Athens 2004 Olympic Games

[LunaMuses]

yeah, there's been 9 weightlifters suspended for illegal substances. Plus there was the scuffle about the male swimmer (Japanese, Moritso? I *think*) accused of an illegal dolphin kick in one of the swims.



sadly, I think these things are bound to happen in any of the games...

"I was disappointed. I had thought I would have some revelation of specific evil. I wondered if all women did with other women was lie and hug."
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

[Sheridan]

Quote:

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``Judges can make mistakes. That's human,'' federation spokesman Phillipe Silacci said Friday. ``But it's like football. They cannot change the score once the game is over.''

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Well being British I'm glad no one told them that in the 3-Day Eventing.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[PeachyNectar]

I just watched the conclusion of what I have to say was to me the most emotional events of the Olympics thus far. For over 2 hours I watched 82 women battle heat, fatigue, and each other for 26 grueling miles. From the beginning of the race my heart was with Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain. I had watched the pre-show bio on her, and how Olympic glory has seemed to elude her in the past, and this years games were her time to shine. After running an absolutely brilliant race for 22 miles, this great champion... stopped and burst into tears. She tried to make herself continue... but seemed to have no energy left. As she wept... so did I. I did not cry because she had stopped, I cried because I was angry. I am angry because so much pressure is put on these athletes to be #1, that it is not enough to simply try your best. I am not British... I'm an American... and I am extremely proud of Paula Radcliffe. She is an Olympic champion in my eyes.



* Big kudos to Deena Kastor (US) for winning the bronze.

Cheers,

PN

______________



The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or touched - they

must be felt with the heart ~ Helen Keller

Edited by: PeachyNectar at: 8/22/04 11:54 am

[Kieli]

Quote:

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I did not cry because she had stopped, I cried because I was angry. I am angry because so much pressure is put on these athletes to be #1, that it is not enough to simply try your best. I am not British... I'm an American... and I am extremely proud of Paula Radcliffe. She is an Olympic champion in my eyes.



* Big kudos to Deena Kastor (US) for winning the bronze.

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Amen! I was in tears for both women...my partner and I were sitting on the couch, screaming our heads off in support of Paula. We kept saying "Go Paula, you're better than most of the men and women that they've got out there and you've proved it. Win this for yourself!" We both felt tears of anguish for her as she just collapsed. I applaud her courage and strength and damned if I didn't root like hell when Deena charged into the stadium. The poor japanese girl heaved her guts up at the finish. Sucks that people push themselves too damned hard like that.

Time flies by when the Devil drives.
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.

[xita]

The whole marathon thing got to me. The lead up, Jim Lampley talking about interviewing Joan benoit after she won the first one. Then watching the thing, poor Paula that was hard to watch. And then Kastor coming in third, crying the entire last lap. It's amazing, great respect.

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"Trust is a risk masquerading as a promise."

[mollyig]

We watched the marathon yesterday. I felt so bad for Radcliffe. The amount of pressure she was under as favourite, plus the heat, made it a rather large burden. Fair play to the Japanese girl, her tactic of going when she did, when no one else wanted to follow her on the incline, worked well.



Ireland have had, so far, yet another unlucky Olympics. The amount of times that our athletes finish just one place under qualification! Of course if our Government put any money at all into supporting our athletes we'd do an awful lot better.



Glad Mauresmo got a medal of some description. Oh, and I was pleased Justin Gatlin won the 100m - what a race that was!

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Sheacht mh'anam déag do bhéal, do mhalaí's do ghrua

[oneyedchicklet]

Team USA Softball just won their third consecutive Olympic gold medal. They've outscored their opponents 51-1 throughout the competition. Australia scored the only run against them today. Crystal Bustos hammered 2 homeruns for Team USA. Lisa Fernandez was awesome as always.



Love to All,

Barb

Now serving Bitter, party of one. Your table is ready.

[xita]

Yes, the USA women's softball team was amazing. They were really something else, really made me love the sport.



And yes! Finally USA women's soccer beats Germany. I almost thought they had lost it for a sec but they deserved it. They really controlled the ball against Germany in a way I haven't seen in a long time from them. Germany is usually so dominant, but the US shut them down! US really played their best when it counted. I hope they're not too tired for the gold medal match.

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"Trust is a risk masquerading as a promise."

[Pudds]

YEEAAHH....Kelly Holmes has finally got that Gold Medal she's worked so hard for over the years. And what an exciting race the 800m proved to be...I shouted myself hoarse...Only our 7th women's track and field gold ever...FANTASTIC!!

[Magrat70]

Well done Kelly. One of my favourite sports stars for years and after all the strife and injuries she has had; she deserves it. Added to the fact that she is such a nice women only adds to it.



Poor Paula my heart was breaking for her yesterday and when she was interviewed by Steve Cram today and broke into tears I had a lump in my throat. I'm not sure what her decison will be on the 10,000 but I hope she uses her head and not her heart in the decision.

Freddie is king

[Insanity]

Congrats to the US-Girls making it to the finals.

They really deserved the victory, they were the better (much better) team today.



Go for Gold now Girls!!!!



Insanity

German Fanfiction

It's always sudden! Tara; the body

[mollyig]

We watched anxiously while Kelly Holmes ran in the 800. She had great commitment to go past Mutola. Fair play to her, she thoroughly deserved the gold!

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Sheacht mh'anam déag do bhéal, do mhalaí's do ghrua

[thx1123]

Watching the High Bar gymnatics competition last night I have to say.I can't think of his name but the Russian competetitor who got screwed by the two judges has class.



When Paul Hamm was up for his routine the crowd was still upset at the BS scoes the russian had been given it was impossible to concentrate over the racket.The russian,who is a champion in my book as well as a class act,got up and thanked the crowd for their support as well as asking them to quiet down so Paul could do his routine.



Also the silver medalist in the shot put is a class act.He was expected to win god but was lucky to get silver.The commentator tried to blme on the brand new throwing service,but he said the only person I have to blame is me.



I bawled like a baby seeing our marathoner crying during her final lap.



I don't think he would trade that bronze for a hundred gold medals.



Tabby

[xita]

I know they're stuck in having scores that equal 10 but I think the way diving rewards difficulty is way much more fair. They get a score but it still has to be multiplied by the difficulty score. I think this way difficulty is rewarded. The way they are doing things now the difficulty is barely rewarded, a higher starting score barely makes up for the big deductions they make.

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"Trust is a risk masquerading as a promise."

[Magrat70]

Amir Khan was totally awsome, first KO of the comp and he is now the youngest British boxing medalist ever and I am keeping my fingers crossed for the gold.



Kelly Holmes looked supreme in the 1500; is it too much to hope that she'll end with another medal around her neck?

Freddie is king

[Warduke]

Congrats to Misty May and Kerri Walsh for winning the gold medal in women’s beach volleyball. An impressive win, and they certainly deserved it.



And congrats to Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs for their bronze medal win. They faced off against Australians Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson. In the second set, near the end, Cook aggravated her right shoulder (that was already injured) and was barely able to play. Yet, unbelievably, the Aussies found a way to win the second set. It was a very inspirational performance by Cook. She was obviously in a lot of pain but still fought till the very end. Congratulations to Cook and her partner for putting up a very decent fight in a seemingly impossible situation.

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Firefox: One Browser To Rule Them All.

[maudmac]

I'm still in love with the US women's softball team. A lot. The real Dream Team made the cover of Sports Illustrated.



I keep hearing talk about softball getting dropped from the Olympics. Bleh. Better not happen. That's all I'm sayin'.



Also excited about the LFPA. I hope that meets with success. It's a shame that pro women's sports is such a hard sell to some people, but maybe the Olympics exposure will help. Myself, I'm not even a sports fan at all but I'd definitely support professional women's softball. And that's all because of this Olympics.



I've been seeing Paul Hamm on TV a lot lately defending his gold and...it's just not sitting right with me. I can see both sides of the issue and they both have merit, but when he talks, he says things like, (paraphrasing here) "We don't have video review in our sport, for good reason, but if you review the performance, you see that he made this error that should have cost him whatever many points." And he can talk about how in his heart he truly feels blah blah, there are a whole lot of people who wouldn't agree with that. It's an impossible position to be in, and it's going to haunt him forever. Which is really unfortunate, since he had absolutely nothing to do with what happened.



I have two Olympics boyfriends now - Brett McClure and Justin Gatlin. They're adorable!



My Olympics girlfriends are too many to even list, but I must link to some more women's beach volleyball gems:



story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040822/ids_photos_sp/r1453951863.jpg&e=1&ncid=1756



story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040824/483/olyvbb11808241914&e=4&ncid=1756



Lord have mercy.

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i wasn't sniffing your spicy brains

[Triscuit7]

Lord have mercy indeed, Holley. Walsh and May. Enough said.



Ciao, Melissa

******************



Do something totally irrational and let the enemy think himself to death. (Pyanfar Chanur)

Edited by: Triscuit7 at: 8/24/04 7:31 pm

[na71684]

Who do you think is going to win the Gold medal is soccer.

USA or Brazil. My money is on USA but Brazil has some kick ass talent. I dont know if USA can live up to all the hype and speculation that they're the best team in the world

[xita]

I disagree with you, I don't think USA women's soccer is thought of as the best in the world right now. I and everyone else expected them to lose to Germany. I think it's going to be a good game but seeing as USA already beat Brazil these olympics, I am going with USA.



Holley, Justin Gatlin is MY boyfriend! Before the race, I saw him talking and he was just so cute



And yes, I am so getting that SI! Go Softball!!!



P.S. Reviewing the Korean's routine on video sits wrong with me. The problem is not instant replay, the problem was not giving it the right difficulty to begin with. Of course you'll find fault if you slow mo a performance. If you reviewed the video of all of Paul's performance I am pretty sure you'd find deductions they did not take. That really isn't the issue.



Forgot to say yay EY and Holly! Bronze rocks, they were so happy.

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"Trust is a risk masquerading as a promise."

Edited by: xita  at: 8/25/04 2:18 am

[Ritz]

Hands! Hands in new places!



edit: gah! they changed the photo link..fixed now

Edited by: Ritz at: 8/25/04 4:06 pm

[Gatito Grande]

OMIGODDESSES!



I'm not much of an Olympics viewer, but I just caught this (Walsh & May's Gold Medal Celebration) on CNN. (Shoulda known it would already have been duly noted here!)



GG The CNN anchors were making "From Here to Eternity" comparisons Out

[Puff]

LOL my partner and I watched that too. I might be watching more beach volleyball in the future May and Walsh were really sweet in the medal ceremony later as well.

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It's a moo point. It's like a cow's opinion. It's moo.
Words of wisdom from 'Friends'

[Kieli]

Oh my! Ok, I need a hose and a like to that footage....right now would be a good time I tell ya, they show more skin at the Olympics than they show on Spike TV.....I don't think my middle-aged heart can take much more of this....Hear that Elizabeth! I'm comin' ta join ya!

Time flies by when the Devil drives.
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.

[sheila wt]

Gallery



That's a nice view to start the day...

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"She had tasted Willow on her tongue, and she had worn Willow on her skin. There wasn't a shower in the world that could have washed that away." (Terra Firma, by Tulipp)

[Kieli]

Erm, I got an error message for that link

Time flies by when the Devil drives.
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.

[PeachyNectar]

Hats off to the US women's soccer team for winning their second gold medal!!! The match was incredible... even going into overtime. I'm still trying to catch my breath... . Brazil played with much heart throughout; never giving up to the very end. I applaud their efforts...



What a great way for Hamm and Foudy to end their Olympic careers.

Cheers,

PN

______________



The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or touched - they

must be felt with the heart ~ Helen Keller

[urnofosiris]

What an amazingly disgraceful display of unsportsmanlike behavior of (most of) the audience during the 200m for men. I am surprised at what happened. That had nothing to do with what the Olympic Games are about. Bleh, I am happy those 3 Americans did not allow it to rattle their cage and proceeded to win all 3 medals.

[4WiccanLuv]

U.S.A. 2 - BRAZIL 1





Hamm, Fawcett, Lily, Foudy & Chastain go out with a bang and Olympic Gold! The win wasn't pretty and they didn't look their strongest, but they had just enough to get the job done. These pioneers have done so much for the sport and without them, we wouldn't have the newest crop of exceptionally talented players. It seems the torch has been passed to the likes of Wambach, Tarpley and O'Reilly, to name a few. Yup, the future looks bright for US Women's Soccer.



Kudos to Brazil for Silver! They fought hard and out hustled the US, but sometimes "experience" overcomes youth and speed. Of course, a little luck helps too! Thank you "posts"!

"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others." - Groucho Marx

[Spikeizmine87]

USA USA USA!!







Ok im not one for lots of the olympic sports...mainly I just watch like gymnastics...but soccer has always been interesting to me now thanks to a certain art teacher...ahem...but im very happy for the USA team!! They deserve it!! hoo and a woo for them!

-rose

I didnt know what being happy was till i found you, i didnt know what love meant till i loved you.