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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/22/2008 11:35:04 PM
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ta_mosquito
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quote:
Please folks, these are the Olympic games. Note the emphasis. It's a great feeling when our individual countries win a medal, and a sad one when they don't but it is after all simply 'games'. Some folk have criticised athletes for not congratulating other competitors, maybe that is a bad thing. It's just as bad to criticise your own athletes and their trainers for losing.
Great words here that bear repeating.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/23/2008 5:33:55 AM
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Giulia
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quote:
The fact that the sponsoring country is a ruthless communist dictatorship.
How's it communist when there are so many capitalists there and there is such an obvious distinction between the rich and poor? I though communism was uniformity.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/23/2008 11:40:12 AM
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Rufas2000
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quote:
How's it communist when there are so many capitalists there and there is such an obvious distinction between the rich and poor? I though communism was uniformity.
True enough. China is technically a Communist country because they are run by the Communist party of China but the only things they have in common with most other Communist countries in history is their human rights "issues" (being gentle here).
Communism (which China is not) and dictatorship (which China is) are often considered the same thing even when they really aren't. I make that mistake sometimes.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/23/2008 3:36:24 PM
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babbred
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I read a story in the Wall Street Journal about how the cities of China are highly Westernized, but the rest of the country is not. The peasants in the countryside are highly resentful of the urbanites. The author said that those Chinese people you see on TV praising the games are for the most part middle-class people who can afford to travel to the city and watch them.
Whoo hoo!  They're doing a profile of Eric Lidell, the Christian track star who gave up a race in the 1924 Olympics because it was on a Sunday (you probably remember him from the movie Chariots of Fire). He became a missionary to China after the games and was rounded up into an internment camp by the invading Japanese during WWII. Sadly, he died just a few months before the camp was liberated by the Americans.  The narrator said something interesting: because Lidell's parents were also missionaries, he was technically the first gold medalist born in China.
I also like this story. After giving up the 100 m, Lidell ran the 400 m instead. He ran as fast as he could and people said he would burn out and not finish. After the race, he said "I ran the first 200 m as fast I could, and with God's help I ran the other 200 faster." Cool.
Last night they did a profile of the Shao-Lin Warriors, famous from the kung fu movies. A couple of years ago my husband and I got to see them in person. They came to our city as part of the Chinese State Circus, and they were even better than they were in the movies.
I saw on the news last night that they were going to talk about that Chinese gymnast who miraculousy skipped three years of her life. Unfortunately, I had to leave before they got to that story.  Did anybody see it? Any updates since the event occurred?
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/23/2008 5:39:17 PM
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agapetos
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quote:
I read a story in the Wall Street Journal about how the cities of China are highly Westernized, but the rest of the country is not. The peasants in the countryside are highly resentful of the urbanites. The author said that those Chinese people you see on TV praising the games are for the most part middle-class people who can afford to travel to the city and watch them. And there are many other countries around the world where the cities are westernised and the country not and those who live in the country resentful.
Equally there are many countries around the world where people who live in cities are resentful of those who live in the country.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/23/2008 7:49:32 PM
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Giulia
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I missed a lot lately because I had to work but this morning I watched this Aussie kid do the most beautiful dive. Matthew Mitcham got gold for that. I hope I get to see some of the gymnastics, I think it's on today.
Yes the Chinese have violated a lot of human rights and there was also talk that man made river is an environmental disaster. All in the name of power.
< Message edited by Giulia -- 8/23/2008 8:59:45 PM >
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/23/2008 8:04:04 PM
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zoebob
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I know I'm a page or two late but the swimmers do congratulate each other. I saw it many times: they do it while they are still in the pool. I saw them cross lanes and reach across the ropes to hug each other.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/23/2008 10:01:42 PM
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Miss Giggles
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Yeah withdrawal will kick in tomorrow!
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/23/2008 11:14:40 PM
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Ps103
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quote:
ORIGINAL: lexie
quote:
(I'm another one that prefers the winter games--I like the ice skating best of all. Yes, I am a sissy. )
Ahem...as a former competitive figure skater, I take offense to that. I have seen some pretty brutal figure skating accidents, and don't forget, we're the sport that brought you Tonya Harding!
About the relay - very few teams train together. The Canadian team just go together a few weeks before the Olympics to start training. And the Jamaican women's team, favoured to win because of their speed, dropped the baton. Most of the people on one relay team don't train in the same area of the country, so they don't get much time to get together.
I'm upset at the coverage of the men's relay final....Usain and Asafa were about to start dancing together, and the camera turned away!!! Hopefully someone caught it and I can see a replay later!
Please don't take offense, Lex--because I didn't mean it that way. What I meant was I like to watch events that look pretty, and it is hard to get prettier that figure skating.
The comment wasn't intended to be about the difficulty of skating--heck, I can't even stand up on skates, much less do all the other stuff 
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/24/2008 6:06:59 PM
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agapetos
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Myra Hindley Not the best advertisment in the world.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/24/2008 6:17:50 PM
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Miss Giggles
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Oh , I wouldn't have known when we watch it later. Interesting.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/24/2008 6:59:57 PM
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Giulia
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I missed the gymnastics but I did see the group work they did with ribbons. That was nice to watch. I think I liked all of the equally. The flexibility is beautiful to watch.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/25/2008 8:23:31 AM
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Giulia
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The Ethiopian man ran a good marathon. Wish I could remember his name.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/25/2008 12:45:30 PM
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stamper_ben
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quote:
I missed the gymnastics but I did see the group work they did with ribbons. That was nice to watch. I think I liked all of the equally. The flexibility is beautiful to watch.
Yes. But when DID dancing with a hula hoop and ribbons on a stick become an olympic sport? 
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/25/2008 6:16:32 PM
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Miss Giggles
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Olympic record pace.
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/25/2008 6:23:28 PM
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ta_mosquito
Posts: 11495
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From: from MN, now in Ontario :D
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Miss Giggles
Olympic record pace.
How do they determine that? I mean, it's not like all the marathon routes have the same grades (ups and downs), etc., do they?
I didn't think they kept records of things like the marathon cycling road race (and in the winter, skiing events) since the courses are different.
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Tricia
"There's a fine line between being open-minded and empty-headed." ~Michael Coren
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/25/2008 7:56:47 PM
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Miss Giggles
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I think they just go by the finishing time. So the fastest Olympic time before that was 2:09 at the 1984 Olympics and this race was finished in 2:06. 3 minutes is a huge amount of time for a marathon. They really don't curve the results based on the course but they'll compare previous times on the same course. And sports fanatics keep track of every statistic they can think of. LOL
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RE: Olympics 2008 - 8/25/2008 9:14:11 PM
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agapetos
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quote:
3 minutes is a huge amount of time for a marathon. Especially given the heat.
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