Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics

I'm sure she's celebrating his gold medal in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay! It was a dominant performance by the American team (read: blowout), if a little lacking in drama compared to that earlier relay.

And who knew women's gymnastics could be so enthralling? First one of the best Chinese gymnasts completely falls off the balance beam, making a US gold medal seem like a very good possibility. Then one of the American gymnasts falls off the beam, too, and follows that up with a big fall on the floor routine. I guess nerves really do play a big part when you're on as big a stage as this one.

I only wish the Chinese gymnasts had not been so heavily tarted up with makeup. It was a bit disturbing...

Usain Bolt being overshadowed by Phelps but this kid is insane. Walks in the last 40m and still breaks one of the most coveted world records.

We've only seen bits and pieces of the first week and a bit of the Olympics because we were on holiday in Germany but we've still been amazed at what we've seen. Phelps is undeniably a brilliant swimmer but there's something immensly unlikable about him, and I'm not sure why. Like I say though, you can't take away from hsi acheivements in the pool.

And Team GB? well the incredible seems to have happened and we've suddenly become really rather good. The British have absolutely blown the cyclists from the rest fo the wrold out of the water, the rowers and sailors have been doing incredibly well and now on top of an incredibly well deserved gymnastic medal (our first ever for a single event rather than a team one) we've now got silver in the men's high jump (completely unexpectedly as far as I can tell) but we've now got the women's 400m gold too.

In fact we're still third in the table with 16 golds. That's more than our entire medal total from 1996 which is pretty incredible. In fact it's our best performance since 1920. I doubt we'll finish the Games in third but since they were aiming for 8th in the table by the end I think we'll probably do that.

Team GB has been doing really well this Olympics! (Why isn't it Team UK, by the way?) They've got 17 golds and 40 total, and there are still three more days of competition left. (Compare that to Athens, when they finished with 9 golds and 30 total.) It'll be really interesting to see what they can do in four years in London.

Of all the American athletes I've seen profiled, I've really been impressed with the maturity and humility of Shawn Johnson. She always seems upbeat and I've never heard her say an unkind word about anyone -- only praise. She's been gracious in losing as well as in winning.

I've also liked what I've seen of Canadian diver (and silver medalist) Alex Despatie. He's always shown cheering for his fellow Canadians, as well as their competitors -- and he's been shown giving some of the other country's divers hugs after medal-winning performances. I think he's probably one of those rare ones (like Johnson, apparently) who just really appreciates a good performance, regardless of who it's by.

Johnson I think is rather wonderful, as was her team-mate who she beat who was clearly genuinely delighted for her. That's the kind of sportsmanship we should be having. Healthy competition but a respect and enjoyment for what others do. I think maybe that's what Phelps and Bolt are missing slightly. It's all well and good to celebrate what you've acheived, but doing it in such a way that seems to be mocking the other competitors isn't exactly classy.

As for Team GB rather than UK it's because of the slightly odd make-up of the country. The United Kingdom technically is England, Wales and Scotland but doesn't count places like the Scilly Isles, the Isle Of Man and (I think) Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the the whole of the British dependency and includes all the semi-autonamous islands around the mainland, hence Team GB. In the Commonwealth Games not only do England, Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland compete as different countries but so does the Isle of Man and a couple of others. It's part of the same reason why GB doesn;t have a football team at the Olympics. The team has to all come from the same FA and sicne Wales and England have one FA and Scotland has a different one they can't compete as one team in the Games but indiviual countries that make up GB can't play seperately. I think the same would apply for rugby if it were an Olympic sport (with the extra wrinkle that I don't think the Republic of Ireland would be able to play either since Ireland as one country made up of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland play as one team internationally).

You get different coverage than us obviously, but we've not seen anything of Phelps mocking anyone? Can you expound?

I was put-off and disappointed in Bolt's actions both at the start-line and the finish of the 100m but his post 200m race interview he seemed like a nice enough kid.

Bolt's actions unfortunately may be age cultural. It's like a hitch in a walk to kids, nothing really is meant. It's the subtle teachings of mass media. I teach poor, urban kids and have to guard myself constantly. The body motions and language of the generation push buttons but for the most part they do and use them instinctly not to actively start anything. Talking to the kids, they pretty much have the same concerns for others and consideration as any have before them.

Oh not direct mocking, but the kind of agressive victory shout and such that just comes across as being a negative type of celebration. He doesn't look like he's happy particularly (the relay was the most obvious example of that) or proud, just an alpha male emphasising his dominance. It's the same kind of behavious Bolt displayed in the 100m. I don't think it's really deliberate or anything and isn't exactly an uncommon response (footballers/soccer stars are also very prone to it) but it just comes across as a bit disrespectful of the other competitors.

It's nice to see players/teams congratulating other teams on their efforts and more subdued about their celebrations. It's a frequest argument on sports boards here, with the other arguement being, let them show their joy unrestricted, whether it be celebration (Phelps) or obvious showboating (Bolt).

BMX: These people obviously do not have to pass a sanity test. There is a lot of danger in Olympics sports but that has to be the most out-of-control sport at the game.

Agreed on the insane BMXers. Did the British girl get much coverage in teh US? Obviously she got a lot here but since she was favourite I wouldn't be surprised if she had. She's obviously insane, and so un lucky. Crashing then managing to get through to the next round, then in that round crashing then getting up to second and then crashing and breaking her arm. Yeesh. And yet she just seemed a bit blase about it all as if breaking her arm was just a bit of a scratch.

Happily though even she crashed out (literally) of the BMX she was also part of the gold medal winning team sprint cycling so she's not gone away from Beijing empty handed.

I did not see anything mocking about Phelps' celebratory actions. I missed coverage of Bolt's.

The US women's beach volleyball duo, May and Walsh, were amazing. I saw little of Athens, but they were impressive there, and glad they continued their success in Beijing.

Where I am, we get both US (NB), CBC and SRC coverage, so it's neat to flip back and forth and observe the different focuses.

On a local note, my French prof's neice was part of Belgium's running relay team that won a silver medal the other day.

I've really enjoyed listening to different countries' national anthems during the medal ceremonies, although mostly it's been China and the U.S. Apropos of national anthems, I'm surprised at how many Americans have remarked that the U.K.'s national anthem was "copied" from "My Country, 'Tis of Thee (America)"!

And did anybody see the photos of the irate Cuban taekwondo competitor kicking a referee in the face? Yikes!

CBC coverage is so much better than NBCs, always has been. Probably always will be. We normally would watch CBC but we have only over the air and these new digital tvs don't receive the signal as well as our old tv so getting CBC has been problematic.



It's just wrong to laugh but that's too funny. No I missed that, hopefully they'll show it and the end of games summaries.

She is clearly one of those people who does things to the extreme. When she wins she does it brilliantly. Only when she's goign full pelt there's no such thing as a little crash...

As I wrote, we are probably getting different coverage. Here's a differently edited version of events.

Phelps celebrates the 100m fly.

Why is there BMX in the Olympics? Might as well add skateboarding. This is the Olympics, not the X-Games.

BMX was added when PETA objected to their first proposal of Equestrian Sho-Jump-Cross (SJX) where horseshoes were to be fitted with ballbearings and riders take their mounts down halfpipes and such to jump obstacles like hedges.

Synchro swimming was obviously added as an international social welfare program to make work for swim choreographers who've been unemployed since hollywood stopped making musicals with those massive synchro pool numbers. Their powerful guild has influence indeed.

From a site about discontinued Olmpic events Topendsports.com

Gymnastics once included such events as "club swinging," "Indian clubs," and "rope climbing," as well as something called "Swedish system, team" -- which, not surprisingly, was won by the Swedish team.