Athens 2004 - General Olympics thread!

[spyretto]

Originally Posted by RowerB

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.

I didn't watch it so I don't know. Maybe you can explain to me the thrills of cycling.

Maybe it's an acquired taste.

[forre]

Originally Posted by Khartoun2004

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.

Montreal's citizens are still paying off the debts after the latest olympics held in Canada some 30 years ago, so I think IOC is going to give Canada a break.

[spyretto]

Greece will be paying for the next 300 years

[rANdoMtATuFaN]

Women's Gymnastics starts tommorow - Hopefully Khorkina leads the Russians to atleast a medal since they have a very weak team compared to the last two Games. Right now, it looks like Romania, the U.S., and China will take the team competition medals. Well, even if that does not happen, as long as she defends her bars title and gets that elusive Olympic All-Around title, it would be a perfect ending to her brilliant carreer.

Back to the topic - I really think the cities and their countries should seriously look at the financial aspect of hosting the Games before bidding for the spot. Montreal was just a disaster financially and Athens - it almost didn't happen because of internal turmoil and financial burdens. Plus, for such a small country, it's a huge undertaking. Well, we'll just have to wait and see.

[spyretto]

Too many events and so little interest. Especially in the sports the Brits cover ( equestrian, hockey, cycling etc., basically the same ones over and over ) you'd have to literally beg the Greeks to go and watch them. That's evident from the nearly empty venues. Not to mention baseball, softball, and the rest the Brits don't show.

I think it'll be a financial disaster but at least there's the pride of hosting the games.

[spyretto]

By the way, Henmania is over for the Olympics too as he lost 2-0 in the first round. What a shame

[kishkash]

Originally Posted by spyretto

Greece will be paying for the next 300 years

too right. There's no one there at ALL to see the games. Practically desserted. But the debt shouldn't be too bad considering how lazy the greeks were with the building. They only got the bare essentials done for the games and barely in the nick of time, so there's a lot of buildings that went unconstructed = not as big a debt as one would hope.

[spyretto]

Well, I don't know about that, to me the buildings and the whole organisation seems almost as good as the Sydney's Olympics, considering all the fuss about the preparation. There simply aren't enough spectators to watch the events.
But It also depends on the games. Basketball, for example, is popular in Greece and today the stadium was packed. Incintentally, the US basketball team is getting a nice thrashing by Puerto Rico

[PowerPuff Grrl]

Originally Posted by Khartoun2004

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.

Vancouver will be hosting the Winter Olympics in 2010. It was Toronto that lost the bid for 2008 Summer Olypmics to Beijing. You would not believe how they loss it though, let me just say that Mel Lastman (Toronto's former Mayor) is the most hated man in Southern Ontario.
Though I am happy that Vancouver has 2010, Toronto would have been perfect for 2008. Practically every single nation represented in the games would have found a little community with the same heritage. But anyhoo, seeing as how China is way ahead of schedule for 2008, they most probably will put up an excellent opening/closing ceremony.

As for Athens, I guess I am in the minority but I thought that was one of the best opening ceremonies ever. Maybe because I am just Greek Mythology geek but everything was great, save the actual lighting of the flame. That was lame, my God that torch looks like a giant spliff. Yeah, nothing could beat Sydney and Barcelona in that case.

I though it was cool that the US got one of the biggest cheers, second to Iraq. It just goes to show that people can differentiate between the American athletes and the American government and that all of that raging sensitivity/resentment hard conversatives have to the outsde world is based on total sh!t.

ETA: I generally prefer that Winter Olympics to the Summer. The main reason being that Canada has a chance of winning then. Also because most of the actual games played are games that I can actually watch, I cannot say the same for the Summer Olympics. They have a lot of obscure games that I have never even thought existed, let alone for it to be recognized by the IOC.
And besides the Winter Games has the greatest sport ever; Curling. I have no idea how to play or what the purpose of the game is but it is just so damn hypnotizing. Plus the appeal of hearing people screaming, to the top of their lungs, "SWEEEEEPPPPP!!!!!!", or in case if you're British "AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!", is too cool.

[haku]

Originally Posted by PowerPuff Grrl

I though it was cool that the US got one of the biggest cheers, second to Iraq. It just goes to show that people can differentiate between the American athletes and the American government

It just shows that the people in there had no guts, had been carefully screened, and did what they were told to do: cheer the masters of the world. They'll probably bend over on their knees each time the US anthem is played.

[TaTu^HeRo]

Why do most female swimmers have flat chests

[kishkash]

Originally Posted by TaTu^HeRo

Why do most female swimmers have flat chests

their swimsuits are designed in such a way as to 'squish' their assets

[TaTu^HeRo]

Hmmm Oh really

[spyretto]

Originally Posted by haku

It just shows that the people in there had no guts, had been carefully screened, and did what they were told to do: cheer the masters of the world. They'll probably bend over on their knees each time the US anthem is played.

not it just shows that there were many Americans in the ceremony. The Americans travelled to Greece to cheer their athletes but there aren't any French to boo them. Too bad issit? The idea that they might/should be booed I heard it from Greeks themselves.

[teeny]

Originally Posted by spyretto

Too many events and so little interest.

Kinda covers OL feelings for me. I don't really watch most of the sports. Only one sport in there that I follow with interest. That would be Handball.
Played against France last night and against traditions Denmark won by a number of goals.
Sorry about that Haku and Nath But think we played pretty well though. Not so good in the middle of the 2nd half, but then again think it was because they just went down to playing fairly ok there.

[spyretto]

Originally Posted by teeny

Kinda covers OL feelings for me. I don't really watch most of the sports. Only one sport in there that I follow with interest. That would be Handball.
Played against France last night and against traditions Denmark won by a number of goals.
Sorry about that Haku and Nath But think we played pretty well though. Not so good in the middle of the 2nd half, but then again think it was because they just went down to playing fairly ok there.

I wanted to watch handball but the bloody Brits here won't show a minute of it.

[forre]

Originally Posted by kishkash

too right. There's no one there at ALL to see the games. Practically desserted.

Not quite. Out of 5 200 000 tickets, 3 000 000 of them are sold. The greeks got 95% of the calculated money back and the games have just started.

[teeny]

Guess how many going depends of the sports. Handball had a number of Danish people at least. Including the crownprince and crownprincess. Kinda cool they are going to the OL since they met in Sydney OL..
But then again handball is one of the popular sports in Denmark, so no wonder there were many fans there. You better watch better sports, kish If expecting to see people and all

sorry to hear about crappy coverage, spy Hopefully you will get to see the more important games of it. And hopefully danish team will be playing again when it's time

Just got a call from Gallup institute. This time about OL and how much one was watching it. Turns out me watching 1 game of handball wasn't enough to answer the survey.

[rANdoMtATuFaN]

Kinda covers OL feelings for me. I don't really watch most of the sports. Only one sport in there that I follow with interest. That would be Handball.

Saw the Korea vs. Russia handball game last night - I must say, that is the coolest game in the world (and violent)!!! I never even heard of it before last night.


On the coverage thing - I hate NBC's coverage this time. Their Sydney coverage was so much better - they gave each sport enough time and still managed to show a lot of sports. This time, they keep skipping and it's annoying. Plus, it's not nearly as in depth.

[teeny]

Originally Posted by rANdoMtATuFaN

Saw the Korea vs. Russia handball game last night - I must say, that is the coolest game in the world (and violent)!!! I never even heard of it before last night.

It's super cool I think the women playing the game is the best. When watching the men playing (at least the Danish team) it's down to playing for yourself and no tactics. The womens team is more into teamplay.

I have no idea who the Danish channels are covering the Olympics. As long as they show handball I don't really care.. lol