Events and Athletes Discussion 2012 London Olympics


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So bummed out that neither Lotte Friis or Jeanette Ottesen Gray could swim home medals for us, but swimming is a tough crowd this year. I had my hopes up for Rebecca Adlington too, she's a really amazing swimmer and I am glad that she got at least a bronze medal on the 800-metre freestyle. Also Missy Franklin is extraordinarily impressive, can't wait to see her beat Michael Phelps' Olympic record of 21 medals in the future :ROFLMAO:
 
Do divers in the Olympics dive from both the diving board and platform, or can you only do one or the other?
 
Do divers in the Olympics dive from both the diving board and platform, or can you only do one or the other?

You can to both (or.. all 3, in diving there's a 1m board, 3m board and 10m platform), but in modern day diving and at this level, it's very rare to see someone do all the competitions, usually people specialise on a specific one (especially now synchronized diving is part of the program too)
 
Im just wondering because Michael keeps competing and competing and competing and I'm wondering what other sports have that many chances to win a medal.
Plus I wondered if diving from a platform vs a diving board is vastly different and the competitors can't/won't/don't transfer.
 
Im just wondering because Michael keeps competing and competing and competing and I'm wondering what other sports have that many chances to win a medal.
Plus I wondered if diving from a platform vs a diving board is vastly different and the competitors can't/won't/don't transfer.

Sports evolve: diving from board/platform is similar (except handstand jumps, these are only performed from platform), but not completely the same, and every variation requires specific training.. just like in swimming: all swimmers can swim the various styles (back, brest, butterfly, freestyle (crawl)) but only very very few can swim all styles equally good..(can't name any..), that's the same with diving...

really the only sports with many medal chances are swimming and gymnastics; athletics has many more events, but is evolved to a level were practically no-one does more than 3 events at olympic level
 
really the only sports with many medal chances are swimming and gymnastics; athletics has many more events, but is evolved to a level were practically no-one does more than 3 events at olympic level

Which is precisely why the suggestion that Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time is utterly preposterous.
 
Great result for Kat Copeland and Sophie Hosking at the women's rowing at Eton Dorney!
 
Do divers in the Olympics dive from both the diving board and platform, or can you only do one or the other?

They can do both. The great American diver Greg Louganis won gold medals in both at the 84 and 88 Olympics, the only man to have done so at consecutive Olympics. There are differences in technique, especially at take off, so many chose to specialize.
 
Another highly successful day for Britain, with two golds and one silver won already.
That means Britain is back in Top 3 with 10 Gold medals! :clap:
(Lumutqueen, do you have your camera ready) ;)

Current standings:
USA: 23 Gold - 10 Silver - 13 Bronze = 46 Total
China: 22 Gold - 16 Silver - 10 Bronze = 48 Total
United Kingdom: 10 Gold - 7 Silver - 8 Bronze = 25 Total
South Korea: 9 Gold - 2 Silver - 5 Bronze = 16 Total
France: 8 Gold - 5 Silver - 8 Bronze = 21 Total

Now, Britain is still quite a bit behind smashing their record haul at Beijing Olympics (47 total medals, with 19 of them gold), but the country has already surpassed their 2004 results gold medal-wise (9 gold medals and 30 medals in total).

Hopefully, Armenia will have a medal soon: Norayr Vardanyan is competing in Men's 94kg weightlifting and has reasonably good chances. His father, Yuri, was also an Olympian and won a gold for Soviet Union during Moscow Olympic Games.
 
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Which is precisely why the suggestion that Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time is utterly preposterous.

While there is opportunity to get a lot of medals in swimming, very few swimmers have the skill and stamina to do what he has done successfully.

How you define greatest is subjective for sure.....but he tops my list. I will miss watching him. He is an extraordinary talent. He broke so many records in his career. Watching him win 8 golds in 8 races was amazing. His 2 3-peats here were quite an accomplishment too. And so on..... He was on my list of greats before he ever swam in London.

Also Missy Franklin is extraordinarily impressive, can't wait to see her beat Michael Phelps' Olympic record of 21 medals in the future :ROFLMAO:

She has been incredible. Definitely one to watch!
Lol....records are made to be broken. We'll see.
 
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I agree, Missy Franklin is definitely one to watch.

Meanwhile, Team GB have won their first round heat and set another new world record in the process! The new one is 3:14.682. which means the team's average speed round the track was 55.475km/h. This means the team is on track to win another gold for Britain. Good luck!
 
We Brits are good at the sitting down sports - cycling, rowing, sailing (usually). Very sad for Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase who just missed out on the gold, I suppose having won gold in the first 2 races of the day at Eton Dorny, we had to give the rest of the world their turn. The guys had to be helped from their boats by Sir Steve Redgrave and others, they were completely devastated.

Fingers crossed for Jess Ennis tonight in the heptathlon.
 
We Brits are good at the sitting down sports - cycling, rowing, sailing (usually). Very sad for Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase who just missed out on the gold, I suppose having won gold in the first 2 races of the day at Eton Dorny, we had to give the rest of the world their turn. The guys had to be helped from their boats by Sir Steve Redgrave and others, they were completely devastated.

Fingers crossed for Jess Ennis tonight in the heptathlon.

Ouch. I hate seeing the devestation from athletes who fall short of their goals.

Why do you think it is that Brits tend to excel at sitting down sports over others?
 
Can someone perhaps explain the 'ommnium' to me? It's a cycling thing and I'm just so confused!

Seriously looking forward to seeing Mo Farah tonight!!!
 
We've always been traditionally good at rowing. Think of the Oxford v Cambridge boat race which is a really huge sporting event in the UK. Rowing tends to be one of the biggest sports at fee-paying schools - the rowing event at London 2012 is being held at Eton Dorny, which is owned by Eton College, whose past pupils include Princes William and Harry.

Sailing is also one of those sports that is part of the British social season for the upper classes especially - think Henley Royal Regatta and Cowes Week.

Cycling is something that Britain have just become really good at over the last 10 years or so. Dave Brailsford is a revolutionary coach who has transformed British cycling from bit part players, to dominating at Olympic Games and even in the Tour de France, where British cyclists finished 1st and 2nd this year. Brailsford should be the subject of books and documentaries because what he has done is truly amazing.

Can someone perhaps explain the 'ommnium' to me? It's a cycling thing and I'm just so confused!

Seriously looking forward to seeing Mo Farah tonight!!!

The simplest explanation I've seen is from the BBC website:

The riders will take part in a 120-lap race - a total of 30km - and can pick up points in the sprints which are held every 10 laps.
There are also points available if you lap the field, and you lose points if you are lapped.

Doesn't really help much, but every other explanation I've seen takes up numerous paragraphs.
 
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Team GB has just won their first-ever Olympic Women’s Team Pursuit, setting a new world record.
Well done to Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Roswell on their victory in 3:14.051 (a new World and Olympic record).

Congratulations!!! :clap:
Fingers crossed for Jessica Ennis; hope she wins heptathlon tonight.

USA: 24 Gold - 11 Silver - 14 Bronze = 49 Total
China: 23 Gold - 16 Silver - 11 Bronze = 50 Total
United Kingdom: 11 Gold - 7 Silver - 8 Bronze = 26 Total
South Korea: 9 Gold - 2 Silver - 5 Bronze = 16 Total
France: 8 Gold - 6 Silver - 8 Bronze = 22 Total
 
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:previous: They didn't just win, they very nearly lapped their opponents (USA). Quite amazing.

Nice also to see Sir Paul McCartney, Lady McCartney and Stella McCartney in the crowd at the velodrome. Sir Paul joined in with the crowd singing Hey Jude while waving his little Union Jack. Slightly surreal.
 
Finally we got our first gold medal at these Olympic Games, how joyous! Even more so because we also got a silver medal and a finale, I'd say today hasn't been the shabbiest day for Denmark :lol:
 
We've always been traditionally good at rowing. Think of the Oxford v Cambridge boat race which is a really huge sporting event in the UK. Rowing tends to be one of the biggest sports at fee-paying schools - the rowing event at London 2012 is being held at Eton Dorny, which is owned by Eton College, whose past pupils include Princes William and Harry.

Sailing is also one of those sports that is part of the British social season for the upper classes especially - think Henley Royal Regatta and Cowes Week.

Cycling is something that Britain have just become really good at over the last 10 years or so. Dave Brailsford is a revolutionary coach who has transformed British cycling from bit part players, to dominating at Olympic Games and even in the Tour de France, where British cyclists finished 1st and 2nd this year. Brailsford should be the subject of books and documentaries because what he has done is truly amazing.

Thanks! That was very informative!!

Finally we got our first gold medal at these Olympic Games, how joyous! Even more so because we also got a silver medal and a finale, I'd say today hasn't been the shabbiest day for Denmark :lol:

Congratulations! This is the first time I have really gotten a non-U.S. perspective on the Olympics. It has been quite enlightening.
 
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Congratulations! This is the first time I have really gotten a non-U.S. perspective on the Olympics. It has been quite enlightening.

Thank you :flowers:
I must say it was rather up-lifting with some wins after yesterdays many disappointments in swimming, badminton and handball.
 
team GB you are wonderful making us proud of u
 
It's a Dutch partaaaay :dutchflag: Ranomi swam to gold again in an Olympic record. :D Marleen Veldhuis, after becoming a mother and swimming her last race ever, won the bronze.
 
Congratulations, Empress Merel and Archduchess Zelia (the Netherlands and Denmark) with your successes! :flowers:
Rasmussen, Quist (Denmark), Kromowidjojo and Veldhuis (the Netherlands) did really well. :)

China has overtaken the USA to lead the table again, so the current standings:
China: 25 Gold - 16 Silver - 11 Bronze = 52 Total
USA: 25 Gold - 11 Silver - 14 Bronze = 50 Total
United Kingdom: 11 Gold - 7 Silver - 8 Bronze = 26 Total
South Korea: 9 Gold - 3 Silver - 5 Bronze = 17 Total
France: 8 Gold - 6 Silver - 8 Bronze = 22 Total
 
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I have to say, Ian Thorpe is a really interesting and engaging pundit. He's been on the BBC's team at the swimming and I've really enjoyed listening to him. He's a credit to Australia.

I've also loved Mark Cavendish as a pundit at the velodrome. He missed out on his big chance at gold and could've headed to the beach to lick his wounds. Instead he's explaining all the intricacies of the track cycling events and really reveling in GB's victories.

It's odd the way some sportsmen and women make great commentators or pundits while others are just so awful to listen to.
 
I love Mark, but I've hated Ian I find him truly annoying. I've also enjoyed Mark Foster with the lion ;)
 
Michael Phelps swam his last race as the US took gold in 4x100 medley relay.
That made it Michael's 18th Gold and 22nd overall medal.
It's going to be pretty hard to break that record!

The win also allowed the US to re-take the lead, so:
USA: 26 Gold - 11 Silver - 14 Bronze = 51 Total
China: 25 Gold - 16 Silver - 12 Bronze = 53 Total
United Kingdom: 11 Gold - 7 Silver - 8 Bronze = 26 Total
South Korea: 9 Gold - 3 Silver - 5 Bronze = 17 Total
France: 8 Gold - 6 Silver - 8 Bronze = 22 Total

(If anyone finds this standings charts inappropriate and not in the spirit of the Olympic Games, I'm really sorry for that: I just think it's quite fun to watch the teams' progresses as well, not just the athletes). :)
 
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