I like the gymnasts. My boyfriend is really enjoying the swimming. He cheers the Americans by screaming at the tv, lol. He also like the outfits on the beach volleyball players.

at one of my sister's apartment complex, some tenants that are international students decorated the tennis courts with their countries colors/flags

i bet their excited, and i am too! i was watching a little basketball today.

Did anyone watching the beach volleyball see the little 'dancers' on the side during breaks? My husband and I were like, WTF? It just didn't seem right to have chicks in hot pants, shaking their arses on the sidelines. Kind of weird...

aj

I lost count of the number of outside shots the US missed; when you think about it the team doesn't have a dominant outside shooter.

Maybe in 4 years we'll have tryouts. Maybe we'll take the best players instead of who has the most hype?

Or heck, just leave whatever NBA team wins the championship that year in tact and let them play. The Pistons could have probably run the table here.

Does anybody else notice that the stands are almost completely empty?
That is so sad. Greece is going to be left with a huge debt after these games.
They are begging the people of Greece to go to the events because no one is watching.
If I was independently wealthy I would go. But I am not. I return flight to Greece on Air Canada is about $7000 CDN.

Ouch! But that would explain why people fly into Europe and then take the train to Greece!

I don't know if it's always like that, but I'm sure a direct flight to Greece is always fairly expensive.

However, I heard that hotels in Greece were charging $1000-$3000 a night for a hotel room. That's a little excessive. So I figure their partly to blame for the lack of people.

If I remember correctly, the summer Olympics in Montreal in 1976 were also a money pit. Some events were not well-attended, many of the venues were unfinished (they were later completed after the games). The Olympic Stadium was supposed to have some kind of retractable cover supported by a large tower, but that was left off and finished well after the games.

Moscow in 1980 was also a money pit, though communist central planning carefully concealed the figures. Not to mention the US-led boycott.

One major reason why Olympic events are so sparsely attended: ticket prices are way too high for the average Joe Schmo (or whatever the Greek equivalent is) to afford. The Olympic organizing committee sets the prices, but paying well over $500 for the cheap seats at the opening ceremonies (the Salt Lake 2002 opening ceremonies tickets were close to $700 per person) is ridiculous. Certain marquee sports that are popular throughout the world (soccer, gymnastics, swimming, track and field) are always nearly sold out as you get closer to the finals.

And don't forget the lodging infrastructure... you gotta build enough lodging for the expected influx of tourists. Right now several cruise ships (that usually are not running during the summer) are docked in Piraeus doing double duty as floating hotels. The Russian delegation chartered one ship.

Last I heard they're STILL paying for the Montreal games.

OK, so first off, if you DON'T want to know what is currently happening, stay away from the Yahoo main page! Its news headlines have results in the title! :rolleyes:

Re: gymnastics, I ws just looking at the women's results. Poor Mo. She finished the qualifying round 8th in total points, but because 2 Americans finished above her, she doesn't get to compete in the all-around. Only 2 people from each country can go, so she's SOL. Meanwhile, there are people who placed 28th and 29th who get to compete. I just think it's not fair...oh well...

Canada finally has a medal...

Are the Olympics over yet?

I hope so.

YAY!!!! ABOUT FREAKING TIME!!!!

What did we get and in what event?

ETA: Nevermind. I checked out the official site and we won a bronze in woman's synchronized diving. YAY!!!

Not 'til August 29th... then the hype calms down until the winter of 2006 for the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Next summer olympics is in 2008 in Beijing.

I think it's actually the rules of the international sport governing body that determine who qualifies for the individual all-around.

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part; the important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. To spread these precepts is to build up a stronger and more valiant and, above all, more scrupulous and generous humanity."

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...tell that to Mo! :(

:p ;)

Did they ever try to invite Reggie Miller or anyone else who could shoot? I don't even remember them asking any pure shooters even which is sad.

I love olympic season...I've been watching a lot lately.

I believe they asked Rip Hamilton and Ray Allen (two former Huskies on top of that). Both turned down the invite.

I think the Olympic endorsements should be contingent upon the team winning a gold.

Hi all-
not sure if anyone's posted this yet, but there is a Gamma Phi participating in the Olympics. her name is Nikola Girke, a member of our UBC (Alpha Lambda) chapter (Canada). She is on the sailing team.
i'm not sure when the sailing competition starts but i'll definitely be rooting for her and the rest of the team!

Hahahaha take THAT Puerto Rico! I'm telling you, Lithuania is going to win the gold.

Well here goes.... Greece vs US in basketball about to begin... should be interesting to say the least; also wonder how Iverson's injury will affect the game...

PS> Just noticed that the game is on CBC but not NBC... gotta wonder about that... thought it would be the "big" ticket event to show now that the swimming is done for the day.

The basketball game of Greece vs. USA is being shown on USA Network.

The mens gymnastics team did an awesome winning the silver medal. Now let's root on the wome as they go for the gold!

I was going to say something about that. I never watch men's gymnastics but that was some great drama last night. Heading into the final event separated by .125 points, the Romanian that fell, the comeback from injury stories of the Americans, the stunning Japanese performances on high bar... Good stuff. Really good stuff.

Hope the women's event is half as compelling. I heard that girl Courtney McCool got cut. Poor thing, what a hearbreaker.

Am I the only one who was amused to hear Allen Iverson, of all people, talking about how the US men's basketball team needs to play as a team and not like a bunch of individuals? Hello Pot, this is Kettle...:D

lol funnier that you mentioned Iverson and pot....

Great game between Greece and US... the Greeks did better than I thought they would. The energy of the crowd was great, too bad that energy wasn't there for other events. I am a little annoyed that the CBC cut the broadcast short for the news :( ... so I had to switch channels to catch the last 30sec of the game... I guess it's understandable if your tring to keep to a tight schedule of live broadcasts... but still they could have delayed another 5 minutes.

On another note how many others think the jackass in the tutu should be prosecuted, and more importantly Golden Palace? It's the second time this tool has disrupted an international event for Golden Palace.

He was. He was sentenced to 5 months in a Greek jail. However...he was allowed to go free. He failed an appeal. Apparently in Greece, it can take up to 2 years for a highjer court to look at the case. So while he's waiting for an appeal he's allowed to go free.
I think 5 months was a little harsh though. He wanted fame. He got his 15 minutes. It'll be over before he gets to Montreal.
With all the money they spent on security, how does this dumbass get through? He didn't do anything other than maybe jinx the Chinese and American (I think I was the Americans) divers and the Greeks won a gold!

good for him. He's starting to realize the true importance of being a leader.

The girls swim team last night had me and my friends yelling at the tv!

How exciting to break the record!

What a disappointment for Hamm(sp?)...they would not stop replaying his landing.

PHB - He won the gold medal!!!!!!!!!! Not so disappointing now, huh? :D

I unfortunately fell victim to the Yahoo headline again and knew he'd won it at about 3pm yesterday. :mad: But it was still fun watching it last night. Especially after he fell and the commentators were like "His gold medal dreams are dashed! He will NOT be Olympic champion now" etc etc. I kept saying, "But he's gonna prove you wrong! Go Paul!!!!"

I missed that! Thanks for the info.

Don'cha love them 'doom-and-gloom' NBC broadcasters? :mad: Hamm eats it on the vault and they already wrote him off. Nothing short of miraculous snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, though. The Korean, though was utterly devastated on seeing the final results.

Hamm was amazing last night. Might be my favorite olympic moment so far.

While I was sooooooo happy about Hamm winning, I was also feeling really bad about the Korean's loss... I mean, he had done so well, and to lose by that little on a decision has to be hard. It just shows you the emotion of the games, IMO. I love it. I was jumping up and down in my house from excitment over Men's Gymnastics... I never thought I would say that...

Is it just me or does Hamm sound like a Munchkin?

We represent the Lollypop Guild,
The Lollypop Guild,
The Lollypop Guild
And in the name of the Lollypop Guild,
We wish to welcome you to Munchkinland.


:p ;)

do most gymnist talk and sound like that? kerri strugg comes to mind. maybe all that tumbling does something to the vocal cords.