The Olympic Games 2008 (sport topic)

Forostar said:
I'm an idealistic person but not this idealistic. International sport is the most innocent form of nationalism, especially olympic sports, so I disagree 200%.
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I can see both sides of the issue on the individual vs national glory topic.  I would agree with your statement here Foro.  This form of nationalism is innocent, which is why contests like Euro Cup and the World Cup hold more interest for me than seeing a Chelsea vs Arsenal match with top notch players all around.

EDIT: I realize this will puzzle a lot of people.  Part of my reasoning is that I do not catch most of the club level games, anyway.

Forostar said:
E.g. these Olympics are the first to feature 100 m and 200 m with Jamaican winners.
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That's because they decided not to emmigrate to Canada.  Seriously, both Ben Johnson and Donovan Bailey were born in Jamaica.
 
Perun said:
In what way do those people represent me?
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How does your UN embassador represnt Germany? Or the dude in the German embassy up in D.C? I don't fucking know, but somehow they do, and in that same very vague way athletes in international competition represent their country and by proxy the people in it. As pointed out by LC, I don't do well with sarcasm if that was the intent of your post, but frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.
 
Genghis Khan said:
That's because they decided not to emmigrate to Canada.  Seriously, both Ben Johnson and Donovan Bailey were born in Jamaica.
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I know, most top sprinters are originally from the Caribbean.
 
Onhell said:
How does your UN embassador represnt Germany? Or the dude in the German embassy up in D.C? I don't fucking know, but somehow they do, and in that same very vague way athletes in international competition represent their country and by proxy the people in it. As pointed out by LC, I don't do well with sarcasm if that was the intent of your post, but frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.
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No, I was quite serious about it. I don't have anything to do with these people. I don't know them. For the most part, I'm not interested in what they're doing. So I don't feel represented in any way by them.
 
The stronger your bond is with your own country, and the more you like sports (and that's more than only one or two), the more you like the Olympic Games and the competition between nations.
 
I like both the Olympics and the competition between nations, I just don't feel represented by any of them.
 
And Usain Bolt gets another gold med(t)al in the form of the 4x100 men's relay. It's nice to see Jamaica coming up with the gold it actually deserves, instead of having Jamaican runners running and winning for other countries.
 
Onhell said:
There should be stricter Nation-Hopping regulations.
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BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!  *deep breath*

AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!!

Teeheeheeheeheehee!

Fuck, that's too good coming from you!!
 
Hang on, one minute we're of the opinion that the country an athlete competes under is immaterial, then we are pleased for Jamaica to win medals of their own and athletes should not change countries. :huh:

Seriously though, if an athlete was born in Jamaica, for example, and moves to a different country at a very young age and whilst there, this athlete is trained, nurtured, etc. by their adopted country, had lots of time, money and effort spent on this individual, it's not unreasonable for that athlete to wear the vest of that country and not that of their birth. Two good examples of this would be previous gold medallists Linford Christie and Donovan Bailey for GB and Canada respectively. I'm not saying it was expected of them to run for GB or Canada, but they were the countries that helped them achieve this and, like I say, it's not unreasonable to run for those countries.

However, in the case of someone like Merlene Ottey, that should not have been allowed.
 
I agree with your assessment Albie. I mean the athletes that don't get into their nations team so they take a pay off from another country or moves to another country with lax citizenship laws just to compete. Now, I'm not saying they shouldn't be able to do that, but say an athelete does do that, s/he shouldn't be allowed to compete in these olympics, but until the next.. something like that.
 
Regardless of whether you like the U.S.A or care at all about volleyball, I would hope everyone can be pleased for the U.S. men's volleyball team, and particularly the coach, who went from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs over the course of two weeks.  Not sure if this was reported as widely abroad (though it should have been), but in case it wasn't, his father-in-law was stabbed and murdered while visiting a tourist site in Beijing; his mother-in-law was also a victim of the attack, and was in very serious condition for a while before being flown back to the U.S.  The coach took a leave of absence for the first few games of pool play, then returned to coach his team to an unexpected gold medal.  Amazing.  It must have been a little dusty at the Cornfed Hick's barn, as my eyes watered up a bit. 
 
Every time I turned on volleyball it was always the men's team in a spirited competition.  I was very impressed and really enjoyed watching the volleyball.  Hell of a games for them!

pps, who won in basketball?
 
Didn't the US women's team also win gold?

As to Albie and Onhell, I read about a girl that didn't make the US women's basket ball team, so she signed on for a European team (I don't remember which one) just to play.  That, I don't agree with.
 
I wish.... I saw the scrolling update on SportsCenter. What country was that anyway? S. Korea?
 
Somebody said Cuba, but I really don't know off the top of my head.  He had been arguing with an official, and when another came over, he kicked him in the face.  He was banned for life from the Olympics!
 
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