Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games

[jersey cubs fan]

My problem with the judging of gymnastics is that all things are apparently not equal. The highest score we saw on the uneven bars was 16.90 by Liuken. I don't recall the exact score that Shawn Johnson got on the balance beam, but I think it was something like 15.90. Her performance on the balance beam was, to me, far and away the best performance by ANYONE in any of the events. It had the most difficulty, and she executed her routine perfectly. And so her score is not even in the same ballpark with the uneven bars. In fact, Johnson got a better score herself on the uneven bars.

 

The judges screwed the USA for both Luiken and Johnson on the beam, and if you fix those scores, Sacramone's two biffs meant the difference between a gold and a silver.

 

The problem is that there is judging at all.

[Banedon]

MyCokeRewards.com has a "bonus game" when you put in a sprite cap, where you select on of the olympic events, and if the USA wins gold, then you are entered into a drawing for $100.

 

All of the events that Michael Phelps is competing in are not listed as options.

[Guest]

Baseball -

 

Yesterday's Results

Canada 10, China 0

Cuba 4, Japan 2

Taiwan 5, Netherlands 0

South Korea 8, U.S. 7

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=1535

 

U.S. blew it in the 9th inning, giving up 2.

[Soul]

They're lucky they were able to get those two gaffs from Sacrimone. Otherwise we're talking full blown controversy, because aside from those 2 mistakes the US girls had a good case for being better.

 

But the main problem is that the Golds are handed out based on a panel of opinions, nothing more. Not that it will change, but to me it will always mean much less than something like, say, scoring more points than the opponent, or posting a better time.

[CuseCubFan69]

My daughter is talking about the different flags of each country this morning at breakfast. I like the fact that these games bring a little bit of a different culture into our lives and introduces it to a lot of people.

[CuseCubFan69]

so when Phelps is all done with competitive swimming, be it this year or after one or two more Olympics, then what? It's gotta be tough to have your life defined by one thing (very early) and then switch gears into "normal" life. I guess he could coach swimming or something.

Kick back and live the life off the millions you make in endorsements.

well, there's that, but he's obviously going pro after this showing, right?

 

Or take advantage of the 45 condoms each Olympian is averaging this year.

[BigbadB]

My problem with the judging of gymnastics is that all things are apparently not equal. The highest score we saw on the uneven bars was 16.90 by Liuken. I don't recall the exact score that Shawn Johnson got on the balance beam, but I think it was something like 15.90. Her performance on the balance beam was, to me, far and away the best performance by ANYONE in any of the events. It had the most difficulty, and she executed her routine perfectly. And so her score is not even in the same ballpark with the uneven bars. In fact, Johnson got a better score herself on the uneven bars.

 

The judges screwed the USA for both Luiken and Johnson on the beam, and if you fix those scores, Sacramone's two biffs meant the difference between a gold and a silver.

 

The problem is that there is judging at all.

 

Well, yeah.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

My daughter is talking about the different flags of each country this morning at breakfast. I like the fact that these games bring a little bit of a different culture into our lives and introduces it to a lot of people.

my son keeps harping on me about the Chinese cheating

[Ding Dong Johnson]

so when Phelps is all done with competitive swimming, be it this year or after one or two more Olympics, then what? It's gotta be tough to have your life defined by one thing (very early) and then switch gears into "normal" life. I guess he could coach swimming or something.

Kick back and live the life off the millions you make in endorsements.

well, there's that, but he's obviously going pro after this showing, right?

 

Or take advantage of the 45 condoms each Olympian is averaging this year.

he's the male equivalent of Oprah -- someone somebody would only hook up with just to say they did. he's one ugly bastard

[Derwood]

Alicia Sacrimone knocks out some dude

[jersey cubs fan]

so when Phelps is all done with competitive swimming, be it this year or after one or two more Olympics, then what? It's gotta be tough to have your life defined by one thing (very early) and then switch gears into "normal" life. I guess he could coach swimming or something.

Kick back and live the life off the millions you make in endorsements.

well, there's that, but he's obviously going pro after this showing, right?

 

Or take advantage of the 45 condoms each Olympian is averaging this year.

he's the male equivalent of Oprah -- someone somebody would only hook up with just to say they did. he's one ugly bastard

 

Except he's a world class athlete and not a tub of lard.

[CuseCubFan69]

so when Phelps is all done with competitive swimming, be it this year or after one or two more Olympics, then what? It's gotta be tough to have your life defined by one thing (very early) and then switch gears into "normal" life. I guess he could coach swimming or something.

Kick back and live the life off the millions you make in endorsements.

well, there's that, but he's obviously going pro after this showing, right?

 

Or take advantage of the 45 condoms each Olympian is averaging this year.

he's the male equivalent of Oprah -- someone somebody would only hook up with just to say they did. he's one ugly bastard

 

Except he's a world class athlete and not a tub of lard.

 

I would have used Mick Jagger as an example.

[David]

Alicia Sacrimone knocks out some dude

 

 

I'd let her hit me too

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Alicia Sacrimone knocks out some dude

 

 

I'd let her hit me too

is there a sign up sheet?

[TruffleShuffle]

I just meant that it's crazy how they wind up breaking the world record at this stage...when they probably come close to that every time they practice or perform that same race. It seems like a lot of them manage to have the best days of their lives on the biggest stage.

 

Truffle can go into much more detail, I'm sure, but it's due to something called tapering. It's where the swimmers set their training regimines so they are at their strongest for the day of the race (or week in some cases). It's certainly not an accident or pure coincidence.

 

yeah, generally a swimmer will only shave/taper for a couple of meets a year. they'll swim other meets, but they'll be swimming a lot more yardage in the days before those meets. basically you train through the minor meets - knowing that your times will be slower - to get into better shape for the one or two meets a year that you do shave/taper for.

 

i can't speak for what phelps does, but in college we swam about 5000-7000 yards a day for single practices, and about 10,000 yards when we had morning and afternoon practice. we'd come down a little bit in yardage before some meets, but generally never below 3500. in early january we'd do our training trip, when we'd swim about 12,000 to 14,000 yards a day. by the end of that, you'd be in great shape, but your arms would be mush. from that point until our big meet (patriot league championships), we'd come down in yardage gradually. the week before the meet, we'd never do more than 3,000 yards. you're in good enough shape and strong enough from the work that you've done during the year that coming down in yardage doesn't result in you getting out of shape.

 

my best times in season were 2:08 in 200 back, 2:28 in 200 breast, 2:07 in 200 IM, 59.5 in 100 back, 1:56 in 200 free. shaved and tapered, my best times were 2:02 in 200 back, 2:21 in 200 breast, 2:02 in 200 IM, 57.0 in 100 back, 1:51 in 200 free. obviously i'm not as good as phelps or anyone in the olympics, but it's the same idea - my fastest times came in the meet that I expected to swim fastest.

[Andy]

My problem with the judging of gymnastics is that all things are apparently not equal. The highest score we saw on the uneven bars was 16.90 by Liuken. I don't recall the exact score that Shawn Johnson got on the balance beam, but I think it was something like 15.90. Her performance on the balance beam was, to me, far and away the best performance by ANYONE in any of the events. It had the most difficulty, and she executed her routine perfectly. And so her score is not even in the same ballpark with the uneven bars. In fact, Johnson got a better score herself on the uneven bars.

 

The judges screwed the USA for both Luiken and Johnson on the beam, and if you fix those scores, Sacramone's two biffs meant the difference between a gold and a silver.

Judges definitely screwed Johnson. She got I believe a 9.1 execution score and there's no way it should've been less than 9.5 in my opinion. She was wonderful.

 

I don't like this degree of difficulty thing, especially when it devalues some events compared to others (bars were ludicrously important in the women's competition with high difficulty scores, but for some reason USA men destroyed high bar and it seemed insignificant as China blew right past them on a different event with higher start scores).

[Vanilla Ice]

Sacramone is hotter than Coughlin

[Guest]

I just meant that it's crazy how they wind up breaking the world record at this stage...when they probably come close to that every time they practice or perform that same race. It seems like a lot of them manage to have the best days of their lives on the biggest stage.

 

Truffle can go into much more detail, I'm sure, but it's due to something called tapering. It's where the swimmers set their training regimines so they are at their strongest for the day of the race (or week in some cases). It's certainly not an accident or pure coincidence.

 

yeah, generally a swimmer will only shave/taper for a couple of meets a year. they'll swim other meets, but they'll be swimming a lot more yardage in the days before those meets. basically you train through the minor meets - knowing that your times will be slower - to get into better shape for the one or two meets a year that you do shave/taper for.

 

i can't speak for what phelps does, but in college we swam about 5000-7000 yards a day for single practices, and about 10,000 yards when we had morning and afternoon practice. we'd come down a little bit in yardage before some meets, but generally never below 3500. in early january we'd do our training trip, when we'd swim about 12,000 to 14,000 yards a day. by the end of that, you'd be in great shape, but your arms would be mush. from that point until our big meet (patriot league championships), we'd come down in yardage gradually. the week before the meet, we'd never do more than 3,000 yards. you're in good enough shape and strong enough from the work that you've done during the year that coming down in yardage doesn't result in you getting out of shape.

 

my best times in season were 2:08 in 200 back, 2:28 in 200 breast, 2:07 in 200 IM, 59.5 in 100 back, 1:56 in 200 free. shaved and tapered, my best times were 2:02 in 200 back, 2:21 in 200 breast, 2:02 in 200 IM, 57.0 in 100 back, 1:51 in 200 free. obviously i'm not as good as phelps or anyone in the olympics, but it's the same idea - my fastest times came in the meet that I expected to swim fastest.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I knew it had to do with making sure you're at your best for the meets but I wasn't sure how it was done.

[Andy]

Sacramone is hotter than Coughlin

Heartily disagree.

[Derwood]

Sacramone is hotter than Coughlin

Heartily disagree.

 

I don't. I'd like to see Sacramone in an outfit where she isn't all bound up.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Sacramone is hotter than Coughlin

Heartily disagree.

sir, you are insane

[shnsajax]

Sacramone is hotter than Coughlin

Heartily disagree.

 

I don't. I'd like to see Sacramone in an outfit where she isn't all bound up.

 

I would too, see looks pretty hot.

[stuy119]

I just meant that it's crazy how they wind up breaking the world record at this stage...when they probably come close to that every time they practice or perform that same race. It seems like a lot of them manage to have the best days of their lives on the biggest stage.

 

Truffle can go into much more detail, I'm sure, but it's due to something called tapering. It's where the swimmers set their training regimines so they are at their strongest for the day of the race (or week in some cases). It's certainly not an accident or pure coincidence.

 

yeah, generally a swimmer will only shave/taper for a couple of meets a year. they'll swim other meets, but they'll be swimming a lot more yardage in the days before those meets. basically you train through the minor meets - knowing that your times will be slower - to get into better shape for the one or two meets a year that you do shave/taper for.

 

i can't speak for what phelps does, but in college we swam about 5000-7000 yards a day for single practices, and about 10,000 yards when we had morning and afternoon practice. we'd come down a little bit in yardage before some meets, but generally never below 3500. in early january we'd do our training trip, when we'd swim about 12,000 to 14,000 yards a day. by the end of that, you'd be in great shape, but your arms would be mush. from that point until our big meet (patriot league championships), we'd come down in yardage gradually. the week before the meet, we'd never do more than 3,000 yards. you're in good enough shape and strong enough from the work that you've done during the year that coming down in yardage doesn't result in you getting out of shape.

 

my best times in season were 2:08 in 200 back, 2:28 in 200 breast, 2:07 in 200 IM, 59.5 in 100 back, 1:56 in 200 free. shaved and tapered, my best times were 2:02 in 200 back, 2:21 in 200 breast, 2:02 in 200 IM, 57.0 in 100 back, 1:51 in 200 free. obviously i'm not as good as phelps or anyone in the olympics, but it's the same idea - my fastest times came in the meet that I expected to swim fastest.

 

Truffle, are Phelps and Co. doing any weight lifting? How about the university swim teams? What's a typical plan?

 

Back in the mid- to late-80's when I was swimming competitively it was still frowned upon as something that would "tighten up your muscles and slow you down."

[C.C.]

Sacramone is hotter than Coughlin

Heartily disagree.

 

I don't. I'd like to see Sacramone in an outfit where she isn't all bound up.

 

I'd like to see her in no outfit.

[Vanilla Ice]

she looked pretty good in that video