Topic: The XXIXth Summer Olympic Games (Beijing 2008)

[nidgemo]

So, with the euros over, and the football season a while away yet, we come to the next major sporting event of the summer...

Beijing 2008 - The Olympic games.


Now, all the politics shite aside, I love the olympics - it's the biggest sporting event in the world, and whatever your age, you will have fabulous memories of the olympics.

For me, Los Angeles 84 was the first major sporting event I really remember watching as a 10 year old, and it really caught my imagination - from flying men with jet packs, to Car Lewis flying on the track and winning 4 golds, to Daley Thompson just being superhuman... I was hooked.

LA, Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens have all provided me with a lifetime of fantastic memories...

Anyone else looking forward to the games as much as me?

[pantbash]

God no.
Its the most boring 'spectacle' that pollutes our TV screens.
(Mby even worse than the yawn fest that is Wimbeldon.)


If we had a seperate druggie Olympics, then I may get interested.
Leave the bleating do-gooders to run their own drug-free & wallow in their moral superiority.


I on the otherhand want to see D.Chambers snort a line of roids, run the 100m in 8seconds. Then have his eyeballs explode.
That would be entertainment.

[stevie h g]

can you honestly believe in the integrity of the Olympics. Too many sports tainted by drugs and the whole thing is a political exercise, as we've already seen with the torch relay. I'm afrraid I won't believe any big performances are a result of talent and training, I know everyone isn't on drugs, but the whole thing has no credibility.

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

The Olympics.  The finest sporting spectacle in the world!  I for one cannot wait. 

Someone recently wrote that whether Britain sends a team or boycotts the games, our medal haul would be largely the same but I totally disagree.  Britain just won the European Athletics cup, our cyclists are easily the best in the world as was proven at the recent World Championships, our rowers are second to none, our triathletes are winning major events around the world and there will always be the odd surprise win thrown in for good measure.  It's going to be a thrilling summer alright!

[nidgemo]

God no.
Its the most boring 'spectacle' that pollutes our TV screens.

How the fuck can the olympics be boring - do you only watch the cross country shooting and dressage?



I don't even give a fuck about drugs. Bolt, Powell and Gay have, in the last few weeks alone, become the three fastest men ever, running, between them, the 8 fastest times ever ran (Gay ran a fucking 9.68 the other day!)

The 100m final is always a highlight - the best 10 seconds there is in sport - and this years is going to be spectacular.

[nidgemo]

can you honestly believe in the integrity of the Olympics. Too many sports tainted by drugs and the whole thing is a political exercise, as we've already seen with the torch relay. I'm afrraid I won't believe any big performances are a result of talent and training, I know everyone isn't on drugs, but the whole thing has no credibility.

Yes. Of course. Sure, there are some athletes on drugs, but if one thing has been proven by the olympics (and athletics / swimming etc in general) in the past - it's no matter how big a name - they WILL catch them, they WILL go public, there WILL NOT be a cover up.

If anything, because of this, it's got more integrity than most sports - you KNOW if they're on drugs, they WILL be caught.

As for political - the decision of where to hold it is that - but nothing about the actual sporting event is - there can be no political sway used (as Jesse Owens proved in Berlin in 1938) to effect results, no politician can effect the fastest, the strongest, win...

[TheKid.]

the olympics hold absolutely no interest for me at all, boring as fuck, and bar any of the football they may show, i probably won't watch it at all

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

the olympics hold absolutely no interest for me at all, boring as fuck, and bar any of the football they may show, i probably won't watch it at all

But be sure to come on here and tell us how little interest it has for you won't you?

[TheKid.]

am sure i won't. But are the only people who are allowed to post here ones who are gonna whoop whoop the olympics yay! ?

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

No, I just find it ironic that someone who says he's not interested in the Olympics is interested enough in a thread about the Olympics to open it, read it and then write to inform us all how much he's not interested in the Olympics.  It will struggle on without your interest but I'm sure it will survive. 

[TheKid.]

how on earth is it ironic? Are you only allowed to post in a thread to say how great the topic is? I said i find the olympics boring, not sure why i shouldn't be allowed to say that? Whatever tho, enjoy watching people run round an oval

[GBF]

i like the olympics mainly because of its variety of sports....if you are bored with one, just switch channels to another event

[Crosby Nick]

I'm a big fan as well. Looking forward to it. I'll be watching Victoria Pendleton especially closely! For the sports where the Olympics is the absolute pinnacle then I think it's great that a previously 'unknown' cyclist/swimmer/rower etc can become front page news.

When does it start by the way?

[Degs]

Great Britain has lots of up and coming young boxers who will surprise a few people with the amount of medals they win.

As ever though the history of the nation makes for certain medals in:

Boats (rowing sailing)
Boxing
Shooting
Horses

[GBF]

God no.
Its the most boring 'spectacle' that pollutes our TV screens.
(Mby even worse than the yawn fest that is Wimbeldon.)


If we had a seperate druggie Olympics, then I may get interested.
Leave the bleating do-gooders to run their own drug-free & wallow in their moral superiority.


I on the otherhand want to see D.Chambers snort a line of roids, run the 100m in 8seconds. Then have his eyeballs explode.
That would be entertainment.

and you think football, tennis, rugby, cricket is clean

[Kemlyn 28]

No,what's the point in watching drub addled dickheads

For me, Los Angeles 84 was the first major sporting event I really remember watching as a 10 year old, and it really caught my imagination - from flying men with jet packs, to Car Lewis flying on the track and winning 4 golds, to Daley Thompson just being superhuman... I was hooked.

  I wonder what the performance enhancing drug of choice for athletes was in 1984?

[Armin]

Before rubbishing them you should try actually attending one. I was lucky enough to live in Sydney at the time of the 2000 games and for all the commercial nonsense and the bloating which has taken place it remains the greatest show on earth. Not least because for all the corruption and money which surrounds certain elite athletes there remain thousands of competitors who are there for the love of their sport and the desire to compete.

[pantbash]

and you think football, tennis, rugby, cricket is clean

Not at all.

I also want seperate "Incredible Hulk" leagues for all those sports too.

The 100m final is always a highlight - the best 10 seconds there is in sport - and this years is going to be spectacular.

I also disagree with this, running in a straight line. Wooooo, I can't contain my excitement   
(Sarcasm aside, I just don't find it at all interesting. But each to their own eh.)

[Uncle Ronnie]

I wonder what the performance enhancing drug of choice for athletes was in 1984?

"Cold Medicine" for Carl Lewis in '88 - so I imagine it was the same in '84

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

Great Britain has lots of up and coming young boxers who will surprise a few people with the amount of medals they win.

As ever though the history of the nation makes for certain medals in:

Boats (rowing sailing)
Boxing
Shooting
Horses

You forgot cycling.  We'll almost certainly be the leading nation in that discipline (again) this time round.  I reckon we'll get a few in the fletics as well. 

[Crosby Nick]

You forgot cycling.  We'll almost certainly be the leading nation in that discipline (again) this time round.  I reckon we'll get a few in the fletics as well. 

They have a lot less Cycling events in the Olympics than they do in the World Champs though sadly otherwise we could clean up. For eample there is no 1k timetrial and I think Pendleton is only in the sprint which can be a bit of a lottery.

Who are medal contenders in the athletics? Kelly Sotherton, Nicola Sanders, Christine Ohroghu, Phillips Idowu? Maybe the mens 4x100 and womens 4x400 - anyone else?

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

"Cold Medicine" for Carl Lewis in '88 - so I imagine it was the same in '84

And what was it Jaap Staam, Edgar Davids and Pep Guardiola took?  Steroids, wasn't it?  This discovered without the rigorous testing athletes have to endure.  One Belgian athlete was forced to give a blood test on the day he was burying his infant son - no excuses and no refusals or he's banned for 2 or 4 years whereas the footballers got three months!  So please don't go pretending football is in any way clean or you'll be seen as a hypocrite. 

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

They have a lot less Cycling events in the Olympics than they do in the World Champs though sadly otherwise we could clean up. For eample there is no 1k timetrial and I think Pendleton is only in the sprint which can be a bit of a lottery.

Who are medal contenders in the athletics? Kelly Sotherton, Nicola Sanders, Christine Ohroghu, Phillips Idowu? Maybe the mens 4x100 and womens 4x400 - anyone else?

They have the following cycling events this time round;

On the program of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008
Cycling BMX
• Individual Men • individual Women
Cycling Road
• individual road race Men • individual road race Women • individual time trial Men • individual time trial Women

Cycling Track
• Individual Pursuit Men • Sprint indivual Men • Keirin Men • Team Pursuit (4000m) Men • Madison Men • Individual pursuit Women • Olympic Sprint Men • Points race Women • Points Race Men • Sprint Women
Mountain Bike
• cross-country Men • cross-country Women

I'm not as au fait as I once was on the athletes and I know the European Cup isn't the Olympics but the boost many of our T&F people got there must have given them a real lift for Beijing. 

[spen71]

I will be watching, I have done since 1980.  All my family like watching it.

[TonyTheRed]

Womens gymnastics...that is all 

Oh, and the boxing

[Uncle Ronnie]

And what was it Jaap Staam, Edgar Davids and Pep Guardiola took?  Steroids, wasn't it?  This discovered without the rigorous testing athletes have to endure.  One Belgian athlete was forced to give a blood test on the day he was burying his infant son - no excuses and no refusals or he's banned for 2 or 4 years whereas the footballers got three months!  So please don't go pretending football is in any way clean or you'll be seen as a hypocrite. 

And how long was Carl Lewis banned for??

I never said football was clean, and I'm sure there's more drug cheats in football than have been caught.

But I also believe that there is an even greater number in athletics. The problem for me with the Olympics is that no one knows if these guys are cheating or not. Just because they've not been banned does not make them clean. It's a shame because the Olympics should be the pinnacle of all sports - but now it's just covered in controversy (it being in Beijing also doesn't help)

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

I'm sure there is a reasoned and adult debate to be had on the use of drugs in sport but I doubt it's to be had on this topic which is a shame given some of the forthright views on the subject. 

[nidgemo]

It WILL be years too late, it WILL mean that every race that that individual has run in for years will be called in to question, it WILL mean that yet more integrity drips away from the sport. It WILL still go on, and we WILL NOT know how many athletes are clean.

Yeah, that's what heppened with Ben Johnson. YEARS later until he was caught.

[Stussy]

Abolish the Olympics and have the World Cup every two years.

And I think we should just decide now who iwill bein charge of posting beach volleyball pictures in this thread.

[nidgemo]

If we had a seperate druggie Olympics, then I may get interested.
Leave the bleating do-gooders to run their own drug-free & wallow in their moral superiority.

can you honestly believe in the integrity of the Olympics. Too many sports tainted by drugs and the whole thing is a political exercise

It WILL be years too late, it WILL mean that every race that that individual has run in for years will be called in to question, it WILL mean that yet more integrity drips away from the sport. It WILL still go on, and we WILL NOT know how many athletes are clean.

No,what's the point in watching drub addled dickheads  I wonder what the performance enhancing drug of choice for athletes was in 1984?

The problem for me with the Olympics is that no one knows if these guys are cheating or not. Just because they've not been banned does not make them clean.

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=223436.0

Enjoy

[wickolfc]

Don't like it personally. Bores me.

[GBF]

http://en.beijing2008.cn/cptvenues/schedule/

shame on the time dfference! its gonna hurt a bit during the week

[Cruiser]

Only watch the track and field. The rest is shit, except for maybe women's gymnastics for some eye candy and hockey.

Almost forgot about beach volleyball. Those brazilians 

[arae]

Madison Men

I've never understood the rules but is always pretty interesting viewing...

[Blamire]

Not a big fan myself, its a bit boring.

[Bob Loblaw]

Come on Sonia!!!

[nidgemo]

Aye, just like Marion Jones and how they got her medals off her, what, seven years after she won them?

Rapid.

Then she clearly wasn't on drugs at the time, as she, like all winners, would have been tested immediately after winning.

QED.

[Crosby Nick]

Who was that Irish swimmer who came from nowhere? Did she ever get busted for drugs?

[BazC]

I actually can't be arsed with them. Last time round a lad who went to our school won a gold medal though- the men's relay; Marlon Devonish. Good to see that, but most of it bores me.

[nidgemo]

Who was that Irish swimmer who came from nowhere? Did she ever get busted for drugs?

She did indeed.

As I say - the cheats are always caught - meaning the sports in the olympics are a whole lot cleaner than any other sport on earth - the testing is vicious for these people - you can cheat to get there, slip in under the radar, but once you are a star, once you win something, you'll get caught.