Beijing Olympics thread

[laxtonto]

Phelph's might be the best and most dominant athlete i have ever seen in any sport. I tip my hat to the man...

[SandyD]

USA Men's Sabre team (7th seed) beat Hungary (2nd seed)

[HotCorner]

Usain Bolt is a freak!! He's 6'5" and won the 100m sprint shattering the WR with a 9.68. Oh and he let up with about 20m to go. The guy made it look too easy.

[Chip R]

I think with all Michael Phelps has accomplished he deserves this.

[OnBaseMachine]

I'm no swimming expert but Michael Phelps can swim a little.

[KronoRed]

I hope he comes back in 4 years.

[TeamSelig]

in order...

Michael Phelps
Chuck Norris
Jim Coombs
Chris Denorfia

[Caveat Emperor]

After reading about Michael Phelps' diet that my problem isn't so much that I eat too much but rather that I swim too little.

[HumnHilghtFreel]

I'll be impressed when he wins one of these things blindfolded!

Oh, he swam a race with his goggles full of water? I guess that's kind of impressive...

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

After reading about Michael Phelps' diet that my problem isn't so much that I eat too much but rather that I swim too little.

Just need to swim 8 hours a day and you can live at McDonalds

[texasdave]

You simply can not make this stuff up.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/shooting/...+qiu+jian+wins

BEIJING (AP) - For the second straight Olympics, Matt Emmons lost a gold medal with a stunning mistake on the final shot.

The American was in front Sunday in the 50-meter 3-position rifle and needed to come only somewhere close to the center of the target. But his gun went off accidentally on his final attempt, and he made just 4.4 of a possible 10.9 points. China's QIU Jian ended with the gold.

Four years ago, Emmons had a big lead in this same event, then shot at the wrong target on his final attempt and ended with no medal at all.

He dropped to fourth this time. Yuriy SUKHORUKOV of Ukraine won the silver and Rajmond Debevec took the bronze.

A score of less than 8.0 is considered unusually bad in this event. As it turned out, Emmons would have needed only a 6.7 on the last shot to win. He said his gun fired as he was lowering it to focus on the middle of the target.

"I got on the trigger a little too hard. I didn't feel my trigger shaking but I guess it was," Emmons said. "It just hit the trigger, the gun went off and I was like, 'Uh, that's not going to be good.'"

Emmons was consoled by his wife, Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic. The two met in Athens four years ago, when she went to offer support after his gaffe there.

http://images.beijing2008.cn/20080412/Img214303492.jpg

"He's definitely the best standing shooter out there," she said Sunday. "If he can still end up fourth with a 4.4 on the last shot, that's a hell of a shooter."

Emmons won the gold medal in prone rifle in 2004 and the silver in that event in Beijing.

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by HumnHilghtFreel

I'll be impressed when he wins one of these things blindfolded!

Oh, he swam a race with his goggles full of water? I guess that's kind of impressive...

When Spitz won his seven gold, no one wore goggles. I remember swimming competitively back in the seventies- my eyes were always red.

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by Reds Fanatic

Amazing. 8 gold medals for Phelps. Will probably never be duplicated.

Unless he does it in London.

[Yachtzee]

Originally Posted by SunDeck

When Spitz won his seven gold, no one wore goggles. I remember swimming competitively back in the seventies- my eyes were always red.

Spitz also did it with a full head of hair and a mustache, didn't he?

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by Yachtzee

Spitz also did it with a full head of hair and a mustache, didn't he?

But everyone else did (imagine the drag those sideburns create), and no one wore goggles, IIRC.

I have been absolutely riveted by the swimming this year, thanks to Phelps and the rest of the team's performances. It's always been my favorite sport, but this takes me back to the first Olympics I really remember, the 1972 games. The effect on me was dramatic; I went from a seven year old who liked swim team to a seven year old who was going to compete in the Olympics. Of course, it didn't quite work out that way, but I am just as jazzed about swimming now as I was as a kid way back then.
In fact, I'm going to the IU pool today to challenge anyone over 40 to a fifty meter freestyle sprint!