<p>My son and I agreed that Jordyn got the gold for interview. She was poised and gracious, at a time when she must have been so crushed she shouldn’t have had to do any interviews.</p>
<p>Still can’t quite figure out where Gabby Douglas beat out Jordyn Weiber today. Other than on bars, Gabby had just as many, much bigger mistakes.
Of course, I’m still in shock that they let Gabby compete in the AA at all, considering how inconsistent she’s been on beam.</p>
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<p>SaintSaens, I don’t know the details of evaluation for gymnasts but the Canadian commentator mentioned these same issues. It’s sad for Jordyn but it’s a shame that that has been so much of the story and not happiness for the two girls who will be moving forward in the event.</p>
<p>Sorry for this post taking the topic back quite a few pages, but for those of you who were with me in being annoyed with NBC for choosing to completely edit out the moving tribute to “those who cannot be with us” (ostensibly terror victims from 7/7), you might be interested in this: </p>
<p>I was checking around to see if NBC had issued any real statements about this decision. Maybe even, dare I say it, issued some kind of apology. I found a statement from the guy, Greg Hughes, who is apparently a big-wig at NBC—found his e-mail addy and wrote to him last night. Lo and behold, and to my surprise, he responded almost immediately and we exchanged several messages. Here is part of our exchange:</p>
<p><a href=“him%20in%20response%20to%20my%20initial%20inquiry”>quote</a>Thanks for writing. I actually have lived in Norcross and the Atlanta area for the last 25 years, so we’re almost ‘neighbors’.
We’re doing the best we can to satisfy our audience, and our decisions related to the Opening Ceremony were made with very careful thought.
Sorry you don’t agree with the decision, but we appreciate you reaching out and expressing your opinion.
Enjoy the Olympics!</p>
<p>(me back to him) I really appreciate your taking the time to reply. Frankly, I never expected that.</p>
<p>May I ask what was meant by “tailoring” the presentation for the US audience in this situation? What was so objectionable about that beautiful and moving segment, that you all felt we in the US would be better served by seeing a taped interview that I later saw AGAIN on Saturday? I honestly am very confused and not a little disturbed by this. It just makes no sense to me. And every single person that I have talked to or communicated online about this feels exactly the same way…</p>
<p>Again, thanks very much for your time. </p>
<p>(his next response ) : The element you refer to was an interpretive dance, along with the music and a general Great Britain-focused acknowledgment for ‘those who can’t join us tonight.’
Our judgment was that it wouldn’t translate well to the U.S. audience, so we changed the show to add something we felt would be more compelling. </p>
<p>(THAT is the lamest part—next is my response back again) : I appreciate that you must make judgement calls. I sincerely think you kinda blew this one, though. The dance was beautiful, the music was absolutely hauntingly wonderful and the tribute very moving. I have shared it online with many friends and they have agreed.</p>
<p>Again, thanks for responding. Best to you. </p>
<p>(and his final response was ): Thanks for writing.
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<p>Very cool that he responded. Not so cool was his response. Oh well.</p>
<p>I understand the disappointment when our #3 is excluded even though our #3 is so much better than many of the others who do go on. On the other hand, I remember the days when the commentators spent a lot of time identifying judges by country and relating their scoring to their political biases. So in all fairness, there are reasons to have team caps. And wouldn’t we be making the same comments if the cap were 3 and we’d be feeling bad for #4?</p>
<p>^ no cap then, the best athletes in the world should compete for the overall best gymnist. If 1 country sweeps the medals, so be it. This should not be a feel good event where they are trying to get the most countries represented. Heck, give them all a medal then if that’s how they want to play it.</p>
<p>Happy to see the Canadian Men’s 8 rowing team, who are defending Gold medalists, will move through to the final as a result of the repechage.</p>
<p>Men’s field hockey this morning. Another rarely watched sport that’s fun to see.</p>
<p>I felt Jordyn was scored extremely low on floor. Gabby deserved the terrible score for not just a heel out (as Jordyn) but several steps. Do the countries have a choice of who they allow to qualify in the first place? Another poster mentioned Gabby is inconsistent. I will say I thought her interview was rather ungracious. Perhaps that’s just age/inexperience. When asked if she felt concerned after her floor routine (in relation to making AA) she said “no, I was always positive” (or some version). I found it arrogant. Usually a poised gymnast will answer along the lines “I was hopeful but knew my teammate was strong as well”. I agree that Jordyn was a class act giving her interview at such an emotional time. And yes, the idea to shoot the interview with Aly with Jordyn in the back crying was low.</p>
<p>Did anyone else see the stories about Kim Rhode? You know - America’s greatest Olympian?</p>
<p>Five straight Olympics, five straight gold medals in women’s skeet shooting. Along the way, she’s had a breast cancer scare and someone stole her competition rifle.</p>
<p>She’s well-spoken, funny, and very good (in the Olympics, she missed just one target out of 100). She’s also a shooting prodigy:</p>
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<p>[Olympics</a> 2012: Meet Kim Rhode?the greatest U.S. Olympian ever - London Olympics 2012 - Sporting News](<a href=“http://aol.sportingnews.com/olympics/story/2012-07-29/olympics-2012-kim-rhode-skeet-shooting-greatest-us-olympians-medal-count]Olympics”>http://aol.sportingnews.com/olympics/story/2012-07-29/olympics-2012-kim-rhode-skeet-shooting-greatest-us-olympians-medal-count)</p>
<p>I’m just saying - it would be great to hear more of these kinds of stories about the more obscure athletes!!</p>
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<p>So, my ancient mind served me pretty well.</p>
<p>I was able to see Russia and Romania in gymnastics during “late night.” Wow, it seems like
they were scored really high given the mistakes that were made. I felt sorry for Catalina Ponor because she made so many mistakes on beam, then she got a 15+ and ended up in the events finals. From what I saw, the Russians made a lot more mistakes than we did and were only a tiny bit behind us.</p>
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<p>I like her. Someone asked her how long she would be competing and she said that someone as old as 70 had competed, so we’d be seeing her for a while.</p>
<p>Oh, also, I hate that the only way one can see the Olympic flame is by getting into the stadium. Even if they are saying it’s not for tourists, what about the athletes whose events aren’t in the stadium? Lots didn’t participate in the opening cremony. Shouldn’t they be able to see the flame?</p>
<p>For those who asked why Gabby got to compete…</p>
<p>There is a rule that whoever places first in the US Olympic trials gets an automatic place in the all-around. Gabby won that event. So she was an auto entrant. The other places are decided by the US coaches at the end of the Olympic trials.</p>
<p>scout59, I saw the story on Kim. What an interesting woman. And so accomplished! She made 99 out of 100 shots! Wow.</p>
<p>churchmusicmom, I agree with your take on Doug Hughes comments. The tribute was beautiful and should have been included in NBC’s coverage. </p>
<p>missy, it’s definitely a shame that people must pay to see the cauldron. It’s always such a treat to be able to see the flame from afar at nigh. I remember that from being in Vancouver. Has anyone seen any explanation for the decision to place it inside the stadium and hidden from view? It seem that there would have been any number of excellent locations along the Thames.</p>
<p>A couple of months ago I read someone’s prediction that an American would win the AA but that it would be Aly. Don’t know that that will happen but whoever wrote that must have felt pretty smart yesterday.</p>
<p>I’ve loved Aly since the NPR interview where she was talking excitedly about her prom dress. Those girls can do things that almost no one else in the world can do, but then they still get excited about normal stuff.</p>
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<p>That seems rather arrogant. Would London Olympic chief Sebastian Coe be just as happy if all the tourists stayed home?</p>
<p>Besides, the majority of the athletes can’t see it either.</p>
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<p>The heat wave has broken, but it was quite warm last week, and apparently the Brits got to have AC units and no one else did. </p>
<p>[British</a> athletes have only AC in Olympic Village](<a href=“http://now.msn.com/british-athletes-have-only-ac-in-olympic-village]British”>http://now.msn.com/british-athletes-have-only-ac-in-olympic-village)</p>
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Not to take away from Kim Rhode’s legacy, but rather for accuracy’s sake, the Olympic medals weren’t all gold.</p>
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I can’t, either. Gabby took quite a walk outside the boundaries in her floor routine. And they are saying that Jordyn’s one foot outside cost her the chance to compete in the AA. </p>
<p>Bela was bellowing that Jordyn was “cheated” because the individual coaches decided the lineup, and it’s known that the last one up often gets the highest score. </p>
<p>I would have much preferred that Jordyn competed in AA instead of Gabby. I’m not a big Gabby fan.</p>
<p>Bela is a hoot to listen to.</p>
<p>I think that Jordan and Aly are more rock solid under pressure, but hwo knows, Gabby has done great the last few times out.</p>
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<p>It did seem kind of wild that our “best” gymnast didn’t anchor any event. But if things had turned out differently, one of our others would have been shut out.</p>
<p>I saw the interviews last night and just a few minutes ago with Bela about this. He is fun to watch. He was very careful not to contradict his wife’s decisions too much but certainly had his own thoughts on the order of the gymnasts. I’m with CTTC in at I’m not a big Gabby fan. I am however very happy for Aly and will be cheering her on.</p>