iShater
macrumors 604
NBC's commentators made sure to mention that it was Levingston (sp?) who worked to get the Olympics to London, that this guy just got into office and just inherited. Almost like saying, this dude didn't deserve it. 😛
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - Caution, may contain results!
- Thread starter scotthayes
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
NBC's commentators made sure to mention that it was Levingston (sp?) who worked to get the Olympics to London, that this guy just got into office and just inherited. Almost like saying, this dude didn't deserve it. 😛
MacLadybug
macrumors 6502a
One of the most entertaining Olympics for me...
I watched more of this Olympics than ever before. I can't decide if it was because NBC did a great job covering all the events, the host country, and the athletes or if I was just proud of how our team USA handled themselves. Got to say that through all the controversies, dramas, and "agony of defeats", our team appeared polished, poised, gracious and respectful. Instead of "Ugly Americans" I saw Gladiators, dedicated Athletes, and Patriots. Awesome games.
I watched more of this Olympics than ever before. I can't decide if it was because NBC did a great job covering all the events, the host country, and the athletes or if I was just proud of how our team USA handled themselves. Got to say that through all the controversies, dramas, and "agony of defeats", our team appeared polished, poised, gracious and respectful. Instead of "Ugly Americans" I saw Gladiators, dedicated Athletes, and Patriots. Awesome games.
Rowing course is already built. Gymnastics will be at the Dome (now called o2 arena) Wembley Stadium is brand new, we've had the sea at Weymouth for tens of thousands of years, horse guards parade is ready just needs the sand for the beach volleyball, ExCel arena for weightlifting, boxing judo etc already built, Lords has been around for over a hundreds years for the archery.
To many to list, but most are already in place
2012 venues
Jaffa Cake
macrumors Core
Most of them apparently exist already – we're making good use of existing stadia and facilities, a number of which are actually outside of London itself.
At least Boris could wave a bloody flag properly! 😛
I was getting embarrassed on behalf of The Suits watching them make a dogs dinner of waving it.
You have to see her in interviews and normal settings rather than competition and she will be more "friendly".
She's prolly serious about the competition. I mean, her dad and mom were like Soviet gymnastic machines so prolly a lot of pressure to have to live up to that legacy. I think she beat her dad with like 1 medal or something ultimately.
And I think the story on her indicated that they fled the collapse of USSR to USA and were like dirt poor. So the parents had to get low paying gymnastics coaching jobs and take her along to the gym because they can't afford babysitters and I guess that starts the saga. Poor Nastia. I would take care of her. 🙁 Er...actually, now she could take care of me instead! rofl! 😛
Well the popular ones become "hot products" and the endorsers probably find it wise to "feed the hype" as soon as they can before the Olympic games are over and interest dies down. I'm sure not many athletes would skip out on some of these potential offers made by these corporations.
The ones that don't win...well, perhaps they do get "burnt out" I would guess.
Just seen something very interesting on the news... Usain Bolt's mom lives in Wolverhampton, England. Maybe, just maybe we could arrange for a British passport for him before 2012 😀
Brianstorm91
macrumors 65816
Antares
macrumors 68000
I was so proud of my Nasti Girl (I dubbed her "Nasti Girl" a while back). She did a great job! Yes, very pretty...and "of age" for those of you wondering. Her mother is very pretty too. You can tell where she got her looks.
The smiling thing is about focus and showing minimal emotion. It's part of the Russian/Slavic heritage...
USA ranks countries in olympic by numbers of medals each country obtained, not by gold medals.. b/c they want usa to rank as a 1st ... 😡
iJohnHenry
macrumors P6
I think her 3 silvers at 41 were stunning (and she is stunning 😀 ). I did have her in the list but took her out before I posted it, that's how close she came.
Plus it seems the poll is going down the "who won the most golds" route.
Dimwhit
macrumors 68020
dejo
Moderator emeritus
I think Dara's actions poolside (I'm referring to her asking the officials to delay a race in order for a competitor to change her ripped suit) exhibit the true Olympic spirit way more than "most golds one". She didn't have to win any medals and she would still be tops in my book.
And if "who won the most golds" is the criteria, how come so many, including NBC are okay with ranking the U.S. above anybody else in the medal standings? Oh, that's right? Otherwise the U.S. wouldn't be ranked first! 😱 😉
In NBC's defense, they have always, in all Olympic games I can recall, ranked based on total medals. Some outlets do it based on total medals, some, on golds. So its not like they changed their formula this year to put the US on top.
So Phelps is better because his event has 4 different strokes at 100 and 200m. Phelps won more golds partly because he had the chance to enter more events.
If there was 4 different ways of running the 200m I'm sure Bolt would have won more, Chris Hoy would have more if they had left the 1km in the Olympics. It should be about quality not quantity.
I didn't know about her asking for the event to be delayed, the BBC kept that quiet. I totally agree with you she has shown what the true Olympic spirit is about
As for NBC, it seems it is only America who use total number of medals as a guide. Everyone else, including the IOC, us the number of golds followed by silver then bronze for the medal table.
Dimwhit
macrumors 68020
So breaking 7 world records and 1 olympic record isn't quality? The fact that he won more golds in one olympic games isn't significant? The fact that he has more lifetime gold medals, and total medals, isn't significant?
If Phelps has lost a couple of his races, but still got 5 golds, I might agree with you. But he didn't. He had to race 17 times in a week and do enough to win all 8 finals. That's far beyond quantity and well into quality.
Abstract
macrumors Penryn
Actually, I agree with this. I was talking to some friends about this, and we all agreed that Phelps probably isn't the "greatest Olympian ever" simply because athletes in other sports can't compete in as many events based on their one skill. (However, we still said he was a machine, and didn't discuss it beyond that). 😉
Weightlifters will never get 8 gold medals. Same with table tennis champions, basketball, or gymnasts. Even a sport like rowing, which has quite a few events for athletes to compete in, couldn't get more than 3 or 4 gold medals if they competed in absolutely everything.
Another great American Olympian, Carl Lewis, had to at least run fast AND jump really far. Heck, he was undefeated in long jump for 10 years.
Which is ridiculous. I don't know why Americans strive to do everything in a different, ass-backwards way that doesn't make any more sense than doing it the way everyone else does it.
Gold = 5, Silver = 3, Bronze = 1.
Even Gold = 5, Silver = 2, Bronze = 1 is better.
A gold medal is worth far more to an athlete than a bronze. Nobody strives for bronze. You get silver if you lose the gold medal in the finals ('here's a sticker of a star to put on your "decent" assignment.....loser'), and bronze still has to play in a final match/game despite knowing full well that they have no chance of actually getting what they want, which would be quite sad, lacking a lot of needed motivation.
bangs head against wall 🙄
I'm not saying what Phelps did wasn't amazing (let me make myself very clear IT WAS!!! ) but due to his sport he had that chance to go for the 8 medals.
Even though Bolt only won 3 medals I think he's achievement rates higher than Phelps. He broke two of the longest standing world records (4x100m was 16 years old and 200m was 12 years old) in tack and field and broke another by jogging 10-15% of the race.
Chris Hoy had to race in an event that is not one of his normal events and still destroyed the field.
Ben Ainslie won his 3rd gold in 3 different Olympics. So has stayed at the top of his sport for 8 years. That to me just just as impressive as Phelps.
Dimwhit
macrumors 68020
I don't agree with that. A runner could run the 100, 200, 400, 800, a few relays, and have a chance to get as many. They don't, because it's too hard. But that's what Phelps did. Different races and different distances. People seem to think one swim event is the same as another, but they're not. The difference between a 200m Butterfly and a 50m freestyle--being totally different swimming disciplines--is just as great (or more) than the difference between a 100m sprint and 400m race.