I'm surprised, no Olympics thread started yet

[Peter_AUS]

Well, it has been two days now and there hasn't been one mention of the Olympics, which I find absolutely amazing, so I am starting one for interest sake.

I found the Opening Ceremony very good, well structure, and certainly used some interesting visual effects compared to our Games in Sydney 2000.

The statue was really great, but if it wasn't explained by the commentary, would never have guessed that the outcome was a replication of the islands of Greece.

The costumes were absolutely great, I thought they represented the changes within the Greek History well, certainly showed the changes in the culture well.

But what was with the Icelandic Singer and what was it all about, how boring was that. Where Was Nana Maskouri (Mousaka to some), she is more Greek than and Icelandic Goddess (I think that was the representation intended).

What do others think of the games so far.

Come on Aussie Come on Come on,
Come on Aussie Come on.

[Asylum Steve]

...was the group of "torch bearers" suspended in air by cables that looked as if they were slowly running up to the top center of the stadium.

Besides the technical aspect, the illusion required great body language to simulate running and make it look real. Stunning effect...

Peter, I think Americans are a bit mum so far about the Olympics because we tend to wait for the athletes' stories to unfold, and so far the only one is that our men's basketball team sucks (at least compared to if we had our best players there)...

BTW, I've been very impressed at how beautiful American television has made Athens look. My sister (lives on the Island of Hios) says they've done much to improve the scenery leading up to the games, but when I was there in '98 I found it to be quite a dirty, unattractive place...

[Peter_AUS]

It is really good to see the improvements to Athens, just seeing the different historical places like Hadiens Wall was great and the Pathenon as well, spectacularly lit up.

Hey you Americans are doing alright, probably do very well in the swimming over the next couple of days I would think with your wonder fish.

It is good to see the Aussies up there on the medal tally at present, running 2nd but that won't last long either I am sure with the American Track and Field events starting up soon. The American Gymnists Girls team look really great, although how anyone could call them Adults I don't know, they are all babies, even ours.

The Tourch thing was really good wasn't it, it really did look like they were running and did maintain it too, the lake was interesting for a while, boy did it drain fast as well.

Reports during the parade were interesting on the clothing, don't know how the USA team were commented on, but the commentators said the Aussies looked Drab. To me the USA team looked like they were DownTown Boys is that the correct expression, with the hats they were wearing.

They are selling 50 jackets framed of the Australian Jacket (Lime Green go figure) for $4,000 each signed by the flag bearer, Hackett and Thrope.

Biggest surprise so far has been the South African Swimmers mens relay. Will be interesting to watch the tussle (I hope) between Phelps, Thorpe, Hackett and Vandehogeenvan.

Don't you think that most of the time, you would find Greece to be a dirty type of place anyway, considering all the rock etc that are on the Islands anyway. I haven't been there, but the impressions off of Live Style Shows gives me that impression, but it does have some of the most spectacular Sceneray in the World from my limited knowledge of places.

Great to see you aren't suffering like your other state disaster people are, it looked shocking from the footage I have seen on the news here.

Take care.

[megan]

I LOVE the Olympics. They've always been such a big deal in my household, and my love for them carried on into adulthood. And how could I avoid it? I was a little girl when Nadia Comaneci scored her perfect 10s, and propelled me and my sister to after-school gymnastics. We could not get enough. Of course, as the tallest girl in class, I was too big to seriously pursue the sport by the time I was 7... but I love watching. I was even watching the dressage and badminton yesterday! [Who said badminton was namby-pamby - those guys are HARDCORE! Who knew?!]

As for the opening ceremony, I thought the whole parade with Apollo and the art history floats [and you know that I'm an art history dork] were fantastic! The statues were neat, but the live "paintings" - amazing! The end with the glowing pregnant tummy was - weird - but I forgive them ;) I didn't notice the vocalist, though - I might have been distracted.

It's always fascinating to watch the teams come in - especially the small ones from countries I never knew existed with only one or two athletes. Really inspiring.

I resume the couch camping tonight for the women's gymnastics!

Megan

[megan]

It is good to see the Aussies up there on the medal tally at present, running 2nd but that won't last long either I am sure with the American Track and Field events starting up soon. The American Gymnists Girls team look really great, although how anyone could call them Adults I don't know, they are all babies, even ours.

Do we even have anyone in track and field after the doping scandals have decimated our ranks?! Sobering events, really. I'm hoping Radcliff of GB wins the women's marathon. It would show everyone that it can be done without the drugs, as she's outspoken against doping.

And as for the little gymnasts - I was watching the Chinese girls - they say they are 16, but they look no older than 10! Makes me wonder if they aren't giving them ANTI growth hormones!

Megan

[Peter_AUS]

Our Girls team made the finals for the first time in the Gymnastics which is great and they reported two of the girls were 21, but gee, you have to really look hard to determine that they maybe, youngest is 16.

The Japanese mens team were really spectacular.

I didn't get the pregnant woman glowing thing either, watch it twice now and still don't get it.

I remember Nardia as well, and Mark Spitz, and Dawn Frazer swimming, been watching since 1960 every time it is on. Biggest problem was Sydney 2000 as not much of it was broadcast here, just highlights, which was really disappointing, considering the cost to go was high and also sold out most big events. I got a free ticket to the Womans semi-finals of the 3 metre spring board, so I sent the wife to that, too long a day for my bad back.

[mjs1973]

I haven't been paying too much attention to the games yet, but I did hear on the radio this afternoon that they may start giving away free tickets to get into the games because the attendance it so low. I found that to be rather dissapointing.

[Peter_AUS]

Very dissapointing, especially to those that have paid for thier tickets as well. But if it gets bums on seats and helps with the atmosphere, then probably a good idea.

Part of an interesting thought, about all the money spent on games these days, which could be spent on other things around the world that would be more life saving.

What has it cost these games to be stages, 7 billion $'s, OK it brings in new infrastructure, but when you hear that 2 million Athenians have gone on holidays at the same time, and there are 2 million tickets available, makes you wonder doesn't it.

Has the cost of Olympics now moved to the realm of just being too costly to stage, and maybe the countries that have the instructure already in place, should be utilized more in future games. Our own Olympic areas have been struggling since the 2000 games to survive, like the Equestrian Centre, Rowing Centre, Shooting Centre and Kyaking areas.

[megan]

I'm actually getting to see a lot more of the Athens Olypmics than the Sydney. Sydney was shown pretty much only on one network in my area, so I missed the boxing, grrr. But this time around several cable channels are also showing events not shown by the regular networks, so I think I'll actually get to see some of the boxing on ESPN tonight. The more European sport is being shown on an arts channel, and I can always pick up the soccer games on the Spanish channels.

I loved watching the swimming and gymnastics last night! My couch Olympics have begun! Bring on the mmicrowave popcorn and Bacardi coolers!

Megan

[opus]

I saw a half hour of opening ceremonies as I sat at the bar in my hotel in San Francisco, sipping my martini. I only saw the parade of countries (Turkey, Phillippines, Fiji, etc.). After that night, I only saw updates on CNN each morning, and there was more hurricane coverage than Olympic coverage. In Minneapolis on my way home, I saw some men's gymnastics on the tv in the airport bar as I sat there sipping my martini. Hmmm, makes me sound like a lush. Really, those are the only martinis I've had in a long time!

Now that I'm home, my husband has had the tv on quite a bit, and I've seen much swimming and gymnastics. But he keeps complaining that they're "only showing Americans".

What do you think? I haven't seen enough to really know. Last night I did watch the Romanian girls gymnastic team take the gold, and they totally deserved it. But it has seemed quite heavily weighted with an American perspective.

[adamsti]

I have not watched much. I have an HDTV, and NBC is showing a lot in HD, but on a one day taped delayed basis, which is the stupidest move I have ever seen. Unless I'm really interested, if it is not in HD, I won't watch much of it.

As for Canon at the Olympics, check this picture out, not many black lenses to be seen.
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/sou...51178641&cdi=0

[kkraczek]

As for Canon at the Olympics, check this picture out, not many black lenses to be seen.
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/sou...51178641&cdi=0

No women either.... hmph

[megan]

No women either.... hmph

I think there's a woman in the lower right corner - short dark hair, appears to have glasses. Either that or it's a 12-year old boy

Megan

[Asylum Steve]

Megan,

ESPN may be showing highlights here and there, but I'm sure you realize they're not broadcasting any of the Olympics, as NBC has the exclusive rights in the US (ESPN is ABC).

Still, NBC's coverage is close to ALL the time, with NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, and Si, even Telemundo splitting the events.

Yep, it requires a bit of clicker juggling, but it's fun switching around to catch all the different stuff.

I think the boxing I watched was on CNBC...

[megan]

As true as that might be, on NBC in NYC, there's a portion where a voiceover says "tomorrow's events being broadcast..." and they say "from 7-8 on ESPN, Olympic boxing, the heavyweights..." while I haven't actually sat down and watched anything on ESPN, and it very well may be highlights as you say, the way I understood the commercial was that events not being shown in full on NBC are being shown, at least in part, on ESPN, Bravo, Galavision, and Telemundo. I sure watched a heck of a lot of table tennis on either ESPN or Bravo the other day.

But what do I know?

Megan

[Asylum Steve]

Here's a link to the official NBC site. Click on the "TV listing" link for a rundown on all the broadcasts:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/index.html

Of course, local cable companies have the ability to mix things up, so maybe that's what is happening in NY.

BTW, did you see any of the table tennis DOUBLES? That was pretty wild...

[mtbbrian]

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
28 medals and counting!
Thanks Tyler, Boby and Deidre Demet Barry for taking it in the Individual Time Trial today!
Brian

[Peter_AUS]

We are getting realtime coverage here, not overly weighted to Australian Coverage, but yes, there is quite a bit of it, but I expect that other countries are doing the same thing.

A show lastnight showed the coverage being showen in Japan, no picture, just a voice over, was quite funny.

We have two free to air channels showing olympic coverage which is good, as one of the commercial channels is cutting the coverage to pieces with commercials, but hey, they are paying the costs are they.

Seems to big hassles are going on in the Womens Water Polo, been some very viscious contact going on in there, girls getting punched in the face, but atleast the costumes are staying on this time, apparently at the Sydney Olympics, they were loosing there costumes under the water.

Swimming has been great, some really good match ups there, some surprises as well with results. Where did those South Africans come from, talk about the dark horse in swimming. Great to see the fellowship of the swimmers as well, demonstrates the true nature of the games doesn't it.

Hey Brian, we Aussies have taken out a gold in the Biking as well and only just missed out in the mens time trial as well. Gold for us in the Womans Traps and a Bronze in the Mens Traps. Now looking forward to the Vellodrome racing should be interesting.

Wonder if the Dream Team will get their heads together and realise they are having a tough time of it, would like to see some more of thier skills showing up in the games.

Reports this morning comming out that 6 weight lifters have been detected for drugs (go figure, like that wasn't a big surprise). And how about those Greek Athletes, didn't know they had to do drug testing, if they had nothing to hide, then why not just get a collection whilst in hospital. Me thinks Watson they have something to hide there.

Hope everyone is well.