2008 Olympic Thread

[DiamondDust]

Since I don't know where to post this, I'm going to post it on this board.

Just wanted to get an Olympic thread going after watching the American men absolutely MOW DOWN the French men in the 4X100 swimming relays. France had a monster lead on the last leg and lost it in the end. America got the gold!

 

[UAEngineer113]

I was just looking for where this was posted.

That was absolutely amazing! I was screaming at my TV and he pulled it off! What a comeback! I'm still in shock!

 

[CrimsonSEC]

LOL, I just came in looking for a thread to post about it. Now that's what the Olympics are all about. Fastest relay leg in history to come back to beat that loud mouthed frog, makes it that much sweeter. What a race!

 

[DiamondDust]

I must also say it was nice to see the Team USA put down China like they did this morning. They looked very sharp.

 

[Jack Bourbon]

All the 12-year-old-girl-gymnastics-failure-and-crying depresses me.

 

[CrimsonCT]

Hoff's loss was pretty disheartening, but the relay brought my spirits back up. Best one I've ever seen.

 

[CrimsonSEC]

I must also say it was nice to see the Team USA put down China like they did this morning. They looked very sharp.

I agree, that was nice to see. But that comes more under the heading of a win that should be a win and easy to predict. Although you couldn't prove it by the last couple of Olympics.

But this race tonight wasn't foreseen to turn out this way by anybody....except maybe the four men in the pool. The French were heavy favorites, which made it easy for Bernard to say "We will smash them" when asked about the Americans. People that know swimming are already saying that this was the greatest relay race in history (even better than the Australian performance in 2000). We broke the world record by 4 seconds and even the 4th and 5th place teams who have never medaled in the event came in under the previous world record. Jason Lezak’s performance made it possible to keep Phelps chance for 8 gold alive.

 

[DiamondDust]

I agree, that was nice to see. But that comes more under the heading of a win that should be a win and easy to predict. Although you couldn't prove it by the last couple of Olympics.

But this race tonight wasn't foreseen to turn out this way by anybody....except maybe the four men in the pool. The French were heavy favorites, which made it easy for Bernard to say "We will smash them" when asked about the Americans. People that know swimming are already saying that this was the greatest relay race in history (even better than the Australian performance in 2000). We broke the world record by 4 seconds and even the 4th and 5th place teams who have never medaled in the event came in under the previous world record. Jason Lezak’s performance made it possible to keep Phelps chance for 8 gold alive.

Agreed about the record time. Setting a record is one thing, but smashing it by close to 4 whole seconds is something else.

 

[CrimsonCT]

The French were heavy favorites, which made it easy for Bernard to say "We will smash them" when asked about the Americans.

"Going to smash the Americans? Au Contraire, mon amie!"

 

[DiamondDust]

I know very little about competitive swimming, but was there something happening in that race that made the "track", so to speak, that fast as to allow 5 teams to race at under the previous world record time?

 

[UAEngineer113]

I know very little about competitive swimming, but was there something happening in that race that made the "track", so to speak, that fast as to allow 5 teams to race at under the previous world record time?

A few weeks ago during qualifying, the commentators were talking about the new swimsuits by Speedo being the fastest ever. I'm sure that has something do to with it.

 

[bamanut_aj]

glad to see a thread on this.....we were going nuts!!

 

[Bamaro]

Am I the only one that thinks many swimming matches look like a Monty Python skit? If they handled track the same way we would have 3 legged sack races.:eek2:

 

[im4datide]

Last nights relay was incredible...I was hollering at the TV during the last 50m of the race...HAHA to the French...thats what you get for running your mouth!

 

[Bama Reb]

I was watching on the news this morning where the Chinese have banned the serving of "traditional" foods at the Olympics. Hmmm... It makes me wonder what kind of food the Chinese people are eating and now calling "traditional". Whatever it is, it must be so secretive that the Chinese officials don't want the rest of the world to even see, much less taste. :eek2: uke:

 

[bayoutider]

I was watching on the news this morning where the Chinese have banned the serving of "traditional" foods at the Olympics. Hmmm... It makes me wonder what kind of food the Chinese people are eating and now calling "traditional". Whatever it is, it must be so secretive that the Chinese officials don't want the rest of the world to even see, much less taste. :eek2: uke:

Traditional Chinese cuisine uses the whole animal, fish or fowl except the fur and feathers, yes they do eat the fins and scales. Chinese will also eat chicken feet, chicken heads, fish livers, pig organs, and a few things dried in the sun or buried then dug up to eat later I won't mention. There are several separate cuisines all different but each has what they call delicacies us Westerners shy away from.

 

[BAMAFAN IN NY]

I know very little about competitive swimming, but was there something happening in that race that made the "track", so to speak, that fast as to allow 5 teams to race at under the previous world record time?

The design of the pool has a lot to do with it too

The Beijing pool has been engineered for greatness. Rumored to have cost $200 million, the Water Cube is a liquid temple in which heaviness has no place. Its very walls are ethereal, made of a translucent plastic that's only .008 of an inch thick. Though its design has simultaneously drawn raves for innovation and criticism that it's "not Chinese enough," among swimmers and coaches the verdict is in: "I've looked at the specs," says Bowman. "The venue is spectacular. It is very, very fast."

LINK


And the suit.

The zenith came in February: Speedo's LZR Racer. To call this a swimsuit is to call the Space Shuttle a plane. Designed with input from NASA, fluid dynamics engineers, the avant-garde Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo of the fashion label Comme des Garçons, not to mention Phelps and Bowman, its arrival rocked the swimming world. Technological doping and unfair advantage were among the responses to its core-stabilizing, vibration-reducing polyurethane compression panels. "What we're finding is that swimmers who've worn the suit have dropped two percent off their best times," Bowman says. "Which is an enormous amount." Since its release, 48 world records have been set in the LZR. And when U.S. coach Mark Schubert predicted that any swimmer not wearing it "may end up at home watching on NBC," rival companies scrambled to create similar designs, and to stave off mutiny among their swimmers, none of whom intend to leave 2% in the locker room.

LINK

 

[DzynKingRTR]

I am still waiting for dodgeball to become an olympic event.

 

[DiamondDust]

I am still waiting for dodgeball to become an olympic event.

Might have to settle for team handball, which I'm oddly looking forward to watching.

 

[DiamondDust]

Phelps just SMOKED the field and crushed another record by taking gold in the 200.