Beijing Olympics

Beijing Olympics
Ok so putting any political ideas aside since this is about sports..........I'm very looking forward to the Summer Games. They start tomorrow night (those of us in the States). I always have to watch swimming, women's gymnastics and track/field. Those are really the only sports I'm interested in. Although I did watch a lot of women's softball last time. But the Americans are making a very decent run at a lot of medals. Especially in women's gymnastics - we have a very good team!!! I'm very excited about it! Anybody else going to follow? And what are you watching??

Hi Gnat, Yes, I'm looking forward to the Games myself. (I probably would have started this thread if you hadn't -- hahahaha!) I always love the opening and closing ceremonies so much. The color,excitement,and the presentation of all the different countries,in their uniforms,etc. I imagine China will really try to shine as much as possible for the world,...despite the 'political ideas'. ----------------------------- Another area of the Games that I enjoy is when they give the various little feature biographies of the different athletes---telling about their personal accomplishments,struggles,backgrounds,triumphs,etc. to get to the Games to compete. Most of their stories are so interesting. ------------------------- Thirdly,whenever they show any cultural aspects of any of the countries,it always perks up my attention. -------------------------Some of my favorite events to watch include gymnastics, diving/swimming, syncronized swimming, track and field ,and the triathelon competition intrigues me somehow. -----------------Whew! That all should keep me occupied for a while shouldn't it??!! :excited: :excited: :clap: GO, GO, GO, USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Wish we had an American flag here!)

I really get caught up in the Games for all the reasons you both mentioned. While I enjoy routing for Americans, I ike learning about some of the special athletes from other countries. Besides the sports you mentioned, I'll probably be watching for the Biking events, too. I got a chance to watch the long distance bike race in 1984, so it always peaks my interest. And the Marathon! Have to watch that.

Oh yeah I like watching the athlete profiles as well. And I like the little tidbits of info the commentators give on some of the athletes and their histories and their cultures. I think that's maybe why the Olympics is such a huge deal - not just in sports but all around. It makes so many people around the globe culturally aware........and hopefully sheds some light on others that we're not all that different from one another. We may live in different parts of the world, speak different languages, have different skin tones and have different cultural traditions........but in the end, we're all human beings. And these athletes, most especially, have the same common goal: to win and to make their countries proud. It's a comeraderie that's not matched anywhere and transcends political views. And that's the point of the Games too isn't it??? Oh and another sport I like to watch is the beach vollyeball - GO MISTY AND KERI!!! Sorry. :oops: :wink:

One of my friends is a huge Misty and Keri fan, too. I could give or take Beach Volleyball. I like what you said about cultures meeting other cultures. Having lived through the era of the boycotted Olympics in 1976 and 1980, I hope we don't see happen again. There will always be good political reasons to rationalize boycotts, but it we continually do that, positive contact is also lost.

Despite the fact I really cannot play sport of any kind and always hated PE class, I really love the Olympics and it wasn't until last night when I watched the Opening Ceremony that I actually realised why. What does it most for me is seeing all the countries with tiny teams who pay no attention to the fact that they have only six competitors and have never won a medal, but walk out, smile proudly and wave their flags around looking ecstatic to be there. I also love that it really seems to unite countries, the Olympics, and no person ever looks unhappy to be there. It just seems like a time where race and culture aren't noticed, people are just proud of each other and supportive of each other. It's so much more than just a sporting event, I believe. As for sports I'll be watching, Mens Artistic Gymnastics. Partly because I love Gymnastics and partly because it's fun having a good perve on the muscles. :wink:

I totally agree with those sentiments, hawkins (not least the last - watching the Men's Coxless Fours this morning...... :cloud9: And welcome to our happy band!

Funny, just as I posted my message about Mens Gymnastics, they began playing them on TV. Sadly, though, I had to witness a poor guy fall and land on his head and neck during his final trick. He just walked off and looked shattered...

Oh,goodness,how awful!!! Hope he's okay. Welcome to the I-Zone,hawkins, glad to have you with us. Wow, what an opening ceremony....so creative and spectacular.....and expensive! But,captivating to watch.

I LOVE the Olympics! :love: I have had them on all day. I just love seeing people from all the countries parade out onto the field, with their national costumes. I love learning about sports that I have never seen. And I love following my favorites, track and field, swimming and gymnastics. I have had them on all day, and really enjoy it. I just wish US coverage would show more sports, even if there are no Americans competing. But I guess that is just a pipe dream. The opening ceremony was wonderful! Thanks GNAT for starting this thread. Welcome Hawkins GinaP :cool:

Yesterday I watch the cylce-racing. It was a very exciting. I was fan of Andy Schleck but Sanchez from Spain won the stage. Good for Spain. Our Mario Aerts was eight. Very good for him. Afterwards he said that is was very hard. He had dronk a lot of water. Another boy from Belgian said that the air was so filthy that he had trouble to breath. It was like he had smoked a lot of cigarettes. What a terrible place ! :unsure:

I heard on the news about the American tourists being attacked and one of them killed outside their hotel. Also the journalist from New Zealand being attacked.It's such a shame that the wonderful principles of the Olympics always seem to be marred by politics,or even just the violence of some human nature. :no no

I also saw it on TV. That is terrible. Being killed for no reason in a strange country. How frightening ! I hope there will be no more attacs or other violent thing. But on the other side, a lot of people are not happy with the games. They have been evicted from their houses who have been demolished to make place for building of the games. But that is no reason for killing people you do not know. It is always the same, innocent people are always the victime. Very sad :no no

Hi Hawkins! Welcome! I agree with what you said about the spirit of the Olympics. In fact I think this caps it all......I'm sure many of you have already heard about the Russia/Georgia conflict. I saw yesterday on TV a story about the women's air rifle competition in which a Russian woman took the silver and a Georgian woman took bronze. They embraced each other after it was over congratulating each other. And even on the medals stands they continued to show good sportsmanship and warmth towards each other - in spite of what was going on with their respective countries. When asked later one of the women stated that if the rest of the world could conduct themselves like they do there'd be no more wars. I couldn't agree with that statement more. I saw that as well during the men's basketball game yesterday morning: USA vs China. A game where over 1 billion people watched around the globe. A game that meant everything to the Americans (who are trying to regain gold after their embarrassing showing 4 years ago) and even more to the Chinese since it's their own turf. Even though there was no way the Chinese were going to come back and beat the Americans in the second half, they still played. And even when the Americans ran away with that victory they still showed much respect for China. I saw it during the opening ceremonies when the teams were all in the middle waiting for the torch to be lit. I saw a couple athletes from a different country (can't remember now which) standing around taking pictures with Kobe Bryant. Now say what you want about this guy (I'm not a big fan myself) but he not only stood there taking pictures, but smiled and showed so much respect and kindness - even going as far as to ask how to say "Thank you" in their language. This is what the Olympics are about. And while I originally felt that we should have boycotted these games because of what's going on China - I realized that it's not fair to the athletes. The athletes are not involved in the political strife of their countries. They go to the Olympics to represent their countries and to make us all proud. Proud to call them our fellow countrymen. No matter how many medals or what color those medals are. They each of them go after having sacrificed so much and having had their families sacrifice so much, all their hard work, hours of intense training for many years. They deserve to be there to show the rest of the world that no matter the color of your skin, no matter what language you speak, no matter what part of the world you live........we're all on the same planet and we're all still human beings. Underneath it all, we're all the same. That being said..........anybody catch that men's swimming relay last night? The Americans just barely edging out the French??? What a crazy race!! I've never seen anything so close - that was truly spectacular!

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