2012 Olympics Hype Thread

[Faye Valentine]

HELL YES!!!!!! U.S. WOMEN'S TEAM FOR THE GOLD!!!!!!!!!

Way to avenge that World Cup loss!

Also was super-excited to Usain Bolt become the first guy ever to win gold for both the 100m and 200m in consecutive Olympics. He's truly the greatest sprinter in history.

Lastly, has anyone been following Claressa Shields, the 16-year-old girl who won gold in women's middleweight boxing?
Boxer Claressa Shields wins gold medal: 'It’s always dedicated to Flint' | Olympic Sports | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
Her family is very poor and comes one from one of the worst areas of Flint, MI, and her dad who inspired her to box couldn't make it to London because his criminal record prevented him from getting a passport. I wish I had been able to see her event, as a fellow Michigander and because her rise to fame through sheer talent and perseverance is so inspiring. I'm surprised she isn't getting more press outside of Michigan when hers is such a great human-interest story. (Plus, she's a teenager triumphing in a sport where older players usually excel.)

[Kouzan]

Well at least one US soccer team won gold! Congrats to the women's team for their win.

And props to Usain Bolt as well.

[GreatLiver]

I wish Bolt didn't come across as such a prick, because then I may be happier for him. Blake seems so much more modest, so I have to say I've been pulling more for him. A ton of the stories of the athletes on track have been phenomenal, which makes Bolt come across as an even more narcissistic. The story about David Rudisha being the first Maasai man to win gold was really great, and got me excited to spend a month in a Maasai village in Tanzania in October.

[Reece]

I wish Bolt didn't come across as such a prick, because then I may be happier for him. Blake seems so much more modest, so I have to say I've been pulling more for him. A ton of the stories of the athletes on track have been phenomenal, which makes Bolt come across as an even more narcissistic. The story about David Rudisha being the first Maasai man to win gold was really great, and got me excited to spend a month in a Maasai village in Tanzania in October.

I take it that you're watching it live now?

[Joshawott]

I read an article that said Bolt is quoted as calling himself a living legend. Well sure he's damn good, but show some modesty...

Also, this Olympics is ruining us financially. Stores around the country are reporting around 30-50% the usual business they do...and so many of them got extra staff and stock expecting a boom too >>. My older brother works in a HMV in London and on the day of the opening ceremony and the days after it, there were practically no customers to be seen.

[Water Max]

I read an article that said Bolt is quoted as calling himself a living legend. Well sure he's damn good, but show some modesty...

Before the Olympics started I saw some television interviews with Bolt who said that he was nervous and he thought he would only be a legend if he manages to win the same gold medal(s) as he did in the Beijing 2008 Olympics which he eventually did in the London 2012 Olympics but I agree that calling himself a legend wasn't very modest.

[Faye Valentine]

I don't know, I feel like someone who has accomplished as much as Bolt has has earned the right to brag a little.

Although I think his Twitter description is stretching it a bit:



In other news, this is making me all kinds of angry:
http://www.dailydot.com/news/pearl-harbor-tweets-united-states-japan-olympics/

CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS WITHOUT RACISTS TRYING TO RUIN THEM SERIOUSLY

[Therian]

Well there's 41 Gold medals left, and 2 interesting races. First the race for First Place, China led for ages, right from the start, there was a brief blip where the US took over, but then China regained momentum, now however, and for the last 2 days, USA has taken the lead again, and is now, 4 Golds ahead of China, so China need to win 5 Golds, or 4 Golds and a big boost to their silver count to take the lead back.

Then we have the race for 3rd, the UK after a very slow start managed to climb to the 3rd spot about halfway through and has stayed there ever since, with a fairly big lead, however, we were 3rd 2008 for a while before Russia overtook us. And Russia have been gaining rapidly, when I checked Yesterday, they were 12 behind us, now they are only 9 behind us, and they only need 9 as they beat us on Silver, so assuming the UK doesn't get anymore, which we aren't expecting actually unless someone outperforms expectations today or tomorrow, Russia just needs to win 9 out of the remaining 41 events to overtake us :(

[Faye Valentine]

Congratulations to the U.S. women's basketball team for their gold-medal finish against France today!

Hope that we can see the men's team reach the same heights (lol) tomorrow! (I mean, I'm sure they will since the U.S. men's basketball team is basically "the NBA all-star team" but if anyone has a chance of beating them this year, it's Spain...)

[Reece]

Congrats to Tom Daley for winning a bronze in the diving. I think hes done pretty well to get to this stage at only 18.

[Therian]

Congrats to Tom Daley for winning a bronze in the diving. I think hes done pretty well to get to this stage at only 18.

I was a bit disappointed for him actually. I really wanted him to get a Gold to make his Dad proud, alas it wasn't to be :( Hopefully he can do better and go all the way in 2016.


But saying that while I don't have anything against the guy personally, seems like a nice friendly lad, I really don't get all the BBC hype over him, until now he hadn't won anything and now he has reached Bronze, there are still 28 Gold medalists more deserving of media attention, but get a fraction of the spotlight.

[Shinobu]

But saying that while I don't have anything against the guy personally, seems like a nice friendly lad, I really don't get all the BBC hype over him, until now he hadn't won anything and now he has reached Bronze, there are still 28 Gold medalists more deserving of media attention, but get a fraction of the spotlight.

He was world champion in 2009. Even though he didn't medal in 2011 he was still a medal prospect.

[Faye Valentine]

As always, I'm so sad that the Olympics are ending today.

[Kouzan]

As always, I'm so sad that the Olympics are ending today.

Me too man. Well the good part is that I don't have to deal with NBC's crappy coverage anymore. An hour documentary on WWII with Tom Brokaw. It was completely unnecessary. They could of had and hour of sports. Good thing I went to the park to exercise and only caught the trail end of it. They better get it together in 2014 and 2016.

Now that I'm done complaining, I was really into handball this year. It's a freaking awesome sport!

So congrats to Spain for winning bronze, Montenegro for winning silver (the team I wanted to get gold) and Norway for winning gold in the women's finals.
Can't wait for the men's finals later today.

[Reece]

Yeah im not too sure why there is all the hype about him, maybe its because hes a national favourite? I dunno.. But the guys who won the gold in the kayaking only got about 5 minutes of attention from what i saw

Side: when do the paralympics start?