XXXth Olympiad - London

[tomalak301]

Is ESPN covering the basketball final?

They probably will after it ends. The Basketball game is live across the country on the main NBC Channel this morning.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The success of TeamGB is amazing considering this country doesn't put nearly enough into sports. Of course the US will rank well in a medals table - they spend over 14 billion a year on embedding sports as a critical priority. Not in the UK.

Don't worry, we make up for it by having half the people who compete against and beat us for medals play for US college and pro teams, train with US coaches at US facilities, and live in the US, so the economic disparity balances out somewhat and gives a lot of foreign athletes a chance to train up to Olympic standards too.

Most of the Jamaican and other Caribbean runners train at US colleges (though they now have their own training facility in Jamaica so that's starting to change). Half the basketball teams have US pro players. Mo Farah and American Galen Rupp are training partners in Oregon. Most of the Chinese rowers train here. The Chinese women's beach volleyball team trains with the American gold medal team here in California.

I don't think this WSJ writer gets the spirit of the Olympics with the language she uses ("enemy" and "traitor"), but it gives you an idea of the number of athletes who train at US universities:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303830204577448620436755502.html

And this is about private training facilities:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/05/nation/la-na-arizona-china-olympics-20120805

So, if you choose to look at it the way the Wall Street Journal writer did, the US is its own worst enemy at the Olympics.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Don't worry, we make up for it by having half the people who compete against and beat us for medals play for US college and pro teams, train with US coaches at US facilities, and live in the US, so the economic disparity balances out somewhat and gives a lot of foreign athletes a chance to train up to Olympic standards too.

True, but doesn't it also help US athletes to have top competition in training, even if some of them are foreigners?

Also, the fact simply remains, that the USA is a very large country. The USA has slightly more citizens, than France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain combined...

 

[Deckerd]

I think it helps them. I don't believe Galen Rupp would have got silver in the 10,000 if he hadn't been Mo's running partner. In the 5,000 Mo tapped him and said 'let's go' but Rupp didn't have the juice to stay with him.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Boxing finishes tomorrow - we've got two more in gold medal bouts tomorrow......

Ah, so we have!

 

[Lonemagpie]

Amusingly, they played a spot of Matrix music between the Taekwondo quarter and semi final bouts this afternoon...

The use of music in this Games has been uniformly excellent; witty, irreverant, occasionally cheekily self-referential. Exactly in keeping with mood set by the opening ceremony. I'm hoping the closing ceremony continues this very British, tongue-in-cheek approach to the Olympics.

With the exception of the insane overuse of the Chariots Of Fire theme for all the medal ceremonies - couldn't they at least have swapped in We Are The Champions a few times...?

But using the Benny Hill theme in the women's beach volleyball was the highlight of the musical ingenuity!

 

[SmoothieX]

1 hour until the men take the court for the gold medal basketball game. No surprise it's down to the US and Spain.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Don't worry, we make up for it by having half the people who compete against and beat us for medals play for US college and pro teams, train with US coaches at US facilities, and live in the US, so the economic disparity balances out somewhat and gives a lot of foreign athletes a chance to train up to Olympic standards too.

True, but doesn't it also help US athletes to have top competition in training, even if some of them are foreigners?

Also, the fact simply remains, that the USA is a very large country. The USA has slightly more citizens, than France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain combined...

Oh, I absolutely agree with you on both of those. My point is that the budget disparity is made up for somewhat because we pay for their athlete's training through scholarships, endorsement deals to cover training costs, pro salaries, and so forth. Which I think is a good thing (As I said, I don't share the perspective of the WSJ writer).

As far as the greater population, that also explains the increased budget for Olympic spending. Spending on each athlete is actually less here than in many other countries, though.

Making the situation all the more difficult for U.S. athletes: there’s no direct federal support, as is the case in most other nations. Instead, top-tier competitors can only hope to receive small stipends – often as little as $400 a month — to cover expenses, with the money generally coming from the privately funded governing boards of their sports or through sponsorships. And those who are just starting their Olympic careers can’t even be guaranteed that level of assistance, so they often take on whatever low-wage jobs they can find or rely upon the Bank of Mom and Dad.

http://blogs.smartmoney.com/paydirt/2012/08/07/the-true-cost-of-making-the-olympics/

Governments also give money to their winning athletes, although the reward varies by country. In Singapore, the national Olympic committee awards gold medalists $800,000; if you're from Kyrgyzstan, you get $200,000; in Russia, $135,000. By contrast, American athletes get just $25,000 per gold -- on which, unlike in most other countries, they must pay tax.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500395_162-57487874/whats-the-cost-of-a-gold-medal/

 

[Shaytan]

I hope handball is collective enough for conservapedia.

 

[SmoothieX]

That men's basketball gold medal game was way more suspenseful than I was hoping for.

If the game was 2 minutes longer, you'd wonder who woulda won.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

I rooted for Spain. Dammit if Mark Gasol would not had done 4 fouls and the spanish would tryed to shoot threes in the last 2 minutes despite the seemingly unbeatable score....

 

[PopBoy]

Got its going to be emotional when the show closes!!!! Does it have to leave? Rio is going to be equally as amazing! U just know it. I know there are current doubts in the country whether they can deliver but thats just the usual "pre-show" wobbles.

But I dont want it gooooooooooooo!!!!

 

[SmoothieX]

I rooted for Spain. Dammit if Mark Gasol would not had done 4 fouls and the spanish would tryed to shoot threes in the last 2 minutes despite the seemingly unbeatable score....

The US was guarding against long range jumpers and giving up the short basket, there were several guys in foul trouble. Spain really mucked up a possession with less than a minute left, they took way too much time off the shot clock.

I was rooting for the US obviously, because I'm an American, but Spain put on a good show.

Got its going to be emotional when the show closes!!!! Does it have to leave? Rio is going to be equally as amazing! U just know it. I know there are current doubts in the country whether they can deliver but thats just the usual "pre-show" wobbles.

But I dont want it gooooooooooooo!!!!

As someone in London, did you find the Games were much of a disruption to your daily life these past 2 weeks?

 

[Angel4576]

I feel privileged to have had the games in my country during my lifetime, especially at a time when I can fully appreciate them.

(Proper) football's my sport, and the World Cup has always been THE sporting event for me, but after the last fortnight, yeah, the Olympics is the greatest sporting event on the planet, easily.

 

[PopBoy]

As someone in London, did you find the Games were much of a disruption to your daily life these past 2 weeks?

No not at all. I flew on two dates which were identified as the most busiest - Heathrow was one of my departure terminals and it was so smooth. I got to the airport in 20 minutes. And from the airport train transport to the gate it took my five minutes. Five minutes. This was identified as the busiest dates by the officials. I will say this: i was flying out of the UK as people were flying in.

I've been in two of the busiest areas during the games: East London is where i live and work in central. And it was BUSY. But not difficult at all. So smooth. No disruption.

I dont want the Olympics to leave.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

The US was guarding against long range jumpers and giving up the short basket, there were several guys in foul trouble. Spain really mucked up a possession with less than a minute left, they took way too much time off the shot clock.

Despite that they were petty good at shooting 3s. They weren' shooting them like US against Nigeria but they weren't reall bad at it either. Too bad only Gasol could shoot or dunk from close distance.

 

[Shaytan]

Got its going to be emotional when the show closes!!!! Does it have to leave? Rio is going to be equally as amazing! U just know it. I know there are current doubts in the country whether they can deliver but thats just the usual "pre-show" wobbles.

But I dont want it gooooooooooooo!!!!

The games are great because it's a rare event. If it never stops, it's not interesting.

I'm sure that Rio will be very colorful.

 

[PopBoy]

For sure - its an incredibly unique thing and its a real privileged for it arrive at this city. I've not attended any of the events. But doesnt matter. I will miss it.

I think if we were to have olympics all the time we'd get bored. A majority of my friends dislike football and thats on all the time.

 

[SmoothieX]

The US was guarding against long range jumpers and giving up the short basket, there were several guys in foul trouble. Spain really mucked up a possession with less than a minute left, they took way too much time off the shot clock.

Despite that they were petty good at shooting 3s. They weren' shooting them like US against Nigeria but they weren't reall bad at it either. Too bad only Gasol could shoot or dunk from close distance.

While the FIBA game has adopted more of the NBA style rules: 24 second clock, rectangular lane, longer 3-line, it's still a bit shorter than what they play here. Longer than college rules but a couple feet shorter than the NBA, it gives the US an inherent advantage. But yes, the Nigeria game looked like the 3-point contest on all star weekend.

I remember the Dream Team in '92 in the qualifying games in Portland, OR as being the first international basketball tournament I watched. The trapezoidal lane boggled my 12 year old mind.

As someone in London, did you find the Games were much of a disruption to your daily life these past 2 weeks?

No not at all. I flew on two dates which were identified as the most busiest - Heathrow was one of my departure terminals and it was so smooth. I got to the airport in 20 minutes. And from the airport train transport to the gate it took my five minutes. Five minutes. This was identified as the busiest dates by the officials. I will say this: i was flying out of the UK as people were flying in.

I've been in two of the busiest areas during the games: East London is where i live and work in central. And it was BUSY. But not difficult at all. So smooth. No disruption.

I dont want the Olympics to leave.

I love the Olympics as well, they've been here 4 times in my lifetime. I am too young to remember Lake Placid (a month old) or Los Angeles (was 4) but I remember Atlanta and Salt Lake vividly and wished I could have gone. Bareclona was the first one I really remember clearly, Calgary to a point.

The backlash in bidding cities is that it will screw things up for the locals during the Games, so it is good to hear it was a non-issue. New York was bidding for 2012 at one point, and I would have found some way to go see something if it panned out.

 

[Relayer1]

Well, that's about it ! Shocking waste of money that really should have been used elsewhere, but the GB team have done very very well and I've enjoyed pretty much all of it !

It would be nice if those athletes that are mega-rich or about to be, would pay back the small fortune it has cost the rest of us to put them there though...