London Summer Olympics 2012

About the comments about sports schools in villages. I am watching Women's diving on NBC now. It shows Wu Minxia from Shanghai and He Zi from Nanning, both mega cities in China. So there is slim to none chance they are the products of small village sports schools.

Another interesting/annoying thing. I was reading BBC news about, surprise! Chinese training. The guy says China trains it's athletes to eliminate their individuality. Evidence? A woman table tennis player said she no longer had any pressure because it would be Chinese vs. Chinese in the final. Yet, when an American gymnast claimed that she felt honored to represent USA, she is considered patriotic...

Just look at the CHinesebasket ball team play and compare that to how the men in the MBA play the game.

Only the gold count matters. I don't know why they give out silver and bronze medals for 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Why not give medals to the top 5 places instead of top 3. Total medal count is absolutely irrelevant. It rewards mediocrity where you can rank higher with 50 bronze medals over a country that won 51 gold medals. That's OUTRAGEOUS!

The only winner is the nation that has their national anthem played the most. You do that by winning the most gold.

All this total medal counting is American tactics because they know it's difficult to beat china in gold medal count. Cheap tactics.

So when a 15 year old American comes out of nowhere to win the women's 800m freestyle, it's considered amazing, when a Chinese does it, it's called cheating. Typical western hypocrisy. How on earth do Americans win so many medals in the pool but no one questions them. After all they have their own drug cheats in swimming from Gary Hall Jr to Jessica Hardy.

I think we should pull out of the London Olympics.
This is discrimination against china. Totally unacceptable.

J-XX said:

Only the gold count matters. I don't know why they give out silver and bronze medals for 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Why not give medals to the top 5 places instead of top 3. Total medal count is absolutely irrelevant. It rewards mediocrity where you can rank higher with 50 bronze medals over a country that won 51 gold medals. That's OUTRAGEOUS!

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You got your maths wrong. 51 Gold > 50 Bronze in gold and in total. You should have used 49 Gold or 51 Bronze.

However, the idea that being the second or 3rd best in the world is somehow mediocre is a gross injustice and shows a lack of understanding of just how much of feat it is to be the 2nd or 3rd best person at something in a world of 6bn. And quite often, the difference between gold and bronze is measured in fractions of a second.

Giving everyone participation medals is pointless, but you would be hard pressed to find many who agree with you that awarding the top 3 athletes is giving away too many medals.

You might not agree with it, but there is indeed some good reasons for using total medal numbers. Would it be fair for a country who only got 5 Gold medals in some obscure sports where very few countries even take part to be ranked higher than a country that has 4 gold and 20 silver/bronze in far more popular sports with far fiercer competition?

A larger total medals number is also a good indication for future success. Athletes have a very short professional life and will usually retire in the early to mid 30s. If all you have are Gold medalists, what would your nation's chances likely be when those athletes retire or are injured during bit events?

It would be highly unusual to only be able to produce Gold medalists and not have a proportionate number of silver and bronze medalists.

All this total medal counting is American tactics because they know it's difficult to beat china in gold medal count. Cheap tactics.

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Some might be abusing it for cheap shots, but as has been pointed out, America has been doing total medal count for quite some years before China became a threat to their top spot place.

It would be wrong to bash the method just because some choose to try to abuse it.

So when a 15 year old American comes out of nowhere to win the women's 800m freestyle, it's considered amazing, when a Chinese does it, it's called cheating.

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Actually, Ye won the world championships before the Olympics. All the claims that she 'came out of nowhere' is more down to the ignorance of the people making the claims. This American teenager OTOH did actually come out of nowhere and was a complete unknown before winning gold.

Typical western hypocrisy. How on earth do Americans win so many medals in the pool but no one questions them. After all they have their own drug cheats in swimming from Gary Hall Jr to Jessica Hardy.

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It's fine to dislike the hypocrites and point out how obscured and baseless their claims are, it is another thing to start resorting to their cheap shot tactics.

Just as it is wrong for some to make baseless claims about Chinese athletes doping just because of past cheats, it is just as wrong to make the same baseless accusations about American swimmers.

I would go as far as to say I await the drug tests for the American 800m winner with interest, but I would not call her a drugs cheat or anything even more ridiculous like gene-altered without any proof.

I think we should pull out of the London Olympics.
This is discrimination against china. Totally unacceptable.

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What would pulling out achieve? Exactly what the China-haters and bashers want.

A lot of these people hate China precisely because China is doing well and threatening their narrow minded view about the manifest superiority of everything they are over everything and everyone else. They would just love it China throw the proverbial dummy out of the pram and went to sulk at home by themselves and refused to play any more.

The best thing China can do is to keep competing and keep winning at international events. China's success hurts these people far more than any protest or complaint. Hell, the more China raises to their bait, the more perverse pleasure they take from trying to smear and bash China.

Empty protests are meaningless against people with no shame or decency. If China as a nation is to take acting against these people, aside from keep on winning, the best thing is to hit them with libel and defamation suits in courts. That is how Americans and other westerners defend themselves against the more rabid members of the 'press', and that is what China should start doing as well.

Some people are weak and petty and will not restrain these baser aspects of their personality voluntarily unless they realize that there are real consequences to their deeds.

Some might be abusing it for cheap shots, but as has been pointed out, America has been doing total medal count for quite some years before China became a threat to their top spot place.

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Exactly..the medal count was in play long before China was the main rival of the USA in the Olympics. The medal count is a relic of the cold war when the USSR was the USA chief competitor during the Olympic games. I remember the medal count for the 1964 games being on the bottom of the screen from time to time.

bladerunner said:

Just look at the CHinesebasket ball team play and compare that to how the men in the MBA play the game.

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HAHAHHAHHAHAA.... are you serious? You want to judge China's Olympic performance with NBA? I mean... why not compare US ping pong player with Chinese players?

jackliu said:

HAHAHHAHHAHAA.... are you serious? You want to judge China's Olympic performance with NBA? I mean... why not compare US ping pong player with Chinese players?

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No, he was referring to the men in MBA, as in "Masters of Business Administration". Obviously, the CBA would destroy them.

It looks like China will not top the gold standing this time around. But the momentum is still there.

plawolf said:

You got your maths wrong. 51 Gold > 50 Bronze in gold and in total. You should have used 49 Gold or 51 Bronze.

However, the idea that being the second or 3rd best in the world is somehow mediocre is a gross injustice and shows a lack of understanding of just how much of feat it is to be the 2nd or 3rd best person at something in a world of 6bn. And quite often, the difference between gold and bronze is measured in fractions of a second.

Giving everyone participation medals is pointless, but you would be hard pressed to find many who agree with you that awarding the top 3 athletes is giving away too many medals.

You might not agree with it, but there is indeed some good reasons for using total medal numbers. Would it be fair for a country who only got 5 Gold medals in some obscure sports where very few countries even take part to be ranked higher than a country that has 4 gold and 20 silver/bronze in far more popular sports with far fiercer competition?

A larger total medals number is also a good indication for future success. Athletes have a very short professional life and will usually retire in the early to mid 30s. If all you have are Gold medalists, what would your nation's chances likely be when those athletes retire or are injured during bit events?

It would be highly unusual to only be able to produce Gold medalists and not have a proportionate number of silver and bronze medalists.



Some might be abusing it for cheap shots, but as has been pointed out, America has been doing total medal count for quite some years before China became a threat to their top spot place.

It would be wrong to bash the method just because some choose to try to abuse it.



Actually, Ye won the world championships before the Olympics. All the claims that she 'came out of nowhere' is more down to the ignorance of the people making the claims. This American teenager OTOH did actually come out of nowhere and was a complete unknown before winning gold.



It's fine to dislike the hypocrites and point out how obscured and baseless their claims are, it is another thing to start resorting to their cheap shot tactics.

Just as it is wrong for some to make baseless claims about Chinese athletes doping just because of past cheats, it is just as wrong to make the same baseless accusations about American swimmers.

I would go as far as to say I await the drug tests for the American 800m winner with interest, but I would not call her a drugs cheat or anything even more ridiculous like gene-altered without any proof.



What would pulling out achieve? Exactly what the China-haters and bashers want.

A lot of these people hate China precisely because China is doing well and threatening their narrow minded view about the manifest superiority of everything they are over everything and everyone else. They would just love it China throw the proverbial dummy out of the pram and went to sulk at home by themselves and refused to play any more.

The best thing China can do is to keep competing and keep winning at international events. China's success hurts these people far more than any protest or complaint. Hell, the more China raises to their bait, the more perverse pleasure they take from trying to smear and bash China.

Empty protests are meaningless against people with no shame or decency. If China as a nation is to take acting against these people, aside from keep on winning, the best thing is to hit them with libel and defamation suits in courts. That is how Americans and other westerners defend themselves against the more rabid members of the 'press', and that is what China should start doing as well.

Some people are weak and petty and will not restrain these baser aspects of their personality voluntarily unless they realize that there are real consequences to their deeds.

Click to expand...

Yes you make some good points.