Olympics

well or relay take over wasnt any better than the USA's.... probably worse. he'd practically crossed the line byt the time he got the baton lol.
 
so again, stop with the hate on swimming, its an incredibly tough sport and i reckon 9 times out of 10 you could ask a swimmer to have a good stab at track running or hurdles or whatever and they'd be half decent at it, reverse the situation and i bet most couldnt even dive into a pool properly.

Oooookay now, calm down a bit. I completely agree with you about swimming. Now I don't swim myself if I am not forced to, it's just not my cup of tea. However I have spent enough time in the pool to realise how outrageously difficult it is, even if I am in a good shape.

But the claim about swimmers being good at other stuff is a bit overkill to be honest. Michael Phelps is a bad example for me to say, because he has just an abnormal anatomy, but swimmers in general have the kind of physique that doesn't cope well with other sports. You use so very different muscles in swimming that you do in any other sport. For example hurdles, I am convinced that a swimmer could jump over hurdles, while running, with all the grace and agility as a crippled giraffe.

But I also fully agree about other ahtletes doing swimming. Gymnasts would be the best since they have the best muscular build by far. And it still wouldn't be any use.

And of course, as you and everyone else here also, I generalize things, so if you as a swimmer can run and throw the javelin, doesn't make a very good argument ;)
 
Iceland wins Spain in handball 36-30

I'm so happy now, we won Spain in Handball and have a guaranteed silver and will be competing against France in the final on sunday. This is possibly the biggest athletic achievement in Icelands history and not too shabby considering we are a nation of 300.000, one of the smallest nations in the world and beat many of the biggest handball teams in the world.

:cool:
 
^ I saw the match, Iceland was very impressive, maybe there will be a surprise in the final too..
 
It's hard to tell from the camera distance, but it looks like every girl in the Netherlands field hockey team is hot....
 
Whoa, Chinese women win silver in field hockey. What's up with all these random sports we're good at now?
 
It hasn't been the most succesful Olympics for us to say the least.

At least you guys don't have the USA Track & Field team. :hammer:
 
Just a note to the jaded (no names *cough*vambeer*cough*), whether or not the athletes are all cheating, one thing that's for sure is that the technology of the olympics gets better and better every cycle. It's not huge, but changes to the swimsuits in swimming, the material the track's made of, etc, does allow the athletes to go that little bit faster (re: break records) than older less scientifically made suits/arenas. It's like one guys sets a time sprinting on loose gravel, then another guy who's evenly matched comes along on tightly packed gravel (...smaller rocks mebbe? I dunno) and goes just that little bit faster with the help of a better surface.

In short: Seriously! Come on! :comfort:

How much slower would Phelps of been if he was forced to not have one of those ultra-smooth full length suites? Stuff like that just seems to contradict the spirit of the Olympics.
I actually got into a pretty heated argument with the wife about it. I don't believe the swimmers should be able to wear those ultra-slick suites, I consider it cheating even if everyone is allowed to wear them and she started to yell at me about how I don't understand since "I'm not a swimmer" (she used to be WAY back in the day and apparently that counts for something despite her being a big girl now) and didn't really put up a valid argument beyond that.
I then stupidly asked "well what happened" in regard to her being a swimmer in her youth and the shape she is in now.
So tonight I am sleeping on the couch, and probably tomorrow night as well.
 
That's a very valid, and interesting point...however...

I WISH he'd wear a full-length suit...
a_phelps_195.jpg
[/IMG]

He only swims in pants. If full-body suits and pants should be against the rules, should caps also be? How about men vs women? If a woman swims faster than a man, could the man argue that it's simply because women can wear a suit, and the suit they choose to wear is a high-tech $550 body-Speedo?
 
How much slower would Phelps of been if he was forced to not have one of those ultra-smooth full length suites? Stuff like that just seems to contradict the spirit of the Olympics.
I actually got into a pretty heated argument with the wife about it. I don't believe the swimmers should be able to wear those ultra-slick suites, I consider it cheating even if everyone is allowed to wear them and she started to yell at me about how I don't understand since "I'm not a swimmer" (she used to be WAY back in the day and apparently that counts for something despite her being a big girl now) and didn't really put up a valid argument beyond that.
I then stupidly asked "well what happened" in regard to her being a swimmer in her youth and the shape she is in now.
So tonight I am sleeping on the couch, and probably tomorrow night as well.

Interesting point in theory, but no use in practice I think. Thing is, if you said swimmers couldn't wear fancy speedos, you'd have to say what could they wear. Speedos at a maximum length of 8 inches? Board shorts? Naked (at least that one could be easily monitored)? knee length speedos? Maximum smoothness of .034? etc.... And then all the time, you'd have to make sure that the suits were exactly according to the rules, and no longer then they may be, and no smoother than they may be.... etc :|
 
How much slower would Phelps of been if he was forced to not have one of those ultra-smooth full length suites? Stuff like that just seems to contradict the spirit of the Olympics.
I actually got into a pretty heated argument with the wife about it.

Don't you and the wife have anything better to argue about? :lol:
 
Holy crap! I missed the coverage of that one, so I had to look it up:

News Article said:
A Cuban taekwondo athlete and his coach were banned for life after Angel Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification.

Cuban coach Leudis Gonzalez offered no apology for Matos' actions during the men's over-80 kg (176 pounds) match.

Matos was winning 3-2, with 1:02 in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov. He was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one minute, and Matos was disqualified when his time ran out.

Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden. Matos then spat on the floor and was escorted out.

Full story:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OLY_TAE_TAEKWONDO_DISPUTE?SITE=AP
 
lets hope he gets banned for life. what an asshole :mad:
 
lets hope he gets banned for life. what an asshole :mad:

News Article said:
A Cuban taekwondo athlete and his coach were banned for life after Angel Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification.

He was :)
 
Yeah, total asshole. He was DQd because he went over one minute, that's the rule. It wasn't a judgement call.
 
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