Olympic Games

Capt.Rutlinger · Post by **Capt.Rutlinger** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:21 pm

I've been watching some bits, I usually read the results in the newspaper

BTW Michael Phelps is really good. I think the usa has won most medals but china has won most gold medals.

http://www.athens2004.com

here the official site.
If you want to know more about the sports, go to sports in the nav bar
(don't forget to check out fieldhockey!)

Post by **Wolfyu** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:53 pm

Thanks for that link, Captain! I'll be sure to check it out.

The rumor I heard was that China had won the most medals and the most gold. *shrug* I'll go to the site and see if the rumors are confirmed there...

EDIT: You were right, Captain. China has the most gold (11) and USA has the most medals (29). So the top five right now are China, USA, Japan, Austrailia, and Ukraine.

Post by **Jay** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:32 pm

The official site lists a number of 9 year olds participating.

Capt.Rutlinger · Post by **Capt.Rutlinger** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 1:57 am

probably in gymnastics or diving

Post by **Jay** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 4:32 am

If you are referring to my post, the entry form for gymnastics says that the participant must be 15 or older sometime this year. (And for some gymnastics events, it must be even older.) The entry form for diving says that the participant must be 14 or older sometime this year. At one time, coxswains in rowing could be any age. I don't see any mention of age requirements for them on the rowing entry form. But I'm not referring to that sport either. As a further hint, the 1995 edition of The Guinness Book of Records lists the youngest American participant was a female diver in 1928 who was only 13 years old. However, The Guinness Book of Records is not correct. There have been a number of 9 year olds participating in various Olympics from the USA, with a couple more this year. In the sport I'm referring to, the entry form for the participants says that they have to be at least 8 sometime this year. Another hint... They had to have special passports to travel to Greece.

Post by **jwa1107** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 8:22 am

are you referring to the horses in the equestrian events?

i hope Wally saw the opening ceremonies - it had a lot of mythology references in it. I loved the way they did the centaur!

Capt.Rutlinger · Post by **Capt.Rutlinger** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:56 pm

yeah I liked that to, was pretty cool

Post by **Niebi** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 1:54 pm

wow...I think the fever has caught me ! I'm watching the games the whole day...

@ Jay: Yeah, Germany isn't doing bad...but worse than expected. Especially the female swimmers were hyped before the games started, but the results weren't that good...

Post by **Jay** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 9:32 pm

Yes, I was referring to the horses when I talked about the 9 year old participants. Their passports do not include photos. Instead, their passports contain diagrams showing their markings. The horses also receive medals in addition to the medals given to their riders. I think that is so coooool. It shows that humans can care about other species. (Okay, only one other. But that's a start.) Not too long ago, the Olympic organization was talking about removing the equestrian events to make room for other new sports. I'm so glad they didn't (at least, not yet).

As for the hype in Germany, there is way too much hype in the USA as well. And it's not the participants, it's the sports announcers. The sports announcers here also seem to try to start controversies. I wish they would just stick to the facts and celebrate the contests as a whole.

Post by **cosmichedgehog** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:43 pm

Jay wrote: ... The sports announcers here also seem to try to start controversies. ...

why should they be different than anyother type of reporter here.

The opening ceremonies: yeah, that cenataur part was pretty cool.... and the Eros part... that was pretty tripadelic... but I liked it and it was pretty well done.

They talked about , in the parade of countries in the opening ceremonies, countries that were sending their first women athletes and how because of the full cover suits in swimming that women from countries were getting to compete for the first time. I would like to have heard more about that. I'm more interested in the human side of the games and not the medal count. I'd prefer that the best competitor win in a fair contest, regardless of country.

Capt.Rutlinger · Post by **Capt.Rutlinger** » Fri Aug 20, 2004 3:14 am

I think today the atletics start.

and I have also some sad animal news from the olympic games. Captain Bandolero over and over ( a horse of a belgian eventing participant) had to be put down. His injuries after the horse fell in the eventing were just to severe, they tried to operate him but then they decided it was better for the horse not to suffer.
I think he hit one of the bars with his back legs (as you know in eventing the bars are cannot move) so he fell and broke some things.

Post by **Jay** » Fri Aug 20, 2004 4:14 am

That is terrible news about Over and Over.

And, no, I did not know that about eventing. I thought everything was breakaway, even in the cross country. Of course, even if everything was breakaway, there are still risks. I hope something can be learned from this.

As for athletics, yes they have started.

Capt.Rutlinger · Post by **Capt.Rutlinger** » Fri Aug 20, 2004 5:47 am

well eventing they have to do 3 different disciplins: dressage; cross country ( fixed obstacles like hedges walls... ; and then jumping

So it was in the cross country the horse fell

Capt.Rutlinger · Post by **Capt.Rutlinger** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:26 am

Anyway, They are over now. Seems like the USA did some good things although they should have won the 4x100 meters and the basketball tournament.

1 USA United States 35 39 29 103
2 CHN China 32 17 14 63
3 RUS Russia 27 27 38 92
4 AUS Australia 17 16 16 49
5 JPN Japan 16 9 12 37
6 GER Germany 14 16 18 48
7 FRA France 11 9 13 33
8 ITA Italy 10 11 11 32
9 KOR Korea 9 12 9 30
10 GBR Great Britain 9 9 12 30

( first number is total amount of gold medals, second is total amount of silver medals, third is total amount of bronze medals, fourth is total amount of medals)

Post by **Jay** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 4:52 am

Yes, the USA should have done better in some events. However, they also did well in some events where they have never done well (like in fencing). So they got more medals than in Sydney and even Atlanta.

To me, the more interesting stats for the medals: Out of the 202 countries that participated, 75 won at least 1 medal. That is better than 1 out of every 3 countries. Also, 57 won at least 1 gold, which is better than 1 out ot every 4 countries. I think that shows there is talent all over this world. I hope even more countries win medals and golds in the next Olympics!