Olympics 2008

[innerSpaceman]

And to me, frankly, all sport is but one stepped removed from punching your opponent in the face. The competitive nature encouraged in males by the indoctrination into the world of sport makes me ill.


Perhaps that's why I like gymnastics and diving best, where the competition comes from doing one's best just happening to be better than someone's else's best performed at a separate time or place, decided by another human being via imperfect means. I find this kind of stuff comfortably TWO steps away from punching each other in the face.



But it's still less admirable to me than the fella who hands a dollar to the homeless dude.



Sports. Feh.

[Strangler Lewis]

I'm a boxing fan of long standing, which I will from time to time feel bad about. However, Olympic thievery occurs in all sports, e.g., the 1972 men's basketball final. If Roy Jones, Jr. had been a gymnast, he still would have gotten screwed in Seoul.

At the pro level, I think the biggest problem is that boxing has no natural season. Hence, there is the temptation to create controversy to justify rematches.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Nearly two thirds of Out gay athletes medaled

In other words, go gay and win a medal!

[Alex]

Congratulations to Iceland, Bahamas, and Australia for taking the gold, silver, and bronze in total medal count, adjusted for national population. Sadly, the good old USA came in 29th but the evil Chinese came in a horrible 57th.

I've decided that to the degree I care about medal counts it is the number of physical medals (gross number of medals adorning necks from each country; e.g., winning the a basketball medal counts as 12 since 12 people get a medal) as a proportion of national population.

And thanks to a four hour conference call I have to be on but don't have to participate in, a table of the results:

Spoiler:

             TOTAL MEDALS (Events)   /MM Pop

Spoiler:

Iceland                14 (1)          44.30
The Bahamas             5 (2)          15.11
Australia             150 (46)          7.01
Jamaica                17 (11)          6.26
Norway                 26 (10)          5.44
Cuba                   47 (24)          4.17
Netherlands            64 (16)          3.89
Trinidad & Tobago       5 (2)           3.75
Denmark                18 (7)           3.28
New Zealand            14 (9)           3.27
Belarus                30 (19)          3.10
Hungary                27 (10)          2.69
Slovenia                5 (5)           2.46
Estonia                 3 (2)           2.24
Armenia                 6 (6)           2.00
Slovakia               10 (6)           1.85
Spain                  73 (18)          1.58
Serbia                 15 (3)           1.52
Mongolia                4 (4)           1.52
Lithuania               5 (5)           1.49
South Korea            68 (31)          1.41
Georgia                 6 (6)           1.37
Germany               111 (41)          1.35
Argentina              53 (6)           1.32
Latvia                  3 (3)           1.32
Bahrain                 1 (1)           1.32
UK                     80 (47)          1.31
France                 74 (40)          1.15
Croatia                 5 (5)           1.10
USA                   320 (110)         1.05
Romania                22 (8)           1.03
Canada                 34 (18)          1.02
Russia                143 (72)          1.01
Finland                 5 (4)           0.94
Switzerland             7 (6)           0.92
Kazakhstan             13 (13)           0.90
Azerbaijan              7 (7)           0.83
Mauritius               1 (1)           0.79

===================MEDIAN===================

Sweden                  7 (5)           0.76
Italy                  43 (28)          0.72
Ireland                 3 (3)           0.68
Ukraine                31 (27)          0.67
Bulgaria                5 (5)           0.65
Singapore               3 (1)           0.65
Greece                  7 (4)           0.63
Czech Republic          6 (6)           0.58
Poland                 20 (10)          0.52
Belgium                 5 (2)           0.47
Brazil                 75 (15)          0.40
Japan                  51 (25)          0.40
Kyrgystan               2 (2)           0.38
Kenya                  14 (14)          0.37 
Austria                 3 (3)0.36
Zimbabwe                4 (4)0.30
Tajikistan              2 (2)0.30
 Panama                  1 (1)0.30
Moldova                 1 (1)0.26
North Korea             6 (6)0.25
Uzbekistan              6 (6)0.22
Dominican Republic      2 (2)0.20
Portugal                2 (2)0.19
Republic of China       4 (4)0.17
Nigeria                24 (4)           0.16
Togo                    1 (1)0.15
China                 188 (100)         0.14
Israel                  1 (1)0.14
Turkey                  8 (8)0.11
Tunisia                 1 (1)0.10
Ethiopia                7 (7)0.09
Ecuador                 1 (1)0.07
Thailand                4 (4)0.06
Algeria                 2 (2)0.06
Morocco                 2 (2)0.06
Chile                   1 (1)0.06
Cameroon                1 (1)0.05
Mexico                  4 (3)0.04
Colombia                2 (2)0.04
Malaysia                1 (1)0.04
South Africa            1 (1)0.04
Afghanistan             1 (1)0.04
Venezuela               1 (1)0.04
Indonesia               7 (5)0.03
Iran                    2 (2)0.03
Sudan                   1 (1) 0.03
Egypt                   1 (1)0.01
Vietnam                 1 (1)0.01
India                   3 (3)0.003

[Not Afraid]

I always love the Olympics and this thime around was no different. There were some spectacular moments that I will remember always and I'm glad I got to experience them. Some of my favorites include: Women's Beach Volleyball, Bolt's 100 meters, Men's indoor Volleyball final, Men's 4x 100 swimming relay, Men's close call butterfly, Opening Ceremonies and the taste of London (I LOVED the look of it and am hoping that Matthew Bourne will have something to do with it).

I'm actually rather sad it is over, but I'll be happy to have my nights back. I have a list a mile long to catch up on.

[BarTopDancer]

Is it hockey season yet?

[Gemini Cricket]

Aww, isn't he cute?!

[Gemini Cricket]

I'm hoping the London Olympics will have quidditch.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

Nearly two thirds of Out gay athletes medaled

In other words, go gay and win a medal!

It may be a natural tendency towards pessimism on my part but the way I'd interpret that is that in athletics you don't come out unless your position at the top of the sport is very secure and can't be easily challenged.

In other words, the strong performance is, perversely, an indicator of discrimination in sports.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Alex

Congratulations to Iceland, Bahamas, and Australia for taking the gold, silver, and bronze in total medal count, adjusted for national population. Sadly, the good old USA came in 29th but the evil Chinese came in a horrible 57th.

I find it fascinating that if Michael Phelps was a country he would have tied Italy for 9th place in the gold medal count. Finishing ahead of France, Japan, Spain and a host of other countries.