The Olympics 2012 thread

[Gobo]

China dominates this ... but that's okay. They've still yet to field serious track and field contenders.

The US still has nearly 3 times the diving medals overall. (128 to 48)

[Malacite]

Lol poor Canada, we have like what, 10 medals total so far I think?

@.@ the summer games are always a lolfest for us. XD

Seriously though what the fuck, I can't believe we got that bronze for the synchronized diving over the Italians. The last dive was especially bad, someone paid off the judges on that one 'cause no way we got that medal legitimately...

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that one female Chinese diver wins three consecutive gold medals and its after that her father decides its a good time to inform her of the following:

- Both your grandparents died last year.
- You mother has breast cancer.
- You don't really feel like family anymore.

To top it all off, China being communist and all, this week was like the week she had lived the last eight years for. She spend eight years in a some government diving facility training every day, apparently because they care that much about winning the Olympics. So all that time training for success, succeeding and then getting emotionally destroyed.

He's not getting a Father's Day present, I'm just suspecting such if China has a day like that.

[Malacite]

Russia's always done similar shit with their Gymnasts and Ice Skaters as well.

Surprise surprise, the world is a sick, sad place.

[Firewind]

BBC Sport - London 2012 Olympics - Medal Table

3rd in the medal table really is not bad at all given the countries above Team GB and their populations.

As long as we finish above France though I will be happy.

[Feba]

3rd in the medal table really is not bad at all given the countries above Team GB and their populations.

>implying atheletic skill increases with population

[Firewind]

Yes because you are far more likely to find a good runner in a country with a population of 62 million and the worst youth athletics training policies in Europe than in a country with a population of 1 billion and Schools that have actual Physical Education instead of "Here's a a ball, kick it around that field for an hour"

[Feba]

Your second half is right, the first half is wrong.

With the exception of a few genetic freaks like Michael Phelps, any country could raise very good atheletes, as long as they have the money. This is why China and the US dominate the olympics-- because we spend a ton of fucking money on sports, not because we have a big selection of people. The US is one of the most unfit nations on the planet; but people who want to get into sports have million dollar facilities all over the country.

beyond the physical education at the school level, a US or Chinese Olympic athelete is also going to have a very complex support network; nutrition, coaching, that sort of thing. There is medical technology being used in sports nowadays simply to fine tune atheletes' performance. That's a matter of money and technology, not natural physical disposition.

Look at any number of other countries participating, and it's much the same-- it's got far more to do with who puts money into their teams than who has the best genetic disposition to sports.

[Malacite]

No one's beating the Jamaicans.

[Armando]

Someone told me last night that Badminton players were losing on purpose, and were getting disqualified for it. Sirlin wrote a pretty good article on the subject:

Sirlin.Net - Blog - Playing to Win in�Badminton

[Taskmage]

Olympic Gymnast Uses Zelda Medley During Performance

My Awesome Sister is the Zelda Gymnast and Yes, She's a Lifelong Gamer

[Gobo]

US individual gymnastics FAIL!!!!!!!!!!

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

watched the Women's Soccer USA vs. Canada today. I don't really much care if its the US or Canada that wins something like that, but after all those incredibly blatant trips from Canada I'm kinda glad they lost. I don't think anyone on the US team fell down on her own until on instance toward the end of the game. Canada was stronger on offense for most of the game, but I felt like the ref was just blind to most of the worst fouls in the game on either side.

Is there no carding in Olympic soccer?

[Malacite]

It was a weird game overall...

We had the worst team, yet we nearly beat the best. Also, they called quite a few penalties on us so I don't think there was anything wrong with the ref.

[Firewind]

watched the Women's Soccer USA vs. Canada today. I don't really much care if its the US or Canada that wins something like that, but after all those incredibly blatant trips from Canada I'm kinda glad they lost. I don't think anyone on the US team fell down on her own until on instance toward the end of the game. Canada was stronger on offense for most of the game, but I felt like the ref was just blind to most of the worst fouls in the game on either side.

Is there no carding in Olympic soccer?

No FIFA refs are involved so there's no money to be made for FIFA or the ref by people on betting on the number of cards in a game.