Author Topic: New Olympics thread London 2012  (Read 12673 times)

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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New Olympics thread London 2012
« on: July 26, 2012, 03:03:47 pm »
Mod note:
I split the new posts from the older ones from 2008 and moved the thread to Chez Tremblay, so we have a clean new start on this year's Olympics.




Bumping this.

In case anyone else wants to post anything about this year's Summer Olympics.

 :)
« Last Edit: July 28, 2012, 06:04:20 am by Penthesilea »
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2012, 04:35:24 pm »
Bumping this.

In case anyone else wants to post anything about this year's Summer Olympics.

 :)


You bet I want! Thanks for un-burying it, Jeff. :-*
We just spent to weeks in the UK and are totally hyped up about the event! :laugh:
You couldn't miss the Olympics/Paralympics coming up in the UK, no way. The games hadn't even started, but they were everywhere. TV, newspapers, olympic/paralympic flags at all BP stations, and each and every shop, even the smallest in the most remote village, has a corner of souvenirs. :laugh:

Whole family will be in front of the telly tomorrow, watching the opening ceremony.


Here are the officiall mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville. Mandeville is named after Stoke-Mandeville, where one of the world's most famous (and also one of the first, I think) spinal injury units is. That's also where the first sports competitions for wheelchair users were held, some time after WWII. Gawd, I heard the whole history of Stoke-Mandeville hospital when I was studying. :laugh: A professor of mine was a specialist on SCI (Spinal Cord Injuries). Almost twenty years later, I still remember. Spent a whole semester learning exclusively about SCI (in medical science anyway, I also had other subjects).





Speaking on the subject of the paralympic games, I really liked how evenly presented they were with the olympic games in the UK. Well done, Brits. It's about time they start throwing the whole stuff together, IMO. I know, logistic-wise, it would be a challenge, but it's the biggest event on this planet anyway. I'm sure it could be done. And it should be done.

Offline David In Indy

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2012, 06:23:18 pm »
Yup!

I'm going to watch it! I'm looking forward to seeing the opening ceremonies tomorrow! I'm even planning to DVR it so I can watch it again later, at some point. They are always so beautiful. And I love seeing all of the athletes from around the world parading in!  8)
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Offline David In Indy

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2012, 06:24:45 pm »
I've reset the poll so everyone can vote again if they wish.
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Offline delalluvia

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2012, 08:02:35 pm »
Dang it!  I just realized I'm having dinner with my friend when the Opening Ceremonies are going on!!!  Will they repeat them?

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2012, 09:40:24 pm »
Thanks for un-burying it, Jeff. :-*

I had to do a "Search" to find it.  ;D

I will watch the opening ceremonies tomorrow night.

I would like to see certain events. I've already made pretty clear elsewhere my, er, fascination with the U.S. Men's Gymnastics Team.  ::) And one team member in particular.  ::)

(Side note: The team has five members and three alternates, in case somebody gets hurt and can't compete. I read today that the alternates have to stay in Birmingham. What's up with that? No offense to Birmingham, but the alternates can't even stay in London? Don't seem right to me.  >:( )

I would like to see Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte compete against each other in swimming. I saw Lochte beat Phelps in one event in the trials, so Phelps can be beaten. I saw part of an interview with Lochte. He has a wardrobe the size of which many a gay man would envy, and a collection of shoes to rival Imelda Marcos.  :laugh:

I know absolutely nothing about American diving this time out, but I will be rooting for the Canadian heartthrob Alexandre Despatie.  ::) I also read today that Matthew Mitcham will be competing for Australia again this year.  :D

Tell you what, I heard something today that hauled me up short. I should have realized it, of course, but I just hadn't thought of it. This year is 40 years since the Munich Olympics. I guess the Munich games will be remembered for two bizarrely different reasons: Mark Spitz's triumphs in swimming, which weren't surpassed until Michael Phelps in Beijing four years ago, and the horror and sadness of the massacre of the Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists.  :(  (Spitz is Jewish. I remembered he was hustled out of Munich and back to the States in case he was another target.)

I was 14 years old that summer of 1972. Where the heck has my life gone?  ???
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2012, 12:52:54 am »
     
                 Mariel Zegunis"    Hometown:   Beaverton,  Oregon


            The young woman leading the parade of athletes from USA.  Is from a fencing school next door literally to the billiard room
we use to practice.   She won gold some 8 years ago and she is back again.  It is an honorary position, chosen by the athletes themselves.  Her mother got the notice last evening that she was to lead the procession, and told her that NBC offered one of their
available ticketed seats, in which to watch the opeing ceremonies.  She had to get reservations, pack, arrange a place to stay, and get there.  In less than 24 hrs. 
             She was a former Olympian herself.  She was on the rowing team.  I was so happy for her.  She was so excited.  They had her on the local news, as she was preparing to board the plane enroute...  I wish I could remember her name.  If I hear it later, I will add that to the post...



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Offline Penthesilea

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2012, 02:43:36 am »
ITell you what, I heard something today that hauled me up short. I should have realized it, of course, but I just hadn't thought of it. This year is 40 years since the Munich Olympics. I guess the Munich games will be remembered for two bizarrely different reasons: Mark Spitz's triumphs in swimming, which weren't surpassed until Michael Phelps in Beijing four years ago, and the horror and sadness of the massacre of the Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists.  :(  (Spitz is Jewish. I remembered he was hustled out of Munich and back to the States in case he was another target.)

I was 14 years old that summer of 1972. Where the heck has my life gone?  ???



I was four years old in 1972, so I don't remember personally, but of course I know. Horrific and heartwrenching, even forty years later.

My daughter, for who this is all ancvient history, commented somewhat dryly: we [Germans] had the Olympics twice and managed to botch it both times. We'll never live to see Germany hosting another Olympics.

Offline Meryl

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2012, 11:22:07 am »
Here's a big-picture article that makes good background reading for tonight's ceremonies:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/27/london-2012-time-to-find-out-who-we-are
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2012, 01:46:19 pm »
I was four years old in 1972, so I don't remember personally, but of course I know. Horrific and heartwrenching, even forty years later.

My daughter, for who this is all ancvient history, commented somewhat dryly: we [Germans] had the Olympics twice and managed to botch it both times. We'll never live to see Germany hosting another Olympics.

Apparently there is some controversy over not remembering the deaths in Munich. A columnist in our local newspaper wrote about it in this morning's edition. Apparently the chairman of the IOC is not going to mention it in his opening remarks tonight, and some people think he should, including the columnist.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #10 on: July 28, 2012, 05:07:49 am »
Great work, UK! I watched the entire thing, beginning to end.

Me too! Went out for a cigarrete break twice, and guess what? Missed the Queen/James Bond segment (and John's video doesn't play for me). We could hear the kids laughing so hard about it.

My favorite were also Mr. Bean and the party in the hosue. I also liked that pop culture songs were present throughout the ceremony, the Brits paraded to Bowie's "Heroes" and so on.
And only the Brits would include humor in such a way into what is often a too forcedly solemn, and thus boring, event. 8)

I also love to see the athletes parading, Jeff! And I'm proud to say that the Germans' costumes were not the most ugly ones this time 'round! ;) Still horrendous colors, but hey, I've seen worse. :laugh:

We always cheered when a country marched in where we knew people living there. That was fun! My kids have friends from Morocco and Brazil, and I got to cheer most often, with so many Brokies around the globe! Canada, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, US, UK from the top of my head.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #11 on: July 28, 2012, 09:55:03 pm »
Me too! Went out for a cigarrete break twice, and guess what? Missed the Queen/James Bond segment (and John's video doesn't play for me). We could hear the kids laughing so hard about it.

The lady definitely has a sense of humor.  :)

Quote
I also love to see the athletes parading, Jeff! And I'm proud to say that the Germans' costumes were not the most ugly ones this time 'round! ;) Still horrendous colors, but hey, I've seen worse. :laugh:

 :laugh:

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Offline delalluvia

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #12 on: July 29, 2012, 03:16:05 pm »
Me too! Went out for a cigarrete break twice, and guess what? Missed the Queen/James Bond segment (and John's video doesn't play for me). We could hear the kids laughing so hard about it.

My favorite were also Mr. Bean and the party in the hosue. I also liked that pop culture songs were present throughout the ceremony, the Brits paraded to Bowie's "Heroes" and so on.
And only the Brits would include humor in such a way into what is often a too forcedly solemn, and thus boring, event. 8)

I also love to see the athletes parading, Jeff! And I'm proud to say that the Germans' costumes were not the most ugly ones this time 'round! ;) Still horrendous colors, but hey, I've seen worse. :laugh:

We always cheered when a country marched in where we knew people living there. That was fun! My kids have friends from Morocco and Brazil, and I got to cheer most often, with so many Brokies around the globe! Canada, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, US, UK from the top of my head.


Alas, the channel showing the opening ceremonies here in the US only showed a few countries, and skipped most.  >:(

I did enjoy the Queen's scene - I especially liked how she made "James Bond" wait when he entered the room.  Ah, it's good to be Queen.  ;D

And of course, I did like David Beckham's introduction.  Dang, but that guy is hot.

Any idea why Muhammad Ali is still part of the ceremony?

I understand the need to be humorous, but that scene from Chariots of Fire is one of my favorites and represents something really positive and inspiring and the skit I saw was going to ruin it for me so I switched off for that.

And torch lighting was a let-down.  

On another note, it's 50 degrees at night, so I'm glad to see the female volleyball players are actually wearing reasonable shirts and leggings and not still wearing those stupid bikinis they have to dig out of their asses every few minutes.

I find it funny to see that the swimmers are starting to wear more and more clothing IN the water than gymnasts are wearing out of it.

Speaking of gymnasts, it strikes me every time I see the gymnastic competitions how sexist it still is.  Either BOTH male and female athletes need 'artistic' gymnastic events and BOTH male and female athletes need music for their floor routines or they shouldn't.  Otherwise it fosters the idea that only the women are there to 'dance' and entertain, while the men are just athletes.

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #13 on: August 05, 2012, 05:11:19 am »
Alas, the channel showing the opening ceremonies here in the US only showed a few countries, and skipped most.  >:(

What? :o
That seems like such a disrespectful and stupid thing to do. I mean, that's what the opening ceremony is all about, isn't it? Parading of the athletes and ignition of the olympic flame. A shame they didn't show it.



Quote
On another note, it's 50 degrees at night, so I'm glad to see the female volleyball players are actually wearing reasonable shirts and leggings and not still wearing those stupid bikinis they have to dig out of their asses every few minutes.


Not happy with the dress code for the femal beach volleyball players either.  >:(




Offline Penthesilea

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #14 on: August 05, 2012, 05:16:12 am »
Did anybody watch last night? Whoo-Hoo for the Brits, winning three gold medals in the athletics stadium within one hour! It was the Heptathlon, long jump (m) and 10K run (m).

I just loved seeing the female Heptathlon's winner being shown so much, with her lovely last name displayed proudly. ;) ;D




I can't help but get a little kick out of seeing her. :)

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #15 on: August 05, 2012, 05:37:14 am »
And what a drama around German Heptathlon athlete Lilli Schwarzkopf! ::)
At first they disqualified her for overstepping her lane in the starting phase of the 800m run. They showed her a photo of it and she saw indeed a foot overstepping the line. But it wasn't her foot, it wasn't her at all and it even wasn't her lane. It was Russian athlete Kristina Sawitskaja on lane 6 who had overstepped. Schwarzkopf had been running on lane 5.

After the jury watched the video of the starting phase, they saw their mistake and took back the disqualification. Schwarzkopf won the sivler medal and Tatjana Tschernowa (Russia) won bronze. Here are the three happy women after two hard days:



Offline delalluvia

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #16 on: August 05, 2012, 11:49:09 am »
Did anybody watch last night? Whoo-Hoo for the Brits, winning three gold medals in the athletics stadium within one hour! It was the Heptathlon, long jump (m) and 10K run (m).

I just loved seeing the female Heptathlon's winner being shown so much, with her lovely last name displayed proudly. ;) ;D




I can't help but get a little kick out of seeing her. :)


I did.  That was great.  But again, American television didn't show any of her other events.  Just the running.  I don't get that at all.

It's so excruciatingly boring when they do that.  There's no drama, no buildup, nothing you watch the Olympics for.  They are basically just doing a long version of the nightly sports news report - only showing the winning play, only showing the winners.  They're not showing a 'competition'.

They keep running "Watch all events streaming on NBColympics.com" but I don't want to sit in front of my computer for hours watching the full events, I want to watch it on my TV where I can relax on my couch.  >:(

Offline delalluvia

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #17 on: August 05, 2012, 11:51:59 am »
And what a drama around German Heptathlon athlete Lilli Schwarzkopf! ::)
At first they disqualified her for overstepping her lane in the starting phase of the 800m run. They showed her a photo of it and she saw indeed a foot overstepping the line. But it wasn't her foot, it wasn't her at all and it even wasn't her lane. It was Russian athlete Kristina Sawitskaja on lane 6 who had overstepped. Schwarzkopf had been running on lane 5.

After the jury watched the video of the starting phase, they saw their mistake and took back the disqualification. Schwarzkopf won the sivler medal and Tatjana Tschernowa (Russia) won bronze.


Now that's just retarded.  How in the world could they make a mistake like that with all the technology they have now?

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #18 on: August 05, 2012, 01:23:27 pm »
Now that's just retarded.  How in the world could they make a mistake like that with all the technology they have now?

The explanation was that they watched the picture in b/w only (at first). After protests, they watched color photos and the video.

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #19 on: August 05, 2012, 01:30:50 pm »
I did.  That was great.  But again, American television didn't show any of her other events.  Just the running.  I don't get that at all.

It's so excruciatingly boring when they do that.  There's no drama, no buildup, nothing you watch the Olympics for.  They are basically just doing a long version of the nightly sports news report - only showing the winning play, only showing the winners.  They're not showing a 'competition'.

They keep running "Watch all events streaming on NBColympics.com" but I don't want to sit in front of my computer for hours watching the full events, I want to watch it on my TV where I can relax on my couch.  >:(


A, dang it. Well, there IS the time difference, but still, nobody is forced to watch. I wonder why at least some sports channels don't show all of it. Over here, the two main channels (public corporations) alternate daily, and they show nothing else all day ('xept news) when it's their turn.

I agree that the built-up is a big part of the fun. Though yesterday, we were away all day and thus also saw just the 800m run. But I had followed the Heptathlon some on the first day.

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #20 on: August 06, 2012, 06:25:50 pm »



              The network that carries the Olympics buy the rights.  They paid over a billion dollars for the exclusive rights.  After getting the rights
they then have complete control of the event.  They won't even allow the other channels to post the highlights of the events.  In fact there
was a joke going on on one of the other networks.  I am not sure now which one it was.  But they made up the swim competitions with puppets, made out of popsicle sticksn in a long pan with blue crinkled up foil, with water in it. They then would voice over the thing as they pulled the puppets along telling about the distances and times.. Pretty funny, unfortunately it was a bit true and sad at the same time.



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Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #21 on: August 07, 2012, 10:39:55 am »
And what a drama around German Heptathlon athlete Lilli Schwarzkopf! ::)
At first they disqualified her for overstepping her lane in the starting phase of the 800m run. They showed her a photo of it and she saw indeed a foot overstepping the line. But it wasn't her foot, it wasn't her at all and it even wasn't her lane. It was Russian athlete Kristina Sawitskaja on lane 6 who had overstepped. Schwarzkopf had been running on lane 5.

After the jury watched the video of the starting phase, they saw their mistake and took back the disqualification. Schwarzkopf won the sivler medal and Tatjana Tschernowa (Russia) won bronze. Here are the three happy women after two hard days:




            I am very disgusted by such a mistake.  Those athletes are photographed from every possible angle, except for inside their clothes.  There is no concievable reason for this kind of a snafu.  It is just plain idiotic.  Poor girl.



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Offline souxi

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #22 on: August 08, 2012, 05:48:32 am »
Team GB are doing great!!! Makes me proud to be British.  :)

Offline delalluvia

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Re: New Olympics thread London 2012
« Reply #23 on: August 11, 2012, 12:28:10 am »
Watched the men's platform diving today... :-* :-* :-*

Yummy.

They had a brief story on Matt Mitchum.  I hadn't been following his career, so I was saddened to learn that he had such an emotional wreck about his sport after he won.  It's also doubly sad that he says he can't even remember anything about winning in Beijing because he was so 'in the zone'.

I find it tragic for someone to work so hard, to come so far and when they finally triumph, it isn't even a memory they can pass on to their kids and families.  :(