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--Lenny
Krayzelburg, Gary Hall Jr. and Brooke Bennett owned the
pool Friday. Krayzelburg won his third gold as part of the
4x100 medley, taken in record time. Hall was also part of
that team, and Hall earned individual glory earlier
when he tied teammate Anthony Ervin in the 50 freestyle.
-- Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn is the best women's
swimmer as she won her third gold by taking the 50
freestyle.
--Britain's Steve
Redgrave is amazing. The 38-year-old rower won his
fifth consecutive gold medal.
--We've seen more athletes flex their muscles before and
after a competition than ever. Just goes to prove the body
culture has spread far beyond West Hollywood and Chelsea
``muscle Mary's.''
Today's
Bottoms:
--Openly gay
diver David Pichler got off to a bad start when he and
teammate Mark Ruiz finished a disappointing sixth in the
men's Synchronized 10m Platform Final.
‘‘Our synchro was right on,’’ Pichler told the
Associated Press.. ‘‘Unfortunately, my dives weren’t
particularly spectacular. I focused a little too much on
synchro. I left the last two dives a little short. It made
a big difference.’’ ‘‘He has nothing to be
sorry about,’’ Ruiz said. ‘‘He’s been a great
partner. We both gave it our best. He was a little bit out
of energy. ‘‘I felt so good. I thought, ’I’ve got
to keep my adrenaline down.’ He’s a little tired. His
adrenaline wasn’t there.’’
--A sobering stat if you're NBC, courtesy of the Wall
Street Journal: ``Nielsen Media Research says 51% fewer men in the key 18-34 age demographics are watching the 2000 games compared with 1996.''
No wonder ... most men want to watch competition, not some
sob story with music and soft lighting.
--Does anybody care about the men's basketball tourney?
--A bad sign for anyone who likes their swimmers in
Speedos and not those half- or full-body suits: Alexander
Popov, who is about the lone Speedo holdout among the
elite swimmers, finished a disappointing sixth in the
men's 50 freestyle.
Sept. 22, 2000
Daily ``Picture This'' Hot Photo Links:
Volleyball: I'm so
excited and I just can't hide it.
Judo: After trying to pound each other, flowers
at the podium. Cycling: This looks like a typical
day on the LA freeways.
Swimming: We're Krazy
about Krayzelburg Swimming: The perfect swimmer's
body and form.
Track and field: While the swimmers cover up, Donovan
Bailey shows some skin.
Rowing: Danish team shows the agony
of defeat after missing the cut.
Boxing: May I have
this dance? Fencing: We're not sure we'd like to be tossed
around with all those sharp instruments lying around.
Today's
Tops:
--Lenny
Krayzelburg, the U.S. swimmer who won his second hold
medal, has ``star'' written all over him. Look
for Lenny on a billboard near you.
-- Pietie Coetzee, a South African field hockey player,
played in her 100th cap today.
--Jennifer Brundage went 3 for 3 with a home run to help
the USA softball team right the ship. The team had lost
three in a row and still must beat Italy to reach the
medal round.
--Cathy Freeman, the Australian who lit the Olympic flame
in the opening ceremonies and is the favorite to win the
400m sprint, has had no less than 25,000 pieces of fan
mail sent to her at the Olympic village - the most of any
athlete.
Today's
Bottoms:
- Bulgarian weightlifters
Izabela Dragneva and Sevdalin Minchev have been
disqualified from the Games after traces of banned
diuretics were found in their urine samples. Dragneva had
taken the gold in the women's 48 kg category and Minchev
had won the bronze in the men's 62 kg category. They will
both forfeit their medals.
-The geniuses at the gymnastics competition who set the
women's vault two notches two low. Half the competitors
looked like they were drunk as they launched themselves
only to flip over on various body parts.
--We may complain about NBC's coverage in America, but
many Aussies are upset by what they see as lousy coverage
by their networks. The Aussies joined a gold medal
swimming final late because they were in commercial. And
it seems that the nets would rather show Aussies finishing
10th than the contenders from another country.
--From an obviously straight (or conflicted) male reader,
who wrote this to the LA Times about NBC's coverage: ``I
almost lost my cookies the other night with that shot of
the men's gymnastics team, looking like castoffs from a
Calvin Klein photo shoot."" Gee, and we thought
that was the best part.
--We've been
bashing NBC (deservedly so), but the network did a very
solid job Wednesday night, better than the CBC, which we
saw via satellite for several hours. The CBC, if you can
believe it, is more nationalistic than NBC, featuring all
Canadians almost all the time. The only advantage is the
live broadcast, but that's only an advantage from about
1-5 a.m. when most finals are held.
--Ken Brauckmiller of the Netherlands pitched 8 innings in recording the win over Cuba in baseball,
breaking the Cubans' 21-game win streak (and perfect all-time record)
- Jenny Thompson of the U. S. won her 7th gold--more than any other women in Games history.
- Jorge Lombi of Argentina field hockey scored four goals in
field hockey in a tie against Poland. He now leads tourney with
six goals.
- The U.S. men's soccer team has somehow survived and is
now in the quarterfinals against Japan. They will
play Saturday ... or is that Friday ... they play later
this week.
- Russian shooter Serguei Alifirenko eked out a gold medal
in the 25mm final, beating Switzerland's Michel Ansermet
by 1.5 points with a score of 687.6.
-The men's 100-meter
freestyle swimming (won by Pieter van den Hoogenband)is
easily one of the most exciting events in any Olympics.
Today's
Bottoms:
- Milorad
Cavic of Yugoslavia, his country's only entrant in the
men's 100m butterfly, was disqualified from his heat for
an illegal start.
- Cuba has protested the participation of Cuban-born
kayaker Angel Perez for the United States team.
Perez defected in 1993.
--Thieves have made off with thousands of dollars of items
from Olympic souvenir shops. Police caught one guy trying
to steal 50 swimsuits.
Sept.
20, 2000
Daily ``Picture This'' Hot Photo Links:
Table Tennis: This Nigerian
can be the visual definition of being concentrated.
Judo: Hey, help
me find my contact lens.
Judo: These
guys must be a blast in bed.
Swimming: After seeing this shot, all we can say is, ``Oh,
Canada!"
Swimming: The Aussie love
the taste of gold
Swimming: A reader submitted this link with the following
comment: ``This good-looking
swimmer from Palau (Anlloyd Samuel, 50-meter
freestyle) sure fits the criterium of "nice to look
at."
Field Hockey: Everybody likes a good
spanking. Boxing: Waddya say we go grab
a beer?
Rowing: A reader from the Netherlands sent us this link
from outsidemag.com of U.S. rower Jake
Wetzel (he's the one with the necklace). Wetzel's
quadruple team qualified for the finals.
Today's
Tops:
--We've had
some awesome comments on our Discussion
Board regarding the Olympics, especially NBC's
coverage. Hear is one reader who loved Monday night, for
some good reasons:
``The combination of men's swimming and men's gymnastics
was a gay man's dream. I almost always watch sports
for the sport and not for "other reasons", but
goodness those men were beautiful. Alexander Nemov, Russian
gymnast, is about as attractive a man as I have seen in a
long time.
And the swimmers! The piece about the Chinese
gymnasts looked like soft porn. I think some of the
production staff at NBC must be family.''
--The Thorpedo and the Aussies did it again, wasting the
U.S. to win the gold in the men's 4x200 meters relay. Ian
Thorpe now has four medals, three of them gold.
--Miao Miao and Shirley Zhou of Australia upset Ni Xia
Lian and Peggy Regenwetter of Luxembourg in table tennis.
The home team Aussies were down 2 sets to 1 and came from
behind for the win, 3-2.
--In baseball, Park Jae-Hong of Korea led his team to a
6-5 nail-biter before succumbing to one of the favorites
for a medal, Cuba. Jae-Hong went 3 for 5 with three RBI's.
Today's
Bottoms
--We know
drugs are as much a story as anything, with estimates in
some sports of 90% taking banned substances. A Bulgarian
weightlifter lost his silver medal after he tested
positive. The really smart druggies time it so they get
the benefits of steroids and still test clean.
--It was bound to happen, but after 112 wins in a row the
U.S. women's softball team lost in international
competition, 2-1, to Japan. The U.S. is still considered
the favorite for the gold.
Sept.
19, 2000
Daily ``Picture This'' Hot Photo Links:
Gymastics: Zheng
Lihui and his Chinese buds are the world's best
gymnastics team.
Badminton: This is a cool
sports image from S. Korea's match Monday.
Rowing: Four
men in a boat.
Cycling: Marty
Nothstein stays focused.
Swimming: Pieter
van den Hoogenband can't believe he won the gold.
Swimming: Ian
Thorpe is a contortionist in his off-hours.
Baseball: Jon
Rauch shows why we love a man in a uniform.
Fans: Taking the red,
white and blue a bit too far.
Whitewater canoe: Tony
Estanguet with a real French kiss.
Today's
Tops:
--Quote of the
day from Pieter van den Hoogenband after beating Ian
Thorpe to win the 200-meter freestyle: " I enjoyed
every stroke of it "
--Alfredo Rota of the Italian fencing team took to the
piste for the final match as his team trailed, 38-36 in
the gold medal match. Rota scored twice in the four minute
duel and sent the match to overtime, which Rota won with a
third hit.
--Lenny Krayzelburg was under a ton of pressure to win a
gold medal. His father, who moved Lenny and his family
from Ukraine to West Hollywood, demanded nothing short of
perfection. And U.S. swimming made Lenny it's poster boy.
Stars perform under pressure and Krayzelburg shined in
winning the 100-meter backstroke.
Today's
Bottoms
--So much for
the home water advantage. Netherland's owned the Aussies
in the pool on Monday. First, the Dutch beat Australia in
water polo, 5-4. Then, Pieter van den Hoogenband set a
world record in the 200-meter freestyle in beating Aussie
Ian Thorpe in the finals.
--Blaine Wilson, the leader of the U.S. men's gymnastics
team, came to Sydney with a cocky 'tude and so far he's
been a flop. In the team all-around, here is how Wilson
fared in each discipline: horizontal bars (12th); floor
(15th); rings (10th); vault (8th); parallel bars (2nd);
horizontal bars (26th).
Sept.
18, 2000
Daily ``Picture This'' Hot Photo Links:
Badminton: He can't
bear to go on.
Basketball: Vince
Carter reacts to 47-point blowout of China.
Swimming: Canadian Curtis
Myden looks good in bronze.
Swimming: Tom
Dolan was the Man in the water
Swimming: The definition of starting
in the blocks. Triathlon: In a touching moment, gold
medal winner Simon Whitfield cried during the playing
on the Canadian national anthem.
Gymnastics: Ivan
Ivankov is considered the best men's gymnast in the
world.
Today's
Tops:
--Tom Dolan
has asthma but that hasn't stopped him from being a
champion swimmer. Dolan set world record in winning the
gold medal in the men's 4x100 medley. Plus, he looks cool
with his earring. --Women's weightlifting is a new sport this year and Yang Xia
of China showed she was strong, she was invincible. The
106-pounder set a women's record with a combined 495
pounds.
--Some of the technological advances we've seen on TV so
far have been stunning. We love the superimposed flags
over each lane at the swimming which show quickly who's
where.
Today's
Bottoms
--NBC
continues to piss us off with its profiles: the cloying
music, backlighting and lame writing make them almost
unwatchable. And the network ruined the men's triathlon,
covering it in a documentary fashion instead of a sporting
event.
--The U.S. women's gymnastics team reached the finals of
the team competition but just barely. This is no
Magnificent Seven.
Sept.
17, 2000
Daily ``Picture This'' Hot Photo Links:
Swimming: Ian
Thorpe, 17 years old, Size 17 feet, gold medallist
Field Hockey: A funky
sport we seldom see
Weight Lifting: He's only
123 pounds but he can handle 235 pounds.
Judo: We know who's
the top in this duo.
Gymnastics: Get a load
of the guns on Andreas Wecker.
Gymnastics: Blaine
Wilson gets iced down.
Triathlon: Men's champ Simon
Whitfield.
Today's
Tops:
--Ian Thorpe
had the eyes of an entire country on him and nothing less
than victory would be satisfactory. Talk about pressure,
especially for a 17-year-old. But the ``Thorpedo'' showed
how clutch he is by winning the gold medal in the men's
400-meter freestyle and setting a world record in the
process. In the post-win interview Thorpe came across as a
totally cool guy.
--Thorpe wears one of those full-body swim suits and he
said it took four people to help put it back on his 6-5,
211-pound frame after the medal ceremony, prior to his
leading Australia to gold in the 4x400 relay.
--Jenny Thompson won her sixth swimming gold as part of
the 4x100 freestyle relay, an American record for a woman.
--Barely more than a year ago his nation didn't even
exist. But on Saturday weightlifter Martinho de Araujo
made history by competing for East Timor, formerly a
province of Indonesia.
--Halil Mutlu, a Turkish weightlifter, is so dominant he
hasn't lost in 5 years. And he demolished his opponents in
winning the gold in the 123-pound class. How strong is he:
he won with a total lift of 672¼ pounds, or 5½ pounds
more than his own world record of 666¾.
--Simon Whitfield of Canada won the men's triathlon
despite being involved in a major crash during the bike
portion.
Today's
Bottoms
--It's only
the first day but we're already sick of sappy NBC
features. We know many athletes go through adversity, but
does every feature have to focus on someone who has
no arms or lost his entire family to crocodiles?
--Don't think drugs are a big part of these Games? Chen
Po-pu of Taiwan became the third weightlifter from his
country to be booted for failing drug tests.
--The U.S. men should easily win the basketball gold, but
let's not call them the Dream Team. As Michael Wilbon of
the Washington Post points out, no member of the team has
either an NBA championship or NCAA title ring.
--NBC commentator Al Trautwig's commentary during the
women's triathlon was embarrassingly cloying and trite.
Dumb piano music (is John Tesh involved?) and awful turns
of the phrase spoiled what was a dramatic event.
Sept.
16, 2000
Daily ``Picture This'' Hot Photo Links:
Opening ceremonies: We see this
hair in WeHo every week.
Gymastics: We wish Ivan
Ivankov would perform without his shirt in competition
not just practice.
Gymnastics: Blaine
Wilson is a stud.
Today's
Tops:
--The opening
ceremonies were an amazing spectacle, especially the
lighting of the flame by Australian runner Cathy Freeman.
But she must have caught pneumonia waiting for the
cauldron to rise. --American Nancy Johnson made the best decision by
skipping the ceremonies to get enough sleep for her air
rifle event. It paid off as Johnson won the gold, the
first medal of the Games.
--We got to see some of the live event coverage via
satellite on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and were
lucky to tune in for the men's gymnastics prelims. Talk
about eye candy!
Today's
Bottoms
--NBC's
decision to show nothing live, even when it can in U.S.
prime time, sucks. The U.S. is the only developed country
in the world where the whole thing in on tape.
--We love seeing the athletes march in and NBC, naturally,
spent the most time on the U.S. entrance. But why show us
virtually the entire men's basketball team? We see these
guys in the NBA all season. Why not highlight some
athletes who only get exposure every four years?
While
there were no doubt dozens of gays and lesbians competing, these athletes
are publicly out. If we've missed anyone please let
us know.
Lisa-Marie
Vizaniari (Australia, discus, 28, 5'8," 227 lbs. .
Vizaniari talks about being the only out
athlete from Australia and about her girlfriend/coach.
Camilla Andersen (Denmark, handball, 27, 5'7," 143
lbs.). Mia Hundvin (Norway, handball, 23, 5'5,'' 121 lbs.) Note: Andersen and
Hundvin are a couple. Check out a
fan's Web site, discussing their relationship.
Sports and gay athletes and sports fans: information on jocks, sports news and more. We encompass the sporting passions of gay and lesbian sports fans everywhere. Get news and post your opinion.
