London Summer Olympics 2012

bladerunner said:

I Dunno about that, while it was announced a couple of days ago that Koji Yamamuro was pulling out, and was being replaced by Tanaka there was no such mention of any changes in the Chinese team and it does seem unlikely that the Chinese would not contest the event at all.
All gymnasts compete in the qualifying rounds to get a ranking which then determines their eligibility to contest the events. It appears that no Chinese gymnast achieved a high enough score to be in the top 24. That has got to be a long term worry if none of their top 5 can beat a score posted by the usual "Cellar Dwellers" of the sport in such as Britain Belgium Italy Israel Spain. Actually Spain and Germany qualified 3 but the rules only allow 2.
Actually IMO and from what I've seen of the Chinese gym team, they have'nt been all that convincing for the last couple of years. In some of the events, they won not because they were good, but because the other team blew it. However I hope they can turn it around for the rest of the contest, but like the Russians did I think they need a team rebuild as the other countries are catching up fast in skill levels. IMO the old power houses in gymnastics cannot think that they will be assured of medals by just turning up.




Actually she did post a score high enough to qualify 4th I think but as the rules say, only two from each country. SEcond and third is not qualifying spot is pretty good for the US although the Russian might prove too good

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The qualifying rounds for individual events were first and the Chinese team didn't do well which is why it looked gloomy for the team event. But the qualifying had nothing to do with the team event which is why they won gold. China's top guy pulled out due to an injury suffered during practice before the qualifying rounds started from what I read. It's irrelevant if other teams fumbled because then Tom Daley hoping the Chinese crack during diving would mean the gold he's hoping to win because of it would mean nothing either. I never heard of determining the winner on who should win and not who actually won. Why hold an Olympics if winners are determine that way? They could just have an awards ceremony like the Oscars instead. That's one way to erase Ye's gold in swimming.

bladerunner said:

Chuckle Leonard in his interview to the media, inferred that the cheats are a step ahead of the catchers. I notice there was no attempt by FINA to rebute this allegation.
As I recall I dont think FINA were aware dopining or something like that was going on, until some ex athelete "spilled the beans"
Leaving Shewin aside , at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves is FINA is as good at doing the job it claims to be.

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That's kind of a myth because there's no way any athlete can remove the drugs that are still present in his/her system if it so happens FINA or the authorities have come unannounced to collect drug test samples.

Personally I'll still hold a little doubt even though I hope Ye won fair and square. Why? Not because I think the Chinese cheat but because I think all athletes take some measure beyond natural to increase their performance. Set aside all the bull from the media about who has heart and passion for their sports. That's just romantic propaganda nonsense. Most athletes seek the rewards of winning and not because they really care about their sport. The sport is just the vehicle to their rewards which is fame and fortune. The scandals that go on in professional sports you see the top athletes have been guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. They're the models that aspiring athletes vie to be like. Look at the Balko scandal that took down many professional and Olympic athletes. That was a private company making money and that's how it happens. They create this product and they sell it to athletes telling them it'll make them outperform everyone else and they took it. In sports success comes from being better than everyone else. There are no points for second place when only one person can win. And that doesn't tempt non-professional athletes from doing the same?

One point critics use to lessen Chinese athletes is to focus on the "endless' amounts of money available from the Chinese government. The fact is most athletes from Western countries come from rich families with access and connections to get the thousands it cost every month to train athletes. So should they stop the way they fund their athletes because poorer countries can't do the same and field the same level of athlete? They give nicknames like "Missy the missile" for their athletes. Why? Is it because she won by a hair from other swimmers. No because she was as fast like a missile in the water unlike everyone else. Any suspicion for being extroadinary from others?

Quickie said:

That's kind of a myth because there's no way any athlete can remove the drugs that are still present in his/her system if it so happens FINA or the authorities have come unannounced to collect drug test samples.

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Not if they dont know what theyre looking for, or have the test to detect it.The Balko incident that AM mentioned for an example.

Well, it seems I am far from alone in thinking the organizers should take the lion's share of the blame for the badminton farce.



In addition, a very tragic end to this ridiculous affair. It seems that the same officials who's stupidity and arrogance that ultimately caused this farce only cared about setting an example to athletes who have the audacity to see the loopholes in their masterplan and exploit it that they are not at all concerned that their decisions can have devastating decisions on the lives of the athletes.



Simon Jenkins is the only one with the balls to admit that gamesmanship is a part of sports and that the same lot who are bashes all over these players now would be all up in uproar if it was their own country's athletes who played every game to win only to needlessly knock out another of their country's teams in the next round.

The way I see it, the only thing these players did wrong was by being too honest in their intent, which implies that they did not think they were breaking any rules by deliberately loosing a game.

If everyone knew that playing to loose would get you disqualified, the players would have been far more cunning in the way they threw the game. Just look at cases of match fixing. How many times did the spectators realize a game was being deliberately thrown during play? All they had to do was play normally for 99% of the game, and then deliberately miss some key shots. No one would have been the wiser and it would have been all but impossible to prove even if they had their suspicions.

It is also so predictable that all the media would only focus on China despite the fact that only one of the four teams disqualified was Chinese that it ceased to be funny long ago.

Just looking at the coverage and coverage, you would be forgiven for thinking all the teams disqualified were Chinese.

Behold the Grapes of Wrath!

plawolf said:

Well, it seems I am far from alone in thinking the organizers should take the lion's share of the blame for the badminton farce.

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In addition, a very tragic end to this ridiculous affair. It seems that the same officials who's stupidity and arrogance that ultimately caused this farce only cared about setting an example to athletes who have the audacity to see the loopholes in their masterplan and exploit it that they are not at all concerned that their decisions can have devastating decisions on the lives of the athletes.

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Simon Jenkins is the only one with the balls to admit that gamesmanship is a part of sports and that the same lot who are bashes all over these players now would be all up in uproar if it was their own country's athletes who played every game to win only to needlessly knock out another of their country's teams in the next round.

The way I see it, the only thing these players did wrong was by being too honest in their intent, which implies that they did not think they were breaking any rules by deliberately loosing a game.

If everyone knew that playing to loose would get you disqualified, the players would have been far more cunning in the way they threw the game. Just look at cases of match fixing. How many times did the spectators realize a game was being deliberately thrown during play? All they had to do was play normally for 99% of the game, and then deliberately miss some key shots. No one would have been the wiser and it would have been all but impossible to prove even if they had their suspicions.

It is also so predictable that all the media would only focus on China despite the fact that only one of the four teams disqualified was Chinese that it ceased to be funny long ago.

Just looking at the coverage and coverage, you would be forgiven for thinking all the teams disqualified were Chinese.

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It's media propaganda/manipulation as the same picture of Chinese players was used everywhere. More S. Koreans were DQed and even appealed.

cn_habs said:

It's media propaganda/manipulation as the same picture of Chinese players was used everywhere. More S. Koreans were DQed and even appealed.

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You know what those of you that are cheering on the Chinese side should be doing when the media hates on China over these Olympics?...Point them to the scoreboard..

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When is all is said and done China will more than likely have more Gold medals than any other nation.. Scoreboard.

bd popeye said:

You know what those of you that are cheering on the Chinese side should be doing when the media hates on China over these Olympics?...Point them to the scoreboard..

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When is all is said and done China will more than likely have more Gold medals than any other nation.. Scoreboard.

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Then they will just going to point out that China government run institution that train people like animals, in the end they will still try to cheapen the accomplishment as much as possible.

bladerunner said:

Not if they dont know what theyre looking for, or have the test to detect it.The Balko incident that AM mentioned for an example.

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It's very difficult now for an athlete to get ahead of the advancement in drug testing. Furthermore, the samples are stored away for possible future testing when new information comes along.