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Thread: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

  1. #21
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by stewart38 View Post
    Funny my degree cert came through the post date stamped 8/8/88 ,still got it the evelope (see horders thread)

    Anyway Im looking forward to it,whats the time difference ?

    Wish all the whingers would stop now
    Time difference is +7

    I agree about the whingers - especially the BBC. I always felt part of their 'whinge' is driven by the fact that their web site was blocked at some points over the last few years.

    On the drugs point - there is an interesting article I read this week about the 'invisible' use of gene therapy - and the ethics around that. The article cited a Finnish x-country skiing champion whose body has a mutation that causes him to produce more of the hormone EPO than a normal person would. The synthetic equivalent is a banned substance. Of course he was never banned, because it was deemed to be 'natural'.

    The article then raised the question about 'what is natural'? Is electric muscle stimulation 'natural'? What about running shoes made of extran springy carbon fibre?

    It is likely now that EPO produced via gene terapy may be very hyard to distinguish from natural EPO - and so may become de rigeur for sportsmen in the future.

    .......

  2. #22
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by JiveLad View Post
    I agree about the whingers - especially the BBC. I always felt part of their 'whinge' is driven by the fact that their web site was blocked at some points over the last few years.
    Lets face china will put on the largest safest best olympics the world has ever seen

    There will be the best facilties available to the greatest number of Athletes ever

    Today the radio 5 reporter was whinging re too many helpers around ie re when you get lost etc

    Its non stop

    TV programme re China human rights , whats new ? when they come here they can be locked up 42 days without trial. Of course if they fill their litter bin 1 inch over the top thats when the full force of the law will come down

  3. #23
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Just the gymnastics, really. I'm rivetted by that. I don't feel the newspaper coverage of it is very good, though. Also I miss loads because it's hard to find out exactly when they are going to broadcast it, and I don't have Sky or a digibox or whatever.

    I also like any sport with a bit of human drama to it, just so long as I don't have to spend too much time watching the actual sport.

    Although I don't think it's acceptable to cheat I don't really care if they take drugs. What interests me is seeing people performing at the limits of human endeavour. Perhaps there should be parallel competitions - au naturel and chemically assisted- which would make it fair.

    But where would it all end? In 50 years time perhaps there could be a call for banning genetically or surgically enhanced athletes from competing, using drugs might start to seem like a relatively innocuous way to improve your performance.
    Last edited by jivecat; 7th-August-2008 at 03:14 PM.

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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Is it my imagination or did we just get Scotland the Brave?????
    What's with all the piping?
    Highest number of decibels per player so as to be loud in the staduim?

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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by Chicklet View Post
    Is it my imagination or did we just get Scotland the Brave?????
    What's with all the piping?
    Highest number of decibels per player so as to be loud in the staduim?
    I'm glad it wasn't just me. I thought I heard someone playing the bagpipes. It wasn't Scotland the Brave though.

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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by Chicklet View Post
    Is it my imagination or did we just get Scotland the Brave?????
    What's with all the piping?
    Highest number of decibels per player so as to be loud in the staduim?
    Probably Hazel Irvine humming it in the background.....................

    I must say, her commentary verges on total crass.

    Eg (bits I remember):

    (During the countdown to the start):
    "And I'm sure that Carol Vorderman would get excited by this Countdown"

    (As Liberia team goes through):
    "And it's worth pointing out that Marion Jones had dual American and Liberian nationality. She won't be here though - she'll be watching from a jail, somewhere in Texas" (delivered in a positive jaunty voice).

    (As the Albania team walk out):
    "And Albania hold the record for the highest number of boycotts in Olympic history (4). Good to see they managed to turn out a team this time"

    (African team with colourful waistcoats):
    "And that's one of the most colourful outfits we've seen so far. I wonder if the boys from the Crucible would dare to wear one of those"

    Yes Hazel, I wonder too.....I really f***ing wonder. Why don't you get that Welsh news reader guy who is with you to bring a sheep to your hotel room and have a good threesome whilst watching the wrestling.

    PS The opening ceremony itself was incredible - great work from the Chinese. I just wonder how it will be in 2012 when we have some Morris dancers, a couple of beefeaters and a pearly queen as our main features.

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    Not a spoon! Lou's Avatar
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart View Post
    I'm glad it wasn't just me. I thought I heard someone playing the bagpipes. It wasn't Scotland the Brave though.
    According to the commentators earlier, the bagpipe band were playing at some other event, the Chinese olympic organisers heard them and liked them so much they asked them to play at the opening ceremony. They "pipe up" every now and again.

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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart View Post
    It wasn't Scotland the Brave though.
    well it wouldn't be in Reading would it, was on my telly but

  9. #29
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by JiveLad View Post

    (As Liberia team goes through):
    "And it's worth pointing out that Marion Jones had dual American and Liberian nationality.
    Yeah, the bit of Liberia that broke away from BELIZE and landed on the African coast.

  10. #30
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    The first results have just come in.

    Apparently Russia have just snatched gold in the "Invading a Sovereign Nation's Territory On a Spurious Excuse When It's Really All About the Oil" event, which first featured in the 2004 Athens Games. Back then it was easily won by a joint UK/US team.

    Impressive timing.

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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by Chicklet View Post
    well it wouldn't be in Reading would it, was on my telly but
    Obviously I was watching a different bit.

    Having watched the coverage I don't know why they didn't get Steve Coogan to do it as Alan Partridge.

  12. #32
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Boxing and shooting events for me, but I doubt I'll make all that much effort to watch them. Shooting, especially, is much more fun to do than to watch.

  13. #33
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    The pipe band were fae' Dundee!

    And did anyone see the highlights of the womens powerlifting?

    Spectacular...this tiny Chinese women practically threw nearly double her body weight over her head to win gold! Amazing.

    I can see I'm gonna' be an Olympic's geek this year.

    Hoo'Yahhhhh!

    J.

  14. #34
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Gymnastics - a few observations

    Watching some of the men's gymnastics was very interesting (although I didn't see our "boys" (as Sue Barker calls them) in action).

    Scoring
    First thing was the scoring. They were getting 14.5, 15.705, 16.015 scores. What happened to the good old 9.75, 9.9 etc? Well a bit of Googling and it turns out that the scoring system changed in 2005 - so now it is a combination of the difficulty of the move and how well it is executed. That may well be fairer - although it is not as 'crowd-friendly' - remember the gasps and roars when 1.0 went on the scoreboard for Nadia? Now what is considered to be a 10? From what I understand, the score is in principole "infinite" (well not exactly - but that's what the website said) - but it seems something in the 16's is pretty good.

    Equipment and rules
    Maybe I am mistaken, bit it seemed that the 'horse' (do they call it that?) that the guys vaulted over was a different shape from what I remember. Or maybe I am getting confused with the women's? Or is it just a slightly funkier design? And they also seem to have white lines on the landing area - I am assuming that is an out-of-bounds marker - and some kind of penalty applies if you go o-o-b?

    Floor exercise
    The tumbling the guys do is amazing - especially the guy who was tumbling in one direction and on when he landed on the 4th or 5th tumble then immediately flipped in the other direction. That is amazing......and then aaagh.....when the guys do a few moves kind of walking, posing, they are so stiff compared and it looks unnatural. The other thing which I find funny is when some of the guys do a forward roll - which looks so trivial compared to the heights of the tumbling.

    Pommel
    This is my favourite - partly because the guys come up with some creative ways of using this. And the commentary team throw in some choice pieces like "Oooh - a lovely Zigaro" - or "Great Russian hands move". And we have a Brit in the final for it as well.....

    Commentary
    Mitch came up with a classic, when a Russian guy was about to start on the high bar....."He's got an awful lot of experience under that leotard". Did I mishear that?

  15. #35
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    I'd just like to note with pride that we have a Welsh gold medal winner.

  16. #36
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by JiveLad View Post
    Gymnastics - a few observations



    Scoring
    First thing was the scoring. They were getting 14.5, 15.705, 16.015 scores. What happened to the good old 9.75, 9.9 etc? Well a bit of Googling and it turns out that the scoring system changed in 2005 - so now it is a combination of the difficulty of the move and how well it is executed. That may well be fairer - although it is not as 'crowd-friendly' - remember the gasps and roars when 1.0 went on the scoreboard for Nadia? Now what is considered to be a 10? From what I understand, the score is in principole "infinite" (well not exactly - but that's what the website said) - but it seems something in the 16's is pretty good.
    I was thinking the same but it was explain very well on the BBC. Most people (in the sport) think its better

    You have degrees of difficulty cira 4.2 to 7.6 (I think she said 7.6 is the highest, 4.2 about the easiest, im not sure if she was referring to Olympic standard),

    You start from 10 (execution) and get scored down i.e. 0.1 for small error knee not bent correctly 0.3 etc or 0.8 down for a fall

    So perfect score could be 7.6 + 10 = 17.6

    A very good score 7.2 + 9.2 = 16.4

    Starting at cira 7.3 top Olympic level was popular she said ?

    I guess at lower standards (club level) its better as well for obvious reasons i.e. concentrate on your execution at lower levels of difficulty and you may still win

    2 Gold’s now for GB

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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by stewart38 View Post
    I was thinking the same but it was explain very well on the BBC. Most people (in the sport) think its better

    You have degrees of difficulty cira 4.2 to 7.6 (I think she said 7.6 is the highest, 4.2 about the easiest, im not sure if she was referring to Olympic standard),

    {snip}

    2 Gold’s now for GB
    Yes I saw that discussion with Sue B and the 'experts' - and yes they explained it quite well.

    Meanwhile: Women's Weightlifting (53Kg)

    This was quite an eye opener - and I saw some amazing snatches! What struck me first was the lack of those butch East European ladies (ok the Belarus girl was a bit butch) - and a generally a more feminine quality to the athletes. I liked the Korean chick, the Thai girl ('Papparama -something or other.....) and best of all was the 19 year old German fraulein Julia Rhode - who apparently got bored with ballroom dancing and so decided to take up weightlifting (maybe would have been different if she had been doing Ceroc instead of Tango............).
    And I felt a bit sorry for the 4' 11" Indonesian chick who kept having to rush to the platform with just 45 seconds left......I didn't quite understand why that was happening.
    These were powerful women - and only 53Kg! That's less than 9 stones.

  18. #38
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    I know that I'm going to get slated for this, but I bet I'm not on my own! Now don't get me wrong, I respect our atheletes and all their achievements. I know I wouldn't be able to match their commitment in a million years, and for THEM the olympics is their greatest aim in life, well done for getting there.....but..........
    Why do the powers that be think that everybody is only interested in the Olympics. Why does the world stop for three weeks or however long we are going to have to endure it?
    I am already fed up of hearing for the past 24 hours that we have won our FIRST Gold medal - which we haven't, I thought it was some woman on a bike! and whats more...... it was raining!
    Then I get up this morning to hear that we have won our SECOND medal - Quick get the paparazzi out to interview all the families to ask them how they feel about it! - I bet I could guess, without hours of press coverage!
    Is this what we are going to have to put up with every time we win something!

    You might have guessed I'm not altogether thrilled about the Olympics, or any sport really. From June every year we have to contend with WImbledon, the FA Cup and the plethera of other football tornaments, (or what ever the collective term is - A conglomoration of spheres probably), cricket or bowling. I hate the fact that the TV and media think that everyone has no other interest in life than bloody sport.

    ANyway thats my moan for now - do your worst

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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by Jivejunkie View Post
    ANyway thats my moan for now - do your worst
    You miserable old git!!...........no more bedroom gymnastics for you, seeing as you're not into sport

  20. #40
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    Re: 08 08 08 the day the Olympics starts, do you like Olympics, whats your fav sport

    Quote Originally Posted by Jivejunkie View Post
    ANyway thats my moan for now - do your worst

    Some alternatives to sport , here are a few


    A useful site on carpet underlay and where you can buy it

    Carpet Underlay from Duralay,Tredaire & Cloud 9.Buy carpet underlay on-line in the UK.

    Some info when you want to click you dogs claws

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    How to tile paint using the air dry method

    http://www.wallmurals123.com/tile-paint.html

    Or some good pointers re

    How to Properly Break In Your New or Rebuilt VW Engine

    How to Break In a New or Rebuilt Engine - Aircooled.Net, Inc.


    Hope this helps over come you bordom

    or just spepend 3 weaks speal cheacking my postes ?

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