Discuss the olympics in here.

We've got tickets for the evening session at the Olympic stadium on Tuesday 7 August.

Going to see:

Men's 400m: victory ceremony
Men's 800m: semi-finals
Men's 1500m: final
Men's High Jump: final
Men's Discus: final
Woman's 100m Hurdles: semi-finals, final
Woman's 200m: semi-finals
Woman's 3000m Steeplechase: victory ceremony
Woman's Long Jump: qualifying
Woman's Pole Vault: victory ceremony

Should be fantastic. Can't wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt__jKWoYH8

Official song

Oregon will be well represented at the Olympics this summer, a lot of Duck alumni will be competing in the track events. Ashton Eaton will be there, and given that he now holds the record for best-ever decathlon score, and given that the decathlon is the most all-inclusive sporting event from a physical perspective, he is the greatest athlete of all time.

Love the olympics. Still the biggest and the best sporting event on the planet. I don't care what you soccer losers say.

I'm tipping Australia to thrash China, the USA and Great Britain on the per capita medal tally (both gold medal tally and total medals). The only country that will beat us for sure are Jamaica.

we'll go ok, hopefully we will do well in the pool as usual, im mostly hoping that we win gold in the men's hockey (good side) and women's basketball, and sally pearson in the 100m women's hurdles, other than that i'm not sure how we will go, track and field i haven't been following much, and we always seem to win some medals in events we are expected to, looking forward to it again.
p.s i also want bolt to smash the 100m record and not jog the last 20m.

university of texas wide receiver marquise goodwin will be representing the united states in the long jump

\m/

i'm also excited for basketball.

Yeah well good luck trying to win the long jump with an American Football player. The helmet and the rest of the pads will be pretty limiting I think. We're sending a long jumper to do the long jump for us. Mitchell Watt...strong gold medal chance.

Speaking of basketball I just saw that the boomers beat Greece in a lead up series 3-0 ... third game 79-58. Maybe we can win 2 medals in basketball this year.

And I'm tipping the best olympics equestrian competition ever. The team dressage should be particularly exciting with old rivals Great Britain and Germany battling it out for favouritism. I think the Dutch might take it though. It's going to be so awesome!!

Will be interesting to see who who will win the medal table this year. China absolutely destroyed the USA in 2008 in their home olympics...will their dominance continue or will the USA regain their regular spot at the top?

And btw, despite what the American media try to do, the medal table is decided by gold medals, not total medals. If two countries are tied on gold you go to silver and if still tied you go to bronze. Last olympics several American news agencies were claiming victory despite winning 15 less events than China. Sorry...having more place getters does not win you the olympics. Silver and Bronze are nothing to sneeze at but they are worth way way less than golds. It's always been funny to me that America is the one country that goes against the grain on this...it seems wrong given the American psyche. Sure, if a country like Italy tried to do that it wouldn't be surprising, but since when did America count losers the same as winners? Obviously they just couldn't bear having a list that went 1. China 2. USA.

The question has to be asked. Are Americans sore losers?

yeah we must be the best. if we aren't we will change the criteria for what constitutes the best. but we don't use the metric system, so are you really surprised we have our own scales?

i think it should be aggregate point total of medals if gold=3, silver=2, and bronze=1, so you need 3 bronzes to make up for lacking a gold. if team A has 10 golds, 8 silvers, 5 bronzes, then they did better than team B who has 11 golds, 2 silvers, and 3 bronzes imo.

our football player is a national champion at the long jump, and since we are america, that is very significant. if he decides to shed his pads, you should be worried.

A point system would be an okay compromise but 3-2-1 doesn't give enough clout to winners. 5-2-1 would be better.

But really...if one country wins 5 gold medals and 0 silver or bronze and another country wins 2 golds and 15 silvers and 32 bronze, they've still won less events than the first country. I think that's ultimately more significant.

Re long jump:
Marquise Goodwin (USA) PB: 8.33 metres
Mitchell Watt (AUS) PB: 8.54 metres

Our national animal is a kangaroo after all...its no coincidence, we know how to long jump down here.

the country that won like 60 medals is more impressive than the one that won 5 golds.

if we go by national animals the eagle has a distinct advantage when it comes to airborne leaps.

i only really care about Michael Phelps and basketball. USA!!!

I don't think so...they didn't really win, they lost 60 times. It's like saying a football team that has come 2nd and 3rd for the past few years has won/achieved more than a team that won once, and came 4th the other years. At the end of the day silver and bronze are consolation prizes. It's kind of arbitrary that 2nd and 3rd get a medal. Why not 4th and 5th?



Touche! But it is a bit ridiculous...an eagle would never be allowed to compete at the olympics. China wouldn't allow it.

From what I've heard Phelps may get out Phelpsed this year by Ryan Lochte.

Still, he'll almost certainly win at least 2 or 3 more gold medals. His overall tally is already ridiculous (14...next best is 9).