Olympics coming up.

We've been watching the Olympic trials events.

A bunch of divers from Indy were selected for the team - I think all out of the same diving program that my daughter was in a few years ago - she didn't stick with it.

We'll also be following the womens gymnastics team, as a girl from our local gym will likely make the team.

It's got to be a thrill to go.

A local diver from this area made it, Chris Colwill, I know his father, pretty exciting stuff.

i just love the Olympics, every single event has its captivating moments,
i wish i could afford to go

as a youth i swam on SantaClara International swimteam team which Mark Spitz was on. i got cut from the team. had a few good years though.

i will watch/record everything i can this Olympics

Mark Spitz has to be one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

I had a wrestling coach who won the Olympic gold medal, and the world championship. He brought his medals out for the kids to hold - it was cool.

Took my daughter to gymnastics tonight. They are holding fundraisers to send the local gymnast, Samantha Pezcek's, family to Beijing. Sam was on the world Championship team last fall and placed fourth in the trials a couple weeks ago, but won't know if she's going for sure for a couple more weeks. Amazing what producing a world class gymnast can do for business - that place is crawling with girls these days.

Many years ago I worked with a guy who decided to try to make the Olympic team - in fencing. The best fencers in the world are not from the US - so he had no illusions about medals, but he decided just going would be a reward enough. He wrote down a four year plan, with daily training and coaching and enough international competition to get recognized. He made it on the team and went to the Olympics in Atlanta. Came in something like 28th - which I thought was respectable.

Ends up two girls from Indy made the Womens Olympic Gymnastic team , including Sam - only a couple of weeks until Beijing now.

The Olympics always tends to settle things down in the world a bit. I'm hoping it will this year.

an article in the paper said that NBC who is covering the Olympics is on guard right now because coverage in China that they were initially assured of getting access to is slowly being withdrawn by authorities there,

it is part of all Olympic coverage, fortunately or not, that we are shown ancillary topics to the sports themselves,
we see the countryside and its normal citizens,

well i'm sure that NBC was anticipating a potential field day with this coverage, and i think they bid $900million to get awarded the coverage, but China is now limiting the times and areas that NBC can stray from the Olympic fields,
NBC is presuming that outer areas are going to be staged for them to cover,

NBC News is angry at this, but then NBC is owned by GE (i believe at any rate) who does A LOT of business in China and doesn't want to damage relations (their new cash cow) ...

oh what a tangled web all this stuff behind the pure sports becomes ..

i really am looking forward to the Games !!!!
i am looking forward to the ancillary stories as well

For all of our Beijing bound photogs packing their heavy artillery - read and weep!

Beijing Olympics: SLR Cameras

Let me get this straight.

Due to off-site restrictions, NBC won't be able to televise as many of the "human interest" stories?

Which means.... they might have to concentrate more on the events?

Is that a bad thing?

I used to watch the Olympics in years past, but for the last dozen or so years, it (at least my perception) is maybe 25% event highlights, and 75% human interest coverage. But I don't know that for sure, because I basically quit watching them as the coverage has been awful.

I do agree they overdue the human interest stories. I'd much rather see more event coverage, let them put the other crap on CNBC or MSNBC if the have to air them.

I agree, I hate to say it but I think the Olympics have lost a lot of their luster, for 3 reasons:

1. The decision to hold them every two years instead of every four

2. The new style of TV coverage which is mostly contrived mush and very little substance

3. The admission of every new stunt thought up by a bunch of punks as an "Olympic sport."

Mike, they just stagger the Winter and Summer games. Since hardly anyone watches the Winter Games, most people still think of the "real" Olympics as the Summer Games. So they are still 4 years apart. I like both. I actually prefer the Winter Olympics. Summer Olympics just has too many cheaters.

I realize that's what they do. I still think it waters down the whole thing. I actually much prefer the winter games over the summer - even though the U.S. tends to do much better in the summer games. Swimming's about the only thing I care about in summer.

I think the days of the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" are still with us.

It's just that as we get older, we more readily recognize the commercial aspects of it, plus it's not as new and exciting.

However, the athletes do get better at competition, and they are much better prepared every year. I doubt that Nadyia Comaneche's routine from the 70's would win a junior championship today. Same as Mark Spitz would get blown out of the water by Michael Phelps.

True of every sport, yes, but we still watch them.

I'm excited to see BMX racing in the Olympics this year... and I like the snowboarding in the Winter Olympics... but I'm just some young punk who also happens to participate in both of those things.

But most of the young punks that helped to invent BMX racing are, well, not so young anymore.

Too bad, Sam Pezcek (pronounced differently than all the announcers did last night) sprained her ankle in the warm up just prior to the prelims and wasn't able to compete yesterday - except on the uneven bar, which is her worst event - that's a bummer.

But it does show you how much is riding on a single performance in the Olympics.

not even sammie's mom, who works for U.S. Olympics, knew about it until she noticed her daughter wasn't lining up with her teammates,
that will be a big bummer for her for many years to come

The swimming so far has been fun to watch.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-world-asia/20080820/OLY.China.Protests/

One choice quote:

"The four activists — whose whereabouts were not known — were identified by Students for a Free Tibet as Tibetan-German Florien Norbu Gyanatshang, 30; Mandie McKeown, 41, of Britain; and Americans Jeremy Wells, 38 and John Watterberg, 30."

i remember watching those two American althletes raising their fists in the Black Power salute while they were on the medal podium, it was in the troubled '68 year,

using that Olympic venue for that sort of statement never sat well with me,
any statement

Olympic memories: Franz Klammer winning gold in the 1976 downhill by .33 seconds. That run was amazing!

he was better then Alberto Tomba

snowless Mike

think that sports are only being subsidized by the commies ??
i believe that we here in US are paying every one of our gold medal winners $20,000, and just a little less for silver
thats fine

they were talking (NBC) about what other countries pay their athletes for a medal ...
i've heard $100,000 US dollars paid for gold for Russian athletes
i've heard of mid-east athletes getting (what they need most) a house, or a job, or a promotion, AND money,

everyone loves a winner


anyone see that lady from Buhrain in a Burka !!! (sp?) running the 200m ? she did really good in one of the pre-races

???

are you dumbfounded, disbelieving, or curious ?

If you are saying the gov't is paying, i'm disbelieving

i believe i said that we here in the US ,

i heard it on the TV and was watching two stations at the same time so not really paying attention to either,
but since you appear to like to pick on things that i post here , i did a 3-second search with google and found this:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930511&slug=1700567




i also think i can run a 4 minute mile

Pick on things you post?

That is a 15 yr old article and the USOC is not a gov't entity is it?

again, one more time for the slow ... i never said it was the "gov't", and maybe in 5 years the amount has gone up a few bucks,
dude ,you argue about the most rediculous stuff,

watch more sports and drink less beer while staring at a laptop

Are you saying the USOC gets no government funding? I think it does. SO while the government of the US doesn't pay the athletes directly, I am almost certain that your tax dollars do. But if you can find proof otherwise, I'll be happy to read it and change my mind.

I wish I could get paid to "train" at one of the excellent facilities!

WTF is your problem? I originally asked of you were saying the gov't was paying them, that all. You quote a 15 (not 5) year old article about the USOC and I'm ridiculous? Perhaps you need to cut back on the crack dude cause you're making unsubstansiated statements as fact and I'm sorry you don't like to be called on it but that's life.

Billy I'm not sure where the USOC gets the money it it uses to pay them money for expenses or medals or whatever.