2004 Olympic Games - Athens

[Insidious Rex]

Well congratulations are in order for Argentina who won the gold in mens basketball defeating the once great and unbeatable united states on their way to the finals. I hope everyone (in this country) is no aware that the international competition is no longer a joke in basketball and really the only way they can compete is to put the best on the floor and come together as a team and not just a bunch of talented players. if Shaq and Kobe and Garnett had been on this team im pretty sure we would be talking about the US sweeping their way to a gold medal. But hey you gotta hand it to the Argentines. They were certainly the best of all the teams assembled. Manu Ginobli is already an established star in the US and several other players plaid big time hoops in the american NCAA and NBA levels.

And its nice that they got the gold because i heard that story about that one guy on the team who had such a horrible horrible tragedy happen to him. Did you hear about that? He lost his mother AND his sister AND his fiance in a car accident several years ago. I mean can you imagine? so he was understandbly a mess for a while but finally put his focus back into basketball and actually helped his team win the world championships a year to the day after the fatal car crash. that night after the game he found out that his dad had died from a heart attack. what unimaginable and utter tragedy. thats beyond shakespeare and tolkien even in its level of anguish. so im really quite happy for him that he earned this great reward. and the recognition of the world as the best. lets hope it provides him some little sollace in his agony.

[The Gaffer]

That's some story. It's one of the great things about the Olympics that you can get into the stories behind the athletes' performances, in all sorts of different events, and it's not just all about winning.

Having said that...

Originally Posted by Telcontar_Dunedain

Britain just won the mens 4x100m relay.

By 0.01 sec! Woo hoo! What a superb race! What an achievement by those guys! Everyone was saying that the US team would walk it (and maybe they should have seeing as how they totally dominated the individual sprint events) but our squad found that extra level running as a team.

Also, much massive respect to Kelly Holmes for doing the 1500 and 800 double. She's been at it since 1995 and had always been in second place, but she can hang up her shoes now as one of Britain's most successful athletes ever.

[Fat middle]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Well congratulations are in order for Argentina who won the gold in mens basketball defeating the once great and unbeatable united states on their way to the finals. I hope everyone (in this country) is no aware that the international competition is no longer a joke in basketball and really the only way they can compete is to put the best on the floor and come together as a team and not just a bunch of talented players. if Shaq and Kobe and Garnett had been on this team im pretty sure we would be talking about the US sweeping their way to a gold medal. But hey you gotta hand it to the Argentines. They were certainly the best of all the teams assembled. Manu Ginobli is already an established star in the US and several other players plaid big time hoops in the american NCAA and NBA levels.

And its nice that they got the gold because i heard that story about that one guy on the team who had such a horrible horrible tragedy happen to him. Did you hear about that? He lost his mother AND his sister AND his fiance in a car accident several years ago. I mean can you imagine? so he was understandbly a mess for a while but finally put his focus back into basketball and actually helped his team win the world championships a year to the day after the fatal car crash. that night after the game he found out that his dad had died from a heart attack. what unimaginable and utter tragedy. thats beyond shakespeare and tolkien even in its level of anguish. so im really quite happy for him that he earned this great reward. and the recognition of the world as the best. lets hope it provides him some little sollace in his agony.

Yeah! congratulations to Argentina It's very impressive to win gold in Basket and Football

I can't help thinking that Spain could have been there... After a record of 6 victories and only 1 loss, we're 7th in the Olympic Tournament. We have won the two teams that played the final: Argentina and Italy... But anyway I'm sure that Argentina is the one team that have deserved the gold. Good for them!!

BTW, Scola, Noccioni, Montechia, Fernández and some others play in the ACB (the Spanish Basket league).

[Mercutio]

apparently the big NBA players on the U.S. team thought they were all so amazing, but they were so full of themselves that they couldn't even work together as a team.

[BeardofPants]

Well, that was it, wasn't it? It may work over there on the pro-circuit when they're trying to rake in all the million dollar+ contracts, but in the olympics, ya gotta work as a team, and forget about the politics of trying to score a better contract than your team-mates. Well done Argentina. Well played.

[Rían]

I'm glad for Argentina. I don't particularly admire US pro basketball players.

I'm sorry that Marion Jones missed the baton pass, tho.

[Millane]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

I'm sorry that Marion Jones missed the baton pass, tho.

in the 4 X 100? it wasnt her fault was it?, i thought the other lady had run off to quick and her hand wasnt still enough....

[Artanis]

Yeah, I felt so sorry for the US women's team on the 4 x 100. What a disappointment.

On the men's 4 x 100 I thought the US team was too defensive, maybe to avoid the same fate as the women's team ... anyway, a great performance from the British guys. Congrats!

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Wow, Norway got two gold medals today, in the women's cross country and the men's javelin throw. Congrats, you now have one gold more than Sweden

Thank you. I'm always surprised when Norway actually does a good figure in the olympics summer games. It isn't ... natural.

[Jonathan]

The US Dream Team salvaged a bronze, meaning they still have won a medal in every Olympic Basketball tournament.

Right now I'm watching the women's handball gold medal match between Denmark and South Korea. They're playing in overtime and they're very, very even
[edit] It's still incredibly even, they're just getting more and more overtime
[edity edit] They're going to have to settle this with penalties

[final edit] The Danes won the gold in Atlanta and Sydney. They won in Athens as well! Congratulations!

[Grey_Wolf]

Congratulations To Denmark's Women's Handball Team!!!

[Jonathan]

There was an Iraqi participant in the 48kg boxing, Najah Ali. On his back, you could read Iraq is back. Beautiful. He had hardly ever held a press conference before, but he told the journalists in Athens about how all the problems in Iraq that you see on tv are only just a small part of the lives of the Iraqi people and that things were actually looking good back home.

The closing ceremony has just started, I'm off to watch it.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I think these Olympic Games have been great. The Greeks were able to get everything ready on time and security has worked well. The opening ceremony was wonderful imo and I hope the closing ceremony will be just as good.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

Yeah this has been a great Olympics.

[Nerdanel]

did anyone watch the men's marathon??! I got so angry with that damn.. clown or whatever who destroyed the Brazilian's race!! !!

[Jonathan]

The Brazilian still won 3rd place. It's not certain if he would have got a better place if he hadn't been interrupted.

When they handed him the bronze medal, he got a special little prize as a consolation

[Nerdanel]

I know, i'm sure he wouldn't have won. but still.

he did? i didn't see when they gave them the medals.. do you know what he got? *curious *

[Earniel]

Just watched the closing ceremony, a little disappointing if you ask me. The atletes must have thought the same, I've never seen such an empty stadium where there should have been large numbers of atletes. Though the fireworks were awesome.

As Olympic games go, it was good; not so good to rival Sydney IMO. But considering the trouble Greece had to go through to be ready in time it's impressive the games went without a hitch.

So, the games are over, they haven't been so glorious for Belgium. Our final haul is two bronze medals and one golden and many 4th, 5th and 6th places, oh and at least two new Belgian records. The BOIC (Belgian Olympic Committee) is disappointed, they hoped for at least 6 medals, bunch of whiners. If you're one of the only countries with such high qualificationlimits (in some sports the limits the Belgian atletes had to reach to be allowed to go to Athens in the first place rivalled the limits people reached in Olympic finales in Athens!) then obviously you don't have much atletes to send and win metal! Well, duh.

I think we did well enough, some of our favorites disappointed but some less known atletes shone. So maybe we don't have much medals but some things they won't take away: Our countrymen Jacques Rogge has passed his first summer games well. And the Olympic flag, the Antwerp Olympic Flag still stands after nigh 85 years! The flag was first used on the Olympic games in Antwerp, here in Belgium. And for me, that's something to be proud of.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by Nerdanel

he did? i didn't see when they gave them the medals.. do you know what he got? *curious *

Jacques Rogge handed him an additional medal for being a good sportsman.

Originally Posted by Eärniel

As Olympic games go, it was good; not so good to rival Sydney IMO. But considering the trouble Greece had to go through to be ready in time it's impressive the games went without a hitch.

Oh, it will be hard for any country to arrange better games than Sydney. Their closing ceremony rocked. But I liked this ceremony too, especially the Chinese singers and dancers. I'm looking forward to the games in 2008.

Originally Posted by Eärniel

And the Olympic flag, the Antwerp Olympic Flag still stands after nigh 85 years! The flag was first used on the Olympic games in Antwerp, here in Belgium. And for me, that's something to be proud of.

Yeah, what an old flag! But it still looked quite fresh, I guess they have washed it a few times since 1920 . I wonder how long they are going to keep it.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Oh, it will be hard for any country to arrange better games than Sydney. Their closing ceremony rocked. But I liked this ceremony too, especially the Chinese singers and dancers. I'm looking forward to the games in 2008.

There's that. Sydney's hard to beat. Sydney's opening ceremony rocked too, still has me awed. I liked the chinese part of this closing ceremony too, it's very promising for 2008 indeed! I'm having high hopes for it, although it'll only be in 4 years. I'm told the chinese are nearly done already with their preparations and had to be asked to slow down a bit!

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Yeah, what an old flag! But it still looked quite fresh, I guess they have washed it a few times since 1920 . I wonder how long they are going to keep it.

How about forever? Seriously, I don't think the Games will come to Belgium any time soon, who knows even never in my lifetime. So I'd like them to keep the flag for a very, very, very long time!

[Fat middle]

I've enjoyed the clossing ceremony, specially the Chinese part I think I missed Sydney's clossing ceremony. I've enjoyed this games much better than Sydney, but I think that has been mainly due to time zones and also because Spain did a better role than in Sydney: 19 medals: 3 Gold, 11 Silver!!! and 5 Bronze. It's a pity that we couldn't have medals in the team sports, although we did quite well in basket, handball, hockey and waterpolo.

I've enjoyed also with the participation of other countries. China's performance has been amazing, as well as the Astralian. Of course USA has done nery well, but that's more normal I think these have been the first Games in which I've been supporting also teams as Norway, Sweden, Australia, NZ, Israel, Belgium (well, actually I haven't seen much of Belgium ), etc.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Fat middle

(well, actually I haven't seen much of Belgium ), etc.

Actually, me neither. [WARNING: rant coming]The sport channel the National Broadcast started especially for the Games and some other sport events was a huge let down. They started only broadcasting at noon and not once, when there was a Belgian atlete in the game, did they give the race/match/whatever life. The life feed was bloody minimal because they claimed it was too expensive. They filled whole days with stupid sport talk shows. They had Belgian camera's to interview Kim Geveart after she had run and ask her moronic questions but don't think that same camera could have filmed her race, oh noooo. That would have been too easy, nooooo, we had to wait for a compilation in the late news or turn to other non-belgian channels. And the TV feed they did buy from Greece paid seemingly as little attention to Belgians as possible. Can't blame them for that, they can't film everybody and Belgium is not big in sports but you can't blame me for wanting to see how my countrymen are doing. Suffice to say my frustration over this may have coloured my view on the Athens Games a lot less positive. I'm going to stop now because I can probably rant about this for hours.[/rant]

On the other hand, we had a smaller team as usual and while some got into finales, some of our atletes often got beaten fairly quickly on. So that may account for another reason why you'd have seen so little of Belgium.