***The Official Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Thread***

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wouldn't ya think that at a certain point the suit can't really help you? i mean its all about reducing friction with the water right? and of course you heard about those secret surgeries where the webbing on swimmers hands is marginally increased in size so there is more thrust from each stroke. (!)

 
Uh, friction...secret surgeries...increased in size so there is more thrust from each stroke (!)...just what sport are you refering to Darla?

 
pole vaulting hahahahaha

OK, back to more serious sports talk - South Africa's 'Blade Runner' misses out on Beijing

South Africa's double amputee track sensation Oscar Pistorius saw his last hope of winning a place to the Olympics dashed on Friday when he missed out on a berth in the 400 metre relay team.

"We did not select him," Athletics South Africa spokesman Molatelo Malehopo said of the outcome of a meeting of the federation's board on Thursday night.

"He is not going at all for the Olympic games ... We have faster guys than him in our Olympic team," Malehopo told AFP.

Pistorius missed out on the right to compete in Beijing in the individual 400 metre event when he came outside the qualifying time at a meeting in Lucerne on Wednesday night, despite recording a personal best of 46.25 seconds.

The 21-year-old later told reporters that he hoped to still sneak onto the plane to China with a spot in the 4x400-metre relay team but ASA's announcement means his Olympic dream will now be on hold for another four years.

Pistorius said on Friday he would not comment until he had been officially informed by ASA of the decision, but his agent, Peet van Zyl, admitted the paralympic world record holder had not held out much hope of inclusion.

"We hadn't been expecting him to make the team because his time wasn't the sixth fastest of the South Africans," said Van Zyl.

"We weren't looking (for ASA to have) a special set of rules for Oscar. He wanted to go to the Olympics because he deserved it on merit."

Pistorius, who had both of his legs amputated as a baby due to a congenital disorder, has been dubbed "Blade Runner" due to the specially-adapted carbon fibre blades with which he has won a host of Paralympic titles.

In May, Pistorius won a court battle to overturn an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ban that stopped him competing against able-bodied athletes.

He admitted then he would struggle to make the qualifying time for Beijing as the legal fight had affected his training, saying that the London Olympics in 2012 was a more realistic target.

Pistorius will compete in the Paralympics in Beijing in September, where he is expected to defend his 100m, 200m and 400m titles. He is also the world record holder in these events.

source - SAfrica's "Blade Runner" misses out on Beijing - Yahoo! Philippines News

 
Beijing's Olympic shutdown begins Sunday, a drastic plan to lift the Chinese capital's gray shroud of pollution just three weeks ahead of the games.

Half of Beijing's 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads and many polluting factories will be shuttered. Chemical plants, power stations and foundries left open have to cut emissions by 30 percent — and dust-spewing construction in the capital will be halted.

In a highly stage-managed Olympics aimed at showing off the rising power of the 21st century, no challenge is greater than producing crystalline air for 10,500 of the world's greatest athletes.

"Pea-soup air at the opening ceremony would be their worst nightmare," said Victor Cha, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University.

Source - STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer - Beijing begins massive Olympic shutdown - Yahoo! News

 
With the final four spots on the United States Olympic women’s gymnastics team hanging in the balance, an intrasquad meet here Friday at the women’s national team training center began with tears.

Shayla Worley, a member of last year’s gold-medal-winning team at the world championships, left the gym sobbing after breaking her right leg during warm-ups. She said she had felt something pop in that leg while on the balance beam. Later, X-rays showed she had fractured her right fibula.

Source - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/sp...ymnastics.html

 
I was looking at the TV last week and they were reporting on the games and their preparations for it. Pollution took up a part of the report, and they said that just living in Beijing and breathing the air is the equivalent of smoking 70 cigarettes each day. Can you imagine running the marathon exerting yourself breathing really deeply and having to suck in all that? Yuck!

 
that article about the animals was pretty sad, I don't like those mascots. But i am pretty sure the Chinese will put on a good show for the games adding their own cultural character.

I really liked the job the Australians did for the Sydney games. I think that was 2000. and Calgary for the winter in 1988.

 
It is no coincidence that the Beijing Games begins at 8 pm on the 8th day of the 8th month of '08.

The number 8 has special significance to the Chinese, because 8 in Chinese is pronounced "ba", which sounds a lot like "fa", which means prosperity or wealth, as in "", which means to become rich.

In Chinese culture, 8 also denotes the number of immortals and structure of trigrams, both of which are linked to auspicious ideas.

Also, when two digits of the number 8 are placed together - "88" - they resemble the stylized form of two Chinese ""characters, hence representing double happiness, a popular motif and design usually pasted upon the doors of newly married Chinese couples.

The number 8 is highly favored among the Chinese for its connotations of good luck, fortune and longevity.

.................................................. ........................................

Olympic medals are for the first time made of metal and jade. The medals were inlaid with Kunlun jade from China's Qinghai province in a symbol of "respect" and "virtue" in the Chinese tradition.

China's rich culture and history is clearly embodied in the winning designs, which reflect the values of ethics and honor, combined the with Olympic and Paralympic spirit.

Source - 30 reasons to watch the Beijing Games

 
Wow.... There's sure a ton of Olympic stuff out there for sale online....

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2008 Beijing Olympics Store: Olympic T-shirts, Hats, Pins & More - Official NBC Universal Store

Do you plan to buy any 2008 Olympic memorabilia??

 
No but I might keep the Olympics guide in the newspaper - it shows what sport will be televised when.

 
Does anyone have any of the olympic pins? I have quite a few from past Olympics mostly winter. My wife made me a shadowbox to display them. But i really like some of the logos and the mascots. Don't care for the Chinese mascots this year.

 
Karen, I'm maybe very idealistic about the Olympics, but it was intended as a place where countries could come together and participate in sport without political issues and disputes preventing them.

Unfortunately throughout the history of the Olympics nationalism and international dispute has crept into the picture.

The US could have easily found justification for not participating in the 1936 Berlin Olympics due to the rise of the Nazi movement and instead Jesse Owens really highlighted that the Nazi ideology was flawed.

The US did boycott the 1980 Olympics and I really think this was the wrong move by Carter. The boycott had little effect on the actions of the Soviets in Afghanistan and it stage for a boycott by the Soviet Bloc countries when the Olympics were held in Los Angeles in 1984.

So i am totally against using the Olympics in any way to make a political statement and so against any kind of boycott either. The IOC member nations voted for the selection many years ago. The Chinese will not do anything because of a boycott and the only losers would be the US athletes that had been training like those who ere getting ready like those in 1980.

 
This is how I feel about boycotting the China Olympics 2008:

Where was everyone when the olympic committee was trying to decide between Toronto, China, London and two others - I apologize for my memory not working.

Where were the boycotters when China was selected?

China's track record for human rights violations was just as poor then as it is now.

The olympics is the premier sporting event where athletes compete. They have trained for years in order to represent their countries.

Why would we take away the athletes' dreams and hard work because we did not get off our butts and boycott the choice of China, when it was initially discussed?

The great thing about democracy is that we - as individuals - can do what we want, including boycott. But that does not give anyone the right to dictate to the rest of us, that we need to boycott.

I mean, isn't that one of the things we are against - individuals telling the masses what we can and can not happen.

If someone is unhappy with the fact that the Olympics are in China - then I say "Go Ahead and Boycott". But don't tell me what to do. I was very vocal when China was awarded the 2008 olympics and nothing came of it.

Now I am going to sit back and enjoy the hard work from all of the athletes all over the world, even the ones from China.

 
thanks Carolyn, agree with the points you've made. None the athletes there including those Chinese athletes had absolutely anything to do with the situation in Tibet.

Now onto the games.

 
Hey everybody - do you want to make a guess or wager about how many medals your country will win. No betting - just for fun.

I think Canada will win up to 20 medals.

Between 3 and 5 will be gold.

At least 5 will be silver.

The rest will be bronze.

 
my predictions is US will get 105 medals

38 gold

42 silver

25 bronze

the swimmers look great, michael phelps (MD boy wonder will have a historic olympics)

 
IOC's Rogge expects 40 doping busts at Games

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge expects up to 40 athletes to be caught doping at the Beijing Olympics, compared to 26 at the 2004 Athens Games.

Rogge based his prediction on the increased testing and the improved quality of urinalysis, according to an interview published in the weekend edition of the De Standaard daily.

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, there were 12 positive doping results from 2,500 urine tests. Rogge said at Beijing there will be 4,500 tests.

"How many positive cases will there be in Beijing? More than in Athens,'' Rogge said. "Based on the number of doping tests in Beijing, you can expect 30 to 40 positive cases.''

In other comments, Rogge said he believes the Beijing Games have led to more media and personal freedoms in China as well as a tightening of child labour laws, but that there are limits to the Olympic movement's powers of generating change within the country.

"The IOC is not authorized and has no means to interfere in sovereign matters,'' he said. "China's relations with Taiwan, the situation in Tibet, those are matters over which the IOC has no authority and must be addressed by other institutions.''

Rogge denied the Olympics legitimizes the Chinese government, which is widely accused of rights violations, saying the games "hold up a mirror (and) show what's happening'' in the country.

"We bring the media to the games,'' he said. "I firmly believe the games have a positive effect.''

CTV.ca | IOC's Rogge expects 40 doping busts at Games

 
12 days to go till the opening ceramonies!!! Friday the 8th of August.... Hope the air has cleared enough so we can see thme!!!

 

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