Wow! Those were quite the Olympics. The past two nights I've just kind of stared at my blank TV wondering where all the volleyball highlights were. Thankfully, American's who thought they couldn't get enough of Misty May-Treanor will get to see her chasse on the new season of Dancing With the Stars!
Since Sunday's Closing Ceremonies, a few questions have been on my mind (other than what the point of interviewing Michael Phelps in London was. Did anyone get anything out of that other than to confirm that there is in fact a British equivalent to Ryan Seacrest? Lucky them...). Looking forward to London in 2012...
1) How can London top Beijing's Opening Ceremonies? Aside from raising King Arthur from the dead and having him pull Excalibur out of a stone before using it to light the torch, I'm not sure we're going to see an Opening Ceremony like that again. If London's bit during the Closing Ceremonies was any indication, they're going to rely on a theme of "China's show may have been exotic, incredibly choreographed and awesomely inventive, but we have celebrities you recognize." Although Beijing did have Jackie Chan singing on Sunday!
2) What will the featured events be for the Brits? After 2004, China made a concentrated effort to focus on gymnastics, diving, table tennis and badminton...and it paid off in a huge gold medal haul. But the UK cleaned up in track cycling, they're definitely going to want to do well in soccer, and I'm sure they'll be a factor in rowing. If you go to the London venue page, they are hyping the velodrome and its 6,000 seats. Great news for cycling fans.
3) Will there be any new events? BMX and open water swimming had pretty exciting debuts. I've heard rumblings that golf and squash are on the list. Anybody know of anything else? I imagine darts would be a great sport to debut in London.
4) Speaking of open water swimming, I wonder where it will be held. The Thames? Maybe 10K out from the city in the English Channel and just have the athletes swim in? OK, probably not.
5) Will the pool be as fast as Beijing's? A majority of swimming races at these past games saw world records set. A majority of those had more than one person or relay team surpass the existing w.r. Sure the LZR suits helped, but there was no doubt that Beijing built a fast pool. I imagine London will look to do something similar.
6) Can the U.S. track team get back on track? Granted, on paper they did pretty well. But to track aficionados (and NBC studio hosts) we could have done a little bit better. How will USA Track & Field respond? Maybe Jerry Colangelo is available...
7) And finally, going beyond 2012, does Russia deserve to host the 2014 Winter Games? They blatantly broke the Olympic truce on the night of the Opening Ceremonies by invading Georgia. Sochi, the site of the 2014 Olympics, lies just several miles from the Georgian border. Yet IOC president Jacques Rogge felt content to save his criticisms during these past Games for Usain Bolt's post-race "antics." Please. What will it take between Georgia and Russia to affect the 2014 Winter Olympics? Let's hope something is worked out and aren't raising eyebrows in a few years as we can watch Vancouver hand over the flag to Sochi.
But until the next Games, I'll be rooting hard for Chicago's 2016 bid and keeping my eye on that Taylor Phinney kid. I hear he's got potential.
Active.com 2008 Olympics
11 Posts tagged with the olympic_games tag
It is all about the numbers. Just ask any athlete in Beijing. Whether it is the final score in a tennis match, the winning time in a triathlon or the perfect 10 on the balance beam the smallest units of measurement separate athletes from the joy of victory and the agony of defeat.
AFG is committed to supporting athletes by taking the financial numbers game out of the equation and allowing athletes to focus on physically preparing to represent our nation in international competition.
"We are going to apply the same determined focus and energy you will see on the field of play this summer to helping athletes succeed," said Montford.
To support AFG, one-time or monthly contributions are accepted. Donations can be made online, by phone at (877) 477-4488 or by U.S. mail. To learn more about America for Gold or to make a donation, please visit www.AmericaForGold.org .
The seemingly unbeatable Croatian men's water polo team, who steamrolled every team they had played thus far in the Beijing Games, was served up a bitter loss by 9th ranked Team USA.
Team USA demonstrated suffocating defense, which frustrated the Croatian team throughout the match. Croatia capitalized on its "power plays", scoring four of their six goals during 6-on-5 situations. The US was led by scoring prodigy Tony Azevedo (the team's captain) who racked up 3 goals; rounding off the scoring was Ryan Bailey, Peter Varellas, Adam Wright and Tim Hutten with one goal apiece.
Against the best scoring team in the entire world, goalie Merrill Moses had an exceptional game with 11 saves.
After defeating Croatia, Team USA went on to win Group B after beating Germany 8-7 in an another hard-fought match. The miraculous wins send Team USA to the semifinals to play the winner of a Serbia/Spain quarterfinal matchup. Reaching the semifinals guarantees Team USA a shot at a medal for the first time since 1992.
Watch for Team USA's next match on August 22nd at 7:40pm (check your local listings).
The U.S. women's gymnastics team showed up to the National Indoor Stadium Sunday night ready to shine with a sure plan to qualify for the team final. Well, they qualified, but not with the same plan they had when they entered the stadium.
As team USA walked out onto the floor their was distress showing on their faces, but no one watching knew why. Next, Samantha Peszek, who was supposed to compete in all four events, never took off her warm-up suit. What was going on?
The announcers searched for answers, panning from coach, to Peszek, to her mother and back. As we later found out fifteen minutes into the competition, Peszek had sprained her ankle during warm up on the floor and did not seem to be competing at all.
The team was clearly stressed by the sudden change in plan, which was first obvious on their faces, but later even more evident when the first two U.S. gymnasts to compete, Bridget Sloan and Alicia Sacramone, stepped out of bounds during their floor routines.
Sacramone's performance on the floor, which is usually her specialty, cost her a chance at competing in the individual finals. The U.S. team seemed to be crumbling right before our eyes.
Peszek did compete in the uneven bars and cleanly landed her dismount despite the painful ankle sprain she endured just a couple hours before. However, Peszek's teammates, Chellsie Memmel and Nastia Liukin were not as lucky. Both had uncharacteristic falls in the event.
With Peszek out of three of the four events, the team was without a throwaway score on floor, vault and beam, which meant there was no room for mistakes if they wanted to go on to the team finals.
By the final rotation, the balance beam, team USA got it together and it might have been thanks to the pep talk Sacramone gave before her teammates took to the beam. They all nailed their routines.
In the end, team USA was in second place, despite an uncharacteristic performance by the defending champions. The girls huddled with their arms around each other and gave words of encouragement to one another and showing the fans watching on tv that team USA would be back, as the team to beat, in the finals. Watch out China!
With the Olympic games rapidly approaching, one question has been looming in my mind...what caliber of players will be representing their respective countries in Beijing? Between World Cup qualifying matches, Champions League matches, the start of league play and other important matches around the world , the Olympics have to be a secondary concern for most clubs/countries. With that being said, I decided to do a little research....
The Olympic tournament is by definition an under-23 event, but each team can field three over-age players, who the clubs are not required to release. In a recent statement, FIFA reminded clubs worldwide "that the release of players under the age of 23 for the Men's Olympic Soccer Tournament is mandatory for all clubs. For Beijing 2008 the same principle shall apply". Clubs are not required to release their over-aged players, however Sepp Blatter (FIFA President and IOC member) has repeatedly urged them to do so out of respect "for the Olympic spirit".
So, what does this mean? Well, in spite of President Blatter's strong words of encouragement, I think we will be seeing a whole new host of young, green talent...and a handful of semi-retired veterans. As much as I would love to see such world renown stars as Ronaldinho, Landan Donovan and Robinho returning to the international stage, I sincerely doubt the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and the US Men's National Team (1st Team) will give a second thought about releasing their star players...but only time will tell.
Worker's Stadium-Beijing
Air quality concerns have been paramount as athletes begin to arrive in Beijing for the summer Olympic Games. These fears are far from unfounded: The European Space Agency (using satellite imagery) has found that Beijing and its surrounding areas have the world's highest concentration of nitrogen dioxide, a substance poisonous to the lungs.
Haile Gebrselassie, the marathon (26.22 miles/42.19 km) world record-holder, voluntarily withdrew his position in the marathon event at the Beijing Olympics due to serious concerns about his own health. As an asthma sufferer, he feared that his health and career were in jeopardy if he competed in such poor conditions. He does, however, plan to compete in the shorter 10,000-meter event.
The good news is that Chinese officials have a very extensive (and expensive!) plan in place, and it appears to be improving the air quality in Beijing. The controversial plan includes halting all construction projects, severely limiting traffic within city limits, and in some cases, shutting down factories known for their pollution.
The image above shows a comparison of Beijing's air quality with that of Los Angeles and New York City. An average day in Los Angeles is just barely better than the best day in Beijing in the month of May. As shown, a very rare bad day in New York City might rate as high as 65, whereas, Beijing averaged 137 on the SEPA index during the month of May (2008). It is important to note the concern regarding the potential manipulation and loose standards of China's data standards.
The Wall Street Journal recently released a Beijing Air Quality Widget, allowing visitors to see this real-time air quality details (or see their detailed air quality widget). From the historical data, you can see that Beijing averaged an API index of 137 during May, which decreased significantly to just 77 during the month of July.
Beijing residents have noted better visibility and brief periods of blue skies in recent weeks, so one can deduce that China's efforts are working to some extent. Looking at historical data as well, it appears that Beijing's efforts to curb air pollution are working, at least to some extent.
Let's hope our athletes can breathe easy in Beijing!
