Thread to discuss anything at all pertaining to The Games. News, live events, outstanding/amazing performances, TV broadcast schedules, warnings to potentially good matches/events, drug gossip, etc.
The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 8-24, 2008
Olympic Venue Distribution
Let The Games Begin!
PS-Those who wish to avoid spoilers due to delayed broadcasts and/or DVRs would do well opening another thread as this one is meant to comment on anything and everything that is happening at the time – although later input on any one event is always welcomed.
So far the online streaming is pretty good. All the soccer games are being streamed.
I’m dreading the email at work asking us to not stream during working hours!
Not a good start for the US Women’s soccer team. A win for China and a loss for the US.
What? The Olympics are this year? I wonder if they’ll televise any women’s gymnastics.
Yeah, we just got a no-streaming policy slapped on us last year 
Yay, you guys actually have people to cheer for that might do well!
Me… I’m stuck with hoping a top-ten finish for the mens handball team.
Wonder which country I’m gonna adopt this year… suitably small but still cool.
Any ideas?
Australia isn’t exactly small land wise but it only has, what, 20 million people and still pulled in 40 something medals last olympics? On a per-capita basis they dominate.
They’re the secondary country I cheer for (I also happen to have tons of Australian friends.
The UK has got a good crop of boxers going over there who I’ll be keeping an eye on.
And everyone loves shouting out, "“Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi. Oi. Oi!”. 
Hey, I love handball! I’m rooting for Iceland for the men and Sweden for the women.
I am already sick of Michael Phelps. SO he is going to win a lot of medals. Most athletes don’t compete in a sport where they can win multiple medals (boxing, wrestling, team sports, tennis, on and on), so to me it is meaningless.
A double not-good day for Sweden: Sweden lost to China, and the US lost while being coached by Pia Sundhage.
Yeah… that really sucks. Sweden really has to win those other two games now to go further.
One of the UK’s best medal hopes, lightweight boxer Frankie Gavin, has just got on a plane to come home for failing to make the weight. I guess it’s better than failing a drugs test, but that is really disappointing. He was the first UK gold medalist since forever at the world amateur championships last year, and is a beautifully skilled fighter.
He must be devastated right now, but him and his coaches should be embarrassed. Thinking about it, if he couldn’t train for the weight for the Olympic games, he probably was never going to win a medal anyway.
Here’s hoping Tani Ryoko wins her third gold. She has the prettiest uchi-mata I’ve ever seen on a woman.
Regards,
Shodan
I was watching a little mini-doc about him a couple of weeks ago, and he seemed a really promising contender for Gold. What a pity. Still, he’s young enough to be able to bounce back from this disappointment, and in the same way you can learn more about yourself from one defeat, than all your victories, there is still a lot to be gained from this experience.
A note to the curious–it’s not as sexy as he made it sound. 
I never have the presence of mind to look up specific events, but I do try to ingest as much Olympic coverage as I can, simply because it’s cool to see a lot of events that normally fly under the ESPN radar. Still, some of the more popular sports and favored atheletes get the trickly/teary/tinkly-piano treatment, so I’m not looking forward to that aspect…
I woke up today at 4 am for the US vs Japan soccer match. It was a good result, but I’m not thrilled with their performance. It’s going to take more to get a result against Holland.