Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

[bigmrg74]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

I don't think it would have. There were times I thought "there's the point" and then boom, NOPE. ALL THE NOPES. Brasil was insane tonight.

They were all over the court, like there was 3 or 4 of them.

[The Rube]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Not sure about the second set, but the US wins that first set comfortably without all the errors from KWJ.

I saw the last 4-5 points in the first set, all the second set. The score was not indicative of the play. US played well, but Brasil was on another planet.

[GrinCDXX]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

I saw the last 4-5 points in the first set, all the second set. The score was not indicative of the play. US played well, but Brasil was on another planet.

Ross played well.

[FreshFish]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

US Women's Basketball outscores Japan 54-18 in the second half to win 110-64. Game was within two at one point in the second half.

Not only does the USA have the best players, they also have the best coaching staff. They are masters at making half-time adjustments. The two plays Japan had run successfully in the first half were totally shut down in the second half.

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Ross played well.

And her partner played like crap.

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

I do wonder sometimes how many athletes that win gold actually know the National Anthem of the country they represent.

Then there is the opposite side of that -- If the entire Russian team was banned, some of their athletes could have competed under the Olympic flag with a special appeal. However, the one Russian female gymnast who was allowed to compete said she would never have competed under the Olympic flag. She said she either was going to compete under the Russian flag or not at all. You have to respect that.

[Scarlet]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

I saw a clip on Facebook where Usain Bolt was being interviewed and stopped the interview because the US anthem was being played. that's pretty cool of him.

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

I saw a clip on Facebook where Usain Bolt was being interviewed and stopped the interview because the US anthem was being played. that's pretty cool of him.

They reported that the other day when I was watching. He stops for that ceremony no matter who won and no matter what national anthem is playing. Very cool.

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Anyone know the back story behind the Kenyan running woman running for Bahrain? Did Bahrain buy a medal?

And here's your answer. These countries are indeed buying medals.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/201...-medal-n632566

http://deadspin.com/if-youre-a-small...pic-1785302021

[CLS]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

And here's your answer. These countries are indeed buying medals.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/201...-medal-n632566

http://deadspin.com/if-youre-a-small...pic-1785302021

Thanks, and to be honest, it doesn't bother me a lot … yet.

First, I can't be too critical of athletes, from say, Kenya, going to a place in which their training facilities are better, or their sport becomes their full-time job and they have a cushier life than they might have had in Kenya. And there are many shades of gray (at least 50) in this practice – for example, there is an African distance runner (name escapes me) who runs/ran as a US athlete. I believe that there are also foreign-born athletes who have gotten college scholarships and have remained in the US afterward and competed for the US.

Second, it's pretty obvious what they're doing, and nobody's fooled, even if they change their name to sound more like the country they run for. Doesn't mean I like it, and I'll cheer very hard for the “real Kenyan” against the “fake Bahraini” every time.

For individual events, the emphasis is on the individual anyway. Yeah, I know that Usain Bolt is from Jamaica, and I root for Americans, but I still think of them by their names, and secondarily where they're from.

Where I will draw the line will be when we start seeing medals won in team sports by the Bahrains of the world. There, the medal is awarded to a country, and the names of the individuals is pretty much unknown, except for some sports like basketball. Seems almost inevitable to me that this will start to happen. If Qatar highjacked an entire major event – the World Cup, surely they can assemble a field hockey team or handball team.

[RaceBoarder]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

This actually happened to American snowboarder Vic Wild in Sochi. He won Gold for Russia in Parallel Giant Slalom. It was just a case where Russia offered him some cash, but the key selling point was R&D and Training capabilities. USSA pays less than a penny for alpine snowboard racing in this country. Russia offered stuff on par with the top European programs. It was a no-brainer for him to make the jump.

[FreshFish]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

The last Summer Olympics, there was a huge controversy over an American woman basketball player, with absolutely no ties to Russia (except like one grandparent who had some sort of Russian ancestry) who was playing professionally in a Russian club league, got cut from the American national team, and then Russia offered her "citizenship" if she wanted to play for Russia. She took the offer. She got lambasted by other American players who knew her from their college playing days.

Ironically, she is now an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.....

[leswp1]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Can't say I have a problem going where the sponsorship is and that is what I think of it as. When we were kids the USSR sponsored athletes whose FT job was training and they pretended to have a real job. This isn't anything new, just in the open. Most of these people have a short span (like any pro athlete) before their product becomes obsolete. I don't begrudge them one bit.

And in other news JAGER!!!!!!! comes in 2nd in the Steeple. Monster run by him! Riveting to watch. Took the lead, lost it into the last lap but didn't lose the wheels on the bus and still beat the 3rd place Kenyan decisively. I was beside myself yelling on the last lap. Usually that is when the Kenyans casually blow on by. Well, this time one did but he destroyed the other one! w00000000t!!

[jericho]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Italy's really blowing up Iran in Volleyball.

[Slap Shot]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

I don't mind someone "buying" a medal as it's a misnomer anyway. Yeah their adopted country throws $$ one way or another (endorsements, training facilities, etc) at the athlete, but if they're good enough to medal period they were likely good enough for the team of their home country.