We just want to say what a pleasure it has been to
present this rolling log for the past 16 days. The feedback
has been incredible and we’ve had a terrific time writing
it. A huge thanks to all those who contributed and to all of
you who read it. We are planning a “best of the log,” along
with new photos in a couple of days (but we need to sleep
first).
We’ll toot our horn a bit and reprint an e-mail we
received Sunday from Dallas:
“Just a note to y'all from a gay man who has been introduced
to your Website for the first time because of your Olympic
coverage. I'm one of those guys who as a gay little boy was
mercilessly belittled about my lack of sports skills in
grade school and high school -- to the point that I have had
practically no interest in sports (other than for some of
the photos!) for all of my adult years -- until now.
“You guys helped me to change that mindset and open up to my
Inner Sportsman. I appreciated your intelligent and
perceptive take on the various events at the Olympics. Your
reports were fun to read too, with a gay twist that had me
laughing at times, and a little sad at other times. Anyway,
thanks for making my experience of the Olympics not only
richer, but in a way kind of life-changing!”
We’ve been saying for a month what huge water polo fans
we’ve become after covering a major pre-Olympic meet in
Southern California last month, and how much we anticipated
the Olympic competition. It lived up to our hype, with the
Italian women beating the U.S. in a semifinal thriller, then
holding off Greece for the gold.
On the men’s side, pre-tourney favorite Hungary did it
again, winning its eighth water polo gold with a dramatic,
8-7 comeback win over Serbia and Montenegro. In the U.S.,
water polo is a fringe sport, so to put the men’s final into
context, think of Hungary as the New York Yankees
and Serbia and Montenegro as the Boston Red Sox.
Like the Yankees to baseball, Hungary is water polo royalty.
Not only have they won more gold medals than any country, in
the past eight years they have been in 11 major
international tournaments and won nine. Like the Red Sox,
the Serbs have had some success (winning back-to-back golds
in 1984-88), but in recent years they have been foils to the Hungarians. In
2004, the teams have met six times, with Hungary winning
five. Like those of the Red Sox,
Serb fans figure their squad will find some way to lose.
Sunday’s final was emblematic and eerily mirrored Yankee-Red
Sox classics, especially last year’s American League
Championship Series.
S&M led 3-0, and then
7-5 heading into Sunday's final period, raising hopes among
their fans. In 2003, the Sox led the Yankees in Game 7
of the ALCS, 5-2, in the eight inning before blowing it.
A key Hungarian
goal was scored by Tamas Vargas, a role player
who was in the pool less than half the game. In 2003,
Aaron Boone, a midseason pickup, hit the
series-ending home run for the Yankees.
S&M had four power-play
chances in the final period and put up goose eggs. One
of the chances was on a two-man advantage. In the deciding
Game 7 in 2003, the Red Sox left 13 men on base.
A move that will live in
Serb water polo lore left many shaking their heads, much
like Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez
in too long for the Sox. Hungary was clinging to a
one-goal lead and Serbia was on a power play with less
than 10 seconds left. They got the ball to Alexsander
Sapic, the world’s top scorer, and he readied to shoot.
8 … 7 … 6. The crowd was screaming and whistles were
coming from all over the stands. Sapic, thinking a
referee’s whistle had stopped play, turned and faces the
crowd. The clock kept ticking. 5 … 4 … 3. One
imagined all of Serbia and Montenegro screaming in unison: “Shoot the
#!@&% ball!!” Finally, he let one fly with 2 seconds
left, it bounced off the Hungarian goalie’s chest, and
once again the Yankees had beaten the Red Sox.
This picture after the match of Serbia and
Montenegro's captain Vladimir Vuasinovic says it all.
As does this of Hungarian coach Denes Kemeny getting
a
post-game bath.
“I found the closing
ceremonies good, but there were a few too many Greek songs.
No doubt these performers were well known in Greece, but did
they each have to sing several songs? A couple of them were
quite good-looking, though, including Sakis Rouvas. Just
wish I could understand what they were singing.) By the end
it seemed like half the athletes had abandoned the field.
Already looking forward to Beijing in 2008!”
”I thought they were fantastic. It looks like the athletes
and audience had a great time. The world gets a chance to
enjoy old and modern Greek music. And, yes, Greek music is
usually sung in Greek. It's nice to enjoy another country's
culture. If you wanted songs with English lyrics, you could
have turned to the MTV Music Awards.”
“I love the presentation by Beijing! Who was the guy, the
martial-arts dancer in the white? He was incredible! I
thought the little girl was adorable even though I don't
speak Chinese so I couldn't understand her. The costumes
were beautiful too. All I have to say is great job
Athens!!!!”
We’ve always maintained that religion and sports don’t
mix. Why should God care who wins an athletic event? We
had two more examples Sunday in Athens.
By now, everyone has heard about Cornelius Horan, the
drunk, seemingly deranged and defrocked Irish priest who ran
onto the marathon course and
shoved leaderVanderlei de Lima of Brazil
into the crowd. Horan was wearing a sign touting the second
coming (“Israel Fulfillment of Prophecy Says the Bible”).
This is the same bozo who ran onto a Grand Prix course last
year and spent 20 seconds dodging cars going 200 mph. His
message then: “Read the Bible — the Bible is always right.”
The second example came in the boxing ring and showed the
Eye Of The Tiger has been replaced by someone a little more
fearsome.
Andre Ward of the U.S. had just won the
light-heavyweight title and was being interview by NBC. We
wrote down what he said: “I have to give honor and glory to
God my personal savior; without him it wouldn't be possible.
Rap-a-lot records ... Tiffany baby, my wife and kid back
home. I'm bringing home the gold like I said I would.
”It was the strength God gave me. I got thumbed in the eye
and I saw a devil. And I never experienced nothing like that
before. But I remember what I told god no matter how I win
just give me the victory, and he did that."
The Bible? The Devil? What is this, a Mel Gibson
movie? We suggest that Ward hire Horan as his ring man when
he turns pro; they’ll be unbeatable.
Like everyone, we felt bad for De Lima, the Brazilian
marathoner. There is no doubt that the assault had an effect
on him. But we disagree with the Brazilians saying he should
get a duplicate gold medal. There is simply no way one can
say what would have happened had he not been attacked. There
were still four miles to go and De Lima’s lead had been
slipping. We applaud the IOC for giving him a special
sportsmanship award. De Lima should realize that he has the
world’s sympathy and pushing too hard for a gold will erode
that.
We love
this item
we saw in the London Guardian: The attack on De Lima “ was a
reversal of an incident that had taken place here during the
inaugural Olympic marathon in 1896 when a runner attacked a
spectator.
“On that occasion the race
was won by a Greek, Spiridon Louis, but only after he
had passed the leader Edwin Flack, a London-based
Australian accountant who had earlier won the 800 and 1,500
meters.
“Flack entered the marathon
despite never having run further than 10 miles before. He
eventually became delirious with dehydration and his
companion asked a Greek spectator to help keep him on his
feet.
“But Flack was so confused he
attacked the spectator and pushed him to the ground before
being bundled into a carriage and taken away for treatment
by Prince Nicholas of Greece.”
Before these Olympics, much of the talk revolved around what
a disaster they'd be. How disorganized. We heard much of the
same from people before the Sydney Gay Games in 2002. Yet,
both events came off very well, leaving participants
and spectators with far more awe and wonder than anything
else. We imagine that, with all the things being said about
Montreal's OutGames and Chicago's Gay Games in 2006, they
will come off very well and, just as in Athens, all the
participants will come out of them smiling.
Holding these games in Athens were meant to bring a sense
of history to them. With all the wonderful ties that the
organizing committee and NBC made to Olympics of past
centuries, mission accomplished.
Here are a few more blasts from the past for you. Two weeks
ago, Michael Phelps was going to break Mark Spitz's
record of seven golds; while he missed, he did a damn good
job trying. Two weeks ago, the U.S. had the best men's
basketball team in the world; now, it's Argentina. Two weeks
ago, white men couldn't jump; now, they've swept the Olympic
high jump.
Sunday was the first time we took in any boxing and agree
with those who praise the insightful commentary of NBC
analyst Teddy Atlas. He is streetwise, funny and
candid, all wrapped up in a New York accent.
Here is Atlas’ take on the
controversial computerized scoring system used in Olympic
boxing: “There’s nothing computerized about it except the
wires in it. It is human beings that are pushing the
buttons. They came up with a way of still stealing fights
and not leave fingerprints. It’s a joke.”
And this gem when Atlas
ripped the patronage-heavy U.S.A. boxing federation. “They
need to get rid of the people that don’t know a left hook
from a fish hook.”
We found ourselves sucked into watching the two overtime
periods and dramatic penalty shootout of the
Denmark-Korea women’s handball match (yes, we have
officially lost our minds). It was awesome; the score was
tied 14 times and the teams laid it all out, playing with
great style and emotion. After Denmark won, there was an
amazing sight of their players rolling on the ground,
hugging, kissing, hugging some more, rolling some more,
kissing some more. It was a straight guy’s fantasy.
With all of America's adoration of superstars, in sports and
entertainment, one of the things we take away from the
Olympics most dearly is the heroism of the common man.
That guy who has been practicing archery for so very long,
with no hope of major endorsement, for the love of the
sport. That woman who got back to running 12 miles a day
just a week after giving birth so she might some day race in
the Olympics. They are the real heroes of these games, and
we thank them for enriching our lives, if only for two short
weeks.
Day 15 of
competition / Aug. 28
Yeah ... competitive walking! Something I practice
going through airports, not something I expect to watch at
the Olympics. But there I was, in the middle of the night,
watching a 50K race walk--an oxymoron if ever I heard of one
in my head. But watching the athletes maintain their stiff
form under the glare of the rising sun and steaming humidity
made me start to pay attention. The commentators did a great
job of adding detail along the way with the combination of
helicopter, motorcycle, crane and handheld cameras zooming
in on the stilted gait, that demanded each racer maintain
contact with the ground at all times, their legs having to
be raised in a stiff fashion before striking the pavement
once again. [To add more poignancy to the proceedings, they
told how many of the racers were dedicating their efforts to
the memory of Al Heppner, a race walker who took his
own life after failing to make the US Olympic team]
As the hours went by, the extreme heat conditions started to
take their toll on the competitors. But not Robert
Korzeniowski from Poland, the Carl Lewis of race
walking. At 36 he was going for his third gold medal in a
row, and after more than 3 1/2-hours, with the stadium in
sight, his closest competitor, 23 year old Russian
Denis Nizhegorodov, was left increasing in the distant
undulating heat. And yet Korzeniowski had to maintain his
form with incredible discipline, as one false step could
result in instant disqualification, even within sight of the
finish line in the stadium. So in he strode, having
maintained a faster pace walking than even most competitive
runners, smiling broadly, grabbing a Polish flag with his
teeth, as if he had just finished his morning
constitutional.
In contrast with his fit-as-a-fiddle finish, the cameras
turned back to Nizhegorodov, who by now had his head at an
extreme tilt in front of his body, a bobble-headed death
stare locked onto his ghostly cherubic face, his arms
flailing like a broken-winged goose to maintain his balance
as he lurched towards the stadium. To the alarm of the
commentators, he was haphazardly bumping into the curbs,
dazed and depleted beyond belief, yet unwilling to give up
before arriving at his destination.
As he made the final curve entering the tunnel, he managed
to swing back to see that his nearest competitor was still
behind him, before making his excruciating final steps onto
the track, past the orange coned landing strip towards the
line where he fell face-forward down onto the track with no
medical personnel in sight.
But there was yet more drama--the cameras turned back
towards the third place competitor, Yu Caohong of
China, who was just 100 meters from the stadium tooling
along without any apparent difficulty, when out of nowhere,
another Russian, Aleksey Voyevodin, blasted past Yu
like he was standing still. At the finish line Korzeniowski
greeted him and they hugged, then looking on with alarm at
Nizhegorodov, still writhing on the track without any
medical help, deciding finally to pour some of their water
on him.
It was hard to beat the drama, the athleticism, the sheer
determination under incredible conditions, the thrill of
victory, the agony of a last minute defeat after so many
miles.
Sure--it's an event you'll only get a chance to see every
four years. Which is a good thing--it'll give me time to get
in shape to watch the gut-wrenching spectacle again!
Brent
Mullins
Hot jock alert. Occasionally (editor’s note: Occasionally?
How about all the time when it come to rowers?) we
have seen an athlete who piques our curiosity and we turn to
the official Athens 2004 website to see their bio. One was German
canoeist Andreas Dittmer, who won a gold and silver at the
Games.
He’s 32.
He’s single. He's got a
great bod. His hobbies: “Traveling, cross country skiing,
theater, musicals, fishing and sailing.” Theater? Musicals?
Now, we're not saying he's gay, but one can always hope.
Another
vote for hot jock came in for a reader for Canadian diver
Alexandre Despatie "He is an absolute DUH-REAM
BOAT," the reader said.
Saturday was an awesome day for Argentina, a country
that has suffered a tremendous economic collapse the past
few years. First, the Argentine men won the soccer gold. A
few hours later, the men’s basketball team roared past Italy
to win the gold. Two golds on the same day after the country
had gone 52 years since it finished first in any Olympic
event.
There is no greater praise in basketball than to be
recognized by John Wooden the legendary former UCLA
basketball coach. As he watched the U.S. women’s basketball
team win its third consecutive gold, the “Wizard of
Westwood” told AP’s Steve Wilstein what he thought of
their performance.
''The women
play the purest basketball,'' Wooden said from his home in
California, his voice strong, his eye for the game still
keen at 93. ''Their fundamentals are much more sound. They
don't have the athletic ability of the men. They're not as
big or as strong and can't jump as high. They play below the
rim, not above it. But there's a harmony to their game. It's
the way basketball should be played.''
Let the
inevitable comparisons begin between the way the U.S. women
play and the way the men do. It may be comparing apples to
oranges in some ways, but it will be a theme hard to totally
ignore.
The U.S.-Lithuania men’s basketball bronze medal game was
delayed 49 minutes when the U.S. equipment manager brought
the wrong-colored uniforms. As the crowd sat and waited it
was cool to see Diana Taurasi and other women’s
players race around the court area and mingle with the fans.
Taurasi wore a mini-hoop contraption on her head and invited
fans to take a shot with what looked like a foam ball.
There was a marvelous race in the
men's 5,000 meters, won by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj,
who sprinted past Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele down the
stretch to win the gold. What made it special was that El
Guerrouj had won the 1,500, Bekele the 10,000, so this was a
true duel of champions. With the win, the Moroccan became
the first man since 1924 to win the 1,500 and 5,000 in the
same Games.
Our vote for most sexually suggestive Olympics ad
goes to Coke. One of their spots has a woman surfer showing
up a man. Later on the beach, he approaches her trying to
angle for a date. She grabs a bottle of Coke and opens the
cap on his belt buckle as the camera zooms in to his crotch.
If a company did the same ad with two guys, there would be
howls of protests, but we guess it's OK if it's between a
man and a woman.
Baton-passing should be stressed for both the U.S.
men's and women's 100-meter relay teams. A botched pass DQed
the women on Friday, and two shaky passes doomed the men,
who finished .01 behind Great Britain on Saturday. The great
Maurice Greene, who ran the anchor leg, almost made
up the difference but the passes left him too far behind.
NBC track reporter Bob Neumeier did a great job in
asking the four U.S. sprinters what went wrong. They all
gave decent answers, then seemed to imply they were
satisfied. Meumeier then asked: You can't be happy with the
silver? The same guys who a second ago had implied they
were, quickly uttered a chorus of "no's" It was the type of
obvious followup that reporters often fail to ask.
It's confusing about what constitutes a "sport" these
days. On Friday I was watching two of the controversial
ones, and it got me to thinking.
Synchronized swimming? Wellll...maybe. But why
women only? Do we have the Sports Illustrated
swimsuit-issue factor here? Was this one added to the
Olympic program to give a welcome visual diversion from all
those grim muscular dames in track & field? If Esther
Williams could come back for one press conference, and
we could ask her if her thing was sport, what would she say?
Rhythmic gymnastics ... another maybe. No offense to
the talents of the fantastic femmes who compete in this
one. But isn't this the kind of thing you go to the Cirque
du Soleil to see? On the other hand, Olympic medal-winning
gymnasts try for jobs at the Cirque and they wash out. The
Cirque performers are fabulous athletes. They should get
platinum diamond-studded medals, because they do things that
Olympic gymnasts can only dream of.
Some sourpusses question why shooting and archery are on the
Olympic card. But they've been there since the start, so
tradition is hard to argue with.
I draw the line at poker. There are reports that
poker may be admitted into the Olympics. The argument is
that poker has more mass participation than many sports
already on the program. Nuh-uh. Celebrity poker works on
Bravo, where filming on an intimate set can give the viewer
those peeks at the cards. We also get to hear the witty
repartee among the celebs (we're led to believe it's
ad-libbed, not scripted.) But poker translated into stadium
logistics will lose all its entertainment value, not to
mention that there's no physical exertion whatever.
Boring.
Ditto chess, which is also trying for Olympics
acceptance. Last year, the IOC recognized chess's
international federation, which is the first step. No.
Please, no.
And there are major sports that don't want into the
Olympics. Hard to blame them. Aside from the fact that
their athletes don't want to put up with the doping
scrutiny, they might get lost in the shuffle. The summer
Games are already so big that it's hard for a spectator to
focus on any one event in the way that it truly deserves.
Even the TV watching maxes you out, especially when you stay
up nights to watch favorites. I admit to nodding off during
the show-jumping finals. What level of exertion does it
demand to be a live spectator trudging around Athens in the
heat, to this and that event? Going to the Games should be
declared a sport!
The golf people stay away from the Olympics. After
all, they can have the global media spotlight all to
themselves during big tournaments, and they get plenty of
chances to play for their countries. Yet IOC chief
Jacques Rogge wants to have golf in the Beijing Olympics
in 2008. Judging by comments I've read, leading players are
not thrilled by the idea.
Horse-racing? It doesn't need the Olympics. It has
its own infrastructure, its own global circuit, its
Breeder's Cup World Thoroughbred Championship every
October. It even has its own media networks. You wanna sit
in L.A. and watch horseracing in Australia in the middle of
the night? Turn on HRTV. Besides, how would the Olympics
deal with the gambling part of it? Big can of worms.
There are sports that should be in the Olympics.
Where is cricket, I ask you? This most British of
sports is also passionately popular in India, Australia,
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand,
West Indies. There are 32 nations in the International
Cricket Council. Cricket has been beating on the IOC's
door, but the IOC says that cricket doesn't qualify because
it must have mass participation in dozens more countries.
Which leaves me wondering how many dozens of countries have
mass participation in rhythmic gymnastics?
My personal vote for new faces at the summer Games is X
sports. Bike stunting and mega-ramp
skateboarding and the rest (well, maybe not surfing).
It may take them another Olympiad or two to get there. But
they will bring the young spectators who think track and
field is boring, and give the Olympics a new lease on
life. ESPN was a visionary to launch the X Games.
Snowboarding at the winter Olympics was a monster
success.
Adding new sports is definitely in the Olympic tradition.
After all, there were the B.C. days when only sprints were
on the card. Then they added other stuff. And finally they
brought in the big mama of sports ...chariot racing.
That must have been controversial in its day. Imagine
bringing NASCAR to Athens.
Patricia Nell Warren
Day 14 of
competition / Aug. 27
For the first time since NBA players were allowed to play,
the U.S. will not win the basketball gold medal.
This was guaranteed after the Americans were outplayed from
the start by Argentina and lost, 89-81.
What’s
weird is that this has not caused must anguish in the U.S.
Almost everybody we know was rooting against the Americans,
seeing them as a bunch of overpaid, pampered jocks who
stayed on a luxury yacht instead of the Olympic Village.
That’s a bit unfair in that the players conducted themselves
with class during the tournament; they weren’t Ugly
Americans, just ugly on the court. As Michael Wilbon
of the Washington Post wrote: “The U.S. team has A-plus
determination but only C-plus skills.”
The reality is that the best players are in the NBA, it’s
just that a lot of them play for other countries. Argentine
star Manu Gionobli (San Antonio Spurs), China’s
Yao Ming (Houston Rockets) and Spain’s Pau Gasol
(Memphis Grizzlies) were the biggest reasons their teams
advance.
In
contrast, the American team was missing some of the best NBA
players, many of them weenies who blamed the threat of
terrorism for staying away. Those no-shows deserve more
contempt than those who came to Athens, did their best and
in the end came up short. After losing only two games in all
past Olympics combined, this American team lost three.
We love watching Ginobli play and watching Ginobli in
general. He was the epitome of class in the NBC postgame
interview, referring to one key basket of his as a “lucky
shot,” and expressing understanding of the frustration felt
by Spurs teammate Tim Duncan. We hope he takes home
the gold.
A lot of credit goes to the NBC basketball announcing team
of Mike Breen and Doug Collins. They weren’t
homers for the U.S. and pointed out often that the
officiating throughout the tournament was mediocre for all
teams involved.
Hot jock alert: Our own Brent Mullins has this to say
about the following photo of German canoeist Tomasz Wylenzek: The hottest sports picture. Ever.
Check it out for yourself. We still like
this one from Athens better, and realize many
readers think we’re both insane (yeah, but it’s our blog, so
there!).
The most moving moment we saw on TV these Olympics occurred
during the medal ceremony for Germany’s gold-medal winning
C2, 1,000-meters team (canoeing) of Christian Gille
and Tomasz Wylenzek (he of the “hottest sports
picture ever, above.) Gille had lost racing partner
Thomas Zereska to leukemia this spring, an event that
shook the entire German rowing delegation. He wore a
black armband in his honor.
On the
stand, as the German national anthem played, Gille looked
stoically ahead. But Wylenzek
was crying uncontrollably, perhaps in memory of
Zereska and perhaps with the realization that he was honored
to take his place. We got tears in our eyes watching it.
Hungary will play Serbia and Montenegro for the men’s
water polo gold, a rematch of their world championship
game just a month ago in Long Beach, Calif. (see photo).
We didn’t see the Serbs beat Greece on Friday, but loved
what we saw of the Hungarians beating the Russians in the
semis. In a sport filled with rifle-like shots, the
Hungarians used finesse on two goals. On one of them,
Tamas Kasas (maybe the best player in the world) was
facing a defender and the goalie about 5 feet from goal. The
goalie was a bit forward in his position, so Kasas, instead
of trying to fire one by him, literally tossed a soft,
overhand lob that hit the water about 2 feet from the goal
and drifted in. It was a thing of beauty.
If
it’s not one thing it’s another. Medal-winning New
Zealand athletes will not be allowed to bring their victory
wreaths back into the country, lest they contain material
that could threaten the farming sector.
"Our
understanding is that they are made out of olive branches,
roses and chrysanthemums -- this is plant material and it is
considered to be a biosecurity risk," Agriculture Ministry
official Veronica Herrera said. Any athlete who
brought a wreath in would see it incinerated. Neighboring
Australia has told its athletes they will have to give up
their wreaths for disinfection.
Yellow men can run fast, according to Liu Xiang. All
Liu did was win the gold medal in the men’s 110-meter
hurdles in a world record-tying 12.91 seconds. He became the
first Chinese man to win a gold medal in a track event.
"Don't
think in the old way that Asians are always weaker than
European and American runners in the sprint events. My
performance showed that yellow-skinned athletes can also
outrun black athletes," said Liu.
Here is how China Daily online reported Liu’s feat:
“Chinese fans in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai burst
into hysteria and many cried out when the national
television station CCTV broadcast the event live, when brave
Liu Xiang dashed to the line in arms and legs far ahead
of his rivals, in the early hours Saturday morning Beijing
time.
The paper
also reported “after a bone test showing that he will not be
able to become a tall man, Liu [as a child] was asked to
give up sports.”
The Washington Post’s Bill Grant handed out his award
for the worst behavior during a completion. His winner: “No
coaching rudeness compares with the un-Olympic-spirited
antics of a South Korean judo coach, Suh Joung-bok,
who was expelled for hitting one of his athletes after she
lost a bout. This guy just plain needs help.”
We think “Suh
Joung-bok” is Korean for “Bobby Knight.”
Bruno Grandi, president of the International
Gymnastics Federation sent a letter to American gymnast
Paul Hamm, suggesting he give up his Olympic all-around
crown to Yang Tae Young of South Korea, saying the
world would view the gesture as "the ultimate demonstration
of fair play.''
Hamm should
tell Grandi to do a long vault off a short pier. What gall.
FIG judges screwed up the scoring in the first place and are
now placing the burden on Hamm. No athlete should be held
accountable for a ref’s blown call. FIG could have given
both gymnasts a gold medal, but instead they try to make the
issue about Hamm. We would feel the same way if the roles
were reversed and Yang was being asked to give up the
crown.
U.S.
Olympic Committee officials had the right response. "We have
reviewed the action of the International Gymnastics
Federation and we think it's deplorable," said Peter
Ueberroth, U.S.O.C. chairman. "They are deflecting their
own incompetence. I don't know of any comparison in any
sport where you crown an athlete, crown a team and then say:
'Oh, that was a mistake. Would you fix it for us?' ''
The last we saw of British runner Paula Radcliffe,
she was sitting on a curb after dropping out of the marathon
(where she was favored). She vowed a better effort in the
10,000 meters. It was more like the same effort, as
Radcliffe pulled up 8 ½ laps from the end of the 10,000
meters.
"My legs
just gave way," said Radcliffe. "It is not the same thing as
Sunday, my legs were just too beaten up after the marathon.”
British fans were depressed. One, who had paid $135 to
scalpers to see the race, told the Scotsman,
“Everyone was cheering and clapping
her and chanting her name, but as the laps went by and she
fell further behind, more people were saying, ’Oh no, it’s
going to happen again’. … When she stopped running, I was
almost in tears, so imagine what she feels like.”
Radcliffe's legion of fans back home
are still supportive, the Scotsman said. Claire Peet,
31, who has run with Paula for the past 20 years said: “She
is world champion, she is Commonwealth champion, and she is
the world record holder. If anyone dares call her a loser,
they had better strap on some running shoes and give it a
go.”
Day 13 of
competition / Aug. 26
These
Olympics are starting to drag. It's been almost two weeks
and there are still a couple more days of competition. Even
many of the athletes have already left Athens.
Two of those athletes are the
Hamm brothers, gymnasts Paul (left) and
Morgan. Paul departed Athens with the men's all-around
gold. They made a pit stop in New York City on Thursday, and
we were there to talk with them. Unfortunately, their PR
firm didn't let us. Was it homophobia? Stay tuned for more
on this story tomorrow.
Cyd Zeigler
Jr.
We’ve heard of Ugly Americans, but this time we had an Ugly
Spaniard. Mario Pesquera,
the head coach of Spain’s men’s basketball team, totally
embarrassed himself after his team lost to the U.S., 102-94,
during medal round action.
Pesquera
was upset that U.S. coach Larry Brown called a
timeout with 23 seconds left and the U.S. up by 11. Pesquera
thought he was being dissed, but Brown was well within his
rights to do what was best for his team. Also, under
international rules, a team must put in for a timeout ahead
of time, which Brown did, when the U.S. was up by eight. By
the time the timeout took effect, the lead has grown to 11.
As the game
ended, Pesquera refused to shake Brown’s hand. He did go up
to shake the hand of U.S. assistant Roy Williams and
had a discussion with assistant Gregg Popovich. But
when Brown came over, Pasquera poked his finger at him and
kept making the “T” signal with his hand for timeout. They
squabbled back and forth for a bit until both men walked
away off the court.
Pasquera
wasn’t backing down after the game. ''I had -- and I stress
the word 'had' -- a lot of respect for Larry Brown,'' said
Pesquera at a news conference. ''Dean Smith would have never
done anything like that.''
He also
complained that the U.S. was given favorable treatment,
saying, ''I think this game was played under NBA rules, not
[international] rules,'' he said.
Brown took
the high road, saying, “Hopefully I'll learn to handle these
situations, which are new to me, a little bit better.''
He has
nothing to apologize for. Given the way the U.S. has
struggled, Brown needed to do everything he could to ensure
his team wouldn’t blow the lead. Pasquera, we think, is most
upset that his previously unbeaten team was given a bad draw
by having to face the U.S., a much better team than their
3-2 mark would indicate. He was also outcoached by Brown,
but he'd rather blame everyone but himself. What is Spanish
for "jackass?" (A helpful reader adds:
Literally "burro", but the tone that you're looking
for might better be expressed by "maldito" or "hijo
de puta.")
Hot Jock Alert: We were fast-forwarding through
early-morning coverage when we came across the 211-pound
class of Greco-Roman wrestling. We were stopped by the sight
of Egyptian
Karam Gaber. The 6-footer has an "impressive,
lean-muscled physique, incredible speed and agility
(especially for a big man), and exciting, high-amplitude
throws."
Those
glowing terms aren't from us, but are on his
personal Website; he was savvy enough to have it
updated shortly after he won the gold medal, Egypt's first
in any sport since 1948. He certainly is a showman, as
described by the Sydney Morning Herald: "He flashed a V for
victory sign, shook hands with each of the judges, wrestled
his coach to the ground and was carried off shoulder high by
another member of the Egyptian delegation."
Gaber, 25,
is a better-looking and better-built Vin Diesel. He
totally dominated his opponents, making them look like
practice dummies. Afterwards, he had enough energy left to
perform two full
backflips. Word has it that he might join the
U.S. pro wrestling circuit, though he said he hadn't
decided. His flamboyant personality and his skills may make
him a star. We also know he's single and
owns a company
that manufactures ladies underwear--perfect for pro
wrestling.
Please, enough already of U.S. track athletes
“thanking God” after they win a medal. Does God really care
enough that he/she/whoever caused an athlete from another
country to trip over a hurdle, thereby ensuring an American
win? Wearing one’s religion on one’s sleeve and claiming “no
respect” are the two more wearisome cliches in sports.
The U.S. women’s soccer team went out with a bang, winning a 3-2 overtime
thriller against Brazil. It was the last game as a group for
five American players who put the women’s game on the map
during the past dozen years: Mia Hamm, Joy Fawcett,
Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly and Brandi
Chastain (who famously stripped to her sports bra during
a World Cup win a few years ago). The winning goal was
scored by Abby Wambach.
By all accounts, the Brazilians outplayed the U.S. except on
the scoreboard. As Mike Penner of the Los Angeles
Times wrote: On this night, Brazil was stronger, faster, younger, better
on the ball, more creative, more explosive, more of
everything ... except those two final numbers on the
scoreboard.
Brazil’s coach Rene Simoes was philosophical.
”(Soccer)
is the No. 1 sport in the world,” Simoes said. ”And I think
one of the reasons for that is what happened here today. The
better team did not win.
“So if you
are a fan of one team that is not the best, you are
(encouraged) to go to the stadium to cheer for your team
when they play against a better team, a more famous team, a
more strong team, because your team has a chance to win the
game.
”That is
fascinating. That is what makes (soccer) so loved.“
So we think those judging controversies are the shame
of the Games? The ancient Games had their uproars too. The
worst one happened right during the competition in 364 B.C.
Two neighboring towns, Elis and Pisa, quarreled over which
of them should control the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia.
The fighting involved thousands of people. Greek historian
Xenophon tells us:
"The horse race had been completed, as well as the events of
the
pentathlon
which were held in the
dromos.
The finalists of the pentathlon who had qualified for the
wrestling event were competing in the space between the
dromos
and the altar... The attacking Eleans pursued the allied
enemy ... The allied forces fought from the roofs of the
porticos ... while the Eleans defended themselves from
ground level."
Elis won, but the results of the entire Games were thrown
into dispute because the Sanctuary had changed hands during
the fight.
Wow. And we think the fight over Paul Hamm's gold medal is
pretty epic.
Patricia Nell Warren
It was pretty neat watching the chat session with NBC's
Bob Costas and five of the women from the U.S. soccer
team. As Costas said, many of these women were some of the
pioneering "Title IX" women--and now examples to girls
everywhere of what you can do if you put your mind to it.
The U.S. uniforms are uniformly awful in every
sport. Who the hell was the outfitter--Sportmart Outlet??
The women’s soccer players looked short and squat--when
they're anything but--with bad colors. In Athens, small
countries operating on hand-me-downs have more attractive
outfits. Even
Marcello, the Brazilian beach volleyball cheerleader,
had a better outfit than the Americans.
Brent Mullins
Kudos to NBC for showing the men’s triathlon, live and
in its entirety. Hamish Carterand Bevan Docherty
of New Zealand finished 1-2. The visuals, especially the
overhead of the swimming, were excellent, but the coverage
lacked any quick profiles or voiceovers that could have been
notched in the corner of the screen. For example, they kept
referring to what a great Olympic spirit Aussie Greg Bennett
had, but it would have been much better if they had tape of
him talking about it while he was running.
Bennett showed he had no hard feelings after finishing
fourth behind the two Kiwis and SwissSven Riederer.
"We're
inviting Hamish and Bevan," to his wedding, he said.
The NBC
crew made a point of showing one triathlete’s butt after he
skidded off of his bike. His singlet had holes in the seat
of the pants and we were shown an extended closeup. Also,
some triathletes wore a singlet and others were
bare-midriff. “You have to wonder who likes Britney and who
doesn't?” our Brent Mullins said.
From AP:
Britain's Marc
Jenkins was last to finish in the triathlon, but he
earned some of the loudest cheers of the day. He refused to
drop out after a mechanical problem with his bicycle, and he
carried and rolled the bike up a steep hill until he finally
found help.
It
was hard not to perk up when listening to the commentary
during Greco-Roman wrestling, with constant references to "submissive/dominant
positions." It seems that within wrestling, they don't have
as much of a problem with language and appearances as more
well-known sports. Can you imagine if they referred to
centers in the NFL as in the "submissive" position?
Brent Mullins
Don’t play lawn darts with American javelin thrower Breaux Greer—he might be dangerous. “I
want to throw 200 meters (656 feet),” he joked after the
qualifying round Thursday. “I want to hit somebody in the
crowd.”
One of the most impressive performances of the Olympics came
from China's
Guo Jingjing in the 3-meter springboard final. She
was nearly flawless for two or three turns, making us wonder
what someone might have to do to get a 10 from the judges.
Day 12 of
competition / Aug. 25
We’ve become huge fans of water polo and the men’s
Final Four feature two great matchups. Serbia and
Montenegro, which beat Spain on Wednesday, faces host
Greece. In Friday’s second semifinal, favorite Hungary plays
Russia in what will be a grudge match. The Hungarians are
still pissed at being invaded by the Soviet Union in 1956.
As we’ve said before, we became water polo converts after
covering the world championships in July. These guys are
amazing athletes, and also look great in Speedos. Our
pre-tournament pick of Hungary over Greece for the gold is
still alive. (Photos of Serbia and Montenegro players
taken in Long Beach, Calif., in July by
Brent Mullins. Click
for larger view)
Got this from a reader: “Wow, did you see that kiss
after the two Russian girls found out they had won gold in
the duet synchronized swimming! That was no teammate kiss.
Spontaneous, long, deep and hard right on the lips, right
there on national TV. I would rate it a 10.0 for artistic
and technical merit!” Maybe so, but we know Russians (one of
us used to date one) and they do love to lock lips, even
with friends.
Same-sex kissing is considered OK in Europe, if not in
the U.S., as a gesture that has nothing to do with being
gay. We saw that during the U.S. vs. Greece men's
volleyball game. After a U.S. player made a great point, he
was mobbed by his teammates, who patted him on the shoulder
or embraced him, except for an recent Albania immigrant
player who kissed him on the cheek. And we saw a Greek
player kiss the ball before a serve.
Hot jock alert: U.S. runner Shawn Crawford.
NBC interviewed his shirtless and has a
perfectly sculpted body.
It’s one of the oldest debates in sports: Should an
athlete have sex before a competition? The Greek
newspaper Ta Nea sought out answers and came up some
conclusions: German physicians and Russian psychologists are
in favor of sexual relations prior to a big sports event,
but Israeli experts only approve of sex in the case of women
athletes.
"If the athlete is conditioned by social or religious
factors, the influence of sex is negative. But it has not
been proved scientifically that sex before competing has a
negative effect," said Tassos Stalikas, a Greek
sports psychologist.
Bill O'Reilly is whining again. Tuesday night on his
show, he beefed about how other countries provide state
support for their Olympic athletes ... and this helps them
get medals. Whereas the U.S. government doesn't do that kind
of official funding, so (he says) our poor athletes are on
their own.
Gosh, I thought the U.S. was doing OK on medals. As of
today, we have 76, which is more than anybody else on the
planet. The Chinese, who provide state support to their
team, are runners-up with only 54 medals. Does Bill want the
U.S. to get ALL the medals? Not a crumb left for other
countries? Even the Iraqi soccer team?? And Mongolia, which
got one medal (bronze) so far?
And O'Reilly is wrong to imply that our athletes are without
resources. Maybe the U.S. government doesn't support them --
but U.S. big business does, big time. Like everything else
in American life, our Olympic sports are becoming heavily
"privatized." They benefit from millions of dollars, whether
from the dozens of corporations who are suppliers to the
USOC, or the private patrons of the U.S. Olympic Training
Center and other facilities where athletes train, or pro
sports that send athletes to the Games. In other words,
comparing the U.S. to other countries is like comparing
apples and oranges.
Patricia Nell Warren
The U.S. men’s indoor volleyball team made a comeback
for the ages against Greece. Down 2 sets to 1 and 20-12 in
the fourth set, the Americans rallied to win 25-20, 22-25,
25-27, 25-23, 17-15, to advance to the semifinals.
``I'm not going to lie and say I thought we had a chance to
come back,'' Lloy Ball said, ``because I didn't.'' Said U.S.
teammate Ryan Millar, “I not only have I never played
in anything like this before, but I have never seen anything
like it. You are down, 20-12, in a deciding set, you are
dead. The word incredible doesn’t even work. More like
impossible.”
What’s Greek for sore loser? Greece's captain, Marios
Gkiouradas, didn't take the volleyball defeat well, AP
reported. He angrily grabbed the net and motioned that an
American blocker touched it on the final point -- before
sprinting over to complain to one of the officials.
A few minutes later, Gkiourdas gestured and screamed at some
local reporters for being too critical of him and not
supporting the team enough. ``What on earth can I say?''
Gkiourdas said. ``Somehow, somewhere, the team started to
give up and it went downhill.''
The "show tunes" of dressage is the freestyle finals, that
set the horses dancing to music. The required elements of
the dressage test can be choreographed in a way that shows
off an individual horse's talents. Bravo broadcast the
finals live, and got in the spirit of things with the song
"Boogie Shoes."
Three of the four U.S. dressage riders -- Debbie McDonald
and the two out gay men, Robert Dover and Guenter
Seidel -- made it into the top 15 who comprise a Grand
Prix final. Britain's openly gay rider, Carl Hester, also
made it to the finals. Finals start with the lowest-scoring
pairs from the semifinals, and work their way up -- which
does give a psychological advantage to the highest scorers.
Yesterday morning, barring interventions by the gods and
goddesses, It became pretty clear that only the
highest-scoring of the U.S. three -- McDonald -- had a shot
at a medal. Her combined score, up to then, had her standing
fourth.
The winds were still gusting, making some of the horses
spook. When Dover first entered the arena, Kennedy
seemed tense, but finally relaxed into his boogie shoes. The
pair shot briefly to first, with a a combined final score of
74.713%. But as the higher-scoring riders logged their final
scores, Dover was pushed down to sixth.
Afterwards Dover said: "My horse became a bit nervous in the
beginning, because something bothered him at the back of the
stadium. Then he lost concentration for a while. It is a
pity because we could have had an 80% today. The way he
moved was like he was flying."
I have to admit -- I rooted for McDonald too. It's her first
Olympics. She got her Brentina as a young filly of 3,
so she worked hard to develop Brentina into America's
top-ranking Grand Prix horse. Personally, I thought that she
and Brentina outboogied the Spanish pair,
Beatriz
Ferrer-Salat and Beauvalais, who made more
mistakes. For a few minutes there, it looked like the door
was open for McDonald to nab the bronze, since only two more
riders were left to go. But the judges saw it otherwise, and
gave third to Ferrer-Salat.
After that, the fight for gold was between the two
top-scorers from the previous round – Anky Van Grunsven
and her Salinero (Netherlands), and Ulla Salzgeber
and her Rusty (Germany). Salinero was brilliant, and
provoked a wild ovation from the large crowd. Rusty went a
tad less brilliantly, with a couple of mistakes. So Salinero
won the gold with a combined winning score of 79.253%.
Medals or no medals, it's a tremendous achievement to finish
in the top 10 in Olympic dressage. McDonald did that. So did
our Dover. I was also proud for Seidel and Hester, whose
final placings were 14th and 13th respectively. Each horse
is a uniquely wonderful personality and athletic talent.
Each of the riders invests tremendous hard work and passion
-- some of them for decades, knowing that their faces won't
be on a Wheaties box when the Games are over.
Patricia Nell Warren
Gal Fridman did something that no Israeli athlete had
in that country’s 56-year Olympic history—win a gold medal.
Fridman--who looks like a younger Jerry Seinfeld. won his medal in windsurfing, an event we don’t
believe was held at the ancient Games. "It's a dream come
true, it’s unbelievable that I've become the first Israeli
to win a gold medal," Fridman, 28, told a news conference.
"I felt like the whole country was watching me and pushing
me from behind."
"For us, for the people who
live in Israel, this warms your heart," Gilad Mulyan,
one of three Israelis among 250 on a boat who watched
Fridman win the Mistral race, told the New York Times. "When
Gal won, he came over to us and said, 'Hi.' The Greeks
around us on the boat, they were all clapping and cheering
for him, yelling, 'Go, Gal.' Everyone was together in
celebration. It was a very special moment."
The U.S. isn’t the only place where winning athletes stand
to cash in on their title. Israeli marketing experts
say Fridman’s windsurfing gold will be worth a lot to him in
advertising. "If Fridman has a clever lawyer, he will
understand that his value will be very high next week, but
it will drop as time goes by," the CEO of a major ad firm
told the Haaretz newspaper. "The advertiser who features
Fridman in his campaign will want to harness the deep
emotions that many citizens feel about Fridman and what he
represents, but he will want to strike the iron while its
still hot.”
Day 11 of
competition / Aug. 24
Tears. Hugs. Kisses. Were we watching the Olympics or Oprah?
It was hard to tell on Tuesday, as emotion—both happy and
sad—dominated the day.
The track competition featured two top
athletes who cried their eyes out for different reasons. In
the men’s 1,500 meters, Morocco’s Hicham el Guerrouj
had won every significant title in his event expect for one:
Olympic gold. But he added that on Tuesday with a terrific
home stretch run against Bernard Lagat of Kenya, the
kind of race that makes Olympic track so compelling.
After he won, Guerrouj
collapsed on the track in exhaustion and joy, a far
different feeling than four years ago when he won silver and
felt he let his country down. He then started to sob
uncontrollably. "Four years ago, I cried tears of sadness;
today I cry tears of joy," Guerrouj said.
Guerrouj was given a run for his money in the race for
Kleenex gold by Canada’s Perdita Felicien, the
favorite in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Felicien
approached the first hurdle and for some reason came up
short. She clipped the top and went stumbling into the next
lane, her hurdle taking out Irina Shevchenko of
Russia.
A horrified Felicien buried her head in her
hands as she leaned back against the hurdle and started
crying. An equally horrified Shevchenko realized her chance
of a medal was sent sprawling by the clumsy Canadian.
Felicien said, "I'm going to go home and
bawl my eyes out." Hope she also apologizes to
Shevchenko.
Emotion wasn’t limited to the track. Americans Misty May
and Kerri Walsh were dominant in winning the beach
volleyball gold medal against Brazilians Shelda Bede
and Adriana Behar. May and Walsh did not lose a game
in any of their matches.
After it was over, May and Walsh
embraced each other on the sand, looking like a
couple of Northampton, Mass., newlyweds on their honeymoon.
Some
are the best at what they do. Some are the nicest at what
they do.
That's why they have a Miss USA, and a Miss Congeniality.
It's truly rare to have them combined, and when it's comes
to the #1 player in the world in beach volleyball, you've
got them both in one person: Walsh (right) teamed up with
May, rated by most to be the #2 player in the world.
But you wouldn't know that when talking to the gold-medal
winning MVP of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament.
"She worked her butt off and showed the world how absolutely
fabulous she is. She's the best player in the world" Walsh
said of May, her partner in winning 90 straight matches in
the last year.
In watching Walsh on the court, she is disciplined, fierce
and incredibly competitive. She wants to win every point,
and will do what it takes to win. But she doesn't throw
tantrums, she's generous to other players, and doesn't strut
or give attitude despite being Queen of the Beach.
Off the court, she is always friendly and unaffected with
fans, humble and encouraging with other players, supportive
of their achievements and empathetic with their failings.
Now Walsh has a gold medal to go with her well-deserved
golden halo.
Brent Mullins
Holly McPeak (photo, left) has won more career
victories, tournaments and prize money than any woman in
beach volleyball history. Her previous partner was Misty
May in the 2000 Olympics, where they finished 5th. With
the shortening of the beach court, blocking became more
important, so she teamed up with the taller Elaine Youngs,
resulting in more victories and a bronze medal, losing to
Walsh/May in the semifinals.
Brent Mullins
Walsh, McPeak and Youngs photos by
Brent Mullns
Hot
jock alert: By popular acclaim from the Outsports
message board, this honor goes to decathlon champion
Roman Sebrle of Czech. How can you not like a guy
who will pose literally
butt naked. Said one poster: “Photos of Serble do
not do his hottness justice.” Said another: “My God, that
man is sexy.”
One also can’t ignore the other two decathlon
medalists, Bryan Clay of the U.S. (silver) and Kazakhstan’s
Dimitry Karpov (bronze). Clay is of
mixed ethnicity and stands about 5-10 and weighs
175. Karpov is 6-5, 185 with a
skin colorthat is best described as translucent.
They are all incredible athletes.
Hot
commentator alert: NBC News’
Richard Engel may have impressed us more Tuesday
than any athlete. He is an excellent reporter who has
excelled in covering Iraq, both before, during and after the
war. On Tuesday, he was assigned to report on the Iraq men’s
soccer match. Engel interviewed a player after the match (an
Iraqi loss) and spoke to him in Arabic, then translated his
answers back. It was impressive, considering many Western
reporters and diplomats in Iraq can’t speak a lick of
Arabic.
The
U.S. women’s water polo team collapsed at the worst possible
time, losing in the semifinals to Italy, 6-5, when
Manuela Zanchi of Italy got a shot past Jacqueline Frank
for the winning goal with only 2 seconds remaining. The
Americans built a 4-2 lead, then rallied to tie the game at
5. It appeared headed to extra time when the Italians
inexplicably scored.
We
loved this column in the Toronto Globe and Mail by
Margaret Wente on the real reason people watch
the Olympics:
“Not
everybody minds that the pure spirit of the Olympics has
been diluted by the addition of women and all kinds of silly
pseudo-sports. My husband, for example, rather likes it. He
is an avid student of women's beach volleyball, which he
thinks is a noble addition to the Games. He also loves the
Amazons who run around the track. He adores the female
wrestlers … Speaking for myself, I don't know beans about
the men's backstroke or the fly, but I appreciate the broad
shoulders and narrow hips of the swimmers and the gymnasts
in their itty-bitty skin-tight suits. My husband swears that
half of them are gay, but I think he's just being mean. …
“The real
reason we watch the Olympics is to ogle the superbly formed
young men and women as they slap their perfectly muscled
young thighs and flex their rippling young biceps. Who cares
who wins the medals? Not us. The whole point of the Olympics
is to celebrate youth and beauty, eroticism and sex. The
Greeks knew this. That's why they performed nude.”
Those many rows of seats continue to be
empty because the threat of terrorism frightened
tourists away, right? Wrong. There are several reasons for
the empty seats, and terrorism is probably the least of
them. The new venues are extra-large, looking to a future
that will hopefully bring more sports tourism to Greece.
This gave the organizers an extra challenge to fill seats.
Over the weekend, attendance did improve -- but only up to
78 percent for the popular events like track and field,
beach volleyball and weightlifting.
But the biggest reason for empty seats is the average Greek
can't afford the ticket prices! There are 1.9 million
unsold tickets, and the biggest immediate source for
spectators is the Greek people. With its suburbs, Athens
has a population of 3.5 million. But Greece is a poor
country. Some events cost $300, with most tickets ranging
from $12 to $36. Even the cheap seats are beyond the reach
of most people.
Greeks have openly expressed their alienation from these
Games, but you'll hear these comments only in the indie
media, because the major U.S. media have ignored them.
Tonight I was watching "Road to Athens" on WorldLink TV.
The producers interviewed a lot of Greeks -- taxi drivers,
shopkeepers, etc. Over and over, people said, "We're glad
the Games have come home to Greece. But the Olympics are
for rich people, not for us."
As the Games draw to a close, the organizers have nothing to
lose, so they should slash prices. Paper the house if they
have to. Anything to get Athenians in the door, so they can
feel a profound personal connection in these Games that
supposedly reflect so much national history and pride. But
the organizers say they have no plans to discount tickets.
Shame on them!
Patricia Nell Warren
The ancient chronicles tell us how the gods
and goddesses can make the winds come and go. During the
games that Achilles organized for his lover
Patroclus, the funeral pyre wouldn't burn until the
deities sent wind to fan the fire. Every part of the world
has its seasonal winds -- the sirocco, the mistral, the
foehn, the santa anas. In Greece it's the meltemia, and it
comes in August.
Now the divine Olympians have sent the winds to make things
more interesting for the human Olympians. We've watched the
tennis and baseball players fighting the meltemia. Javelin
throwers and shooters have to calculate windage. Rowers and
kayakers and sailors were prepared to bail out.
And wind will be the wild card in the dressage finals.
Horses are very sensitive to the changes in ionization
produced by wind -- they get nervous and frisky. Medals will
go to the riders best able to keep their horses quiet.
Patricia Nell Warren
Day 10 of
competition / Aug. 23
Scenario #1: It’s a football game and a running back
goes 75 yards for the touchdown. But he is only awarded 5
points instead of 6 based on “technical merit.”
Scenario
#2: It’s a football game and a running back goes 75
yards but is tackled on the 1 as time runs out. The crowd
goes nuts, booing wildly. The referees huddle, then change
the spot and award the touchdown.
The above
is basically what happened Monday night during the men’s
gymnastics high bar, and showed why ultimately the sport is
lame. You have incredible athletes performing incredible
feats, yet it all comes down to the addled brain of some
judge who must have been watching “Pimp My Ride” instead of
the competition.
The great
Russian
“Sexy Alexei" Nemov performed what to us looked
like an amazing routine. NBC’s announcers called it
brilliant. The crowd oohed and ahhed and went crazy over the
routine. The judges then award Nemov the lowest score of the
competitors to date, basically because he slightly stumbled
on his landing.
Thejeering(European audiences whistle and
jeer, not boo) went on for 10 minutes, an amazing sight, the
crowd pointing thumbs down and chanting. The cameras caught
the head judge conferring with the other judges, basically
trying to figure a way out. All the time the NBC announcing
crew was heaping scorn on the scoring.
Finally,
the score was adjusted, but Nemov still was basically out of
medal contention. The gold went to an excellent effort by
Italy’s Igor Cassina, who beat out Paul Hamm
on a tiebreaker. The Washington Post quoted a Russian
reporter who said Nemov thought favoritism was at work. "He
says that everything was decided before," the reporter
quoted Nemov as saying.
It did seem
that Nemov was royally screwed by the judges, yet if they
are the experts why let a crowd change the score? The head
of international gymnastics would not comment. And their
changes still didn’t seem to reflect Nemov’s brilliance and
was made more baffling when Hamm was given a higher score
for a routine that was nothing special. The whole thing is a
mess. Bring on track, where we all know who won (at least
until the post-match drug test).
Say
goodbye to the medal chances of the U.S. men’s water polo
team. They were blown out, 9-4, by a tough Serbian and
Montenegro team and will miss the medal round. The Americans
played their best game against Hungary, losing 7-5 in a
match they could have won. Since then they looked flat
against Russia and overmatched against the Serbs. (U.S.
team, photo shot in Long Beach, Calif., last month by Brent
Mullins / Outsports. Click for larger view).
Hot Jock Alert:
Igor Cassina, the high bar winner, looked amazing. As
they played the Italian national anthem, he closed his eyes
to keep from crying (it appeared) when the crowd started
singing along. His effort on the high bar was wonderful and
took some of the sting away from what had been a
controversial night.
Eminem won the men’s 400 meters on Monday night,
leading an American sweep. Baylor’s
Jeremy Warnier (he of the earring and shades) got
the gold and there was no escaping a simple fact: he’s
white. It was mentioned in dozens of articles about Warnier,
and how he became the first white guy to win the race since
1964.
It wasn’t
just the press who noticed Warnier’s race. "I've never seen
a white man run that fast," said Grenada's Alleyne
Francique, who finished fourth. "It was a blazing race,
man. The kid is good."
Warnier
would have none of the racial talk.
"It's your ability that makes you
- not what race, ethnicity, gender, whatever," Wariner said.
"It's your ability and how you use it." Said silver medalist
Otis Harris: "Race has nothing to do with it.
I'm so glad when people take down stereotypes, that's one of
the most important things in athletics and our attitude in
our country, and that's what Jeremy's doing."
It’s still
sad that we continue to talk about race in sports, when it’s
more about opportunity and attitude. Tiger Woods didn’t let
his “race” stop him from crashing what had been an
overwhelmingly white sport. One no longer hears that blacks
can’t play quarterback.
Attitude is
also prevalent. We’ve heard NBA players praise white
Europeans who come into the league for having none of the
baggage that American-born whites often have. The Europeans
simply don’t believe that “white men can’t jump.”
"Everybody seems to think there is a genetic superiority,"
Wariner’s coach Clyde Hart said recently when asked
about the drought of white sprinters, according to the
Philadelphia Daily News. "I'm just saying that in my opinion
that's not true. The kids just aren't out there competing. I
think a lot of white youngsters are discouraged. Somebody is
telling them it's a black sport. It's not. It's a sport for
anybody - black, white, red, Chinese."
The
standing ovation for Greek weightlifter Pyrros Dimas,
as he mounted the podium to claim a bronze medal, gives us
something to think about. It went on and on for many
minutes, as the Greeks paid tribute to an athlete who became
a legend in his sport and will retire after the Athens
Games. The gold and silver medalists had to wait for the
uproar to run its course.
Sometimes even an athlete will behave as if gold bling is
all that matters. As if getting "only" a silver or bronze
is a shame ...and getting edged out of the medals is the end
of the world. By that standard Dimas finished his career
with "only a bronze." It's sad to see Russia's
Svetlana Khorkina
throw her hissy-fit about getting silver instead of gold in
women's all-around gymnastics -- there doesn't seem to be
much support for her contention that the judges "cheated"
her, and she puts a shadow onto the close of her own career.
Many GLBT sports fans get sucked into this obsession with
gold medals. We value the efforts of our out athletes only
by whether they result in special achievements like Greg
Louganis' run of golds.
Some out lesbians saw their hopes dashed in Athens.
Germany's Imke Duplitzer has been German and European
champion, as well as world military champion, in women's
saber. She was beaten out in quarterfinals. But that
doesn't change the fact that she is a brilliant athlete.
There are those who might feel that Amelie Mauresmo
won "just a silver" in women's singles tennis in Athens. Or
that Dutch swimmer Johan Kenkhuis "only" won silver
in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay. Or that Martina
Navratilova somehow let us gay folk down because the
U.S. women's doubles team finished out of the tennis
medals. Corporate pressures, with gold medalists getting
the endorsements and the job offers, and all other medalists
being more or less ignored -- are a regrettable influence
here.
But it's important to respect the huge effort that it takes
to get to the Olympics, and the overall contribution that
top athletes make, that can't be counted just in bling.
Today the U.S.'s out riders Guenter Seidel and
Robert Dover turned in good performances in the Grand
Prix Special phase of the individual dressage medals, though
the wind was making horses edgy. The finals are on the
25th. Meanwhile Robert Dover had it right when he said
simply, "My parents saw me doing a good job."
Patricia Nell Warren
NBC’s
annoying Jimmy Roberts did a feature on rivalries in
the Olympics. What an awful segment! We never actually heard
any current Olympic athlete talk about his/her biggest
rival, or fans from other countries saying something like,
"I root for France and whoever plays Germany." It was a
waste of five minutes.
Opposing view: Yesterday we ripped NBC for showing
the entire Japan-China softball game, saying it was deadly
dull and a waste of air time. To our surprise, prolific
Outsports poster Joe in Philly actually liked
the game. “I have to tell you that late Saturday night while
I was continuing my project of loading my iPod with songs
from my CDs, I had the Japan-China softball game on in the
background and found myself surprisingly interested. I ended
up turning off the PC and watching the final couple of
innings. … It wasn't bad, considering that it's not Major
League Baseball and no hot guys were involved.”
The U.S. women's gold medal softball win had all the
suspense of a Soviet election.
Day 9 of
competition / Aug. 22
The Olympics have lost
a tad of their luster now that the swimming competition
is over. The events were all well contest with many
countries having excellent swimmers. The U.S. won the most
medals, but does not totally dominate the sport like it used
to.
We
became even more interested this year after covering the
Janet Evans Invitational in Long Beach, Calif. (click
on these terrific images by Brent Mullins for a larger view.
The swimmer at the left is Ryk Neethling, a gold
medalist from South Africa).
The athletes, most of them world class, were nonetheless
polite and accessible. We had the same experience in
covering the men’s world water polo finals, and have become
huge fans of the sport.
In Athens, the swimming
featured some amazing individual and relay races. Our
personal favorites were the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay, won
by South Africa, and the 4x200 freestyle relay won by the
U.S.
Hot jocks alert:
It was an awesome scene watching the
men’s four without coxswain rowing event, won by
Denmark. After the race, the second Danish rower climbed to
the back of the boat to greet the fourth rower. No. 4 pulled
No. 2 down by his head and kissed the top of it. No. 2 then
hugged him and returned the kiss on No. 4’s cheek. It was
hot and endearing at the same time.
We talked to a former rowing
Olympian after the U.S. men’s eights team won gold.
Turns out he had a role in picking the coach for the team.
At one point, the rowing powers that be had decided the
coach needed to go, but our friend demanded they stuck with
him. Good decision.
There has been a lot of talk of history surrounding
these Olympics in Athens. From the - shot put event
harkening back to the ancient games to the events
surrounding the stadium that was the site of the first
modern Olympics in 1896, all the way up to these games which
have been checkered with world record, history has pervading
seemingly every sport. But none more so than the women’s
marathon.
We have been amazed in the last couple days, talking to
friends and readers, to find that a lot of people don’t
realize the history of the marathon. In 490 B.C., according
to Greek legend, a man named Philippides ran from the
Greek town of Marathon to Athens to tell the Athenians of a
military victory over the Persians. That trek ran 26 miles
and, upon delivering the news, Philippides collapsed dead.
The 1896 Olympics decided to commemorate the run with a race
from Marathon to Athens that drew 25 participants. “And now
you know … the rest of the story.”
Watching the women’s marathon (or, rather, the first 10
minutes and the last 10 minutes) we were overwhelmed with
the amazing feat these people accomplish. It almost
seems their gold medal should be bigger than some other
athletes. To run 26 miles in under 2 1/2 hours (that’s 26
straight miles averaging under six-minute miles) takes years
of incredible dedication and personal physical torture.
American
Deena Kastor gave us a great moment as she ran to a
bronze medal in the women’s marathon. Realizing she was
going to medal, Kastor was sobbing as she finished the final
lap. She said later that going through her mind were all the
people who helped her and all the hard work it took to get
to that spot. She is the first American women’s marathon
medalist in 20 years. The
worst commentator award for NBC’s Athens crew goes to Nancy
Newman. In an interview with Kastor before the race, she
bumbled and stumbled through the questioning, asking bad
questions to begin with. It gives great hope to everyone
else hoping to become a TV sports commentator.
The favorite in the
marathon, Paula Radcliffe, had a much different
experience. As she faded to fourth, she simply stopped and
quit with 3 ½ miles to go. She tried to start again, then
sat on the curb and burst into tears. It’s unclear
why she dropped out, but she was too distraught to speak
afterwards. A huge crowd of Brits at the stadium sat stunned
as they saw her drop out on the giant TV screen. Said
ex-running star Steve Cram to the BBC: “I feel
so sorry for Paula Radcliffe but she must have been in
absolute turmoil when she made the difficult decision to
pull out of the marathon.”
Some out lesbians at the Games have seen their hopes
dashed. Like Germany's Imke Duplitzer in women's
saber. he had been German and European champion, as well as
world military champion, and consistently high in world
rankings. But Duplitzer was beaten 15-14 in quarterfinals
by Maureen Nisima of France.
Amelie Mauresmo came to Athens with high hopes too.
She told the press, "I’m feeling good about everything.
There’s such pride in being at the Olympics, it's a more
emotional tournament than any other event I play." As she
played another lesbian player Spain's Conchita Martinez,
her backhands were so spectacular that the usually quiet
tennis crowd applauded. She beat Martinez, 6-1, 6-4.
But the feel-good ended when Mauresmo got dusted by
Justine Henin-Hardenne, 6-3, 6-3. "She started very,
very strongly," Mauresmo told the press. "She didn't give me
a chance to play my game." Watching Henin-Hardenne break up
Mauresmo's game, it was hard to believe she was coming off a
four-month hiatus because of a virus.
Patricia Nell Warren
What a shame to see Gail Devers go down with an
injury in the 100-meter hurdles. A great Olympic champion,
it, unfortunately, was the way too many athletes end their
careers when they try to sty too long.
Matthew Emmons made perhaps the bonehead move of the
Games. Emmons, an American who had already won one gold
medal in rifle shooting, blew a chance for a second
when he shot at the wrong target! Emmons went from first to
last after firing at a competitor's target. "Crap happens,"
said the 23-year-old accountant. "I'll live to shoot another
day." After his debacle, Emmons said he was ready for a
beer; we bet he had more than one and hope he didn't drink
out of the wrong bottle.
What is the point of
having women’s softball in the Olympics? The U.S. has
won all eight games by shutout and is so dominant that
another team scoring a run would be an accomplishment.
Softball does not have much interest worldwide and it barely
kept its Olympics status in 2002. There is nothing more
boring than watching a lopsided softball game, which is why
we’ve fast-forwarded through all the action this week.
If they are going to
allow sports where one country dominates, we suggest Buzkashi, the Afghan version of polo, where they
use a goat’s head instead of a ball. We’re certain it would
establish a cult following.
NBC can’t be bothered to show water polo games in
their entirety (there are only four seven-minutes period)
but can show us the entire 1-0, eight-inning Japan vs. China
softball game? They show only four high jumpers and a
total of eight jumps but can show us the entire Japan vs.
China softball game? Gee, they must have had at least 5
people in the U.S. who cared. We defy anyone to sit through
watching a 1-0, extra-inning softball game, men’s or
women’s. Softball’s a fun sport to play, OK to watch in
person but deadly dull on TV.
Watching Sweden’s Stefan Holm clear 7-8 ¾ was
amazing. In high school, Outsports' own Cyd high jumped a
whopping 5-10 in the high jump. The event is probably the
most psychological in track and field, along with pole
vault. They’re the only events that end with, at most, one
person clearing a particular height or distance and everyone
else hitting that hanging bar.
We're over with gymnastics. The eye candy is nice, but
enough already. Why do they have to have performances for
the team; then different performances for all-around; then
different performances still for individual events? Just
lump it all together for crying out loud.
Then there’s the haphazard scoring in Sunday’s floor
exercise. Canada’s Kyle Shewfelt and Romania’s
Marian Dragulescu ended the event with identical scores.
To the thousandth of a point. The same. They got the same
score. Yet, “due to procedures blah blah blah…,” Shewfelt
gets a gold and Dragulescu gets the silver. It turns out
that the organizers didn’t want any ties, so they created a
secondary board of judges to break ties. Pathetic.
The lack of judges is one big advantage for track and
field. There is no question, no matter how close, who won.
In both a women’s 100m hurdle semi-final heats, and the
men’s 100m dash final saw the top four runners finish within
four hundredths of a second of one another. Now questions.
No mystery. No talk afterward about how someone got screwed.
Watching the gymnastics, Romania's Marius Urzica is a
dead ringer (no pun intended there) for Freddie Mercury, no?
Didn't those mustaches go out in the '80s?
Day 8 of
competition / Aug. 21
It
was one of the most touching and adorable moment we’ve seen
at the Games, and it came during the medal ceremony for the
men’s single sculls rowing, won by
Olaf Tufte of Norway. CNBC showed the entire
ceremony (bravo!) and we saw Tufte try to keep his composure
as he was handed flowers and his gold medal and a laurel
wreath was placed on his head.
But
tears starting welling up on this man, the
tenderness belying his strong, muscular body. Suddenly, the
silver and bronze medalists
hoisted him on their shoulders and he smiled. Then
he did a quick double biceps flex (show us more!) and was
lowered down. His national anthem started and so did the
tears. He cried with a smile and it was very moving and
uplifting. Sometimes sports gets it right.
Michael Phelps won by not even swimming. Phelps, who
gave up his spot on the 4x100 medley relay team to Ian
Crocker, won his sixth gold medal because he had swam in
the prelims of the event. His move was classy but also good
PR and NBC showed about as much of him during the race as
they did the guys in the pool.
The relay was a measure of
redemption for both Crocker and Jason Lesak, each of
whom had an Olympics that were less than they expected.
Lesak (photo right) had been a disappointment in his
individual freestyle events.
Do
the gods and goddesses know something we don't? The ancient
Games were pretty gay-friendly, and heavy on
equestrian drama. Today, the Olympic horse events enjoy
growing popularity ... and four of the 11 out athletes in
Athens are dressage riders.
Yesterday and today, in the team competition, Robert
Dover on Kennedy, and Guenter Seidel on
Aragon, turned in good enough rides to boost the U.S.
into the team medals (bronze, for the fourth straight
time). Great Britain's Carl Hester and his
Escapado scored high enough to place 4th on the first
day, though his good ride wasn't enough to put his country
into the medals.
Outsports has learned (thanks to readers) that New Zealand
eventing rider Blythe Tait can be added to the list.
Make that 4 out of 11 out athletes who are Athens
equestrians. The gods and
goddesses
are smiling tonight.
Tait is one of New Zealand's most distinguished riders, with
four Olympic medals and a world championship to his credit.
He enjoys the same respect and honor in N.Z. that Robert
Dover does in the U.S. At 43, Tait says that Athens will
be his fourth and last Olympics. He told the press: "Who
knows, if I miss it badly I might have another crack but I'm
not getting any younger and I'm not performing like I used
too." Tait will be shifting gears into Thoroughbred
breeding and racing.
In Athens, Tait's final bid for eventing medals was nixed by
severe nervousness by his horse, Ready Teddy, a
Thoroughbred. In the individual rankings the pair placed
18th in stadium jumping. 20th in dressage, 33rd in
crosscountry. Yet his gallant efforts did contribute to NZ
being 5th in the team rankings.
Of course
nobody mentions the G word out there. The network
commentators aren't saying, "And now Robert Dover of the
U.S. is entering the arena on FBW Kennedy, and by the way,
he's gay." But the fact is -- these 11 are out in high
profile, and the sky doesn't fall. The dressage judges
don't seem to be showing any prejudice against these three
guys in the scoring. It's all about how much of an athlete
you are. And that's the way it should be.
Hot Jock Alert:
Check out France's Olympic champions Sebastien
Vielledent and Adrien Hardy, the best in the
men's double sculls final.
The
U.S. losing in men’s basketball to Lithuania isn’t a
huge shocker. It's clear that much of the rest of the world
is catching up with the US in their ability to field an
international basketball team. With so many top stars (read:
Laker losers) opting out of the Olympics, the US has been
stuck with fielding a less-than-perfect team. If the US is
interested in winning a gold medal in the coming years, they
should abandon this "dream team" idea and have the NBA
Champion that year head to the Olympics. If the Detroit
Pistons took the court this year, they'd take it as a team -
not like the patchwork of talent this team seems to be.
Lithuania was led by Sarunas Jasikevicius's , who
made 9 of 14 shots, including 7 of 12 3-point attempts,
scoring 28 points. But he hasn’t gotten much attention from
NBA scouts and he thinks he knows why. "That I'm a slow, fat
white guy. The international scouts come to see me, but they
don't have much pull," he said.
Jasikevicius attended the University of Maryland, and his
English is pretty good. He was interviewed on NBC after the
game and basically shouted out props in Lithuanian to his
people back in the States; it seemed to catch announcer
Craig Sager by surprise.
The
U.S. women’s basketball team could give their male
counterparts some pointers. They are 4-0 and in group play
and are the odds-on favorite to win gold.
There was shocker at women’s pole vault when defending
Olympic champion Stacy Dragila failed to qualify for the finals. Dragila has gotten a lot of
press for her athletic skills and
hot bod, which she never minded showing off.
We
wonder why water polo isn't a more popular sport. After
watching the great game between Russia and the US today
(which Russia won, 9-7), we'll be watching more closely for
water polo matches on the schedule in the next few days. And
it's not just because the men are beautiful with
beautiful bodies. As we've mentioned, it's a brutal
sport. Sans the ice, stick and puck, it's a lot like hockey
- with quite a bit more scoring and quite a bit less
clothing.
The
U.S. loss was a killer to their hopes of reaching the
quarterfinals. To qualify, they need to beat Serbia and
Montenegro and get some help. The Americans looked a bit
flat against Russia, after playing so crisply against
Hungary.
The
controversy surrounding Paul Hamm's gold medal (a
Korean gymnast was scored incorrectly and would have won the
gold) is case-in-point why the luster on judged events
doesn't shine as brightly for us as other events.
Gymnastics, like diving, rely on human interpretation - and,
thus, bias and human error. We wish we had a better way to
score the events – for now, we'll all just have to live with
errors and opinion-driven medals like Hamm's.
Some may
say that Hamm’s medal is tainted, but we disagree. He did
all he was asked and it’s not his fault that the judges
didn’t live up to their standards. NBC’s Tim Daggett was
terrific in explaining that on review there were dozens of
instances where perhaps the right degree of difficulty was
miscalculated, and that focusing on the error that cost
Yang Tae-young the gold medal would open a Pandora’s
box.
The South
Koreans recognize the touchy nature of the controversy. "We
want this misjudgment to be corrected," said Yoo Jae Soon,
an officer from the South Korean delegation. "But we do not
want to break Paul Hamm's heart and take his gold medal
away. He is a proud Olympic champion. If they share the
medal, that would be better." We’re not sure this is an
ideal solution, but it could be a compromise all can live
with.
For the first time since 1980 (when the U.S. did not
compete), an American woman is not the 100-meters champion.
That honor goes to Yuliya Nesterenko from Belarus,
who broke 11 seconds (10.93) for the first time and won the
gold medal.
Belarus is a downtrodden country overshadowed by its
neighbor Russia. The kinds of amenities that elite U.S.
athletes take for granted are often not available there. For
example, Nesterenko credits part of her success to the
ability of her husband, the 400-meter runner Dmitriy
Nesterenko, to moved out of her parents' house and into
their own apartment, the New York Times reports. Living with
the folks can certainly put a crimp in things.
It
was a cute moment when 20-year-old American Lauryn
Williams, who finished second to Nesterenko, was heard
saying: "I'll take the silver."
Day 7 of
competition / Aug. 20
Gary Hall Jr. holds the title as the fastest man in the
pool, by beating Croatia’s (and the University of
California’s)
Duje Draganjaby one-hundredth of a second in the
men’s 50-meter freestyle. Hall didn’t swim below 21.5
seconds, as he had boasted about before the Games, but don’t
think he’s complaining.
Hall is a
great showman, who flexes and preens in pre-race warm-ups.
He’s quotable and funny, and while he pisses off some of his
competitors (who see him as arrogant), Hall realizes that
sports need an element of showmanship. He also takes time to
enjoy life.
“He has
cast aside the conventional methods of training, and holed
up in Islamorada, Fla., inviting elite sprinters from around
the world to migrate to the Keys,” the Washington Post said.
“They swim some, spear fish some more, box each other -
whatever comes to mind, as long as it generally steers clear
of the drudgery normally associated with training to be an
elite swimmer. ‘It's OK to have fun,’ “Hall said.
Draganja, the silver medalist, who trains with Hall,
said: "I don't know, maybe some people hate him. But I love
him for this. I love the way he is. He's a guy with an open
heart - and he's special."
(Gary Hall photo by Brent Mullins / Outsports.com. Taken
in June in Long Beach)
There was a funny article in the Wall Street Journal on
Friday about how athletes dread the random drug test,
where testers can barge in almost any time. Hall recounted a
recent experience:
Mr. Hall … was eating dinner recently in his Florida home
with a visiting British lord and some other British
dignitaries when the doorbell rang. His wife was serving her
specialty; they'd uncorked a fine bottle of Pinot Noir.
The drug testers were friendly but insistent. "They set down
their paraphernalia on the table next to the Cornish game
hen," Mr. Hall recalls. The testers lingered at the
candlelit table for a half-hour or so, bantering with guests
about real estate, as Mr. Hall guzzled several glasses of
water.
"Any time people are waiting around for you to pee in a cup,
it's awkward," the swimmer says.
Hot Jock Alert 1:
Vicente Escobedo, a 132-pound boxer from Woodland,
Calif., lost his second-round match on Friday. Too bad. We
wouldn't have minded seeing more of him. Besides, what has
happened to U.S. boxing? So many of the American hopefuls
have fallen so early, you'd think they were the Miami
Dolphins.
It’s
kind of odd, but it seems that
Michael Phelps is getting a bit less coverage than
one would have expected for someone who has won five gold
medals (four individuals) and two bronzes. What happened was
that all the incredible pre-Olympics hype focused on Phelps
tying or passing Mark Spitz’s mark of seven gold
medals. When this goal became unattainable early in the
Games, it seemed as if much of the media moved on.
Had there
been little of the buildup, the media interest would have
built as Phelps kept winning. It’s not that Phelps is being
ignored (NBC interviews him after every race), it’s just
that the media and public attention waned once it became
clear Spitz’s mark would stand. It’s probably been good for
Phelps, who has come across as more relaxed compared to the
first day or so of competition.
Friday, in
the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps came from behind to edge
American Ian Crocker. Phelps was obsessed with
beating Crocker, waking up every day to a giant poster of
Crocker staring at him over his bed. In
looking at Crocker, we think it’s something that might
catch on, even among non-swimmers.
Phelps did a classy thing by giving up his spot in
Saturday’s 4x100 medley relay to Crocker, to give him a
chance to win gold. Phelps will also get whatever medal is
won, since he swam the race in the prelims. As our astute
colleague Brent Mullins points out, there’s little
downside to Phelps’ actions:
Phelps may
be giving a gift to Crocker, but I think it's a pretty
shrewd PR move as well. Crocker--healthy--is within a
hairbreadth of Phelps in that swim, and the U.S. is heavily
favored for the relay. So if the U.S. wins gold, Phelps
still gets another gold medal AND appears to be a generous
guy too! A PR coup! And if for some reason the US doesn't
win, the implication is always there they would have won
with Phelps.
Phelps doesn't have to prove anything at this point, so why
not humanize himself and go out with that point being made
in capital letters at the end of his run? It sure beats
spinning his Escalade wheels again for the camera!
Greek Olympic organizers don’t think sex sells. They
have gone to court to stop newsstands from selling the
latest edition of Playboy (they were unsuccessful). They are
upset by headlines such as "2004 seconds of ecstasy" and "Go for a
Sexathon gold," saying they corrupt the Olympic image.
Give us a
break. The original Olympians competed naked, and in 2004
the beach volleyball game all feature scantily clad dancers
who perform during breaks. In addition, while the male beach
volleyballers must wear shirts (unlike on the pro tour), the
women are required to be in a bikini. On the wire photo
services, we’ve seen about as many tight close-ups of female
players’ butts as we have them in action. What’s Greek for
hypocrisy?
Speaking of beach volleyball, Mullins, a devotee of the
sport (and a great photog), is critical of the way the U.S.
awarded Olympic spots, based on an arcane point system. This
was especially noticeable with the team of Dain
Blanton and Jeff Nygaard, who lost all three
matches and weren’t speaking to each other on or off the
court.
“I think that the yearlong point system they worked out
doesn't take into account which team is hot at the moment,
and can come through during the really big matches,” Mullins
said. “I think the top 16 players or so know each other so
well, that almost any of them could be paired up and you'd
have a great team. Maybe they should have either a much
shorter qualifying period, or do the gymnast kind of thing
where they have one picked that way, and the other team
picked from a qualifying pool. It's just going to be
embarrassing if Dax
Holdren and Stein Metzger
don't win considering it's a U.S. sport.”
Holdren and Metzger, the 12th seeds, are psyched after
beating a fourth-seeded German team in the quarterfinals.
Their success, though, still doesn’t compensate for the odd
selection system.
When
NBC track and field commentator Tom Hammond was on
the screen, we thought, "since when is Harvey Fierstein
doing Olympics commentary?" Hammond may look like Fierstein,
but the color analyst doing judo sounds like Harvey’s twin.
We expect him to break out in a torch song.
We
were watching Day No. 27 of women's gymnastics and were
suddenly taken back to third grade gym class. Trampolines?
Since when is the trampoline an Olympic-caliber event? The
balance beam is bad enough.
The
cadence of the starting gun in some of the initial
track and field sprint heats was strange. You generally
expect a good two seconds between "set" and the gun.
Instead, they were giving some of the sprinters half that.
At that level, the officials really should be conforming to
the accepted standards.
Day 6 of
competition / Aug. 19
Austrian swimmer
Markus Rogan is our Olympic hero. Rogan finished
second to American Aaron Piersol in the men’s
200-meter backstroke. But a judge disqualified Piersol and,
until the judge was overruled and Piersol reinstated, Rogan
was an Olympic champion.
But Rogan, who swims for Stanford and who was totally
gracious when we saw him at the Janet Evans meet in
June (see photo right by Brent Mullins), knew Piersol
was the better man and had won fair and square. He told
Piersol after the initial ruling that it was unfair and
should be appealed. Afterwards, he was happy with his silver
and made a quote that we love:
"Aaron is a very honest person,” Rogan said. “I am sure he
swam fairly. For a moment, I thought about gold and the idea
was just beautiful, but after all, it's fair like this. No
medal is as beautiful as a friendship."
Stanford has a
page devoted to its students who are competing in
Athens. With three medals won to date, Stanford jocks have
won more than those from Brazil, India, Portugal or Brazil.
Stanford has three silvers in swimming, two by Rogan and one
by Jenny Thompson.
The Hungarian men’s
water polo team is the Green Bay Packers or New York
Yankees of the sport. They've won tons of title and
are the standard that everyone shoots for. Their fans are
rabid and travel well. There were a bunch of them out in
Long Beach, Calif., in July to watch Hungary win the world
championships.
They were out again in force Thursday in Athens as their
team beat the U.S., 7-5, in a terrific game that was close
to the end. The arena was rocking in the best team event
we’ve seen so far. Tamas Kasas (photo right),
probably the sport’s best player, rifled home a penalty
shot, and the U.S. was doomed by its poor 3-of-11
performance in power plays.
The Hungarians
have got it going on, from their great
red warmup robes to their hot,
black swim trunks to their inspired play in the
pool. And after Thursday’s win, they kissed each other, a
cool thing to see even though we know it’s not gay, just
European. We
saw this in Long Beach and we were impressed then.
The U.S., though, feels very good about coming close, and
has a great shot to make the medal round. They are aware of
the aura surrounding Hungary ("They grow up playing water
polo from when they're 5 or 6 years old," Tony Azevedo
said), but know they can hold their own. As for Hungary,
only the gold will do. "In water polo, second place is
always a disappointment for Hungary, because the sport is so
big back home," said Gergely Kiss.
If you haven't already,
check out our terrific
water polo gallery. These picture by Brent Mullins
were taken at the world championships in July and have great
images of the Hungarians, Americans and four other
countries.
Further proof of the
popularity of water polo in Hungary comes from this entry on
the
USA Water Polo wesbite: By the way, the best Hungarian
players really have the star status that in the U.S. is
reserved for larger sports. [In Budapest] in the
market I saw toothpaste with Kasas Tamas (Tamas Kasas) on
the box. I bought a tube as proof to any doubters.
Water polo, despite its
genteel name, is a brutal sport. The
best article we’ve read about the Olympics this
week, by the Washington Post’s Peter Carlson, dealt
with this. “Water polo is a combination of swimming, soccer
and basketball, plus wrestling, boxing and mugging,” Carlson
wrote. “The players are phenomenal athletes who perform
amazing feats of speed, grace, stamina and ball-handling.
They also perform amazing feats of kicking, punching,
scratching, clawing and choking. And that's just the men.
The women are also fond of tearing each other's bathing
suits off.”
(Check out this
awesome shot from the Washington Post that shows
what goes on underneath the water.)
Carlson’s
article is both informative very funny, and closed with this
anecdote from a recent game: “A Russian player appeared to
be giving a Serb player a big bear hug. The Serb hugged him
back. For a split second, it looked like one of those
heartwarming moments of Olympic brotherhood. Then the two
men started trying to drown each other, and you realized it
was just another heartwarming moment of Olympic water polo.”
One of the most
noticeable differences between Olympic-caliber athletes and
your average Joe can be seen in serving a volleyball.
We're lucky if our underhand tap makes it over the net
and lands inbounds. These guys start 10 feet behind the
line, jump 2 feet into the air and send a rocket that we'd
probably dive out of the way of.
At the risk of offending
devotees, we just can't get into women's gymnastics.
Or, rather, girl's gymnastics. So many of these little dolls
are teenagers with more make-up than Parris Hilton.
It looks more like a cheerleading tryout than an Olympic
event. The emotions are real and the gymnasts are
wonderfully athletic, but there’s something a tad creepy
about it (did you happen to catch
Carly Patterson’s coach hugging her again and again,
then hoisting her on his shoulders?).
Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina was a total (rhymes with
rich) in losing out in the all-around gymnastics gold to
Patterson. "I know exactly what I'm going to say: I'm still
Olympic champion," the Russian diva said at the post-match
press conference with Patterson sitting next to her. A total
lack of class.
Khorkina at 25 is
ancient compared to Patterson, 16, and the other pixies
of the sport. She did have a great line about her age
earlier this year: "Age isn't important to me," she told The
Times of London. "You know they say a man sometimes prefers
older women because they can satisfy him more. It's the same
in gymnastics."
Hot Jock Watch:
The rowers from Czech, the rowers from Denmark, the rowers
from Canada, the rowers from Germany, ...
We get letters:
This Olympic blog has been quite popular, but it has managed
to piss some people off.
We heard from
two Australians who accused us of being too pro-American,
mainly because we mocked a headline Down Under that called
the Aussie 4x200 men’s swim relay team “courageous” for
winning the silver. This despite the fact that Australia
hadn’t lost this race in six years and was the favorite. To
us, it was like calling the L.A. Lakers “courageous” for
taking the Detroit Pistons to five games.
Then there was
the Canadian who was offended that we wrote that U.S.
gymnast Paul Hamm had “the body of a Greek god and
the voice of a Munchkin." The reader asked: "Is that kind of
homophobic remark really necessary? Sometimes our "humor" is
our worst attribute.”
The Hamm joke may have been cheap and may not have been
funny to some, but the one thing it wasn’t was homophobic.
Sometimes our “sensitivity” is our worst attribute.
Finally, from the mail bag, came this from Mike: “Your
website, that I found by mistake, is disgusting in
the way it portrays sex in the Olympics. It should not be
played out that way by sexually describing the athletes. Yes
you have a right to your choice, and it is a choice, not a
trait, or sickness. God is a perfect God, and therefore
would not go against His word in the Bible. Homosexuality is
an abomination to God, and unless you repent, confess your
sin to Jesus, and become born again, you will not see the
kingdom of heaven. …”
We’re glad Mike assured
us that he found the website “by mistake.”
Day 5 of
competition / Aug. 18
Paul Hamm (right, file photo) made history by
becoming the first American man to win the gold medal at the
men’s all-around gymnastics final. But it didn’t come easy.
Hamm, seemingly out of contention when he landed poorly on
his vault and
nearly hit the judge’s table, nailed a magnificent
rings program to beat Korean Kim Dae-eun in the
closest competition in Olympics history.
``I dug
down deep and fought for everything,'' said Hamm, he with
the
body of a Greek god and the voice of a Munchkin.
``It was the best performance of my life.''
To make a sports analogy,
it was as if Hamm double-bogeyed on the 16th hole of the
Masters and needed holes-in-one on the final two holes to
win ... and he got them. Hamm was helped when the rest of
the field stumbled and bumbled enough to allow him back into
competition.
Ex-Olympian Peter Vidmar
summed it up perfectly, telling the Washington Post:
"I've been either
competing or watching this sport for the last 40 years, and
I've never seen anything like this before. This is the most
bizarre all-around finals I've ever seen in my life."
Hamm
finished with 57.823 points, beating Kim by .012. The
previous closest margin in the event was .017 by Leon
Stukelj of Yugoslavia over Robert Prazak of
Czechoslovakia in the 1924 Games.
After listening to
Hamm’s post-meet interview, a friend had this to say:
“He’s not as cute when he opens his mouth.”
What an amazing night
of Olympic broadcasts. It started with the deepest
connection to the past--the shot put event from Olympia, a
site of the ancient Olympic games. Football fans have
Lambeau Field. Baseball fans have Fenway Park. For track and
field fans like us, Olympia, an open field with no seats, no
vendors selling baklava on the street, no camera trucks, no
lights, no nothing but the athletes, the judges and big lead
balls, has to be one of the great historic arenas to visit.
Holding the event there was a wonderful concept a fitting
tribute to the games of old.
U.S.
shot putter Adam Nelson showed class when he
apologized for protesting the call that cost him a gold at
the ancient stadium.
Nelson was beaten on the final
throw of the competition by the Ukraine's Yuriy Bilonog.
On Nelson's last throw, his toss beat Bilong but didn't
count because he had fouled.
After the foul was called, AP
reported, Nelson remained helplessly in the shot put ring
for three minutes, pointing and pleading with officials.
Nelson later sobbed on his wife's shoulder and covered his
face with an American flag, his shirt caked with dust from
the place where the Olympics were born 28 centuries ago.
After seeing video of his last toss, Nelson conceded: "They
were right and I apologized."
Before the shot put
event, a friend watching the event with us said, “too bad
they don’t do these events naked like they did back
then.” NBC then showed the first of a long line of rotund
shot putters. We realized we were lucky they don’t do
certain events naked.
Talk
about the agony of defeat. Slovakian canoeist
Michal Maritkan lost a gold medal in the worst possible
way—because of a clerical error.
Here is
what happened: Martikan, who won the gold in 1996 at age 17,
was trying to avenge his 2000 Olympics loss in the C-1 canoe
slalom to Frenchman
Tony Estanguet. The Slovak, so famous in his home
country that he’s on a postage stamp, put together a furious
final run to apparently beat Estanguet by slightly less than
2 seconds. Martikan thrust his arms in the air and TV showed
the Slovak fans going into delirium.
But shortly
after, the judges realized that Martikan had a hit a gate
and should have been deducted 2 seconds, but the error
failed to register on the electronic scoring system. Adding
in the 2 seconds dropped Martikan to second, .12 behind
Estanguet. It was a fair ruling but gut-wrenching coming as
it did after Martikan had experience the euphoria of an
apparent win.
"He touched
a gate, but we're at the same level. He is very strong and
you couldn't say that I destroyed him. He is one of the
masters of the discipline," Estanguet said. Those are nice
words but small consolation to Martikan.
Martikan wasn’t the only athlete to win only to find out he
hadn’t. The German team in the three-day equestrian event
was stripped of its Olympic gold medal, shortly after the
quintet celebrated its victory.
Deutsche Welle reported. Germany dropped to fourth place
after team leader Bettina Hoy on Ringwood Cockatoo
was penalized 12 points over her start.
The French team had protested the initial ranking, claiming
Hoy, who was the last to ride for the German team, crossed
the starting line twice during her first jump. The jury
ruled in favor of the French team, and penalized Germany,
forcing the team of Hinrich Romeike, Frank Ostholt, Andreas
Dibowski and Ingrid Klimke to drop to fourth place, the news
service said. France won the gold, followed by Britain and
the US, officials said. And what kind of name for a horse is
“Ringwood Cockatoo?”
Talk
about a face job! Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima
completed a sweep of Olympic breaststroke gold, capturing
the 200-meter title in a Games record. Kitajima also won the
100-meter title but was dogged by complaints that he was
aided by using an illegal “dolphin kick.” The complaints
were pushed by U.S. teammates of Brandon Hansen, who
finished second in the 100. Kitajima shut everyone up with
his swim in the 200, and Hansen (the world record holder)
finished third.
"I don't
care about this controversy,” Kitajima said. “I think it has
pushed me to win this race. Nobody can say anything now,
because I have won this race. This is the happiest time of
my life."
Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina
Thanou have withdrawn from the Games under a drug cloud.
And it prompted
a blogger in Athens to write this: “I guess they will
have to take down all the billboards adorned with their
images. As of last week, the city was covered with them. Now
the Greek media can get back to important issues, like the
price of potatoes (always a top story here).”
Day 4 of
competition / Aug. 17
“Fuck, yeah!” … “Fuck,
yeah!” That exuberant phrase could twice be heard on NBC as
the U.S. men’s 4x200 freestyle swimming team celebrated its
dramatic gold-medal win over Australia on Tuesday. It
sounded like they were uttered by Michael Phelps, who
was primal (and dare we say sexual) in his lusty screaming
andthrusting forward his armsin victory.
This is the
second time we’ve heard the f-bomb dropped on NBC. Two days
ago, during the very heated Italy vs. U.S. men‘s indoor
volleyball match, players from both sides went nose to nose
across the net shouting: "Fuck you.” ... "No, fuck you!" and
so on.
Given how
prudish the FCC and Congress have become, it will be
interesting to see whether NBC gets fined for a word that is
such a common part of virtually any sport that its shock
value has long been lost. Besides, Phelps (or whoever said
it) was basking in a moment of total joy.
The
relay was an amazing event, with American Klete Keller
holding off Aussie Ian Thorpe down the stretch for
the win. It was interesting to see the cautious Phelps react
like a 19-year-old and he seemed to take more delight in the
team win than in either of his two individual gold medals.
In all the articles we’ve read on him, it does come across
that he’s fairly well-adjusted and not a prima donna.
Our cover
photo today is of Keller and relay teammate Peter
Vanderkaay of the University of Michigan. It was shot in
June at the Janet Evans Invitational in Long Beach, Calif.,
by Brent Mullins
(click for larger view).
It
all depends on your perspective: The U.S. relay win was the
first time that Australia had been defeated in the event in
six years. Yet the headline on the Australian swimming
website said : "Silver to Our Courageous Men." Huh?
What's so courageous about the favorites finishing second?
Even
though there are no Americans in it, the men’s 100-meter
freestyle final on Wednesday should be fun to watch. It’s
basically a two-lap sprint that is always exciting, though
we’ll miss the Russian Rocket Alexander Popov, who
failed to qualify.
Roland
Schoeman of South Africa (and the University of Arizona)
is the top qualifier. He will be joined by fellow countryman
and Wildcat Ryk Neethling, and defending champion
Pieter van den Hoogenbrand
of Holland. One interesting sight was that of
Duje Draganja of Croatia, who also qualified. He was
wearing a swimming cap with “Cal” on it, in honor of the
University of California, where he attends.
A
weekend Olympics concert featured reggae star Buju Banton,
whose #1 hit “Boom Bye Bye” urges listeners to shoot gay men
in the head, pour acid over them and burn them alive. The
concert, put on by the Jamaican Olympic team and sponsored
by sportswear company Puma, was open to all athletes at the
games, 365Gay.com reports. It was held at outside the
Olympic Village, at a chic beach club in the trendy coastal
neighborhood of Glyfada, but it is understood that Olympics
organizers approved the concert and the location, the news
service reported.
"The
decision of the International Olympic Committee to give a
platform to a murder-music singer like Buju Banton
contradicts the whole spirit of the Olympics – which is
supposed to be about peace and brotherhood,” said Brett Lock
of the gay rights group, Outrage. Indeed, outrage is the
right word.
We
stayed up late this morning to watch some of the women's and
men's shot put, which was held at the ancient stadium in
Olympia, four hours from Athens. To keep the flavor of
the site, there were no stands and fans had to sit on grassy
banks. There were also no concessions. There was also only
one TV feed and NBC announcers Tom Hammond and
Dwight Stones called the action from Athens by watching
a monitor. The setting looked beautiful for the first
competition in Olympia in 1,611 years. It was a cool idea
and NBC did a great job of showing all the throws, perhaps a
shot put first. We did, though, hear a cell phone ring once
at the site; we believe the ancient Greeks still used
landlines.
Shot
put was not a sport in the ancient Games, which prompted
U.S. thrower Reese Hoffa to quip : "I told my coach, 'I've
got a chance to set the stadium record.' "
Hard as it is to believe, the U.S. men’s basketball team
will have to fight to win any medal, let alone a gold. This
was evident after the team’s 19-point loss to Puerto Rico on
Sunday, and its too-close-for-comfort 77-71 win over Greece
on Tuesday. The Greeks were playing without their top point
guard, yet still were in the game until the end. The U.S.
survived thanks to hustle on the offensive boards, grabbing
16 offensive rebounds to Greece’s 4. But the Americans still
can’t shoot to save their lives and now are a combined 5 for
46 from 3-point range in the two games.
The
U.S. struggles make this a very interesting tournament to
watch, a far cry from the coronation the “Dream Team”
enjoyed in 1992, when pros were first allowed in
competition.
The only way to truly watch the Olympics is with a
DVR (a digital video recorder ala TiVo). We have one and it
makes getting through the coverage and commercials a breeze.
Field hockey or soccer? Fast forward at 300x normal speed.
The South African swim relay team? Super slo-mo over and
over. We also have the advantage of living in LA and taping
the East Coast feed of NBC. We started watching the four
hours of coverage at 7:30 p.m. and were done by 9:15 p.m.
Can’t say we missed much. It’s even better when watching
MSNBC or CNBC, which will show an entire badminton match.
Watching some Slovenia-Croatia handball and we became
intrigued by the speed and skill of the game. And our friend
said one of the Croats was among the most handsome men he’d
seen.
For the U.S. women’s gymnastics, winning a team silver was
an achievement but still lacking. Unlike the U.S. men, the
women have been an international force and expected to win
the gold. "Everyone was probably thinking we were going to
win the gold medal, but we didn't," Carly Patterson
said. "I think all of us have had better days because we all
had our little mistakes. But it's already done and we can't
do anything about it." It’s always interesting in sports how
expectations can color our perceptions of success.
It’s fast becoming the media storyline: These Olympics
lack buzz. The New York Times sums up with is the
prevailing tone from Athens: “Empty arenas and stadiums in
Athens offer a bizarre television backdrop for the Summer
Olympics - one that cannot be avoided by NBC, which has
shown vistas of unfilled seats that have greeted athletes in
gymnastics, boxing, soccer, table tennis and kayaking.
They
are jarring sights that have not been seen in such quantity
in recent Games, television executives say. There is less
noise, less buzz, less color from fans cheering wildly for
their countries.”
Despite the small crowds, TV ratings for NBC are higher than
they were for the 2000 Games in Sydney. Monday night, for
example, the network had a 20% higher audience than a
comparable time four years ago (though those Games went up
against regular season Monday night football).
“The
lack of capacity crowds may not be hurting ratings, but it
gives the impression that something is awry about the
Olympics in their ancestral home, said Robert Thompson,
director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television
at Syracuse University. "This is the equivalent of turning
on a sitcom and no one is laughing on the laugh track,"
Thompson said. "Those huge, gaping backgrounds seem to
announce this isn't the place to be. It's bothersome. It
makes it a little less of a full experience. It messes up
the composition of the shots, but I haven't heard anyone
say, 'I saw those empty seats, so yes, I can go out to
dinner with you tonight.' ''
Day 3 of
competition / Aug. 16
Michael Phelps is a failure. An underachiever. A flop. A
loser. …. Of course, we don’t believe this for a second.
Phelps is an amazingly talented athlete who has won three
medals in three swimming events. But because he was hyped to
tie or beat Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds, his
inability to achieve this has led many to feel let down. He
graced the cover of every magazine save for Artichoke
Monthly and overwhelming success seemed preordained.
Phelps’
chance to keep pace with Spitz ended when he lost the “Race
of the Century,” the men’s 200-meter freestyle and finished
third behind Aussie Ian Thorpe and Dutchman Pieter
van den Hoogenband. Now, he can "only" win a maximum of
six gold medals. Phelps seemed to have everything in
perspective, saying afterwards how much fun he was having.
If we were 19, gorgeous, with a killer body and financially
set for life, we’d be having fun, too.
An
Outsports reader noticed this:
"Van den Hoogenband and Thorpe's
reception of Phelps after the 200 was so cold I thought I
saw an iceberg floating between them. While Pieter and Ian
practically smooched, Phelps barely got a handshake."
Thorpe, the jewelry-designing fashion plate who has assured
us that he’s not gay (and whose handlers
have threatened litigation against two artists that
suggested otherwise), is proving to be the dominant
swimmer in these Games, winning two golds. After his
first gold, he did some kind of weird dance with his tongue,
moving it out of his mouth then around. After winning
Monday, he looked for a second like he was going to rest his
head on Van Den Hoogenband’s shoulder, but NBC’s camera
turned away. Thorpe is certainly a compelling figure in or
out of the pool. (Thorpe photo by Brent Mullins /
Outsports.com, taken at a meet in June. Click for larger
view)
NBC
takes a lot of hits for its coverage but they did a nice job
with the men’s 200 meters. It was a solid buildup devoid of
the sapping kind of feature we often get. The network also
focused on more than just Phelps. This was in contrast to
the feature on Natalie Coughlin, who overcame injury
and disappointment to make the team. She was profiled with
the requisite soft music and muted lighting. It was overdone
and too sentimental for our tastes. Despite that, it was
nice to see her win the women’s 100-meter backstroke.
One
of the great moments is watching the swimmers watch
their times come up on the scoreboard. It always takes a few
seconds for them to realize what has happened. Then, when
they see their gold-medal-winning time, it's one of the few
moments in these games when the cameras get the incredible
transition from anxiety to elation in 1.2 seconds.
Hot
jock watch: China’s 137.5-pound weightlifter Le Maosheng
has a beautifully sculpted body. And unlike most other
lifters, he wears the singlet but not the ugly white
undershirt. He also has a
Mohawk that has led him to be called China’s David
Beckham.
NBC’s commentators were talking about the U.S. men's
gymnastics team as the camera watched them celebrate a good
performance. Just then, a team came around the corner and
the camera turned to that team. "The Chinese are energized,"
the commentator said. Then, realizing it wasn't the Chinese
the camera had panned to added abruptly, "but the Japanese
are coming up next."
NBC
did a great job of avoiding nationalism when showing the
fleshfest also known as the men’s team gymnastics final.
The commentators gave great info and comments on the other
teams, especially China, Japan and Romania, in addition to
the U.S. The network seems to be making an effort to not be
jingoistic.
U.S.
gymnast Paul Hamm has muscles on top of his muscles,
but in a post-match interview he sounded like a Munchkin.
Quotable from men’s gymnastics (we’re not sure who the
announcer was): "Jason Gatson he's got the biggest
body in these Games. He's one muscular, Hercules man."
The
Washington Post’s Peter Carlson
has an interesting take on the sex appeal of beach
volleyball: “Ah, beach volleyball! It's a beer commercial of
a sport. It's a Jimmy Buffett song. It's a "Girls Gone Wild"
video. It's a Dionysian tribute to the joys of sun, sand,
sex, and escape from the wretched indoor world of offices
and other places where you're actually expected to wear
shoes and a shirt.”
Of course,
Carlson writes only about the women, who play with as little
clothing as possible. The men, unlike regular tour events,
all wear shirts (this must be a requirement of some
sort). It’s hard to imagine a writer for a mainstream paper
writing the same article but focusing on the men. To see how
the men usually dress, check out our
beach volleyball galleries.
Overheard on TV during the very heated Italy vs. U.S.
men‘s indoor volleyball match, with players from both sides
going nose to nose across the net: "Fuck you.” "No, fuck
you!" And to think the Italians were part of the ‘Coalition
of the Willing.” Howard Stern discussed the clip and
sarcastically wondered
how much NBC would be fined by the FCC.
One
of the worst Olympic decisions was Jimmy Carter
keeping the U.S. from the It 980 Olympics in Moscow. It was
the ultimate anti-Olympic move, combining personal politics
in a great event that should be about the world coming
together. Carter's legacy lives on this year, as Iran's judo
team has refused to compete against the Israeli team because
of politics and religion. Judo's governing body is having
trouble deciding how to punish the Iranian team. We have a
suggestion: Suspend them from the games.
Hundreds of fireworks set off during a reception for heads of
state at the home of the Athens Olympics chief also set
fire to a nearby park. The
fireworks sent rocketing into the air from the home of
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki set bushes and trees ablaze.
(Herald Sun/Australia)
Our favorite story to
date involves a German cyclist, her middle finger and
her girlfriend.
Judith
Arndt won the silver on Sunday in the women's road race,
then
popped the finger to the German Cycling Federation as
she crossed the finish line. According to Deutsche Welle
news service: Arndt was disconsolate with her silver medal
following the race, accusing the German Cycling Federation
of squandering a chance to win gold by excluding her
girlfriend, sprinter Petra Rossner, from the Olympic
team. "Of course we're happy to have won the silver medal,
but actually, we've lost the gold," Arndt said after the
race. "If Petra Rossner had been nominated, we could've had
the gold. She would've been our trump card, because she's
the fastest."
Arndt, who
will be fined for the gesture, expressed her regret later in
a TV interview. "It shouldn't have happened, but I'm only
human, and my emotions at that moment were overpowering,"
she said. Rossner, the girlfriend, is in Athens as a
spectator. It's nice to see couples stand up for each
other. Arndt is one of the
seven out gay or lesbian jocks at the Games.
The South African men's
4x100 freestyle swim team was smokin', both in and out of
the water. Anchored by Ryk Neethling, the South
Africans set a world record in winning the gold medal in the
race that ended Michael Phelps' quest to win eight gold
medals. Phelps and the Americans finished eighth.
After
their stunning win, the South Africans hugged and flexed for
the crowd. It looked like an
A&F photo shoot. We were happy for Neethling (Brent
Mullins photo left/click for larger view), whom we
interviewed in June at a meet in Long Beach, Ca. He has
model looks and a stunning body but he was very down to
earth and unaffected as he talked about the upcoming
Olympics. He was also featured in a Vanity Fair photo spread
that romantically linked him to American Amanda Beard,
but Beard said in Long Beach that she "ruled out boys for
the summer."
In some
ways, you can say that Arizona, not South Africa, won the
gold. Ryk Neethling, Roland Schoeman and
Lyndon Ferns have all swam for the University of Arizona
and train together. The fourth member is
DarianTownsend.
Neethling has his
own website and comes across as American as Phelps.
The knives were out for
the U.S. after their stunning third-place finish in the
relay. Gary Hall Jr., who was bumped in favor of
Phelps, didn't even show up to watch, and his agent ripped
Phelps' selection. "Gary is one of the best Olympians of all
time,'' said David Arluck, "I can't believe they kept
him off the relay for some 19-year-old guy who is going
after something that he's not going to accomplish anyway.''
U.S. coach
Eddie Reese was also criticized for having Ian
Crocker on the team, despite him being weak with a sore
throat. Crocker swam a disastrous first leg, finishing
eighth in his leg. Crocker was the slowest of all 32 competitors in the
event.
Serbia and Montenegro
played Argentina in a preliminary men's basketball game that
was as good as any you'll ever see in an NCAA or NBA final.
The Serbs rallied back from 12 down in the second half to
take a late 3-point lead. Argentina tied in on a basket and
free throw by Manu Ginobli, a star for the San
Antonio Spurs (and for our money one of the hottest guys in
the NBA).
Serbia took
an 82-81 on a free throw with 3.8 seconds to go and the
Argentines had to drive the length of the court without a
timeout. The ball wound up in Ginobli's hands as he was
driving toward the basket. Off balance and falling
backwards, he
threw up about a 12-foot bank shot that dropped in as
the clock struck zero and Argentina had an 83-82 win.
The
Argentine coach pulled his best Jim Valvano, running
around looking for someone to hug. Ginobli lay on the
ground, face down, arms extended in exhaustion and triumph.
His teammates
piled on top of him, with at least three of them
reaching down,
grabbing him by the head and kissing him. It was an
awesome moment. When asked after what the plan for the final
shot was, Ginobli answered: "There was no plan." It was
sport at its best.
What can one say about
the U.S. men losing by 19 to Puerto Rico in
basketball? It’s stunning on the one hand, but not so much
on the other. The world is getting better and the days of
the Americans walking on the court and dazzling their
opponents are long over. The U.S. is now 109-3 in Olympic
competition.
Before he headed to
Athens to cover the games, New York Daily News sportswriter
Mike O’Keefe made a bet with Cyd. He said the
U.S. men’s basketball team wouldn’t even win a medal in
Athens. Ha! Knowing that the team hadn’t even lost a game in
the Olympics since starting to use professional players in
1992, Cyd told him he was crazy and happily bet lunch. On
Sunday, Larry Brown’s team ended that three-Olympiad
undefeated streak. Cyd hope Mike eats cheap.
While it’s strange to see
professional athletes play in the Olympics, it feels
the strangest with tennis. How is this tournament any
different than the one that will start in New York City the
week after these Games end? I’d love to see the Olympics
roll back the pro-athlete admission to the games to certain
sports. Venus Williams and Roger Federer don’t need yet
another tournament victory under their belts.
Watching the amazing
female weightlifters, one can only say: So much for
women being the weaker sex.
Listening to Katie
Couric complain about the heat in Athens, you’d think
the air conditioning in her personal trailer wasn’t working.
She and so many in the press have made such a huge deal out
of the 90-plus temperatures there, how people are fainting
and how so many have to cake on 30 SPF sunscreen to protect
themselves. Wah wah wah. Have they never considered that the
original Olympians had no A/C, were subjected to the endless
heat and sun with no protection and still didn’t get the
million-dollar endorsement deals?
Our vote for the most
boring sports we’ve seen so far: women’s field hockey
and men’s soccer. I guess we just don’t get field hockey and
found ourselves quickly switching the channel. As for
soccer, the Olympics are not a major event in the sport with
the players in the 23 and under grouping. The play isn’t as
skilled as a good league match in England or Germany, and
having all 90 minutes on TV left us wondering why.
We’re still pissed that
CNBC blew off the men’s water polo match between
favored Hungary and contender Serbia Montenegro. It was on
the schedule but not a second was shown. But we did at the
same time see more equestrian than we’d care to. Why not cut
20 minutes from the ponies and show the second half of water
polo?
From an
Outsports reader: “Just caught a bit of the women's
beach volleyball on NBC. Holy-moly, what skimpy outfits!
Straight guys must be loving this!” Hey, lesbians aren’t
turning away either.
Wish we had decided to go
to the Games: Far from there being too many people, there
are too few. International Olympic Committee officials,
worried by the television images being flashed around the
world of athletes competing in
near empty stadiums, have told the Athens Games
organizers to give tickets away for free if necessary.
Day 1 of
competition / Aug. 14
The Opening Ceremonies
on Friday were spectacular in many ways, especially the
whole water theme and ode to the Greek gods. Watching on NBC
was often tedious, especially the high number of
commercials. And what's with those US uniforms? As one
Outsports
poster wrote: "Tommy Hilfiger meets Samuel Jackson
meets McDonald's circa 1980." Those cloth
caps/berets were awful. They may work at the Winter
Games, but not in Greece in August when it's 95 degrees. As
usual, the Italians dressed the best.
As for the lighting of
the flame, we totally agree with this
blogger from Greece, who watched the ceremony on
Greek TV: "The lighting of the torch was anticlimactic;
lacking the visually sublime Barcelona flaming arrow
aesthetics and the moving sight of Muhammad Ali in Atlanta,
this felt a little flat and uninspired. It did not help that
the windsurfer chosen to light the flame lacks any sort of
emotional appeal to the country."
One of the hottest guy we
saw was sprinter
Kelsey Nakanelua from Samoa, who took his shirt off while
marching in and looked like the proverbial Greek god.
U.S. swimmer Scott
Goldbatt is keeping on
online journal of his experiences, along with wife
Colleen. Here is his view of the ceremonies (most of the
swimmers stayed at their hotel since they had an early rise
on Saturday): "It was actually quite boring if you ask me,
but it is the opening ceremonies and cool to watch. I think
most of us were asleep shortly after the U.S. walked into
the stadium, and did not get to see the lighting of the
flame."
And for those who ripped
US commentators Katie Couric and Bob Costas,
here is what the Greek blogger said about that country's
hosts: "The Greek commentators were particularly appalling."
Michael Phelps
is a stud. With all the pressure on him
to win seven gold medals, he goes out in his first race, the
400 individual medley, wins easily and sets a world record.
U.S. teammate Erik Vendt won the silver and it was
cool to see Phelps scream, "Yeah, Vendt!" and raise his arm
in triumph; you would have thought that Vendt had won.
Phelps, in all we've read about him, seems like a fairly
well adjusted guy.
We long for the days when
TV would show all eight swimmers in a heat in a shot that
panned the entire body. We now get closeups and only
occasionally more.
Our favorite double-entendre from men's rowing's announcer
Randy Rosenbloom on CNBC: "Greece is stroking to a
sizable advantage."
Athens
2004 
We just want to say what a pleasure it has been to
present this rolling log for the past 16 days. The feedback
has been incredible and we’ve had a terrific time writing
it. A huge thanks to all those who contributed and to all of
you who read it. We are planning a “best of the log,” along
with new photos in a couple of days (but we need to sleep
first).
