American athletes booed at Olympics - all because of Bush.

[nomorelies]

If anyone had seen the mens or the female gymnastics you would have all seen the chanting of JAPAN in the mens before they commenced the High Bar and last night Romania in the floor.

The cheers when the Japanese finished a performance on the High Bar were of ecstasy. The American team realised that the crowd wanted the Japanese to win when Paul Hamm did a flawless performance but was only really cheered by the Americans in the crowd. After Carly Patterson had finished her floor routine before the Romanians started the crowd were cheering Romania. When they performed the cheers were like Greece had won the gold medal.

On FOX and Friends two journalists were shocked at the reaction American athletes got at the Fencing (sabre class) where the crowd booed the American when she won a point yet when the Hungarian won they were ecstatic. American divers were cheered at when they did a horrible dive. The american journalists asked the people why they wanted Venus Williams to lose "because i hate bush". Americans dont deserve this. This is getting worse and worse.

When Ian Thorpe of Australia beat Michael Phelps the cheers were some of the loudest at the games. When the South Africans and the Dutch beat the Americans in the Relay the crowd was the loudest of the games. Last night though it hurt America. The crowd wre going nuts when Thorpe began catching Kellar in the relay. The americans won by 0.13 hundreds of a second and the crowd were silence in disappointment bar the Americans celebrating (who also make a nosie).

American athletes are being booed because this country elected Bush/Cheney and his oil/nuclear/drug crony pals. These athletes have worked four years to achieve their dream and its being affected by the idiots that defend Bush. Take your country back and restore the respect that America deserves.

[Akno21]

They also root against America because in most sports we are the favorite and everyone else is the underdog. We are marginally good at almost every sport there, we are teh only country that is good at everything, swimming, track, gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, everything.

[MODU]

You crack me up.  Turn off your Air America coverage of the Olympics and watch it on NBC.  hahaha

Oh, and two nights ago during the men's gymnastic competition, they were chanting "U.S.A." in the background, with no boo's.  Last night, during the girls gymnastic competition, there was a loud round of appluase when the US gal pulled off a great performance on the uneven bars, followed by a great floor routine to ensure their medal standing.  Again, no boo's.

As far as loud cheers for other country team members in competition . . . last time I checked, these weren't American games, but international ones.  I would be heartbroken if I didn't hear loud cheers for other great performances, just like the South American relay win.

So please, keep your anti-Bush rhetoric to yourself, or at least get your information straight.

[Jake]

Exactly

[nomorelies]

Disagree.

I am from Britain and the coverage here compared to Britain is shocking. Britain are awesome at Sailing and Rowing (Britain will clean up in most events).

America tv only shows what they are good at. China are becoming stronger and stronger. USA won every medal in the pool in 1976 bar the 200m Breststroke gold. Today Australia are just as competitive in the pool as America. Thorpe is a better swimmer than Phelps. America always won the relays in every sport but dont now. THis is because of money. Australia are stronger mentally than any country in the world. Just look at their cricket team.  

America has always encouraged women to play sport. Look at soccer and basketball - easy gold medals - but all the countries are catching up. Australia are producing girls. America no-longer dominates the pool. They lost the relay in the womens to Australia.

China are becoming the strongest olympic country. Russia always have an amazing second week in the games. America can no-longer rely on 20 gold medals.

- 100m freestyle - first time ever an American has failed to make the semi- finals.
- 400m relay - first time ever America failed to get gold or silver.
- 200M/400M MEDLEYS - first time ever american failed to get gold in female competition.

Its all about money. Australia have 20 million people but have invested in sport. If you took the result of Europe as a whole woulf they have more medals than America of course. America has 280 million people and loads of cash to invest in equipmet. Most atheltes that compete are amateurs. What percentage of americas team is amateur? 10%.

Britain has schoolteachers competing in Judo, chefs in sailing.

[nomorelies]

Around the world. America is 5:1 in number of 50m Olympic pools.

Regarding the gym. The chants of USA were Americans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think the chants of Japan or Romania were Japanese or Romanian fans. 200 euros for a ticket - that five year salary for the averae Romanian.

Or perhaps when Williams was losing the doulbles they were all chinese. Why would th crowd cheer when the American missed a dive?

[MODU]

If you are not familiar with the Olympic arena's, let me point out that multiple events are occurring at the same time.  You might have heard cheering for another performance on the other end of the pool.  I didn't hear any cheering when the divers messed up, but then again, I work most of the day and might not have seen the event you are discussing.  However, I highly doubt anyone is cheering for any athlete that messes up, since they wouldn't want it to happen to their teams.

And Yes, there is quite a diverse crowd watching the games, and not many American's are over there this year due to the travel threats.  Of course, now Greece is trying to give away their tickets in order to get more spectators into the arena's so they don't look bad on international tv.

[nomorelies]

In the gym.

THEY KNOCKED IT DOWN TO 8 COUNTRIES.

So in pool 1 - russia, romaina, usa and china
 in pool 2  - australia, spain, ukraine canada.

All pools compteted on the same piece. So on the floor last night china went first- america, rom and rus watched.At the same time Ukraine were on the beam. So basically the only people to watch at the time are the team in pool A and the team in pool B. While usa finished the floor. Romania were getting ready and knew that 28.2 would win the gold from the three athletes. No competitor was performing. THE CROWD CHEERED ROMANIA BECAUSE THE CROWD WERE ROMANIANS???

Regarding Sycronize diving? Only the American perform. See its a diving arena for divers only. Thats it. The usa were the only ones to boo. and they did. NO ONE ELSE.

some one told me that Atlanta was a great games. So i guess you didnt see the games in barcelona or sydney?

Sydney has been the best games ever. 92% crowds for the whole olympics atlanta 63%.

[MODU]

Multiple pool facility:

http://www.athens2004.com/en/Venues/venues?oid=326b7ae4be659f00VgnVCMServer28130b0aRCRD

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Disagree.

I am from Britain and the coverage here compared to Britain is shocking. Britain are awesome at Sailing and Rowing (Britain will clean up in most events).

America tv only shows what they are good at. China are becoming stronger and stronger. USA won every medal in the pool in 1976 bar the 200m Breststroke gold. Today Australia are just as competitive in the pool as America. Thorpe is a better swimmer than Phelps. America always won the relays in every sport but dont now. THis is because of money. Australia are stronger mentally than any country in the world. Just look at their cricket team.  

America has always encouraged women to play sport. Look at soccer and basketball - easy gold medals - but all the countries are catching up. Australia are producing girls. America no-longer dominates the pool. They lost the relay in the womens to Australia.

China are becoming the strongest olympic country. Russia always have an amazing second week in the games. America can no-longer rely on 20 gold medals.

- 100m freestyle - first time ever an American has failed to make the semi- finals.
- 400m relay - first time ever America failed to get gold or silver.
- 200M/400M MEDLEYS - first time ever american failed to get gold in female competition.

Its all about money. Australia have 20 million people but have invested in sport. If you took the result of Europe as a whole woulf they have more medals than America of course. America has 280 million people and loads of cash to invest in equipmet. Most atheltes that compete are amateurs. What percentage of americas team is amateur? 10%.

Britain has schoolteachers competing in Judo, chefs in sailing.

America will still beat China in medals easily...American is still the only country in the top tier in both swimming and track, where the most medals are awarded.  China picks up a bunch of medals in the less prominent sports...right now most of their medals are in shooting and diving...and NBC has shown a lot of diving.  They show the sports they think Americans are interested in.  For instance, they show a ton of volleyball, even though the US isn't that great.

I don't think you are correct about the Americans winning consistently in the women's swimming medleys.  Didn't the same Eastern European woman win both these events in 2000?

[Giant Saguaro]

Yeah, I like Patrick's analogy. So what? They boo us at the Olympics, tough. Use it as an incentive to win. That's what I used to tell the kids I assisted coach - people boo because they can't do anything about you being the best, but you can do something about it and have.

People booed the Cowboys when were winning the Super Bowl every other year in the early and mid 1990s. They'll be booing the Patriots soon too. A lot of people boo who they see as dominant, especially if they're from out of town.

[12th Doctor]

For what it is worth, Americans have been getting booed for years.

In Europe going out to an anti-US demonstration is a social event - similar to folks in North America going to a football game or a car race.

In the early 80s when Reagan/Thatcher convinced NATO that having a few Euro-Nukes in place to counter the Soviets was a good idea the peace/appeasement/we-hate-the-US demonstrations utterly dwarfed anything that happens today.

BUsh want's to be seen as Reagan like - when he can get the "old Europe" left to hate him as much as they hated Reagan... then I will truly respect him.

Vorlon

You said everything I was going to say.  People have been booing the US for years.  Who cares?  They did it when Clinton was President.  They did it when Carter was President.  What does it matter?  Are we really that big of a bunch of pansies that we care so much about what others think about us?  What does it matter?  F*** 'em.  That's what I say.  We are always going to have detracters and people who despise us as long as we are on top.  Personally, I hope it stays that way.

[ilikeverin]

Didn't you hear the Greeks and everyone cheer when our team came in?

It was lovely

[MODU]

Considering we house the most Greeks outside of Greece, you bet they'd cheer for us.  hehehe

[Gabu]

This topic is just a silly attempt to politicize the Olympics.  Just sit back, relax, and watch them.  We don't have to turn absolutely everything into a reason to hate either Bush or Kerry.

[Jake]

Its all about money. Australia have 20 million people but have invested in sport. If you took the result of Europe as a whole woulf they have more medals than America of course. America has 280 million people and loads of cash to invest in equipmet. Most atheltes that compete are amateurs. What percentage of americas team is amateur? 10%.

If you took the whole of Europe whats the population, about
700 million.  2.5 times our population, so sure they will have more medals. Also, countries can only qualify a few athletes per event.  While in a 8 person swimming race, Europe may have 4 or 5 swimmers.  So yeah, I think the Europeans will have more medals then the US.

America will be the medal leader for years for three reasons:

1) A talented, diverse pool of athletes to draw from.

2) Alot of government funding.

3) Americans are just the best.

 We produce the most talented and best trained athletes the world has ever seen.  This will continue until the Chinese throw more money into the swimming/track events and until their country reaches the level of athleticism ours has.

[MODU]

This topic is just a silly attempt to politicize the Olympics.  Just sit back, relax, and watch them.  We don't have to turn absolutely everything into a reason to hate either Bush or Kerry.

Just note the originator of the post.  His threads are all polarizing.

[KEmperor]

This topic is just a silly attempt to politicize the Olympics.  Just sit back, relax, and watch them.  We don't have to turn absolutely everything into a reason to hate either Bush or Kerry.

If it rains, nomo thinks it's Bush's fault.  He's just a paranoid Bush-hater, don't take him seriously.

[agcatter]

Nobody does.

[khirkhib]

Politizing the Olympics:

Sports Illustrated: Bush and the Iraqi Soccer Team

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/writers/08/19/iraq/

[nomorelies]

First things first. Bush politicized the Olympics.

The game is FOOTBALL not SOCCER. stop being rude and have some manners. Your game is gridion not football.

Klutchkova is a fantastic medley swimmer who won both the 100 and 200m medleys in Athens and also in Sydney.

Since the emergence of Australia in 1998. Swimming is no longer COMPLETELY  DOMINATED by the Americans. Jenny Thompson has won 8 gold medals but all in relays. In 1998 Australia invested heavily in building swimming 50m pools. The coaches were told to focus only on freestyle. Their emerged the talents of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Michael Klim etc. In 2000 the Americans said they would smash Australia like guitars. Thorpe won the 400m freestyle and more importantly became the first ever swimming country to beat America in a relay. Now any person who understands Cricket will tell you that when Australia want something they get it. They would do anything to win.

America has the money to buy success. Britain has only adopted the Australia mentality in 2003. Japan has won three gold medals in the pool. America finished third for the first time in history.

In 1976, America won every gold medal bar 1 - 200 breststroke (David Wilkie). The backstroke and th butterfly is still dominated by america but Australia has revealed its plan to win the backstorke and buttrfly events in 2008. Australia are crackers about winning.

Countries around the world are now relsing that only time and money can get you olympic success. For the first time ever, Britain have people that only have to work part-time. Americans have always been prepared. They have talent of course but they have security in money and equipment. Others are only beginning to have this and the results will show in 4-8 years from now.

China will win the most gold medals in 2008 omittingly in events that arent world wide. Swimming will be spread over a large range of countries as more an more have 50m Olmypic pools. I do think that Australia will dominate the sport more than America especially in female sports. World records are being broken in the freestlye by Aussies.

As channel 7 in australia said after the 200m freestyle. Thorpe is the best swimmer in the world coz he takes on the best (pieter van der hoogenband + michael phelps) and beats the best. Thorpe became the first swimmer ever to win the 200m + 400m freestlye gold medals. A bronze in the 100m from lane 8 ensured that feat. Phelps is a great great swimmer. But he said he would beat thorpe and van der hoogenband in the 200m freestyle and he didnt.

Van der Hoogenband(winner of 100m free) has said that Thorpe is a better swimming than Phelps because the events are much more competitve than what phelps did. FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. NO AMERICAN MADE THE LAST 16 OF THE 100M FREESTYLE. - shows the spreading of power.

Phelps is a great swimmer. But Thorpe beat him. Tht was the race of the Olympics and tHORPE SHOWED TO THE USA THT THE CHANGE IN POWER HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.

[dazzleman]

They booed us at the 2000 Olympics while the sainted Bill Clinton was president.

I guess they knew we were going to put Bush in office, so the booing was prospective.

[ATFFL]

    Gold   Silver   Bronze   Total
USA     12   9   7   28
AUS     7   5   3   15
JPN     3   1   4   8


US dominance in swimming remains unthreatened.  While Thorpe is the best swimmer in the world, the Aussies have less people coming up behind him to maintain the dominance.

Also, the proper terms are Association Football (the sport played in most of the worl), Rugby football, American football (what Americans just call football) and AUstralian football (Aussie rules football).  The term "soccer" is a shortened form of association.

[agcatter]

Please don't confront nomo with facts - it serves to undercut his anti US rants.

[agcatter]

Then they are now behind in gold medals 12 - 8 I presume.