Olympics

moreluck

golden ticket member
No olympics watching going on here. The games are a total interruption in my regular TV viewing.

I probably don't have a very popular opinion on this subject.....what's yours?
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
We don't generally watch either.

HOWEVER, we did watch womans court volleyball while we were drinking in a Chinese restaurant bar today. The bartender was telling us how awesome the opening ceremony was. It sounded really good.

I was disappointed with todays volleyball. The womans BEACH volleyball team has way better "uniforms"! (How do they stay on???)
 

Channahon

Well-Known Member
I started watching the Olympics on black and white TV and have been watching ever since.

Hearing the National Anthem played at the medal ceremonies is my favorite viewing, be it Winter or Summer Olympics. Gives me a sense of pride and patriotism.

And the opening ceremonies were the BEST ever, what a show!!
 

DS

Fenderbender
We will probobly watch a few events.
I heard they had to cancel the javelin toss,
they were getting stuck in the smog.
 

Big Babooba

Well-Known Member
We don't generally watch either.

HOWEVER, we did watch womans court volleyball while we were drinking in a Chinese restaurant bar today. The bartender was telling us how awesome the opening ceremony was. It sounded really good.

I was disappointed with todays volleyball. The womans BEACH volleyball team has way better "uniforms"! (How do they stay on???)
They are actually airbrushed on.(I wish):wink-very:
 
I have watched the Olympics since I was a kid. The first one I remember watching was the '84 Summer Games in LA. Being as most of the athletes are not professional, it's quite inspiring to watch. I enjoy ice hockey in the winter games because the professional talent from the NHL is spread out over many countries, unlike basketball where all the professionals from the NBA simply play for Team USA.

The opening ceremonies were pretty freakin amazing though!

George Bush gave the US beach volleyball team a smack on the butt for good luck.

And who is this Michael Phelps guy? Collecting gold medals like they were baseball cards.
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
This is a good 'picture' of what the Chinese are trying to present to the rest of the world....they only care about their own image.....
Official: Child Singer Not Pretty Enough for Olympics Opener; Girl Lip-Syncs Her Song

Tuesday , August 12, 2008
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BEIJING —
A 7-year-old Chinese girl was not good-looking enough for the Olympics opening ceremony, so another little girl with a pixie smile lip-synced "Ode to the Motherland," a ceremony official said — the latest example of the lengths Beijing took for a perfect start to the Summer Games.
A member of China's Politburo asked for the last-minute change to match one girl's face with another's voice, the ceremony's chief music director, Chen Qigang, said in an interview with Beijing Radio.
"The audience will understand that it's in the national interest," Chen said in a video of the interview posted online Sunday night.
The news follows reports that some footage of the fireworks exploding across China's capital during the ceremony was digitally inserted into television coverage, apparently over concerns that not all of the 29 blasts could be captured on camera.
China has been eager to present a flawless Olympics image to the world, shooing migrant workers and so-called petitioners who come to the central government with grievances from the city and shutting down any sign of protest.
The country's quest for perfection apparently includes its children.
Lin Miaoke's performance Friday night, like the ceremony itself, was an immediate hit. "Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke becomes instant star with patriotic song," the China Daily newspaper headline said Tuesday.
But the real voice behind the tiny, pigtailed girl in the red dress who wowed 91,000 spectators at the National Stadium on opening night really belonged to 7-year-old Yang Peiyi. Her looks apparently failed the cuteness test with officials organizing the ceremony, but Chen said her voice was judged the most beautiful.
"The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and a good grasp of the song and look good on screen," Chen said. "Lin Miaoke was the best in this. And Yang Peiyi's voice was the most outstanding."
During a live rehearsal soon before the ceremony, the Politburo member said Miaoke's voice "must change," Chen said in the radio interview. He didn't name the official.
So Peiyi's voice was matched with Miaoke's face.
"We had to make that choice. It was fair both for Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi," Chen told Beijing Radio. "We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance."
Chen couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.
A photo of Peiyi posted Tuesday on popular Web site Sina.com shows a smiling girl with bangs and crooked teeth. A China News Service story posted with the photo says a China Central Television reporter asked Peiyi whether she felt regret over the opening ceremony.
Peiyi responded that just having her voice used for the opening ceremony was an honor.
Whether the move was unethical, or unfair to both girls, has become a hot topic among Chinese and is racing across the country's blogosphere.
"The organizers really messed up on this one," said Luo Shaoyang, 34, a retail worker in Beijing.
"This is like a voice-over for a cartoon character," Luo said. "Why couldn't they pick a kid who is both cute and a good singer? This damages the reputation of both kids for their future, especially the one lip-syncing. Now everyone knows she's a fraud. Who cares if she's cute?"
Zhang Xinyi, 22, who works in marketing in Beijing, disagreed.
"I can understand why they picked the prettier girl. They need to maintain a certain aesthetic beauty during the opening ceremonies. This situation is not so bad, especially since it gives two people an opportunity to shine rather than just one."
Peiyi is a first-grader at the Primary School affiliated to Peking University. Her tutor, Wang Liping, wrote in her blog that Peiyi is both cute and well-behaved, with a love for Peking opera.
"She doesn't like to show off. She's easygoing," Wang wrote. She and other school officials couldn't be reached Tuesday.
Miaoke, however, was a minor celebrity even before the opening ceremony. The third-grader appeared in a television ad last year with China's biggest gold medal hope, hurdling champion Liu Xiang, and she was in an Olympics ad just before Chinese New Year, China Daily reported.
Miaoke has her own blog, and one of the latest photos posted since the ceremony shows her looking up nervously at the ceremony's director, film director Zhang Yimou. "Giving the child encouragement," the caption says.
Her father, Lin Hui, told China Daily he learned Miaoke would be "singing" only 15 minutes before the opening ceremony began. The newspaper wrote Lin "still cannot believe his daughter has become an international singing sensation."
 

jds4lunch

What the hell is YOUPS??
I don't have much interest in the summer olympics (outside of womens beach volleyball). The local radio station here was talking about how Canada has yet to win a medal. The general consesus was that nobody really cares.
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
"China admitted Monday that nine-year-old Lin Miaoke lip-synched their national anthem Friday to the recorded voice of another little Chinese girl. The adorable girl was told that she can't sing and the singer was told she wasn't cute enough. You spend one day in show business and suddenly sewing for Wal-Mart doesn't sound so inhumane."

~Argus Hamilton~
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
What do you guys think of the Chinese "womens" gymnasts?

I think it's pretty obvious some of them aren't 16 yet. I know, I know, they all have (Chinese government issued) passports that say they are 16.

Funny how they all have the same 16th birthday one day before the Olympics....
 

oakcreekteamie

Well-Known Member
What do you guys think of the Chinese "womens" gymnasts?

I think it's pretty obvious some of them aren't 16 yet. I know, I know, they all have (Chinese government issued) passports that say they are 16.

Funny how they all have the same 16th birthday one day before the Olympics....

I agree i know for a fact that these girls are NOT 16...but if the government is issuing this Passports you know it is flawed beyond all belief.

They have been saying that even the judging is biased towards the Americans...but what can you do?
 
What do you guys think of the Chinese "womens" gymnasts?

I think it's pretty obvious some of them aren't 16 yet. I know, I know, they all have (Chinese government issued) passports that say they are 16.

Funny how they all have the same 16th birthday one day before the Olympics....

I think the rule is they must turn 16 anytime during the year of the Olympics they are competing in. But yeah you are right, if the Chinese gov't is doctoring their birth certificates, not much can be done. Unless one of them slips up and says yeah I'm in 8th grade, oops I mean 11th grade (or whatever the equivalent is over there).
 
I enjoy watching the Olympics, but it seems that host cities really go all out getting the infrastructure in place. I read that Beijing spent $40 billion to get everything built. Afterwards, most of that infrastructure never gets used again, at least not to its full potential.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
I enjoy watching the Olympics, but it seems that host cities really go all out getting the infrastructure in place. I read that Beijing spent $40 billion to get everything built. Afterwards, most of that infrastructure never gets used again, at least not to its full potential.

Back in the 1996 Olympics, the Beach Volleyball venue was built near my delivery area. Millions of dollars were spent to build it, it was used for maybe two days. It sat empty and unused for several years, before it was finally turned over to the local government and is now a county park.
 

BLACKBOX

Life is a Highway...
Weightlifting was my favorite so far. How do those tiny Chinese and Vietnamese athletes go at those weights is mind bending.
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
"U.S. Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps astounded reporters in Beijing Tuesday when he revealed that he eats twelve thousand calories of food every day. So what is the problem? You're either representing the United States of America or you're not."
~Argus Hamilton~
 

BLACKBOX

Life is a Highway...
Just saw more weightlifting today, this time it was the women super heavyweight...wow. The winner was this gal (?) from Korea that lifted closed to 360 kgs (close to 700 lbs). I would not like to make her mad!
 
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