Olympics 2008

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

I basically agree. However, as a kid, I used to think that it must be cool to get any kind of Olympic medal. It's sad to think that the reality of expectations means that someone would be disappointed with a bronze.

The only reason anyone would have to be disappointed with bronze is if they don't perform as well as they know they can. If you perform your best and you're still beaten, you applaud the guy that beat you and move on.

Originally Posted by scaeagles

If it is contrary to the spirit of the Olympic games, ISM, why doesn't the IOC throw out the concept of country from the games entirely?

It should be noted that the IOC maintains no official record of total medals won by countries. Not that it's hard to piece it together, but any stats you see regarding total medals by country are handled entirely by media outlets and not the IOC.

[Gemini Cricket]

I knew the feet thing was fake. Just like the fireworks at the televised Garth Brooks Central Park concert that made giant cowboy hat shapes in the air.

[Morrigoon]

Geez, talk about a buzzkill... that totally diminishes the effect. I thought they'd actually arranged to have pyro going off in various locations around the city. Far less interesting now :/

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

Geez, talk about a buzzkill... that totally diminishes the effect. I thought they'd actually arranged to have pyro going off in various locations around the city. Far less interesting now :/

They did, but what we saw on television was a recreation due to the fact that it wouldn't look right on TV and that having a helicopter flying through mortar fire wasn't considered safe for some reason.

[Morrigoon]

Heh, imagine that

Okay, as long as they actually DID the firework footsteps...

[Moonliner]

And NBC did announce the footsteps as a "virtual" shot during the broadcast.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'm sure there are those who will declare that we are being bamboozled, but as I have not heard of anyone attending the opening ceremony saying that they didn't happen, I'm taking the official story at its word.

[innerSpaceman]

Well, of course, if you were attending the Opening Ceremonies, you would have no way of seeing the Footsteps pyro until they creeped up on the edge of the Bird Cage.


But as I'm still pointing out in the Opening Ceremonies thread, NBC made it pretty clear they were digitally recreating the visuals of the Footsteps over Beijing.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

To that end, it would be good for us to do pretty well, but also good for us to not totally dominate. Some close calls, some occasional very near losses, those are good for national goodwill. Though it's good to be victorious, we can't seem unbeatable either.

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I'm sorry, but I find this ridiculous. Isn't the Olympics about bringing the best of the world together and seeing who wins? Honestly, if the french (just singling this out as one example) have bad will toward America because they lost the 4x100, that's their problem, not ours.

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

I'm not suggesting it as a strategy, but the reality of it is, such things DO have an impact on international relations and on the sentiment one country holds toward another. That's kind of the point. Using sports as a way to compete and yet cooperate with other countries and generate goodwill.

Originally Posted by scaeagles

OK....makes more sense (and not ridiculous), but I suppose it is a sad thing that anyone would have to worry about someone disliking them because they win. I will always reagrd that as an issue of the loser having a problem, not the winner. Of course, there is such a thing as being a bad winner, though the initial exuberance of winning doesn't fall into that.

What makes one better in any competitive endeavor is going against those who are better than you and forcing you to find a better way to do things. I don't hate my main basketball rival, but I want to beat them desperately. A couple of years ago I lost to them by 23. Four days later we beat them in overtime because I was forced to try some different things to beat them. Made me a better coach, made my players better, too. And it was one of the most satisfying moments of any athletic moment of my life.

Since I'm pretty sure my original comment of wanting the world to see that the US was more than just Bush and war prompted this exchange, I'll go on to say graciously winning every event is a lot better than "in your face" winning one or two event

I'll give this analogy - I want the Ducks to dominate the NHL again. But I want the former Ducks to do well in every game they play, except when they play against us. I want every athlete from every country to do their best, but I want ours to win.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

GO SJ SHARKS.

Thank you.

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