<p>For badminton, it’s the rule that’s the problem. Every team has the right to use the strategy to ensure best chance to win a medal.
They should use tennis rule. Single elimination all the way. They won’t see fixed matches anymore.</p>
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<p>Apparently deliberately throwing matches is not their “right,” which is why they were soundly condemned and eliminated from the competition for their unsportsmanlike behavior. I also wonder how much blame can be assigned to the rules, as all teams knew the rules going in and could have refused to play if they are so outrageous, and according to the quote below, would not have been an issue had the supposed 2nd best team in the world NOT lost their match to the Danes.</p>
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<p>Our guys are up to #11 and 13. That’s better!</p>
<p>Those guys on the rings always amaze me!</p>
<p>Now they’re at 5 and 9. High bar last. Might as well go for it big.</p>
<p>Leyva and Orozco at 6 and 10. Uchimura has been incredible today. The real battle is on for the silver and bronze. They’ve just shown the ridiculous number of Japanese press who are there, wow! I believe this is the final rotation now.</p>
<p>Leyva wins bronze! Wow!</p>
<p>Leyva got bronze!!!</p>
<p>Last night I predicted Leyva bronze, Orozco 8th. Boy, I wish I had put money on that!</p>
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<p>Well, let’s see. Only 25 athletes in the history of the modern Olympics have won 10 or more medals. Of those, 12 came in gymnastics, 7 in swimming, 2 in track & field (“athletics”), 2 in fencing, 1 in shooting, and 1 in canoeing. Those in fencing, shooting, and canoeing came over multiple decades of participation. So statistically, at least, it’s easier to win a prodigious number of medals in gymnastics or swimming than in other Olympic sports.</p>
<p>But that’s not to take anything away from Michael Phelps’ accomplishments. People have been swimming in the Olympics for a long time, and he’s well ahead of the nearest swimmers in the medal count: Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres, and Natalie Coughlin are closest with 12 apiece, to Phelps’ 19.</p>
<p>Even more impressive, 15 of Phelps’ 19 Olympic medals have been golds. Only 4 other athletes in any sport have as many as 9 gold medals: gymnast Larisa Latynina, swimmer Mark Spitz, runner Paavo Nurmi, and sprinter/long jumper Carl Lewis. Nurmi, “the Flying Finn,” is probably the forgotten superstar today. He dominated the 1920, ’24, and ’28 Olympics, entering a total of 12 events over that span and winning 9 golds and 3 silvers, an extraordinary success rate. Spitz was dominant, too, with 9 golds, 1 silver, and 1 bronze in just 2 Olympics (this is Phelps’ third). And Carl Lewis had 9 golds and 1 silver, but it took him 4 Olympics to get there.</p>
<p>Remarkable athletes all, but it would be hard to say Phelps isn’t the most accomplished Olympian of all time.</p>
<p>I just watched the video of one of the pairs accused of throwing the badminton match…it looks like me in gym class back in the day. (I think that should be the Official Olympic Test to determine if someone is throwing a match: if an Olympic calbier athlete looks like Missypie in HS gym, she’s throwing the match.)</p>
<p>“And I agree that swimming is very tiring.” - Nope, you do not, you are just saying that. You completely disagree, not even close. Just try it, then come back and say that you agree, that is if you are able to sit and type after all that swimming. Many swimmers have hardest time doing very simple tasks (like getting into car) next day after hard practice.</p>
<p>And again, why running leg of any triathlon is much longer than swimming leg?? Why swimming is always the shortest of them all? If it is so easy to recover, then make it the longest, make it 3 hours since it is such a “nothing” feat ans so easy to recover.</p>
<p>I did a triathlon on Sunday and wish the swimming leg was longer, as that’s my competitive advantage! The issue with swimming is that it’s a skill that must be learned and in an unnatural environment (water) for humans, so there is natural selection. Running is an innate skill. I would be far happier to swim 30 minutes that run 30 minutes - the natural cooling of the water is a plus. In either sport, you need to pace yourself. Look at the splits of the 1500 free - much slower than the 100 free, just like a sprinter doesn’t do the 5000, much less the marathon. </p>
<p>I think the reason that many swimmers can stay at the top of their game is that it is not as punishing on the joints as track and you don’t hear about the traumatic injuries that you do in other sports. (some shoulder problems, yes, not broken bones, etc). </p>
<p>Another intersting point is that swimmers practice all strokes in practice. While they all have their strengths, they do them all in varying degrees of success. You probably don’t see that amount of cross-training by track athletes.</p>
<p>I don’t agree that swimmers can’t perform tasks a day after a long practice. S1 is a 15yo swimmer and an average practice is 1.5-2 hours where he logs at least 5000 yards (probably more - I’m just estimating). He isn’t at an elite level in our region - those kids practice 2x/day, before & after school and likely put in closer to 10000 yards/day.</p>
<p>Missy Franklin just qualified for 100m free sytle final</p>
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<p>Why do you think the swimming portion of a triathlon is always held first? For this simple reason that it is easiest and quickest to recover from - to immediately complete two more races. And why is the running portion always run last? Because it’s the hardest to recover from. The whole event is over after the running.</p>
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<p>This is exactly my point. As I keep saying, it’s the pounding to the body that runners endure that makes it more punishing and harder to recover from. Swimmers put out enormous levels of effort, dedication, and determination. There is no disagreement on that. But any running coaches or parents who had 10 year old kids out there running for 6 hours a day over the summer would be arrested for child endangerment and abuse.</p>
<p>I’m interested in the idea that Phelps is the “greatest Olympian.” I think he has a decent claim. I wondered, though, who won medals in the most different Olympics. I also wondered if anybody ever won gold in the decathlon in more than one Olympics. They used to refer to the decathlon winner as the “world’s greatest athlete.” (Maybe they still do–but perhaps not on NBC if it’s not an American.)</p>
<p>Great Britain’s Daley Thompson was Olympic decathlon champion in 1980 and 1984, and Steve Redgrave has 5 rowing golds from 5 consecutive Olympics (you see the education I am receiving from the 24 BBC channels devoted to the Olympics! Yes, there are 24! It’s wall-to-wall Olympics here, and they luuuuurve rowing and any kind of boating here.)</p>
<p>[Daley</a> Thompson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daley_Thompson]Daley”>Daley Thompson - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>[Steve</a> Redgrave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Redgrave]Steve”>Steve Redgrave - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>I would prefer a triathlon where the distance of each event ‘sized’ such that the average person would spend the same amount of time in each event. The current setup favors runners. </p>
<p>The 400IM is the decathlon of swimming.</p>
<p>“Why do you think the swimming portion of a triathlon is always held first? For this simple reason that it is easiest and quickest to recover from - to immediately complete two more races. And why is the running portion always run last? Because it’s the hardest to recover from. The whole event is over after the running”</p>
<p>The swimming portion is held first because it is easier to assist a struggling competitor on land than to fish out a dead body from open waters.</p>
<p>Watching Spain-USA water polo game. Darn, where is the underwater camera? That’s where all the action is happening! Water polo is brutal!</p>
<p>It’s always hard to say who is the “greatest olympian” - phelps is the most decorated. But swimming allows a person to enter many, many events. He perhaps is the greatest swimmer of all time - 
- and I’m sure that’s up for debate.</p>
<p>I just love the whole olympic tradition. To be able to train and train to get to one olympics is awesome, then compete and possibly win a medal is even greater. And then do it all over again for four years and all over again for four years. Just amazing!!!</p>
<p>I can’t even stick to a diet for more than a couple of weeks. :)</p>