# 2008 Olympics - things that make you go WOW



## Sharkie_Fan (Sep 26, 2006)

I'm watching the men's gymnastics right now (the aparatuses) and Alexander Artemov just did a routine on the pommel horse that was among the coolest things I've ever seen. I don't typically watch the men's gymnastics events, but it's on right now and my 4 year old thought it was pretty cool, so we've been watching.

It started off like a normal pommel horse routine, and then about halfway through, he just went off.

So, in light of that, and given that we've all got alot of varying tastes and will be watching alot of different events, I figured I'd start a thread where we can all catalog the "WOW" moments of this years summer olympics.

Obviously last night's Opening Ceremonies is also a WOW! event, and there's another thread talking all about it, so I won't get into that too much here, though it was incredible, I though!


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## Sharkie_Fan (Sep 26, 2006)

One more request... Lets try to avoid talk about the results of the events, if possible.... In case somebody's got something taped and wants to watch. Obviously some stories will be amazing because of the result... so if we're going to discuss it we can't avoid the result. But if at all possible, lets not spoil events that people might not have watched.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Well, trying not to spoil results, one smimming event in particular from Sunday night was unbeleivable. Come from behind victory and total smashing of the record by 4 seconds, including 6 finishers out of 8 under the previous record.

I also agree about that pommell horse routine. My wife and I could not beleive how much movement and height he got.


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## cygnusloop (Jan 26, 2007)

Lee L said:


> ...one smimming event in particular...


Best race I ever saw. Wow!

My first "fist pumping" moment of these Olympics...


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## MikeR7 (Jun 17, 2006)

cygnusloop said:


> Best race I ever saw. Wow!
> 
> My first "fist pumping" moment of these Olympics...


I was standing in front of the TV and on that last lap I could not help but go into a swimming motion and when they won, I was jumping up and down and hollaring just as the athletes were. It was amazing. :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## ARKDTVfan (May 19, 2003)

Michael Phelps, the guy just owns anyone he competes against


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## Sharkie_Fan (Sep 26, 2006)

MikeR7 said:


> I was standing in front of the TV and on that last lap I could not help but go into a swimming motion and when they won, I was jumping up and down and hollaring just as the athletes were. It was amazing. :lol: :lol: :lol:


I just watched this race. And even though I knew what was going to happen, I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat.

That's easily the best race I've ever seen.

How bad does it suck to be the 4th and 5th place teams? Beat the world record and not only do you not get GOLD, but you don't get ANY medal at all!

If I read correctly today, Lezak's final leg was 46.06, and the standing world record in the 100 free is 47.5! I didn't do my homework to verify that, but I'm pretty sure that's what one of the news sites I was reading today was reporting!


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

They did say that he swam the fastest Relay split ever. I am not sure of the 100 freestyle record, but only the first leg of the relay can count as a world record because you have advance warning on when to take off in a relay so you will always be able to beat someone waiting on the gun.


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## Sharkie_Fan (Sep 26, 2006)

Lee L said:


> They did say that he swam the fastest Relay split ever. I am not sure of the 100 freestyle record, but only the first leg of the relay can count as a world record because you have advance warning on when to take off in a relay so you will always be able to beat someone waiting on the gun.


Yeah, they did mention that it wasn't an 'official' record of any sort.... It's still an impressive feat to be a full second and a half faster than the current world record (assuming the article I read is correct).

I stayed up late last night to watch the swimming events. The Americans are pretty impressive across the board, but I don't think I've seen a string of performances as dominating as Michael Phelps in my lifetime!

I wasn't around to see Mark Spitz in '72 win his 7 golds, so I don't know if he was head and shoulders above the rest of the field the way Phelps is.

Everytime Michael Phelps gets in the pool, it seems he does something that makes you go WOW. His turns are tremendous. The length that he swims under the water is remarkable. The other guys have 3, 4, 5 strokes before Michael ever comes up out of the water after his turn.

It's looking more and more like he's going to get those 8 gold medals.


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## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

Lee L said:


> Well, trying not to spoil results, one smimming event in particular from Sunday night was unbeleivable. Come from behind victory and total smashing of the record by 4 seconds, including 6 finishers out of 8 under the previous record.
> 
> I also agree about that pommell horse routine. My wife and I could not beleive how much movement and height he got.


The only thing better would have been after speaking all this trash seeing the French finish fourth.


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

It would be nice if they would actually tell us what a perfect score is in gymnastics. It used to be 10.0, but now they've broken it down into 2 scores that add up to a final score.. The highest I've seen is about 16.5.. is that good or very good? Who knows.. they won't tell us. Sounds like they think we're all experts in this sport.


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## Sharkie_Fan (Sep 26, 2006)

n3ntj said:


> It would be nice if they would actually tell us what a perfect score is in gymnastics. It used to be 10.0, but now they've broken it down into 2 scores that add up to a final score.. The highest I've seen is about 16.5.. is that good or very good? Who knows.. they won't tell us. Sounds like they think we're all experts in this sport.


http://www.slate.com/id/2197336/



> The final tally is the sum of the A score and B score; since the difficulty of the current batch of Olympic routines tops out in the 7s, you can expect medal-winning scores to be somewhere in the 16s. And that's one thing opponents of the new system don't like. "A perfect 16.9" lacks the ring of "a perfect 10."


They score based on difficulty and execution.

Execution remains a scale of 10. Difficulty is the 'sum' of your 10 most difficult moves. The article said a double arabian flip (or something) on the balance beam is a really hard move and it gives you .8 on your difficulty score.

Still about as clear as mud... but apparently a 16.5 is a pretty good score.


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## Sharkie_Fan (Sep 26, 2006)

I couldn't stay up last night to watch the mens swimming.... but I watched them this morning.

I had to pick my jaw up off the floor in the Mens 4x200 relay.

That was complete domination. Generally, if you can get close to the world record in an event, you figure you've got a pretty good shot at gold. The silver medalists in this event were about .3 seconds off the world record.

The winners had time to shower before the rest of the field finished.


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## ccr1958 (Aug 29, 2007)

watched womens softball USA vs AUS & at one point the
announcers said that this sport has to reinstated by the
IOC to be an Olympic event in the future...Why??


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## mikeyinokc (Jan 11, 2006)

Because the IOC had already announced that womens softball would not be an Olympic sport after this year. Sounds kinda political to me.


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## ccr1958 (Aug 29, 2007)

yeah..its a shame how politics get into a worldwide
celebration....well hopefully they will change their minds...


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Baseball is in the same boat. Unless it is reinstated, it is gone after this year.


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## ThunderRoad (May 13, 2006)

Didn't Softball just get added to the Olympics not that long ago? I believe it was added when the games were in Atlanta in '96. Evidently when one country wins it every time, the IOC must feel they need to drop the sport.


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## ccr1958 (Aug 29, 2007)

well to me that would be more reason to keep it...
so other countries have something to shoot for &
dethrown the powerhouses..like the USA Hockey defeating
CCCP in 1980..who elects the IOC anyway....


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## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

ThunderRoad said:


> Didn't Softball just get added to the Olympics not that long ago? I believe it was added when the games were in Atlanta in '96. Evidently when one country wins it every time, the IOC must feel they need to drop the sport.


It seems especially if the winning team is the U.S.A. they want the sport out of the Olympics :raspberry What was great for me was seeing the Men's Tennis Final :sunsmile: I won't give the result, but I loved it :heart: HD is great :hurah:


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

Dolly said:


> *It seems especially if the winning team is the U.S.A. they want the sport out of the Olympics* :raspberry What was great for me was seeing the Men's Tennis Final :sunsmile: I won't give the result, but I loved it :heart: HD is great :hurah:


Then goodbye mens swimming.:hurah:


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