What is up with the Lochte grill....???
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What is up with the Lochte grill....???
Would love to be able to watch the Olympics live & uninterrupted but we don't have Foxtel.....:rolleyes::mad:
That & the time difference btwn Perth & London means I have to get up at 2 am to watch many of the events.
Can't wait for the women's marathon plus Meares vs Pendelton at the velodrome!
I am reeling from the Badminton cheating thing. 8 Athletes, who have probably trained their entire lives, threw it all away. How absolutely frivolous. This is the OLYMPICS. You pray to make it, you work so hard to get there, then blow it like that?
Wow. Just wow.
I know! I liked him so much, and now I'm kinda very turned off by that. I guess at least it's an American Flag.Quote:
Originally Posted by maillotpois
I love that Judo girl!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by maillotpois
I just looked this up.
I'm so clueless that I thought it would be like the George Foreman grill!
I'm surprised at how many of the female swimmers have long hair! It's such a pain in the arse with all that swimming, I'd expect to see a few more with shorter hair.
The Arena suits sure are bright. I kind of miss the stars & stripes suits the American team wore in 2008, but I guess this way they can wear suits from whoever their sponsor is. It is really cool to see the effect of the texture underwater, though, with all the bubbles around different parts of the suit.
Gabby Douglas is pretty awesome.
I didn't even think about it, but the American/NBC coverage didn't show the mens rings event hardly at all - I guess it's not interesting? I always felt it was the most awesome show of strength, I found it more interesting than pommel horse.
Edit: So, tonight on NBC they have been focusing a lot on Lochte's dad (after his mom's comments about the one night stand thing? ;)). He sure never seems happy. Though, maybe HE just isn't happy about the one night stand thing ;)
Gabby Douglas' coach Liang Chow is adorable, right up there with Gabby herself. Happy faces are so contagious!
I'm just ever so grateful that we in the US didn't have the verbal stylings of Al Trautwig inflicted upon us during the cycling events. :rolleyes:
My husband said the same thing!! His voice alone is just not pleasant. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by jobob
How can you not love Gabby Douglass? She is just so damn cute, I was happy to see her win. I felt so bad for Aly having the disaster beam and then tying only to be knocked off the podium. She was so poised the rest of the time but at least she came back and delivered a solid floor routine after the disappointment of her beam performance.
Is it just me or does Mustafina look like she may cry or scream every time they show her? She did crack a smile or two last night, she just seems so unhappy.
Track and field finally starts today! Just hoping no one runs the womens 10k faster than I ran my easy ~5k this morning...
Just wish nbc would do a better job of showing competitors who have no chance of medaling, especially non-Americans. And also events that don't have US atheletes likely to do very well...
I LOVE track and field!! It was my sport in high school. I'm watching Womens beach volleyball right now, it's too hot to do anything else. I let my chickens out to free range, and they all just huddled under a bush to sleep. :rolleyes: If it looks like rain the little wilting violets get right back in the coop. Heaven forbid they get wet.Quote:
Originally Posted by skhill
Yah, there's no sign of any of the "also ran" people.Quote:
Originally Posted by skhill
The comeptitors pictures are all on the london2012 website. Looks like the organizers got a photographer from a local jail or drivers license division.
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Originally Posted by malkin
You must have missed women's Track & Field this morning. Female athletes from Qatar, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and lots of other countries running the 100 m.
Veronica
My heart bled for that woman from Qatar. I hope she's not too badly hurt!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Veronica
Wasn't that wonderful? Have to think that if I'd pulled a hamstring at the start of the race like the Qatari runner, I'd hop (or crawl) on down the track. But then, I've never pulled a hamstring...Quote:
Originally Posted by Veronica
Quote:
Originally Posted by skhill
Quote:
Originally Posted by malkin
Oy. You should have heard my elderly father-in-law pontificate yesterday about how substandard competitors with no chance of medaling shouldn't be allowed to compete, they only waste everyone else's time :rolleyes: (we were watching sculling and the competitor from Niger prompted that little gem).
He's semi-senile and often belligerent so all he got from DH and I was silence, we've learned it's not worth trying to debate things like that with him. You know the saying "Don't try to teach a pig to sing ..." ? Heh, welcome to our world.
Though I suppose there are plenty of "able-minded" people who share that opinion. :p
ETA: sorry for going off topic.
I hope when I lose (most of) my mind I am sweet, like my granny who used to see sports (or anything) on TV and say, "Isn't it wonderful what young people can do!"
Once during an NBA broadcast, she said to a couch full of my cousins: "If you ever want to do any of that, I can help you, because I did it, and your dad and I helped him too."
My cousins and I thought it was hysterical at the time, because the whole family is pretty far from NBA material, but I think she meant that when we were in college she'd do everything within her power to help us out. She typed papers for my dad when he was an undergrad.
My heart broke for the silver medalist Russian gymnast last night. She looked so devastated, and you just know that silver is NOT acceptable in Russia. :(
Really, after the team event in gymnastics, my heart broke for the Russian team, while it was swelling twice it's size for the Americans. Such heartbreak is hard to see on such young faces. For most of them, this is their only chance at the Olympics, since you peak at 17 in this sport.
On the other hand, it blows my mind to see those young'ins up on the podiums taking Olympic medals. I can't imagine being 17, or even 20, and standing on the podium at the Olympics accepting a medal. Your life is totally changed from that moment on. So amazing to watch! :)
I know this will happen ... the women will run a faster 10k than my hardest 5k! I am excited about track and field.Quote:
Originally Posted by skhill
Gymnastics I cannot get into. I cannot stand the sequins and other costumes, teens with so much makeup they literally crack a smile. And why is NBC showing gymnastics sob stories from 1996???!
I finally have time to watch some of the non-cycling events.
The swimmers look like aliens with their caps and mirrored goggles.
I haven't been able to post much this week but I'm still watching. It is an awesome Olympics! I always think they are though- OLYMPIC FRENZY! oh my, did I scare you? Sorry. I do get kind of crazed every couple of years.:D:D:D:D
Chinese diving = loveliness.
Just finished watching the womens triathlon, what a finish!!! A little sad to see the American SO CLOSE but not make it, but she dug deep to finish an awesome 4th. Amazing. I did want to strangle the woman interviewing her after the race, though. She came back with a deficit, busted ***, caught up, and came in 4th.
Also watched the first qualifying run from Pistorius, the double amputee. Looked like he surprised himself a little.
And, last night's race with the 15 year old American swimmer was pretty amazing, too. She definitely surprised herself! Very focused, and so so happy.
+1 on the Chinese diving, wow.
I was channeling my "inner Sarah Groff" on my run this morning after watching the race.
Veronica
I haven't had much time to watch, but am enjoying watching the running events especially as I wait for the mountain bike events next weekend :) I do generally like the track and field events.
Watching the men's long track race last night, I was really struck by the winner (for Great Britain, can't think of his name) running along with his training partner (USA team) and in the end his training partner was on the podium with him. That was how they trained, running together, so it must have helped with the tension of being in the Olympics.
Watching the women marathon race right now and they just highlighted two USA women who have been training the same way. Also in Portland, Oregon just like the two men. Hopefully they will win, though I will likely have to leave home before the end of the marathon :(
Watching the women's marathon. I do not follow marathons regularly on TV (if they are ever shown), but this is the first time I notice a "feed" station for every country.
I am an Olympic junkie. Love it all. Love all of the background stories. Fortunately our Canadian broadcasters often have a female sidekick, though not as polished as some of our veteran broadcasters- it's good to see. Our colour commentary usually comes from someone who had participated in some aspect of the sport- and that's a mix of male and female.
Other things I love:
I loved the spontanous singing of old Beatles songs by the crowd yesterday on"Super Saturday."
I love the background music from "Chariots of Fire" being played during the Olympic medal presentations.
(I LOVE that movie!)
I love the choice of anthems the Brits have chosen for each country. They are not tinny, or sound like they've been culled from a cheap rendition '33 found in someone's garage.
Love the small colourful posies being presented to the medal winners. Tasteful.
Because their coverage is hideous! I can't even watch it.Quote:
Originally Posted by pll
A compelling story.
http://1045theteam.com/american-tv-n...-the-olympics/
400m ... The NBC talking heads were upset about the absence of an American in the final. However, it was neat to see the countries represented in it: Grenada, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago... all Caribbean countries!
I thought it was cool to see several counties win medals in sports they hadn't won anything before. Brazil won a gold in still rings in gymnastics. I'm a bit confused as to rather it's their first ever medal for gymnastics or the first ever medal for men's gymnastics. My former neighbor, the husband is from Brazil. So they were very excited about that.
First medal ever in gymnastics for Brazil. That was great to see, as was the guy from the Dominican Republic, Félix Sánchez, who won the 400m hurdles. I teared up, what can I say...Quote:
Originally Posted by Koronin
The medal ceremony on NBC was a little "let's watch this guy crumble, zoomed in, as close as we can" for my taste, but it was amazing nonetheless. Watching him unpin his bib and take out the picture of his grandmother was tearjerking enough, let alone when he finished first, stood on the podium, and tried so hard to keep it together but was overcome by emotion.Quote:
Originally Posted by pll
I have a feeling there are little more than two ways to be on the podium: in complete shock and awe, or overcome by emotion. ;)
pll, thanks for the clarification.
Both of those were so great to see.
I love the posies too, especially when they give them to guys.:D:DQuote:
Originally Posted by spindizzy
Did anyone follow the story of the runner with the cheetah blades? he was amazing. Here are two good links of interest:
http://vimeo.com/31901027?action=share
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympi...6769--oly.html
I saw Murray win tennis gold for his country this past weekend. That was pretty awesome. Also saw Usain win again, nice. I saw some gymnastics, diving and swimming...all good.
Incredible Olympics, although it has had it's fail moments too. They all do.
during one of the "behind-the-scenes" stories, I was surprised to find that the silver medalist for the 2008 triathlon (Simon Whitfield) had a "helper". He had a training partner who would swim, ride, and run in front of him so that he can conserve his energy by drafting and sure enough, in the last few hundred meters Simon zoomed past the rest of the competitors and came in second. The partner's sole purpose was to sacrifice himself in any way to help Simon win. He was asked if he didn't feel somehow cheated that he couldn't go and compete for himself but he graciously said that he was happy to do it for the country.Quote:
Originally Posted by Catrin
Turns out the training partner retired after 2008 so I was curious to see if Simon had another partner but none was mentioned. Not that it really mattered, Simon crashed soon after he got on his bike and didn't finish.
It's sad when you only have one shot. No heats, preliminaries, or other events to compete in.
I have to agree -- they zoomed on him forever and I kept wishing they would pan and show the rest of the podium. Medal ceremonies are moments when pent up emotions and years of stress just surface.Quote:
Originally Posted by colby
The Brits did the same thing in the womens triathlon this year, there was a lead swimmer/cyclist whose job was to get another athlete to the front so she could try to deliver the win (the equivalent of a domestique in cycling). Interestingly it didn't change the overall effect of the race, the women who were on the podium didn't have the benefit of the other person, just the benefit of drafting on the bike/swim.Quote:
Originally Posted by badger
I am not a huge beach volleyball fan but the womens semifinal games were actually pretty good to watch - lots of back and forth, tit for tat. The final is interesting, one team in their final match ever, the other the "new generation" taking over.
The other day I got sucked in by fencing, probably for the same reason. Close matches with people who are really good at what they are doing. I found the technology of the fencing matches fascinating, too, it would be interesting to see the evolution of that over time.
I very was happy that NBC showed the men's horizontal bar final in gymnastics, where "Flying Dutchman" Epke Zonderland won the gold with an amazing routine. His release moves were incredible! I think he's the first Dutch athlete to win any medal during an individual gymnastics event.
And here's the Lego version of his accomplishment:
http://youtu.be/jbPJmXCCY7k