Athens 2004 - General Olympics thread!

[spyretto]

I watched that Iraq - Portugal game, and Iraq was the best team I've ever seen! No joke

Looking forward to the booing

[forre]

Maybe a separate subforum for Athens 2004?

[rANdoMtATuFaN]

Dude, I was so planning on going to Athens but school had to start early. The Olympics are my religion. I'm totally obsessed w/them and have been for years. I went to Atlanta and Salt Lake. Personally, I like the Summer Games better. Can't wait 'til the opening ceremonies. I watch the whole event religiously - only time I watch TV (otherwise, I hate it). The gymnastics competition is gonna be awesome (my personal fav.) - I expect my idol to make her last Olympics a memorable one and to go out with as much controversy and hype as her carreer has been since the beginning. Anyway, I'll stop here before I get overexcited and go on and on and on. Besides, it's waaaaaay past my bedtime - I gotta wake up early for work.

[spyretto]

The opening ceremony is right now, and the commentator's just said the reception is not the best for the US. More like muted reception but not much booing

Lets see if they're gonna receive more booing during the games. If you want to boo the US here's the chance...

[forre]

The concept with water was a brilliant idea! Loved it!
For the record:
It took 6 hours to fill in the "pool" and about 3 minutes to get it empty.

[kishkash]

The opening ceremonies were alright. Not the best i've seen but not the worst.

The pool WAS nice. But what was with that horrible Bjork performance

[forre]

The first part was great in itself. Bjork is Bjork .. Either you like her or hate her. Let's say, she is special. What are we having for a fire stand? A gun or a penis? I was a bit dissapointed with the final act. Really lacking on any creativity.

[kishkash]

Originally Posted by forre

A gun or a penis? I was a bit dissapointed with the final act. Really lacking on any creativity.

I agree. I was seriously hoping for something magnificent. The torch stand looked rather like the torch itself held up by an arm. Maybe that's what they were going for. Call me a stickler for tradition, but a gigantic pot would have been sexier.

[luxxi]

Originally Posted by freddie

We won gold in rowing back in Sydney so I definitely have expectations for that as well...

Shhhhhhsh. Herr Debevec might hear you and put one between yor eyes.

[rANdoMtATuFaN]

Damn - negative much? Yeah, the ceremony wasn't as great as Sydney's opening ceremony but still, it was awesome. Though, the weird statue-people did freak me out a bit. Anyway, a lot of planning and preparation went into the ceremony and it ran nice and smooth. Yeah, they could've picked someone better than Bjork but the dress unraveling and covering the athletes w/a map of the world was brilliant. The water thing was cool too. Also, I liked how they solved the problem of whether to go first or last in the Parade of Nations by having the flag out first and the athletes last. Plus, I thought that doing the Parade of Nations using the Greek alphabet was cool too.

The opening ceremony is right now, and the commentator's just said the reception is not the best for the US. More like muted reception but not much booing

Umm...maybe, I watched the weird modified version, but what booing? The crowd cheered noticably loud when the U.S. delegation arrived in the Parade of the Nations - not as loud as some countries but louder than most.

[spyretto]

Maybe it was the commentator's preconception??

By the way this is what I mean by corporate bullshit

http://www.iht.com/articles/533020.htm

i wanna watch sports that the Brits don't care about ( eg. basketball )
Now how can you do that?

[rANdoMtATuFaN]

Olympics broadcasting has always been sold by region. For example, only one network has the rights to broadcast the Olympics at one time in the U.S. (it's been NBC the past few years). That's how it's always worked. But with technology improving, they have to figure out a way to keep the internet broadcasting regionalized. That's why they didn't have internet broadcasting in Sydney. I think it's just the next step. The Olympics aren't cheap and there has to be control on how it's being shown. There has to be some sort of profit for the Games to continue. It's the way the world works - in the end, it's always about money. Besides, this is seriously hurting Greece's economy. Plus, having it this way gives us more options on what we want to see instead of relying on what the networks want to show.

i wanna watch sports that the Brits don't care about ( eg. basketball )
Now how can you do that?

The internet.

[RowerB]

Well Cadel Evans won’t win this road race, because he’s not in it.

The race started badly for the Spanish, with the World Champion crashing out on the first lap, but I’ll change my pick to Oscar Freire.

[spyretto]

So the Brits are ignoring almost all the team sports apart from hockey on grass and the US basketball team. Showed no shooting at all - never mind the medals - and their favorite sport is cycling. As we didn't have enough from the Tour de France

I think I'm going back to Greece to watch a decent coverage ( and live )

[RowerB]

Originally Posted by spyretto

- and their favorite sport is cycling. As we didn't have enough from the Tour de France

Sorry spyretto, but being a Brit I naturally like cycling and have to comment on today’s event.

Great race, but bad day for Spain and Australia.

1. Paolo Bettini (ITA)
2. Sergio Paulinho (POR)
3. Axel Merckx (BEL)

Morons like Carl Fogarty say – “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.” Well Bettini is a good loser, but he’s won the last 2 World Cups and will probably win this year’s and now he is Olympic Champion. One for the good guys.

[freddie]

Didn't start well for us.. We lost against the Russians in Handball. Hope things turn for the better in rowing.

The opening ceramony was too kitsch for me. Almost as much as the Atlanta games in 96. They could work the whole mythology angle into it much more succersfuly.

[spyretto]

Yeah they could...watching the opening ceremony and thinking it was good, it's the same as thinking that cycling is an actual sport.

I think the medals pattern seems the same as in Sydneys Olympics, more or less. We've got China in their forte ( archery et al. ) starting off well, the Oz in swimming, Japs in judo, the US will catch up eventually and go clearly ahead in the medals soon, while Italy's two golds may be an impressive start but then again they are a top 5 olympic team.
The UK will suck as before, hopefully...which is fair enough. If rugby, cricket and golf were Olympic sports, the UK would do better. If getting pissed was an Olympic sport too, the Brits would be world champions every time.

And that takes us to the 17th placed team of Sydney, none other than our beloved "Hellas". Well, unsurprisingly, Hellas will get a nice thrashing and will end up with very little, which is what they deserve. It's just not happening for them.

Hmm, I don't think I'm in a very good mood recently.

no rugby, cricket and golf, no. and no more cyclists please

[RowerB]

Originally Posted by spyretto

it's the same as thinking that cycling is an actual sport.

Cycling has been an Olympic sport since 1896, spyretto. Today’s race was wonderful. I suppose you can’t wait for the individual synchronised swimming, a “sport” I don’t bother with.

[coolasfcuk]

Originally Posted by forre

Bjork is Bjork .. Either you like her or hate her. Let's say, she is special.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??? First time I miss the opening of any olympics and bjork opens??? I looooooove Bjork!

well... i havent watched a minute of olympics yet! this has never been, but i have to sucriface if in the name of my travels. hopefully when i get to northern sweden i can watch some?

until then... i hope we, Bulgaria, dont get in any more scandals! baaaaaaah

[Khartoun2004]

Originally Posted by ypsidan04

Well, not the NEXT olympics. But soon enough, in 2010. Which means that NYC has somewhere near zero chance of landing the games in 2012. That'll probably be Paris.

The 2010 games are going to be in either Salzburg, Austria or Switzerland. Canada lost the bid for it already, which is too bad cause I wanted to compete in Vancover. I figure it's the closest I'll get to competing in my home country. I missed that boat already.