Olympic Games

Post by **StevieG** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:30 pm

They're almost upon us!!

Who's watching? Any favourite events? Which country will get the most gold? World records? Amazing feats?

Women's beach volleyball is on my list - for the skill of course

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 3:46 pm

I'm generally not a sports person, except for NCAA/SEC football and a few teams for american football. But, I always enjoy both the summer and winter Olympics.

For the summer games I follow these sports, although I do not know if any have been cut or added since the last games:

Gymnastics, particularly rhythmic and floor exercise
Swimming (UF's swimming coach Greg Troy is the head coach of the American men's team, and Ryan Lochte is a former Gator athlete)
Diving
Synchronized swimming
Karate, particularly kata, since I studied karate-do

That's pretty much it for me. I'm not a huge track and field or team sports fan. However, if the US developes medal hopes, I admit I'll probably find myself pulling for them, whichever spoort is contending.

Website · Post by **Iolanthe** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:24 pm

Hmm, I might watch some tennis, but nothing else really takes my fancy.

Post by **sgt.null** » Thu Jul 26, 2012 8:51 pm

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Post by **StevieG** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 4:01 am

sgt.null wrote:USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Finally someone with a pulse!

I'm interested to see if the 100m world record will be broken.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 4:26 am

Well...

I'll say,
GO GATORS!!!

...and...

GO ABBY!!!

Wambach helps U.S. open Olympics with win

Florida alum and United States standout Abby Wambach, right, heads the ball over France's Ophelie Meilleroux during a women's group G soccer match at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 25, 2012, at Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland. (AP Photo/Chris Clark)

Post by **Damelon** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 11:21 am

Does FU have an Olympic team?

Yesterday, I downloaded an app from NBC listing event times and channels along with highlight clips. I'll be stuck in the house for a lot of Saturday waiting for repairmen. Looking at the schedule, for me, it will be watching cycling in the morning followed by swimming later.

Post by **sgt.null** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 3:28 pm

No New Hampshire Olympians

By Monitor staff and wire

July 18, 2012

Jenny Thompson, where are you when we need you?

According to Time magazine, New Hampshire is only one of five states that won't be sending an Olympian for the summer games in London. Of the 530 athletes on the U.S. roster, Time reports, California has the most - 128. Wyoming, with a population of 568,158, has the most per capita - two - which earned it special praise from Time: "Congratulations, Wyoming. You're the most Olympian state in the union."

The other states besides New Hampshire without an athlete at the Olympics: New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina and South Dakota.

Website · Post by **Iolanthe** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 4:34 pm

We have a swimmer from Lincoln

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:46 pm

Damelon wrote:Does FU have an Olympic team?

I will admit surprise that there are no female gymnasts from UF in these games. Unless the competitors are still younger than college age...

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 1:25 am

So, being on the west coast of the US, coverage of the Opening Ceremonies has yet to start. I completely missed the Beijing games, as the house in Gator Town does not receive an NBC affiliate. From what I am hearing though, their Opening Ceremonies were apparently a tough act to follow and many are expressing disappointment in what they are seeing/have seen tonight.

Thoughts from those who are watching/have seen the London Opening Ceremonies?

Post by **Savor Dam** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 2:12 am

Menolly wrote:I completely missed the Beijing games, as the house in Gator Town does not receive an NBC affiliate. From what I am hearing though, their Opening Ceremonies were apparently a tough act to follow and many are expressing disappointment in what they are seeing/have seen tonight.

I have a digital recording of the Beijing opening ceremony (16 GB complete...3 GB without the endless parade of athletes) that I would be happy to let you watch just for comparison after tonight's ceremony.

Oh, and we are delighted that you have been here on the left coast of the US these last few months...

Post by **Damelon** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 2:39 am

Menolly wrote:So, being on the west coast of the US, coverage of the Opening Ceremonies has yet to start. I completely missed the Beijing games, as the house in Gator Town does not receive an NBC affiliate. From what I am hearing though, their Opening Ceremonies were apparently a tough act to follow and many are expressing disappointment in what they are seeing/have seen tonight.

Thoughts from those who are watching/have seen the London Opening Ceremonies?

It's more that NBC has been butchering the coverage. Nothing unusual about that, I might add.

Website · Post by **Iolanthe** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:24 pm

Unfortunately I watched from just before the parade of countries began to the end. I say unfortunately because it didn't finish until after 1 in the morning and I had to be up at 6.

The next to last bit was the best - the young athletes lighting the cauldron, and the effect of all the kettles becoming one big flame.

Macca's voice appeared to have recovered somewhat from the Jubilee celebrations, but ............. oh dear!

Post by **StevieG** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 4:27 am

Woo hoo - Aussies win their first gold in the 4 x 100m freestyle!

China have 4 gold after day 1!

I watched the first hour or so of the opening ceremony - I was impressed. Have the rest recorded so will watch when I get a chance.

Post by **Damelon** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:12 am

Ah, then I won't comment much on the ceremony other than to say that I thought it was overall pretty good. Though I still think Barcelona had the best torch lighting of any of the games I've watched.

Mostly on the first day I watched archery and women's fencing. The U.S. won the silver in the men's team archery, losing to Italy on the final shot - a 10 point shot that the Italians had to make. The Italians also swept the medals in the woman's individual foil.

Post by **sgt.null** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:59 am

LONDON — Under a drizzly gray sky, Kim Rhode on Sunday became the first American athlete to win five medals in an individual event in five consecutive Olympic Games.

Rhode, center, earned a gold medal in women’s skeet on Sunday, setting an Olympic record and tying the world record. Wei Ning of China, left, finished the event in second place, and Danka Bartekova of Slovakia earned the bronze medal in a shootout.

She earned a gold medal in women’s skeet, setting an Olympic record and tying the world record by hitting 99 of 100 targets. She also became the first woman to win three gold medals in Olympic shooting.

“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet, from the time I shot to present, it’s just been a whirlwind of emotions,” Rhode said. “It’s incredible. I’m just waiting for someone to pinch me.”

Rhode, 33, hit an Olympic record 74 of 75 targets in the preliminary rounds at the Royal Artillery Barracks, shattering the 2008 record of 72.

She cast purple plumes in the air as she hit target after target after target, calmly casting her discarded shells into the basket beside her. Realizing she was on her way to gold, Rhode cracked a smile after hitting her 95th shot.

Wei Ning of China finished the event in second place, hitting 91 targets, with Marina Belikova of Russia and Danka Bartekova of Slovakia each hitting 90 targets. Bartekova earned the bronze medal in a shootout.

After Rhode’s final shot, the audience rose to its feet for an ovation, which was followed by Rhode’s tearful acceptance of her medal.

“I don’t think it ever becomes old hat,” she said of the Olympics, adding, “It’s really about the journey.”

Rhode’s path to the record books was not a linear one.

In the four years leading to the London Games, she had a breast cancer scare, and the gun she had used for years — a prized, customized and pricey possession for elite shooters — was stolen from her car after the Beijing Games. It was recovered a year later, but in the interim, she had to adjust to a new firearm, which she likened to a swimmer having to learn a new stroke.

“It was very fortunate to have gotten it back,” she said. The gun she won the gold medal with Sunday was the one that was donated to her when her gun was stolen.

“It’s a pretty amazing story to have so many people who believe in you,” she said.

“The journey to this one was one of my most challenging,” she said. It made her winning of the medal “that much sweeter.”

More recently, Rhode, of El Monte, Calif., faced several flight delays getting from Southern California to Europe and ended up flying directly to London, missing the team training camp in Denmark. The weather during Sunday’s event — wind, changes in lighting and rain — didn’t help either, she said. “In the end, it made me focus that much harder,” she said.

Rhode, who has another competition (women’s trap) in five days, began shooting when she was 10 and is coached by her father.

She began her Olympic career with a gold medal in double trap in 1996 at 17, making her the youngest person to win an Olympic medal in the sport. Then, after the 2004 Games in Athens, women’s double trap, was eliminated from the Games.

Undeterred, she made the transition to skeet and earned a silver medal in that event at the Beijing Games.

She averages 500 to 1,000 rounds a day, seven days a week.

“They have me at 3 million-plus targets under my belt,” she said. “I know at a very young age, I was very focused.”

In addition to being an expert markswoman, Rhode builds and restores antique and muscle cars and is an avid collector of first-edition children’s books, her favorite being “The Wizard of Oz.”

Rhode’s fifth medal elevates her standing in an elite group of medal-heavy American female Olympians, with the likes of Bonnie Blair in speed skating and Jackie Joyner-Kersee in track.

Shooting is a rare Olympic sport known for longevity among its athletes, with competitors appearing on Olympic teams well into middle age. Rhode said she wanted to continue with the sport beyond the London Games.

“It’s something definitely I can do for a long time,” Rhode said, adding that she planned to compete in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. “Right now, I’m just going to take it one competition at a time.”

Post by **peter** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:20 am

I'm not a sports fan or particularly nationalistic as a rule but today I have to say I'm proud to be British. Last night I finally got to see my recording of the opening ceremony (damn having to work for a living

) and despite all my fears that we would make a complete hash of it, it was fantastic! I don't know if it would have meant very much to non-brits but I'm sure it would still have been a damn good show. The choice of Danny Boyle to produce the show was inspired (again despite my reservations) and I take my hat off to whoever made it. The opening section was choreographed to perfection and the final lighting of the crucible is unlikely to be equalled for many an Olympiad to come. Boyle's tribute to Sir Tim Berners-Lee who developed the World Wide Web and then gave it to the world free of charge with the words 'This Is For Everyone' was a thankyou from us all. Congratulations to all involved from the biggest humble pie eater on the planet. I salute you!

Post by **Cybrweez** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:55 pm

Heh, the bronze medal match in skeet shooting ended in a shootout.

Post by **Obi-Wan Nihilo** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:49 pm

Watching the women's water polo match between US/Hungary today I couldn't help but think how cool it would be if Marco Polo were an olympic sport... maybe you could throw tag in there as well as king of the mountain...

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Olympic Games

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