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  1.  

    Our TV has been set on the Olympics for the past caouple days all the time. I love them so much. :) Although I must say, I do prefer the Summer over the Winter.

    So what are your favorite sports? I really enjoy the figure skating, speed skating, and those snowboard race-things. (awesome!) Though it seems really unfair in the speed skating and snowboard racing; people that wreck ruin the chances of those around them by taking them out.

    And does anyone else really want to go to their local ski resort?

    So discuss with me.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeFeb 15th 2010
     

    I love watching Figure Skating and Speed Skating, not so much into Skiing

  2.  

    Eh, I just can’t get into the winter Olympics. As much as I hate obnoxious narrative propagation in the media, this one just doesn’t seem like it has the storylines the ’08 Olympics had, with Phelps and Bolt and the Chinese cheating and such.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeFeb 15th 2010
     

    I like the skating, it’s very pretty. I wish I was half as graceful on or off ice.

  3.  

    Well, I’d call that luger who died a pretty big storyline…

    That was really, really sad.

  4.  

    At the risk of sounding insensitive, it’s not really a storyline as much as it’s just a single sad, unexpected event, since he died and that’s about it.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeFeb 15th 2010
     

    True. Another storyline is the pair of chinese figure skaters. They’ve been together 18 years, this is their fourth Olympics, and they just now won their first gold medal. And they’re so, so sweet together. Seeing them skate, they’re so in sync with each other, it’s beautiful to see.

    •  
      CommentAuthorRed Sky
    • CommentTimeFeb 16th 2010
     

    And the story within the story about the Chinese pair is that in the first part of the competition, since it’s 2 parts, it was Valentine’s day and the married Chinese couple did ridiculously amazing to give them a good lead going into the second half

    •  
      CommentAuthorLeliel
    • CommentTimeFeb 16th 2010
     

    I have escaped Vancouver for now, because the city is a madhouse. :P I don’t go nuts for the Olympics, or any sports, but I am enjoying them from a safe distance.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeFeb 16th 2010
     

    I am amazed. One of the US male figure skaters, Evan Lysacek, is skating to The Firebird for his short program. The Firebird is my absolute favorite piece of classical music. And when I checked his Wikipedia page, I saw that almost ever. single. thing. he’s skated to in his career are my favorites. Rhapsody in Blue, Carmen, Grease, the Gipsy Kings… I can’t wait to see him skate tonight. Did I mention he’s 6’2 and ranked #2 in the world? I now have a favorite Olympian.

  5.  

    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     

    Figure skating. 83 Guess why.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010 edited
     

    Sex on skates? 8P

    •  
      CommentAuthorFaux
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     

    Evgeni Plushenko. The kind of egomaniac I find undeniable.

    Now if my friend would stop turning them off.

    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     

    Pfah. Screw Plushie, points at Evan Lysacek

    •  
      CommentAuthorFaux
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     

    Lysacek is lovely, yes; I’ll admit to that, but Evgeni Plushenko (because I copy/pasted his name and am too lazy to really veer off that) had the BEST interview. Seriously. <333 And he was gorgeous on the ice.

  6.  

    You’re all wrong. The best male figure skater is Oda, by virtue of being a direct descendant of Nobunaga. He was the best warlord.

  7.  

    ^^This

    But he got killed so Toyotomi Hideyoshi is another contender for the best warlord.

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     
    I was in Whistler about six years ago, just before they started prep for this. I prefer the Winter Olympics to the summer ones. Snowboarding cannot be trumped.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     

    I take it you just saw that ginger buddy?

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     
    Eh?
    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     

    The Flying Tomato!

    Totally awesome, but I was hoping he’d pull out his big McTwist 1260 or whatever it’s called. :D

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     
    I'm surprised every camera within two miles of him doesn't explode.
    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     

    That. Was. Awesome.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2010
     

    Aw, Shaun White. Can’t help but love him.

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeFeb 18th 2010
     
    All forty pounds of 'im.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeFeb 18th 2010
     

    Half of which is his hair. D:

  8.  

    I LOVE HIM. So much.

    And I actually have about his shade of hair color. Mine isn’t quite as. . . bright, though, if you know what I mean. His is a little more orange.

    But yeah. We are going to get married and repopulate the world with gingers.

    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 18th 2010
     

    You’re a ginger? oogle I have a ginger friend. They’re fun people.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeFeb 18th 2010 edited
     

    I’ve a good friend who’s a ginger- he’s flaming in more ways than one :D

    Anyway, on topic- more men’s figure skating tonight! Go Lysacek!

    Edit: I was just talking to one of my roommates about the figure skating. She doesn’t know their names, but she said that Crow and Angsty Russian should have a skate-off. She meant Lysacek and Plushenko xD

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2010
     

    LYSACEK WON! WOOOOOOOOOOO!

    WOOHOO!

    :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeFeb 19th 2010
     

    FUCK YES

  9.  

    A friend just posted this on my facebook, I assume he got it from /sp/:

    Hey Canadians,

    My name is Ryan Miller, and I stop shots from every single one of you. All of you are slow, retarded, no-lifes who spend every second of their ice time colliding into each other. You are everything bad in the world. Honestly, have any of you ever gotten a goal? I mean, I guess it’s fun making fun of Americans because of your own … See Moreinferiority complex, but you all take it to a whole new level. This is even worse than letting Kesler score on an empty net.

    Don’t be a stranger. Just hit me with your best puck. I’m pretty much perfect. I have a .930 save percentage, and was starter for the East in 2007. What do you do, other than “lose badly at your own sport in home soil? I also get shutouts, and have a banging hot glove (Just blocked Shea Weber’s slapshot; Shit was SO fast). You are all faggots who should just lose to Russia. Thanks for listening.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeFeb 22nd 2010
     

    that cuts deep. Ouch.

  10.  

    Well, y’all aren’t totally out of it yet I don’t think, so you’ve still got a chance to reply with a similarly edited copypasta before everything is said and done.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeFeb 22nd 2010
     

    I just have a bad feeling about our hockey team this year.

  11.  

    No wonder the rest of the world hates America.

  12.  

    ???

  13.  

    Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir kicked butt. Sweeeeetness. Hopefully this will drag my Canadic buddies out of their deep depression. I keep on resisting the urge to say: Don’t worry, you just need 14 more golds to catch up with the Americans!

  14.  

    @ Dan Locke: It was directed to sansafro’s post about Ryan Miller, unless I missed something important and I was interpreting stuff completely wrong in which case, never mind.

  15.  

    You were indeed misinterpreting it, and horribly so. It’s the “SO cash” meme, edited to be about hockey. Nobody ever said that stuff. Here’s the original:

    Hey Faggots,

    My name is John, and I hate every single one of you. All of you are fat, retarded, no-lifes who spend every second of their day looking at stupid ass pictures. You are everything bad in the world. Honestly, have any of you ever gotten any pussy? I mean, I guess it’s fun making fun of people because of your own insecurities, but you all take to a whole new level. This is even worse than jerking off to pictures on facebook.

    Don’t be a stranger. Just hit me with your best shot. I’m pretty much perfect. I was captain of the football team, and starter on my basketball team. What sports do you play, other than “jack off to naked drawn Japanese people”? I also get straight A’s, and have a banging hot girlfriend (She just blew me; Shit was SO cash). You are all faggots who should just kill yourselves. Thanks for listening.

    Pic Related: It’s me and my bitch.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2010
     

    o.O See, this is why I avoid 4chan.

  16.  

    Thanks, DL. I was too lazy to explain it, and let’s be honest, reading indignant reactions by the uninitiated is pretty funny.

  17.  

  18.  

    :3

    • CommentAuthorIsabel
    • CommentTimeFeb 27th 2010
     
    I know I'm coming in here a bit late.

    But I was SO FUCKING HAPPY that Lysacek won. Especially since he's from a town that's really close to mine. Plus, the Russian comes off as a huge douche and Lysacek seems so nice. Also, Johnny Weir makes me laugh because he's so ridiculously flamboyant. His interviews are adorable.

    Shaun White was amazing. I don't think there'll be anyone as good as him for a really long time. Especially after he did the double McTwist 1260 just for shits and giggles.

    I'm a bit upset that Yu-Na Kim won gold. Her performance was fantastic, but I liked Mao Asada better. Ah well.

    Also, Apolo Ohno is amazing. I was just watching the qualifying races and he practically jumped over these two other racers who wiped out and went. I'm sad he was disqualified from the medal race, but it wasn't too unexpected. Speed skating looks like so much fun, but I think I'd want to kill someone if I lost out on a medal because someone else wiped out and took me with them.
  19.  

    Evan Lycasek and Nastia Luiken are dating! Aww!

    That’s cute.

    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeFeb 27th 2010
     

    Evan Lycasek and Nastia Luiken are dating! Aww!

    ...they’re not, actually. :( Lysacek said in an interview recently that he hasn’t had time for dating while he’s training, and he’s single and lonely. I WILL DATE YOU HAPPILY AND BEAR YOUR BABIES, EVAN. UNF.

    But I was SO FUCKING HAPPY that Lysacek won. Especially since he’s from a town that’s really close to mine. Plus, the Russian comes off as a huge douche and Lysacek seems so nice. Also, Johnny Weir makes me laugh because he’s so ridiculously flamboyant. His interviews are adorable.

    ME TOO. SO. FUCKING. ECSTATIC. I shrieked and did a wild victory dance. I wish I were kidding about how excited I was, but I seriously let out a shriek like a train whistle and then proceeded to jump around flailing like a crazyperson. Fff.

    Plushie wasn’t even so bad the last Olympics. I liked him last time. This time I just want to punch his face in. Repeatedly.

    Lysacek deserved that medal so fucking hard.

    Heeheehee, yeees. It’s odd, last Olympics he was a douche, but this time I find him oddly endearing, especially with that ridiculous crown of roses he was wearing in the Kiss and Cry.

  20.  

    Hockey game starts in like 10 minutes !!

    USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2010
     

    Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

  21.  

    One shall stand, and one shall fall.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2010
     

    I hate you guys so much right now.

  22.  

    Problem, Pottle? :3

    •  
      CommentAuthorsansafro187
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2010 edited
     

    ....damn ._.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2010 edited
     

    AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE! OI! OI! OI!

    BOXIN’ ‘ROOS, REPRESENT!

    edit:

    LOLWHAT?

    Great Britain has snow for three-fourths of the year, and they only have one gold. Australia has snow for one one-hundredth of the year, in a tiny slice of mountain between Victoria and New South Wales, and we have two gold and one silver. POMS FAIL FOREVER.

    •  
      CommentAuthorpickaboo7
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2010
     
    the olympics keeps messing with my other shows i record but skating, skiing, and snow boarding are cool.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRed Sky
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2010
     

    Anyone but Crosby. Anyone.

    My friend is a Caps fan and has infected me with a love of Ovechkin and hate for Crosby

  23.  

    At least it’s only a Pyrrhic victory for him, since his first name is Sidney, and not even a gold medal can change that.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2010
     

    Not too shabby this year. Not too shabby at all.

  24.  

    Congrats to our Canadians, top number of golds. Well done indeed :)

    And good job on the hockey championships too, of course. But the good old USA did get the most total medals…

    I think this proves that North America kicks butt in general :D

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2010
     
    I'm hoping to be in Sochi in four years.
  25.  

    ...

    That would be awesome. Competing or watching?

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2010 edited
     

    Bleh, I didn’t watch very much of the Olympics. NBC’s schedule is useless, and I can’t watch video on their website because I’m running on Linux. D:<

    That would be awesome. Competing or watching?

    No offense, but I don’t think any of us here are Olympic hopefuls. xD

  26.  

    Hey, you never know, Puppet :P

    •  
      CommentAuthorLilan Jaku
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2010
     
    Sorry to be so blunt but from 5 guys I saw during the exhibition, Lysacek was the one who deserved the medal the least. He is unbelievably inferior to Pluschenko and Takahashi.At least Tessa and Scott won so I was happy:P
    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2010
     
    bq. That would be _awesome_. Competing or watching?

    Hah, watching. I don't have the ambition to compete. I'm hoping to expand on my four semesters of Russian so I don't have to operate on a helpless tourist level.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2010
     
    bq. Sorry to be so blunt but from 5 guys I saw during the exhibition, Lysacek was the one who deserved the medal the least. He is unbelievably inferior to Pluschenko and Takahashi.

    He may be inferior to them in experience and finesse or whatever, but when it came right down to it, Pluschenko and Takahashi both made pretty bad mistakes in the free skate and Lysachek was nearly flawless, so I'd say he deserved his medal fair and square.
  27.  

    The anti-Lysacek argument says that he essentially put on an extraordinarily vanilla, no-risk routine while all the guys who finished below him actually tried to push the envelope and do interesting, difficult moves. I have no idea if that’s truly the case or not, but if it’s as they say, I’d be inclined to side with the people who actually challenged themselves.

    Then again, I don’t really give a crap about figure skating, so whatever.

    •  
      CommentAuthorLilan Jaku
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2010
     
    I'm sorry but a guy who can't do a quad jump has no right to win an olympic medal especially when his opponents didn't fall. And I know of no serious mistake Takahashi or Plushenko did. But we who watch figure skating regularly are aware that it's more about politics than about actual performance. Unfortunately...That's why I love curling:D
    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2010
     

    No one did a quad jump perfectly during competition. Even Plushenko wobbled. Everyone else flat out fell, or wound up downgrading to a triple. Lysacek chose to not try a quad in competition because he broke his ankle, I believe, a while back and didn’t want to stress it. And it’s not as if he can’t do one, he’s perfectly capable of it. Eh, I guess it fundamentally comes down to whether you value the technical or artistic aspects more, really. (Although ironically enough Lysacek and Plushenko got the same artistic scores, but Lysacek got higher technical scores. The hell?)

    •  
      CommentAuthorLilan Jaku
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2010
     
    As far as I heard he can't do one. But I might have wrong info. Anyway, there is just no way on earth that Lysacek could be as good as Plushenko or Takahashi in those artistic aspects. The whole time during the exhibition his arms kept moving up and down, always in the same manner, like a pole hanging in the wind:S But that's of course just my opinion
    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2010 edited
     

    Lysacek had proper, decent transitions though. Between jumps all Plushenko did was creepily sashay and flirt with the crowd, which I found distasteful. All of Plushenko’s jumps were very wobbily landed, to the point that the commentators thought he should have fallen on a misjump, but he barely landed it. Lysacek has done quads before . Sometimes one has to know when to push it and when to play it safe. Lysacek had a stress fracture in his left foot as a result of his quad, so he decided not to do one at the Olympics.

    Anyhow, Lysacek’s higher technical score was probably due to the transitions. Plushenko doesn’t believe in transitions, which I believe ticks off the judges a tad. But I agree, it is not all about the jumps. You have to be able to do something between the jumps, because skating is not about jumps alone. So yeah.

    Anyway, Plushenko was being a sore loser. He jumped up on the gold medal podium during the medal ceremony, and awarded himself the Platinum Medal on his website. Twit.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2010
     

    I actually agree with the result: While Plushenko had some pretty impressive jumps, in between them he did nothing. it was just circle, jump, circle, jump, circle, jump… Lysacek’s routine was graceful, clear and enjoyable at any given moment, despite the lack of crowd-pleasing jumps. Actually, his routine played on the musical score really nicely, where Plushenko’s, min my opinion, really just seemed to be banking on those jumps.

    Not that I in any way mean to say that Plushenko is not a good skater —- he’s definitely one of the world’s best —- but in this particular case, Lysacek had a more graceful, better-planned routine, in my humble opinion.

    Or maybe my judgement is skewed because Lysacek looks a bit like Antonio Banderas. HUMINAHUMINA fans self

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2010
     

    He was like a cross between Antonio Banderas and Clark Kent. Hmmm. And Puschenko did look unsettlingly similar to Adrien Brody.

  28.  

    Lysacek is adorable. Plushenko doesn’t really look like Adrien Brody to me. But Plushenko’s hair scares me. It’s…creepy.

    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2010
     

    I didn’t watch the exhibition, so I can’t judge based on that, but during the competition itself, at least to me, it was Plushenko’s arms that were rhythmically flailing. shrugs

    Evan Lysacek is so sweet. Kicking him would be like kicking a sad puppy.

  29.  

    Evan Lysacek is going to be on Dancing With The Stars.

    I have never wanted to watch regularly scheduled programming so much :O

    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2010
     

    I KNOOOOOOOW.

    Starts 22 March. Airs on Mondays.

    April is going to be such a brilliantly awful month for TV. Dancing with the Stars, Glee, and Doctor Who, my studying is going to be so fucked.

    •  
      CommentAuthorLilan Jaku
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2010
     
    I'm probably the only person here that doesn't like Lysacek's looks:D not that Plushenko or Takahasi look better:D But if I was to point a gorgeous skater I would point at Scott Moir or Charlie White:P no Lysacek anywhere near the top:P
    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2010
     

    ...how can you resist? D:

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2010
     
    THERE'S THAT CURLY HAIR FETISH AGAIN.
  30.  

    ...

    Did I miss something?

    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2010
     

    THERE’S THAT CURLY HAIR FETISH AGAIN.

    I CAN’T SHAKE IT. NOT THAT I WANT TO.

    He looks so much better with his hair ungelled. <<

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2010
     
    Elanor has these weird magnets in her hands that make them jump straight into curly locks and never let go.
    •  
      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2010
     

    I can’t help it, they beckon so invitingly…

    <<
    >>

    pets

  31.  

    The five rings are united once more. Discuss.

    Let your nationalism run rampant.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeAug 3rd 2012
     

    I’m actually kind of annoyed by NBC’s ‘MERICA bias. 16 year old swimmer from China swims well? She’s obviously using drugs. And whenever Lochte (sic?) and Phelps are swimming they instantly discount every other athlete in the pool. In addition, there was that time where they cut to commercials right before Missy Franklin was about to compete for gold…

    “Tomorrow on Today, Missy Franklin talks about her gold medal win!”

    Yeah, I don’t like the way NBC is handling swimming.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSoupnazi
    • CommentTimeAug 3rd 2012
     

    They also decided to cut the opening ceremonies tribute to 7/7 and replace it with a pointless interview with Michael Phelps. Then there’s their racism with Gabby Douglas.

    (And yes, same Tumblr blog for both. Jasper is very helpful with compiling these things.)

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeAug 3rd 2012
     

    I’m not a huge fan of how NBC is handling the Olympics in general.

    Gabby Douglas and Missy Franklin are totally awesome, though.

    And what’s that sound, every other country on Earth? Is it the sound of Michael Phelps winning ALL THE MEDALS? I do believe it is! :P

  32.  

    Missy Franklin is still in high school? Holy shitbuckets.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012 edited
     

    Swenson: I believe it’s also the sound of Phelps’ retirement. OOOOH.

    I’m not really happy with the way Australia is behaving this year. One rower banned for drunken rioting, the Aussie field hockey team showing poor sportsmanship, and all of the coverage is highly biased, just in what’s actually being shown. Also, a lot of the Aussie Olympians are acting out with that typically American bravado, but without the drive and discipline to actually follow through. I mean, the U.S. competitors may strut a bit, but you have to admit when they say they’re going to do something, they usually follow through or try their hardest to. I just feel like this year to Aussies are all talk and no results.

    •  
      CommentAuthorNorthmark
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012 edited
     

    16 year old swimmer from China swims well? She’s obviously using drugs.

    I haven’t been watching most of the swimming live, so I can’t comment on how they did it then. The media I’ve seen, though, seems to have treated it pretty fairly. Both sides (she cut 5 seconds off her personal best, her world champion teammate was found cheating, she beat Lochte’s speed in 50 meters vs. various reports on the stringency of Olympic doping tests) have been presented equally. Unless we get a Marion Jones-style confession, we’ll probably never know for sure. Agreeing on the MURRIKA-bias though, could do with a little less Phelps/Lochte.

    Spoilered for barely being relevant:

    Watching Ledecky’s world record attempt was pretty intense. Luckily for her, she’s young enough (15) to try again a few more times.

  33.  

    Some of those SJWs (especially on the Tumblrs) are being hyper-dipshits about Douglas because she’s not wearing her hair “black” enough. I know there’s a lot of touchiness regarding black womens’ hair and how they should/shouldn’t wear it and white identification and all that shit, but come on, she’s a teenager and she just won gold, let her be. She doesn’t need to shoulder everyone else’s issues right now.

    WRT Chinese swimmer girl and doping allegations, I don’t think it’s evidence of pro-American bias, because Americans aren’t the only ones suspicious of her. The issue isn’t that she did well and beat Americans(because we lost a bunch of swimming races this year anyway), it’s that she beat Lochte’s time in the same stretch and he’s the male world record holder. Unless she’s some kind of superhuman, she physically shouldn’t be able to do that with a non-doped female body. There’s been previous incidents of doping in the Chinese swim program before, as well, so it’s really not much of a stretch to be suspicious of her. I’m not saying she should be stripped of her medals or anything based on that alone, but it does warrant further examination, and I don’t think it’s American bias to think that.

    Unless we get a Marion Jones-style confession, we’ll probably never know for sure.

    As I understand it, they keep blood samples of medal winners on ice for 8 years after their particular Olympics is over to test against new doping procedures as they find out about them. If she was in fact doping with some new trick, and they come up with a detector for it in that time frame, they should be able to find out. Who knows, though.

    I actually haven’t watched a whole lot of Olympics this year except for events shown during the day(which is mainly volleyball and water polo so far) because all the prime-time stuff has conflicted with baseball, and I’m not giving up the Rangers to see stuff that happened hours ago that I already know the results for.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012
     

    Re: Gabby Douglas

    Anyway, I’ll be honest, the person I’m rooting for most in the Olympics this year isn’t an American at all. It’s Oscar Pistorius, because that man is awesome. What’s that, swenson? You complain about running up a flight of stairs? Well, I’ll be over here with my double amputee self winning second place in the semifinals to qualify for the 400 meter sprint. Because I’m awesome like that.

    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012 edited
     

    I have to admit, I’d like the 71-year-old guy from Japan to win something in the dressage competition. When asked about whether he’d compete in Rio, he said he was concerned about the age . . . of his horse. :)

    •  
      CommentAuthorSoupnazi
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012 edited
     

    Were your comments directed at any particular source, Northmark? Because I’m pretty sure I disagree with you, but since I’m not well-versed on it I can’t tell what it is you’re disagreeing with in the first place.

    EDIT: Sorry, I meant on the subject of Gabby Douglas.

    •  
      CommentAuthorNorthmark
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012
     

    The spoilered part of my post was directed at the second link you posted. As a veteran of high school debate it’s my nature to do line-by-line deconstruction when I find things I disagree with, which I conceived of for the first link. In Internet arguments I tend to come off as incendiary and it was kind of off topic anyway, so I didn’t bother posting it. Short version: It uses statements taken out of context (would like to know where the “not all that amazing” one came from in particular), an unfortunate coincidence (I have a very hard time believing a news channel with an audience of millions would deliberately use a monkey as a racist symbol), and disregard for the storylines of the competition (Wieber getting tons of attention because of the circumstances of her elimination, among others) to claim that there’s some kind of concerted racist effort to undermine Gabby Douglas.

    It’s vaguely reminiscent to me of some social justice discussion on the standards of beauty. If men reinforce traditional beauty ideals and claim that they like blondes with a particular body shape, they’re being bad. If men talk about how they find women outside the traditional beauty ideals attractive, they’re saying that women’s self-worth should be entirely wrapped up in what men think of her. Both this and the Douglas thing take statements in good faith (“Not all men find overweight women attractive, but I do and so do others” vs. “A black gymnast has found success, which may inspire other black girls to be gymnasts”) and take logical leaps to make them sound harmful or prejudiced (“Overweight women should be proud of their body shape no matter what men think, how dare you take responsibility for their self-esteem” vs. “White Americans shouldn’t think that black people are an uneducated hivemind, and claiming that they might look up to her or support her is proof of fear of black solidarity”)

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      CommentAuthorSoupnazi
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012
     

    Hmm. Not being the writer of the second link, and not being particularly knowledgeable about it in the first place, I don’t think I can continue to discuss this, but thanks for clarifying.

    On the subject of the “standards of beauty” stuff, I think you’re missing the point. The issue is not with men expressing they find women outside of traditional attractiveness attractive, but that the way it’s done is often problematic; a man saying “I find X women attractive” is not an issue, but a man saying “I don’t understand why women aren’t like this/are like this” can be, because it is putting the emphasis on the man’s opinion.

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      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012 edited
     

    What’s the point of broadcasting the Olympic basketball game if the only thing you’re going to show is a montage of Australian baskets? That’s literally all it was, and yet the English score occasionally magically increased without any on-screen confirmation that the English team was even actually present.

    :( I don’t like patriotically-biased reporting. When the women’s 3m diving team are in 8th and 11th place respectively, why aren’t we allowed to see what was so much better about Wu’s first-place-earning dive? And it’s like that for pretty much every event.

    IF I WANTED TO SEE ONLY AUSTRALIAN ATHLETES, THERE ARE THREE AND A HALF OTHER YEARS IN WHICH TO DO SO.

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      CommentAuthorNorthmark
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2012
     

    The important thing is being able to differentiate between the types of comments. Some people group stating of preference in with eating habits criticism, and those are totally different. I agree with criticism against “Real women are like this”, because a) it implies that traditionally beautiful women are somehow “not real” and b) it’s still trying to decide what women should look like. To loop this back to the Olympics, it is possible to be healthy and active without being a size 2. But there is a difference between “I am attracted to slender women” and “Holley Mangold needs to stop eating so much”.