Olympics

[moe.ron]

Congrat South Africa

New World Record in 4*100 free! No superstars, but good team work, and a gold medal!
That's Olympic spirit winning an event

[AGDee]

Originally posted by ariesrising
I came in late and couldn't figure out why the rule change....but apparently in the TWO years, they've been scoring Wilson and Gatson's routines out of a 10, when the start value should've been only 9.8. Apparently the stalder hop full was being graded as higher than it was (my guess is they thought it was an E and it's really a D move).

How in the world can judges, for two years, not notice that they aren't scoring a routine correctly?! Does no one look at the Code of Points anymore??

The commentators I was listening to referred to it as a change in scoring rules, as if they changed it just two days ahead of time. I'll be anxious to hear more...

They would have been better off doing the same routine with the lower start point than trying to change their routines completely two days before the competition. Hindsight is 20-20 though...

I switch between CBC and NBC coverage. CBC is better in some ways, but they are more "Canadian" focused than I remember them being in the past. They did do a neat tribute thing to Michael Phelps though. I thought that was nice of them.

Dee

[bcdphie]

There is no way that the 2012 summer olympics will be in Toronto, since the 2010 winter olympics are in Vancouver. I am hoping London, so we can go crash with our family in England, just repaying the favour when they all come out to crash with us in 2010. LOL.

[KSigkid]

Watching the game against Puerto Rico showed me just how far the US basketball team has fallen. They played an AWFUL game; only starting to show defensive intensity in the second half. Even then their ball-handling was atrocious.

Such a poor showing, it made me ill watching it.

[Thrillhouse]

It was almost like they were letting the U.S. take any outside shot they wanted and the Americans have no outside shooters. Tough to watch, thats for sure.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

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.

[ajuhdg]

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

[KSigkid]

Originally posted by Thrillhouse
It was almost like they were letting the U.S. take any outside shot they wanted and the Americans have no outside shooters. Tough to watch, thats for sure.

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.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by KSigkid
Watching the game against Puerto Rico showed me just how far the US basketball team has fallen. They played an AWFUL game; only starting to show defensive intensity in the second half. Even then their ball-handling was atrocious.

Such a poor showing, it made me ill watching it.

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.

[Lady Pi Phi]

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.

[kappaloo]

Originally posted by Lady Pi Phi
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!

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally posted by kappaloo
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.

[AlphaSigOU]

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.

[kappaloo]

Originally posted by AlphaSigOU
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.

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