What, no Olympics thread?

[Desdichado]

Any so-called "sport" wherein the results are determined by "scores" handed out by judges rather than an objective measure should be eliminated from the olympics, as it is not really a sport.

 

[Desdichado]

And yet when the final gymnast clearly outshined Hamm, he received the same score as Hamm did, winning only on a technical tie-breaker. Judging is always subjective - I'd never seen it so awful before.

I don't know that he clearly outhone Hamm, and he did win the gold after all. And, the final gymnast was the Korean who's been bellyaching about the scoring in the allround. He miffed his routine so badly it was almost embarassing that he even qualified at all.

But I agree; that was the worst judging I'd seen in this particular sport. Even so, with the exception of Nemov, really, eveyone ended up about where they belonged.

 

[Ranger REG]

So, the Hamm guy won the Gold in all around gymnsatics but it turned out there was a scoring error. I think hew should return the medal and accept the Silver.

I wouldn't. While there is still question of judging error, it's the official's fault. To return the gold and accept the silver to compensate for the official's fault is not the way to go. The international olympic committee should improve official judging performance so there is no future muck-up.

Still, I feel for Hamm. Like a dark, dank cloud, it will hover him no matter where he'll go, and it's because of the officials' mistake. I would not be surprised he will feel uncomfortable sleeping in the Olympic village.

 

[Chaos Drake]

Poor Iraq. Well they really came far. Just a step away from getting a medal and a very impressive showing.

 

[Maerdwyn]

I thought the bronze medal game between Iraq and Italy was tomorrow?

 

[drothgery]

Yeah, but a single decent outside shooter and this team would be undefeated.

And Stephon Marbury isn't a decent outside shooter, but he played one on TV this morning, so the best team in the prelims by a fair margin (Spain) is going home without a medal.

 

[Desdichado]

So, I missed the women's beach volleyball final because it comes on when I'm at work, except on the weekends.

Misty May and Kerry Walsh all the way to the top.

Not really surprising; those two were incredible to watch. They really played extremely aggressively, and were all over the sand. They've been hot the whole time in Athens. In more ways than one.

 

[Klaus]

When the two brazilian teams had to play against each other, there were two opinions going on:

1) Adriana Behar and Shelda (who won that game and went on to take Silver) were the best duo overall of the two;

2) But Sandra and Ana Paula (who lost that game) had better chances to beat May and Walsh, specially since they had similar heights. Shelda was 6 inches shorter than Walsh, and in beach volleyball it makes a HUGE difference!

But the favorite team won! And we got to keep the Gold in the Men's Beach Volleyball!

 

[johnsemlak]

Yesterday I watched the US-Spain quarterfinal in a bar with a bunch of Spaniards. The US played a very solid game. Great defense, rebounding, and finally some good 3-point shooting from Marbury.

Still a very hard-fought victory. It will take two more of those to win this medal.

I do think the greater US depth might help in Saturday and Sunday games. 3 games in three days is a lot of action, some of the players will be getting tired.

 

[LizardWizard]

A hard-fought game indeed, and I have serious doubts that US will win these Games. The Dream Team doesn't look unbeatable anymore; Team Lithuania does.