The Official 2012 London Olympics Backlash Thread

[Douglas]

by the way, is there no more steeplechase? I usually enjoy watching that but either i just missed it or it's gone; and now that i'm typing it i thought i remembered something about them nixing it. track guys, help me out?

 

[Lord-Barrington]



I always have to wonder about these athletic uberchildren. Agassi/Graf - if that kid can't slug the **** out of a tennis ball....
...the American decathlete who won gold (can't recall his name) is engaged to a Canadian heptathlete (seems sort of odd that they don't let chicks do 10 events) who placed, IIRC, something like 7th at these Olympics. That should be a competitive kid. And isn't the Ross in Sanya Richards Ross an NFL cornerback?

If they have a male kid John Calipari will be waiting outside the prenatal ward with papers for him to commit to UK as a basketball player.

If I was a top athlete I would retire at the top of my game and then go out to stud, charging people for the right to use my sperm.

 

[Douglas]

oh another dumb question - do they really actually "rotate" in real volleyball? i thought that was just something you did in grade school so everyone got a chance. they kept mentioning rotations in the men's final, which was a ******* sight to see let me tell you, but it still always seemed like guys were in their usual positions, and i mean, they have actual "positions" like outside hitter and setter and stuff, right? am i the only one who's confused?

 

[HRoi]



And isn't the Ross in Sanya Richards Ross an NFL cornerback?

Aaron Ross, Giants cornerback (i think he plays for a different team now)

there's some precedent to this - Kobe Bryant is the son of an NBA player, and there are a hundred MLB players whose dads played in the league too. genetic potential + good nutrition + wealthier upbringing + being exposed to sports at the highest level at an early age + usually hypercompetitive parent = perfect situation

 

[LawrenceMD]



If they have a male kid John Calipari will be waiting outside the prenatal ward with papers for him to commit to UK as a basketball player.
If I was a top athlete I would retire at the top of my game and then go out to stud, charging people for the right to use my sperm.

isn't that what 95% of Canadian NHL players do anyway?

 

[HRoi]

aaand...on the other end of the spectrum, this is why the Chinese probably will out-medal us next Olympics. it's amazing how many American families are willing to take serious financial hardship for their kids to even sniff the Olympics, and with the economy going in the *******, less of them will.

contrast that with the big red (and yellow) machine - government funded sports programs + not particularly focusing on extraneous things like human rights = top of the podium

 

[acidboy]



by the way, is there no more steeplechase? I usually enjoy watching that but either i just missed it or it's gone; and now that i'm typing it i thought i remembered something about them nixing it. track guys, help me out?

I saw a couple of steeplechase qualifiers on tv.

 

[Lord-Barrington]



aaand...on the other end of the spectrum, this is why the Chinese probably will out-medal us next Olympics. it's amazing how many American families are willing to take serious financial hardship for their kids to even sniff the Olympics, and with the economy going in the *******, less of them will.
contrast that with the big red (and yellow) machine - government funded sports programs + not particularly focusing on extraneous things like human rights = top of the podium

I doubt China will ever outmedal the US in a summer Olympics. The apex of their centrally organized, state funded, drug fueled (in some cases), and strategically planned medal rush was Beijing and they still couldn't dislodge the US in total medals.

To win the total medal count you need a good showing in the pool and in track. Those are two areas that the Chinese will only become competitive in if they start a wide-scale juicing program (which isn't out of the question, I might add...).

 

[fwiffo]

Well last time China counted the number of gold medals rather than total medals but this year the US has them beat on total and gold. It just goes to show that host countries always pour money into their Olympics programs a few games before they are due to host. I reckon Britain will fall off the radar by the next decade. Look at Australia.

 

[HRoi]



I doubt China will ever outmedal the US in a summer Olympics. The apex of their centrally organized, state funded, drug fueled (in some cases), and strategically planned medal rush was Beijing and they still couldn't dislodge the US in total medals.
To win the total medal count you need a good showing in the pool and in track. Those are two areas that the Chinese will only become competitive in if they start a wide-scale juicing program (which isn't out of the question, I might add...).

I think they're closer than you think. China already has come close by dominating a few sports - badminton, table tennis, gymnastics, diving and I may forget a sport or two. I agree with you that two sports that could swing the balance are track and swimming, and it's hard to break the American stranglehold on those two. however the Chinese are already making inroads in swimming.

so they really just need to put a shitload of money and genetic engineering in the high medal count, wide open sports like judo, wrestling, taekwondo and boxing and I think they can win the medal counts easily.

also, America's Olympic success depends on kids growing up wanting to be Michael Phelps or Gabby Douglas or Carl Lewis, and their parents basically devoting all their time and financial resources in the pursuit of that dream. I just don't see that continuing at the same levels with our economy being how it is.

 

[munchausen]

Anything with a bunch of weight classes is prime territory for the chinese. They already do pretty damn good in the lower weight classes for weightlifting.

 

[eg1]



I think they're closer than you think. China already has come close by dominating a few sports - badminton, table tennis, gymnastics, diving and I may forget a sport or two. I agree with you that two sports that could swing the balance are track and swimming, and it's hard to break the American stranglehold on those two. however the Chinese are already making inroads in swimming.
so they really just need to put a shitload of money and genetic engineering in the high medal count, wide open sports like judo, wrestling, taekwondo and boxing and I think they can win the medal counts easily.
also, America's Olympic success depends on kids growing up wanting to be Michael Phelps or Gabby Douglas or Carl Lewis, and their parents basically devoting all their time and financial resources in the pursuit of that dream. I just don't see that continuing at the same levels with our economy being how it is.

Ultimately a lot of this is decided by which sports are/are not included, eh? Whoever controls that process has a lot to say about which nations will succeed best.

 

[eg1]

Heh, nothing quite like the natural sourness of the Brits to take the whole Olympics worship thing down a peg or two, eh?

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...eware-the-great-big-olympics-lie-8031869.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...ry-makes-nation-great-just-remember-USSR.html

 

[Douglas]

I was actually about to express a similar sentiment.

It's nice that the US wins a lot of medals, but I fundamentally reject the notion that it's somehow in anyone's public interest to foster more gold medal winning. Some people have expressed, in this thread, sentiments such as disappointment over the men's track team, but such sentiments are pretty much completely alien to me.

 

[NorCal]



aaand...on the other end of the spectrum, this is why the Chinese probably will out-medal us next Olympics. it's amazing how many American families are willing to take serious financial hardship for their kids to even sniff the Olympics, and with the economy going in the *******, less of them will.
contrast that with the big red (and yellow) machine - government funded sports programs + not particularly focusing on extraneous things like human rights = top of the podium

Whatever. We've been on the top of the medal count for 100 years. China can take it's fringe sports and stick them in its kiester. ******* baddmiton. If that **** swells a billion yellow hearts they're welcome to it.