Marion Jones finished out of the money, coming in 5th in the long jump and botching the handoff with Lauryn Williams in the 4x100m relay, disqualifying the US team.

I swear this is true. I was reading about how the US women were considered very strong favorites to win the gold and how they'd lose if if Jones evenutally were disqualified due to the drug issue. I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be funny if they ended up out of the running? I guess they'd have to drop the baton for that to happen." D'oh!

That was shocking to see, that botched hand-off. I actually think it wasn't Jones' fault--it looked to me that Lauryn Williams started a bit too early and Marion couldn't catch up to her. Whoever ran the anchor for the Jamaican women totally kicked ass, too.

The pole vault is cool too. Great winning vault by Mack--bunch of cuties in that competition.

[quote]canmark:
Who said Asians can't run? Xiang Liu of China dominated the field in the 110m hurdles, setting an Olympic record, and winning China's first track gold.

.
[/quote][/QUOTE]
Not only setting the Olympic Record, but also matching the world record.

Actually, the U.S. has a history of botching the handoff in the 4x100 relay--particularly the men. I mean, that's how Canada won their 4x100 gold in '96--because the U.S. wasn't in the final. I think the problem is that the U.S. has too much depth in sprinting, and as such they mix and match competitors in the heats... and thus don't have as much practice in handoffs. Other countries barely have 4 quality sprinters, can't compete with the U.S. on pure speed, and know that their only chance to be competitive is on making clean handoffs.

It was unclear if Marion Jones was going to even run on the relay until this week--and in the past she ran the anchor leg, and so didn't have to handoff to anybody. I can't imagine that she and Laryn Williams had had much practice in the handoff, which is critical in the relay.

Nooooooo, Canmark, Canada flat out beat the American relay team in Atlanta. The U.S. won the silver, but Canada already had a substantial lead by the time Donovan Bailey ran the anchor leg. The event in which the U.S. dropped the baton was the world championships prior to Atlanta, and the hype was that Canada wasn't really good enough to beat them. That was why the relay win was so satisfying.

Thanks for the correction, JC. Damn, Canadians are good!

hate to pile on when she's down, but it couldn't happen to a nicer person. wasn't maid marion also involved in a botched handoff in sydney?

A big part of the problem was that these four women had not been able to train together and work on the handoffs--the single most difficult aspect of a relay race. It did look like Williams broke too soon and couldn't pull up in time. A small detail that may have been a factor is the height discrepency between Jones and Williams. Handoffs are always easier if the participants don't have to reach too far upwards or downwards to pass the baton.

~Adam

And the baton problems continue for the US as they have a slightly botched hand off between Gatlin and Coby Miller in the men's 4x100 final. It was not bad enough to get disqualified but it cost them a fair bit of time and Maurice Greene just failed in a comeback attempt down the stretch for the US losing by one one hundredth of a second to Britain. Only the second time the Americans have lost the men's 4 x 100, the only other time was to Canada in 1996.

[ August 28, 2004, 02:31 PM: Message edited by: Travelpat ]

I'm the only one who found most of the Javelin thrower quite sexy?
I like their body structure: big, but not fat.

OMG, did you just see the marathon runner, the leader Lima from Brazil, was attacked by a protester dressed in scottish kilt and hat? He was pushed into the crowd and stopped, then the crowd separated the two and he took off running again, but a race that looked like a certain medal, if not gold, for Lima (he was over 30 seconds ahead at mile 20) looks like no medal at all. He looked like he was crying right after the incident, and he then has been passed by the Italian and the American. So sad. Damn, what are they going to do? He should get something, poor guy. What ass****s disrupt the marathon? Punishment for the protester should be to force him to run a marathon in that outfit.

I saw that and my jaw dropped. I can't believe someone would do that. But he did medal, they just finished and he earned a bronze medal. Good for him for finishing the race.

That de Lima finished the race (in third) with a smile on his face just shows what incredible Olympic spirit that guy has. I mean, he should have been totally p*ssed that that protestor may have cost him the gold medal (he had a comfortable lead before being accosted), and yet he still maintained his composure and finished the race. That's just very impressive.

[ August 29, 2004, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

I read in another forum that the man in the kilt pulled a similar stunt at the British Grand Prix. The Brazilian got the bronze and was ecstatic when he entered the stadium.

Is he the nut that ran onto the track while cars were racing at 200 mph? And track officials had to chase him down so he wouldnt' get himself killed?

These things have got to stop: there was also that idiot promoting that Internet casion (which shall not be named) that dove into the pool during the diving competition. He was the same guy that interrupted Michelle Quan during the figure skating World Championships in Germany. The same casino also sponsored the guy that crashed the Super Bowl half-time.

But this was worse because he directly interrupted an anthlete during a performance. These people need to be locked up as an example for other whackos (and companies) hoping to 'promote' themselves.

[ August 29, 2004, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Our broadcaster here in Australia reported that some spectators got hold of him and did a a job on him.

As we would say in Autralia what a tool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NBC reports the guy was wearing a sign that said: "Israel fulfillment of prophecy." Whatever the hell that means!

What we needed was an NFL linebacker to race out and clothsline the SOB. It was amazing the Brazilian guy still got a medal.

Astonishing. But Lima did recover enough to finish third. I still think Brazil should lodge a protest. The wacko actually had on Italian (red-white-green) colors, didn't he?

I was glad that American Keflezighi, who was in the medal hunt until the end, finished with a silver!

Both the mens' 5000 and 800 were terrific races. They each featured world-class strategizing and solid final kicks. Though that coy plotting, not wanting to take the race to one's competition too early, made for somewhat slower times than I would have liked--and the Athens' climate didn't help in that regard--I was cheering during the last mile of the 5000 and throughout the long sprint that is the 800. And anytime a runner can match the feat of Paavo Nurmi, in winning the 1500 and the 5000, it is to be celebrated.

~Adam

From ESPN.com

Love this from Reuters about the attacker:

"The man says he is Irish, he is also drunk. He had been to a taverna earlier," a police source told Reuters.

Actually he was Irish ( orange-white-green).

The brazilian olympic committee already said that they will appeal.
I think that the appeal will be rejected like they rejected the appeal of Russia for the 100 hs when Felicien fell on Shevchenko ( the race was shorter, they could have repeated it or let Shevechenko run alone a second time).

I also was shocked to have seen that incident. One would think with a race of this magnitude security would have been better. The announcers were quick to point out that this sort of thing doesn't happen in the Olympics anymore. There have been some weird incidents in the early days of the games, but after 100 years and counting this sort of thing is unimagineable.

First of all, it will be hard to protect over 26 miles of a marathon. It could be done but with thousands of troops and barbed wire. And this happens a lot in sports, people run on the fields of football games, soccer games. In fact this guy may be the same guy who ran onto the track of the British Grand Prix. Also, in the 1972 Munich games, someone jumped into the marathon and entered the stadium first. The thousands of spectators cheered him on thinking he was the frontrunner. Poor Frank Shorter, the actual frontrunner, didn't receive the applause he deserved when he entered the stadium.

Turns out he was the same guy. I agree that the marathon would be the hardest event to secure. How do you secure 26+ miles of roadway? There were police following Lima as well as two officers and a couple of volunteers right at the incident. They were able to apprehend the guy and get Lima back into the race pretty quickly. It's just unfortunate we have lunatics like that around. Amazingly it always seems to be the religious fanatics that cause the problems.

In another thread, Terry in Oaktown posted

I'm not sure which thread this should be on so please forgive me. At the beginning of the Sunday coverage, Bob Costas talked about the poor Brazilian runner who was pushed off by an unstable former priest. Because of this, he lost his lead, which he was losing anyway, and ended up with the bronze. The IOC awarded him a special sportsmanship award that I personally have never heard of in the Olympics. I'm sure it's been given in the past but this is the first time I've seen it. The award made reference to the runner's good sportsmanship and spirit of competition. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's thinking this but does anyone think it's also a jab at Paul Hamm? Just my thought mind you but whenever fair sportmanship comes up I immediately think of that stupid letter that the FIG sent to Hamm which the USOC refused to deliver to the young gymnast. I doubt the award made the Brazilian runner feel any better but those are the breaks. I heard that Brazil may take it up with the Court of Arbitration, the same committee that will hear South Korea's case. Just my thoughts.

And speaking of lunatics:
10 most idiotic fans in sports history

While I admit that the defrocked priest is warranted being on this list (for at least two horrible acts), I think that this so-called sportswriter should be taken to task for including Steve Bartman and Jeffrey Maier on a list with people like William Ligue (and son) and Gunther Parche, who are criminals that committed acts with the clear intention of injuring (if not, killing) someone. Talk about apples and oranges... Shame on you, FOX Sports! :mad:

One of the things I love most about the Olympics are the stories which no one could have expected. Michael Phelps was not a surprise. But I wonder how many people now can even remember who won the men's Marathon?. Yet I bet everyone will long remember the wonderful spirit of Lima. One of the highlights of these games for me is the way he "flew" into the stadium imitating an airplane. The look on his face showed who was the real winner. And anyone who watched it won too by seeing an example of the true spirit of sportsmanship.

At the Mount San Antonio College Relays, where Marion Jones has traditionally opened her outdoor season, she came in a fading fifth in the 400 meters. Her time, 55.03, was well off her best 400 time at the Mt. SACs (49.59) and, in fact, was worse than the 54.21 she ran in her 1990 debut there. Granted, the 400 has never been Jones' strong suit, but this should just fuel the steroid rumors that have swirled around her.

~Adam

O.K., i'm only going to ask this once here and this will be the last time I asked, and it's the same question I asked on the football forum. If anyone of you knows an Olympians email address or knows one in person feel free to interview them, give me their email address, so I can interview them and post it on the web which will achieve, perhaps by then 400,000 monthly viewers.

And Tim M. ran in the Olympics this year, I bet he would have won! It's amazing how fast he is. I wonder what his time in the 40 is? The 40 yard dash should be an Olympic event in my opinion and they should also have new jumping and iron man testing events in the Olympics.

At Hamm perhaps, but more importantly at the USA more likely. Hard to pinpoint the target of that kind of random event without the perpetrators personal testimony.

I think USA athletes may be in for more such nonsense in the future, especially in high-visibility international competitions. pro-Basketball players have already been criticized for using the potential of a terrorist threat as a reason to avoid risking injury in intenational play.

But even the President can't be fully protected. Look at the grenade thrown at the podium when Bush spoke in Georgia. Disaster was avoided because the fuse didn't work. How many times is that going to happen - the fuse not working that is?

Asafa Powell of Jamaica is now the world's fastest man. His time of 9.77 in the 100m was run on the Olympic track in Athens (the same track that Maurice Green had set a previous world record), and eliminates Tim Montgomery's steroid-clouded previous record of 9.78.

World record progression over the past 20 years:

9.77 Asafa Powell, Jamaica June 14, 2005
9.78 Tim Montgomery, U.S. Sept. 14, 2002
9.79 Maurie Greene, U.S. June 16, 1999
9.84 Donovan Bailey, Canada July 27, 1996
9.85 Leroy Burrell, U.S. July 6, 1994
9.86 Carl Lewis, U.S. Aug. 25, 1991
9.90 Leroy Burrell, U.S. June 14, 1991
9.92 Carl Lewis, U.S. Sept. 24, 1988
9.93 Calvin Smith, U.S. July 3, 1983

*Ben Johnson's steroid-tainted time in the 1988 Olympics was 9.79.

Marion Jones (and Tim Montgomery) take themselves out of competition for the U.S. team to go to the World Championships. Sorry, honey, you're history.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt sets a new 100m record at 9.72 seconds. An update of the record-setting times:

9.86 Carl Lewis United States Tokyo, Japan August 25, 1991
9.85 Leroy Burrell United States Lausanne, Switzerland July 6, 1994
9.84 Donovan Bailey Canada Atlanta, Georgia, USA July 27, 1996
9.79 Maurice Greene United States Athens, Greece June 16, 1999
9.78 Tim Montgomery United States Charléty, Paris, France September 14, 2002
9.77 Asafa Powell Jamaica Athens, Greece June 14, 2005
9.77 Justin Gatlin United States Doha, Qatar May 12, 2006
9.77 Asafa Powell Jamaica Gateshead, England June 11, 2006
9.77 Asafa Powell Jamaica Zurich, Switzerland August 18, 2006
9.74 Asafa Powell Jamaica Rieti, Italy September 9, 2007
9.72 Usain Bolt Jamaica New York City, New York May 31, 2008