The 2012 London Summer Olympics Thread

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

It's why I like sports with objective measurables (i.e. - Who ran the fastest? Who threw it the farthest?) as opposed to judges deciding who looked the prettiest.

I agree, but then we get Chinese girls who come out and beat a World Record by a full second and her personal-best by a full 5 SECONDS in the Olympics. That does not happen naturally.

London 2012: Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen under fire after smashing world record - thestar.com

IOC hints that China’s Olympic swim star Ye Shiwen did not test positive | London 2012 | Sports | National Post

If she were an American, they would have stripped the Gold before she got to the podium. But China, again, no rules apply...just like 2008.

A 16-YO girl outswan Lochte? Sure...don't believe that report. Lochte's final time beat her by 23 seconds...she only beat him in one leg of the race by a fraction and the media has jumped all over that. If men and women were equally fast, they wouldn't have to separate into men's and women's events.

I'm not saying this girl can't possibly be that talented, but you don't improve your personal record by 5 seconds out of nowhere unless you were completely dogging it before. China has a long history of doping, especially in swimming.




I love the sports of the Olympics but this crap really gets me mad and turns me off from it. Whether it's Russian skating judges or China cheating in EVERYTHING and getting a pass, the Olympics have become a world-wide "how can we screw the USA since we can't legitimately beat them" free-for-all.

[NC_Skins]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

Did anyone else see Britain and Ukraine robbed in the Men's gymnastics last night.

What a terrible decision. The guy falls of the horse without completing the required handstand so the judges bump up the difficulty after-the-fact to, essentially, compensate for the massive deduction. Bad. Just bad.

It's why I like sports with objective measurables (i.e. - Who ran the fastest? Who threw it the farthest?) as opposed to judges deciding who looked the prettiest.

One of my friends is actually a trainer at WOGA, and this was her exact comment in regards to that dismount.

Looks like he got vertical, but his legs passed through together to a crazy 'omg I'm falling' split right away. If it's just the vertical that counts I don't see why he wouldn't get it

Which is why they changed the score. It did suck for the Brits and Ukraine, but it was the right call apparently.

Got to admit, I've learned so much about gymnastics from my friend this year (probably more than I want to know). She works with Valeri Liukin so she knows her shit, but it's interesting to learn how these kids are picked at a young age. Believe it or not, physical makeup actually plays a huge part in it. (overly flexible, hips wider than shoulders, particular knee alignments....are generally all NO gos when deciding) That's your useless information for today. :P

[Monkeydad]

Interesting shot of England's Olympic uniforms.

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by NC_Skins

One of my friends is actually a trainer at WOGA, and this was her exact comment in regards to that dismount.

Which is why they changed the score. It did suck for the Brits and Ukraine, but it was the right call apparently.

I get what your friend is saying and I, in fact, did watch it a couple times (via DVR) when it happened to see if the guy ever, even if for a split second, got his legs together as he was going over. Maybe I missed it, but I remember thinking his legs never even got close to what one would call a handstand. As to the scoring adustment:

Gymnastics scrapped its perfect-10 high score in 2006, replacing it with one that was supposed to remove some human error by instituting one score for the difficulty achieving certain moves, alongside a second, more subjective score for execution. But even the difficulty points have to be assigned by humans. "Everybody is human and everybody can make errors," Gueisbuhler said. "The dismount of Kohei was a very tricky thing to judge. You are talking about angles, and those decisions have to be given in quick time."

Teams can only appeal—or, in the parlance of the sport, "inquire"—the difficulty portion of their own scores. They can't object to the points they get for execution, or to other teams' scores.

London 2012: Chinese Men Take Gymnastics Gold - WSJ.com

So, after reviewing the tape, I guess the judges thought he had done the required move and adjusted the difficulty of the move since they couldn't change their subjective "execution" score. Seems pretty ass backward to me. Reading more on it, the Japanese guy is sort of rock star gymnast and, it seems to me - like MJ in the NBA finals - he gets the call (or no call in MJ's case).

I still think they were robbed.

[NC_Skins]

Incredible night for US women's gymnastics. Pulled out the team gold after Russia did their best impersonation of the US men's team. The girls did a fantastic job overall


Michael Phelps lost the 200m breast stroke for the for the first time in his Olympic career. He was in the lead all the way until the last 1/2 second when he lost it. He had to settle for the silver. Was disappointed.

Incredible job by the men's relay team for destroying the competition. Lochte, Dwyer, and Berens won this race by giving Phelps a 3+ second lead going into his anchor run. This medal brought Phelps career total to 19 making him the leader in overall medals in Olympic history. Incredible career, and a shame he'll be retiring.


Still impressed as hell with the women's gymnastic teams performance tonight. Remarkable.

[DynamiteRave]

I'm ready for track and field already.

[SmootSmack]

Badminton Tanking: I think I might have actually watched this match Shameless shuttlers lose for gains | Olympics 2012

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by NC_Skins

Incredible night for US women's gymnastics. Pulled out the team gold after Russia did their best impersonation of the US men's team. The girls did a fantastic job overall


Michael Phelps lost the 200m breast stroke for the for the first time in his Olympic career. He was in the lead all the way until the last 1/2 second when he lost it. He had to settle for the silver. Was disappointed.

Incredible job by the men's relay team for destroying the competition. Lochte, Dwyer, and Berens won this race by giving Phelps a 3+ second lead going into his anchor run. This medal brought Phelps career total to 19 making him the leader in overall medals in Olympic history. Incredible career, and a shame he'll be retiring.


Still impressed as hell with the women's gymnastic teams performance tonight. Remarkable.

The women's gymnastic team was amazing. Their talents are incredible. Did you see that story about Domonique Moceanu and her sister?

[NC_Skins]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Did you see that story about Domonique Moceanu and her sister?

The sister she didn't know about that ended up being a legless gymnast? It was incredible in the fact that both of them turned out to be gymnasts. It was indeed a amazing story.


In case others are interested. It's worth the read and watching the video mid-story.

Dominique Moceanu Finds Sister, Jen Bricker: Olympic Gymnast Finds Long-Lost Acrobat Sibling (VIDEO)

[SmootSmack]

Imagine finding out that your idol is actually your long lost older sister

[NC_Skins]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Badminton Tanking: I think I might have actually watched this match Shameless shuttlers lose for gains | Olympics 2012

Should disqualify them. Would solve that problem.

[NC_Skins]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Imagine finding out that your idol is actually your long lost older sister

I keep thinking about how mad I would be at my parents for never telling me. Glad this story had a happy ending and the 3 sisters can unite and build their bond from there.

[Alvin Walton]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Badminton Tanking: I think I might have actually watched this match Shameless shuttlers lose for gains | Olympics 2012

Suck for gold?

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by NC_Skins

Should disqualify them. Would solve that problem.

Its just badminton.LMAO

The Badminton World Federation announced its ruling after investigating two teams from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia. It punished them for ''not using one's best efforts to win a match'' and ''conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport'' in matches Tuesday night.
''We applaud the federation for having taken swift and decisive action,'' IOC spokesman Mark Adams told The Associated Press. ''Such behavior is incompatible with the Olympic values.''
Erick Thohir, the head of Indonesia's Olympic team, told the AP that the Indonesian team will appeal. The BWF said South Korea had also appealed.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by NC_Skins

I keep thinking about how mad I would be at my parents for never telling me. Glad this story had a happy ending and the 3 sisters can unite and build their bond from there.

Well Moceanu hasn't had such a great relationship with her parents. I don't know all the details but she essentially divorced them before she turned 18. Not sure if the relationship has been mended. I guess they're a difficult crew.