<p>Ben Johnson forever changed the way I view sports, especially Olympic track. When I see someone surging effortlessly far ahead of the very fastest men in the world… with time to drop his arms, pound his chest and still set a new world record… I am… too say the very least… skeptical.</p>
<p>I think Bolt is clean. I really do. He’s a Phelps- a freak of nature.</p>
<p>Why thank you Momofwildchild it means a lot that some people can have confidence it us, trust me it ain’t no drugs just good food ( yam, banana dasheen, cassava and lots of dumpling lol ( jamaicans will more likely get this joke) and hard training I mean when last have you heard a major jamaican athlete testing positive, besides it was only a matter of time, people have been watching this guy from he was in his teens setting the junior world record at 15 with blistering speed that’s yet to be touched, always a crowd favourite always a winner they all expected big things from him he’s just living up to their expectations and he’s always been doing the 100m for speed work in 200m he just decided to take it up on the world stage its not like he never touched it before. Besides he didn’t even know about the record until after his victory lap he didn’t set out there to break he was just determined to win and executed a perfect race by getting out fast maintaining his speed he decided to slow down when he realised there was no one beside , you could see him looking to his right more than likely for asafa powell when he saw no one he started celebrating, wouldn’t you? to add he’s also great at the 400 just doesn’t like it</p>
<p>I have enjoyed watching Shawn Johnson so very much in the past few days. She is amazing to watch in her events, always gracious and positive, very sweet, and just plain old adorable. Gymnastics always mesmerizes me because it is something that I couldn’t even imagine doing (other than ‘winning’ my gym class competition on the uneven bars when I was 16 ;)). I’m not really a nationalist and I enjoy watching all of the competitors but I have to admit that this young girl has captured my heart and I was cheering for her.</p>
<p>Have y’all looked up the results of the women’s bars finals? Don’t want to be a spoiler, but I’m dying to discuss!</p>
<p>What is up with gymnastics scoring? Grrrrrrr…this new system of breaking a tie is really hacking me off. I’ve never in my life seen something so mathematically nonsensical.</p>
<p>I am very confused by the gymnastics scoring. I’m old enough to remember Nadia’s perfect 10s, and then I look at what some of these girls are doing and fail to see how they merit 8.8s or 9.0s. Bela and Bob keep alluding to changes, but I wish there was a more in-depth primer. I get so angry at what certainly seems like favoritism, and S2 is actually wishing ill will on the Chinese gymnasts he’s so frustrated. But maybe there are good reasons???</p>
<p>Oh, and don’t get me started on the underage gymnasts!!!</p>
<p>Anyone see the end of the triathlon? Ending the race with a sprint after all that, all I can say is wow!</p>
<p>Interesting how our opinions differ! I thought the judging was excellent. The winners all, I think, deserve to win. Did you folks take the difficulty level of the routines into account?</p>
<p>For me, the story of gymnastics is the Chinese men’s team.</p>
<p>Did anybody see table tennis? I was not interested in the results, since they are bygone conclusions, but I wanted to see what made the Chinese so good. My conclusion was surprising to even me. Their competition can technically do everything the Chinese do, but it is in those split second decisions that the Chinese excel in. They seem to know where to place the ball, what kind of spin and how much of it to apply, when to speed up the ball and when to slow it down. By constantly changing the speed, the spin, and the placement, they left their competition completely befuddled. Interesting.</p>
<p>canuck, I’m looking strictly at the execution score. I understand the level of difficulty will come into play in the overall score, but when I see what looks like near perfection (I’m thinking Shawn Johnson on the beam in the prelims) and then her execution score is so low (can’t remember now what it was), it just doesn’t make sense to me.</p>
<p>After my previous post, I heard Nadia say that 10s are no longer possible. Why not?</p>
<p>Oh, and BTW, THANKS NPR for ruining tonight’s results for me! Most stations do a “warning: Olympic spoiler ahead” so people can turn down their radio, but not you. Grrrrr.</p>
<p>Yeah, the NPR story surprised me, too. Of course, I WANTED to know. I went downstairs in my nightgown this morning to log onto the computer to find out the beam results, but I was amazed that NPR didn’t give a spoiler alert before they announced the results!</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay,</p>
<p>Shawn Johnson did win the gold in the end. Judges are humans and they can make mistakes. To suggest there’s favortism just because of one or two what you think as judging errors is silly unless they are very obvious but they aren’t.</p>
<p>I’m sooo bummed I missed Dara Torres’ swim (D had a party and the Rock Band took over our TV). She did not lose the gold. She won the silver! Yay! Go, my people, go-o-o-o-o-o!</p>
<p>And that Bolt guy is just … wow. </p>
<p>And please tell me how on Earth a woman can jump higher than 5 meters (that was the hight, right?)? Because another one was trash-talking about her? Can someone please trash-talk about me so I can run faster to be able to catch the earlier bus?</p>
<p>NPR gave a spoiler alert before the Olympics started. They announced that the Olympic results were “news” and they would be reporting all of them, and they wanted everyone to be forewarned.</p>
<p>OK, not a medal but I’m still excited. The US synchronized swimming duet team of Christina Jones and Andrea Nott placed fifth in their event today, and I am really really happy for them. Andrea is a graduate of my sons’ school and her mother is the school nurse, so we’ve been following her synchronized swimming career for the last few years. Well done, Andrea and Christina!</p>
<p>Every Olympics I’m reminded why I much prefer sports with electronic timing and finish line photos over sports with subjective judging. Give me track and field or swimming any day over gymnastics with its idiotic judges and blatant favoritism. </p>
<p>Track: First three across the finish line get the medals. Simple. Fair. Everybody understands it.</p>
<p>Gymnastics: Competitors are supposed to be able to guess “what the judges are looking for.” Entirely subjective. Judges vote in political “blocks.” Favortism and outright dishonesty rear their ugly heads every time.</p>
<p>Don’t miss the 200M! Unbelievable.</p>
<p>the 200m was awesome that’s two gold and two records for Usain Bolt the country is on cloud nine now everyone waving flags tooting their horns I just went for a walk in my colours it was like I was a star myself for representing and lets not forget melaine walker the 400m hurdles champion 2 gold in one day and there are more to come in the 200m womens and the relays of course</p>
<p>It was so nice of the organisers to play Happy Birthday to you for him</p>