The 2008 Beijing Olympics Thread

[Cricketman]

Micheal Phelps: Greatest Olympian of all time.

King!

 

[Gunja Dude]

Swimming is so gay to watch - overcooks.

 

[Deleted member 9102]

Edit: Chris Gayle

 

[shravi]

I don't know if this has been posted already so I'll do it.

Did you guys hear about the fireworks charade in the opening ceremony? Some of them weren't even real fireworks but computer generated effects. They claim they did it becasue they thought the real ones couldn't be captured on camera due to the hazy weather.

This is even better. There was some 7-10 year old girl singing a song in the stadium. She didn't sing it! She lipped another 7-10 year old girl who they said was too ugly. They openly called her 'bucktooth'!

Chinese always find a way to make you laugh, intentionally or not.

 

[.::Stevo::.]

I dont understand, with over a billion people, how India only have one medal?

Oh and an update of the medal tally for our New Zealand friends : 0

 

[aussie1st]

Those Chinese are starting to get stronger in the swimming. Bit worrying if they get their act together which they seem to be doing, they could quickly over take us and the US. Their women are especially strong, could see them get a medal in the 4x100 medley relay.

Congrats to our 4x200m relay, Rice was awesome 3 WR! The Phelps of the women division just a shame she doesn't swim more events.
Was disappointing seeing Sullivan and Shipper not get gold.

And lastly Libby geez shes one lucky girl (Chinese girl DSQ after winning the semi). Almost eliminated in the semis, I hope she was sick cause any other reason and I'm worried. Campbell has also fallen off but I suspect she'll be better for the experience.

 

[evertonfan]

I can't wait for the track and field events starting on the weekend. Watching swimming and shooting is very nice and all that, but the tracl and real events is the real olympics.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

I don't know if this has been posted already so I'll do it.

Well.....

Geez China opening ceremony is being torn apart. First the filming of the fireworks for some parts and now pre recorded version of that song which the little girl sang.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing when that came on the news this evening. Not "pretty" enough? Disgraceful.

Disgraceful indeed, but not surprising with China. What is surprising is these leaks that have occurred. China is usually so up tight with this sort of stuff.

I agree 100%, and I hope she's compensated somehow. But knowing China, I wouldn't hold my breath. Would've been interesting to hear the girl on screen actually sing, maybe she's useless!

 

[shravi]

Ahh okay, sorry about that. Didn't really go through the thread. I don't watch the Olympics, I just saw it on the news.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I can't wait for the track and field events starting on the weekend. Watching swimming and shooting is very nice and all that, but the tracl and real events is the real olympics.

Starts tonight at 2am, doesn't it?

 

[aussie1st]

Love watching the superstars of the 100m burst to the front and then ease the gas.

Another disappointing day in the swimming, not enough Rice Trickett almost produced the miracle gold medal but died in the last 20m. Jones was the big shock of the day but now we see why she has only just won a gold medal in this olympics.

 

[pal]

I dont understand, with over a billion people, how India only have one medal?

Zero infrastructure, national obsession with cricket, combined with the general bureaucratic inefficiency that pervades everything in India results in poor performances in the Olympics. There was a time when India dominated in hockey (eight gold medals) and they actually beat Germany 8-1 right before Hitler's eyes in 1936 and this year, they didn't even qualify for the event. It's unbelievably sad. The one gold medalist this year trained at home. His dad is extremely rich, so he built a training facility at home for his kid and so, he didn't have to turn towards national facilities to develop his talent (fortunately).

The one good sign for the future is that private trusts (founded by companies with Indian owners, like Mittal) are starting to use their own money to develop talented athletes, rather than relying upon a broken government system. But, that probably won't be enough. India needs to replicate China's Olympic development programs.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

One cycling final down, one gold medal. New world record in qualifying for the final as well, fantastic.

 

[smssia0112]

I just discovered that there's Handball in the Olympics. Incredible!

The spirit does sort of get me, but I really don't like the Olympics, a bunch of sports I don't care about any other day of the year (or should I say 4), and some that I do that I don't care about here such as tennis and soccer. The world goes crazy for it despite the fact that I'm sure many people agree with me here that they couldn't care less about athletics or swimming outside the games.

 

[treva]

My God that Usain Bolt is awesome. He was practically jogging the last 30m in the 2nd round and ran in 9.92s! He's gunna run away with it tomorrow and will probably break his own record with ease. The guy is just incredible!