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Olympics; Phelps going for the Medal Record


Mord

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Mord, of course people will remember the 2008 Super Bowl and Stanley Cup. I used the examples of Gretzky and Montana to illustrate this point. People are going to remember that Eli Manning and the NYG beat the heavily-favored Patriots, and people who like hockey will remember that Sidney Crosby lost in his first Stanley Cup Final to Detroit. I'm not trying to take anything away from what Phelps has done, just trying to point out it doesn't matter that much in relation to the mainstream sports and also it should be looked at in the proper light. It's great he won 8 gold medals, really it is. But that alone does not make him the greatest Olympian EVAH! b/c so many other athletes simply couldn't compete in so many events (b/c they don't exist). Yes, of course competing in a lot of events is a great thing in and of itself, but don't think Phelps is the only athlete who could endure such a schedule.

As much press has Phelps has received, look at how much press the Brett Favre un-retirement saga has received. Just as much, if not more.

Here in Canada the 20-year anniversary of The Trade (Gretzky to Los Angeles) recently took place and it made national headlines all over again.

Herr Kruger

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IMHO, one of the greatest athletes ever is Paavo Nurmi of Finland with nine (9) Olympic Gold Medals.

Who knows how many he would have had got, if not our Swedish big brothers gotten too envious and quite crookedly schemed to ban him for participating in the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, California, USA. (And seeing Nurmi winning was probably against what Statens institut för rasbiologi stood for the Swedes of the time, funnily enough.)

As was evident from the movie titled "Chariots of Fire", taking part to the Olympics was a gentleman's business at those times, performance enhancing herbal remedies were not common (as they were during the early "early days", or after the Nazi and Communist athletes took over) and spirit of the competition was not yet corrupted, because of selfishness, petty national rivalry or commercialism.

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WAHAHAHHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

20 years from now not one punk is gonna remember who won the 2008 Superbowl, World Series, Stanely Cup or any other thing...but they sure will remember seeing the dude win number 8. Say what you want but he did it and he did it with all the drama and greatness one could've hoped for. He did his sport and athletics honor. One of the greatest moments I have ever seen in sports.

Mord.

if he comes to london in 2012 and wins another bundle then he moves up the food chain.. he will be 27 not impossible

he is a great swimmer certainly the greatest olympic swimmer..

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200m freestyle...check

4X100m freestyle relay...check

4X200m freestyle relay...check

100 m butterfly..... bzzzzzzzzzzt wrong

200 m butterfly..... bzzzzzzzzzzt wrong

200 m individual medley..... bzzzzzzzzzzt wrong (really absurd event)

400 m individual medley..... bzzzzzzzzzzt wrong (really absurd event)

4X100 m medley relay.... bzzzzzzzzzzt wrong (totally absurd event)

I have it down as equivalent to 3 golds at track and field still very impressive

Boris

London

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Phelps has almost single-handedly derailed Australia's Olympic medal tally this time round. For the first time in over 30 years our men have won a big fat zero gold in the pool. Hats off to the guy though. He must be part dolphin.

Also hurting is is Great Britain actually funding their sports for a change. They've killed us off in the track cycling where we usually manage to grab a couple of big ones. Thank god for our rowers and sailors.

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There might be some truth to that, but also Thorpe is more of a middle-distance swimmer and raced some of his races in distances Phelps would not have raced in at all, right? According to Wikipedia Phelps' coach called Thorpe the 'best middle distance swimmer I've ever seen."

One thing I did find curious while watching the male swimming events... I saw a couple of events in which Phelps did not participate at all? Why is that? Is it b/c those events are not important enough? Or that Phelps knew his chances of winning were too slim? Or his grueling schedule was already too much for him? Or is there a limit on how many events you can swim in?

Herr Kruger

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IMHO, one of the greatest athletes ever is Paavo Nurmi of Finland with nine (9) Olympic Gold Medals.

Who knows how many he would have had got, if not our Swedish big brothers gotten too envious and quite crookedly schemed to ban him for participating in the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, California, USA. (And seeing Nurmi winning was probably against what Statens institut för rasbiologi stood for the Swedes of the time, funnily enough.)

As was evident from the movie titled "Chariots of Fire", taking part to the Olympics was a gentleman's business at those times, performance enhancing herbal remedies were not common (as they were during the early "early days", or after the Nazi and Communist athletes took over) and spirit of the competition was not yet corrupted, because of selfishness, petty national rivalry or commercialism.

I'd never heard of him until now. Probably true for me for many great Olympic athletes who are not from Canada or the USA, and including some of those as well. Setting world records in the 1500 and 20k is super-impressive, in my mind. To contrast with Phelps, he'd have to set a world record in some really long swimming event to equal that feat!!

Herr Kruger

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There might be some truth to that, but also Thorpe is more of a middle-distance swimmer and raced some of his races in distances Phelps would not have raced in at all, right? According to Wikipedia Phelps' coach called Thorpe the 'best middle distance swimmer I've ever seen."

One thing I did find curious while watching the male swimming events... I saw a couple of events in which Phelps did not participate at all? Why is that? Is it b/c those events are not important enough? Or that Phelps knew his chances of winning were too slim? Or his grueling schedule was already too much for him? Or is there a limit on how many events you can swim in?

Herr Kruger

Phelps and Thorpe would have run up against each other in the 200m freestyle and the relays.

I saw at least one semi-final this time round where Phelps did not take his place to start because he had only minutes before been in the final for another event. So I guess he keeps his options open that way.

There is no limit to how many events you can enter, but I believe there is a limit to how many people from one country can enter an event (possibly 2?). So by entering and then withdrawing, Phelps is blocking another American from a chance. Also, IIRC the American freestyle relay team that qualified for the final in Beijing were to a man swapped out and replaced with an A-team for the actual final. You can do that with team events.

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In Australia we love Teddy Flack.

He got to the very first Olympics under his own steam and competed before Australia was even an independent nation. He won gold in the 800 and 1500 and was leading the Marathon by a mile when he collapsed shortly before the end. A spectator tried to help him up and Flack punched his lights out before being escorted from the course.

Then he entered the tennis singles and doubles. He was knocked out of the singles straight away, but reached the semi-finals in doubles when his first round opponents failed to show up. Then he and his mate lost their semi-final, but were recently retrospectively awarded a bronze medal for the semi-final spot because bronze medals did not at the time exist.

A magic career!

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Phelps has almost single-handedly derailed Australia's Olympic medal tally this time round. For the first time in over 30 years our men have won a big fat zero gold in the pool. Hats off to the guy though. He must be part dolphin.

Also hurting is is Great Britain actually funding their sports for a change. They've killed us off in the track cycling where we usually manage to grab a couple of big ones. Thank god for our rowers and sailors.

I don't understand the bitterness in the Aussie press towards Britain over this. It's so immature. Comments like 'Brits have only won medals in stuff where they can sit down', and the whole class thing because they've done well in sailing. I had no idea the Aussies had such a chip on their shoulder. It's a shame.

As for the Phelps wins - people have been saying 'hey, look, that guy's got it easy because swimming's just swimming, right?' Well, the man's won one medal every day for eight days. The physical toll on him is extraordinary and critics should bear that in mind.

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MICHAEL PHELPS' LARDY BLUBBER DIET

  • Breakfast: Three fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; two cups of coffee

  • Lunch: Half-kilogram (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks

  • Dinner: Half-kilogram of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks

*BUUURP!!*

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7562840.stm

That kills the myth of not swimming after eating...

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I don't understand the bitterness in the Aussie press towards Britain over this. It's so immature. Comments like 'Brits have only won medals in stuff where they can sit down', and the whole class thing because they've done well in sailing. I had no idea the Aussies had such a chip on their shoulder. It's a shame.

As for the Phelps wins - people have been saying 'hey, look, that guy's got it easy because swimming's just swimming, right?' Well, the man's won one medal every day for eight days. The physical toll on him is extraordinary and critics should bear that in mind.

Where are you getting this idea of "bitterness" from? I certainly haven't seen any of it in "the Aussie press". The praise for Phelps and the way in which the British cyclists have blown us off has been fairly universal. The main bitterness I have seen from people is a gnashing of teeth about the comparatively low level of funding our government is kicking in for sport and the fact that means so many of our best coaches are now helping win medals for other countries. But hey, that's pro sport.

It's often been my experience that comments about bitterness and whingeing that are made about "the Aussie press", especially to do with sport, are often the work of one or two British sports columnists taking one or two comments from one or two Aussie sports columnists and then beating them up. This then gets reported as news and the cycle continues. It's like Ian Botham quoting Ian Chappel but then referring to it as "some sections of the Australian media".

Don't believe everything you read in the "Pommy press".

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Can we we believe this from the pommy beeb? :)

Minister Gerry Sutcliffe has bet his shirt on one of the fiercest rivalries in world sport: Britain v Australia.

The sports minister promised to wear the Old Enemy's green and gold if Team GB is beaten in the Beijing Olympic medals table.

Meanwhile, his Australian counterpart is offering to don red, white and blue if Britain does better.

Minister stakes shirt on Olympics

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Wicky,

Maybe you should cross post the Phelps diet to the GDF Recipe thread, seeing as how the man eats grits and we talked about them in the notable breakfast recommendation thread.

Had no idea Phelps ate such things, but if anyone can afford to do so, it's someone who burns calories like a blowtorch and is at the age where weight generally isn't much of an issue to begin with, thanks to typical fast young adult metabolisms, not to mention that he's a big, strapping lad. In any event, you can't argue with the results!

Regards,

John Kettler

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Where are you getting this idea of "bitterness" from? I certainly haven't seen any of it in "the Aussie press".

It's often been my experience that comments about bitterness and whingeing that are made about "the Aussie press", especially to do with sport, are often the work of one or two British sports columnists taking one or two comments from one or two Aussie sports columnists and then beating them up. This then gets reported as news and the cycle continues. It's like Ian Botham quoting Ian Chappel but then referring to it as "some sections of the Australian media".

Don't believe everything you read in the "Pommy press".

Well, there's this one:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/

There was also a story in the Torygraph, which I can no longer find.

If it's BS, then all the better. I find the sort of petty nationalism that primarily revolves around an inferiority complex most vexing because there's no way to cure it.

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I don't quite see that either of those stories reflects "bitterness". Two sports ministers make a bet with each other? That's a fairly common inter-state thing down here. eg. If Qld wins the Sate of Origin rugby league series, we have to fly their flag from the Harbour Bridge for a week. If our sports minister was originally a bit harsh, she's certainly going to have egg on her face this time next week when she's wandering round in a Union flag tracksuit, hey?

As for the other stories about Britain out-medalling us, then that's true. But again, the example you've given doesn't show any bitterness. Just a bit of a lament and aimed internally rather than externally. And of course, the English media would never lament if its football team got beaten or failed to qualify for a European cup, would it?

It never ceases to amaze me how rabid the British press goes for any sort of slight an Australian makes. For god's sake, how many times has the "Lizard of Aus" headline been used? It seems to me the inferiority complex (in sport) is not on our side.

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Is it okay to talk here about the apparent irregularities in Women's Floor Vault the other day? This was the one in which the North Korean Hong Un Jong won gold , and Alicia Sacramone lost any medal chance by .02 point, despite gross errors by bronze winner Cheng Fei. Was thrilled Oksana Chusovitinia, 33, the woman with the amazing story and was at her fifth Olympics, took silver, though.

The great women's gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi minced no words whatsoever, characterizing what happened as a "ripoff." The Chinese not only landed one foot out, but in at least one of her two vaults, landed so off balance that her hands touched the mat. Sacramone was very clean by comparison. The comments here seem to indicate I'm not alone in my views. Anyone know who the judges were?

http://gymnastics.about.com/b/2008/08/17/xiao-wins-pommels-gold-cheng-stumbles-in-event-finals.htm

This commentator, though, seems cool with the outcome.

http://gymnastics.suite101.com/article.cfm/2008_olympic_womens_gymnastics_scoring

Regards,

John Kettler

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Judging is a subjective thing. Personally I don't know how there can be any sort of consistency in something that takes place so instantaneously. Be aware also that unless you're an expert in the sport, it's hard to know what is being judged. eg. you might think a stumble on landing is a bad thing but it might only incur something like a 0.1 deduction. The fact that the girl as she went through the air didn't have her legs parallel or her arms properly tucked might be a 0.5 deduction. Most of us lay people tend to judge things like gymnastics on whether there are obvious falls or stumbles, but there is more to it than that.

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It seems to me the inferiority complex (in sport) is not on our side.

which is why sections of the aussie press encouraged 'stralians to make noise outside the england rugby squad's hotel at night too stop them sleeping prior to the rugby world cup final..

the jibing and WHINGING started AGAIN on the aussie side of the court this time round

you lot down there are such a load whineing bad sports it takes the fffffffffffffinnnnnnnnggggg biscuit to try and throw that label back into our court

Boris

London

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