Official Thread: Beijing China Olympics 2008 - News, Results, Events

[Vintage]

Yeah despite their efforts to create a perfect image of the Olympics, when news like that get out, it all backfires.

Also, they have volunteers at each event cheering for the Chinese team. They're all trained on what to shout and how to do it.

[Ronald Marva]

China is trying to project a clean image of their country but in the process they might be doing more damage than harm. There is no need to overdo anything. They had been awarded as a host country and that in itself will etch Beijing's name in sports history.

It is a demanding task to host Olympics. The cost itself is staggering! Try to imagine all the logistics and manpower that you have to mobilize not to mention the accommodation for the athletes, delegation and spectators.

Speaking for myself, I think I can accept all the video re-touching and incident of lip sync. Olympics Opening ceremony is considered a major SHOWBIZ event; and spectators are world-wide audience. I would not risk my country's reputation by botched artist performance or failed fireworks. What they did is justifiable.

What I can not accept is cheating the age of participants especially in gymnatics. I think the Olympic Committee needs to get to the bottom of this and perform an exhaustive investigation. China for their part should be transparent enough to provide birth certificate and other documentation to refute allegation of cheating. Passport document, though acceptable, is not a fool-proof and infallible evidence of age (what if the issuing government institution is party to the cheating allegation?). As an Asian, I really think that those girls competing for China would not be in the age of 16 or above. I estimate that they are in age range of 11-14.

[David Tan]

Michael Phelps is now 6 for 6 gold medals and world records? With the latest gold from Men's 200m Individual Medley. This is history. We will probably not see something like this ever again, unless humans become the x-men. Is this the pinnacle of human evolution? Unlikely but it'll take a long time to repeat this, and probably not in our own lifetimes unless... Phelps peaks in his potential only after the next Olympics. Remember, he is only 23.

Never really thought of age cheating. Smaller bodies, more flexible, more stable. China's gymnasts do look really young.

Country / Gold / Silver / Bronze / Total
China / 22 / 8 / 5 / 35
United States / 13 / 10 / 17 / 40
Germany / 8 / 2 / 3 / 13

[SpaceBOT]

Well said Ronald.

I watched the gynastics events as well and I too thought at least one of the chinese girls were 12 or 13, but then, I also saw a couple of girls from other countries that looked like they were no mroe than 13 as well... did you notice them?

Perhaps with the makeup and costumes and just sheer coincidence they look the way they look? Even the oldest looks kinda young to me... I think it could be the costume effects..

You know, one of my colleague was thought to be under 12 years old in Scotland when we bought tickets for a fairground, and she was 28 yrs old at the time. If you're very short, with under-developed breasts, I think you'll look like a kid.

But then, yeah, perhaps to silence the speculations, China should provide some more insights? I don't know how though... DNA testing? Is there such a thing on age determination?? Perhaps look at the historical photographs and see if the girls have 16 years of life??

[ZachW]

I think Phelps is bagging so many medals because of the Speedo suit. It's not cheating, but it helps a lot.

[David Tan]

The suit seems to reduce race times by around 2%. Which is alot. It means that if you were last and everyone else isn't wearing it in the finals, you'll be first.

[SpaceBOT]

Originally Posted by ZachW

I think Phelps is bagging so many medals because of the Speedo suit. It's not cheating, but it helps a lot.

Originally Posted by David Tan

The suit seems to reduce race times by around 2%. Which is alot. It means that if you were last and everyone else isn't wearing it in the finals, you'll be first.

This is so true... technology's advantage over our Olympian Ancestors!

This time around, though, a lot of world records were broken, and it's not just because of the suit, it's mainly because of Michael Phelps! He's way, way better than all other swimmers, today, and yesterdays!

[GreedIsGood]

The last time something like this happened was in the 1930s when the Germans won the World Cup with new Adidas shoes which are lighter, giving players better speed and agility.

[bigdaniel]

Phelps is amazing, 8/8 ededed!

[David Tan]

Notable achievements during the weekend.

Firstly Michael Phelps is now officially The Greatest Olympian. He's the most successful Olympian in history. 8 gold medals, 7 world records & 1 Olympic record in Beijing Olympics 2008. His last gold was from the 4x100m medley.
How does he do it? Well, with his natural born talents plus his training, the results are:-

• Special feet at Size 14. Almost most of the thrust (at almost 90%) comes from his flatter and bigger feet. They're like paddles.
• His flexibility in bending his fee to about 15" which reduces water resistance.
• His torso is long, yet in proportion to his whole body, his feet are shorter but powerful.
• Of course, he's also got a narrow waist, making his more aero-dynamic in the water. 193cm tall with a reach of 198cm, making him more like a dolphin.
• Plus he has Large Hands that also act a s a paddle.
• Also, powerful lungs allows him longer time underwater. It takes time to come up for air, splashing and dragging.
• His heart pumps above 30 litres of blood per minute which is two times the normal average.

Out of nowhere, the popular 100m dash was won by Usain Bolt. WORLD RECORD of 9.69 seconds. 21 years old. If you saw the event, you'd be surprise to see that he got time to look at the crowd, thump his chest, open his arms and feel the air BEFORE crossing the finishing line. If he had been focused all the way, he would have been FASTER.
Just because he broke the World Record in the 100m dash, doesn't mean that it was the fastest ever. Gay's wind assisted 9.68 is still the fastest 100m ever. Fastest sprinter Usain Bolt. His father was describing something about Usain's love in eating yam, contributed to his physic and speed.

Lastly Guo JingJing of China has made history by being the most successful woman diver in history. Here' an interview from CNN with Guo JingJing. It was before the olympics, which also mentions her modelling career. Beauty, grace and muscles. Considering that she's retiring after this, this will be the last time we'll see her in the Olympics.

[Tephus]

Bolt's record was 9.68. I think the most unbelievable moment was when Phelps won his 7th gold by a hundredths of a second.

[David Tan]

Exciting events a plenty especially since, we get to see the rare gold-silver-silver (tie) event happening for the Women's 100m with all three from Jamaica. They commented something about it being reggae power.

The probabilities didn't work out for the athletes at the Women's Point race, when they crash into each other. Cyclist Satomi Wadami of Japan seems to be the one that is injured the most.

China's hopes of getting the most gold is on track. Leading by double digits, with 39 gold.
China 39 14 14 67
United States 22 24 26 72
Great Britain 12 7 8 27
Dissapointing results from the track and field has the United States trailing behind, although they have the most medals at 72.

Question: If you were a country that wants to participate in the olympics, has never gotten a medal and wants to win the gold, which event should the country focus on that will provide them the highest chance of getting gold? Assuming that their nation's people's physicals are only average.

There's so many countries like Panama getting the gold for the first time. While others doesn't seem to get the gold after many tries.

[Tephus]

I would focus a sport that doesn't require so much physical prowess, like shooting or archery.

[David Tan]

I believe that the best chance for new country participants to get a gold is to go for sports that is dependant largely on training with little to no influence from talent. Maybe stuff like long distance running, and yes shooting or archery. Then buy secret training methods from other countries.

Watch out for Usain Bolt's attempt to win gold at the Men's 200m in Athletics at 10:20 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8). He's expected to inherit Car Lewis' 100m and 200m win, which was 24 years ago. Catch it as Usain Bolt tends to also put on a good show when he wins. Pointing fingers at the sky and celebrating on the track with his comical antics.

In basketball, today we'll know which teams will make it to the final four:-
Spain vs. Croatia (close match)
Lithuania vs. China (Lithuania expected to win)
United States vs. Australia (US expected to win)
Argentina vs. Greece (close match)

[David Tan]

And Usain Bolt does it. Winning the Men's 200m race in World Record time. This means it's two golds and two world records. He left his opponents far behind with the biggest time margin of 0.66 second. Yes, he makes it look easy. Saying that he's 'Lightning bolt', he received a call of congratulations from the Bruce Golding, Jamaica's Prime Minister.

Record breaking times, read a Bloomberg news report of Usain Bolt and the details of the race itself.

China pretty much has the most golds for this olympics. Fielding 639 athletes and making heavy investments in training them. With such a high number of population, searching, developing talents have finally paid off. How will this affect China's influence, I wonder?

[David Tan]

China -- 46 15 22 83
United States -- 29 35 34 98
Great Britain -- 17 12 11 40

Great collection of Olympic celebration photos. Cracks me up that the IOC president Jacques Rogge said that Usain bolt overdid his celebration. Maybe thought that he wasn't 'gentlemen' enough. Come on. It was a great victory.

[David Tan]

Wrapping it up, it's been a historical Olympic.

Michael Phelps with his 8 for 8 golds, 7 world records and 1 Olympic record.
Usain Bot with 3 gold, 3 world records.

China having landed 51 golds in the Beijing Olympics, almost double of what US have of 36. One of the major contributors of how much a country gets gold is in the amount of investments placed in it, in which China spent alot.

Now passing the baton to London 2012, we will also get to see how well their olympic logo performs in getting the £2 billion funds that it needs. If you've seen it and want to understand why it's like that, you can check out the designer's explanation of the London Olympic logo

[AMAmanda]

I love the Olympics