[QUOTE=suranyi]
That’s your opinion. I love the Olympics. I’ve been watching them regularly since 1972. I have a collection of books on the history of the Olympics.
Edited to add: I’ve been lucky enough to actually be living in two different cities when they each hosted the games, and got to attend many events. I was in Monteal in 1976, and in Los Angeles in 1984. Both were unforgettable.
[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
I keep hearing about how the runners and outdoor events athletes are worried that they won’t be able to breathe the polluted air. The Olympic champion in the 10,000, Haile Gebrselassie, won’t run in the marathon because the air is too fucked up and might drop out of the 10,000 too. They are all excited when they can see blue sky. I realize that only the endurance athletes are going to be seriously affected, but why the fuck would they choose to have the Olympics in a place where the health of some of the athletes is compromised by breathing there?
I know the answer is probably money. But it seems crazy to me.
[/QUOTE]
Beijing is actually closing off roads and shutting down more factories to clear the air.
If pollution is an issue in the first place, I really wonder how Beijing got picked in the first place.
Having said all that, China might actually produce some entertainment value with its pea soup smog, it’s algae infested cesspool of an ocean, its fascist head busting and oppression of speech. There’s even forecasts for thunderstorms and typhoons. Typhoons would be awesome. This could end up being a great spectacle. I couldn’t give less of a fuck who wins anything, but I’ll be watching for car wrecks.
[/QUOTE]
Well the Olympics are supposed to showcase the country!
Personally I think that it will be quite exciting watching the track athletes running round wearing respirators,the contestants in targetting events like shooting and archery trying to peer through the murk in an attempt to see the target.
And of course in the rowing and sailing events the crews desperately trying not to go into the water even if it means losing that being preferable to being poisoned.
A diplomat mate of mine whos been out there for several years was moaning that he’d just started getting used to the pollution in Beijing when he was moved to somewhere even worse.
He also mentioned that the cost of visas to enter Tibet from within China were extortionate in an attempt to deter people from going there and that he was saddened by the huge amount of old traditional architecture being demolished under the rule of the mighty Yuan.
[QUOTE=Ataraxy]
But really gets me is Becky Hammon. It sucks that the USA didn’t put her on the team. Probably, she should have been. But this is not free agency. You don’t just get to pick another team when your favorite passes you over. It would be more palatable if she had Russian ancestry. If she likes Russia so much, she should move there full time. Plus, she had to pick our former arch nemesis!(Ok, so the Cold War has been over for almost 20 years.)
[/QUOTE]
She’s a fucking Russian citizen. She lives and works in Russia.
Why aren’t you pitting the 33 immigrants competing for the USA? What’s good for the goose…
I can’t believe that anyone still cares about that USA Vs Russia thing. I didn’t care even during the Cold War. Does it really prove something about ideology if a guy born on this piece of dirt can jump further into a sandbox than a guy born on that piece of dirt?
I love the Olympics. I see sports that I rarely watch. Right now they have beach volleyball on. US and Latvia ,how good does it get. Earlier the swimming prelims were on. I don’t think the pool water was polluted.
Yep I love it.
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net]
Also, the air pollution there was so bad that riders were beginning to pull their horses from the Olympics, being unwilling to risk their lungs. When it got to the point where many of the top equestrians were refusing to come, including the entire team of one of the top countries, the Olympics Committee rearranged things and moved the equestrian events to the somewhat more breathable air of Hong Kong.
[/QUOTE]
Really, they’re more concerned about the horses’ lungs than the athletes’ lungs?
I suppose the horse owners love their animals, and won’t risk their health. Hmm… what does that say about about the the national Olympic organizations and the various coaches?
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
I love the Olympics. I see sports that I rarely watch. Right now they have beach volleyball on. US and Latvia ,how good does it get. Earlier the swimming prelims were on. I don’t think the pool water was polluted.
Yep I love it.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Cicero]
After the 1972 Olympics and the decision of the IOC to continue the games after the massacre, it is difficult to have any respect for them.
[/QUOTE]
Not everyone agreed they should be stopped. These people spent a lifetime preparing. The athletes wanted to go on.
The networks invested a bundle. They were going on regardless.
It was a long time ago. These people in it now were not even born. They deserve their few seconds in the sun.
[QUOTE=gonzomax]
Not everyone agreed they should be stopped. These people spent a lifetime preparing. The athletes wanted to go on.
The networks invested a bundle. They were going on regardless.
It was a long time ago. These people in it now were not even born. They deserve their few seconds in the sun.
[/QUOTE]
It’s pretty obvious not everyone agreed that they should be stopped as they went ahead.
And yes, the murder of 11 athletes means nothing against the training you may have put in.
[QUOTE=Cicero]
It’s pretty obvious not everyone agreed that they should be stopped as they went ahead.
And yes, the murder of 11 athletes means nothing against the training you may have put in.
[/QUOTE]
I’m too young to remember the 1972 Olympics, but I do remember Heysel well. At the time I thought the game should have gone ahead (as it did). Since then, I have changed my views - for all the sanctimonious crap that was spouted at the time about the importance of rising above such acts, playing on trivialized the deaths in some way.
[QUOTE=Cicero]
It’s pretty obvious not everyone agreed that they should be stopped as they went ahead.
And yes, the murder of 11 athletes means nothing against the training you may have put in.
[/QUOTE]
:rolleyes: Right. [sarcasm]And none of the other athletes felt any concern or even guilt about continuing.[/sarcasm] But they did continue, 36 years ago, and maybe, just maybe they worked even harder in memory of the athletes who were killed.
And today China has an abominable human rights record, but it’s citizens lives are changing and maybe, just maybe 36 years from now they’ll live in a democracy. And these Olympics might just help a tiny bit in getting there. But if they don’t, the athletes deserve our respect even if the IOC itself might not.
[QUOTE=Cicero]
And yes, the murder of 11 athletes means nothing against the training you may have put in.
[/QUOTE]
And canceling the Games would have brought how many of those dead athletes back to life?
But it would have certainly been a major propaganda victory for the murderers.
This seems an even better place than that general Olympics thread to point out China’s Triumph of the Will in the Burma Digest. I find it fascinating that Albert Speer Jr was the designer of the master plan of the Beijing Olympics like his father was for the Berlin Games.