The Official Olympic Games 2008 thread

[Duality]

Gymnastics is an all round sport. You have to be the best at everything to be the best. Swimming is different... obviously.

ok you're going to have to elaborate your point here. this doesn't say much.

[Skeptic]

*sigh* i really dont want to get into a deep conversation with you.

Gymnastics was started as a competition of physical strength skill and agility on ALLLLLLLLL the events. Swimming was started as swimmers swimming the individual events. PRetty sure the medelly was the last race to come to fruition? i think?

[Pickle]

libby trickett and liesel jones are the same person... i swear to god ey

nah because liesel jones has a terrible shoulder structure and libby tricket is as big as turkish...





id hit libby tricket :carduindisguise

[Skeptic]

id hit libby tricket :carduindisguise

[tim290280]

you can't honestly be saying thorpe is better than phelps. i don't care where you're from, you must give phelps his due.

It is a valid argument. Thorpe contested the hardest events with the most outstanding competition in it. He didn't line up for several events he usually had a couple. He qualified to compete in the 50, 100, 200 and 400m freestyle and only contested two. There was no doubt at the time that he would have won three of those 4 (50m was anyone's). That's without any of the relay's which are kinda an excuse to give away medals.

I do admire Phelps though, as he is taking a wide range of medley distances and doing well. Would not be an easy ask to perform well in so many events.

however one thing that really irritates me is NBC proclaiming phelps the greatest olympian ever. why? because of his medal count? that's absurd. the fact that a swimmer can even win what like 9 medals in a a single olympics lessens the meaning of those medals. a gymnast who is the best in the world can win no more than 2 medals in a given olympics, and that's only if he/she is the best on their team so they can compete in the individual all around. i'd like to see them give all olympians who compete in major events such as gymnastics the oppurtunity to win that many medals. if you can win a gold silver or bronze for the 200m, 400m, 200m relay, etc in swimming, they should award gold silver and bronze for the best on the balance beam, pommel horse, still rings, floor, etc. and not make it an "all around" medal, even though a medal earned in this form means far more than the medals they award for everything in the swimming events.

i'm american and support the US team, but i don't think phelps is anywhere near the greatest olympian ever just because of his medal count. greatest swimmer, yes.

/rant

Completely agree. Some events you have the chance to compete for one medal after performing many events. Heptathlon, Decathlon, gymnastics, weightlifting, etc are all given one medal and yet they have to master far more skills. I'm sure that if you gave out a medal for each event in the decathlon it would also get more coverage than any swim meet, as one guy could bring home 10 medals.

[Pickle]

^ lets start a petetion to get rid of all swimming strokes outside of freestyle to reduce the ammount of swimming medals plus boredom. Perhaps some field like swimming events could be incorparated instead. Like when we were kids and mum would throw the fluro stick into the water and we would race to get it that should be an olympic sport.

On a serious note tho. The coolest thing about swimming in a pool used to be to see how far you could swim underwater without taking a breathe why isnt underwater swimming an olympic sport?

[chadcruz]

you can't honestly be saying thorpe is better than phelps. i don't care where you're from, you must give phelps his due.



however one thing that really irritates me is NBC proclaiming phelps the greatest olympian ever. why? because of his medal count? that's absurd. the fact that a swimmer can even win what like 9 medals in a a single olympics lessens the meaning of those medals. a gymnast who is the best in the world can win no more than 2 medals in a given olympics, and that's only if he/she is the best on their team so they can compete in the individual all around. i'd like to see them give all olympians who compete in major events such as gymnastics the oppurtunity to win that many medals. if you can win a gold silver or bronze for the 200m, 400m, 200m relay, etc in swimming, they should award gold silver and bronze for the best on the balance beam, pommel horse, still rings, floor, etc. and not make it an "all around" medal, even though a medal earned in this form means far more than the medals they award for everything in the swimming events.

i'm american and support the US team, but i don't think phelps is anywhere near the greatest olympian ever just because of his medal count. greatest swimmer, yes.

/rant

If that statement is true "NBC proclaiming Phelps to the be greatest Olympian ever" then why on earth are they not showing his final swims live in the USA? and instead showing "Access Hollywood"? Is it simply because the American public dont give a shit about it?
I find this extremely strange, especially considering NBC insisted on the swimming finals to take place AM Beijing time so that the finals would coincide with prime time US tv viewing.

[Tonyk212000]

^ The reason they font show it live is because they air it when it is more convenient to everyone in the U.S.A

[Duality]

If that statement is true "NBC proclaiming Phelps to the be greatest Olympian ever" then why on earth are they not showing his final swims live in the USA? and instead showing "Access Hollywood"? Is it simply because the American public dont give a shit about it?
I find this extremely strange, especially considering NBC insisted on the swimming finals to take place AM Beijing time so that the finals would coincide with prime time US tv viewing.

dude i have no idea whay you're talking about. all i have is NBC's main channel (4) and they've broadcasted every one of phelps's events. i don't even have cable and i've been able to watch them all. you must have your times or something wrong because they are definately being broadcasted.


and i'm pretty sure that when it's nightfall where i live (primetime for viewing) it's the morning in china. so that would make sense that they would want the events to be done in the AM in china.

[Skeptic]

aussie womens 4x200m freestyle team just fuckin owned EVERYONE and the world record by like 5 seconds.

[Pickle]

^ gold medal outta nowhere !

[Skeptic]

[Skeptic]

emoticon fail

[Pickle]

shame its only our women getting us gold in the pool. Skeptic tim go jump in the pool.

[Skeptic]

im keen if you are tim

[tim290280]

im keen if you are tim

I swim like a well designed brick. I'd be good at sinking and that is about it.

On a serious note tho. The coolest thing about swimming in a pool used to be to see how far you could swim underwater without taking a breathe why isnt underwater swimming an olympic sport?

That used to be called backstroke. They banned swimming underwater for too long as the swimmers were hyperventilating prior to the race and then would pass out underwater. They had a few people drown at a world event and banned it. Fortunately no one died.

[Skeptic]

awwww... that hurts tim :keke:

[El Freako]

It is a valid argument. Thorpe contested the hardest events with the most outstanding competition in it. He didn't line up for several events he usually had a couple. He qualified to compete in the 50, 100, 200 and 400m freestyle and only contested two. There was no doubt at the time that he would have won three of those 4 (50m was anyone's). That's without any of the relay's which are kinda an excuse to give away medals.

I do admire Phelps though, as he is taking a wide range of medley distances and doing well. Would not be an easy ask to perform well in so many events.

Another thing you have to consider about Thorpe is that he pretty much dominated his event from the age of 15/16 until what was effectively his retirement in 2004 at the age of 21. It makes you wonder how much further he could have gone considering another of our Olympic swimming greats, Kieren Perkins, competed until he was 28, only just being usurped in his pet event by newcomer Grant Hackett.

I'm not trying to take anything away from Phelps though, the man is a freak!