[Despondent]

Ok, just saw the opening ceremonies from Athens.

just thought it worthy of note, although we're kind of an international celebration as well.

Share the spirit with Samsung.

[SimeSublime]

I personally hate the olympics. The only good thing to come out of the Sydney games was that channel 9 showed Farscape three times per week.

[Heccubus]

I'm with you, Sime. I don't see the reason for their existence, other than to help sell things. Eventually, every year it boils down to these ridiculous rivalries for who has the most medals, and the whole thing just gets ridiculous.

[Chefelf]

Why watch the Olympics when you can just play "Track & Field"?

Seriously, I love that game.

[Jordan]

I hate the olympics too. I've never sat through one event without leaving due to boredom.

The athletes from weathly countries get paid shit loads and have the best of the best training facilties.


The whole thing is rigged i tell you.

[Heccubus]

Then how do people from Southern Africa do so well in track and field events?

Also:
"Track And Field" rules, Chefelf. You make a good point.

[Just your average movie goer]

Well, it actually meant something once upon a time. Originally, the whole idea was that they were amateur games. And you knew that the guy who won the 100 metres race was a baker who worked almost 24/7, didn't have a lot free time to train and certainly didn't get paid to do so and have a great coach thrown into the deal with a load of sponsorship.

So when he won the race, you could say. "My God! I didn't know Bob the baker had such a wonderful natural ability for this sport. Go, the everyman!"

Next point - the main purpose of it all was supposed be bringing the nations of the world together for the interest of peace. And one thing I really love about the Olympics is seeing all the nations of the world marching together. That is something really special...

... however, it is undermined by the fact that as soon as these games are over, or even while they're still going, the wars and conflicts continue. So the noble ideal is nothing but a token gesture... and it always will be unless nations actually realise that talk and lip service alone do not bring about peace.


Next point - track and field sports and watching people swim up and down a pool over and over again, no matter whether they are different people or different events, is dull. I cannot understand how the Olympics grew to be such a spectator sport.

Give me the World Cup Soccer, or even a local match, any day.

Last point - specialising in an Olympic Event is such a stupid thing to do, when you really think about it. Our bodies are designed with muscle systems, that when we apply ourselves, can allow us to be reasonably good at a large number of things.

For example, if I want to run really quickly, using my anaerobic energy, I can. But if I want to run a long distance, I can do that also.

However, someone who specialises in going the distance events, like a marathon, specialises their body so much that they cannot sprint. They are hopeless at it.

While the reverse is also true. 100 metre sprinters would probably get knocked up by a high school cross country event.

And if being super good at one tiny little skill (and generally a skill that's useless for everyday life) and hopeless at everything else is not bad enough...

the extreme stress that some of these athletes put their bodies under actually ruins them shortly after they retire. There are a lot of retired athletes out there... and a large number of them are in very bad shape, many years before old age gets the rest of us.

[Jordan]

China won gold in the Air Rifle competition. So did I, 8 years ago at some fair up in kelowna.

I wonder if her metal is filled with wood chips, like my teddy bear was.

This post has been edited by Jordan: 14 August 2004 - 07:31 PM

[Just your average movie goer]

Nah. It was filled with chocolate.

[jyd]

some people fell off their bikes today, that was funny

[Just your average movie goer]

People falling off bikes is always funny... too bad George Bush isn't competing.

[SimeSublime]

Wow, people actuall agreed with me on this. That hasn't happened since...ever, actually. Another thing I hate about them is the fact that for a pretty much useless event, they put a hell of a lot of money into it. Especially the host, one would assume. It would be so much better if that money was put into useful endevours, such as education, healthcare and world aid.

[Emu]

New Olympic event: Falling Off of Bikes, wherein the leaders of the countries compete.

Russia on this new Olympic event: "The Americans have an unfair advantage!"

[Stongbah]

Tonight, during one of the balance beam routines, they had this featurette about this one American who, at Sydney, did the unthinkable: Had her foot slip!! They made it seem like this huge tradgedy and I just didn't get it.

[Emu]

Yeah, it's amazing how the most miniscule of errors can break the entire routine. Whereas it seems difficult enough to just stand on the thing without falling off.