And Congratulations to the US Women's Gymnastics Team. 

Although I did watch the Bob Costas interview with the team, I felt so old realizing their first Olympic memory was 2004 Athens, goodness mine was 1996 Atlanta, when they were in diapers.

[Platypus]

The view in Australia about Ye Shiwen seems to be this:

1. She's swimming exceptionally well.

2. China has a history of systematic doping, and in the past all Chinese swimmers were assumed by the Australian public to be cheats.

3. Over the years we've seen plenty of teenagers come from nowhere to win medals, including plenty of Australians.

4. It's fair for people to have an asterisk next to her name in their minds, because of the past, but it's deeply unfortunate because she is a new star of swimming who has questions raised because of people who were swimming when she was 4 years old. If she's doping, Chinese swimming's reputation will never ever recover. If she's clean, they've come back in to the swimming fold and they'll be a welcome challenger.

(There are actually a few more eyebrows being raised very, very quietly, about the French...)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

And the USA crushes at the 200m freestyle relay to give Phelps his 19th medal.

Which is proof that swimming has too many events.  If Athletics did things the way Swimming does, there would be separate 400 m races, one going clockwise and one going counter-clockwise.

They ought to ditch the the three B's (backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly) and the medley events and add the 800 m men's and 1500 m women's freestyle to the Olympics.  Maybe even add a 3000 m freestyle and a 5 km open water event to the mix.

Phelps has gotten so many medals by mastering a bunch of slow swimming styles.

[danny]

And the USA crushes at the 200m freestyle relay to give Phelps his 19th medal.

Which is proof that swimming has too many events.  If Athletics did things the way Swimming does, there would be separate 400 m races, one going clockwise and one going counter-clockwise.

They ought to ditch the the three B's (backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly) and the medley events and add the 800 m men's and 1500 m women's freestyle to the Olympics.  Maybe even add a 3000 m freestyle and a 5 km open water event to the mix.

Phelps has gotten so many medals by mastering a bunch of slow swimming styles.

Athletics actually has 12 more events, and have hurdles and steeplechase as slow running styles, and anyway I think it adds to the tournament.

[minionofmidas]

I'd rather ditch all the additional freestyle distances except the 1500 and 10,000.

[Platypus]

About to get the regatta in a golden mood in the rowing. Britain looks like they'll get their first gold in th women's pair, with Australia tge most-likely-but-not-likely to take the gold off them. Fingers crossed Britain avoids gold for another day, if only for the British press's headlines tomorrow. I tip 'Mediocre Britain' for the Mail.

[Platypus]

The Brits smash it for their first gold. Silver to the aussies, and bronze to the kiwis who look like they'll have an excellent regatta. Congrats to the Brits, who look like they've emptied the wmergency fuel tank and will be absolute legends at home. Yanks fourth.

[Platypus]

As much as I think it's time we change our flag, there's something beautiful about seeing the Aussie and Kiwi flags flanking the Union flag. Maybe it's a war thing.

Now for the men's 8, unlikely to see another Commonwealth podium, but the Aussies, Canadians and Brits are there, even if all the action looks to be with Germany, the US, and the Dutch.

Edit: As expected, Germany win, but the Canadians and Brits surprise for silver and bronze in an exceptional race, lead switching, late charging, and plenty of grimaceing.

[Hatman 🍁]

Going into the games, we were supposed to win the gold in the 8s, but considering the last place finish in the heats, we'll take silver.

[Platypus]

My Olympic connection, Abby Bishop, who was the first person in Canberra I came out to, is having a blinder as Australia lead Brazil halfway through the second quarter of the basketball 23-16.

Anyone else know an Olympian? I also know a couple of Paralympians as friebds, but no Olympians beyond very casual acquaintances. With the AIS in Canberra, it's not so unusual to know or even be mates with some of the elite, so I suspect Polnut may know a few

[Platypus]

I'd suspect Earl woyld know qyite a few winter Olympians, right?

[exopolitician]

Needs more James Magnussen, everywhere...Because I said so.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19072677

Nice to see that the book has been thrown at the lot of them with a fairly significant degree of force.

[MaxQue]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19072677

Nice to see that the book has been thrown at the lot of them with a fairly significant degree of force.

I wish to add than many national badminton federations are unhappy about that, mainly because they think it is a cause of the flawed pool system used.

The system they use is used for the first time in that competition, and it is quite flawed, as ending second in a pool give a better draw than finishing first.

They used an untested system for the competition, which is a quite bad idea. Olympics isn't the place to test new competition formats.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Yeah if it's possible to do that to your benefit, then the system used is quite flawed and needs to be looked at. Still the right decision in light of the circumstances.

[danny]

As far as I can tell the system is no different than the usual for multiple group competitions, including the world cup. This mean the winner of the group plays the second place from another group.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19072677

Nice to see that the book has been thrown at the lot of them with a fairly significant degree of force.

Anyone who considers badminton a sport should be thrown out of a window......ugh I hate the Olympics.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

How is badminton not a sport?

[MaxQue]

Because of that event, the Canada, which finished last of its group and which was in the same group than 2 disqualified teams became 2nd and qualified for quarterfinals.

They won, in an upset, and are now in semis.
That is ridiculous.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Still, I'll take it.

It's not like we've exactly been the gold standard of sport this Olympics. Sochi will be our real test. If we can challenge what we pulled off in Vancouver, we'll be real players.

[minionofmidas]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19072677

Nice to see that the book has been thrown at the lot of them with a fairly significant degree of force.

"we've already qualified and we wanted to have more energy for the knockout rounds" (and also not face a particular opponent) is considered perfectly legal, though not entirely sportsmanlike, in most sports that use a group stage. Just look at any Football World Cup...

In this case, the other (non-disqualified) Chinese team lost their last group match, when they already were qualified for the quarterfinal, and thus came second in the group, but were still considered odds-on favorites for gold by everybody and their pet dog. This is what the South Korean coach meant when he said "they started it", and note that it's evidently considered the lesser offense as they were not disqualified.
Play them in the quarterfinals (as the winner of the second thrown-by-both-sides match would, the one featuring Indonesians) and you're not getting a medal for your troubles unless you beat them.
And of course in the first thrown-by-both-sides match, the other Chinese side was trying to preserve the possibility of an all-Chinese final. Which incidentally nicely demonstrates that the original favorites' loss was not part of some "team strategy" or whatever.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

How is badminton not a sport?

Technically it is......but badminton, table tennis, shooting, and equestrian and some others don't quite strike as being in the spirit of the so-called Olympic tradition.....I guess it's a matter of taste too.