2008 Olympics!

[nevermore]

Wow. I didn't realize wrestlers did the starving themselves thing.

Oh yeah. Jockeys too. Any sport where weight is a qualifying factor, certainly.

Yeah, it makes sense that gymnastics coaches would ask about the height of the parents. May as well not even waste time on a little girl whose momma is 6 feet and her daddy is 6 feet five.

You make a good point about the faces. I thought of that myself. Shawn Johnson is pretty shrimpy, but when you see a shot of her face, she looks like a teenager.

Well, she's short, but she's hardly underweight. In fact, the commentators were saying that one of the reasons Liuskin was getting better scores was that Shawn wasn't the prefered (long and thin) body type. Also, if you saw her parents, they are both relatively small; I'd be surprised if her mom is even as tall as I am at 5'2" and change.

They look like they got into mommy's makeup.

Yeah, the make-up was rather odd looking on them, wasn't it?

 

[Tim]

They look like they got into mommy's makeup.

Yeah, the make-up was rather odd looking on them, wasn't it?

More of a JonBenet Ramsey creepy to me.



I'm so glad that despite being half-Chinese I'm still over 6 feet.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

It was odd. My husband and I were laughing about it. He just happened to sit down when I was watching the team competition and asked, "Are grade schoolers allowed to compete in the olympics now?" He was talking about the Chinese team; he didn't know anything about the age controversy. Then he asked why the little Chinese girls were wearing so much eye makeup. When I told him that China had verified their ages as 16 he made reference to what comes out of the back end of a bull after eating.

Shawn is about 90 pounds, I think I heard them say. At any rate, it's sad what the Chinese government puts these little girls through as children. I don't blame the girls for cheating. It's their oppressive system. It's not as if they can raise a moral objection and would ever be listened to. You just hope their bodies aren't worked too hard. The Chinese girls who don't make it to olympics--those are the girls who lose out the most, I suspect.

 

[Samurai8472]

Wow. I didn't realize wrestlers did the starving themselves thing.

I saw one Olympic athlete drop out of a run just seconds after it started because she had not eaten properly for 4 days.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

And the 33 year old German gymnast, Oksana Chusovitina, who has the ten year old son, earns a silver medal in individual event final vaulting. Outstanding. I must admit, I agree with Bela Karolyi that Chung Fei was scored pretty highly to get over a 15 when she fell on her second vault, but I'm not a judge. They averaged the two vaults together and her first was extremely difficult and performed well. I don't know. Alicia Sacramone falls to fourth place. Bless her heart.

I saw one Olympic athlete drop out of a run just seconds after it started because she had not eaten properly for 4 days.

Yikes! You need those carbs for energy. Being light is of no value if your strength wanes.

 

[Nobody]

I'm getting really bored by gymnastics and track and field, I wish someone would show baseball, beach volleyball or soccer. At least something that is live at the moment. Not something I can already see the results to on their website.


-nobody

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Same here. I'm mostly interested in beach volleyball at this point. It's just too bad NBC's online schedule is so incredibly vague that I have no idea when the games are shown (or at least in the case of the quarterfinals). Good thing I had the foresight to record the middle of the night broadcasts on NBC and USA because they covered May-Walsh's quarterfinal game (and from what I can tell, this was the only time it was shown). Unfortunately, because that time block (I have TiVo) was delayed half an hour (I think the prime time block overran its set) and because that game was at the end of the recorded block, I only got to see the first set and part of the second set. Very frustrating, although I did catch the UK/Brazil quarterfinal this afternoon, which was a great game (and found out May-Walsh won).

However, at least I know that the May-Walsh semi-final is Monday prime time on NBC.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Man, poor Cheng Fei was in tears when she scored so low on her floor final. They mentioned that the government gave her family a house because of her participation in gymnastics. If that isn't confirmation of the incredible pressure the Chinese girls are under, I don't know what is. No wonder they don't think they can quit or tell the truth about their ages. Lots of people are so poor in China. Having a house isn't a given by any means. Your family having a decent home being dependent on a child? Ouch.

 

[Azlynn]

I'm getting really bored by gymnastics and track and field, I wish someone would show baseball, beach volleyball or soccer.

Same here. I'm mostly interested in beach volleyball at this point.

Egad. Take back those words. You'll regret them. I am so sick of beach volleyball and baseball - they're on here all the time. And the beach volleyball seems to be nonstop on NBC, every time I flip past. Or it's coming up next.

If I never see beach volleyball again it's too soon.

 

[Nobody]

NBC has had a fair amount of beach volleyball, but nowhere near what they've had for gymnastics and swimming (at least for primetime). I like watching swimming, but now that it's over they're just airing pre-taped events and I'd rather watch something live.


-nobody

 

[Brolan]

NBC has had a fair amount of beach volleyball, but nowhere near what they've had for gymnastics and swimming (at least for primetime). I like watching swimming, but now that it's over they're just airing pre-taped events and I'd rather watch something live.


-nobody

We would never see beach volleyball if the US wasn't dominant in it.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Congrats to Australia's two Emmas (Snowsill and Moffatt) who won gold and bronze in the women's triathlon, an event that was induced at the Sydney games.

 

[Nobody]

We would never see beach volleyball if the US wasn't dominant in it.

We'd never see the Olympics if the US wasn't dominant in it. Luckily, I enjoy beach volleyball, so it works out for me. Now if only NBC would show it.


-nobody

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Who thought it would be a good idea to run people through a steeplechase? Jumping over a big pool of water in the middle of a track just seems really strange. Kind of a WTF event.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Who thought it would be a good idea to run people through a steeplechase? Jumping over a big pool of water in the middle of a track just seems really strange. Kind of a WTF event.

That's one of my favourite track&field events, it's hilarious when they stumble into the water trench.

 

[cultcross]

Gold for Britain in men's team pursuit with another fantastic world record.

Well done guys!!!!!

 

[Roger Wilco]

Britain's domination of the velodrome continues, after setting a new world record in the men's team pursuit they have now won 5/7 gold medals and only lost in the points races...

 

[Deckerd]

Does Chris Hoy have another race? That man is gigantic.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Yeah, the sprint semi finals&finals tomorrow, and I wouldn't bet against him.

 

[cultcross]

Wiggins goes again tomorrow as well I believe, along with Mark Cavendish in the Madison event.