[Tournament] 2008 Olympic Games discussion thread

Originally Posted by Trigunnerz

Anyone know what the deal is with the new Speedo swimsuits? Everyone who used it beat their old record. Multiple times. Now the swimmers are trying to figure out if they want to drop their sponsors or win. That fine line of cheating is getting blurred.

I recall there was a very similar controversy during the 1988 Winter Olympics, held in Calgary. A breakthrough had been made in speed-skating technology; rather than use the curved "traditional" style of blade, developers tested a thinner, longer, straighter blade.



This breakthrough allowed for several records to be smashed during trials, with more expected to be broken during actual medal competition. There was a lot of uproar, as I remember, since some camps felt the blades made the sport reliant more upon technology and less upon human accomplishment.

In the end, however, the blades became universally accepted as the optimal choice for competition. Once they were accessible by all athletes, the "advantage" was gone and all mutterings of cheating ceased.

This is most likely what will happen with the Speedo suit. Unless the IOC intervenes to deem the suit unsportsmanlike (doubtful), then the rest of the sport will simply have to adapt to the new technology and embrace it as yet another tool. Innovations are made in sports science all the time. As long as the enhancements aren't biological, it's all good progress and keeps the sport dynamic.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Kimchi

I can say shit about my country if I want to. Am I blaming Canada? Fuck no, I love the nation. Its just the broadcast station that sucks balls. Not to mention our athletes are half baked thanks to crappy support from government.

I'm not Canadian, but I've lived 30 minutes from the border at Niagara Falls my entire life, so I feel I'm able to speak here.

I've seen the CBC coverage. I've seen the NBC coverage. I receive both and it's absolutely wonderful. I get to watch the sports from the perspectives of two countries. Hearing the Canadians cheer for their own is just as thrilling as rallying behind the athletes from my own country. You may not be seeing the most exciting events the Olympics have to offer but you are seeing the events in which your fellow countrymen and women are competing. Is that not enough for you? Do you forsake your own people just because something better might be on television?

Where the hell do you get off calling any of them half-baked anyhow? They've trained as best they can for this. It's all voluntary. They choose to represent Canada. They represent you. Your miserable, unappreciative ass, they're out there working themselves raw before dawn each day, training, studying and persevering for one of the last bastions of global community left in this world - and all you can do is mock them.

Fuck you.

It doesn't matter if their government is fully behind them. Do you think they lose sleep wondering if the prime minister of Canada respects their swim team? There are athletes from all over the planet whose governments cannot afford luxurious Olympic training programs. They get by and sometimes they even win. Those people are fucking heroes and should be carried on thrones for a year. I don't see you busting yourself to train as they do, for a chance - a chance mind you! It's not even a guarantee! - to compete. You just sit there and call your athletes half-assed wannabes, unable to appreciate the vast sacrifices each athlete has made just to experience the complete joy of having merely stood alongside the best athletes in the world.

You are a complete disgrace to your country.

Fuck you.

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I'd bet that most of his food needs are subsidized by some kind of federal Olympic program, or at least bankrolled by corporate sponsors. Paying his weekly grocery/restaurant bills is a bargain investment compared to the money earned by, for instance, having Phelps's face appear on a Wheaties box.

As for the quantity of calories Phelps consumes, most people who eat so much don't turn around and spend 42 hours swimming upwards of 3,000 laps per week. One can only imagine the number of doctors and therapists assigned to him; I'm certain they keep a close watch on his cholesterol, sodium, metabolic processes, etc. I sometimes wish I could pack away as much food as Phelps does each day. I could use the weight boost.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.