The Olympics

[zenith-nadir]

Well the Olympics start soon and we need an Olympics thread. All Olympics-based themes are welcome.

First theme in the Olympics thread is ticket sales, it seems ticket sales are struggling;

Olympics Notebook - Ticket sales remain sluggish - 08/10/2004

Preparations by Athens dragged after the IOC awarded the games to Greece in 1997. IOC officials worried when construction ran behind schedule. The delays are being blamed for sluggish ticket sales, with just slightly less than half of the 5.3 million tickets still unsold. Organizers hope to sell 3.4 million before Friday’s opening ceremony, but last week, only 284,000 were purchased.

I think attendance will be adquate but not stellar, between the cost of terror prevention, construction delays and low ticket sales I would say Greece stands to lose many millions.

 

[Larspeart]

I am getting totally 'geeked' for them. I look forward to them every 4 years (the Winter Games just don't have the same thrill for me- think 'Olympics Lite').

One more week to go!

 

[zenith-nadir]

I look forward to them every 4 years (the Winter Games just don't have the same thrill for me- think 'Olympics Lite').

I like the winter olympics. One thing about the summer olympics I can't understand is the synchronized swimming thing...any sport you have to wear makeup for ain't a sport!

 

[Snide]

My fiancee is a former Div I swimmer, and knows some of the athletes competing. Since knowing her, and hearing some of the stories she has about past diving competitions, I don't really enjoy events with judges anymore.

 

[richardm]

My fiancee is a former Div I swimmer, and knows some of the athletes competing. Since knowing her, and hearing some of the stories she has about past diving competitions, I don't really enjoy events with judges anymore.

Come on Snide, dish the dirt! Change names to protect the innocent

 

[Tmy]

There are too many Summer O events. Can you really call ballroom dancing a sport!?!? Or that crazy bikerace on that little veladrome track. Whats up with that!?!

Any sport that relies on judgeing is not a true sport.

The athletes who bailed on Athens cause of security fears are cowards and should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Snide]

Come on Snide, dish the dirt! Change names to protect the innocent

The two American representatives in men's diving (platform I think) were not better than the one who ranked 3rd. Her opinion, of course, and her/his circle of associates as well. The top two finished unimpressively in Sydney.

Maybe you can Google to fill in the names

Yep, it's only anecdotal, but I've learned to trust her judgment on these things (and it's not just hers, either).

edited for clarity

 

[Larspeart]

that is exactly the reason I dislike the winter olympics. Far too many events are based off of judges (figure skating being the most glaring example).

To me, I define sports thusly...

1. They involve timed events where the object is to get the fastest time (track, rowing, cycling, speed-skating, swimming). Easy enough to judge winners and losers.

2. It is a solo or team event where the object is to score somehow. (football, basketball, baseball, hockey, shooting, archery, handball).

3. The object it to lift, throw, launch something with the highest number, whether it be lift the most weight, throw the furthest, or launch yourself the highest/furthest (as in jumping events).

The 'grey' areas would be wrestling and boxing. These are classic olympic events (one of the originals from the original Games), and leave 'some room to interpretation. Frankly, I think matches should go until a pin in wrestling, or a knockout in boxing (or three knock-downs) to avoid any problems with judges though.


figure-skating, sync-swimming, diving, gymnastics, skiing events involving scoring on jumps and tricks (or anything else where style has ANY value) are all non-sports, and should NOT be in the olympics, in my humble opinion.

 

[shemp]

◊◊◊◊ the Olympics. It's nothing but overblown, oversponsored garbage.

 

[pgwenthold]

The 'grey' areas would be wrestling and boxing. These are classic olympic events (one of the originals from the original Games), and leave 'some room to interpretation. Frankly, I think matches should go until a pin in wrestling, or a knockout in boxing (or three knock-downs) to avoid any problems with judges though.

Um, wrestling has well-defined criteria for scoring. Take downs, back points, escapes, throws (in GR) all have specified values. The only judging is the official who determines whether it actually happened, but that is no different from a hockey official having to determine whether the puck went in the net or not, on the whole.

Hasn't boxing gone to counting punches landed (at least in the olympics)? I think it is even done electronically.

 

[Charlie Monoxide]

Either the History Channel or Discovery had a very interesting "History of the Olympics" show (about 2 or 3 hrs long). It seems the olympics were resurrected by a Frenchman, basically as something only "rich folk" could engage in (ie must be all amateur, no common folk please.).

Hitler's regime added an interesting touch of the carry of the olympic flame from Greece to Berlin as well as a few other features that I'm blanking on.

Charlie (bring on the games, go Canada!) Monoxide

 

[Snide]

Hasn't boxing gone to counting punches landed (at least in the olympics)? I think it is even done electronically.

The reason I wouldn't know the answer to this question reminds me of the '88 Roy Jones Junior debacle. I just haven't followed it the same since.

 

[Mr Manifesto]

The reason I wouldn't know the answer to this question reminds me of the '88 Roy Jones Junior debacle. I just haven't followed it the same since.

I googled for .001 seconds and can't find anything on it (plenty of stuff about RJ jr, and it seems he got a gold in the olympics... Or maybe silver... but no details about the actual event). Care to enlighten the now terminally curious?

 

[patnray]

Either the History Channel or Discovery had a very interesting "History of the Olympics" show (about 2 or 3 hrs long). It seems the olympics were resurrected by a Frenchman, basically as something only "rich folk" could engage in (ie must be all amateur, no common folk please.).

Hitler's regime added an interesting touch of the carry of the olympic flame from Greece to Berlin as well as a few other features that I'm blanking on.

Charlie (bring on the games, go Canada!) Monoxide

IIRC, Hitler also added playing the national anthem at the medal ceremony. Previously athletes got to pick whatever music they wanted.

 

[Snide]

I googled for .001 seconds and can't find anything on it (plenty of stuff about RJ jr, and it seems he got a gold in the olympics... Or maybe silver... but no details about the actual event). Care to enlighten the now terminally curious?

From :

In the 1988 Seoul, Korea, Olympics, boxer Roy Jones Jr. beat his South Korean opponent like a drum. According to calculations, Jones hit his opponent 86 times to his opponent's 32. In the second round, Jones so battered his opponent that the referee gave the Korean fighter a standing eight-count. Yet, in a stunning 3-2 decision, Jones lost. It was later discovered that the judges were receiving payments from South Korea's boxing federation. Even the IOC eventually called the circumstances suspicious, and, to this day, the president of the U.S. Olympic Committee seeks a gold medal for Jones.

Front Page Magazine (never heard of them, either)

edited to add: This incident in itself is probably no reason to stop following a sport, a la Howard Cosell and teh Tex Cobb fight, but it just tainted things for me, the impressionable lad that I was.

 

[Jebus Sabes]

Similar to the Tour de France, the drugs issue has made me lose interest in, or respect for the Olympics. Have a read of this story from The Observer (UK) newspaper: "The most corrupt race ever", about how 5 of the 8 finalists in the 1988 100m men's athletics final have since failed drug tests.

 

[Larspeart]

Um, wrestling has well-defined criteria for scoring. Take downs, back points, escapes, throws (in GR) all have specified values. The only judging is the official who determines whether it actually happened, but that is no different from a hockey official having to determine whether the puck went in the net or not, on the whole.

Hasn't boxing gone to counting punches landed (at least in the olympics)? I think it is even done electronically.

That isthe kind of judgement I am speaking of. a judge could EASILY say that he didn't see a throw (or a 'correctly performed' throw). In boxing, same thing. There is VERY little difference between a 'landed punch' and a blocked punch when watching in real-time, ESPECIALLY with the lighter, faster weight classes. Often, punches are landed, but just barely, and it is up to the judge to decide whether it was really a 'good' punch or not. Also, a punch that is blocked initially can land on the followthrough as a 'graze' which again is up to the judge to decide.

In hockey, instant replay is used to determine goals or not, and there are 2 camera's expressly on the goal (1 behind, and the even more important one, 1 directly over the goal-line.).

Yup, RJjr was ROBBED on that. He CLEARLY earned the gold medal on that fight.

 

[Patrick]

Most of the olympics is a bunch of PC-riddled crap. The "entertainment" for the opening and closing ceremonies always seems to set new records for shlock, although it's hard to believe that anyone will ever exceed the Atlanta olympics in that regard. Also the nationalism that's been there since Hitler's 1936 spectacle - "we won this" and "we won that" --- "we" didn't win anything. There's the lighting of the torch, and everybody can pretend to be pagans for awhile. The core of the games, the competition itself, is the only thing worth a damn, but even with that one wonders whether one is seeing the athletes or just the result of performance-enhancing drugs.

 

[pgwenthold]

That isthe kind of judgement I am speaking of. a judge could EASILY say that he didn't see a throw (or a 'correctly performed' throw).

There is no "judge" in wrestling. There is only an official, who's job it is to rule if the activity took place. And "correctly performed" really isn't a criterion. The only question is, did the throw happen? (and note that is really only an issue in Greco-Roman, which is all about throwing; however, the rules describe the throws that get points or not)

There are occasional arguments about whether a wrestler technically has "control" or not on a takedown, but these types of arguments are no different than those about whether team A was offside on a kick, or whether a free kick should be awarded. You don't seem to have a problem with soccer, even though "a judge could rule" that a penalty shot should be given. An official in basketball can call a foul and give the team an opportunity to score instead of letting the defense get the ball, or counts a basket on an offensive foul instead of waving it off, etc. A wrestling official does the same sort of thing but you hold them to a different standard?

The winner of the wrestiling match is determined by who did the things to get more points, no different than any other competition. The things that gain points are clearly defined in the rules. How it looks is irrelevent. You expose the guy's back to the mat, you score, regardless of how it looks.

 

[evildave]

Like previous events, I won't watch even one second of it, except by accident.

The sports competition doesn't really interest me.