2004 Olympic Games - Athens

[BeardofPants]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Tried to look it up. Was her name Jessica Eliza Beer?

Yup, I bet her in the women's fencing tournament a while back, 5-0 (foil).

[Fat middle]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Tried to look it up. Was her name Jessica Eliza Beer?

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

Yup, I bet her in the women's fencing tournament a while back, 5-0 (foil).

She surely had too much beer...

[BeardofPants]

Nah, it's more like the women's fencing section is useless.

[Radagast The Brown]

I've seen today the Olympics, on BBC, so they focused on the British team.. and still I got to see the cycling that Jonathan mentioned (I was rooting for the Australian ), and swimming and some Judo.

I think Van Den Hoogenband was quite impressive. His result was better than Thorpe's and Phelps. I am not really sure if he can't take at least the silver medal, if not the gold.

I was,a also, sure that the Hollandish swimmer in the 100m butterfly would win, she led most of the time. I remmeber her from the last Olympics, when we wa sthe 'new talent', and won 3 gold medlas. But Statistics show that no one has ever won two times on a row in the 100m butterfly for women, I guess you can't beat that. She ended 3rd, in the end, not even second.

Haven't seen any Swedish sweemers Jon. I saw mosty Austrlain and american. They seem to rule this sport.

[BeardofPants]

Hey Rad! *waves* What did you think of that judo thingie with the iranian refusing to wrestle the israeli? Geez, you'd think that they could leave politics out of it for the olympics.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by Radagast The Brown

I've seen today the Olympics, on BBC, so they focused on the British team.. and still I got to see the cycling that Jonathan mentioned (I was rooting for the Australian ), and swimming and some Judo.

Rooting for the Australian No, you should have been going for the Swede
I also saw some judo this morning. Apparently there was one Swedish contestant, and I later read in the paper that she is the most 'anonymous' person of all the Swedish athletes - no one seems to know who she is

Originally Posted by Radagast The Brown

I think Van Den Hoogenband was quite impressive. His result was better than Thorpe's and Phelps. I am not really sure if he can't take at least the silver medal, if not the gold.

I doubt he will take more than the bronze. Phelps and Thorpe didn't do their best in the semifinals, they can give a lot more than that. But if their nerves fail them, van den Hoogenband will be there to steal their medals

Originally Posted by Radagast The Brown

I was,a also, sure that the Hollandish swimmer in the 100m butterfly would win, she led most of the time. I remmeber her from the last Olympics, when we wa sthe 'new talent', and won 3 gold medlas. But Statistics show that no one has ever won two times on a row in the 100m butterfly for women, I guess you can't beat that. She ended 3rd, in the end, not even second.

Yeah, I mentioned Inge de Bruijn's 3rd place in my post. I wonder if she knew she had the statistics against her . But she seemed happy with her bronze medal.

Originally Posted by Radagast The Brown

Haven't seen any Swedish sweemers Jon. I saw mosty Austrlain and american. They seem to rule this sport.

They always do . But the Swedes got some gold in the last Olympics at least - remember Lars Frölander, Linaewen?

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

Hey Rad! *waves* What did you think of that judo thingie with the iranian refusing to wrestle the israeli? Geez, you'd think that they could leave politics out of it for the olympics.

Oh yeah, I read about that. The Iranian boxer who carried the Iranian flag in the opening ceremony didn't get to do much else than that.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

Hey Rad! *waves* What did you think of that judo thingie with the iranian refusing to wrestle the israeli? Geez, you'd think that they could leave politics out of it for the olympics.

WHAT?! What was his "reason", fergoodnesssakes?

[Janny]

Originally Posted by Radagast The Brown

...the cycling...

Man, I love that sport! I watched both road races... the men's I saw as a proper neutral, and I just loved the spectacle. The second was kinda ruined by the BBC's British rider centred commentry... frankly the sport is easier to watch when the British elite are suspended in payment for the means in which they became the British elite...

[Radagast The Brown]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

Hey Rad! *waves* What did you think of that judo thingie with the iranian refusing to wrestle the israeli? Geez, you'd think that they could leave politics out of it for the olympics.

Haven't heard of it, I guess it's not very interesting to the Britrish. I now checked in an Israeli site, and apparently he came unready to the Olympics - he weighed 4 kg more than the allowed.
Hmmm... That's too bad. He'd probably win if he had come there. It's not like it's the first time - the Iranian sportsman never agreed to fight with Israelis. Is it the first time in the Olympics?

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Rooting for the Australian No, you should have been going for the Swede
I also saw some judo this morning. Apparently there was one Swedish contestant, and I later read in the paper that she is the most 'anonymous' person of all the Swedish athletes - no one seems to know who she is

I might have, if there was a Swede in the position of winning. But the Swede was one of the lasts, and had no chance.
There are many Israelis in Judo, but I think only one has chance to get a medal. We took 2 medals in Judo once, about 8 years ago... since then none (in Judo).

I doubt he will take more than the bronze. Phelps and Thorpe didn't do their best in the semifinals, they can give a lot more than that. But if their nerves fail them, van den Hoogenband will be there to steal their medals

I thought so, but after the swim they seemed to be very tired, and I thought they gave everything they can. Maybe I'm wrong. (most likely) We'll see today.

Yeah, I mentioned Inge de Bruijn's 3rd place in my post. I wonder if she knew she had the statistics against her . But she seemed happy with her bronze medal.

Yeah, she did. I wonder why. Maybe she didn't expect more... She is 31 years old, she's not as young as she was 4 years ago, nor as fast. It's probably her last Olympics.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Fat middle

.... Van Hoogenwhat's Holland.

Hihihi... Van Den Hoogenband.

Originally Posted by Radagast The Brown

Haven't heard of it, I guess it's not very interesting to the Britrish. I now checked in an Israeli site, and apparently he came unready to the Olympics - he weighed 4 kg more than the allowed.
Hmmm... That's too bad. He'd probably win if he had come there. It's not like it's the first time - the Iranian sportsman never agreed to fight with Israelis. Is it the first time in the Olympics?

The commentaries I've read from Belgian reporters think his suddenly being overweight was just a ruse to have a better excuse not to fight.

[Radagast The Brown]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

The commentaries I've read from Belgian reporters think his suddenly being overweight was just a ruse to have a better excuse not to fight.

It seems so, he was quoted after the weight saying that he wouldn't wrestle against Israelis out of sympathy to the Plestinians. And:

A spokeswoman for Iran's Olympic Committee said he had been told to pull out in line with national policy towards Israel.

[Earniel]

He was told to pull out? This is getting stupider by the minute. Why even send atletes to the Games then? You're bound to come an Israeli opponent somewhere down the line.

[Fat middle]

Yay!! first medal for Spain: silver in Women's Trap Shooting. Maria Quintanal. And perhaps she'll get another medal in double trap.

In Sailing (Finn class) is participating a boy that I know. He studied in my school and we have several common friends. He's doing 2nd after 6 races, but he's very close to the first, the brit Ainsley.

My bet for the 200 freestyle swim is that VDH (it's easier to name him so, Eärniel ) will win.

[Artanis]

There are not so much to report from the Norwegian participants ...
... yet.

At least the Norwegian male Beach Volley team won the second set in their match against the Brazilians.

[The Gaffer]

Now I've heard of everything: the Norwegian beach volleyball team! That's nearly as good as the Jamaican bobsleigh.

Hope your friend does well, fat middle. I take it he's representing Spain. Ainsley got disqualified from one of his races, so your mate's probably got a handy boost there.

Ha ha! Tim Henman got knocked out in the first round of the tennis. And that British cyclist blaming the other competitors because she lost. We can do without that sort of ambassador.

Should be a good showdown tonight: Phelps v Thorpedo. It was nice to see the South Africans getting one over on both the US and Australians yesterday.

A question: who else thinks it's a total disgrace that the Paralympics have been separated out? After Sydney I thought that we were moving towards an integrated games. Disabled sports are just as entertaining as able bodied ones if you give them a chance. If anything, they're better: let's see, an able-bodied bloke devotes his entire life to running in a straight line for ten seconds versus a one-legged high jumper. I know which one I have more admiration for.

[Valandil]

I gotta stop looking at this thread. We're getting everything with a tape delay (6 hour?)... so I found out the results of yesterday's swim races here before I got to watch them on TV.

[Artanis]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

Now I've heard of everything: the Norwegian beach volleyball team! That's nearly as good as the Jamaican bobsleigh.

And I've just learned that they beat the team from Puerto Rico! Goooo Kjemperud!

I guess Phelps/Thorpe will be a thriller. The sad thing is that I might miss it, if the pub I'm going to does not have a tv.

[Linaewen]

THORPE WON!!!! YEAH! Having woken up at 2.35 AM to watch the race, I have to say it's worth it. Thorpe got an new Olympic record as well as beating that Phelps, that arrogant... As long as Phelps lost, I was happy. Thorpey winning was a bonus. *Ecstatic* No one will talk about anything else tomorrow (today).

Congrats to Petria Thomas especially, out of our gold medal winners. She really deserves it.

Sorry to Val and JD for ruining the race outcome because of their tape delay.

[HOBBIT]

I wish we could watch that race.


NBC won't show us! They tell us on msnbc.com but they didn't broadcast the race live when they could have.

they are making us wait until tonight to see thorpe vs phelps i believe.

but we already know how it turns out :P

That outcome was predicted, that is Thorpe's thing. You can't be the best at every single swimming event.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Valandil

I gotta stop looking at this thread. We're getting everything with a tape delay (6 hour?)... so I found out the results of yesterday's swim races here before I got to watch them on TV.

That's the downside of being in another timezone. Right now, I'm parked perfectly but there wasn't much we could view 'life' during the last Olympics in Sydney and Peking in 4 years is going to be similar.