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2016 Olympics - Opening Ceremony and beyond....


Howdyphillip

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2 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

It was definitely the baton exchange for the Americans.  At the first exchange, Gatlin started too early and the exchange was way outside of the box area.  

CBC is saying that Japan is ok because the only time stepping out of the line counts is on the curve.  

Ah ok, so that explains the Canada DQ in London vs Japan tonight. Still, happyish for Canada but actually kind of bummed for the US.

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3 minutes ago, Kyoshi said:

China then GBR. That's if both Japan and Canada are also out.

Wait, now Canada is also in the spot being questioned?? -.-

A commentator mentioned the possibility of the USA being dq, but didn't linger long there.

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Just now, Baltan said:

Wait, now Canada is also in the spot being questioned?? -.-

A commentator mentioned the possibility of the USA being dq, but didn't linger long there.

Sorry for the confusion. The US was DQ'd for baton exchange. I was comparing Canada's lane violation from London, against a Japanese runner on the line tonight. Only the US lost a medal due to DQ. Trinidad and Tobago was also DQ'd.

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Google updated to show Canada as a Bronze. I'm happy because I've been rooting for De Grasse these last days.

 

As for the partial times, no idea. I think you'll have to wait till some fan takes the time to measure them and upload them.

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Up to 60 medals then, with 2 days to go; 5 behind on London's total, but 3 ahead for the day-by-day. No chance of equalling the gold medal tally.

We've got Joyce and Adams to go with guaranteed medals
Farah and Daley as favourites
Heath and the women's four in Kayaking through to their finals today, with good chances
Jamie Cook starts the Pentathalon as favourite; but this doesn't seem to be a sport where the form-book matters
Walkden and Cho going in the Taekwondo too; with Walkden supposedly a favourite for a medal, and Cho a reaslistic chance; we're only at the last last 16 stage here, and again, the form-book can fly south pretty quickly.
3 Contenders in the Triathalon; but not with the expectation levels of the Brownlees
Oh, and Hull's still in with a chance in not-a-sport

Obviously, we have contenders in other events; but none I can see being talked about as medal expectations (eg 800m)

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So, men's basketball finals... USA - Serbia. There was always hope, but what the team did against Australia was almost unbelievable... Wow, just wow. To win them with 26 points deserves every respect. I just want our boys to play against USA like they have nothing to lose because, realistically, they can't. Another great tournament for Serbia's basketball.

So, @baxus, how many times do you think we will hear that NBA doesn't do doping controls this time? :D 

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Both Mens and Womans 4x100's were very entertaining. Bolt delivered with a historic Olympic moment, when the 3rd legs for U.S. and Jamaica handed off it was still fairly close, but Bolt just looked like absolute TurboCharge the way he separated bringing home the anchor leg. Dude delivered on the Grand Stage!

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It's pretty amazing that Japan beat the US even before the US got DQ's. Shows what practising the relay can do for ya.

 

The US has always sucked at the relay, comparatively. I still remember Britain winning gold in Athens purely because their changeovers were flawless and the Americans slowed at every one. And since then there's been a bevvy of fudged changeovers and drops, they seem to get DQ'd a lot. Pity that since then Britain has equally dropped the figurative and sometimes literal baton. Though the women did good last night.

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22 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

It's pretty amazing that Japan beat the US even before the US got DQ's. Shows what practising the relay can do for ya.

 

The US has always sucked at the relay, comparatively. I still remember Britain winning gold in Athens purely because their changeovers were flawless and the Americans slowed at every one. And since then there's been a bevvy of fudged changeovers and drops, they seem to get DQ'd a lot. Pity that since then Britain has equally dropped the figurative and sometimes literal baton. Though the women did good last night.

and 3 of the team were 19 or 20, could be serious contenders over the next few years. 

regarding relay baton handovers, i always remember the USSR doing far better than the sum of their parts due to the practice they put in on changeovers. 

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3 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Also, I don't want to sound like a paranoiac, but is it not a little bit dodgy that in the 4x400 TeamGB are being disqualified for an infringement that there is no video of and the officials won't clarify? Especially since the DQ puts Brazil in the final.

you jaded old cynic you.  to be fair we have had a decent run of decisions go our way, the only dodgy ones i can think of are this one, and the mens open water swim. 

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1 minute ago, BigFatCoward said:

you jaded old cynic you.  to be fair we have had a decent run of decisions go our way, the only dodgy ones i can think of are this one, and the mens open water swim. 


Hah.
At least in that one you can argue against it coz we know what the decision was and where it came from.


I did like the sillyness of the officials having to use TeamGB's own footage to rule on the Keirin (in both decisions) because they didn't have a camera of their own on the line. They should have just let the British cycling team run the entire Olympics.

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16 hours ago, Guess who's back said:

If you say there is reason to doubt Bolt, I really hope that you also have reason to doubt Phelps.

Sure, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out at some point that Phelps used some PEDs.

Still, I must say I do think that Phelps is the less likely one of the two, since USADA's reputation is much higher than Jamaican ADA.

Also, if you look at Phelps's body you'll see he has the perfect build for swimming - big torso, a bit shorter legs, relatively big feet, pretty long arms etc. You can see how with that physical advantage combined with top of the line training and diet regimen (including supplements, of course) he could become the greatest swimmer ever.

On the other hand, you see Bolt come up, half a foot taller than any other sprinter, nowhere near as bulked up, beating proven doping users regularly and with ease, smiling at the camera and/or spreading his hands 20 meters before the finish line.

You tell me, which one raises more suspicion?

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2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Also, I don't want to sound like a paranoiac, but is it not a little bit dodgy that in the 4x400 TeamGB are being disqualified for an infringement that there is no video of and the officials won't clarify? Especially since the DQ puts Brazil in the final.

This fucking stinks. Cheating bastards.

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8 hours ago, kairparavel said:

Sorry for the confusion. The US was DQ'd for baton exchange. I was comparing Canada's lane violation from London, against a Japanese runner on the line tonight. Only the US lost a medal due to DQ. Trinidad and Tobago was also DQ'd.

The only reason to get DQ'd for lane violation are if you gain unfair advantage from it, either by cutting the corner or by interfering with an opponent. On the straight part of the track, not interfering with any opponents, Japanese or American sprinters stepping on the line is not a DQ offense.

4 hours ago, Risto said:

So, men's basketball finals... USA - Serbia. There was always hope, but what the team did against Australia was almost unbelievable... Wow, just wow. To win them with 26 points deserves every respect. I just want our boys to play against USA like they have nothing to lose because, realistically, they can't. Another great tournament for Serbia's basketball.

So, @baxus, how many times do you think we will hear that NBA doesn't do doping controls this time? :D 

Men, I watched the match last night and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Aussies were never anywhere near getting back into that game. Our guys defended so well that Australian team scored only 14 points in the first half, and did it pretty clean and smart giving Australia no free throws in the first half. I can't remember EVER seeing that at anything close to this level of competition.

After the match was ended, I started getting flashbacks from Atlanta '96 Olympics. Man, setting up a bunk bed in front of a small screen TV in my parents' room, sleeping there and getting up in the middle of the night to watch our basketball team play. Fun times! Hopefully, the match will be closer than that one was, or the one two years ago in the World Championships. More along the lines of the one we played in group stage of the tournament.

As for doping controls, I heard the first one yesterday and, believe it or not, even managed to convince the guy how insanely stupid that story is. That never happens! :D 

EDIT:

Just have to point out that out of our 4 teams in team sports, 3 are in the finals (women's volleyball, men's water polo and men's basketball) and the fourth one (women's basketball) is playing for bronze today. Not too shabby for a country with a population of 7.5-8 million.

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39 minutes ago, baxus said:

On the other hand, you see Bolt come up, half a foot taller than any other sprinter, nowhere near as bulked up, beating proven doping users regularly and with ease, smiling at the camera and/or spreading his hands 20 meters before the finish line.

You tell me, which one raises more suspicion?

 

While I can see why Bolt is maybe a bit more suspicious than Phelps, his physique isn't one of the reasons. Sure, there's a reason most sprinters aren't tall, but it's the very fact that Bolt can sort his limbs out in the space of a 100/200 meter race and still hit his full stride that makes him so lethal. Unless you're saying that there's a PED that helps with that co-ordination.

I don't think he's significantly less bulky than most of the others. He's just longer so it shows less. Sure, some of them - Yohan Blake, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey - are huge, but most of them aren't.

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1 hour ago, baxus said:

Sure, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out at some point that Phelps used some PEDs.

Still, I must say I do think that Phelps is the less likely one of the two, since USADA's reputation is much higher than Jamaican ADA.

Also, if you look at Phelps's body you'll see he has the perfect build for swimming - big torso, a bit shorter legs, relatively big feet, pretty long arms etc. You can see how with that physical advantage combined with top of the line training and diet regimen (including supplements, of course) he could become the greatest swimmer ever.

On the other hand, you see Bolt come up, half a foot taller than any other sprinter, nowhere near as bulked up, beating proven doping users regularly and with ease, smiling at the camera and/or spreading his hands 20 meters before the finish line.

You tell me, which one raises more suspicion?

At this point I personally trust IAAF is stricter than FINA. The athletics results for this Olympic Games for me is far less questionable than those from swimming, if only because the swimming was tainted by the presence of the Russian team. As to the integrity of USADA vs the Jamaican ADA, well...we have Marion Jones and her team, Gatlin, Armstrong--people who have had their records annulled *after* the fact. USADA failed in each one of those instances until much later. And in Armstrong's case in particular, it was external influence that increased the pressure. Its integrity and transparency are subject, as in the Russian case, to its own discretion. To say this nation's anti-doping integrity is better than this other one's is naive IMHO.

Also, the one argument I don't accept is that simply because some guy cheated and broke a record it must therefore ALWAYS stand that every other person who exceeds that same record HAS to have cheated. The only thing we can say is that the first guy cheated. You can't convict the second guy based on the guilt of the first guy. Call me a fool but that's the way I see it. There are individuals who will do things the rest of us will never even dream of. Every once in a generation. Same thing happens in science and other fields. You don't get Kepler everyday, or ten years or even every century.

Bolt is a unicorn in his build since he's not suited to middle and long distance, either. Not every guy built like Michael Johnson is able to do the things Johnson was able to, the same way every guy built like Phelps isn't breaking a record every 4 years or so. Someone's build is not proof of their talent, it's indicative of their potential IMHO. I'm not discounting that Bolt is capable of doping, I'm just saying Phelps is just as likely.

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