2012 Olympics (spoilers for tape-delayed events)

Post by **halplm** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:03 pm

Finally a fencing medal for the US! Go Women's Epee team with the bronze!

The US has had two 4th place finishes until now.

Post by **Elentári** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:04 pm

Jessica Ennis!!!

Post by **Elentári** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:50 pm

What a night for British athletics - 3 athletics Golds in 45 minutes!!!

Fantastic performances by Ennis, (heptathlon), Greg Rutherford, (long jump) and Mo Farah (10,000m)

Go Team GB!

Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:19 pm

I saw part of the 10000. Very impressive performance.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:25 pm

Farah's training partner Galen Rupp was not too shabby either.

It's the first U.S. medal in this event in 48 years.

They both train in Portland with Alberto Salazar, who sure looked like a happy man today.

Post by **vison** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:45 pm

That was a great race.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 11:32 pm

It was. Huge effort at the end. And it was great to see the Brit win in front of the home crowd!

Post by **nerdanel** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:14 am

Sigh: the flip side of Olympic overenthusiasm...as may have been obvious, even without my watching many of the races live, I was slightly distracted

by the swimming and gymnastics results over the past week ... and am now paying the price by spending the day at work today, where I still am at 9 PM on a Saturday. It feels good to be making up the work deficit from the past week, and I'm glad that both that the swimming events are over and that the Olympics happens only once every four years. That level of distraction and feverish excitement is not sustainable. I'm also glad that I'm not a fan of any ballgame or other sport that gets more attention more frequently ... how on earth do those fans concentrate? (Though, judging from the number of people around here who manage to "wake up with a fever/flu/etc that came out of nowhere" on SF Giants day game days, perhaps the answer is that they don't.)

Anyway, was incredibly happy for the US men and women who delivered two amazing relay performances in the pool today, winning both of the 4x100 medley relays. The women won in world record time, and the men missed the Olympic record by 0.01 seconds. The women's relay staffing is a testament to how unbelievably powerful our American team is: three of the four women on the team had both won an individual gold medal and set a world record during the past week in the stroke they swam during the relay (Dana Vollmer, Missy Franklin, Rebecca Soni) ... and the fourth had merely won an individual gold medal in Olympic record time (Allison Schmitt). All four women also had additional medals beyond their WR/OR swims.

I haven't seen the races, but I'm looking forward to them greatly, particularly the tribute to Michael Phelps paid by FINA and his fellow swimmers at the end of the evening. I said before that I wasn't fond of Michael Phelps, though I respected him; I suppose I'm a bit more fond than I'd realized. I'm having a hard time thinking of a career so utterly unrivaled being over ... of such painstakingly accumulated skill never being used again. And, to be honest, absolutely everything about Ryan Lochte over the past week caused me to appreciate Michael Phelps on an interpersonal level much more than I had before.

But I'm pinning my hopes going forward on Missy Franklin. It's early days yet, but she has the potential to rival and even beat Phelps' accomplishments. It would be amazing beyond belief if she proves herself his successor.

Post by **Griffon64** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:54 am

The 10000 was awesome. We saw most of it and were jumping up and down in front of the TV for the last bit.

I'm always astonished by the effort at the end - getting legs that just ran most of 10000 meters to pound the earth that much harder. Very impressive.

Post by **Elentári** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:08 am

I have to say how awesome it was last night at Ennis' medal ceremony, hearing practically the whole stadium singing our national anthem as one voice...

6 Golds yesterday brought our total to 14 Golds so far...amazing for our small nation!

The London Games really have had a phenomenal affect for us - bringing the nation together in a way we hardly dreamt possible. People are not just sitting at home and watching on their TVs, but actively going out to Hyde Park and the Olympic Park to join other families, and watch the action on large screens. Everyone wants to be able to savour the atmosphere, be a part of the experience: to be able to say "I was there!"

Post by **halplm** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:45 am

It was a great night for Britain. I have to say, that 10,000m race is the highlight of the games so far. Such a great race.

It also helped they showed it live on television! astonishing!

I'm awake at 3:45AM to watch the Williams sisters try to win gold. Lots of other stuff going on too!

Post by **halplm** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 12:05 pm

An update on that women's epee medal for the US, it's the first medal the US has ever won in Women's Epee.

The Men's foil team just made the semi's in a tough battle with the French team. It's a long shot for them to beat Italy, but they're in the medal round!

Post by **Elentári** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:58 pm

Congrats to the Williams sisters - triple Olympic doubles champions!

Now come on Andy!!!

And one last word on the Farah victory in the 10,000m - from impartial BBC guest expert commentators Colin Johnson, Denise Lewis and Michael Johnson...

http://youtu.be/dNWwkwzSLUE

Post by **halplm** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 3:36 pm

I don't even know what to say about the Women's Vault final. I feel like anyone should be happy with a silver medal... but if there was a lock for gold at these games it was McKayla Maroney in the Vault. I hope she's not too disappointed. It's been an odd olympics for USA gymnastics.

Post by **ToshoftheWuffingas** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:14 pm

I'll remark in passing that it takes a lot to make the Brits sing their national anthem without a metaphorical gun pointed at their heads.

Post by **halplm** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:16 pm

Andy Murray!

Post by **Elentári** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:17 pm

Another tie-break in Gymnastics - this time Britain losing a tie for Gold on the Men's Pommel - Hungarian Berki wins with a higher execution score, but a fantastic Silver and Bronze for Louis Smith and Max Whitlock, nonetheless!

And Andy Murray crushes Roger Federer in straight sets....

ETA: [plus he's still got the mixed doubles to come with Laura Robson!]

Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:44 pm

Bolt!

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:12 am

Post by **nerdanel** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:08 am

halplm wrote:I don't even know what to say about the Women's Vault final. I feel like anyone should be happy with a silver medal... but if there was a lock for gold at these games it was McKayla Maroney in the Vault. I hope she's not too disappointed. It's been an odd olympics for USA gymnastics.

Haven't seen it yet (in fact, your post was how I found out about it), but having just read the news article about it, it sounds like she just dropped the ball/had an off day. I'd be curious to see the second vault to understand how she even got credited for it; don't you usually score 0 if you sit down? In any event, unlike the unfairness that Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman experienced due to the rules, it sounds like this was McKayla's fault (and/or the fault of her injured foot.) Still, glad she was able to deliver for Team USA when it counted.

I can see why she would be so disappointed, though: due to her injury, she was taken off of two events in which she was going to compete, so her only contribution to the team gold was on vault. Proving that she could consistently hit on her one Olympic event would understandably be especially important to her. It's too bad; she was our best chance for an individual event medal.