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The Beijing Olympics Thread

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ether

I did find it annoying once the US team entered the stadium during the opening ceremony, the camera always seemed to find Kobe Bryant or one of the other basketball players.

And seriously, did what's her face have to ask Lesak how he felt about being a part of Phelps' legacy should he win the 8 golds? I find her interviews shallow and really annoying...

/rant

Aug 14, 08 10:34 am  · 
 · 
sharkswithlasers

WonderK -- did you happen to see the 4th place finisher in the womens road race.... Jeannie Longo (France)... she's medal-ed every year since 1992... i believe that in two months, she'll be 50 years old!

Aug 14, 08 10:48 am  · 
 · 
chupacabra

"I find her interviews shallow and really annoying..."


Umm, it is NBC Sports...not Charlie Rose.

Aug 14, 08 11:13 am  · 
 · 
cou2

Sameold - I have seen a lot of good sportsmanship among the US athletes (as well as most of the other countries). Look at the US swimmers response to the French insults. They just let their actions speak for themselves instead of insulting the French back. In swimming last night the Bernard and Lezak shook hands.

How about the men's all around gymnastics? The athletes from different countries (including the US and China) were high-fiving each other and congratulating one other during the competition. It was nice to see.

It is only natural that the media here covers the US athletes more than the others. Just like the Massachusetts NBC station in my area covers local athletes from the Mass area. Most people want to have a little more time spent on athletes from their communities than those on the other side of the world. I'm sure the media in China focuses more on the Chinese athletes than foreign ones - and this is probably true of most countries.

Aug 14, 08 11:17 am  · 
 · 
ether

thanks chump, i'll make sure i'm watching the right station next time.

Aug 14, 08 11:22 am  · 
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cou2

Sameold, I have seen a lot of good sportsmanship on the part of the US athletes. Just look at how the US swimmers handled the French insults to their team. Instead of insult the French back, they just let their actions speak for themselves. Yesterday the French swimmer Bernard and the US swimmer Lezak shook hands and made-up.

How about the men's all around gymnastics last night? The athletes from different countries (including the US and China) were high-fiving and congratulating each other throughout the competition. It was nice to see.

It is only natural for the the US media to cover athletes from the US. Just like the local Massachusetts NBC station in my area spends a little more time on local athletes. People want to see a little more time spent on athletes from their communities than those on the other side of the world speaking. And people in the US want to see more time spent on US athletes (generally speaking). However, NBC does spend some time on foreign athletes and teams, just not as much. I'm sure China and most other countries cover their athletes in more detail than those from other countries.

Aug 14, 08 11:38 am  · 
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lletdownl

did anyone see this add run in a Spanish newspaper?

Its an image of the Spanish basketball team all making the 'slant eyes' face...

i dont really care about this but im just BLOWN AWAY that this is an ADD run in a NATIONAL PAPER!!!

can you just imagine if a candid picture of Kobe Bryant at a friends party showed up and he was making a similar face. IT WOULD BE EVERYWHERE... now imagine if the entire team made that face for an image which was to be run in USA Today or something...


holy god... major major shit would go down... someone would be hard core mega sued, and we wouldnt hear the end of it for years...

Aug 14, 08 12:01 pm  · 
 · 
WonderK

KURT, I did see that, and as soon as the women's time trial got underway, I was like, "hmmm. I can't dive or fence or ride a horse - but I can ride a bike! I'm going to start training for time trial!!!" Loved it, inspiring. Kristin Armstrong, the gold medalist, is actually 35 years old. Good for her!

lletdownl, isn't that amazing? That picture is horrible. Not too bright on the part of the Spanish team, but thus far the only response I've seen is "oh those crazy Spaniards..." WTF?

Aug 14, 08 12:29 pm  · 
 · 
****melt

lletdownl - well that's a bit disturbing to see.

Seriously sameold - I agree with most here. I think they've been doing good a good job showing some of the other countries teams. We live here in AMERICA. The TV stations are marketing themselves to the average AMERICAN Joe. Of course they are going to have an emphasis on highlighting the AMERICANS. DUH!

I just wish they showed more of the less popular sports, but I understand, they are showing the events they know are going to get the viewers.

DubK - That medals map/graph is dreamy ;o)

Aug 14, 08 12:36 pm  · 
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sameolddoctor

guys i was in Hong Kong a few days before, and guess what, even they DO NOT wax praise on the chinese team. Ditto in the UK. Ditto in India. Ditto in Australia.

As i said this is the only international event, and what does the US media do? cover Phelps all the fucking time. Why, because he is American.

Godammnit, dont we see US sports (nascar included) all the time? for once, for 17 days in the year they can show some international sports and not be the big bullies in the arena.

Yes i am normally cool(er) headed, but this just makes me sick. Really it all ties back to the 'Im the coolest fucker here' phenomenon, as described by Lewis Black.

Aug 14, 08 7:24 pm  · 
 · 
Emilio

Geez, sameold, so the Olympics are about national bragadoccio...so what else is new? I haven't seen much difference in the US coverage from the past 3 or 4 olympics. And other national media are also heavy on news of that country's athletes and on the sports they favor (think you might see more cycling, fencing, and soccer on Italian TV?...a rethorical question). But yes, the US media could get the gold on that kind of stuff.

Here's my rants: I really don't give a shit where the female swimmer fell in love with the male whatever, enough with the sappy crap...I couldn't care less about beach volleyball, but they won't fucking stop showing it on prime time choice broadcast hour...I know female gymnasts are traditionally young, but gimme a break with the Chinese girls; how about they just take them out of the cradle and bring them into the arena?...and finally, are we ever going to see the Chinese sky at all?

I'm mostly watching online, so I can pick which sports to follow.

Aug 14, 08 7:44 pm  · 
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sameolddoctor

which website?

Aug 14, 08 7:55 pm  · 
 · 
Emilio
www.nbcolympics.com
Aug 14, 08 8:01 pm  · 
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Synergy

I don't think it is about US bragadoccio at all, the coverage is focused on the competitors that are likely to medal, many of whom happen to be US competitors. Yang Wei was covered heavily last night in the Men's Gymnastic All Around competition.

Sameold, previously you complained about US fans questioning the age of Chinese Gymnasts as being unsportsmanlike, and now you complain about how the Chinese team shouldn't have praised waxed on them. So which is it? you are being logically inconsistent.

As for the fluff stories, I actually think they are a bit of a necessary evil, it would not be interesting to watch race after race after race without pause for some sort of commentary about the athletes. It just becomes of a list of foreign names streaming, and I'm sure you can imagine that if the events were presented in that way it would become very tiring after awhile. I'll agree the romantic entanglement story was a little racier than we've come to expect, but it involved multiple athletes in the same event, so I guess it had some legs.

Aug 14, 08 8:11 pm  · 
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Emilio

Oh, come one, Synergy, the US coverage is wildly partisan...and has more than a hint of outrageous patriotism behind it. There's a lot of damn medals being handed out, not just in beach volleyball, gymnastics, and swimming: the US media focuses on the sports we're good at and likely to win...and as I said above, so does every other country to some degree or other...why can't we just be honest about it and move on?

Aug 14, 08 8:36 pm  · 
 · 
Synergy

My point wasn't that the media doesn't have patriotism for the US, of course it does, my point was that the coverage isn't based on bragging, it is based on showing the US people sports they want to see and then discussing the top competitors, teams, and interesting stories.

For example, several hours of last nights prime time coverage were devoted to the Men's Individual All Around Gymnastics, which the US had little chance of winning in, and virtually no chance of winning the gold in, while at the same time we could have been watching a female US Skeet shooting champion (Kim Rhode) going for her third career gold medal (she lost and won silver). We, as an audience, apparently prefer watching gymnastics to skeet shooting, regardless of who is likely to win.

Also, please keep in mind the schedules of these things, if the goal is to play "live" sports during our prime time, I believe Volleyball is one of the only sports going on so early in the morning. Personally, I find it fantastically boring.

Anyways, I'm tired of discussing this, You've made your point and I can appreciate where you are coming from, and I hope I've made mine.

Let's get back to something fun and enthusiastic.

What sports are you all looking forward to that are yet to come?

I'm looking forward to track and field, particularly the Long Jump, which I've always really liked since my dad first told me the story of Bob Beamon

Aug 14, 08 9:03 pm  · 
 · 
****melt

#6 Gold and WR. Bob Costas remarked the whole Phelps thing as being "Just Ridiculous". HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Aug 14, 08 10:58 pm  · 
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vado retro

bob costas is theeee defenition of limpdweebass...

Aug 14, 08 11:03 pm  · 
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****melt

HI VADO!!!

Aug 14, 08 11:15 pm  · 
 · 
n_

Bob Costa defies aging.

Aug 14, 08 11:28 pm  · 
 · 
Synergy

Anybody watching he gymnastics tonight? What is going on with the judging?

Aug 15, 08 12:27 am  · 
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WonderK

Goddammit! I go out for one night and I miss a romantic entanglement story? Who, what, where, what country?

I think I've caught up on the important medal events, and the big winners of the day. I honestly do not understand how they scored Nastia in the high bars vs. Shawn. Their scores were wildly different but their routines both looked flawless which leads me to believe that Nastia must have had a much higher start score, which then leads me to believe that i know nothing about gymnastics because I couldn't tell why hers was so much harder.

Clearly I should not care that much because IT'S ALMOST 2:30 IN THE MORNING AND I'M STILL WATCHING THE OLYMPICS. I think I have a problem.

Aug 15, 08 5:15 am  · 
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vado retro

i think its unfair that some events have so many opportunities for medals. i mean look at swimming theres the 100 200 400 m of every stroke plus the relays. whereas basketball has one medal.
basketball has many more potential medal events for example,,,

individual dunking
synchronized dunking
three point shooting
one on one half court
three on three half court
horse
synchronized horse

there i just created seven new events!

Aug 15, 08 9:17 am  · 
 · 
lletdownl

i was wondering last night as i walked home from the train...
could i win a gold medal?

now, clearly the event i would medal in does not exist. so there is first the matter of creating an event which perfectly suits my natural ability. But even if there were an event i could compete in, could i ever be good enough at anything to be the best in the world at it? Though, yes, there are 6 billion people on the planet... there are theoretically an infinite number of events. Is it possible that each person has one thing they can do better than any other person on earth?
Could i win the gold in thumb flicking (i can flick my thumb so fast my eyes cant trace its movement... its like magic... first its folded, cocked back with my index finger, then, all of a sudden, its extended)?

Aug 15, 08 9:45 am  · 
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WonderK

Synchronized dunking! Brilliant!

Aug 15, 08 1:20 pm  · 
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Emilio

Yes, Synergy, definitely based on sports the US audience wants to see, and that's fine. But I wonder if, instead of showing interminable waits for scores between performances and gymnasts taping their ankles (I almost gave up on watching at one point last night), NBC couldn't cut away and show some of the skeet shooting event or other ones. People won't begin to admire other sports if they aren't shown them.
Bragging I think is the wrong word on my part, but I think the patriotism or fervor for one's country is a key element of the Olympics and even more so of the soccer World Cup. Yea, you will jump and cheer for Phelps and the US basketball team, but nothing comes close to the visceral sensation of rooting for a team that represents your nation in the most popular sport in the world. It's a physical and emotional experience that gives you goose bumps and makes you cry. The only time I've actually, physically experienced it in the US is when the US hockey team beat the USSR at Lake Placid - I watched that in a group and it was incredible.

Anyway, enough of that. I'm looking forward to the track events too. I really like the track cycling events, but I will probably have to see those online.

And yes, Nastia was grossly underscored, particularly on that perfect vault, and that's not just me saying that...but she won anyway, good for her.

Aug 15, 08 4:15 pm  · 
 · 
"The Co-op Guy"

I like the water cube, its sweeet. I would like to swim in a building like that.. anybody know the architect? Or how about the rubber band ball stadium?

Aug 15, 08 4:23 pm  · 
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Synergy

Good call on lake Placid, It was before my time, but my father (an Alum of the University of Minnesota, where Herb Brooks was coach before coaching the Olympic squad) always talks about how it was the biggest game and ment so much to him. I thought the film Miracle told the story really well.

I think you'll be surprised, I bet they'll show some of the speed cycling events, they have shown the road races already.

I like the cube too, Anyone know, is it built of ETFE panels similar to the Edens project in England?

Aug 15, 08 6:10 pm  · 
 · 

15.08.08 (08.15.08 for the yanks) 8.45/9 pm eastern time 100m mens final. New Olympic Record...pending.

Also I think that pentathalon is a crazy event, but if its meant to model the ideal soldier shouldn't it be running around in a desert heat with a 30lb gun Ak preferably (more popularly used), driving a massive fuel consuming lightly armoured SUV, pressing a button (to fire a missle) with the necessarily trajectory, a fashion show dressed in your army regalia? I'm just saying...

Aug 15, 08 6:53 pm  · 
 · 
Liebchen
Inhabitat's

short blurb on the Water Cube.

Architect: PTW
Skin ETFE

How can you not know everything about this building? You have to check out the New York Time's interactive slide show about Beijing olympic architecture. Click on the National Aquatic Center on the map for a great primer on the building's form generation and building technology.

Aug 15, 08 7:21 pm  · 
 · 
strlt_typ

anyone else not buying that the watercube's cladding is really based on bubble structure? the etfes aren't structural and don't have any surface tension like true bubble formations. it's more of a simulation.

Aug 15, 08 9:43 pm  · 
 · 
****melt

The National Geographic channel had two shows dedicated to the design and building of both facilities. It was pretty sweet. I practically had to wipe the drool off my chin after watching them.

Synergy - How long do the shooting competitions run? I really would like to watch them. I find both skeet and trap amazing to watch.

Aug 15, 08 9:45 pm  · 
 · 
Synergy

It looks like the shooting sports run through Sunday, Wikipedia seems to have a pretty extensive listing of the sports and their schedules. Here is the main link Beijing 2008 .

Dammson, I believe is something of an applied bubble structure more than a natural formation. Each individual panel has its own self contained surface tension, but you are right, the framework is more conventional. I think it's difficult to create a useful form using a single continuous surface tension. This is an adaptation which reminds of the study models of Frei Otto. It seems to be a similar system to the Eden project. What do you think?









Aug 15, 08 10:11 pm  · 
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vado retro

i'm not buying that its a cube. it s not a cube. quit calling it a cube.

Aug 15, 08 10:53 pm  · 
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mantaray

Hmm, I saw some other picture of the waterrectangle where they showed the whole back-up support structure behind the "bubble" panels... let's see if I can dig it up, it was interesting...

Aug 15, 08 11:05 pm  · 
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liberty bell

The Waterhexahedron?

The Waterquadrate?

The Waterpolyhedron?

The Waterrectangularparrallelepiped?

Aug 15, 08 11:41 pm  · 
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Synergy

I like bubble box.

Aug 15, 08 11:44 pm  · 
 · 

Eden Project was, I think, a straight up geodesic dome. The Water Cube (and good luck getting NBC to change their terminology, vado, ain't no birds nesting in all that steel neither, right?) is based on the Weaire-Phelan matrix, rotated and sliced:

link

They look similar, too, because they both use ETFE pillows for the cells between the lattice.

Aug 15, 08 11:51 pm  · 
 · 
aml

i'm interrupting this discussion to celebrate ecuador's 2nd ever olympic medal and first medal in these games, the silver medal in funny walking!!! [i don't care that it's funny. it's a medal, beggars can't be choosers.]

[officially it's the 20km race walk]

yay!!!!!!!

Aug 16, 08 12:43 am  · 
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liberty bell

Yay for Ecuador!!!

Aug 16, 08 8:49 am  · 
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asd

where can i watch the men's 100m final live?
since nbc isn't showing anything "live", is my only chance telemundo?
is there anywhere to watch it online?

go powell, bolt & frater!!!!!!!!!! (congrats to burns & thompson too!)

Aug 16, 08 9:29 am  · 
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asd

9.69!!!!!!! Congrats Usain!!

Aug 16, 08 10:36 am  · 
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mantaray

it makes no sense to me that NBC isn't showing live events in PSD. You guys have to stay up REALLY late to watch a re-run, and you could have just seen it live 3 hours earlier in prime-time and not had to stay up late. My parents are pissed because I keep calling them and going "the French guy won a swim race!" and they are still watching beach volleyball and have 2 hours to go till swimming even STARTS. Makes no sense to me.

Aug 16, 08 10:43 am  · 
 · 
Liebchen

Describes the form-making process via the Weaire-Phelan matrix.


Initial architect's diagram that remained relatively unchanged, with the exception of operational louvers in the ceiling. Due to tv lighting demands, the ceiling ETFE was fritted.

Aug 16, 08 10:45 am  · 
 · 
Synergy

Wow... looks like the 100m was a real route for Usain Bolt. After seeing his preliminary race I kind of figured he was going to win without much trouble. He is running at a level I have never seen before.

Despite the results, I still really respect Tyson Gay, I've seen him in several interviews over the years and he always seems like the nicest and most respectful guy. I hope he is able to heal and get back to 100% and compete at the level he is capable of in the future, I don't want this to be the end to his career.

Aug 16, 08 11:37 am  · 
 · 
WonderK

So apparently in addition to avoiding all news outlets I also need to avoid Archinect so I don't know the results ahead of time! This 3-hour time delay thing sucks!

Aug 16, 08 1:13 pm  · 
 · 
****melt

I didn't know either DubK. They're probably going to show the race tonight.

So does anyone else get a kick out of watching the rowing viewers watch the races while riding on their bikes. I'm surprised there haven't been any accidents yet b/c of it.

This morning I watched the Grand Prix dressage event online. I love seeing all the pretty little horses dance and skip.

Aug 16, 08 1:42 pm  · 
 · 
WonderK

Ok, this is frustrating. I was assuming that since the 100m Men's run was at 10:30 pm Beijing time, it would have played at 10:30 am US time, which means they would be showing it here 3 hours behind. So it should have been just on. But it's not. They are playing stupid basketball. And I can't find the video online anywhere. I am now thinking they are going to withhold it until the primetime show. Which just stinks!!!! LAME NBC. Just lame.

Aug 16, 08 1:44 pm  · 
 · 
kmsy

So Gawker has an exposee on the racial gesturing:

From Gawker: see rule 5
http://gawker.com/5037442/the-chinese-government-guide-to-olympic-journalism

which could explain the Chinese media avoidance to address this:
http://gawker.com/5035957/spanish-olympic-team-ching-chong-chinaman-ha-ha

and this:
http://gawker.com/5037034/spanish-tennis-team-also-strikes-chinky+eyed-chinaman-pose

I admit this particular response in the comment section had me laughing:
'The dude in the back in the pink shirt thinks the Chinese stereotype is that they rock out to Slayer.'

and another (Argentina)
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/08/13/article-1044203-0242D54E00000578-752_468x349.jpg

Now I really enjoy Argentina and Spain, so let me say that it’s not all like that. Stupid people are everywhere.


I’ve been watching the web videos without commentary (basketball, football) and it is REFRESHING – so much easier to enjoy the game without the rumours and gossip. And you can hear the players.


waterrectangularparrallelepiped - excellent.
I find the interior of the
waterrectangularparrallelepiped to be a little disappointing as the waeire-phelan crystalline arrangement is not available, and therefore decreasing its worth as neither structure nor cladding. My opinion.

Aug 16, 08 2:38 pm  · 
 · 
****melt

Men's and women's trampoline. How fun.

Aug 16, 08 2:58 pm  · 
 · 

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