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Post by Dark Cloud on Aug 5, 2012 18:44:30 GMT -5
China and the US are battling it out for first place in number of medals at the Olympics. It's odd because China has five times our population, although they're still half third world, so it evens out, I guess.
But as of this writing England - dumpy old girl that she is - is number 3 with only about 20% of our population, never mind China's. I know the host nation tends to do well, but wow. Gotta be fun to be British these days, and glad for them. They're having a good year in a lot of areas.
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Post by plainsman on Aug 5, 2012 18:52:31 GMT -5
As the Irish say— "Rule Britannia! Britiannia waives the rules!"
(Nothing to do with the Olympics.... just in general, from an Irish POV.)
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Post by yantaylor on Aug 6, 2012 4:50:14 GMT -5
Plainsman; our Athletes also finished fourth in the Beijing Olympics, again behind U.S.A. and China with 47 medals. No jiggery pokery there and none now.
From an English man in Widnes.
Ian.
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Post by plainsman on Aug 6, 2012 7:39:39 GMT -5
I said it had nothing to do with the Olympics. Congratulations to your guys (and gals)!
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Post by yantaylor on Aug 10, 2012 5:34:03 GMT -5
Thank you Plainsman.
I see the U.S.A. has gone ahead on the medal tables;
This is the total at stumps yesterday.
U.S.A.; 90
China; 80
Britain; 52 (we have won more Gold’s then Russia)
Russia; 56 (Never been the same since the brake up of the Soviet Union)
Third is a great result if we achieve it.
Keep it up U.S.A., China may have peaked too early, now you have got in front ‘’stay in front’’, I may treat myself to a Chicken fried rice on Saturday from the local Chinese takeaway.
Ian.
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Post by plainsman on Aug 10, 2012 7:26:00 GMT -5
The horror stories out of China about how they select and "train" their slave athletes make their medal count irrelevant to me.
One medal for each 4-million of population (in the US case) means that Britain has a population of 208,000,000. [8^0] But I doubt that such calculations are part of the "Olympic ideal"!
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Post by yantaylor on Aug 10, 2012 8:05:58 GMT -5
Yes Plainsman, when you see a 16 year old Chinese Girl swimming faster than some of the Men, you do start to wonder.
Around 62 million people live in the UK.
There are more Olympic sized swimming pools in Paris than in the whole of the UK, no wonder the French did so well in the swimming, seven medals four of them Gold up to now.
Ian.
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Post by Dark Cloud on Aug 10, 2012 8:58:07 GMT -5
Missy Franklin, 17, swims faster than some of the men. That means nada. China isn't North Korea or East Germany, and it's a bit much these days to depict them as slaves. They care about their image and have discovered press agents. Take China seriously as an increasingly competent nation and opening up.
Uday Hussein used to have Iraqi soccer players killed, apparently, if they didn't win. With drug money betting upon the Olympics, there are probably many far more in danger than Chinese athletes.
Why do the women have more exciting soccer teams than the men? They play as a team and enjoy winning as a team. That's missing in male competition a lot. Was actually sad to see Misty May and Kerri Walsh play their last volleyball game as a team. And bluntly, they probably could have beaten the men's team and most others. Also, they're neat people.
That Saudi girl who runs track at Pepperdine and performed for her country in their ridiculous clothing had my regard. She came in last, she knows that the Kingdom will consider ditching the Islamic nonsense when they watch the ratings in their nation. That's how you win revolutions and implant religious change. Good for her.
I like France and England doing so well, and frankly it was good to see the strutting Australians, who were supposed to win all the swimming events, meet Reality. They won't let that happen again, and it was a real wake up call.
Russia, between space foulups and their bad showing, is having a tough go of late but publicly facing up to it. That's always good to see.
Also? It's a cliche that you can tell when a social movement has legs when the good looking women participate. Bluntly, there are a LOT of good looking American (and everyone's) female athletes who are terrific role models for our increasingly morbidly obese, ill educated, and depressing young. I wonder what young black girls in flabby Mississippi see watching the adorable and super good Gabby Douglas burning up the mats and looking at themselves and neighbors? That's how change comes.
Most Olympic athletes are in college. Most HAVE to be pretty smart just to get that far. Even the female boxers and weight lifters look good, given everything. One of them was describing how she couldn't use pencils in school because she broke them without thinking, and unintentionally pulled her parents' house apart opening stuck doors. She was funny. This was no cartoon Ozark oink but a sharp young woman. And real.
And yet Snooky rules........
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Post by yantaylor on Aug 10, 2012 9:15:59 GMT -5
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Post by Dark Cloud on Aug 10, 2012 9:25:11 GMT -5
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Post by yantaylor on Aug 10, 2012 9:38:47 GMT -5
Well to be truthful DC, the Girl was tested for drugs and she was clean, so fair enough, she won, got the medals and the rest is fish and chip paper, I have no problem with the Chinese, I don’t think in all fairness they do en-slave there athletes, I was in fact referring to selection and training there athletes (Maybe I should have been more specific when replying to Plainsman’s post, I am sorry), I did not mention anything about China penalizes losing athletes, this girl must have been selected and given the best training China could offer, they must have seen her potential when she was young.
Ian.
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Post by gatewood on Aug 10, 2012 12:23:25 GMT -5
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Post by Dark Cloud on Aug 11, 2012 19:46:43 GMT -5
globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/10/chinas-great-olympic-debate/?hpt=hp_bn2Regarding China as above: The China Youth Daily also offered a profound critique of those who see an anti-China hand behind every silver medal: “At the Beijing Olympics, what tested the Chinese people was how to be a host. After the Beijing Olympics, at the London Olympics, what tests the Chinese people is how to be an audience with a gentle attitude and healthy mind. Sports is not war, the Western world is not the enemy, patriotism does not cover up one’s errors, and criticism is not treason.”That's pretty damned good. Could use some of that here abouts as well. That's a communist paper of the state, don't forget. A new sort of attitude to have. They're not democratic yet, but just reading the internet posts and translating them is really a blast. Lot of them totally clear on their guvmint and what sort of life they want. Also, that guy on the rings probably got screwed. He was incredible.
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Post by yantaylor on Aug 12, 2012 4:03:22 GMT -5
Thanks Gatewood, no we don’t have that show over here, but it may show up in some form later.
Regarding the Chinese, I was amazed at the way the Chinese divers all took a bow after they got out of the pool, very courteous.
Ian.
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Post by bc on Aug 14, 2012 0:25:48 GMT -5
We watched the Olympics most evenings. Really enjoyed them. Swimming was great and the track was so-so. Even thought the Men's basketball team might bite the bullet in their last game. It just seems to me that Coach K and assistants should be on the stand and get a medal as well. After all, with a team sport athletes are nothing but a rabble until the coach gets them organized and that group of rag tag three card monte specialists definitely needed some organization.
bc
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