Author Topic: Olympics!  (Read 4961 times)

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Dictum Mortuum

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #20 on: August 18, 2008, 10:26:11 AM »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsDg5nS8qkM

:(
Is it possible that Phelps is not doped :-\ ?
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Bozwevial

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #21 on: August 18, 2008, 10:56:19 AM »
I'm not sure whether he is or not.

AfterCrescent

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #22 on: August 18, 2008, 04:58:42 PM »
I loved watching the little analysis before each of his races where it showed how out of proportion and freakish his body is.
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Tshern

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #23 on: August 18, 2008, 05:48:47 PM »
As a matter of fact it is highly likely that he isn't doped. I practiced swimming on a high national level four eight years before I stopped and still I am very interested about the sport, so I would like to make a little commentary on what Michael Phelps has achieved.

He's young. Damn young. Only 23 if I recall correctly and already now he has most gold medals in the olympic history. While I agree that there is no other sport that one could score such a high amount of medals in, that still doesn't pull down the value of his performance. After all, everyone can only compete in their own sport in their own time.

At least here in Finland some people have suggested that the amount of different swimming competitions would have to be brought down. Perhaps dropping to a single 100 metre race per style and then one or two relays. This is some serious bullshit right there. Since the birth of the modern olympic games only Phelps and Spitz have achieved seven or more gold medals and I bid good luck to anyone willing to find a person with five gold medals per olympic game. The fact is that in swimming, unlike in short distance running, we are so far away from the human maximum that the world record orgies we have witnessed was easy to anticipate.

I, just like pretty much all the others, have no idea how Phelps trains, but there must be something special in that. When it is combined with his exceptional physique and physiological properties (such as the outstandingly short recovery time) we have one remarkable swimmer. I spotted this even before he said it out loud, but now it's official: He has a technical flaw in his free stroke. His head is not in the position it should be, but he still wins every time! All this means is that the others have to crack the secret and hope they are born with the natural talents of Michael Phelps.

Heck, it took 80 years for someone to surpass the 9 olympic gold medals the Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi achieved in the 1920's! To everyone who thinks Phelps' gold medals have not been justified or his record is unbreakable, I give you this: Fuck off. In due time some other swimmer defeats him as no practicer of other sport can ever achieve what he did, but that doesn't take away any of his credibility.



Btw, am I the only one who almost cried when Liu Xiang wasn't able to run his race today?

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Smudgy

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #24 on: August 18, 2008, 06:05:36 PM »
I loved watching the little analysis before each of his races where it showed how out of proportion and freakish his body is.

How he has the body of a 6'8" person but the legs of a 6'0" person? That was cool to watch. Believe it or not, I have some relation to that. My arms are 4 inches longer than for my height (6'0"). I also have shorter legs and a longer torso. My friends call me Lanky Kong. Unfortunately, I can't swim for the life of me.

As for doping, I'm pretty sure it's beyond Phelps to have even considered it. He just doesn't strike me as someone who would. Beating Spitz by using drugs wouldn't give the swimmer the feeling of satisfaction, and his life would really just crumble if he won and everyone found he used steroids.

I'm with you on Liu Xiang Tshern. It really just plain sucks that things like these happen. They train so hard for this one moment, and then get cheated out of it just like that. It's just terrible to me, and most certainly more so to Xiang.

AndyJames

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #25 on: August 18, 2008, 06:26:43 PM »
I have to say that Phelps is just one of those guys when you are told you will be going up against, you just go: "I give up." He is a freaking machine. Butterfly is supposed to be his stroke, but he just tars the field in other strokes as well. That is just incredible. I'm a freestylist, built for speed but not endurance, and I know how bad a 50m dash can be when you are swimming competitively (let alone 200m). I have also done the butterfly before, and those things burn up so much energy, it's not funny. Lastly, I have done endurance trials before (15 laps of the pool; 5 freestyle, 5 breaststroke and 5 butterfly plus 2 minutes standing in water) as well. But when I see Phelps go again and again and again, I just go "how the hell does he do that???"

I don't think there is any other person in the entire sport that is so versatile as to be able to compete in all the events that he did, let alone win all of them.

Yeah, what happened to Liu Xiang sucked. What's worse was that it was a false start. Poor guy.

Tshern

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #26 on: August 18, 2008, 06:36:20 PM »
Liu Xiang was hurt before, so he would not have run anyway, false start or not.

About Phelps: He is a machine. I a butterfly specialist with free stroke as my secondary niche and I can tell he is too good to be stopped right now. Not sure if he has enough motivation for the next olympics though.

Interestingly, 100 metre butterfly has always been my specialty and I even used to be quite overwhelming at that when I competed seriously. Been swimming for long, Andy?

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AndyJames

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #27 on: August 18, 2008, 09:09:17 PM »
Liu Xiang was hurt before, so he would not have run anyway, false start or not.

About Phelps: He is a machine. I a butterfly specialist with free stroke as my secondary niche and I can tell he is too good to be stopped right now. Not sure if he has enough motivation for the next olympics though.

Interestingly, 100 metre butterfly has always been my specialty and I even used to be quite overwhelming at that when I competed seriously. Been swimming for long, Andy?
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Tshern

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #28 on: August 19, 2008, 08:27:56 AM »
Same here. I still swim whenever I have the chance, but competing is history.

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bhu

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #29 on: August 23, 2008, 09:06:02 PM »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Uw5SnQWqQ


Anyone else see the CUban Taekwondo guy head kick the ref?

Bozwevial

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #30 on: August 23, 2008, 09:12:42 PM »
Right around 0:24? Yeah.

You'd think someone disciplined enough to learn a martial art and be good enough at it to get to the Olympic Games would be disciplined enough to not kick someone in the face.

...That is, when not engaged in a fight or self-defense.

AndyJames

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #31 on: August 24, 2008, 04:24:39 AM »
Just because you are trained in martial arts doesn't confer self-control. I know way too many karate exponents who use their training to bully and/or harass. Also, when the adrenaline is pumping, things tend to look different. Plus that Cuban guy seemed to really have an attitude problem to begin with.

I would give props to his opponent who actually tried to help when he went down, pointing out the injury for the ref.

One thing I didn't get was why the poor coach got hit with the ban too. It was the fighter that kicked the ref in the head...

PhoenixInferno

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #32 on: August 24, 2008, 04:30:51 AM »
There was some incident on the sidelines apparently.  But the idea that a competitor would strike the ref catches way more headlines.

bhu

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #33 on: August 24, 2008, 05:13:57 AM »
The Russian Boxer biting his opponent was a classic wtf too.

Tshern

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Re: Olympics!
« Reply #34 on: August 24, 2008, 05:18:44 PM »
The Russian Boxer biting his opponent was a classic wtf too.
I liked Mike Tyson more.

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