Olympics

[cured]

Jesus walked on water. Phelps swims on land.

[chuck]

woohoo - super saturday indeed for NZ.

3 medals in the rowing.

Bronze for Mahe Drysdale - who apparently can't remember the last 15 strokes and had to be carried from the boat. He lost 4 kilos this last week, after fighting with a stomach bug. Talk about how not to prepare! Awesome performance from the 3 time world champion.

Bronze for Twaddle and Bridgewater in the coxless pairs.

Gold for the Ever-Swindell sisters. Defending Olympic champions. Written off by most as they had a terrible season in Europe - consistently beaten by the Chinese. Working off injury. Qualified directly from the heats - so a week off to prepare. Behind from the gun - slow start - won it on the line - but a whisker. .01 of a second, photo-finish - just pipping the Germans.

Cracker. Top race. Top chicks. And they might be back in 2012. Ripper.

Hayden Roulston takes silver in the individual pursuit. Superb from him - well beaten by the British rider, Biggins - current world champion.

Valerie Vili takes the shotput. Heaves 4kg steel ball over 20m. Makes a 8 other men cry. Does not have to take last throw. Runs across racetrack to hug coach and get flag. Eats small official who tries to stop her. First NZ gold in track and field events since 1952.

Sweet as!

And in other news - the Blackness dealt to the current world cup holders South Africa - in a serious butt whipping - to the tune of 19 points to nil. Captain Tackles McAWE led the way, and the beer-swilling, biltong-munching afrikanner hordes had no reply. Smashed 'em bro!

Fucking A!!!

[chuck]

And for all of you getting sick and tired of stupid questions from inane TV presenters trying to turn every event into a momentous Rocky-esque moment.

The Answers we all really want to hear.

How do you feel?
Well, one of my nuts popped out at the 500 metre mark - I had to do the last K and a half with lefty chaffing the seat. The skin in that area’s pretty raw and I’m fairly sure it’s sunburnt, too. I’m in a great deal of pain and I can’t walk in a straight line. I’ll probably vomit if I see another oar.

....

Have you got anything to say to the family back home? I’m sure they’re watching.
I just wanna say to my partner Sarah, I love you. Mmmmm-mmmm. But baby, I’m a man. A man needs to relax sometimes, living in that village, with all those… athletes. I’m just saying. Nothing to worry about. Just think of my gold medal dreams. Our gold medal dreams.

hehehe

[//\/\/]

good weekend for the brits - dominating the cycling, golds from the water (swimming, sailing, rowing) - shame that murray fucked up so badly, and that we've barely a hope in the athletics stadium - enjoying the giddy heights of 3rd place in the medal table, as it won't last too long...

[Troy McClure]

And then Usain Bolt of Jamaica happened. I hadn't been that awe struck by a gold medal sprint since Michael Johnson's 200m WR at Atlanta 1996. Just fascinating. --Jason

[chuck]

Holy shit. Yes. That was an amazing run by Bolt. And the fact that he just kind of strolled the last 10. "Strolled" being a relative term of course. Superb. Last time I remember being that blown away by sheer speed was 1988 - when Ben Johnson did his thing.

Here's hoping whatever Caribbean juice Bolt is drinking - is all natural.

And just in case you're getting bored of trampolining, and swimming - I feel we need more sports involving weapons. Shotput, arrows, javelins are all good - but big fuck off guns added to regular events would be ace too.

[//\/\/]

Originally Posted by //\/\/

good weekend for the brits - dominating the cycling, golds from the water (swimming, sailing, rowing) - shame that murray fucked up so badly, and that we've barely a hope in the athletics stadium - enjoying the giddy heights of 3rd place in the medal table, as it won't last too long...

...happy to eat my words about the athletics after gold and silver today; and happy to still see gb 3rd in the table, with more to come tomorrow.

but best of all, is that i'm still feeling like i always have once the olympics get going - happy to see people doing it for sport - acheiving things they've planned for years - i feel no differently about china; it's just a backdrop - the spirit of the event is way more important

[cured]

The Redeem Team is certainly doing well...now that they've had a bunch of games under their belt, they can start to work their magic on Argentina and maybe the winner of Lithuania/Spain. Their shots seem to be falling with greater frequency now, also. Good things. We need our gold medals back!

[chuck]

sweet as. unknown nz guy wins gold in board-sailing. brilliant!

unknown nz bmx rider in with chance at winning medal. vaguely well known nz kayakers also in with chance to win medals.

[cured]

I'm pretty stoked the Afghan guy won his medal. In some events, athletes are disappointed with anything but gold. For some, though, any medal will give them the greatest sporting moment of their lives. It's always fun to see the underdogs win (unless it's in basketball).

Hey Miguel, what do you think the chances are of Spain vs. USA in the gold medal basketball game?