posted
The International Gymnastics Federation is now asking Hamm to give up his gold medal as a demonstration of Good Will?
This makes absolutely no sense to me. Blame the officials, blame the Korean coaches, blame the rules, but don't blame Paul Hamm for not giving up his medal.
It would be nice for Paul to give up his medal, but he is certainly under no obligation to do so. I feel bad for the Koreans, but isn't it their coaches fault for not noticing the scoring mistake until it was too late?
***Spoilers basketball***
I think it is ironic that Larry Brown coached one of the most unselfish teams to win the NBA championship this year and did the exact opposite for the Olympics.
***Iraq***
I'm watching Iraq fighting for medal right now. I really hope they win something. Actual lives may depend on it.
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote: "What's unusual is these mistakes with the start scores are made all the time throughout these Olympics," Hamm said. "It was strange they ended up sanctioning those judges when other judges made those mistakes as well."
And I have to agree with him. There are mistakes made in every sport known to man, by the officials. And we are all taught to "live with it" by our coaches. So why are they treating him differently?
I think it is nuts that they are making a big deal about a non issue. People bitch about bad calls all the time...but you don't expect the team who benifited to give up their win. Hell, at the last Florida/FSU game the refs made terrible calls. Students bitched and made T-shirts that said 'who paid the refs' but no one expected FSU to say "Since there were bad calls, we want to forfit our win"
Besides, after watching the tape, it appears that the korean guy used 4 holds instead of the allowed 3. This is a deduction that the judges missed. It is all part of the game...I don't even think they should share the gold. At the time they said Hamm won, so he won. The situation at the winter olympics where they ended up splitting the gold was different because fraud was invovled...in this case it was just a simply mistake.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Did anyone catch the men's 200 last night? It took them I don't know how long to start it because the audience would not be quiet. Apparantly they were angry because the favored Greek runner wasn't in it - because he failed to show up for a drug test. It was also said that this was seen as an American conspiracy.
"At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."
Iraqi soccer coach:
"You cannot speak about a team that represents freedom. We do not have freedom in Iraq, we have an occupying force. This is one of our most miserable times."
I'm not a big fan of the way Bush handled Iraq, but is this really one of Iraq's "most miserable times"?
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Am I a bad American (national American, not continental American) because I was rooting for Argentina in the basketball semifinals?
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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Not at all papa. I felt that the u.S. team didn't deserve to win. Their hearts aren't in it. They've let their superstar status get to their heads. I think in 2008 the U.S. should use the top college players instead of the NBA.
Posts: 1401 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I thought this was an excellent article by Mike Lopresti at USA Today about the double standard applied to Americans and American athletes. It makes me think that the "ugly American" is perhaps in some ways an invention of the European mind.
I'm not saying there aren't ugly Americans, but there are ugly [insert nationality here] too. Perhaps there are even more "ugly Greeks" as a percentage of the population of only 12 million, based on the thousands of people booing at track, gymnastics, and basketball events in the last couple of weeks.
Posts: 107 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Originally I thought that duplicate golds would be appropriate because it was about a fact regarding the difficulty as opposed to an opinion as to how good the routine is. Then the thing with the holds came out and I have to say that its pretty clear that if the Korean had been given the right start value and he won Hamm would have just as right to be upset that the judges missed the holds.
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I think it will open a can of worms to nitpicking the whole event and will end with the Romanians winning. If the Koreans want to open that can, who knows what will come out of it?
P.S. I find it interesting that the skating keeps coming up, as that didn't involve Americans.
posted
I turned my back on the American basketball team when I watched the opening ceremonies. All the other atheletes from our country and others were looking around and seemed genuinely excited about their opportunity to be at the games. The American basketball players marched in and acted as if someone owed them something. They looked like a bunch of hoodlums.
I feel the same about Maurice Greene. Everytime he runs, I find an athlete--any athlete--to cheer on. I'd love to see some humility and sportsmanship stomped into him.
[ August 27, 2004, 11:17 PM: Message edited by: Jess N ]
Posts: 392 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Greene is the man. Don't knock him. I've been following his career for 8 years (notice I said 8, and not 4).
He is just more open about how ALL sprinters at that level feel, really. He's da man, and always will be (assuming no drugs, but i mean, really... all these guys are on something probably)
Greene isn't unsportsmanlike, i'm confused why people think he acts that way. He's just arrogant; all sprinters are though, so that doesn't say much. Gotta have confidence in those races.
Posts: 348 | Registered: Dec 2000
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posted
I think the Dream Team is an adequate metaphor for US foreign policy. Set the 1992 team equal to WWII. _________
For me, the saddest part of the Olympics for was the Women's team dropping the baton in the 4x100 last night, I have a little crush on LaTasha Colander and was hoping she would do well. Plus, that entire team had a nice mixture of pluck and talent. __________
Paul Hamm may feel bad, but for my money, I feel worse for Morgan Hamm. That guy is a great gymnast, and I sure hope he doesn't feel second best.
I don't think they are giving Paul Hamm a hard time because he is American, though if Hamm were from Trinadad and this was their only ever Olympic medal in gymnastics, then the South Koreans would probably shut up and take the silver.
Us saying they want the medal back because he is American is like the Greeks saying that we kicked their sprinter out because he was greek. I don't think it's that simple.
posted
That's true. It was so weird watching Morgan sitting in the stands while Paul was doing his routines. I have to wonder how much of a rivalry they had.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I'm totally blown away by the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team. They managed to pull off some moves that I still can't figure out how the stunts were accomplished. Just pure magic I guess.
Speaking of magic, the little girl squeal of delight issued by Yelena Isinbayeva upon clearing the bar and all the way down to the mat certainly charmed my heart.
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Well, how about Sarah Ulmer (New Zealand) in the women's cycling? She set the world record in March. An Australian broke it in the heats by .5 of a second, so in Ulmer's heat she SMASHED that record by almost 4 seconds, and then in the final, won gold, beating her own world record by another 2 seconds. That's 6 seconds off the world record in 2 days!! The performance of the Olympics!! Without a doubt.
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Aspectre, I saw her set that record, she is super cute and I'm not talking about the squeal as much as the eyes and smile. Then I heard she said she was going to spend the world record bonus on buying a boat, and the magic was gone.
Cashew, sounds impressive. I wish I could have seen it.
posted
"Then I heard she said she was going to spend the world record bonus on buying a boat, and the magic was gone."
You don't like boats? The poor will always be with us, Irami. Sometimes it's okay to pour some oil on your own head, and I would argue that a "prize" earned entirely for personal accomplishment, one that you're only likely to see once or twice in a lifetime, is an excellent example of one of those times.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Tom, truth be told, you should have seen her smile when she broke the record, I don't think I could have said "No," to dinner even if she said she'd spend the money on candy and heroine.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I don't know if it is appropriate to comment on the attractiveness of femalte athletes, but I have to confess I have a crush on Natalie Coughlin.
For best smile, I have to vote for Carly Patterson. She still has that "I can't believe I'm at the Olympics" smile that brings a smile to my face every time.
Top row, first picture: look how tiny Carly is next to her coach.
Top row, second picture: When its all said and done, she's just a happy girl who wants a hug from mom.
Second row, first picture: possibly two of the greatest smiles face off, Carly vs. Katie. (I think Carly was showing Katie the cuts she gets from the parallel bars).
Second row, second picture: Best smile at the Olympics, exhibit A.
posted
Foreign basketball teams' gaining parity with America's dream team in the Olympics is all part of the NBA's carefully orchestrated master plan to expand into foreign cities by boosting interest in the game abroad. It is not surprising that the U.S. lost to Argentina. According to an NBA official interviewed on local radio, we will have NBA teams in Madrid and Berlin in the not too distant future.
That Moroccan runner is awesome!
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Brazil is playing the volley men's final right now against Italy. Could you help me root for them? Brazil has only 3 golds up to now. It needs one more gold to break our own olympic record (3 golds in Atlanta 96).
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Unbefreakingleavable. Where the hell was the Athens security? Lima was about 40 seconds ahead with about 25 minutes to go in the marathon when a jackass runs onto the course, tackles him, and hauls him into the crowd. He somehow managed to pull it together and keep going and is currently sitting in third but this is beyond the shadow of a doubt the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in the Olympics.
posted
Yeah, that was totally lame. Lima finished with bronze, and celebrated with the crowd despite what happened to him. The guy is a class act, and I hope he's compensated in some way.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
That was horrible. He was 45 seconds in the lead. It was great to see him still come in third, though, and he was grinning when he ran down the final stretch of the stadium. He seems to have taken the whole debacle very well.
On a completely unrelated note, it was really cool to see that stadium filled with people -- I ran along that very same track the last time I visited Athens with my family, but the stadium was obviously empty when I was there. Seeing everyone sitting on the stone seats and cheering and stuff was awesome. Before today, I could only imagine what the stadium looked like full.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Here is a frontal picture of the guy who assaulted Lima, and here is a link to the CBC's coverage of the story. Apparently he had another sign on his back. Some people are saying he's Portugese, but I haven't seen confirmation anywhere.
Clearly, though, he is some sort of zealous nutjob.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:At the Munich Olympics in 1972 a hoaxster snuck on to the track a couple of minutes before the leading runner reached the stadium and ran a full lap, pretending to be a competitor, before being dragged away by security guards.
posted
they have had problems with security...earlier in the games a guy jumped in the pool wearing a tutu right before the synchronized diving event.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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posted
I really enjoyed these Olympic games. If there is a tip jar for the Greek government to help them offset their astronomical cost, I would pitch in a dollar or two. Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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for American women athletes in Athens?![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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It was great to see him still come in third, though, and he was grinning when he ran down the final stretch of the stadium. He seems to have taken the whole debacle very well.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
