Kristen Armstrong gets gold for the USA in the Cycling Road Time Trial. Taylor Phinney (son of two Olympic medalists) gets 4th in the men's TT to match his 4th in the road race. Must be very frustrating to just miss a medal twice, but very impressive results for a 22 year old. GBR Bradley Wiggins wins the men's TT to become the first person ever to win the Tour de France and Olympic gold in the same year.

Can we stop using the term fab five? I mean congrats to them but that's a nickname that has clearly been used.

Unlike the other fab 5, this team delivered in the clutch.

Question for someone who follows men's gymnastics: how is it that the Chinese men's team was so dominant in the team competition, but they have no contenders in the individual all-around (top finisher was 30th)? Is the whole team specialized guys who are awesome in 2-3 events?

Question for someone who follows men's gymnastics: how is it that the Chinese men's team was so dominant in the team competition, but they have no contenders in the individual all-around (top finisher was 30th)? Is the whole team specialized guys who are awesome in 2-3 events?

Their qualifying score was 269, which was good for 6th place. The top 8 made the team final and get a reset on their score (for some dumb reason). In the team final, the US dropped 6 points from its first place qualifying score and China moved up 6 points from its 6th place qualifying score. So China had a bad day in qualifying for all-around and events, but had a great day on the team final day. The US was the opposite. Therefore, China isn't going to be represented as well in the individual stuff.

After the first week of the Olympics, I've come to realize the IOC is basically the same thing as the NCAA. An organization that claims to care about the integrity of the sport, but instead just prints money by taking advantage of athletes they don't have to pay. It seems like every important decision is based on what the sponsors want.

Wednesday's recap.

So you're basically just recapping what NBC showed in primetime? No mention of the cycling time trials or the basketball or soccer action?

 

 

 

Delay on weekdays makes sense.

 

Delay on weekends for something that would be 2 pm cst, does not make sense.

 

Speaking of delays...

 

Wu Minxia took gold in the 3m synchronized springboard, and in doing so became the first woman in history to win three consecutive Olympic golds. Sustained success like that comes at a price—in Wu's case, a life entirely devoted to training, cut off from the outside world.

 

After her gold, Wu's father admitted to the Shanghai Morning Post that he had been hiding some bad news from her: both her grandparents had died over a year ago, and her mother had battled breast cancer for eight years.

 

"Wu called us after her grandmother died, I gritted my teeth and told her: ‘everything's fine, there aren't any problems','' Wu's father Wu Jueming told the paper. Wu's parents found such lies were "essential'' to ensure their daughter could keep focused on her training, the Shanghai Daily said. "We never talk about family matters with our daughter,'' the father said.

 

Wu's life seems to reinforce all our worst stereotypes about the Chinese Olympic program. Now 26, Wu began attending daily diving camp at six years old. At 16, she left home to live in a government-sponsored training facility, where she rarely saw her family, didn't attend school—didn't do anything but dive, all day, over and over again for this last decade.

 

Her parents only kept up with her life by following her Weibo account, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. Said her father,

 

"We've known for years that our daughter doesn't belong to us any more."

 

Her parents even traveled to London to watch her compete at the Olympics, but either chose not to or weren't allowed to meet her until after she competed. The extent of their correspondence: a text message to let her know they had arrived safely.

 

Her mother's cancer is now in remission, but Wu's story has reportedly reignited discussion in China over the country's dogged commitment to athletics, at the expense of all else. But Wu did win her third straight gold, and China does lead the medal table, so the debate over success vs. humanity is likely to remain just that—a debate.

 

Makes NBC look like Pablo Punctuality.

 

What am I supposed to see in that gif?

What am I supposed to see in that gif?

 

Nothing. I just thought it was cool.

Nothing. I just thought it was cool.

 

It is cool

The draw for the medal round in women's soccer is set up very nicely for the US. #3, #4, #5, and #6 teams in the world all on the other half of the bracket and the #7, #9, and #23 teams on the US side (using England's ranking for GBR).

The draw for the medal round in women's soccer is set up very nicely for the US. #3, #4, #5, and #6 teams in the world all on the other half of the bracket and the #7, #9, and #23 teams on the US side (using England's ranking for GBR).

 

The Japanese coach told the team not to score against South Africa, as 2nd place in the group would let them stay in Cardiff and not be forced to travel. The problem is that once Great Britain upset Brazil, that sent Brazil to Cardiff for the quarterfinals, so the Japanese have quite the opponent to face now.

So you're basically just recapping what NBC showed in primetime? No mention of the cycling time trials or the basketball or soccer action?

 

Yep, it is only about NBC Primetime coverage. Part of the recap is how NBC is screwing the Olympics.

Gabby Douglas wins the gold in the indvidual all-around. Raisman ties for 3rd, but ends up in 4th place with no medal due to tiebreaker. Russians get the silver & bronze.

 

 

What am I supposed to see in that gif?

The best vault in the world. The push off she gets off the vault is ridiculous and then she sticks the toughest vault around.

Gabby Douglas wins the gold in the indvidual all-around. Raisman ties for 3rd, but ends up in 4th place with no medal due to tiebreaker. Russians get the silver & bronze.

 

heartbreaking for raisman. Can't believe she messed up the beam when she's looked so good on it. But fantastic news for Douglas. She was amazing and so consistent.

Nothing. I just thought it was cool.

 

The best vault in the world. The push off she gets off the vault is ridiculous and then she sticks the toughest vault around.

 

Gotcha, it was a pretty impressive vault. I think my mind has been programmed over time to expect something comical every time someone posts a .gif, lol.

Phelps gets gold, Lochte the silver in the 200 IM. I think everyone may have overreacted after the 400 IM.

Luol Deng playing like an absolute superstar against Spain.

Luol Deng playing like an absolute superstar against Spain.

26/9/8 on 50% shooting, bravo

26/9/8 on 50% shooting, bravo

It's incredible what he's been able to do as the #1 scoring option. He's the primary ballhandler and gets the attention of the entire defense and he still gets his.

Joel Freeland looked damn good too. The Trail Blazers signed him this year to make his NBA debut. He's 6'10" with shooting range and decent ball skills. He can stick in the league.

 

That was a really exciting finish, but GB didn't have enough. Their guard play isn't good enough to compete in the Olympics, but they got a lot out of the front court, even against the Gasols.

The Japanese coach told the team not to score against South Africa, as 2nd place in the group would let them stay in Cardiff and not be forced to travel. The problem is that once Great Britain upset Brazil, that sent Brazil to Cardiff for the quarterfinals, so the Japanese have quite the opponent to face now.

 

Shouldn't they get the same punishment as the Chinese, South Korean and Indonesian badminton womens' doubles teams??

 

I think that badminton actually got a lot more coverage than it ever would have because of this round robin debacle, but not for the right reasons.

 

It's a bit like table tennis, where China is so dominant but it's almost never shown on t.v., and yet, if you were China, every single match of badminton (men's and women's singles, doubles, mixed) is shown like it's the Super Bowl.

 

Feel sorry for the woman who claimed she was retiring, as she is the best in the world and her country and badminton commissions and the government are all coming down hard on her but not the coach.

 

This has happened 20 some times in international player, out of about 80-90 times, where the two Chinese teams deliberately are coached to figure out a way to avoid each other until the finals, then both teams go all out to beat each other in the end.

 

But lots of walkovers are ordered by the government when two Chinese players meet in early rounds.

Edited August 2, 201213 yr by caulfield12