The Olympics 2012

mjo

Procrastinating
Contributor
As there are only 20 days to go, and the exceptional success of the bitching-about-the olympics thread, I thought I'd create this thread so we can talk about the actual olympics, ie the sport.

Certainly, the whole olympics hype has been an absolute disaster, from the horrendously ugly olympic stadium, to the logo, to the awful mascots, that disgusting red twisted thing in the olympic park and the organisers' obsession with diversity, sustainability, and engaging with the 'yoof' - (not all of us are graffiti-spraying, rap liking criminals with a U in our GCSE's, and I certainly find this incredibly patronising).

Despite the organisers doing their very best to ruin the olympics, it should be great from a sporting sense. From the numerous British medal hopes (including Athletics) to the hotly-anticipated mens' 100m final (can Bolt break 9.4 seconds or will he be beaten by Blake, Powell, Gay or even Gatlin?), the 200m should be even better.

One thing that has ruined the olympics though for me is the inclusion of drugs cheats like Dwain Chambers. For the vast majority of the time, these cheats knew what they were doing, and they knew the rules when they were doing it (although, of course, the rules have now changed so they can compete at the olympics). These 'atheletes' contravened the sporting spirit and conned their competitors.

So anyway, what sports will you enjoy the most (apart form the womens' beach volleyball, of course or men's if you are female)? Will Britain reach the lofty heights (in terms of medals) of Beijing, four years ago? Will the ceremonies be a success or an embarrassment? Will it ever stop raining? Will any world records be broken? Will anyone be watching? Does anyone care? Or will you be looking forward to the closing ceremony?
:)
 
I always look forward to the decathlon.

I've done all of the sports which make that event up and to watch those guys doing it is a reminder of just how ordinary I am.
First time I did the pole vault was an experience - it's a very unnatural sport, placing your body upside down and then propelling it over a bar using your arms.

I also enjoy the javelin, long jump, high jump and 100 metres, which I used to do for the Air Force many, many years ago.
 
I mainly enjoy the track and field events and will pay special attention to the discus throwing this year because my ex Math teacher is competing in it :) (Monique Jansen for anyone wondering). Which is pretty cool, right?! Right.
What I really enjoy are the running events though - all of them. I don't know why, but for some reason they're almost as exciting to me as an F1 race.
I enjoy watching the cycling events too, and the women's beach volleyball :whistle:
 
My favourites are the cycling (track), all track and field, the swimming and the diving - the 10m board is bloody high!
 
Cycling (track and BMX) and.... errrrr.... hang on a mo.... I like the cycling and.... hmmm

The cycling is good. I like all the pomp, too.

Ah! I've had to look at the sports list and there is more. Diving, I like diving. I also like Table Tennis, Canoe Slalom, MTB and Volleyball.

http://www.london2012.com/sports/
 
I've always been a big fan of the swimming events.

Summer Sanders was my girl way back in 92.

Phelps obviously took it to another level last year, and I'm glad I won't have to stay up until the middle of the night to see some of his races this year. Ryan Lochte will be giving him a good run for his money this year though.

On a side note, the NBC (official US broadcaster) affiliate in Orlando is in a big dispute with my cable provider and they're threatening to withhold some of the Olympic coverage if they can't come to an agreement soon. I'll actually be out of the state for the first week of the Olympiad anyway, so I'm not too worried about it.
 
Usain Bolt does hold the junior world record and it was said by someone who I forgot "Would still be the record when Jesus returns." If Bolt does break 9.4, It will be stunning but I think he should try breaking 9.5 first! If Bolt doesn't win though, I don't think we'll be getting a world record!
 
I think it will be some time before Bolt's 100m record is beaten.
He is fairly unique in the field of sprinting due to his height, which gives him a much larger stride length.

Even then, I don't see any human ever being able to run under 9 seconds without some sort of genetic modification or other enhancement.
Even 9.5 seconds will be a struggle.
 
Why haven't we seen taller sprinters before? I''m well over 6 foot and built like a runner but there's no way I could get anywhere near 12 seconds let alone the average sprinting pace.

Bolt must be the evolutionary step.
 
Michael Johnson thinks he knows the reason why he and Usain Bolt could dominate the sprinting events.

He said: ‘All my life I believed I became an athlete through my own determination, but it’s impossible to think that being descended from slaves hasn’t left an imprint through the generations.
‘Difficult as it was to hear, slavery has benefited descendants like me – I believe there is a superior athletic gene in us.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...laves-medals-sprint-finals.html#ixzz1zlOdi5sb
 
I''m well over 6 foot and built like a runner
Long distance or sprinter?

The two are very different as long distance runners are generally lean and have a lot of slow twitch muscle fibres, whereas sprinters are stocky/muscly and have a lot of fast twitch fibres.

Bolt falls into the latter category, as do almost all sprinters.
 
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