Official Olympics Thread

[Patrick425]

I don't care how much they say they are friends, it was awkward watching Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin interact after the balance beam finals last night. It was clear (imho anyways) that Nastia was not genuinely happy for her "friend" winning the gold.

 

On a side note, I can't believe I'm actually posting something about women's gymnastics (or gymnastics in general), but for whatever reason I tend to watch sports during the Olympics that otherwise I could care less about. I especially have a hard time with sports that have subjective scoring like gymnastics, figure skating, diving, etc. At least with swimming and track, there is usually very little confusion or dispute as to who the winner is.

[homer]

I love watching Usain Bolt run. He's so smooth. I really don't understand why he only ran hard through the tape in one race though. I mean, when I ran track the goal was more or less a great personal time rather than where I placed - usually one followed the other. I just don't get it.

[fondybrewfan]

I love watching Usain Bolt run. He's so smooth. I really don't understand why he only ran hard through the tape in one race though. I mean, when I ran track the goal was more or less a great personal time rather than where I placed - usually one followed the other. I just don't get it.

Perhaps he just wanted some wiggle room so he can continue to break world records in the future.

[TSack27]

^ Or perhaps he watches too much ESPN (and the like), and sees the Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Terrell Owens & Randy Moss of the World showboat with their immense talent in spite of traditional sportsmanship values. More coverage = More endorsement deals.

[Glennron]

I love watching Usain Bolt run. He's so smooth. I really don't understand why he only ran hard through the tape in one race though. I mean, when I ran track the goal was more or less a great personal time rather than where I placed - usually one followed the other. I just don't get it.

I don't remember the exact quote, but he said something like "I didn't run to break the world record, I ran to win."

[homer]

I guess that is the point of competing, but if it were me I'd want to know how good I could do.

[crewcrazy]

Yeah, Bolt said something like he already owns the world record in the 100m, so his goal was to win the Gold, not to set another new world record. Personally, I'm waiting for him to turn around and backpedal across the finish line in one of his races.

[bjkrautk]

May-Treanor and Walsh repeat their Gold Medal performance.

 

Related note: Kerri Walsh is somewhat attractive.

[Roscoe Chill]

Related note: Kerri Walsh is somewhat attractive.

 

If by somewhat you mean not at all, I agree.

[bucks2281]

The 10K swim currently airing on USA now. Talk about tremendous athletes. A non-stop, six-mile swim with only a few "nourishment" stations. A number of boats are following the small group of men (perhaps a rescue squad?). These guys will be incredibly sore tomorrow morning!

[JoeHova]

Bolt is unbelievable. One of the greatest Olympic performances ever. I'd think only Carl Lewis 1984, Paavo Nurmi 1924, Jesse Owens 1936, and Florence Griffith-Joyner 1988 are on the same level.

 

FloJo didn't get the world record in the 100 during the Olympics, but she already had it (it still has never been approached except by her) and she set the 200 WR twice including during the final (that record still stands too). She added a gold in the 4x100 and a silver in the 4x400.

 

Lewis didn't set either world record, but he dominated the competition in much the same manner as Bolt and set an OR in the 200. He added the long jump (first of an Olympic record 4 straight Golds in the same event) and the 4x100 golds.

 

Owens won the same 4 golds that Lewis did, though in less dominating fashion than Lewis. He already had the 100 and long jump WRs from a meet at the U of Michigan in 1935. He gets extra credit for sticking it to Hitler.

 

Nurmi won 5 golds in 1924, though 3 of those events are no longer contested. He won the 1500 and the 5K in WR times despite the finals having less than a half hour break between them. The 1500/5K double wasn't matched until 2004 by Hicham El Guerrouj, arguably the greatest miler ever. Nurmi also won the 5K cross country race and the 3K team and 5K cross country team events.

 

Those 5, to me, are the greatest Olympic performances. The ranking is difficult, but Bolt's performance was so unprecedented that I'm still basically in shock.

 

 

Literally 2 weeks ago, my wife asked me which track records I thought were the most unassailable. The obvious answer is FloJo's 100, but Johnson's 200 was next. Nobody had come within 3/10ths of it. Many people thought Johnson's performance was the 2nd most dominant in Olympic history, paling only in comparison to Bob Beamon bettering the long jump world record by almost 2 feet in 1968. Now Bolt has destroyed his rivals by even more than Johnson did. He wasn't able to lower the world record by nearly as much as Johnson did, but to better it at all is absurd. Johnson didn't even qualify for the Olympics when was as old as Bolt is now (Johnson had a lingering injury that season though).

 

The question now is whether Bolt can keep this up for the next 8-12 years and become the greatest Olympian and/or runner ever. Only Carl Lewis repeated as the 100 meter champion (and that was only because Ben Johnson was DQ'd) and nobody has ever repeated as the 200 champ. Obviously, a lot of former champions didn't compete more than once because of arcane and stupid amateurism rules, but still, repeating is a daunting task. If Bolt can do the double again in London, he's probably the greatest ever, in my opinion. If he can do both in addition to adding the 400, as has been rumored, he'll be superhuman. I'm not even sure if that would be possible given the heat schedules, but we'll see, I guess. Sucks that we have to wait four years, I'm so excited. Johnson didn't peak till he was 29. That would be Chicago (hopefully) 2016 for Bolt. I can't wait to see what he can do in the interim.

[craigharmann]

Even though I knew Bolt set the WR and I knew his time, it was amazing to watch. It sure seemed to me that he let up the last little bit. But he was amazing! What I really like about Bolt is that before and after the race, he's having fun, doesn't look nervous, takes care of his business during the race and then goes back to having fun.

[homer]

Those 5, to me, are the greatest Olympic performances.

Are you talking track and field or any event?

[fondybrewfan]

The softball team got upset by Japan in the gold medal game. That is a crappy way to go out since their will be no softball in 2012.

[Patrick425]

Wondering if someone can help explain this...

 

My 10 year old son is very interested in swimming and has a little talent in it. He won 25 meter free style last year at a swim meet sponsored by the Waukesha optimist club. Other than that, he has never done any competative swimming. I was looking into local swim clubs on the internet and saw that there is something called a Waukesha Express swim club. They have a link on the site where they post club records and one swimmers name, Kyle Bubolz, is prominent on the record list from the time he was 10 in 1997. So, I was curious and searched him on the internet. It appears he now swims at Northwestern University and they have a bio page for him. What really struck me is that on the bottom of his bio it lists his personal best times. His best time for the 50 free is 19.47?!?

 

http://nusports.cstv.com/...im/mtt/bubolz_kyle00.html

 

The world record for the 50 Free is 21.28? How is this possible?

 

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/SW/C73A1/SWM010101.shtml#SWM010101

 

 

edit: nevermind..I got an explaination...there is a 50 yard short course and a 50 meter long course. Kyle's time was obviously for the 50 yard short course.

[tristarscoop]

Isn't 50 meters, 50 meters? How can there be a long and short 50 meters?!

[Patrick425]

Isn't 50 meters, 50 meters? How can there be a long and short 50 meters?!

It's 50 yards and 50 meters....not sure why they have to add long and short to the description. I guess in case you don't know that a yard is shorter than a meter.

[tristarscoop]

Oh, Ok. I totally read meters both times. Makes more sense now that I realize it's yards and meters. Sorry!

[tigerbrew]

In the women's football final, the underdog US beat the undefeated Brazillians with good defence and a sweet extra-time goal. The last 15 minutes was pretty exciting, but the Americans hold on for a 1-0 victory. Kobe Byrant was at the stadium watching the match.

[endaround]

Wondering if someone can help explain this...

 

My 10 year old son is very interested in swimming and has a little talent in it. He won 25 meter free style last year at a swim meet sponsored by the Waukesha optimist club. Other than that, he has never done any competative swimming. I was looking into local swim clubs on the internet and saw that there is something called a Waukesha Express swim club. They have a link on the site where they post club records and one swimmers name, Kyle Bubolz, is prominent on the record list from the time he was 10 in 1997. So, I was curious and searched him on the internet. It appears he now swims at Northwestern University and they have a bio page for him. What really struck me is that on the bottom of his bio it lists his personal best times. His best time for the 50 free is 19.47?!?

 

http://nusports.cstv.com/...im/mtt/bubolz_kyle00.html

 

The world record for the 50 Free is 21.28? How is this possible?

 

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/SW/C73A1/SWM010101.shtml#SWM010101

 

 

edit: nevermind..I got an explaination...there is a 50 yard short course and a 50 meter long course. Kyle's time was obviously for the 50 yard short course.

Try contacting the swimming coach at Arrowhead high school

[tigerbrew]

The US vs Cuba women's volleyball semis wasn't as exciting to watch as the Italian match. It wasn't close as the Americans won easily 3 sets to nil. It's the first finals in 24 years for the US, and they will play either world no.1 Brazil or China. Interestingly, the US coach is a former Chinese national player.

[JoeHova]

Arrgggh, now the US has failed to qualify for both 4x100 finals because of fumbled exchanges. Disastrous meet for the US, although they had a few runners do well and still claimed a good amount of medals.

[Jimbo]

Arrgggh, now the US has failed to qualify for both 4x100 finals because of fumbled exchanges. Disastrous meet for the US, although they had a few runners do well and still claimed a good amount of medals.

Arrgggh, spoilers!

 

You're right though, Joe. Not a good showing for the USA this time around.

[Mike Felder]

Yeah, it's been kind of disappointing for the US. I hope Lagat and Tegenkamp can give a good showing in the 5K. And we should have a good chance of medaling in the decathlon too. I really want to see the 4x1 finals...if Bolt runs all out and Powell can get his head out of his rear at a big meet for once, that WR will be going down too.

 

I was (and still am) a huge Michael Johnson fan. After his Beamon-esque performance in the 200 in 1996, I remember reading that scientists who study the human body and athletics and such had projected that no one would run 19.32 or thereabouts until several years into the next century. Looks like they were right. Johnson's race will always be more memorable in my mind (the huge buildup, running in front of a home crowd, and just destroying the world record that night), but Bolt deserves his due.

 

Also...as if I needed another reason to want to move to Jamaica...these Olympics have done it. Sun, surf, rum, and track...what more could a guy like me want in a country? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Schlitz001]

Has anybody seen Tiki Barber on MSNBC covering the Olympics? I turned him on today and it's just embarassing to watch. He should probably stick with football.

This is a stupid question, but if someone sets a new WR in a speed event and they later test positive for a steroid, is that WR still recognized by any orginizations or does everyone pretend it never happened.