only reason the gold metal team has avoided the obvious "douchebag" label so far is because they don't have dicks. otherwise they're worse than lochte.
only reason the gold metal team has avoided the obvious "douchebag" label so far is because they don't have dicks. otherwise they're worse than lochte.
Mo definitely had a row with his missus after the race.
I think his missus was having a go, and rightly so, at one of the officials. I was watching & you could see this arm reaching in trying usher/pull Mo along when he was talking to her, most likely towards the BBC interviewer.
Must admit I thought he was going to get beat with100m to go but he put on the jets to keep ahead in the last 30
I like 6-on-6 volleyball. It's the most teamwork-intensive sport I know. Crazy. The long rallies are great, something that doesn't happen as often in the 2-on-2 version. Sand volleyball is pure 80s cheeze to me.
I like BMX racing too, but I'm a bit biased. I like sports with consequences. BMX racing breaks people.
Overall though, I'm could take it or leave it. Decent TV show. I do love watching people blow it on the biggest stages though, and there have been some wonderfully cruel moments. Chinese hurdlerman who can't get over the first one (two Olympics in a row), and the instant tears on some of the high jump women? Great. Love it!
NBC's been showing a lot of the stage parents in the crowds, too. Decathlete USA guy is definitely boning his mom. Crazy.
I wish I would've seen the Mexican soccer team win gold.
Opening Ceremony has been my favorite part so far. That was definitely up my alley.
The USA sprinters seem like the most unlikeable people on the planet. Why do I love it when a Jamaican announces he's the greatest ever, but cringe when a Meriman does it? Self-hatred?
I was with this up to Kate Bush & John Lennon. Then the musical choices kept getting worse... just let Fatboy Slim do some actual DJing and get Bolt to lead a conga line through the stadium. Hand the flame to Rio, let them do some partying.
Fatboy Slim should be ashamed, made a right tit himself....it's been pretty weak overall, Lennon appearing was great but no doubt he was spinning in his grave shortly after when Russell Brand mimed his ass off to his own version of I Am the Walrus
Some appalling tribute nonsense, the Ed Sheeran with Floyd/Genesis with the dismal, baffling hipgnosis highwire thing. A lot was dismal & baffling, especially the weird build ups to sort of nothing happening.
Jessie J was on a lot. Fatboy Slim thing was weak. Tiny Tempah's Bentley driver nearly knocked a dancer over reversing up to that octopus. Queen were embarassing.
Tonight was what we all thought the opening ceremony would be like, so fuck on, Danny Boyle.
Mind you, I've had two bottles of wine, and have shouted at the tv for 3 hours, so not knocking the entertainment, and its a sunday, so good night, sweet dreams. Oooof.
Some appalling tribute nonsense, the Ed Sheeran with Floyd/Genesis with the dismal, baffling hipgnosis highwire thing. A lot was dismal & baffling, especially the weird build ups to sort of nothing happening.
Jessie J was on a lot. Fatboy Slim thing was weak. Tiny Tempah's Bentley driver nearly knocked a dancer over reversing up to that octopus. Queen were embarassing.
Tonight was what we all thought the opening ceremony would be like, so fuck on, Danny Boyle.
Mind you, I've had two bottles of wine, and have shouted at the tv for 3 hours, so not knocking the entertainment, and its a sunday, so good night, sweet dreams. Oooof.
It wasn't just the wine, man. Holy shit that was one hell of an expensive train wreck. The ONLY thing that ALMOST got me amped was the Freddy Mercury archive footage intro...I thought that it would just be him singing (kinda like hologram tupac) but that was quickly squashed by hella' fake guitar playing and some chick with a skin toned one piece doing an AWFUL cover of Queen.
America wins more medals than anyone else. 'MERICA!
I think you meant "China," no?
Yeah that happened. Mr Bologna Man or Manny Bolone, whatever you call yourself. No surprise here to any informed person. This post won't be a gloating or boasting wallow in the obvious dominance and success of the USA Olympic team. That would be tacky. It is, however, lonely at the top. And some facts supporting the advantages of a democratic society that values both genders and gives them equal rights and the control of their reproduction unlike other states that join them too often on the medal podium is in order here. The USA sent more female athletes than male at this Olympics and the women were quite successful. So such, that if you took away the men's medals, the USA would still rank 3rd overall in medal count. Top in Golds, top in Medal count. A few less than Beijing, but a considerable decline for the former host city. China lost the bump that was given in hosting the Olympics. Great Britain, though, used that advantage to have it's best Olympic showing in a century. Awesome. Love the British, our closest Ally. The hope of the London Games was to inspire the youth of GB toward greatness now and in future Olympics.
I want to close this post by quoting an article from the NY Times about China and it's Olympic Program:
Heavy Burden on Athletes Takes Joy Away From China???s Olympic Success
By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: August 7, 2012
BEIJING ??? When Liu Xiang, China???s track and field superstar, crashed to the ground at the London Olympic Games on Tuesday after stumbling over the first hurdle in his 110-meter men???s hurdles heat, an announcer on the state broadcaster openly wept and subway riders thronging platform television screens gasped in horror.
But instead of the scorn and anger that met Mr. Liu four years ago when a similar injury to his Achilles??? tendon forced him from the Olympic stadium in Beijing just before the race began, the overwhelming majority of those using the nation???s most popular microblog site reacted with magnanimity and grace.
???I believe, I steadfastly believe that Liu Xiang is our hero,??? wrote one user on Sina Weibo. ???He was, he is, and he always will be.???
Within an hour of Mr. Liu???s dramatic tumble, millions had posted messages, most of them supportive and laudatory. If there were voices of disgust, they were directed at the Chinese government, with its rigid Soviet-style sports system and a single-minded fixation on winning gold medals.
???With this oppressive national sports system, he only had one choice ??? to win respect and hurt himself,??? one fan wrote. Another writer called the tumble ???an entire generation???s tragedy.???
By any measure, this should be a season of unvarnished celebration for China. It has pulled slightly ahead of the United States in the battle for medals, and the Games have produced a new national hero in Sun Yang, the first Chinese man to win an Olympic gold in swimming.
But in recent days, a tide of self-doubt and introspection about the human costs of China???s Olympic prowess has arisen amid worries that the nation???s draconian sports system is sometimes producing damaged goods. Floundering athletes can even be cast aside after their careers are over ??? a point driven home last year when a former gold medal gymnast was found begging on the streets of Beijing. According to the state media, 240,000 retired athletes are grappling with injuries, poverty and unemployment.
Sometimes the victors inadvertently reveal the sacrifices they were forced to endure during their years of training. Last week, shortly after winning her third Olympic gold medal, the Chinese diver Wu Minxia was told that her grandparents had died years earlier and that her mother had been diagnosed with cancer. Ms. Wu???s father explained that the family preferred to lie to his daughter all those years rather than risk harming her Olympic prospects.
???We accepted a long time ago that she doesn???t belong to us,??? the father, Wu Yuming, told a Shanghai newspaper. ???I don???t even dare think about things like enjoying family happiness.???
Like many Chinese athletes, Ms. Wu had been plucked from her family as an adolescent and sent to live at a state-financed sports academy, where training is grueling. Many athletes do not see their families for years. Last week, after Lin Qingfeng claimed a gold medal in men???s weight lifting, his father told reporters that he did not recognize his 23-year-old son, whom he had not seen for six and a half years, until he heard his name mentioned on television. ???It???s been a long time,??? Mr. Lin???s mother said, ???since he???s had a meal at home.???
Yan Qiang, a veteran sportswriter, defended China???s emphasis on winning medals, saying they have helped to unify the nation. ???We still need gold medals to boost social morale,??? he said in an interview. ???The people need it. And the athletes are willing to gamble their youth for a brighter tomorrow.???
The obsession with Olympic glory is understandable given the country???s recent history. In the first half of the 20th century, Chinese intellectuals called their nation ???the sick man of Asia,??? lamenting its failure to produce Olympic-worthy athletes. Shortly after founding the People???s Republic of China, Mao Zedong sent a delegation of 40 men and women to the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland; all but one arrived too late to compete.
In the decades that followed, China boycotted the Games to protest the participation of Taiwan, the breakaway island China still considers a province. It was not until the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., that Beijing returned to the Olympic fold.
In 1984, it won its first cache of gold medals during the Summer Games in Los Angeles. Still, in the years that followed, Chinese athletes struggled to make their mark beyond sports like pistol shooting, table tennis and badminton.
The Communist Party set out to change that in 2002, when it began Project 119, a program that uses prodigious state resources and relentless training to groom potential gold medalists in sports like swimming, gymnastics and track and field.
Dong-Jhy Hwang, a historian at the Graduate Institute of Physical Education at National Taiwan Sport University, noted that for many years China???s competitive fires were constrained by Mao, who proclaimed that during international sports events, friendship mattered more than competition.
The shift was perhaps best personified by the outburst last week of Wu Jingbiao, who sobbed uncontrollably to a Chinese camera crew and apologized for ???shaming the motherland??? after winning a silver medal in a men???s weight lifting event. A female weight lifter, 17-year-old Zhou Jun, was branded a ???national disgrace??? by a provincial newspaper after she finished in last place. (The newspaper later apologized after a firestorm of indignation raged across the Internet.)
Such episodes have persuaded a growing number of sports journalists, athletes and other Chinese that there has to be another way. ???We should treat all medalists as equal,??? said Tan Jianxiang, a sports professor at South China Normal University. ???Whatever the color, a medal is a tremendous honor.???
David Yang, a writer at Sports Illustrated China, complained that most young Chinese are singularly focused on academics and are given little opportunity to take part in sports at school. He urged the government to abandon its separate top-down factory approach and embrace a universal system of physical activity that would allow most young people to experience the joys and health benefits of athletics.
???By reforming the system,??? he said, ???we can unleash the potential of 1.3 billion Chinese to win gold medals for the state while doing something for their physical well-being.???
Ended up bottling sitting through it and instead recording it so I could fast forward the painful bits and rewind and rewatch the truly painful bits and then fell asleep before I got round to it. By all accounts it's a clusterfuck that deserves my time and attention so will sit down with something strong tonight (possibly glue) to go through it.
Mo's incredible achievements have only been slightly tainted by having to watch the obese head of Corden mugging away every time a news channel excitedly revisits where the "mo-bot" came from. Shout out to Balding once again though.
Comments
Goals by Boxx and Lloyd.
Also, the best bit of the 200m has to be the post race interview - "No English, straight patois."
His toe slipped...ouch.
Crazy talk. Beach volleyball is great, way better than the gymnasium version, imo.
It's also growing in popularity by leaps and bounds - it's not going anywhere.
only reason the gold metal team has avoided the obvious "douchebag" label so far is because they don't have dicks. otherwise they're worse than lochte.
Whom are you referring to with the above?
The whole country just erupted.
Mo mania.
I think his missus was having a go, and rightly so, at one of the officials. I was watching & you could see this arm reaching in trying usher/pull Mo along when he was talking to her, most likely towards the BBC interviewer.
Must admit I thought he was going to get beat with100m to go but he put on the jets to keep ahead in the last 30
You know. The Mo:
NBC coverage = DQ?
So many highs and lows. Enjoyed right through.
One of few games where it didn't just seem about the top 3-4 countries or the host nation. But all nations.
Great games.
Good job London. Ta
I like BMX racing too, but I'm a bit biased. I like sports with consequences. BMX racing breaks people.
Overall though, I'm could take it or leave it. Decent TV show. I do love watching people blow it on the biggest stages though, and there have been some wonderfully cruel moments. Chinese hurdlerman who can't get over the first one (two Olympics in a row), and the instant tears on some of the high jump women? Great. Love it!
NBC's been showing a lot of the stage parents in the crowds, too. Decathlete USA guy is definitely boning his mom. Crazy.
I wish I would've seen the Mexican soccer team win gold.
Opening Ceremony has been my favorite part so far. That was definitely up my alley.
The USA sprinters seem like the most unlikeable people on the planet. Why do I love it when a Jamaican announces he's the greatest ever, but cringe when a Meriman does it? Self-hatred?
Speedwalking is in the Olympic Games.
I need one of them outfits.
The Tennant one, for preference.
They're like still-hot aunties. A guilty pleasure.
There's hundred thousand young people Having a ball.
Shit has been brilliantly different from previous ceremony ish.
I'd have said 4 of the 5 still.
Fatboy Slim should be ashamed, made a right tit himself....it's been pretty weak overall, Lennon appearing was great but no doubt he was spinning in his grave shortly after when Russell Brand mimed his ass off to his own version of I Am the Walrus
Other than that, pretty good.
I would have stuck Pistols (Not that Lydon would do it) or Specials in.
NBC starts showing it on TV in about 30 mins.
Jessie J was on a lot. Fatboy Slim thing was weak. Tiny Tempah's Bentley driver nearly knocked a dancer over reversing up to that octopus. Queen were embarassing.
Tonight was what we all thought the opening ceremony would be like, so fuck on, Danny Boyle.
Mind you, I've had two bottles of wine, and have shouted at the tv for 3 hours, so not knocking the entertainment, and its a sunday, so good night, sweet dreams. Oooof.
It wasn't just the wine, man. Holy shit that was one hell of an expensive train wreck. The ONLY thing that ALMOST got me amped was the Freddy Mercury archive footage intro...I thought that it would just be him singing (kinda like hologram tupac) but that was quickly squashed by hella' fake guitar playing and some chick with a skin toned one piece doing an AWFUL cover of Queen.
Yeah that happened. Mr Bologna Man or Manny Bolone, whatever you call yourself. No surprise here to any informed person. This post won't be a gloating or boasting wallow in the obvious dominance and success of the USA Olympic team. That would be tacky. It is, however, lonely at the top. And some facts supporting the advantages of a democratic society that values both genders and gives them equal rights and the control of their reproduction unlike other states that join them too often on the medal podium is in order here. The USA sent more female athletes than male at this Olympics and the women were quite successful. So such, that if you took away the men's medals, the USA would still rank 3rd overall in medal count. Top in Golds, top in Medal count. A few less than Beijing, but a considerable decline for the former host city. China lost the bump that was given in hosting the Olympics. Great Britain, though, used that advantage to have it's best Olympic showing in a century. Awesome. Love the British, our closest Ally. The hope of the London Games was to inspire the youth of GB toward greatness now and in future Olympics.
I want to close this post by quoting an article from the NY Times about China and it's Olympic Program:
Heavy Burden on Athletes Takes Joy Away From China???s Olympic Success
By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: August 7, 2012
BEIJING ??? When Liu Xiang, China???s track and field superstar, crashed to the ground at the London Olympic Games on Tuesday after stumbling over the first hurdle in his 110-meter men???s hurdles heat, an announcer on the state broadcaster openly wept and subway riders thronging platform television screens gasped in horror.
But instead of the scorn and anger that met Mr. Liu four years ago when a similar injury to his Achilles??? tendon forced him from the Olympic stadium in Beijing just before the race began, the overwhelming majority of those using the nation???s most popular microblog site reacted with magnanimity and grace.
???I believe, I steadfastly believe that Liu Xiang is our hero,??? wrote one user on Sina Weibo. ???He was, he is, and he always will be.???
Within an hour of Mr. Liu???s dramatic tumble, millions had posted messages, most of them supportive and laudatory. If there were voices of disgust, they were directed at the Chinese government, with its rigid Soviet-style sports system and a single-minded fixation on winning gold medals.
???With this oppressive national sports system, he only had one choice ??? to win respect and hurt himself,??? one fan wrote. Another writer called the tumble ???an entire generation???s tragedy.???
By any measure, this should be a season of unvarnished celebration for China. It has pulled slightly ahead of the United States in the battle for medals, and the Games have produced a new national hero in Sun Yang, the first Chinese man to win an Olympic gold in swimming.
But in recent days, a tide of self-doubt and introspection about the human costs of China???s Olympic prowess has arisen amid worries that the nation???s draconian sports system is sometimes producing damaged goods. Floundering athletes can even be cast aside after their careers are over ??? a point driven home last year when a former gold medal gymnast was found begging on the streets of Beijing. According to the state media, 240,000 retired athletes are grappling with injuries, poverty and unemployment.
Sometimes the victors inadvertently reveal the sacrifices they were forced to endure during their years of training. Last week, shortly after winning her third Olympic gold medal, the Chinese diver Wu Minxia was told that her grandparents had died years earlier and that her mother had been diagnosed with cancer. Ms. Wu???s father explained that the family preferred to lie to his daughter all those years rather than risk harming her Olympic prospects.
???We accepted a long time ago that she doesn???t belong to us,??? the father, Wu Yuming, told a Shanghai newspaper. ???I don???t even dare think about things like enjoying family happiness.???
Like many Chinese athletes, Ms. Wu had been plucked from her family as an adolescent and sent to live at a state-financed sports academy, where training is grueling. Many athletes do not see their families for years. Last week, after Lin Qingfeng claimed a gold medal in men???s weight lifting, his father told reporters that he did not recognize his 23-year-old son, whom he had not seen for six and a half years, until he heard his name mentioned on television. ???It???s been a long time,??? Mr. Lin???s mother said, ???since he???s had a meal at home.???
Yan Qiang, a veteran sportswriter, defended China???s emphasis on winning medals, saying they have helped to unify the nation. ???We still need gold medals to boost social morale,??? he said in an interview. ???The people need it. And the athletes are willing to gamble their youth for a brighter tomorrow.???
The obsession with Olympic glory is understandable given the country???s recent history. In the first half of the 20th century, Chinese intellectuals called their nation ???the sick man of Asia,??? lamenting its failure to produce Olympic-worthy athletes. Shortly after founding the People???s Republic of China, Mao Zedong sent a delegation of 40 men and women to the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland; all but one arrived too late to compete.
In the decades that followed, China boycotted the Games to protest the participation of Taiwan, the breakaway island China still considers a province. It was not until the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., that Beijing returned to the Olympic fold.
In 1984, it won its first cache of gold medals during the Summer Games in Los Angeles. Still, in the years that followed, Chinese athletes struggled to make their mark beyond sports like pistol shooting, table tennis and badminton.
The Communist Party set out to change that in 2002, when it began Project 119, a program that uses prodigious state resources and relentless training to groom potential gold medalists in sports like swimming, gymnastics and track and field.
Dong-Jhy Hwang, a historian at the Graduate Institute of Physical Education at National Taiwan Sport University, noted that for many years China???s competitive fires were constrained by Mao, who proclaimed that during international sports events, friendship mattered more than competition.
The shift was perhaps best personified by the outburst last week of Wu Jingbiao, who sobbed uncontrollably to a Chinese camera crew and apologized for ???shaming the motherland??? after winning a silver medal in a men???s weight lifting event. A female weight lifter, 17-year-old Zhou Jun, was branded a ???national disgrace??? by a provincial newspaper after she finished in last place. (The newspaper later apologized after a firestorm of indignation raged across the Internet.)
Such episodes have persuaded a growing number of sports journalists, athletes and other Chinese that there has to be another way. ???We should treat all medalists as equal,??? said Tan Jianxiang, a sports professor at South China Normal University. ???Whatever the color, a medal is a tremendous honor.???
David Yang, a writer at Sports Illustrated China, complained that most young Chinese are singularly focused on academics and are given little opportunity to take part in sports at school. He urged the government to abandon its separate top-down factory approach and embrace a universal system of physical activity that would allow most young people to experience the joys and health benefits of athletics.
???By reforming the system,??? he said, ???we can unleash the potential of 1.3 billion Chinese to win gold medals for the state while doing something for their physical well-being.???
I would have to do the complete set. No apologies.
Mo's incredible achievements have only been slightly tainted by having to watch the obese head of Corden mugging away every time a news channel excitedly revisits where the "mo-bot" came from. Shout out to Balding once again though.