What, no Olympics thread?

[LizardWizard]

I'm surprised too. It's been 24 years since our last olympic finals, and many countries did not take part to the Moscow 1980 games. I was really expecting the final to be Usa-Lithuania (and then I would have bet on the Lithuania).

We're on the final of both basketball and volleyball. Not bad for two sports that are considered minor in Italy.

Too bad Lithuania lost; although Lithuanians despise us, I really admire their basketball team. The bronze medal match will definitely attract more attention than the final.
There is really something wrong with modern basketball: Argentina advancing to the finals, Serbia & Montenegro fighting for the eleventh (!!!) position, and Russia not qualifying for the Olympics at all...

 

[johnsemlak]

Too bad Lithuania lost; although Lithuanians despise us, I really admire their basketball team. The bronze medal match will definitely attract more attention than the final.
There is really something wrong with modern basketball: Argentina advancing to the finals, Serbia & Montenegro fighting for the eleventh (!!!) position, and Russia not qualifying for the Olympics at all...

Yeah, I mean, a Gold medal match between Italy and Argentina. Sounds more like a soccer match (wait a minute- wasn't the soccer final also Italy-Argentina?).

 

[johnsemlak]

It's easy to peg US basketball players as overpaid greedy players with no national pride. It's true to a limited extent perhaps, but I have a bit a sympathy for guys who refuse. The US team gets a lot of flack for not winning (or even coming close to not winning, as in 2000), and not much credit for winning it. Plus, the structure of the NBA makes it very difficult for the US to organize a team properly. In most sports like soccer, powerhouse countries spend all year every year developing their national team, thru qualification tournaments, exhibition matches, etc. Most countries have a permanent national team coach for major sports only only does that. The US just throws together a team a few weeks before the Olympics. It's not the US players' fault that the US doesn't organize a team.

Still, it's easy to say the US would have won if it had had its best players. Maybe it's true. Would have they gotten due credit for not taking the summer off working out the whole time? That's why I do give a lot of credit to the guys on the team this year. They're giving their best and probably won't get any praise for it.

 

[Lichtenhart]

Yeah, I mean, a Gold medal match between Italy and Argentina. Sounds more like a soccer match (wait a minute- wasn't the soccer final also Italy-Argentina?).

Nope. The olympic Argentina team (olympic teams are quite different from national teams) was way too strong. We managed to score a goal, and that's more than anyone else has done. Only bronze for our soccer, but it's no shame losing against such a team.

The final was Paraguay-Argentina 0-1.

 

[Klaus]

The US not playing for Gold is like, say, the Brazilian soccer team not even qualifying for the Olympics...

... wait! It didn't!

Well, at least the girls played some great soccer and deserved to win the final match, showing better skill than the US team. But two balls on the pole and an uncredited penalty (for the defender-as-goalie stunt) really hurt the team. The arbiters in that match were simply abusmal!

 

[johnsemlak]

The US not playing for Gold is like, say, the Brazilian soccer team not even qualifying for the Olympics...

... wait! It didn't!

Well, at least the girls played some great soccer and deserved to win the final match, showing better skill than the US team. But two balls on the pole and an uncredited penalty (for the defender-as-goalie stunt) really hurt the team. The arbiters in that match were simply abusmal!

Still, Brazil is showing awesome overall performance in team sports.

Silver in Woman's soccer, possible bronze in Woman's volleyball, a gold/silver in Men's volleyball, 4th place in woman's basketball, the men's basketball team is traditionally strong, and the men's soccer team need's no further proof.

You guys any good at handball, per chance?

 

[hong]

Hearty congrats to the Americaian womens basketballers for taking the gold medal from the Opals, in a close-fought game. They have now extended their winning streak over us Austrians to 12 games over the last 8 years. Just goes to show what Americaian basketballers are capable of, when they take the Olympics seriously.

 

[Klaus]

Handball? Hmm, not so much.

Sailing? Hell, yeah! (Gold on Laser and Gold on Star classes)

And here's to our Silver in Horseriding! Go, Baloubet de Rouet!

 

[drothgery]

[deleted because I really don't want to continue in this vein, especially after Iverson's crew won the bronze medal game]

 

[johnsemlak]

Just watched the Woman's volleyball final. I have to say that even though Russia lost, Ekaterina Gamova is one of hte atheletes of this Olympics. She's a towering woman at about 208 and was virtually unstoppable when she spiked. Wasn't enough though.