Olympic Screw-ups

[paulcs]

I should state outright that I think Sydney and Australia are doing a great job with the games. I really didn't care much for the Seoul and Los Angeles games, but I think Barcelona and Atlanta did much to restore the games' credibility, and Sydney is putting on a great show.

I can't say the same for the IOU. Led by a man who is apparently a former Francisco Franco toadie, I believe Olympic officials have once again demonstrated their relentless incompetence and a remarkable inability to be fair in the face of political pressure.

I think Women's Gymnastics, possibly the most popular events in the US, were seriously botched. The apparatus problem in the all-arounds was inexcusable, and the whole Andreea Raducan episode leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I just get the feeling that this could have and would have been handled better by officials who didn't fall so squarely into the category of "corrupt buffoons with no accountability and far too much power."

I'm fully aware that complicated situations arise in the Olympics, but just once I'd like to say to myself, "that situation was handled deftly." Instead of the wisdom of Solomon, we are treated every two years to the wisdom of Bozo.

Boo! Hiss! Shame!

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Ali]

The Olympics have died. It is meant to be about individual achievement by amature athletes.

All I see now days is team sports being played by people who are paid US$100 Million a year to do nothing but play (basketball).

What happened to the ideal of the origional games. A talented Cook running naked around a track. I bet they never thought of these full length body suits to lower wind resistence, not to mention the drugs taken now days.

I bet everybody will agree that the womans gymnastics would be much better if it was just naked sports women doing their thing.

I still cant beleive that the USA Basketball team gets paid over half of our GDP!

Well, I suppose thats the way the world is going. Whoever has the most money (or cheats the best) wins.

[Joel]

Actually the US was one of the last countries to put professionals in the Olympics.

Joel

[dZeus]

The Olympics have died. It is meant to be about individual achievement by amature athletes.

Even back in ancient Greece they had a lot of 'professional' athletes, and the winning athlete would get a lot of money from it's home town (talking about the sportive aspect of participation). This whole idea about 'amateur' athletes participating for the sportive achievement is quite twisted from the ancient games.

[paulcs]

I was concerned the language I used here might have been too inflamatory. NBC's medical correspondent just called Olympic officials "a lynch mob" looking to catch a 250 lb. track and field star taking enormous amounts of anabolic steroids and instead nabbing an 82 lb. girl who took a single cold tablet. He then described the Olympic legal process as a "Mickey Mouse" operation.

By the way, I was pretty embarrassed by the behaviour of some US athletes. Excessive celebration. Taunting. SPITTING!! It's important that people know James Carter was reprimanded by his coach, his teammates, and his mother.

Ali's idea of the modern Olympics performed in the Helenic fashion, nude and oiled, has it's downside. Think weightlifting. Think Greco-Roman wrestling. Ick. Of course, it would make rhythmic gymnastics more interesting.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 29 September 2000).]

[dcdomain]

In addition, I would like to comment on NBC's shitty coverage of the games. I can understand that they can't broadcast it live on NBC because of all the other programs, but they have MSNBC and CNBC. Even then they still choose not to broadcast it live, instead they try to take the day's events and package them with crappy commentary. Horrible that you have to sit through all the other sports in order to watch the 10-20 minutes of the event you are looking for. I heard some channel in Canada has 24/7 live coverage of the games. In addition... NBC's website sucks. They could have used it to post up to the minute news. Instead they choose to slow most of it down to as to not take away from the broadcast. What the hell is up with that? And because they don't want to ruin it for the broadcasts, they along with the IOC are policing the net to make sure no one else posts the results ahead of time. I seriously think the IOC should sell the rights to the webcoverage separately from the television coverage... with broadband in college, I'll be all over the web coverage...

and i can't believe Karelin lost, he looked like he didn't have it in him anymore. hope he makes a comeback and ends his career the right way...

[Vlip]

Paulcs you forgot the women volleyball players
Oh yes, and what about nude horse riding?
I do pity the athletes legs if they had to do so

[paulcs]

I thought about volleyball the second after I posted! Nude volleyball has a long tradition.

Race walking might be entertaining as well. Not to mention synchronized swimming and trampoline! The possibilities are endless.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Chris B]

Damned... I was just about to post the volleyball thingy.

Well now that we are on the olympic subject:
Am I the only one who thinks that 10 M air pistol shooting is the lamest diciplin ever?

And how about the speed walking (or whatever it´s called)... what´s the fun in seeing who can go faster while walking like a stupid duck with a limp?

------------------
Too bad you can't buy a voodoo globe so that you could make the earth spin real fast and freak everybody out.

[Vlip]

Chris B, I do not know if it's really as lame as you think.
I've shot from 3 m "hammer" standing to 300m not mentionning the 20 m full auto, using air guns, 22 long rifles and 5.6mm.

And I can tell you the performance those guys achieve are more than "athletic". I know it's maybe not the most entertaining thing in the world to watch but rapid fire is something that gets my complete estim!

Speed walking is something really weird you right


[This message has been edited by Vlip (edited 29 September 2000).]

[Chris B]

Vlip... what do you mean "rapid fire" ?
I was watching the womens 10 m air pistol shooting, and that was definately not rapid fire.

PS: I´ve done my share of pistol and rifle shooting too, and I know it´s not easy...and every sport has the right to be represented at the olympics. It´s just not very action packed to watch (just as you pointed out yourself)

[Vlip]

I don't really watch the olympics carefully, but I saw one rifle competition that got me interested.
It's 10 m airpistol shooting, they have 5 targets and they have something like 4 seconds to shoot all of them.

That's a little more action packed

[HedsSpaz]

The trick with NBC is that they payed something like 1.2 billion USD to secure exclusive rights for first coverage of the olympics in the US. If they air something live at 4am and something cool happens, thats it. The first thing the following morning ESPN, ABC, FOX, or whoever can air highlights. Meanwhile, if they don't do that, then no other network is allowed to air anything until NBC has done so. Meaning that NBC can air anything thats really cool during prime time coverage.

So the problem, is that NBC is in this for the money. The CBC is not, they paid only like 7 million CD$ for the rights for the next 4 games or something. They hardly have to recoupe anything. NBC has to recoupe around 250 million USD for EACH of the next 4 games in order to make a profit. If they aren't airing during prime time, they can't do that.

On a seperate note, womens nude volleyball would be quite the sport to watch.

[stevenscott]

Hello,
My 2 cents......NBC single handidly screwed up the Fall Season TV schedule and delaying the start of many shows, on all networks, thinking we care. We don't, I am not anti-sports, there are some sports I love, but they screwed up the beginning season show dates and times, big time here in the USA< or at least here in San Diego, Ca. And the way they do braodcast the events is a total joke and cannot understand how anyone could be excited enought to suffer through their lame attempt at Olympics coverage. I hear that the broadcasters had to agree to a very bad extorted contract and then the phony drug tests are a joke, they write the rules as they go with no brains in sight or use. What a disgrace! I love some winter sports and hope the Winter Olympcis are not butchered. But, the scandals that where involved in the planning of the Winter events probably destryed those too, long before they have begun. Sad that so many bad people where put in the positions to destroy a special event. Really sad.


[This message has been edited by stevenscott (edited 29 September 2000).]

[ahartman]

Lamest Olympic 'sport' ever: Syncronized platform diving. I couldn't believe that was on last nite.

Overall, the Olympics aren't interesting to me in the least. I'd rather watch the end of the baseball season. Who gets home field advantage is much more exciting to me than two women hitting the water at the same time.

Naked female sports I'd like to see: tennis, judo (naked women wrestling...mmmmm), and soccer.