What, no Olympics thread?

[Klaus]

Too bad, I was rooting for Russia (and Gamova is kinda cute, too! Now I know how a halfling feels like next to a human woman...)

 

[drothgery]

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.

If the guys didn't take the Olympics seriously, they would've lost the bronze medal game. They didn't take the world championships seriously, which was why a more talented team than this one finished sixth in 2002. But I think the last week showed pretty clearly that despite the flaws in the way team USA was built, if they had a few more weeks of preparation they'd've won the gold anyway.

 

[Bagpuss]

Have to mention Kelly Homes of Great Britain, winning
the Women's 1500m after getting Gold in the 800m, I think that's only been managed twice before in the history of the games.

And Hicham EL GUERROUJ getting gold in the mens 5000m after getting gold in the 1500m.

The has been some amazing running on the track this year.

 

[Perun]

We got the gold! We got the gold!

And we won the gold in handball! Yay. That's five medals for Croatia (one gold, two silver, two bronze). That's one medal per 900,000 people

The great bit is that all five medals were won by good folk of my home city of Split (the Skelin brothers in rowing, Draganja in swimming), had people from Split in the team (Ancic in tennis pairs, two guys from the handball team), or lived in Split at least some time (Peshalov, when in Croatia, stays in Split ). Quite good for a city of less than 180,000 people

Yay for us!

 

[LeapingShark]

Wow did you see what just happened in the marathon. That man should be hung, drawn, and quartered.

 

[Stormfalcon]

Wow did you see what just happened in the marathon. That man should be hung, drawn, and quartered.

All that I'll say is that it's a good thing the bastard was wearing a kilt, considering where he's going...

 

[Bagpuss]

He did the same thing at the British Grand Prix, ran onto the track narrowly avoiding a high speed crash. Got 2 months in jail, he needs to be put away for longer this time. He's some crazy drunk Irish priest who believes the nation of Israel is a sign that the second coming and end of the world is about to happen.

 

[Klaus]

That man should be locked up in a mental institution for the remainder of his life...

And to think Queen Elizabeth II wrote to him commending him for his services to the Church in the past (before the Formula 1 thing last year).

You guys wouldn't believe what Vanderlei Silva (the brazilian runner) had to go through during his life to make it as a runner (not the best way to support one's self in Brazil). Only to have a nutso ex-priest blemish it with such an absurd scene.

The IAAF (International Athletism Federation) refused to comply to the Brazilian Olympic Comitee's request that two gold medals be awarded (to the Italian who won and to Vanderlei). But the International Olympic Comitee awarded the Baron Pierre de Coubertain medal to Vanderlei, for his olympic spirit. This medal was awarded only twice in the past (in the 60s to a bobsled athlete who lent a part of his bobsled to his rival, who ended up taking the gold; and in 88 to a sailing sportsman who abandoned a race to save another constestant whose boat had upturned and was drowning).

The Brazilian Olympic Comitee will enter a petition at the Referee Board in Lousanne, Switzerland, for the marathon's result to be reviewed.

 

[Desdichado]

The runner seemed happy enough with the bronze result, though. The commentators on our channel were asking if the guy out there had had any result on the actual outcome of the race, and most of the former athlete experts opinion was "probably not." For a race that long, something like that doesn't really make too much of an impact.

And like I said, Silva seemed quite thrilled with the bronze...

 

[Klaus]

He was absolutely thrilled with the bronze. He said that if the BOC manages to get the IOC to award two golds (one for the italian and one for him), it'd be great.

The thing is, Vanderlei was already in auto-mode (he's kinda famous for that). He had a 46 second lead on the chasers when he got attacked by that irish bastich. Between staggering when seeing the attacker, being thrown on the curb, being rescued my spectators (way to go, greek police!) and starting to run again, he lost about 20 seconds. Then he had to struggle within himself to find the resolve to keep on running (which is the reason he's getting the Pierre de Counertain medal). But his rythm was entirely lost.

Baldini (the italian who won), seeing that Vanderlei was _right ahead of him_ (after being so far away that he lost sight of him) gained much energy from the possibility of catching up with Vanderlei. Same with the Eritreian-turned-American who won silver.

And let's remember that this happened mere 6km from the finish line. So yeah, it was quite possible that Vanderlei could have won the gold if not for the Irish Madman. Silver, at the very least.

As a sidenote, Cornelius Horan, the Irish Madman, was sentenced to 1 year in prison, paid 3000 euros and is alread free, because he had no previous offenses in greek soil (according to the police dept.).