Beijing 2008

[Benjamin]

It's been a silvery day today!
Karen Cockburn won the silver in the women's trampoline event...
And the Canadian equestrian team won silver in the team event for the horsey stuff.
We're up to... nine medals now!
 
Benjamin

[Rainer Fenixhart]

Eh, Olympics this year had a rough start.  And I don't mean just the lack of medals.


The whole controversy over underage gymnasts, the two girls with the National anthem, the faked fireworks, and the Spanish Basketball team's photo.  It's like the athletes were a sideshow for the politics.

[Benjamin]

Just a short while ago, Simon Whitfield won the silver medal in the men's triathalon. It was quite the awesome race to witness. The German that won the gold there was apparently a surprise that probably wasn't factored into the approach that the Canadian team was taking into consideration.
 
Benjamin

[Benjamin]

Another Canadian medal update!
Jason Burnett has won silver in the men's trampoline event! Great job there!
And a silvery performance was made by Alexandre Despatie in the men's 3M springboard dive!
That's a few silvers today overall... Cool!
 
And another update to tuck in...
Priscilla Lopes-Schliep won a surprise bronze in the women's 100m hurdles! That's one that wasn't quite expected... though evidently a possibility. The favorite in the race had messed up on a hurdle and took herself out of the lead in the making of it.
 
The Olympics are so dramatic, it's like an opera of the sports world.
 
Benjamin

[Aaeden]

Heh. Wow. Furry olympics. I don't know enough athletic furries to make that feasible.

Regardless, our medal standings are as follows:

2 Gold
Women's 48kg Freestyle Wrestling - Carol Huynh
Men's Eight Rowing - Kevin Light, Ben Rutledge, Andrew Byrnes, Jake Wetzel, Malcolm Howard, Dominic Seiterle, Adam Kreek, Kyle Hamilton, Brian Price

6 Silver
Diving - Men's 3m Springboard - Alexandre Despatie
Equestrian Jumping Team - Jill Henselwood, Eric Lamaze, Ian Miller, Mac Cone
Women's Trampoline - Karen Cockburn
Rowing - Men's Pair - David Calder, Scott Frandsen
Men's Trampoline - Jason Burnett
Men's Triathlon - Simon Whitfield

5 Bronze
Women's 100m Hurdles - Priscilla Lopes-Schliep
Women's 55kg Freestyle Wrestling - Tonya Verbeek
Rowing - Women's Lightweight Double Sculls - Melanie Kok, Tracy Cameron
Rowing - Lightweight Men's Four - Iain Brambell, Jon Beare, Mike Lewis, Liam Parsons
Swimming - Men's 1500m Freestyle - Ryan Cochrane

Woo, Canada! So much for no medals this year.

[Ayres]

Personally I like to watch the olympics.  I might be alone on this one (well besides Ben apparently watching too) but there is nothing like knowing the pride that is just busting out of our represntitives.  I don't care if they get a metal or not.  They are there because they are the best our country has to offer.  If they don't take home a metal, oh well.  They did their best, they tried their hardest, and all that matters is that they were there.

[Riley]

Personally I like to watch the olympics.  I might be alone on this one (well besides Ben apparently watching too) but there is nothing like knowing the pride that is just busting out of our represntitives.  I don't care if they get a metal or not.  They are there because they are the best our country has to offer.  If they don't take home a metal, oh well.  They did their best, they tried their hardest, and all that matters is that they were there.

Agreed. We should be proud enough that we have people in the Olympics, if they do their best, what more can we ask for?

[Kesarra]

Here's some history for you: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/04/sports/olympics/20080804_MEDALCOUNT_MAP.html It's all the medal counts back to 1896. It seems Cuba is sneaking up on Canada.

[PyroVulpes]

A local radio station has been airing a short skit about the Olympics each day. Todays went something like this:

Todays Olympic highlight: Didja see that big muscle-bound guy... who did that thing... with the ball? Yeah... that was pretty cool...

Yesturdays went something like this:

Todays Olympic highlight: Didja watch that womens, running... thing? It was pretty awesome when they handed that... stuff... to them, near the end...

Yeah, they're all like that. Pretty much sums up my opinions of it all.

[Benjamin]

Well, here's a medal update for yas, at least...
 
In women's diving, off the 10m platform, Emilie Heymans claimed the silver.
And in the individual show-jumping equestrian event, Eric Lamaze took the gold! It's Canada's first medal in this specific event since 1976! Woot!
 
Benjamin

[ACGIFT]

It's like the athletes were a sideshow for the politics.

It kinda has been politicized from near the beginning. It's very obvious that China is being dishonest in many ways; chances are pretty close to 100% that, in fact, their "women's" gymnastics team does in fact break the rules. (the fact that they consistently reported a birthdate in 1993 for the past few years for three of their gymnasts, only to quickly switch what they claimed to 1992 less than a month ago) It's that China is trying to use this as a venue to attempt to demonstrate their "national superiority," as laughable as that may be for a backwards communist dictatorship. This was previously used by Germany in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and also for the case of the U.S.S.R. when they participated.

And speaking of politicization, there was a constant push to allow professional athletes into the Olympics after the U.S.S.R. started competing in 1952, for a very simple reason: in a show of hypocrisy, while professional athletes from the Western world were banned, State-trained and State-paid "amateur" athletes from communist countries were permitted, even though by effectively every sane observation, they were very much professionals, since in such countries EVERYONE worked for and was paid for by the state, and those athletes did not hold a real separate job.

So yes, the Olympics has, under the veil of being a peaceful show of human potential, has almost always had, behind that veil, political moves. It just happens to be that this particular year, China (and Russia, for that matter) are being louder than normal, and also being less tactful and more incompetent about it. Between police suppression of the people, forceful relocation of hundreds of thousands of citizens, blocking of free speech and Internet access, spying on and attempting to oppress the media from other countries... Personally, I feel that the Chinese Communist Party should never have been granted the ability to host the Olympics.

[Danuum]

we do alot better in the winter olympics... it just seems that all the summer events seem to go to countries with warmer climates. In the past few years, I really haven't paid much attention to the olympics. Unlike when I was in school, I thought they were cool...

The 06 olympics, I actually completely missed...

[Benjamin]

Another medal update!
 
Karine Sergerie took the silver in Taekwondo! Canada's best accomplishment in this sport's Olympic history! Good stuff!
Thomas Hall took the bronze in the C-1 1000m race... which is a canoe race, of course! Excellent work, bud!
 
Our total overall is now 17 medals, with possibly more to come soon!
 
Benjamin

[Benjamin]

Adam Van Koeverden won the Silver in the K-1 500m race today, at least. Kinda makes up for the disappointment he had in the 1000m race...
 
So that brings us to a total of 18 medals! Any more to come? Am a bit doubtful at this point now, but that depends upon the schedule overall...
 
Benjamin

[ACGIFT]

18 medals still isn't all that bad. Still way more than most countries got, and the average would be 11.8 medals... Perhaps 2010 will be a year for Canada to dominate the Games. Time to look toward the future, eh? 

[crazyfur]

Im a little late here!! I loved the Olympics!!  I could be a little bit biased though cos the GB diving team are mates of mine and its always a novelty to see your mates on TV!!! 
In the medals stakes i dont think we did too badly for a tiny island!! Bring on 2012!!!