BS: Olympics -favourite moment

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 01:28 PM

I had to Google Eric Lamaze's name, not being Canadian. I thought he might be the young Canadian who was one of the few non-Chinese to win a medal in diving, and I was embarrasssed not be sure of knowing his name. I forgot that Canadian kid's name, but I did watch and admire his performance at the "Water Cube" venue the other night.

Turns out Eric is an equestrian jumping champ. I'll go back and read the news articles that Google found for me, and look forward to learning his feel-good story.

But I have to admit that, to me, horse-riding is not only of little interest, but definitely one of those marginally-athletic pursuits that has little to do with "Citius, Altius, Fortius" ~ for the horses, surely, but not so much for their riders.

It also smacks of the aristocratic elitism that was behind the founding of the games and the original cult of amateurism, but which is deservedly headed for the scrapheap of history. This is an event, after all, that has seen Olympic medals go to senior citizens and Royal Family members. I hope that, when I read the stories in the Canadian press, it'll turn out that youg Eric is a working-class kid who went to his local riding academy on scholarship.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: GUEST,Hawkwind
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 01:08 PM

The closing titles of the closing ceremony and the back of this waste of time and money. Rubbish egotistic event.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: 3refs
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 01:07 PM

I freely admit that I am a sports junkie and want nothing to do with any intervention or rehabilitation. Being Canadian, I lean towards hockey and lacrosse but I really enjoy watching, or participation in, almost any athletic competition. The only problem I have is the events they have introduced over the yeas at the Olympics. What ever happened to Higher, Faster(swifter), Stronger? I don't mean to say that some of these events don't require a lot of skill and endurance, but at the rate they are going it won't be long before darts and poker will be Olympic competitions.
That being said, I found it really difficult to pick out my favourite moments so far. Phelps has been just incredible and Bolt has easily shattered records. If I have to pick one that combines dedication, perseverance and redemption, I look at Eric Lamaze. For me, he is the feel good story of this years Olympics and a testament to "Never Give Up"!

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 10:39 AM

Oh, how could I fogotten to mention yesterday's men's 400 meters?

Of course, I was glad to see a USA 1-2-3 sweep, but nationalist chauvinism is hardly the whole story.

1 ~ Young LaShawn Merritt was a more-or-less co-favorite, but no one expected him to run away with the race by such a huge Bolt-like margin. Gold medal, lots of exuberance; good for him!

2 ~ Defending gold medalist from Athens Jeremy Warriner faded badly in the stretch and was about as disappointed with his silver medal finish as any second-place individual or team at Beijing. There have been many instances in many different sports where competitors' reactions to their finishes had more to do with measurement aganist expectations than with the actual performance ~ one man's 3d-place bronze can be an absolute triumph, while another's 2d-place silver can be a bitter defeat. Which leads us to:

3 ~ Lightly regarded David Neville had spent half of the past year in various hospitals, surprised the track world just by qualifying for the US team, surprised 'em again by making the Olympic final, and provided us all with a wonderful heroic moment by diving through the tape and landing face-first on the track to come from behind and just barely achieve a third-place finish. This guy's bronze meddal was a far greter achievement than half the golds and probably all the silvers distributed so far; great for him!

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 10:14 AM

All of the above, and there's still more to come.

Nastia deserves a mention along with her roomie Shawn. What a pair ~ both great, and entirely different from each other: one cute and perky, one willowy and elegant, both damn near perfect. Both have great backstories about their coaches. Nastia's is her Dad, a former Soviet gold medalist; Shawn's is a Beijing native who became an American, set up shop as a Gymnastics coach in West Des Moines, and almost immediately had a six-year-old prodigy and future gold medalist show up at his door for lessons.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 09:51 AM

Donuel, don't you ever wonder what it's like to have a glass that's half-full, instead of one that's half-empty?

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: olddude
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 08:57 AM

Kerri Walsh, jumping for the ball

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 08:40 AM

Bolt is real and so was Phelps mom.

A Chinese diver pulled off a dive as good as the CGI Conehead daughter.
The women walkers were a jiggling giggling spectacle.

When a US runner was told that he moved up 3 spots to win a bronce due to technical eliminations you could see he was less than enthusiastic and a mike accidently picked up his voice saying "so what I still lost"

The 70 meter LCD TV on the dance floor was amazing and so was the conceptual art of most of the opening ceremony.


It has been shown that 75% of the people who devote time to become an olympiad end up sacrificing education and income for their entire lifetime.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: artbrooks
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 08:08 AM

The faces on the winners - Usain Bolt's, while flat on his back after winning the 200M; the US beach volleyball team, on their knees in the sand, crying in exultation; Shawn Johnson's glowing smile after her balance beam presentation.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: greg stephens
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 06:49 AM

I haven't watched any of it, except the computer animated fake opening ceremony. That put me off.

Subject: BS: Olympics -favourite moment
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 22 Aug 08 - 06:34 AM

I've enjoyed these Olympics more than I thought I would ( maybe because the GB team is doing really well!)and, as a ex-runner, the running of Usain Bolt has been breathtaking. It difficult to talk about the greatest ever, but this guy is just amazing; infact, he's knocked the stuffing out of his events because he is just so far ahead of the competition.