All discussions related to the Olympics are here.
Please keep it that way. Similar threads will be locked.
* You can check your country's medal count using google:
type your country's name and the word "olympics" after it. Maybe other keywords will work as well, I didn't check.
Official Olympics site: http://en.beijing2008.cn
Good luck to the competitors!
Last edited by Helios on Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:30 pm; edited 2 times in total is a good idea keep it in this way, to not get several topic with same theme
i start talking about the Marathon, one of the most emblematic races of the games
some curiosities about it
1.- the actual distance 42195 meters was oficial till london 1908, and was that distance because the original rece was 42 000 but that day was raining, and the kings who want to gives the start and no get wet, so the oficial start was moved 195 meters to coincide with the balcony of the palace.
2.- Just Abebe Bikila won twice gold in 1960 running without shoes and 1964 with shoes and RDA Waldemar Cierpinski
3.- ethiopia is the most winner with 4 follow by France, and USA with 3
4.- in 1908 the italian Dorando Pietri, was arrivein to the finish inside the stadium but he take the wrong direction , when he realizes was so tired that felt down and the judges (english knowing that the second was the american John Hayes they help pietri to reach the finish lane, pietri was disqualified after hayes complained, another thing about it is that one of the judges that help pietri was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
this is for now
The opening ceremony was spectatular! Long, but great. 
I only hope the rest of the games lives up to the usual standard. Yeah openings ceremony was pretty amazing.. loved the fireworks!!
I loved the costumes in the opening ceremony! Especially the red dresses worn by the sign bearers in the parade of nations! Such beautiful red dresses!
this one ^__^
http://i38.tinypic.com/96vxp4.jpg
(cropped out of a photo from the official Olympic website) I watched the Opening Ceremony on TV last night. Directed and designed by Zhang Yimou, the OC looked amazing, facinating and spectacular! To everyone's disapointment, the programme that at the end a fire phoniex will pass the torch from Li Ning, was given up because of certain difficulties. We simply saw a role of picture spread with Li Ning running in the sky to a huge torch over the Nest.
Opening veremony was the longest and the greatest in any times.
I loved that flying sportsman with the torch... Simply amazing. Amazing!
The opening ceremony was organized greatly, it was amazing. Traditional Chinese cultural elements were shown us with a good humanistic way. The colours and lighting was also great. Actually I was concerned about the popularity of Olympics after watching empty stadiums and game arenas at Athens 2004. But it looks Beijing 2008 will be the most crowded and funniest Olympics games. I hope Republic of China checked everything, so there won't be a problem.
Olympics always make me excited especially the 100m Swimming Final. Let's watch!
Wow!!! The opening ceremony was really great!! love the designs some made by filipinos!!! they're very creative...
yes was amazing, i can see it all and live, but i see a part of it yesterday in the afternoon, and what i see was pretty spectacular, the torch is the bisggest i can remember the fireworks amazing
i think china want to surprise in every oportunity they have, just an hour in the swimingpool they have the best time in the relays wooow this cuold be the best games ever in all aspects, hope yes
yeah it was amazing. but I also needed to watch the parts on the news cause my mother wanted to watch something else 
I can't wait for the games in London 2012. I'll move to London in 2011 so maybe I'll be able to see something then. The opening ceremony was a blast!! The pyrotechnics and massive drum beats were so uplifting and brilliant! It's probably one of the best opening ceremonies ever in the history of the olympics! This is the result of two full years of preparation and hard work. The Chinese are really trying to prove themselves... and they've done it well this time. Keep it up!
Now it's time for the real sporting action...
Yea the Opening Ceremony was amazing. Really well put together. I only watched part of it, but from what I saw it looked really cool. I can only imagine how much money and work was put into it.
The man (and you know it had to be a man) who added beach volleyball is (or was) a genius. Kudos mate.
It's really cool I think. I wish all of athletes to get excellent achievement.
I missed the OC (most of it) by purpose 
Yesterday and today i had exams
But i'm gonna watch the recordings soon
I've a question for thought,
Why all the men (specially in Gymnastics/beech volleyball/athletics..) wear cloths that covers them yet all the women is so reveling and small. They wear things even smaller than normal panties 
It's to keep interest for the guys although I love watching it all. The brits seem to be doing ok so far lost the archery though and we invented it.
Well done Cookie for the womens road cycling she was class, gave it beans at the end
Female swimmers should pick up a medal
Boxers should get one
BMX should get one
Sailors should do well too
Good luck Phelpsy on 8 gold meals
Definitely won't be topped by any recent upcoming Olympics. In other countries a good bit of the pressure to be good is on the hosting city, while these Olympics seem to be truly hosted by the nation at large by the amount of effort that went into them.
The RoC has many problems and negatives, however it seems clear who is going to win the 21st century.
| Pantherus wrote: |
Good luck Phelpsy on 8 gold meals |
I just saw Phelps and the rest of his 4x100 relay team get gold. He's two for two so far. I've never been all that much into watching swimming but that race was intense. | Magicman wrote: |
| I've never been all that much into watching swimming but that race was intense. |
Yes, that race was... its amazing the Americans even pulled it off, they were behind by quite a bit after 300m. Nothing like really fast splits to end a race. .08 seconds!The French relay team had to swallow their words after getting beat by the Americans. The win was a big surprise to most. I'm glad they pulled it off.
I find it hard to believe that China is allowed to host the olympics given what a brutal dictatorship the country is.
I mean what are they thinking?
China: "We have literally millions of people living in poverty, we are slowly destroying tibet, we dont allow chinese people to know what's happening outside China, we do our best to not let non chinese people know what's happening in China, let's showcase an extravagant slurry of athletic ability costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars!!!!"
Rest of the world: "Yay go China, we love you! *whispers 'can you please leave tibet alone'*"
China: "No"
Rest of the world: "Ok thats cool, forget we even asked!!! I'm totally digging the fireworks!"
Tibet: "......."
Does anyone else think along these lines?
How many watch olympic opens? It was so beautiful to watch.
| middle_fingers wrote: |
I find it hard to believe that China is allowed to host the olympics given what a brutal dictatorship the country is.
I mean what are they thinking?
China: "We have literally millions of people living in poverty, we are slowly destroying tibet, we dont allow chinese people to know what's happening outside China, we do our best to not let non chinese people know what's happening in China, let's showcase an extravagant slurry of athletic ability costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars!!!!"
Rest of the world: "Yay go China, we love you! *whispers 'can you please leave tibet alone'*"
China: "No"
Rest of the world: "Ok thats cool, forget we even asked!!! I'm totally digging the fireworks!"
Tibet: "......."
Does anyone else think along these lines? |
Didn't you know? The IOC is crooked. It's all about money these days.Aussies all teh way
SUpport Green and Gold!
Okay, so I'm a little behind, but I have actually been watching the Olympics, and...
I first want to say how unique the architecture is in China. I mean, just look at two of the main buildings the Olympics take place at: Bird Nest and Water Cube. Those two buildings are just amazing to look at! I heard that during the night, if you are inside the Water Cube, it makes you feel like you're underwater.
Secondly, Phelps is one hell of an athlete. He's a freak. He's one of those people that just has to win. He sets high goals for himself (8 gold medals), and busts his ass to reach them. Sure, he might not get 8 gold medals, but that's a lofty goal to put out there. All I know is that he has two already; six more to go.
The team race was great too. I am so happy France got beat. But don't get me wrong. I do not have anything against France or anyone that is French. I do have a problem with people running their mouth saying how they are going to "crush America." Well, the looks on their faces when they lost the race was priceless. Don't run your mouth; you may end up looking like a fool!
Well it was a good amazing spectacular opening ceremony
olympic great fireworks display the crowd and the people around the world watching or Witnessing the best opening ever in asean hosting in olympic. first i would like give my respect to the people of china and to Congratulate .our team philippines did not catch the gold in the olympic games i dnt know what happend to our Athletes but we are proud that we have Athletes to compete this big event. just imagine 69 million filipino people in our country only 15 players to compete the olympic,
i dnt rteally know what happend to our Philippine sport commision. gudluck to our team philippines.
Ya, that swim relay was just something else. I don't even watch swimming but I was glued to the TV for that one.....good sports is good sports and that one was dramatic. Especially after the 'trash talk' going on by the French team. I was always taught that you don't talk trash, and if you just have to, you had better wait until you actually WIN! Because if you talk to soon and then don't win, you end up looking like a fool. Which is pretty much what happened. Especially funny was the fact that the very guy who said that they would 'crush the Americans' is the one who lost the big lead on the anchor leg. Wow, talk about eating your words. There is just a ton of fun stuff to watch. My favorite is basketball as I love the
international style of play. It looks like the Americans are finally learning that they should run an offense and pass instead of going one on one every time (although they still revert to that more than the other teams.) I also like the beach volleyball, that's another coll sport for TV.....fast paced and quite the athletes. I actually have been DVR'ing a bunch of stuff and watching it. And our local NBC affiliate got HD the DAY BEFORE the Olympics so I have been able to watch it in HD too, which is very cool.
I know, I heard that........sad thing didn't see it.
Well.....i missed the whole opening ceremony. And from many people I heard that it was really really great. Any one know, where can I find the whole video for opening ceremony. I mean, do they have schadule to shaw again on tv or anything like that. I tried to search on google or youtube. But non of them were able to provide with full video of ceremony. I shaw some pictures and some small small videos. But non of them are as impressive. I mean I heard it was really great perfomance and there ware amazing fireworks. I have heard they spent so much money on it. From some picture you can tell it must be wonderful opening ceremony.
Can any one give me where can I find the whole video for opening ceremony.
Hi all. Not a fan of fireworks and quite frankly the opening ceremony lasted far too long for me. Was watching the BBC coverage and first was annoyed because they dont have that much football or basketball, yet the more i thought about it the more it makes sense not only for them to show British athletes but alos to show the marginal sports. I can watch football and basketball during the season. So i have been happily tuning into badminton (their reflexes and speed are amazing). i have tuned in to a little tennis but overall, i think i'll give the major sports a miss and watch swimming.
The stadiums are pretty nice too. The opening ceremony was absolutely crazy. I really enjoyed it. I hope they try and top that in london in 4 years, i might just go and watch it.
So far, to me America is not the best. In all the events I saw, they lost. But I here there like winning, so I'm pretty proud. GO AMERICA! 
| xaogo wrote: |
| The opening ceremony was absolutely crazy. I really enjoyed it. I hope they try and top that in london in 4 years, i might just go and watch it. |
yes i agree the chinease really can make it happen if you know what i mean 
I'm still waiting for my country to win its first medal for Olympics 2008. I hope it's going to be soon. I'll settle for a bronze than nothing at all.
Have you heard the latest news? (about the opening)
The little girl was on play-back, because the one who can sing that good wasn't so pretty. And some fireworks where computer-made.
My ISP has some peering problems, so I can't see some sites, but... http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Beijing+fake&btnG=Search the opening ceremony was quite amazing. Chine has spent lots of money on that...
| reb00table wrote: |
Have you heard the latest news? (about the opening)
The little girl was on play-back, because the one who can sing that good wasn't so pretty. And some fireworks where computer-made.
My ISP has some peering problems, so I can't see some sites, but... http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Beijing+fake&btnG=Search |
can you please write in detail......the ceremony of the games was amazing,
chinese are creative, if given a proper reason, they can achieve anything we can imaging.
I really dont know why newyork times gave a pic of smoky sky of the stadium to show the ceremony.
Can anybody of you tell me why??
[quote="frih"] | reb00table wrote: |
Have you heard the latest news? (about the opening)
The little girl was on play-back, because the one who can sing that good wasn't so pretty. And some fireworks where computer-made.
My ISP has some peering problems, so I can't see some sites, but... http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Beijing+fake&btnG=Search |
If that is the case, you know you are wrong. China has over 1.3billion people, to pick out a girl who can sing well and is beautiful is easy,do you think so . It's really awesome on the opening ceremony. I wonder if my country can get the 1st gold ever in olympics. My hope on Malaysian Badminton player Lee Chong Wei can bring the 1st ever gold for Malaysia in olympics. However, good luck for all athlethes competing at beijing 2008. All the best to you guys..
Yeah, I had heard about the lip synching girl and how some of the fireworks were digitally done.
But I really have to comment on this. Last night my wife and I were watching the women's team gymnastics. Is China serious with that one? Who do they think they're fooling? AT LEAST two of those girls barely looked like they were 14, which would make them inelligble to compete. It kind of takes away from the credibility of China and all of its athletes competing in the Olympics. So when these kids actually become of age to compete in the Olympics, are they suddenly going to gain two years so they can stop the cover up? Just curious...
Yeah, and I know they provided their "official" passports to prove their "real" age, but in an authoritarian country, it is very easy to alter such things because the government has control of all the paperwork.
I know we were not the only ones to notice this...what does everyone else think?
| roxys_art wrote: |
Yeah, I had heard about the lip synching girl and how some of the fireworks were digitally done.
But I really have to comment on this. Last night my wife and I were watching the women's team gymnastics. Is China serious with that one? Who do they think they're fooling? AT LEAST two of those girls barely looked like they were 14, which would make them inelligble to compete. It kind of takes away from the credibility of China and all of its athletes competing in the Olympics. So when these kids actually become of age to compete in the Olympics, are they suddenly going to gain two years so they can stop the cover up? Just curious...
Yeah, and I know they provided their "official" passports to prove their "real" age, but in an authoritarian country, it is very easy to alter such things because the government has control of all the paperwork.
I know we were not the only ones to notice this...what does everyone else think? |
I think they were young regardless, however, due to the small stature of most Chinese, that could be contributing to the fact that they appear young. I still don't think they were younger then 14.
And to think, those girls have been in training since China learned the Olympics would be there this year, 8 years of training for one event, crazy. I wonder if we will see them in the next Olympics.
The Chinese were good, extremely good, gymnasts. They deserved the gold last night, and they got it. Even if Alicia Sacramone hadn't taken those two falls, the Chinese still would have taken the gold.
Congrats to the Chinese on their double win in the Gymnastics event.The Chinese did great; especially the men. Both the Japanese and Chinese teams (men) were like little machines. At some points, I almost was surprised to see them make even the slightest mistake.
Yeah, they may have been 14, but not any older than that. In fact, earlier this year one of the girls was listed as being 14 in the official records. Now, less than a year later, she is suddenly 16. They must have some crazy aging over there in China.
Now, I'm not just complaining because the U.S. didn't win, but if the shoe were on the other foot and U.S. was using underaged people for the competition, everyone would be having a stroke. In my opinion, it takes away from the Chinese win because they weren't following the rules. Sure the age rule may not make sense, but that's not the issue here. It's a rule, and the other teams are following it (at least the U.S. is and a majority of others I'm sure), so the Chinese should have to as well.
If the Chinese are willing to put underaged girls into competition, which goes against the rules, then what other rules have they ignored for the sake of winning? No one will probably ever know...
While the ceremony was a beautiful sight, not all of it coming into our televisions were not actually there. Most of the pictures seen were digitally enchanted. Not only that, the little girl "signing" was not actually real either. The girl signing, who was not seen due to her teeth being crooked, was prerecorded and played at the Olympic Ceremony, therefore the girl you saw was actually lip signing.
| Yahoo! Sports wrote: |
Yang Peiyi, a 7-year-old with bright eyes and a smile made crooked by the stubs of her first grown-up teeth, was heard by an audience estimated in the billions during Friday night’s ceremony, singing “Ode to the Motherland.”
But they never saw her face. |
Although, the little girl you heard had no hurt feelings, she thought it was fine. Officials say that the Chinese wanted a "flawless" execution.
View the full article here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-china-lip-synchedsong&prov=ap&type=lgns
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/12/oly.kids/index.html?eref=yahoo I wonder how many more things are going to come out that were fakes at the opening ceremony... I dont know if I am dissapointed or actually more impressed with the footsteps not being real fireworks... the computer graphic stuff taking a whole year to do is really quite impressive in itself.
The little singing girl... that was a bit harsh... the other girl wasnt ugly or anything... but sure the one that milli vanilli'ed it was, indeed cuter...
Those crazy Chinese eh?
USA all the way. We need to bring back more gold for the empire.
If only there was a British Empire team...
We would have 8 golds, 9 silvers, and 10 bronze, putting us at #3 in the medal table i hope South Africa does well! Natalie du Toit really is amazing. She came to our school once and gave a talk to us. Was really inspiring.
The opening ceremony was also really awesome. Being a pianist myself, it was so great seeing Lang Lang playing there!
| middle_fingers wrote: |
I find it hard to believe that China is allowed to host the olympics given what a brutal dictatorship the country is.
I mean what are they thinking?
China: "We have literally millions of people living in poverty, we are slowly destroying tibet, we dont allow chinese people to know what's happening outside China, we do our best to not let non chinese people know what's happening in China, let's showcase an extravagant slurry of athletic ability costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars!!!!"
Rest of the world: "Yay go China, we love you! *whispers 'can you please leave tibet alone'*"
China: "No"
Rest of the world: "Ok thats cool, forget we even asked!!! I'm totally digging the fireworks!"
Tibet: "......."
Does anyone else think along these lines? |
Problem is, most people outside of China don't know what's good happening in China either and I'm not referring to the Olympics or any grand event. People watch a single report from a journalist who visited one small village and they go "Oh China is poor. China sucks. This is what you get when you become Communist. The leader of China is a dictator." when what they say is absolutely unjustified.
The Tibet issue is highly debatable. Simply because the Tibetians started rioting doesn't really mean they are right. The main thing is both sides suffered casualties. This is an internal affair and all the biased and unjustified views from people who think they know what's happening, just because they watched an equally biased news report, but don't aren't helping either. I can find many videos from BBC, CNN that say that China's CCTV hasn't reported on the incident at all when in actual fact, there were many news reports about it within China as well. Now I'm not saying that China's media isn't biased. In fact, every media is biased. However, the western media has gone too far regarding this matter. Now I don't want to argue with someone over this issue because I'm absolutely sick of it.
The main point is that every country has its problems. But having these problems doesn't mean it's not qualified to host an international event such as the Olympics. The USA and many other countries do have secrets that the government doesn't want to reveal as well. It's all politics and whether the government is Communist or Republican or Democratic doesn't matter. All every politician wants to do is to simply do what benefits his/her country.Beijing China displayed a marvelous, magnificent opening ceremony of the much awaited 2008 Olympics! it's interestingly enough to see those ancient chinese artworks done by the chinese people.
They're great! Amazing
Totally bowled over by Michael Phelps' performances in swimming. Wow! 6 golds so far. That is pretty awesome! Looks as though he is doing it almost effortlessly. He seems to be so much centred and controlled in his performances. It is almost as though he already knows he will be winning before he dives in as well as exactly how he will be doing it lap for lap
is michael phelps a god?? 
6 gold medals i wanna be like him or is it just drougs? I'm from Singapore, and Mediacorp (my country's local broadcast) uploads the activities live on the internet. If you want the link, you can get it from me.
The opening ceremony was breath-taking! It was so spectacular! The activities, the amount of people and the timing, it was so coordinated, to the extent that you can’t believe it! When I looked at the performance, it was amazing: There are more than 2000 performers, and everyone has an earphone. Just imagine the number of radios needed.
Michael Phelps got his 7th medal already, and his goal is 8 goals! He’s not very far from his target already…
My country’s table tennis is in the finals!! It’s so amazing, and took a lot of us by surprised. It had been 48 years ever since we got a medal. The last time they got it was during the 1960 Olympic. The person got a sliver for weightlifting.
There had also been a lot of records, World Records and Olympic Records. Swimming is one of them, as it’s one of the sports I watch.
It appears the Chinese government falsified ages on passports for womens gymnastics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/olympics/27gymnasts.html
| Quote: |
In Chinese newspaper profiles this year, He was listed as 14, too young for the Beijing Games.
The Times found two online records of official registration lists of Chinese gymnasts that list He’s birthday as Jan. 1, 1994, which would make her 14. A 2007 national registry of Chinese gymnasts — now blocked in China but viewable through Google cache — shows He’s age as “1994.1.1.”
Another registration list that is unblocked, dated Jan. 27, 2006, and regarding an “intercity” competition in Chengdu, China, also lists He’s birthday as Jan. 1, 1994. That date differs by two years from the birth date of Jan. 1, 1992, listed on He’s passport, which was issued Feb. 14, 2008.
There has been considerable talk about the ages of Chinese gymnasts on Web sites devoted to the sport. And there has been frequent editing of He’s Wikipedia entry, although it could not be determined by whom. One paragraph that discusses the controversy of her age kept disappearing and reappearing on He’s entry. As of Friday, a different version of the paragraph had been restored to the page.
The other gymnast, Jiang, is listed on her passport — issued March 2, 2006 — as having been born on Nov. 1, 1991, which would make her 16 and thus eligible to compete at the Beijing Games.
A different birth date, indicating Jiang is not yet 15, appears on a list of junior competitors from the Zhejiang Province sports administration. The list of athletes includes national identification card numbers into which birth dates are embedded. Jiang’s national card number as it appears on this list shows her birth date as Oct. 1, 1993, which indicates that she will turn 15 in the fall, and would thus be ineligible to compete in the Beijing Games.
Zhang Hongliang, an official with the Chinese gymnastics federation, said Friday that perhaps Chinese reporters and provincial sports authorities made mistakes in listing He’s and Jiang’s birth dates differently from the dates given on their passports.
“The two athletes have attended international sports competitions before, and I’m sure the information is correct,” Zhang said of the athletes’ passports.
Yang Yun of China won individual and team bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and later said in an interview on state-run television that she had been 14 at the time of those Games. A Hunan Province sports administration report also said later that she had been 14 when she competed in Sydney.
Bela Karolyi, who coached Retton of the United States and Nadia Comaneci of Romania to their Olympic gold-medal triumphs, said the problem of under-age gymnasts had been around for years. Age is an easy thing to alter in an authoritarian country, he said, because the government has such strict control of official paperwork.
He recalled Kim Gwang Suk, a North Korean gymnast who showed up at the 1991 world championships with two missing front teeth. Karolyi, who said he thought Kim must have been younger than 11 at the time, and others contended that those front teeth had been baby teeth and that permanent teeth had not yet replaced them. Her coaches said she had lost them years before, during an accident on the uneven bars.
At those world championships, Kim was 4 feet 4 inches and about 62 pounds, and she claimed to be 16. At one point, the North Korean Gymnastics Federation listed her at 15 for three straight years; the federation was later barred from the 1993 world championships for falsifying ages.
“Oh, come on, she was just in diapers and everyone could see that, just like some of the Chinese girls are now,” Karolyi said. “If you look close, you can see they still have their baby teeth. Little tiny teeth!”
But it is not likely that anyone could prove that the Chinese gymnasts are under age, Karolyi said.
“It’s literally impossible,” he said. “The paperwork is changed just too good. In a country like that, they’re experts at it. Nothing new.”
|
Hi, I'm a Canadian working as a volunteer in Beijing for the Canadian Olympic team. We've been 7 days without winning any medals. What a shame for such a big country!! Now the moral is getting higher because yesterday night, the 16th Carol Huynh won the gold medal in wrestling. Lets go Canada!!!! One gold is not enough!
Not so good about so of the elements of the fake opening ceremony. Also the intense security in the streets etc.
I hope London does it better. Go Australia- 4th on the medal count now.
Michael Phelps has done it. He has 8 gold medals.
http://www.kansascity.com/449/story/752482.html Three Indians - Vijender, Jitender and Akhil have made it to the quarter finals of Boxing. I have huge hopes on these three to get a medal each, hoping for Gold though. Come on guys!!!
yup!! greatest Olympian ever. what a man!! Just amazing... he deserves every bit of recognition he is getting right now. Cheers Phelps!! Yeah, Micheal Phelps won 8 gold medals, the highest number of golds a competitor had won in a single Olympics games. The previous record holder was Mark Spitz, who had won 7 swimming gold medals in Munich 1972. This is like cool, especially the fact that by exceeding Spitz's record, Phelps will be receiving a 1 million bonus reward... and a whole lot of endorsements waiting for him...
On top of that, he also made the record of the highest total Olympics gold in a competitor's entire sports career - 14 golds. His total number of 16 medals (Gold + Silver + Bronze) is also the highest for a male competitor. Gymnast Larysa Latynina, a female, currently held 18 total medals. Very impressive.
Source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080817/tts-oly-2008-swim-usa-phelps-c1b2fc3.html
However, he does have a scandal to dig... =X Since at that time he did admit his mistake, I guess I'll just leave a link and keep quiet about it... http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200411/s1239676.htm 17th August - Great 2 days for the Brits. Being an ex-pat it's given me something to shout about in the local
| xavax wrote: |
The opening ceremony was spectatular! Long, but great.
I only hope the rest of the games lives up to the usual standard. |
yea the opening ceremony was nice.. i hear the next olympics could be in here | xaogo wrote: |
| The opening ceremony was absolutely crazy. I really enjoyed it. I hope they try and top that in london in 4 years, i might just go and watch it. |
its gonna be in london?.. i dont think london can top that.. the chinese really put alot of thought into the ceremonyHow sad we didnt get any medals from the olympic what happen to our team philippines huhuhu . do you think london can bit china in the fireworks display?hehehe
| middle_fingers wrote: |
I find it hard to believe that China is allowed to host the olympics given what a brutal dictatorship the country is.
I mean what are they thinking?
China: "We have literally millions of people living in poverty, we are slowly destroying tibet, we dont allow chinese people to know what's happening outside China, we do our best to not let non chinese people know what's happening in China, let's showcase an extravagant slurry of athletic ability costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars!!!!"
Rest of the world: "Yay go China, we love you! *whispers 'can you please leave tibet alone'*"
China: "No"
Rest of the world: "Ok thats cool, forget we even asked!!! I'm totally digging the fireworks!"
Tibet: "......."
Does anyone else think along these lines? |
I think anyone 'in the know' does.
I have a friend married to a Tibetan and he hates the fact that China has the Olympics and feels a bit betrayed by 'the powers that be' that they've been allowed to have them considering their abuse of human rights to their own people and the Tibetans. My friend, (his wife) has pointed out the silver lining in this - People are talking about it! The Olympics have given the Tibetans the best publicity they could hope for as they weren't getting any before.
Cheers
Ollydamm ,
michael phelps is super swimmer !!
He holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics ...
whats the deal with soccer at the olympics. I almost feel like i could qualify and i don't even play. its not worth it
Hi all...
i'm very dissapointed today since my badminton idol lost to China's star in gold Medal Match in Olympics yesterday..Our country had high expectation on him to win our fiarst ever gold medal in olympics, however we have to wait another 4 years... wohoo, i'm so proud to be a Jamaican
Usain Bolt winning the 100m and also breaking the world record and also for the girls team lead by Shelly-Ann Fraser that came 1st and the other 2 girls tied for 2nd. First time ever that it has happened in Olympic history for the female 100m.
First time for Jamaica also to get a gold in the 100meter male and female events. Looking forward to the upcoming 200m finals coming up Hello we are playing te semi finals of the socer tournement we need all the support we can get (we havent won anny medails yet so if we get in to the finel we wil be verry happy they start at 12.00 u so pleas send out your good vibes
kind regards Steven
I was rather surprised to find the brits so far up the medal table. Then i realized that the rowing, sailing and cycling had passed already. Now come the events which other countries actually train for. We're shafted.
Beijing Olympics game offers possibility for The big democraty, to win a lot of golden medal and to proove that democratic value produce also big champions.
I'm on the same thinking as you Houdney, i was surprised to see we'd won like 16 gold medals, when last time i checked it was 8, then my gf told me it was all in those sports. But you're right, now, we are done for. Back down we go lol.
U-S-A! U-S-A!
Michael Phelps is a beast. I don't know how you can be 15 and swim in the Olympics. He beat out people who worked their whole life to make it, if you stop and think about it.
Now, 8 years later, in the '08 Olympics, he wins 8 Gold Medals and sets 8 World Records!
Ironic...
Usain Bolt from Jamaica is the new world record holder on 200 meters.
The old one was 19.32 and 12 years old. The new record is 19.30 and a great time 
| Peterssidan wrote: |
Usain Bolt from Jamaica is the new world record holder on 200 meters.
The old one was 19.32 and 12 years old. The new record is 19.30 and a great time |
Yeah today was a great day for us, Usain Bolt winning the 200m with also the new world record of 19.30 and also Melaine Walker won the womens 400m for Jamaica and also set a new world record of 52.67 seconds.
Yay! time to celebrate!! | mk12327 wrote: |
Yeah, Micheal Phelps won 8 gold medals, the highest number of golds a competitor had won in a single Olympics games. The previous record holder was Mark Spitz, who had won 7 swimming gold medals in Munich 1972. This is like cool, especially the fact that by exceeding Spitz's record, Phelps will be receiving a 1 million bonus reward... and a whole lot of endorsements waiting for him...
On top of that, he also made the record of the highest total Olympics gold in a competitor's entire sports career - 14 golds. His total number of 16 medals (Gold + Silver + Bronze) is also the highest for a male competitor. Gymnast Larysa Latynina, a female, currently held 18 total medals. Very impressive.
Source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080817/tts-oly-2008-swim-usa-phelps-c1b2fc3.html
However, he does have a scandal to dig... =X Since at that time he did admit his mistake, I guess I'll just leave a link and keep quiet about it... http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200411/s1239676.htm |
Got goose pimples about this. Particularly since this guy is so absolutely unpretentious, natural, and easy going. Good stuff!by now our country got one gold and one bronze...hmm more to come
China is mopping up! I've heard they train most of their athletes vigorously from childhood to be outstanding in whatever their sport may be. Also, psychologically they are trained to accept anything less than gold as failure. I'm not sure how much of that is true, but it would explain their incredible medal count.
Also, they fact that they have the most people to choose from probably helps.
| mk12327 wrote: |
Yeah, Micheal Phelps won 8 gold medals, the highest number of golds a competitor had won in a single Olympics games. The previous record holder was Mark Spitz, who had won 7 swimming gold medals in Munich 1972. This is like cool, especially the fact that by exceeding Spitz's record, Phelps will be receiving a 1 million bonus reward... and a whole lot of endorsements waiting for him...
On top of that, he also made the record of the highest total Olympics gold in a competitor's entire sports career - 14 golds. His total number of 16 medals (Gold + Silver + Bronze) is also the highest for a male competitor. Gymnast Larysa Latynina, a female, currently held 18 total medals. Very impressive.
Source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080817/tts-oly-2008-swim-usa-phelps-c1b2fc3.html
However, he does have a scandal to dig... =X Since at that time he did admit his mistake, I guess I'll just leave a link and keep quiet about it... http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200411/s1239676.htm |
That 'mistake' is from '04. I'm sure most people probably already forgot about it.China is giving tough fight in Olympic. Us is doing great in Beijing. It is clear that there is tough competition between China and US. China is also doing great compare to their performance in all previous Olympic. I mean so far they have won 83 medals. Their highest were 63 in last Olympic. The probably can't beat US. Bust they have done batter otherwise. And definitely they have more gold than US. And we don't know who is going to be first yet. China still have chances as 3 more days are left. It was tough for US to but they have done really amazing winning already, 90 medals. Having such tough competition not bad at all…!!!! And the main reason is Michael Phelps. Hey all of us know it is Michael Phelps who won 8 gold medal highest Gold medal in one Olympic a person have won. US is proud of Michael Phelps.
i love watching all these my favorite is the USA team of course
Has anyone heard about the Chinese gymnasts being underage? Apparently they found documents online that show them as 14, which is 2 years too young to compete.
woehoe finaly we have a 4X silver 4x 100m womman
Sweet 16? Really?
Here's some recent news about the reportedly underaged Chinese gymnastic competitors. I doubt anything will change, because it seems China has already covered their tracks. It's a shame they have to cheat to win, but hey, it wouldn't matter how old the Chinese are....or whether they fall on their landings. Hell, they could probably go out there and lay and get perfect scores. That's why I hate such subjective sports as gymnastics.
Ehh, I am annoyed. I really like the Olympics and enjoy watching it, but I hate the way some events gets scored.
For example the Gymnastics scoring, I just don't understand how you can get more points than someone when you fall off the bars and not complete your go than someone who doesnt fall off... It just doesn't seem right to me... 
And the sync diving was a bit like that aswell, they can get more points for just going in straight and not making a big splash than people being more synced but making a bit more of a splash...
ya,surely the olympic's opening ceremony was surely a scene to be watched though reports of fake fireworks display came
Chinese gymnasts are being investigated...
They do look underage, but then again, I know some Asians that are veeery small and they're in high school.
YEAAAAA
Belgium has its firts silver medal
well don kim gevaert
My Country this year got 3 medals this year..
One gold and two bronze...
we still have a long way to go...
| Insanity wrote: |
| Has anyone heard about the Chinese gymnasts being underage? Apparently they found documents online that show them as 14, which is 2 years too young to compete. |
read about it in news, X rays is one of the sure-shot ways to determine age..
there are apprantly three gymnasts which are under questions
you can read more abt it at
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ioBQ2j2sFcW33htq2_b1IW77O2EAFinally the 49'er medal race was settled, and Denmark got the gold medal it deserved... Sorry Spain, but bureaucracy is just poorly fitted to determine who was the winner of a competition... Well I'm danish, and if I wasn't I would probably have a totally different opinion though:)
Wow, what a men's marathon. It was pretty hot and a fast pace. Even set the Olympic record.
Yea so i figured i would just jump right into this. Being a swimmer myself of coarse i watched it. Jason Lazak totaly kicked ass in the mens 4x100 relay. The mens 4x200 relay we just kicked ass in and left everyone else in the wake. The 100 fly was intense and it scared me a bit at first. Micheal Phelps was a good swimmer back in Sydney and Athens and this now just showed how much he kicks ass and 8 medals is awesome.
Ok now on to beach Volley ball. I watched Misty May and her partner kick ass. They were amazing. It really was a cool sport to watch. I was a little nervous when they almost didn't win that one set when they kept playing the set point and it was like 25 to 27 at the end.
Sync diving was also cool to watch. The Chines kicked ass in that. They had great style and good synchronization.
I watched a bit of ping pong and that kind of was bouring.
The womens and mens gymnastics was good also. Good job to the mens on getting Bronze. And Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luken on getting 1st and 2nd in the individual.
always thought that sweden could have won some mo medals
china 51.......
I don't understand why USA track runners don't put their hand over thir heart during the USA national anthem.
It is quite amazing that Michael Phelps won ALL his gold medals...
and that the US is ahead of even China by medal count
I know I'm from the U.S. but the stakes just seem so much higher for the Chinese athletes--if they win, the world is open to them, but if they don't, the world is closed. They were learning ONLY their sport in their special schools and it would be sad if they don't make a gold.
| middle_fingers wrote: |
I find it hard to believe that China is allowed to host the olympics given what a brutal dictatorship the country is.
I mean what are they thinking?
China: "We have literally millions of people living in poverty, we are slowly destroying tibet, we dont allow chinese people to know what's happening outside China, we do our best to not let non chinese people know what's happening in China, let's showcase an extravagant slurry of athletic ability costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars!!!!"
Rest of the world: "Yay go China, we love you! *whispers 'can you please leave tibet alone'*"
China: "No"
Rest of the world: "Ok thats cool, forget we even asked!!! I'm totally digging the fireworks!"
Tibet: "......."
Does anyone else think along these lines? |
funny lines , if it meant to be funny. But China showed the Europeans (and rest) how it's done.
BTW here is an Olimpic quiz.
Where were these sports originated?
Volleyball
Table Tennis
I bet you can't guess even in your wildest dreams :p
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Volleyball -> USA
Table Tennis -> Englandi got an email with pictures showing a weightlifter broke his arm on his attempt. has anyone saw it? it's not that i like horrible stuff but surely every event is a live record, right? i cant search it on youtube since i'm in a uni right now. i'd love to see the vids if i can.
Have you got a good dream?ÃÎÐÑʱ·Ö£¬Ï´ÎÔÙÏà»á~ 
Thank God it's over. I hate the olympics... no matter which country is hosting it! 
Anyone watch the equestrian events? That's all I'd tune in for, but not paying for TV at the moment... What I really liked was the closing ceremony. I always wonder how they fit som many fireworks in that tiny stadium.
i never watch the opening or closing from the start, just waited for the fireworks. How do they fit so many fireworks, it's not such a small stadium after all, it's quite big actually. i saw it in discovery channel.
The netherlands did pretty well didnt they:$
the opening ceremony was amazing. i am very glad to have had the oppurtunity to have watched it.
micheal phelps! (BEIJING, August 27) -- BOCOG President Liu Qi urged staff members to go all out and undergo meticulous preparations for the Beijing Paralympics to make them just as splendid as the Beijing Olympic Games.
He made these remarks at a mobilization meeting in Beijing on Tuesday, August 26, 11 days prior to the Paralympic Games.
Liu said staff members need to be encouraged by the success of the Beijing Olympic Games and should work hard to carry out various tasks in the transition period between the Olympics and Paralympics, including the Paralympic torch relay, the Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and the reception of members of the Paralympic Family and security and media services, with an aim at excellence and at satisfying the international community, athletes from around the world, and people with disabilities. Liu, who is also member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), hoped that the role of the venue teams and volunteers would be brought into full play.
Representatives of the Chinese Paralympic delegation, the operation team of the Paralympic Village, and teams of international relations, security, communications and volunteers spoke at the meeting.
The meeting was chaired by BOCOG Vice-President Liu Yandong, who is a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a state councilor. BOCOG Vice-President Chen Zhili, who is vice-chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; BOCOG Executive President Deng Pufang, who is vice-president of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; BOCOG Executive President Liu Peng, who is minister of General Administration of Sport; and BOCOG Executive President Guo Jinlong, who is mayor of Beijing, also attended the meeting.
i think this guy is a bit cocky cause he took chicken nuggets before his race and in the last five metres of the 100m he jogs it and still gets a world record...hes a good sprinter but if he tried i bet he could easily break the 9.5sec barrier
Well now that the Beijing Olympics of 2008 are over its time for us all to get more sleep. It was so hard to go to sleep early without missing some of the action. It truly was a good year, full of culture growth. Until next year, in london! 2012 yeah!
I was only able to watch the end of the closing ceremonies, but I heard that it was amazing! Wasn't there a huge tower in the middle that girls danced around? What I really liked was the end of the NBC coverage. There was a slideshow that depicted some amazing sights of the Olympics and China in general. There was the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, videos of joyful of athletes winning (I really enjoyed Micheal Phelps celebrating Lezak's comeback), and pictures of athletes in agony after losing. Overall, it was a great production by NBC. I think that you can see it at www.nbcolympics.com. 
I had a question,
What does Olympics represent?
In my opinion it represents the overall progress of the civilization.
China wins the Olympics, not just because they have huge population, but also their civilization is greater than others.
Look at the top 10 countries in the medal tally, they are one of the most richest and prosperous nations.
So, Hurray........China...and USA, Brithain, Netherlands.
One day, we will catch up.
Total 110 medals of USA! Yay!
China next after that!
A country right below China:
http://www.wavemag.com.np/issue/article733.html i am chinese ,i am very happy because your like this olympics in beijing.although the Olympic flame extinguished but the falme in heart of china don't extinguished. welcome to china. yahoo!! we could manage a gold medal and another bronze one! Let us see, what happens next time..
i never usually watch the opening ceremony... but i have to admit, those drummers were really good!! it was crazy watching them all in sync and when they turned out the lights the drum sticks glowed
No other country will ever beable to top that
I don't think a host country will be able to beat China for a very long time, if at all. They spend massive amount of funds and resources in planning and implementing the games. Not only that, but they haul a lot of gold medals as well.
I thought they did a fine job.
i loved seeing the US basketball team beat the hell out of everyone else
o and michael phelps is a beast
It was interesting to see that in the history of olymipics in the modern era, first time a country other than germany, USA or Russia (formerly USSR) topped and this is well deserved China. The way they have developed in last few decades is spectacular and well observed. They really started to show thier power in 2000 when they stood third pushing germany down of the first three positions. In Athens 2004, they became second and this time at last they are first.
So do you think there was some thing special because they were at home. Will they be able to do the same in london in 2012.
Thousands of Jamaicans braved heavy rain Monday to give triple Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt a rapturous welcome home.
Fans lined roads leading from the Norman Manley International airport to the heart of New Kingston to cheer Bolt, who electrified the Beijing Games with his 100m-200m sprint double and 4x100m relay triumph - all in world record times.
Bolt, 22, arrived from London shortly before 2pm and was mobbed by fans, mostly airport workers who abandoned their posts to get a glimpse of him.
More official greeters, including Prime Minister Bruce Golding, were pushed aside in the rush to welcome the athlete.
Members of the throng banged on the sides and trunk of the bright red BMW convertible that was provided by one of Bolt's local sponsors to show their appreciation, while reporters and photographers scrambled for good vantage points.
A motorcade of at least 15 vehicles wound its way from the airport to a New Kingston hotel, where a welcome reception was held.
I, unfortunately, didn't get to see the opening ceremony. Heard it was really great. I've been looking for somewhere to view it online so if someone finds something, please tell me where it is. Just leave a comment on my site with the info. Thanks.
Has anyone been watching the Paralympics? There are some awesome athletes in there. There is not enough coverage on tv though. Britain is doing really well.
You can say these words thirty years ago . Now China is not it used to be . China is not a perfect country and the government is dictatorship I think , but you know few about China because your Country don't allow you to know what's happening outside your country especially China , arn't you ? China is not so bad as you description . Just look up more information about China .
| middle_fingers wrote: |
I find it hard to believe that China is allowed to host the olympics given what a brutal dictatorship the country is.
I mean what are they thinking?
China: "We have literally millions of people living in poverty, we are slowly destroying tibet, we dont allow chinese people to know what's happening outside China, we do our best to not let non chinese people know what's happening in China, let's showcase an extravagant slurry of athletic ability costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars!!!!"
Rest of the world: "Yay go China, we love you! *whispers 'can you please leave tibet alone'*"
China: "No"
Rest of the world: "Ok thats cool, forget we even asked!!! I'm totally digging the fireworks!"
Tibet: "......."
Does anyone else think along these lines? |
i hate olympics xD i like gisnastic girls
FOR FUN
Congratulations china ! Beautiful event ! the better qualitty in organization, social and +
I don't care much for sports
Looking forward to the opening ceremony. I don't think anything untoward would happen with all the security precautions. But the over-controlling government might spoil the games in terms of media coverage and security harassment. I read they have volunteers with red arm bands patrolling the streets on the look out for suspicious activity.
__________________
albertjames
Lifetime ads There were a lotta epic moments. Overall pretty awesome olympics.
Awesome olympics, but now pekings industries will go on and bring the smoke and dirt back, like it was before olympics Did they postpone any of the public executions in order to make room for the Olympics? At least they now have huge stadiums that they can kill people in. I still don't support the Olymipcs being in China, but I have to give it to them, they pulled it off.
I just saw the opening and closing ceremonies, they really went all out, it was AMAZING...
not sure I would want to follow that act
yeahh the opening ceremony of Beiging Olympics is really gr8. i've seen most of the part of it . The ceremony starts with the fireworks and the whole sports village having a grq replica of fireworks. The ceremony moves on with a fantastic painting art of China and its fully bring in the Bird's Nest and the whole theme moves on around that art.
Here's an interesting read on capital punishment in China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China
I do think it's cool that they will hold even high offices accountable and subject to capital punishment. Now i didn't read the whole 5 pages,
but did anyone else appreciated the glimpse of George W. Bush right after they showed the Iraqi team?!
i hope the camera-man didn't get fired, or worse shot, because he's a proper legend for doing what he did! good suggestion, pls keep to visit to support China
Basketball no question! I was seriously rooting for Team USA a.k.a Dream Team but they kinda stuck up but i still support em. Also love da aussie boomers (frorm Aus) and like Lithuanian bball theam Llol!
Proud of China! Shout of Peace from Chinese are on the top of world!
Wonder if the games signal the end of China being viewed in a negative light by most people certain developed countries. I have a feeling China was reborn.
I agree that the opening ceremony was far too long. Very over the top... but then again... It is the olympics.
Portugal has made a bad prestation...
What a great Olympics the Chinese put on. Despite this or that difference, I would love to visit this country some day. I hope we will continue to be friends with the Chinese. Go Bejing!!!!!
| consultant57 wrote: |
| What a great Olympics the Chinese put on. Despite this or that difference, I would love to visit this country some day. I hope we will continue to be friends with the Chinese. Go Bejing!!!!! |
Indeed! Same here!
I miss the olympics haha! It makes me surprised that this topic is still at the top of the page :sits gonna be in london?.. i dont think london can top that.. the chinese really put alot of thought into the ceremony
I watched the Opening Ceremony on TV last night. Directed and designed by Zhang Yimou, the OC looked amazing, facinating and spectacular! To everyone's disapointment, the programme that at the end a fire phoniex will pass the torch from Li Ning, was given up because of certain difficulties. We simply saw a role of picture spread with Li Ning running in the sky to a huge torch over the Nest.
Beijing Olympic 2008 is over,but it is really very great. Gread Chinese.
shame that London ran out of cash for the next olympics. the plans where all very good but then they all got short of cash and had to cut so much out of the original plans. | joomla wrote: |
| shame that London ran out of cash for the next olympics. the plans where all very good but then they all got short of cash and had to cut so much out of the original plans. |
It does not have to be a bad thing. Huge Opening and closing ceremonies are a waste of money that could have been used in much better ways. I think London could make as good olympic games as China. In my opinion the most important is that the competitions are good and correct. | xavax wrote: |
The opening ceremony was spectatular! Long, but great.
I only hope the rest of the games lives up to the usual standard. |
That opening ceromony took ages i nearly fell asleep halfway through | kingpurple wrote: |
| xavax wrote: | The opening ceremony was spectatular! Long, but great.
I only hope the rest of the games lives up to the usual standard. |
That opening ceromony took ages i nearly fell asleep halfway through |
talking about falling asleep. Me and my family was at vacation in Spain and arrived the same morning that the opening ceremony was. I hadn't slept for the whole night so I was extremely tired. I slept from time to time so I missed a lot of the ceremony but I can remember some small parts of it.Yeah, as a Chinese, I am really proud of it.
I noticed that some one cares about how much it cost. Well, I don't know the exact sum. But you know most of the actors are volunteers.
And I have downloaded a full OC recorded by BBC. I can say I will keep it forever.
Well India finally managed to get the first ever individual gold medal. so this olympic was special
The best part of the Olympics i would say was the para-Olympics. Its a whole lot interesting compared to the normal games. This is my opinion.
Best
Hari
the Olympics are always so much fun to watch! i especially like the gymnasts. i can't believe some of the stuff they can do with their bodies! its so cool to watch! everything else is good too! i think it is great to give great athletes all over the world recognition
i watched the olypics every day in germany
it was really interesting
