In about two hours the official opening of the 2004 olympics is about to start (with the music score of the dutch DJ Tiesto BTW). In light of that and the coming sports the following weeks I opened this thread.

My eyes will especially be on the 200m freestyle swimming where Pieter van den hoogenband, Ian Thorpe and Mark Spitz will battle for the gold like Titans.

So post your favourites, predictions and general olympic banter here!

[ August 14, 2004, 20:20: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

Is it just me, or is there not as much hype surrounding the Olympics as there used to be?

Maybe McDonalds dropped their sponsoring... ;) :D

Perhaps this post isn't what someone would be expecting from me but...

I didn't want the games in the first place for various reasons and I still don't want them but the only thing that I can do is to sit and wait the end of games in order life here to be normal again.

Why I didn't want the games and why I still have a negative opinion about them? First of all because I don't believe to all the BS that they represent the "ancient immortal athletic spirit" and the "healthy competition of amateur athletes". The only thing that the games represent are the sponsors and the people who earn money from them, nothing else.

I didn't want the games because as a taxpayer I have to pay for them for the next 25 years. The cost was very high even in the initial plan and now it has become higher due to delays, changes of plans and WTC. In case you don't know it the cost of the security is three times higher than the Sidney olympics. Also, lot of money were spent in facilities that will be completely useless after end of the games, and all these money could be spent somewhere that it would be more usefull like education or health (I wonder what the hell are we going to do the studiums of hockey, softball etc). In addition to the cost of the games add and the cost of the mainteance of the facilities after the end of the game.

I didn't want the games because the only people who are going to benefit from the games are the 5 families who control the construction industry here. Did you know the the husband of the president of "Athens 2004 Organization" owns the major steel industry and ofcourse he was the main supplier of steel for the olympic facilities and the other related constructions? Although the thing that really drove me crazy was the call for volunteers. People, who were paid with thousands of euros for the preparation of the games, were asking from the rest of us to come and work for free.

I didn't want the games because now Athens is a city under police and military rule. Don't go there, don't drive here, you aren't allowed to park there, this is exactly the everyday life here since the beginning of August. Also, add 2 zepelins and an unknown number of helicopters, which are flying all over the city spying everything plus 1500 security cameras and you have an orwellian city. The sad thing is that even if the zepellins and the helicopters will be here just for the duration of the games, the security cameras will remain and they'll just rename them to traffic cameras or something similar.

End of rant. Perhaps I'll continue later.

I couldn't care less about the olympics.

A serious waste of money it is for sure, and a royal pain in the *ss it is too, from what I hear from BOC.

I never seem to enjoy the games. Seperate contests (The Tour, WC football) are far more interesting sports-wise IMHO.

Yeah, I lost my enthusiasm for Olympics back in 2000. I think it's because I stopped watching TV regularly and so CBC doesn't draw me towards the Olympics. Plus we all get older and interests change.

I don't have any particular event in mind if I watch though. I don't even know who our medal hopefuls are anymore. But if I had to pick a sport, it would be perhaps table tennis or tennis... something that I play often myself where I might learn something. We'll see if that gets broadcasted.

The olympics are cool. Oh and I thought Mark Spitz quit swimming in the seventies? :p I think you meant Michael Phelps.

Sweden has a few gold hopes but as usual I am sure all of them will choke or get injured or something.

I do agree though that the interest doesnt seem to be as hyped as normally although it is there.

[ August 13, 2004, 21:00: Message edited by: joacqin ]

The teams are marching to the arena right now, coming from the Eurosport Live. It's like whoah: over 200 teams at it has taken thus far almost an hour to introduce about 80 of them. Laos just walking in.

Sure is a BIG event :whoa:

@joaquin

Yeah they were comparing the two swimmers yesterday, my bad.

What's with this negative attitude to the olympics? I didn't hear this with the Euro2004 where the sponsoring was twice as bad. The olympics are cool and who cares what they represent, it's about sportive accomplishments. I thought the olympics would be way more supportive here on SP than the Euro2004?

I don't know about the sponsoring in Euro, what I know is that in olympics sponsors can do whatever they want to. You are not even allowed to enter the facilities if you wear a shirt with the trademark of companies which are competitors of the sponsors. As for the sportive accomplishments you must be joking. Sportive accomblishments by who? By men and women, who each one of them has more chemicals running in their veins than all the junkies I know (and I know many junkies)?

You're right about the drugs, BOC. It's about which country has the best chemists, who can make a good drug that can't be detected, who can take the most and still beat the drug test...It's going to be fun anyway, at least to me. :)

Well I enjoy the olimpics but when it comes to sports in general football rates spots 1-50 for me. I am just mildly interested in other sports. It can be fun but I am not a fanatic as I am when it comes to football.

Not too many people in England actually give a **** about the Olympics nowadays tbh. It's just full of cheating druggies lets be honest.

It has been full of cheating druggies, it is now finally things are being done about that. The eighties were cheating galore and every single winner there were pumped full of god knows what. I actually think it is becoming cleaner, a lot cleaner. The cheaters are caught nowadays, perhaps not all but many. Heh, actually Bush II has made a real effort when it comes to this. He instigated a real crack down on doping in the US something which has never been done before.

I was watching the Archery competition this morning, as the qualification to the Olympics, and sport my butt! Those damn things have GPS coordination systems, stabilizers, laser locks, coffee machines and whatnots, the arrows even have the same guidance system as the Tomahawk missiles.
The only thing the sporters have to do is to pull the string and woosh! 180!

The biggest prestation has already been made, getting the roof on the stadium in time in greek style :lol: That's worth a golden medal.

I only watch the 100/200/400metres sprint. I gamble on it with my sisters/dad and all. Race! Race! I'm always excited when that's on. The rest licks balls IMO. I can't believe people visit the stadium. The races take 10 sec's each, then we have to play the waiting game.

Guess I'm just not a fanatic when it comes to sports. Even football. I like footy games though, and all games sports, except button-mashers.

May the best performance enhancing drug win!

New update: an Iranean wrestler may have withdrawn from the Olympics because he had to wrestle an Israeli, and the country's belief is taht Israel "does not exist."

Way to ruin the spirit of the Olympics.

Love the olympics...hate the commercials every four minutes.

I find that I don't care about the Olympics for 4 years but once they come around, I'm rivetted to them. Well done to Greece, that opening ceremony was spectacular. Bring on the games, I can't wait now. Sports Illustrated predicted that New Zealand would get 5 gold medals. I'd be surprised if we got that many, but we'll have to wait and see.

@joacqin

Do a google search on designer steroids. Only the stupid and unlucky ones get caught.

Really? I know that was how it was in the past but today I am convinced that the controllers have finally caught up with the cheaters. Sure there is probably some team out there which is still ahead but just look at the Americans, it isnt them anymore. I know about designer roids but apparently it is not as hard to figure out as people thought and also it is harder and harder for athletes to dope up without the support of their governments which I do not think all that many have nowadays.

@DHB, commercial breaks during the olympics? Blasphemous!

And so what if they use drugs, what I don't get is how these 'athletes' can look at themselves in a mirror wielding a gold medal that was gained by cheating.

Anyway enough about drugs this thread was to be intended to talk about the games so drop the drug posts. And please people if you don't like the games don't post, at least a few people here can enjoy sports instead of hanging on the internet the whole live long day.

I don't really care... Why? I'm not a jock, I guess, plus computer games are more interesting :)

Go Puerto Rico! Dream Team turned into Nightmare team. Puerto Rico crushed the US team. Viva la underdogs!

Wahey. Go Puerto Rico.

Plus, go New Zealand. No medals so far . . . . we rule.

Yeah, shocking about the Dream Team.

Really, though, I'm not that much of a fan of many sports at the Olympics.

Swimming - hey, I can swim, no-one's thrownig cash at me
Cycling - I'm pretty sure most people can ride a bike
Track and Field - same thing, I'm pretty sure most people can run, jump etc
Equestrian - I can ride a horse too!
and so on and so on.

Sure, most of the sports where I can actually do the thigns that are involved, I can't do them to quite the same level of expertise or at the same speeds but that's beside the point.

I like watching the sports where it takes a bit of training before you even think of taking part, or the sports than could be considered outside mainstream - such as Fencing, Martial Arts, Gymnastics (some of it anyway) and so on.

But I still get a kick out of seeing who won what in each event, particularly in situations such as the French guy who IIRC won the first ever swimming medal for France - and it was a gold, and the South African (I think it was them) team winning gold in the men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay. Yes, even though we only finished 6th and the winners broke the record set by Australia at the 2000 Olympics.

I like winners who are considered underdogs going in.

God lord, but the American prime-time coverage absolutely SUCKS OUT LOUD! There's more minutes of commercials than of coverage, and when there *is* coverage, it's more of the medal ceremonies and the touchy-feely human interest stories that I completely despise than on actual athletic competition. Not to mention that all they show in prime time is gymnastics, track&field, swimming, and basketball. :rolleyes: GO PUERTO RICO! GO THORPEDO!

I've never been quite so appreciative of our satellite service and TiVo. We can tape the daytime coverage on the affiliate stations (three additional channels, plus another in Spanish) then watch SPORTS in the evening, and sports that we actually want to see. I think I need to express this opinion to NBC directly, in the vague hope that coverage of the next Olympics can be improved.

All I have to say is that Canada may not have any medals yet, but we'll eventually find one. I think...

Bah, still no medals for New Zealand.....surely we can win at least one... :(

I'm more of a fan of the Winter Olympics than the Summer Games. But I also miss the days when amateurs played, instead of having "Dream Teams." What a crock!

Personally, I'd like it to go back to the every four years format and have amateurs play instead of pros.

Man, Australia already has 9 medals!

Bel, the olympics are still only every four years.

Man, Australia already has 9 medals! We may be doing well this time, after so many times being not-so-successful, but those damn Chinese always manage to get ahead of us.

And in the early hours of this morning, Thorpe became 'the most successful Australian Olympic athlete' as far as number of medals per athlete. And he set new World and Olympic records in the 200m Freestyle.

I guess that means we're supposed to get excited or something. Don't get me wrong, I applaud his achievments but, what about every other Australian that's winning medals? Or even every other athlete?

Oh, BTW, LMAO about the fact that 2 million Athenians have left the whole place to go on holidays while the Olympics are on. Especially because there's still approx 2 million tickets unsold. Though it's gotta be hard on people like the soccer teams and rowers when there's almost no-one there.

What's with the Football tournament? Is it U-21 teams that are playing or what, because it sure isn't the best players that are there.

I heard of at least one event where the best are not allowed to compete because of an age limit.

Another US basketball "Dream team"? Really? Why do they insist on misusing the phrase "Dream Team".

As you might imagine I'm not glued to the TV this olympics.

Earl Grey, you are correct. It is pretty much the U-21 teams who play in the Olympics. FIFA would not allow anything else. You are allowed to use players who had not turned 21 at the start of the qualifying as well as some (one or two?) properly overaged players. IIRC Romario played in the 1996 Olympics.

Bel, the olympics are still only every four years. Yes, but the Winter and Summer games are not held in the same year. I miss that. It made the Olympics a little more special for me, personally.

The Winter and Summer Olympics have never been in the same year (as far as I can remember).

Ooh, the NZ basketball team only just lost to Yao Ming's Chinese team 69-62. Man, that guy is a monster.

Actually, up until 1992, both Olympics were held in the same year. After that, they alternated every 2 years.

Well, you learn something every day!

You sure do.

Still no frigging medals for Sweden. We collectively suck. Was it really nescessary for you yanks to waste Uday? We could have used his motivational talents on our "atheletes".

*is a very harsh sports fan*

;)

Rotku! Have you been watching the hockey?

11th ranked NZ managed to recover from 3-1 down against 2nd ranked Netherlands to be 3-3 with a few minutes left but then the Dutch scored in the last minute. Close but no cigar. Again.

@Joacqin

You'll probably get your due in table tennis, if that's any comfort. :)

Boo hoo, 5 days gone and still no medals for New Zealand. I wonder if we will get ANY.

Van de Hoogenband finally got his due. 0.06 seconds was the difference between him and nr. 2 but he deserved it.

That's 2 gold 1 silver and 4 bronze for holland so far, not to shabby I reckon.

You Dutch beat us in the hockey. Hopefully we can get our revenge at the velodrome.

Wohoo! Go J-O Waldner! Best table tennis player ever! Beat the player ranked second in the world today! He can take his third or fourth gold this tournament! At age 38 in such a dexterity sport! A small beam of light in a dark olympics.

Ooh, New Zealand has FIVE rowing teams in finals on Saturday. Surely we can get at least one measly medal from that lot. Surely........ /me goes off to find some good luck charms.

87 - 90
World Champs vs.... New Zealand!
Yay!

Our potential is finally showing. From here on in it's win, win, win for New Zealand!

Woohoo Rotku, you basketball champ!

The New Zealand Tall Blacks beat that complacent World Champion Serbia & Montenegro team in an absolute thriller 90 - 87 after being down 11 point at 3/4 time. Had the FAI enthralled! Well, Deathmage, Rotku, and I anyway.

Wahey! Go New Zealand. Win a medal! Bring on the so-called Dream Team - we'll smash them as well. Ooh Argentina next - they'll be tough.

Hope you New Zealanders are proud after geting that "foul" near the end from Vujanic. That call was ridiculous. You owe those judges a lot. On the other hand I am not justifying our team for yet another leisure aproach. A lot of our best players are missing (Divac, Rebraca, Milichic, Jaric, Stojakovic...), but that is not an excuse for those ****heads to play like they are on a training session and lose so many games allready. They deserve a BIG kick in the butt.

Don't blame the referee! The calls went both ways all game. That foul towards the end should have been NZ possession anyway because the S&M player was deliberately holding. Anyway, after two heartbreakingly close losses, it was great to see a game go our way - plus it was good revenge for when Yugoslavia (same team, different name) beat us in the semi-finals of the World Champs in 2002.

There's nothing better than seeing your team when they are major underdogs.

Still no medals for NZ yet though.........

I love the Olympics! I just wish NBC hadn't been picked to host the games on their network...my TV doesn't pick up NBC too well...

Anyway, I'm a swimmer, so I've been watching every lap that the USA and Australia mens/womens teams have been swimming. I also haven't missed any diving, or women's beach volleyball...which is by far the best "spectator sport" at the summer Olympics!

[EDIT] I forgot Water Polo! I can't wait for that to start! :rolling:

[ August 20, 2004, 06:21: Message edited by: Kitrax ]

Saw the Women's Shotput finals highlights last night and damn that Russian Korzhanenko has an explosive motion!

Yeah, they blew away our young hope, 19 year old Valerie Adams after she made it to the last 12. Hopefully she'll be back next time (she was the youngest shot-putter there).

That foul towards the end should have been NZ possession anyway because the S&M player was deliberately holding. :lol: Have we been watching the same game? :confused: He was jumping like a rabid rabbit and trying to get out of NZ player's grasp, when he eventualy fell and received a foul. Probably one the most stupid ref. decisions I have ever seen. But as I've said, it should have never come to that, we were up 13 points.


Does anyone know when taekwondo is starting?

Hah! Now Klüft has started in the heptatlon (weird English name, in Swedish we just call it "manybattle")! She will crush all opposition!

Heptathlon isn't english, it is an ancient greek word and it means the seven contests or the the seven deeds.

Yesterday I've been watching woman badminton final, in which a dutch was competing, and I have to say how taxing that sport is. You think badminton easygoing game but it's war out there. Really cool to watch even though she lost.

I know it stems from Greek, I just find it an unnescessary difficult and complicated name.

Huzzah! Canada now has a Silver Medal, so at this rate, we'll get a Gold and just end it there.

This Friday sure was Sweden's day! We RULED you all! Heptatlon, triple-jump, high jump and table tennis!

Waldner at age 38 has yet again put the shakes to the Chinese. One billion people have tried to beat him for the last almost twenty years and they thought they had finally done it, but boy were they mistaken. One divinely talented old man against an army of militarily disciplined and drilled table tennis soldiers. (disclaimer, it was however a German he defated today, Waldner is now the last non-asian left in the tournament.)

Well I don't know about that "old man" argument, aren't table tennis players supose to give their best games in thirties?

Nah, I dont think so, Waldner won an olympic gold already in Barcelona, 12 years ago. Waldner has also sucked quite majorly for the last two years. The only reason he was allowed to go to Athens was because he is J-O Waldner. We had other players who had been better for the last year or so.

I find the complete lack of olympic interest here at SP to be quite boring! For some reason I have been glued to the TV for the entire thing. Watching 3-4 hours every day and going up early in the morning to catch the important stuff.

I find the complete lack of olympic interest here at SP to be quite boring! For some reason I have been glued to the TV for the entire thing. Watching 3-4 hours every day and going up early in the morning to catch the important stuff. My thoughts exactly, I gathered in the first 20 posts that only a handful of people can still appreciate the games to some extend. I've been watching every event a dutchman entered since the beginning. It's the the only time in four years I watch hockey (grass not ice) and I even enjoy it, that's the olympics to me; enjoying sports you normally never watch.

Hooray! New Zealand wins a medal at last! And a gold one too. The Evers-Swindell twins in the double sculls. Yay!

Did you see the 100m series and second round for the men. 4 of them ran below the 10 secs and were holding back!! This will be one hell of a final.

Great 100m. Klüft is about to go pick up her gold now.

We have won our first medal! Bronze in some sailing thingy.

Lithuania beat the US in the baskeball! The US was in the lead the whole game but the Lithuanians were extraordinarily good in the last quarter. I actually the US isnt better, they are still contenders but they are not dominating as in the past and I dont think it is because they are arrogant or lazy or not have the best there. The rest of the world have just caught up.

Good on Sweden.

NZ is now going to get their SECOND medal tomorrow! Sarah Ulmer is racing in the final of the 3000m pursuit so she is guaranteed at least a silver.

Go Sarah!!

Hopefully tomorrow the UK can get another 2. We have a great crew in the morning's rowing, and Paula Radclif is going in the marathon. Lots for me to watch. Has anybody been paying any interest to the controvosy in the 3 day eventing. Obviously I am really happy that our team now have the individual gold, and bronze, and the team silver. However, I imagine the German lady is devastated. It still isnt official, and I half expect the decision to be overturned....AGAIN!

LIETUVA!!!!!!!!! It's just too bad that the US men still made the elimination rounds. I hope they don't go far. The real American 'Dream Team' has got to be the Softball team, not those NBA bozos.

Don't worry, Joac, I've been glued to the set as well - I've just been talking about it in the chatroom instead of here. Did you happen to catch the women's sabre? Those final four bouts were just amazing.

And I have to say that I hope the Iraqi soccer team cleans house. :)

We got a gold now, as expected it was just for Klüft to chill through the 800m race and still win with about 500 points. Completely crushing all opposition.

Nope, havent seen any sabre or much of any other "exotic" sport. I have followed the tracks and the table tennis and quite a lot of swimming. Also been a lot of boxing, there is a 16 year old british dude who is awesome, Amir Khan.

I have missed all the Iraqi games but their results are very impressive. Just goes to show that motivation beats class most days of the week.

Waldner in 45 minutes! Playing some Korean, the old man will have another tactical triumph!

Oh, I would just like to add to some of the foreigners here that I can watch many many hours of olympics in a row without catching a single commercial break. :D

Three medals for Holland in the rowing finals of this morning. None gold but still quite good.

Two more golds! High jump and triple jump! So all our expectations have been fulfilled! GO HOLM AND OLSSON!!!

Yay! Sarah Ulmer smashed her 3000m individual pursuit world record for the second time in as many days to win a second gold medal for New Zealand at these games. It's only our 33rd gold medal ever.

The Olympics rules. Ah, well done to Sweden again.

/me feels sorry for Paula Radcliffe :(

Ah, the pressure of carrying the high expectations of a whole country.

Yeah, go Sarah. What a champion she is. Well done to the Evers-Swindell twins as well.

Woo! Belgium got its first GOLD medal. What else than tennis. Go Justine! Now the US Open and she'd have it all. Probably the last medal, but hey. Small country, small prizes. Hehe.

Oh well, if Belgium and New Zealand combined their gold medals, we'd have as many as.....the Dutch..or the Greek...or the Turks......

You'd be surprised how many medals the dutch have Harbourboy. I believe the counter currently stands on: 3 gold, 5 silver and about 10 bronze. We won't top the last previous olympics in which we had 10 gold but for such a small country we are pretty good.

Is anyone else glad that Svetlana Khorkina fell in the bars last night? She's not a diva, just a b!tch, and the only medal she deserved this year is for whining.

I actually felt rather sad for her. Her fall was like if Lance had fallen on the Champs Elysses. Well not completely but a little bit like that.

It wasn't the way a career like hers should have ended, I'll grant you, but in all the years I've watched her it NEVER seemed that she was enjoying her gymnastics. And all that whining about how she was robbed...geez, woman, how do you know that you hadn't *****ed your way into medals that you didn't really deserve over the years? We've all seen that happen before.

You all should know me well enough to know that this isn't any lingering Cold War animosity towards Russians. ;) I was equally happy to see anyone other than Maurice Green win the men's 100.

Well another yank won so it doesnt matter. :p

I only saw her fall and then the production cut to the award ceremony for the triple jump so all I know was that Leponec won and Khorkina fell. Missed any whining.

Well, Canada may not have won much yet, but with medals in trampoline, men's artistic gymnastics and synchronised diving, we're at least showing well in the high-profile, glamour events.

Why isn't there are beerdrinkingcontest in the olympics ? I would definitely be a gold medallist for my country. Or at least a contender. :D

I didn't realise Japan was doing so well. Third place, ahead of Australia is quite impressive. Full credit.

@Pac man- I don't know about that. If "Beer Drinking" were an olympic event, Canada would probably snap up the gold faster than you can say "Trampoline." I mean, you have seen "Strange Brew," haven't you?

Yeah, i have, but surely you don't expect me to take that seriously ?

Besides, Canadian beer still isn't "real", is it ? :D

Pac Man, we should contact our crown prince Willem Alexander aka WimLex, Prince Pils, King Willem Beer about that. From what I've heard, he's got contacts with IOC. :D

Can anyone (other than Paraguayan nationals) here honestly say that they're NOT rooting for the Iraqi soccer team today?

And I must say that I was really enjoying the, uh, "scenery" at the men's springboard diving preliminaries. Whew, but I need to borrow one of those towels...

And I must say that I was really enjoying the, uh, "scenery" at the men's springboard diving preliminaries. Whew, but I need to borrow one of those towels... Funny you mention that Rallymamma, when will the girls appear on the diving board ;)

Anyone see the final of gymnastics yesterday where the audiance kept the jury busy for about a half an hour. I guess they weren't satisfied with the score of this one gymnastic. I agreed and that wasn't the first major fault, A korean guy was faulted the day before because of a major jury fault.

I can honestly say that I am not rooting for the Iraqi soccer team today. Because NZ is not in the soccer they don't show much of it on TV here. We're too busy watching the cycling, kayaking, hockey, and basketball at the moment.

Canada sure has an odd assortment of medals - one each in Sprint Cycling, Floor Exercise, Wrestling, Rowing, Trampoline, Synchronized Diving, and Springboard Diving. It seems that almost everytime Canada wins a medal the first thing that the guy says is that it is our first medal ever in that sport.

Whenever New Zealand wins a medal it's ALWAYS our first in that sport. We still only have 2 so far this year.

Trampolining? How long has that been an Olympic sport? Those trampolines look really bouncy. There's no way I can get that high on the rusty springed thing we have down the back of the garden.

What I liked about the sprint cycling gold medal was not so much that a Canadian won it, but that she is 38 years old!

Go, old people!! :D

I can't believe Merlene Otty was still at these games. She was competing at the Olympics before most SPers were even born!

There aren't any sexy female athletes in this Olympics. :toofar:

Oh boy, no wonder we're not winning many medals....we haven't even been trying to:


In one of the more bizarre scenes of the Games, a slow motion Ferguson deliberately paddled a distant last to avoid qualifying from his K1, 500m heat on the instructions of his father and quadruple Olympic gold medallist Ian Ferguson.

The idea was to rest his back injury for Friday's K2, 1000m final with Ben Fouhy, but the task was made way tougher by struggling Tony Lespoir of the Seychelles.

Ferguson was almost forced to paddle backwards as a strong tailwind threatened to blow him past the teetering Lespoir, with all but one of the field of 28 qualifying for the semifinals. Ferguson had to line up because a no-show would see him withdrawn from the K2.

There aren't any sexy female athletes in this Olympics It seems that you have never watched women volleyball and beach volleyball.

Or the women's cycling....

I have only seen the pole thing and the running.

Hmmm, no wonder we didn't win a medal in the women's basketball. Our best player is only 1.66m tall.

No sexy women ? I suggest you check out the Dutch women hockeyteam.

Sarevok must of watched the women's weightlifting! I thought it was men's weightlifting as I flipped through the channels. Those gals could kick some serious booty.

@Pac Man - Or the brasilian women footballteam. Or the australian. Both of them have been in those 'calendars'.

Yes, our women footballers are certainly sexy. As are our beach volleyballers, hockey players, swimmers, almost every one of our female athletes actually. But maybe I'm biased.

As for the Iraqi soccer team, I only recently heard the gist of their story but since then, I've been cheering for them all the way regardless of who they've been up against.

Add another Canadian medal in an unlikely event - wrestling. Go figure.

Man, I was watching the Madison race at the velodrome this morning. That is one confusing event! I couldn't work out what the hell was going on there; there must have been 50 cyclists jostling on that tiny track. Something to do with pairs of cyclists getting points for lapping others. All I do know is that New Zealand didn't win any medals in it......

Only a few days left so I can finally get back to watching Oz next week. :thumb:

BTW, that Loudy Tourky is a damn good diver, even though she only looks about 12 or 13

Awesome! New Zealand wins Gold AND Silver in the Men's Triathlon. What a race! First and second! Now we have 4 medals and are 18th on the medal table. Our population is 4m. So that is one medal per million of population. Yay!

Did anyone see the 200m running finals for the men. Another dramatic scene from the greec audiance. I can understand they are pissed off that there gold medal candidate was kicked out because of a missed drugs check. But they should be booing that guy and not the three (not drug using so far) americans who won the race which I thought was completely fair and I cheered for those three.

It is interesting to note that we have athletes who are either miles better than everyone else in their field or have absolutely no show whatsoever. There is no middle ground. 3 golds, only 1 silver and no bronze medals. Hmmm...

Tassadar - that may seem to be the case on the surface but look at, for example:
5th in the women's single sculls
6th in the women's pairs rowing
4th in men's pairs rowing
5th in men's fours rowing
6th in women's double trap shooting
6th in women's discus
8th in women's shot put
not to mention Equestrian, Hockey, Basketball etc

So, in fact many of our athletes have not had 'no show whatsoever' and have in actual fact been pretty close to being top of the world. Good for them. Go the Olympics.

I was totally ashamed of the Greek crowd. The athletes competing had nothing to do with the Greek athlete withdrawing. I thought their behaviour was offensive, and very dissapointing. I think all greeks should feel shamed by their actions.

Yeah, but overall, the Greeks should be congratulated for running what have been excellent Olympics. I was pretty sure they were going to stuff it up and not be ready in time, but hats off to them. Go the Greeks.

I was looking at the medal standing on the local sports station website and was blown away to see that Liechtenstein had won three gold medals - until I checked around and found out that they apparently have mistaken New Zealand for Liechtenstein. :lol:

Oh yeah, that happens all the time. I'm always being mistaken for a Liechtensteiner. But if you combine our medals with Liechtenstein's then you get the same number! Unfortunately, Liechtenstein only has 4 competitors at these games and each one has been cruelly cheated out of a medal by those bullying bigger countries who insist on winning all the time.

Really bad style of the crowd at the 200m final. Such things have no place in sports.

True, the reaction of the audience wasnt pretty... but understandable. The greek champion wasnt part of the contest, yet the american athlets who have a reputation for using drugs were present. From what I gathered thats what caused the outrage.
Apparently the greek people werent willing to give the benefit of doubt.

Oh and *cheers for the golden hockey ladies* :D

Yep, Germany are doing well! That was a great win in the hockey. 35 medals and counting for the Germans.

The athletes competing had nothing to do with the Greek athlete withdrawing This is not exactly true. Sweden, Australia and USA have threatened IOC that they would withdraw their teams from the games if Kenteris and Thanou were not banned.

Now, I'm not trying to justify something but you haven't understand that the crowd hasn't booed the competing athletes but the IOC and the whole system behind it. What has happened was a result of some things that have happened here since the beginning of the games and not only of the Kenteris/Thanou case. Some of them are proven facts and some of them are rumours but all are on the headline news here and they have had a big influence to the mentality of the crowd, who has been in the studium tonight. I don't know if you are aware of these things so I will write them down.

1. One day before the Kenteris/Thanou scandal, Maurice Green went to Crete in order to avoid the IOC doctors who were looking for him in the Olympic Village. This was covered up by the IOC and the majority of the media.

2. Three days later two doctors of IOC or WADA (I don't remember well which one)went to Crete in order to do drug test to athletes of the american team. They showed their identifications to the leaders of the american team and they called the police to arrest them because they suspected that the doctors were terrorists. When the doctors were released from the police and returned to the hotel of the american team, some of the athletes had already left. This was also covered up.

3. Some journalists, who are considered reliable, are claiming that there is a secret agreement between IOC and NBA that NBAers will not be tested for drugs. They are claiming that this happened after the 1992 Olympics when Isiah Thomas failed to pass the drug test and that was covered up by saying that he was injured.

4. The Sampanis case. I don't doubt the he was doped but I am absolutely certain that he wasn't doped with tetosterone. He is very experienced to do something like this one day before the competition, his coach is a master of doping and there isn't a chance that he would do a mistake like this and afterall tetostorone doesn't help the weightlifter if he takes it few days before the game. So, IMO this case is very suspicious.

5. What happened in boxing with Pavlidis, in gymnastics with Maras, in windsurfing with Kaklamanakis.

Now, combine all these with the Kenteris/Thanou scandal and you'll understand why the booing happened tonight.

I've been having a look at the medal table and trying to work out which countries are doing well on a per capita basis. I thought New Zealand was doing well with 3 gold medals / 4 million people = 0.75 golds per million people. But I have found that that is not quite the best at these games. Here is my incomplete unofficial per capita medal table:

Country . . Golds - Pop (m) - Medals per mil.
Bahamas . . . 1 - 0.4 - 2.5
Australia . . 16 - 20 - 0.8
NZ . . . . . 3 - 4 - 0.75
Greece . . . 6 - 12 - 0.5
Romania . . . 8 - 21 - 0.38
Netherlands . 4 - 16 - 0.25
Britain . . . 7 - 60 - 0.12
Japan . . . 15 - 126 - 0.12
Belgium . . . 1 - 10 - 0.1
Russia . . . 15 - 150 - 0.1
USA . . . . 28 - 300 - 0.09
Canada . . . 2 - 31 - 0.06
China . . . 25 - 1300 - 0.02

Damned Australians win at everything! {EDIT: OK - just found the Bahamas have better stats than the Aussies}

Apologies if any of my population stats are out of date or inaccurate.

[ August 27, 2004, 04:10: Message edited by: Harbourboy ]

I loved watching the U.S. womens beach volleyball go all the way to gold. Somehow watching two athletic, attractive women smack either other on the bottom is much better than watching two offensive lineman do the same during a football game! :)
But in all respect they were excellent players and very fun to watch

@Harbourboy- Waaaaaay too much time on your hands, my friend.

@ Harbourboy

You may be right. Put Greg Henderson in that list as well - *just* missed the cut in the points race. Our cyclists rule.

Cyclists?? Ryan Bayley and Anna Meares rule the velodrome.

Yes, Tassadar, Aldazar is probably right, we really only had one cyclist who really ruled, and that was Sarah Ulmer (beating the world record 3 times in one year, being world champion, and gold medallist counts as seriously ruling). But Australia did win 6 cycling golds to our 1 so they win that one.

Also, I could have sworn that Bayley was trailing Bos when they entered the final short straight to the line.... ;)

I will admit BOC, I wasnt aware of those other things happening.

Also, I could have sworn that Bayley was trailing Bos when they entered the final short straight to the line.... That was great battle with a bad outcome for us dutchies but Bos is still only 21 so I see a bright future for him.

BTW the only thing the IOC should do is mandatory DNA test. From then on there can't be any cheating with someone elses urine in the drug tests.

BOC, you said yourself that those things were rumours and as long as they are that I will treat them as rumours. The Americans have got a buttered path in the past, no doubt about it but I have a hard time imagining they are getting one now. If so then the entire last year of internal crack downs in the US was just a play and I do not think so. There are however little doubt in my mind that Green and Jones have been using stuff in the past and possibly now but I also know that Jones is under serious investigation in the US and it is very possible that Green will be pulled further into the Balco scandal as well.

Oh, and athletes can be very stupid, Sampanis isnt alone. We had one a few years ago who had taken the most basic form of steroids and got busted big time and Kenteris's and Thanou's entire motorcycle story wasnt exactly brilliant.


Harbourboy! Where is Sweden on your list? We have four golds now! Got a new one in canoe. Four golds, one silver and three bronze I think. Nine million people! Ummm, that is, oh crap, only less than half a gold per million. We suck.

@Joacqin

I've said that some of them are rumours (like the NBA/IOC agreement and some of them are proven facts (like the arrest of the doctors as terrorists and the Pavlidis case in boxing). As far as the americans are concerned, sorry but personally I can't accept that a human can run as fast as a cheetah without the use of drugs.

Sampanis' coach is a master of doping as I've already said. He has been the head coach of the greek weightlifting team for almost 15 years and during this period none of his athletes has failed to pass a drug test and in cases that there has been a slim possibility that someone would fail, he simply hasn't let him compete claiming that he was injured.

The "accident" of Kenteris was a desperate and failed attempt to gain time and cover up the whole thing. When I've heard about it, I couldn't stop laughing and it was something that many people here expected that would happened. I've heard journalists from two newspapers and one radio station claiming that they knew about the accident 3 hours before it happened. Although, I believe that they were set up. By this I don't mean that they are clean and they would pass the drug test, I mean that someone assured them that they were not going to be tested and that they could enter the olympic village (the only place where an athlete is under IOC juristiction) without fear.

They showed their identifications to the leaders of the american team and they called the police to arrest them because they suspected that the doctors were terrorists. You got to love this. Would be great material for a satire.

Ah, the 'Dream Team' didn't make the basketball finals! Well done to Argentina.

Another silver medal for New Zealand last night too. Yay!

Today is shaping up pretty well for Canada, one of each medal so far and unless our guy royally screws up we should be getting another in 10m platform diving. Not bad given that we had only 9 medals going into today.

Oh, and I sent the webmaster an e-mail about mistaking New Zealand for Lichtenstein and they have corrected their error. :)

@Harbourboy
Thank you! I was just about to post our victory to the "nightmare team" and of course, our first gold medal in futbol (soccer) in centuries!
so this is de medal account for us (to your unofficial per capita medal table)
67: Argentina 1 gold, 0 silver, 3 bronze
We are almost 40.000.000 people, a country bigger than almost all european countries, but with a lack of sports support.
Edit: with that gold we are at 46th, and we can win silver or gold in basketball!

Carlos Tevez! What a player! I bet there will be quite a few clubs pulling at him now.

@joacqin

He is been watched and already some clubs has asked for him but the owner of the club where he plays (Boca Jr) wants too much money; he was about to be transfered last year but the club asked so much money that he had to stay here another year.

I think they will be willing to pay anything now. :)

Woah! Well done to Great Britain for upsetting the much vaunted US 4x100m relay team. What a race by the Brits! I can't believe the US mens team fumbled the baton changes almost as badly as the US women did.

Cornelius Horan, 57, was wearing a green beret, red kilt and knee-high green socks when he burst out of the crowd lining the marathon route. He grabbed hold of a startled Vanderlei de Lima, pushing the Brazilian runner across the street and knocking him into the crowd at the other side.

De Lima was able to recover and finish the race, but had to settle for the bronze medal. Now that sucks for him. I would think that they would grant him a gold medal still, but no. Full story here. (http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Sports/ap20040829_1076.html)

Is he the same guy who interrupted a F1 race one year ago?

Fantastic performance buy the 4X100m team! Very smooth!

A special mention to Kelly Holmes aswell. The first un-injury blighted season she has had, and she wins 2 golds!

She really deserves it! Chuffed for the lass! :D

Well, they can't give him a gold medal because you don't know whether he would have won or not (he did look like he was tiring). They are going to give him a special extra medal though. Damn shame but there's not much you can do about it now.

Well, it's finally all over for another four years, and while we may not have topped the table or even finished top 3 overall, at least we set a new record of medals in one Olympic Games. And all you NZers, don't worry, the Commonwealth Games are on their way so we can kick your butts again. ;) :p

2 gold medals! 4 bronze!
The world champions, the dream team, the olimpics champions, Argentina basketball team beat them all, we earn the gold medal.
Congratulations also to the english team that won the 4x100, real nice race.

Well done to Argentina, first gold medals in 52 years! Wow.

Yes, Aldazar, Australia's awesome awesome performance at the Olympics is very ominous for the Commonwealth Games! None of the other countries in the top 5 will be there (USA, China, Russia, Japan) so you guys will win just about everything! Other than the Bahamas, Australia had pretty much the best medals per capita of any country at the Olympics which is a great effort.

Still, there is Rugby 7s at the Commonwealth Games so at least we might be able to scrape a medal in that one.

@BOC Yes, that's the same guy according to the article. That's too bad... and it happened even with all the security around too. Looks like terrorists have found themselves a new costume - bright red and green clothes. No one will suspect a thing until it's too late. :grin:

Okay, now that it's all over, I will have to say some things:

1. Congratulations to the men's Italian football team for the bronze, finally a medal for you guys. But what the hell was that for kind of semi-final?

2. Congratulations to the men's Iraqian football team for a great achievement. But I must say, thank god that you didn't win that last game. ;)

3. Congratulations to the UAE for the gold medal in shooting. Guess USA will have to be carefull if they attack you now with snipers like that sheik. ;)

4. Congratulations to the American basketball team for being so sucky with all those good players, not only this year, but the last years over all.

5. Good for the IOK that they decided to give Lima the medal of honor(no, not the American kind :D ) because I think that he deserved it most of all.

Also, well done to both Italy and Argentina for being in the basketball final (poor old USA)! Damned shame that you were the two teams that New Zealand had their closest losses against! Ah, what could have been.....

Who won that basketball final? Italy, right?

Argentina won the basketball final, IIRC.

Yeah, Argentina, hence Sydax's excitement. Argentina last won a gold medal in 1952 and then they won 2 on the same day (Soccer and Basketball).

@Harbourboy - scrape a medal? I don't actually follow many football codes that closely but from what I know, you guys should do more than scrape a medal.

Anyway, the real highlights of the games for me were things like the Iraqi football team doing as well as they did, De Lima's medal of honour and Suzie Bahlog's (sp?) shooting medal - particularly after being told a few years ago that she was too old and talentless and should retire from the sport.

@caleb
No, Argentina won the final game, 84 to 69.
I think Argentina HAD to win gold in soccer since they were the only team with all the titulars, not like the other teams who were 2nd or even the 3rd team, since most of the leagues are starting their championships and most of the teams (Lazio, Arsenal, Barcelona, etc.,) didn't want their players to play in their selections.

Yeah, I know. I say that FIFA and UEFA should allow the national teams to tell the clubs whenever they want to send their players to the national team. I am not patriotic, but the national team should go over all club titles there ever is.

Hell, i didnt know there was Athens Olympic games going on until the last day of it. :roll: :rolling: :1eye:

I guess you could say i'm out of touch with time during the summer holidays :lol: