I feel like we need more Olympic chatter on this board. Especially considering that we have a wonderful group of non-Americans that post on here... If anyone has any Olympic thoughts that may not neccesarily deserve their own thread (but please feel free to start new specific threads on the Olympics if you like!), place them here....

I noticed watching the 100 Free final last night that I could recognize Lezak while swimming just by his stroke. I've seen that relay so many times. I didn't see it live but man what a race... one of the best announcing jobs ever. Chills.

My tv has been on 99% olympics since it started, I hope I'm not burned out before track and field. I'm out of town this weekend so I should be recharged for next week.

What I've enjoyed watching
1. Woman's/Men's beach volleyball
2. Men's swimming (US women aren't doing great... so I dont' really enjoy watching them). I enjoy the non-Phelps stuff too.
3. Basketball

What I didn't enjoy watching
1. Syncro Diving.
2. Gymnastics
3. Boxing - for some reason the live scoring bugs me and I happened to watch fights that weren't that good with a SUPER LONG lead up on MSNBC.

James Blake beat Roger Federer in the men's tennis singles quarters! He has played Roger 28 times prior and has never beat him. I don't know if he had the game of his life or if Roger is fading. Now all he has to do is beat Nadal! Go James Blake!

Good idea for a thread! Howl!


I like:

Mens swimming
Both Gymnastics
Basketball
PING PONG!
All the Track and Field (when it is on)


I dislike:

Women's swimming
Equestrian
Volleyball
Fencing and stupid stuff like that
Diving for sure (snooooooze)
China's government
Not getting to observe the Hamm Brothers

Fencing kills me. You watch a point (if that is what they call it) and you can't tell who won it at all.

I haven't caught the Ping Pong but I'd definitely be all about that when it is on.

pants wrote:

Ping Pong is AWESOME!!!

It's easily one of my all-time most favorite Summer Olympic events.

Things I have thoroughly enjoyed thus far:
- The US Mens Basketball games
- Alicia Sacramone (even though she choked)
- The US Mens Gymnastics team (usually the mens gymnasts are a bit on the femmie side (see the Ham&Cheese brothers), but I liked how these guys were hootin and hollerin and fist pumpin. They had great heart and commradarie. I ended up really getting into the gymnastics that night.
- The Mens Gymnastics Rings & High Bar. Man the stuff they do on those 2 events just blows my mind.
- The 2 US Womens Gymnastics studs - I'm interested to see how they perform tonight in the all-around.
- The Chinese dude that won the gymnastics all-around
- Bella Karolyi in the studio. Hilarious.
- Bob Costas. The best at what he does. No question.
- The Mens Swimming 4x100 Freestyle Relay team. This should actually be at the top of the list. That will probably be the enduring US memory from these Olympics. That last leg was simply amazing.
- The Bob Costas interview with GWBush. It was interesting...and weird. Gee Dubb was so giddy. I dunno, it was just crackin me up at the time.
- YAO being so pumped up on the sidelines during garbage time of the US/China game.
- Every time Michael Phelps swims.
- The fact that I have already been completely entertained and enthralled by the Olympics, and my favorite event (Track & Field) hasn't even begun!

Track & Field rules all

Awesome list Bonk. If I would have went into more depth, mine would have been pretty much exactly the same. That 4x100 swimming relay was one of the greatest sporting events I've ever seen of any sport.

More possible Olympic corruption? This time in wrestling...


http://www.nbcolympics.com/wrestling/news/newsid=214295.html?_source=rss&cid=


P.S. I know nothing about this other than what I read in the above article.

This is a little gif file of the boys cheering after the 400 relay but shows up as a litle box with a red X in it.

Well my must see list is somewhat different.

The Olympics is a very big deal down here; it is a point of great pride that we punch above our weight in sport. We've been top 5 in the mdeal count for the last two Olympics and haven't been outside the top 10 since Seoul. Not bad for 20-odd million people.

swimming is always a big focus for us; the men's team wasn't that strong to begin with, but now swimming in a Phelps shaped shadow reduces that success further.

And BTW, I've never see anything like Phelps:

(i) He will finish with 20-25 gold medals. He could run through everybody in London just like he has here.
(ii) Ian Thorpe retired at the right time.

The women's swimming has been a highlight for us. All 5 of our gold medals have been won by female swimmers (and all are from the same state, Queensland), including the brilliant 4 x 200 freestyle relay victory. That's our equiv of the men 4 x 100. Goosebumps. Stephanie Rice is now a triple gold medallist after winning both IM's and being in the relay squad. And as a bonus, she is a hottie. Good times.

Grant Hackett is in the hunt for a third gold in three games in the 1500m freestyle, although he is looking wobbly right now.

Track and field is a bust mostly. Best chances are Craig Mottram in the middle distance races and we have a highly ranked javelin thrower. Our world champion race walkers are injured and didn't make it.

Australian sprinter is a contradiction in terms. But the 100m final is must. Could be the best ever. Let's hope it's clean.

Very good chance to win both the women's and men's hockey (men are champs from Athens).

And let's not forget the womens hoops . Lauren is my girl.

Good post AusWolf, I liked all the info about the Aussies.

With that said, DID EVERY SEE PHELPS' GOLD MEDAL TONIGHT!?!?! In his 7th race, the 100 meter Butterfly? If not, oh... my... god. He won by one hundreth of a second. He was quite a ways behind with like 15 meters left and I have no idea how he won. He is amazing. Easily one of the greatest athletes I've ever seen in my lifetime in any sport.

7 races, 7 gold medals, 6 world records. Wow.


P.S. AusWolf... I do agree that he could easily eclipse 20 gold medals, but Phelps said he is more or less retiring after these Olympics. Crazy huh? He said he'd still go to London in 2012, but he wouldn't have anywhere near the race load as he did this year. Soooo... maybe he'll only win like 5 more golds before he's done.

P.S.S. I agree, Stephanie Rice IS a hottie.

P.S.S.S. You guys are doing well... third overall in the medal standings!

If anyone was wondering, this is handy on the official Olympic website. Has all the medals, multiple medal winners, each day's winners for what event, etc:


http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/GL/95A/GL0000000.shtml

College Wolf wrote:


Gentlemen, allow me to present triple gold medallist Stephanie Rice.