London 2012 Olympics Thread

[minionofmidas]

Before I opened this thread, I had never seen or heard anybody not working in the media claim that he has ever watched an Olympic opening ceremony. I swear that this is true. (And I know that quite a lot of people do, though less than the actual competitions. It's just that I would have idly wondered who these people are, would I actually care.)

[minionofmidas]

Before I opened this thread, I had never seen or heard anybody not working in the media claim that he has ever watched an Olympic opening ceremony. I swear that this is true. (And I know that quite a lot of people do, though less than the actual competitions. It's just that I would have idly wondered who these people are, would I actually care.)

Really? I know their claims of "2 billion people watched this" are grossly inflated, but it's still a lot of people that do.

I remember that the Austrian commentator said twice that 4 Bio. people would watch this.

I don't think that 4 Bio. people even have a TV ...

1 billion app watched it worldwide, not much more than half as many as 4 years ago. That includes people switching through all the channels while it was going on. App. 4.5 bio people worldwide have access to television. Less than 8 million watched it in Germany. Again, that includes people switching through channels. The average number watching at any given moment would have been maybe 250-300 million worldwide. (The reason for the decline is of course that 4 years ago, the ceremony was held in the world's largest country and showing at primetime for where the bulk of the world's population is located.)

[minionofmidas]

Lol, the hilarious days-long search for a medal apparently just ended. BILD's faith in Germany is restored. -_-

[minionofmidas]

So, this Ye Shiwen character. Doping? Not doping? Fair to be suspicious?

Not doping. Not really fair to be suspicious in my opinion. The Chinese Olympic teams did admittedly used to be all over that sh**t but in recent Games they've contented themselves with massive amounts of forced, almost certainly horrific but legal training.

A few points here:

Swimming is a sport of technique and raw muscle power, and it is also a sport with relatively few highlights through the year, and the second and third point make it a sport with doping issues (anything illegal building muscle will be effective far longer than it is provable.) Obviously you cannot create a world class swimmer just by injecting him dubious medicines, but you can win crucial seconds that way.

A teenager setting records from the day s/he starts participating in competitions is exceedingly likely to just be that good (and have been drilled, of course, but that's legal). An adult suddenly improving majorly at a comparatively advanced age is what should set all the bells ringing.

 

[minionofmidas]

So, this Ye Shiwen character. Doping? Not doping? Fair to be suspicious?

Maybe they should make sour grapes a sport at the Olympics. It would be guaranteed Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals for Team USA.

Only because Western Europe has to compete with many teams.

[minionofmidas]

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

[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.

[minionofmidas]

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

If you're going to count the field events, for this comparison, then you ought to add the other FINA sanctioned sports of synchronized swimming, diving, and water polo.

But also, you don't regularly get people competing in large quantities of medal events in athletics.  The two Olympic sports that overdo the medals are swimming and to a lesser extent, gymnastics. There are three swimmers, five gymnasts, and two shooters who have won seven or more medals in a single games.  The shooters wouldn't get that chance today since the shooting program has been trimmed considerably since 1920, tho I wouldn't mind seeing the return of such events as the 100 m running deer. (Shooting at a moving target 100 m from the shooter.  The 50 m event that later replaced it was called the running boar.  No actual deer or boar were used.)

I always thought that if shooters and biathletes want medals, they should at least shoot at each other. Last survivor gets the gold, last two men to croak get a posthumous silver and bronze.


Carl Lewis was just about the last man on earth to compete in the Wide Jump as well as the sprinters' distances IIRC?

[minionofmidas]

Anyone else agree that Olympic boxing is terrible now?  There are still talented fighters and an odd good fight but the scoring system blows. I remember as a kid being horrified by the Roy Jones Jnr decision but at least it was still compelling and could indicate some future success as a pro.  By trying to improve it they just made it worse.

-Just watching replay of GB vs. Cuba. The Cuban got screwed by the point system.

The worst thing is the total lack of knockouts. They need smaller gloves.

Just found this gem out since I havent really been watching the boxing

A Japanese fighter knocked down an Azeri 5 f%^&ing times! According to another source the referee forgot to count at one stage, the Azeri had to be helped from ring after the fight and he won on a decision 10-10.  Unreal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19088420

Yeah, they reversed that one on appeal. Still looks quite odd - including the points count for round two.

[minionofmidas]

One sport that truly deserves inclusion is Squash, and it's one of a few sports up for inclusion, alongside, iirc, rock climbing and wakeboarding.

I'd love to see Netball at the games, but the medallists would almost always be Australia, New Zealand, and one of Jamaica, South Africa, and Great Britain. It's a better sport than basketball, but less universal. Although if you look at the regularity of medallists in that sport... Particularly for women...

Squash and Karate were the two that actually went to a yes/no vote on whether they should be included instead of Baseball and Softball, but neither received the necessary 2/3 majority.

[minionofmidas]

Men's 400 final has a weird distribution: 5 Caribbeans and 2 Belgians. Who appear to be twins. (and an Australian.)

[minionofmidas]

Randomly flipping through Olympic results... I wonder if this was an error in transmission or I've just found the athlete with the shortest personal name ever.

http://www.london2012.com/athlete/a-lamusi-1074544/

[minionofmidas]

US vs. Italy in women's water polo. Who is Phil for?

Water polo is actually a pretty entertaining sport, unlike most that are so popular in the US (like what Americans call football.)

You're American, dude. It's called football because it is football.

Really football is a sport played by kicking around a ball. What Americans call football is a sport that primarily consists of throwing or carrying an object that isn't a ball.

No, football is a game played on foot (as opposed to a game played on horseback).

Lol, what craven AF apologist invented that false etymology? Football is a game in which playing the ball with your foot is allowed and an important aspect of play. (Note that even in Association Football, the ball is not played exclusively with the foot.) The parallel term "handball" is of roughly identical (late medieval) age.

The USA/Canada football match last night was hilariously violent. The spirit of Don Revie-era Leeds United lives or something.

Yeah it was, although I have to admit Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Kaylyn Kyle, and Jonelle Filigno were pretty much the only reasons anyone watched.

Hmmm.... casual violence from the delectable Alex Morgan? Kinky. Got a softcore snuff videolink?

[minionofmidas]

I support Drusille Ngako, Paul Ekane Edingue, Thomas Essomba, Serge Ambomo, Blaise Yepmou Mendouo, Abdon Mewoli and Christian Donfack Adjoufack.

[minionofmidas]

Has anyone seen those BMX Racing events? It made me wonder if what I am watching was either the X Games or Olympics.

A minute of it on the outside screen of a bar in Sachsenhausen while I was waiting for my Merguez sandwich at the takeaway next door.

Can someone explain to me why this race walking thing isn't as dumb as it looks.

It is exactly as dumb as it looks, and if they followed their rules to a T and surveyed everything with slow-motion cameras, every single competitor would be disqualified (until they developed a new "walking" style that would be much slower). I am not making this up.

[minionofmidas]

Unfortunate scenes at the hammer, with the German throwing what would've been a silver medal, but confusion meaning it doesn't count.

They did count it in the end (though it ended up as bronze). The computer for unexplained reasons thought it was out of range even though it clearly, self-evidently wasn't. Betty Heidler is Frankfurt's face at the olympics, of course.

EDIT: Scratch that, it was way more complicated and I listened to the radio in the morning and they're morons.

[minionofmidas]

It is exactly as dumb as it looks, and if they followed their rules to a T and surveyed everything with slow-motion cameras, every single competitor would be disqualified (until they developed a new "walking" style that would be much slower). I am not making this up.

Quite, quite. I'm sometimes tempted to think that it's the most ridiculous event at the whole thing, and that's remembering the existence of synchronised drowning and horsey dancing.

And the childrens' catwalk ("beam", I think it's officialese name is.)

[minionofmidas]

And the childrens' catwalk ("beam", I think it's officialese name is.)

I'd forgotten about that, actually.

It's called "denial".

[minionofmidas]

Russian walkers are from Mordovia. How would independent Quebec perfom.

There was a bronze medal match in Judo between a Dagestani starting for Russia and a "Russia German" who's basically a Russian starting for Germany.
And Chechnya won a silver medal in Weightlifting.

[minionofmidas]

Bizarre to end the tournament with that joke.

Did Montenegro win a medal anywhere, they came fourth in Waterball (and why do Anglophones call it "Water Polo" anyhow?)

[minionofmidas]

Oughtn't that to be "Hand Polo"?

[minionofmidas]

Croatia wins Waterball Gold.

So, there's only 1 contest left I guess (Modern Pentathlon).

An Austrian came sixth in it. Now that would have been hilarious if they'd finally won their first medal in the last event.

[minionofmidas]

Full Medal Jacked

1     United States (USA)    46    29    29    104
2     China (CHN)    38    27    22    87
3     Great Britain (GBR)*    29    17    19    65
4     Russia (RUS)    24    25    33    82
5     South Korea (KOR)    13    8    7    28
6     Germany (GER)    11    19    14    44
7     France (FRA)    11    11    12    34
8     Italy (ITA)    8    9    11    28
9     Hungary (HUN)    8    4    5    17
10     Australia (AUS)    7    16    12    35
11     Japan (JPN)    7    14    17    38
12     Kazakhstan (KAZ)    7    1    5    13
13     Netherlands (NED)    6    6    8    20
14     Ukraine (UKR)    6    5    9    20
15     Cuba (CUB)    5    3    6    14
16     New Zealand (NZL)    5    3    5    13
17     Iran (IRI)    4    5    3    12
18     Jamaica (JAM)    4    4    4    12
19     Czech Republic (CZE)    4    3    3    10
20     North Korea (PRK)    4    0    2    6
21     Spain (ESP)    3    10    4    17
22     Brazil (BRA)    3    5    9    17
23     Belarus (BLR)    3    5    5    13
24     South Africa (RSA)    3    2    1    6
25     Ethiopia (ETH)    3    1    3    7
26     Croatia (CRO)    3    1    2    6
27     Romania (ROU)    2    5    2    9
28     Kenya (KEN)    2    4    5    11
29     Denmark (DEN)    2    4    3    9
30     Azerbaijan (AZE)    2    2    6    10
 Poland (POL)    2    2    6    10
32     Turkey (TUR)    2    2    1    5
33     Switzerland (SUI)    2    2    0    4
34     Lithuania (LTU)    2    1    2    5
35     Norway (NOR)    2    1    1    4
36     Canada (CAN)    1    5    12    18
37     Sweden (SWE)    1    4    3    8
38     Colombia (COL)    1    3    4    8
39     Georgia (GEO)    1    3    3    7
 Mexico (MEX)    1    3    3    7
41     Ireland (IRL)    1    1    3    5
42     Argentina (ARG)    1    1    2    4
 Serbia (SRB)    1    1    2    4
 Slovenia (SLO)    1    1    2    4
45     Tunisia (TUN)    1    1    1    3
46     Dominican Republic (DOM)    1    1    0    2
47     Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)    1    0    3    4
 Uzbekistan (UZB)    1    0    3    4
49     Latvia (LAT)    1    0    1    2
50     Algeria (ALG)    1    0    0    1
 Bahamas (BAH)    1    0    0    1
 Grenada (GRN)    1    0    0    1
 Uganda (UGA)    1    0    0    1
 Venezuela (VEN)    1    0    0    1
55     India (IND)    0    2    4    6
56     Mongolia (MGL)    0    2    3    5
57     Thailand (THA)    0    2    1    3
58     Egypt (EGY)    0    2    0    2
59     Slovakia (SVK)    0    1    3    4
60     Armenia (ARM)    0    1    2    3
 Belgium (BEL)    0    1    2    3
 Finland (FIN)    0    1    2    3
63     Bulgaria (BUL)    0    1    1    2
 Estonia (EST)    0    1    1    2
 Indonesia (INA)    0    1    1    2
 Malaysia (MAS)    0    1    1    2
 Puerto Rico (PUR)    0    1    1    2
 Chinese Taipei (TPE)    0    1    1    2
69     Botswana (BOT)    0    1    0    1
 Cyprus (CYP)    0    1    0    1
 Gabon (GAB)    0    1    0    1
 Guatemala (GUA)    0    1    0    1
 Montenegro (MNE)    0    1    0    1
 Portugal (POR)    0    1    0    1
75     Greece (GRE)    0    0    2    2
 Moldova (MDA)    0    0    2    2
 Qatar (QAT)    0    0    2    2
 Singapore (SIN)    0    0    2    2
79     Afghanistan (AFG)    0    0    1    1
 Bahrain (BRN)    0    0    1    1
 Hong Kong (HKG)    0    0    1    1
 Saudi Arabia (KSA)    0    0    1    1
 Kuwait (KUW)    0    0    1    1
 Morocco (MAR)    0    0    1    1
 Tajikistan (TJK)    0    0    1    1

[minionofmidas]

The newest internet meme - Mo Farah running away from things

The meme here is "inserting photos of one-minute-celebrities into other photos". Anything else is an abuse of the term "meme".

[minionofmidas]

The newest internet meme - Mo Farah running away from things

The meme here is "inserting photos of one-minute-celebrities into other photos". Anything else is an abuse of the term "meme".

The guy won two gold medals for us - he's going to be a celeb for a while.

So as a matter of fact is Balotelli. Well, to people who care about the sport in question.
But the meme was not invented for either man.