London 2012 Summer Olympics

[Paelos]

Unless they have a medal ceremony for the horse, I find the equestrian events to be extremely stupid.

[lamaros]

Why? Still takes a lot of skill to ride a horse well, even if it is a good horse.

[K9]

The oldest competitor in the dressage is 71; this casts somewhat of a shadow on the notion of it being about athleticism. It takes skill to play chess and paint pictures, doesn't really mean either warrant being olympic sports.

[Sjofn]

See, I love the sports where age doesn't really matter much. I'd rather ban 15 year old kids before axing sports where it isn't a big deal if you're old. 

[voblat]

The oldest competitor in the dressage is 71; this casts somewhat of a shadow on the notion of it being about athleticism. It takes skill to play chess and paint pictures, doesn't really mean either warrant being olympic sports.

Surely the athleticism is from the horse, the skill is the rider.

There isnt much athleticism in the shooting either, but plenty of skill, I wouldnt want to see that go either, diversity and niche sports getting some publicity seems a major point of the olympics to me.

Besides, we have the 14th in line to the throne riding for us, and her mother is on the olympic committee , so I doubt its going anywhere soon.

[Miasma]

The horse is the athlete and its rider is just a coach with a kinky riding crop.  The horses should get the medals.

[Paelos]

The horse is the athlete and its rider is just a coach with a kinky riding crop.  The horses should get the medals.

The horse gets the garland in Kentucky, they should get the medals in the Olympics.

[ghost]

Wow.  Apparently 8 female badminton players were disqualified for trying to lose in order to get a more favorable spot in the tournament.  I'm not sure exactly how that works.  I guess it's a round robin first? 

The whole plan seems pretty potheaded though.  I mean, if you're good don't you want to face someone with a lower seed because then technically they wouldn't be as good? 

[LK]

Meanwhile, in fencing...

Tough situation.

[shiznitz]

Regarding shooting and equestrian events, we need to remember that the Olympics remain a nostalgic echo of the world that was.  Marksmanship and horseback riding were critical skills for hundreds of years and that tradition should not be abandoned quickly.  We live in a world in which the newest and most valued modern skills involve fingers and monitors.  The Olympics should remind us of where we have come from and keeping the anachronistic events is valuable in that regard.

[lamaros]

Wow.  Apparently 8 female badminton players were disqualified for trying to lose in order to get a more favorable spot in the tournament.  I'm not sure exactly how that works.  I guess it's a round robin first? 

The whole plan seems pretty potheaded though.  I mean, if you're good don't you want to face someone with a lower seed because then technically they wouldn't be as good? 

They didn't want to play their countrywomen before the final so were trying to rig the draw.

[ghost]

Wow.  She got fucked-  the fencing chick, that is.  

Wow.  Apparently 8 female badminton players were disqualified for trying to lose in order to get a more favorable spot in the tournament.  I'm not sure exactly how that works.  I guess it's a round robin first? 

The whole plan seems pretty potheaded though.  I mean, if you're good don't you want to face someone with a lower seed because then technically they wouldn't be as good? 

They didn't want to play their countrywomen before the final so were trying to rig the draw.

Only the South Koreans, I would imagine. 

[NowhereMan]

Considering how popular Curling is/was in the winter Olympics I'd be curious to see Croquet have another shot at least as an exhibition sport. Although that may be something that's much more fun to play with in nice weather with alcohol than it is to watch. Beyond that, some of the events are much more about skill than athleticism but the modern Olympics were originally founded as a celebration of all areas of human achievement. They ditched poetry and sculpture primarily because it was pretty much impossible to get non-professional competitors (IIRC). I'd kind of rather see some of the smaller time sports and a strict amateurs only enforcement, although I admit in the current sports climate that would pretty much mean only sports no-one watches or people who just aren't good enough to compete at an international level for the others.

Although I don't really watch it now with all the professional athletes in it anyway.

[lamaros]

Wow.  She got fucked-  the fencing chick, that is.  

Wow.  Apparently 8 female badminton players were disqualified for trying to lose in order to get a more favorable spot in the tournament.  I'm not sure exactly how that works.  I guess it's a round robin first? 

The whole plan seems pretty potheaded though.  I mean, if you're good don't you want to face someone with a lower seed because then technically they wouldn't be as good? 

They didn't want to play their countrywomen before the final so were trying to rig the draw.

Only the South Koreans, I would imagine. 

Nah, it was the Chinese who started it, the Koreans just followed suit.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Wow.  She got fucked-  the fencing chick, that is.  

Wow.  Apparently 8 female badminton players were disqualified for trying to lose in order to get a more favorable spot in the tournament.  I'm not sure exactly how that works.  I guess it's a round robin first? 

The whole plan seems pretty potheaded though.  I mean, if you're good don't you want to face someone with a lower seed because then technically they wouldn't be as good? 

They didn't want to play their countrywomen before the final so were trying to rig the draw.

Only the South Koreans, I would imagine. 

Nah, it was the Chinese who started it, the Koreans just followed suit.

Metaphors!

[Trippy]

China has the two best pairs. They've been intentionally throwing matches for a while now so that the pairs don't meet before the finals. Finally the sport did something about it.

[Paelos]

Regarding shooting and equestrian events, we need to remember that the Olympics remain a nostalgic echo of the world that was.  Marksmanship and horseback riding were critical skills for hundreds of years and that tradition should not be abandoned quickly.  We live in a world in which the newest and most valued modern skills involve fingers and monitors.  The Olympics should remind us of where we have come from and keeping the anachronistic events is valuable in that regard.

I don't want to get rid of equestrian. I just want to give the medal to the real athlete.

[pxib]

Simon Jenkins' take on the badminton scandal:

As for watching people lose, that can develop its own rules and excitement. As a boy I recall the most engrossing event at the village sports day was the slow bicycle race. The only rule was that you had to stay on your bike and could not go backwards. Three-legged races were similarly enjoyable, as was running backwards. It was only the swimmers who elevated not moving as fast as possible from A to B into an art, with backstroke, butterfly and such nonsense.

He even Godwins it. Still somehow too subtle for the comments.

[ghost]

China has the two best pairs. They've been intentionally throwing matches for a while now so that the pairs don't meet before the finals. Finally the sport did something about it.

I guess that makes a lot of sense.  I was under the assumption that each country would typically only have one "team" in these things. 

[Miasma]

I would love to see a video of the Chinese vs South Korea match where they were both apparently trying to lose.

[proudft]

Dunno if the whole match is anywhere, but there is a highlight reel: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/badminton/highlights-badminton-players-try-to-throw-match.html

[Miasma]

I can't see it because of country restriction nonsense, I found some of it here.  That was fantastic, they were just intentionally faulting at the serve by either hitting it into the net or out of bounds.

[ghost]

They could have been a little more subtle about it.  Christ, that was terrible. 

[Lucas]

Currently watching porn beach volley.

Czech Girls 

[Fordel]

I generally dislike events where it comes down to subjective judging. I prefer the ones where its clearly "you went fastest, you scored the most points, you moved the most weight" etc.


I think that's why I enjoy the winter games more, most of those events come down to actual measurable events.

[proudft]

I've found weightlifting to be surprisingly entertaining on the live watcher thing.  No inane commentary, and they move that event right along.  Also easy to follow.  Pick up weight?  Good.  Not pick up weight?  Bad.   There is some strategy in deciding what weight to pick up, since you only get 3 attempts, and they go in smallest-weight-to-biggest-weight order (so if you plan poorly, you might go twice in a row). 

And the crowd is really supportive, they cheer for everyone, and extra loud on the third attempts, and everyone just looks like they're having a fun time.

[Lucas]

Whoaaa......And the Brazil women's volleyball team is (very) surprisingly down two sets against South Korea: 25-23 and 25-21. Intriguing match!

[Paelos]

I think that's why I enjoy the winter games more, most of those events come down to actual measurable events.

And yet, we're still subjected to seemingly endless amounts of figure skating coverage when they happen.

[Fordel]

You are maybe.

The Canadian Coverage is pretty amazing now that CTV took over.

[Chimpy]

You are maybe.

The Canadian Coverage is pretty amazing now that CTV took over.

People said that the coverage was much better when NBC took over from CBS too. Give it time :p

ABC and the late Jim McKay is what I will always equate with the best coverage in the states.

[Lucas]

Well, after Pellegrini awful performances in swimming, tonight was a night to remember for Italy: last saturday, three italians conquered the entire podium in women's individual foil (fencing), with Di Francisca, Errigo and Vezzali; tonight, they won the gold medal in the team competition :). Italy has a great tradition with fencing, both male and female, and with the latter we've always been on the podium since Seul 1988, but today was really the pinnacle for the entire generation (especially Vezzali, who is also our flag bearer).

 

[Tannhauser]

Grats Lucas!  I wish they'd show fencing on primetime, but I guess Team USA is maybe not so good at it.

[Sjofn]

We have some decent fencers, I think. Of course I say that and when I looked up some matches, we had two people in the bronze medal rounds lose (individual men's epee and women's individual saber. U S A! U S A!).

[Lucas]

Fencing provided the highest amount of medals for Italy in modern olympics history: with tonight's one, 119 medals (46 gold) . Of course it may seem small if you compare it to the medal count U.S. (or China, or Soviet Union back in the day) got in its entire history from Swimming, Athletics or whatever, but not bad considering the size of our country and the horribile dis-organization we have in sports beside football (soccer) :P

[ghost]

Glad to see Phelps go out on a high note and kick Lochte's ass in the 200 IM.