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The official Olympic Summer Games 2004 thread (pg. 13)
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| j_spot |
the dissapointment of the olympics for me is christine nordhagens loss.
I used to train w/ her(wrestling) and I know just how good and how hard she trains. shes well past her prime, still a canadian champ, and a good part of the reason womens wrestling is in Athens.
shell have to settle for 5-8th.
She wont be happy with it, but Im so happy for her that she got to experience the olympics. |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: |
Aug. 23, 2004. 06:38 AM
Gymnast saves Canada's bacon
But Canadian Olympic Committee still in the pan
DAVE PERKINS
SPORTS COLUMNIST
Kyle Shewfelt came along and saved a little Canadian bacon last night. Yet the Canadian Olympic Committee remains right there in the frying pan.
The gymnastics gold medal won by Shewfelt, plus the one at the track in the wheelchair 800 by Chantal Petitclerc, mark the first times Canada's anthem has been played into the steamy Greek air.
The official medal count stands at merely four and despite the promise of more — and the COC is hammering that theme here — it's clear there's huge trouble looming in the future.
A Canadian Olympics is set for 2010 in Vancouver and guess what the COC, barely acknowledging weak numbers here, is asking for. Right. More funding for the athletes.
It's up to Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer to cough up again — although how increased funding would have kept the rowing men's eight from doing the same yesterday is never explained. Rowing Canada has plenty of money and that didn't stop the crew from producing its worst race of the year in its biggest race of the year.
Not to pick on the rowers, who are, as a group, the leading underachievers here, in terms of what was expected. Lots of Canadian kids are trying hard and coming away empty. The specifics matter less than somebody stepping up and providing some leadership very soon.
It's already too late for Australian kinds of numbers in Beijing in 2008. It might even be too late for team greatness in Vancouver, given the lead time it takes to turn this ship around and the fruits of past (mid-1990s) government cutbacks.
"If we don't make the necessary investments now at all levels for 2010, we will face significant disappointment compared to all the objectives we have set for ourselves. You can take that to the bank," Chris Rudge, the CEO of the COC, said yesterday.
The COC held its usual mid-Games status report yesterday. Granted, that sounds like three minutes, given the underwhelming medal count, but there were a few good non-medal performances to crow about.
There were brief allusions to the occasional disappointment, at least until question period from the press, after which the real racing began. Three medals eight days into the Games (pre-Shewfelt) left Canada down there in the table, slightly ahead of countries without electricity and about even with countries that don't have their own money.
This was not widely predicted, although one member of the International Olympic Committee, Toronto's own Paul (The Plumber) Henderson, stated several months ago, in writing, to the Prime Minister, among others, that athletically Athens would be "Canada's Dieppe.'' Things could change in the next few days, but Henderson looks prescient. More on him another day. But he did suggest it came down to needing more money for athletes and much better use of the money already at hand — read, less for our bureaucratic brigade.
It will be difficult to deny him the floor next time he has a suggestion. The COC's two high sheriffs, Rudge and president Michael Chambers, naturally refused to indicate their personal overall satisfaction or lack thereof. Not in one word.
They unwrapped the usual fromage and handed out blame: The federal government, Canadians' outlook on sports in general, voters, the lack of physical education in schools, negative media, media that overrate the athletes, bad luck, the 10-year plan, more politicians and those nasty professional athletes that people like to watch on TV. There may be more.
It was the same old yabba-dabba doo, with extra emphasis on that old devil, funding.
The COC somehow failed to mention athletes themselves — some have simply folded when faced with opportunity — and it certainly neglected to mention the COC itself, which, in reality, is a business organization whose chief responsibility is to market the five-ring brand.
People confuse it with an athletic organization. The COC exists to make sure there are athletes to wear the Roots costumes and appear in the commercials with the Little Blue Cow. The COC's first requirements for employment is the ability to speak French and ask for money in two languages.
Chambers said the current non-harvest was the result of government cutbacks in the 1990s, which rings true and has for a while. He said (again) that "Canada needs to decide whether it wishes to be a sporting nation'' and that voters need to make politicians pay at election time for not loosening the purse strings for amateur athletes. You've heard this all before, too. Probably always will.
There are a lot of things to do in Canada if we care about medals counts — and not everyone does, surely. The presence of the 2010 Games makes the matter more pressing — and isn't everyone so happy that this multi-billion-dollar-security-guard festival won't end up in Toronto in 2008? Yes, money matters in all of this. But it isn't only about money. It's also about leadership and the COC provides none. |
source:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...ol=968793972154
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| starsearcher |
I kept saying more money and more funding is needed...but then when I realized that the Canadian delegation has twice as many support staff than athletes I realized that we are just being ripped off. Lately it's becomming kind of a theme...money goes down the drain...no?
We need to seriously straighten ourselves out and make some serious changes. And I don't think excuses such as "we are peaceful people and not very competetive" :rolleyes: :rolleyes: just won't cut it anymore. |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by starsearcher
I kept saying more money and more funding is needed...but then when I realized that the Canadian delegation has twice as many support staff than athletes I realized that we are just being ripped off. Lately it's becomming kind of a theme...money goes down the drain...no?
We need to seriously straighten ourselves out and make some serious changes. And I don't think excuses such as "we are peaceful people and not very competetive" :rolleyes: :rolleyes: just won't cut it anymore. |
well u remember about those swimmers and judokas complaining about the poor leadership that their own organizations and the COC provides remember .. ?
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| starsearcher |
| quote: | Originally posted by dEsidEL
well u remember about those swimmers and judokas complaining about the poor leadership that their own organizations and the COC provides remember .. ?
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Yeah sure do! I think they really wanted to win, they really had that look on their face ya know...many athletes don't have it - you can just tell by looking at them :). And Mark Tweaksbury said that swimming is a huge mess as well.
I'm really happy and proud about Kyle though...he had an incredible routine! |
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| starsearcher |
| Oh yeah another thing I remembered is watching that interview with the Canadian rowing coach of men's 8 after they suffered a huge defeat. I think he was probabbly one of the only people who really knew what he was talking about (coaches wise) he was honest, direct, and precise and I think we need more of that! |
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| starsearcher |
| quote: | | CBC SPORTS ONLINE - Canadian Tonya Verbeek will compete for an Olympic gold medal in women's wrestling on Monday. |
YAY! We get another medal...hopefully the right colour one ;) |
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| starsearcher |
| Crap I think I jinxed it... :p We got silver...but excellent result for a newcommer! Another medal for Canada...YAY |
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| starsearcher |
| quote: | Canada protests men's Olympic vault final
Last Updated: Mon Aug 23 16:03:55 EDT 2004
CBC SPORTS ONLINE - Canada has launched a formal protest over the finish of the men's Olympic vault competition in which Calgary's Kyle Shewfelt finished fourth.
Gervasio Deferr of Spain captured the gold medal and Evgeni Sapronenko of Latvia won the silver in the men's vault final Monday at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, but the controversy is over the bronze.
Marian Dragulescu of Romania, who finished second to Shewfelt in the floor exercise Sunday, collected the bronze, despite falling on his second of two vaults.
"We're protesting a couple technical irregularities that happened on vault," Canadian coach Tony Smith told CBC. "We're protesting the score of the Romanian gymnast Dragulescu who according to the technical regulations sustained more deductions than his score ended up. He had an impossible score."
Adding to the controversy was the fact that the appeal was turned down by the men's technical director of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), who happens to be Romanian.
Canadian officials pledged to keep fighting. However, it was unclear what their next step was.
"I think he deserved the bronze," J.P. Caron, president and CEO of Gymnastics Canada, said of Shewfelt.
Dragulescu left the crowd in awe with his opening vault, which earned him a whopping score of 9.900, the highest score of the competition.
But just when it seemed like the Romanian had the gold medal wrapped up, he stunned onlookers when he landed awkwardly on his second vault, stumbling sideways and putting two hands down to prevent him from falling off the mat.
For a moment, it looked like Shewfelt might stand on the podium for the second straight night. However, the judges awarded Dragulescu a generous 9.325, giving him an average of 9.612 and ending Shewfelt's hopes of a second medal in Athens.
"We believe the score of Dragulescu was mathematically impossible," said Caron.
"His start value is a 9.9 and based on what we've seen, a fall with two hands on the floor, plus he also has a few steps on top of that, would be at least a minimum of .7 deduction."
Smith said the Canadian delegation would discuss its options now that the initial protest was turned down.
"We think the judging at these Games has been a little subject. It's best for gymnastics around the world that [our sport] is judged fairly and according to the technical rules."
Shewfelt scored 9.687 on his first vault and 9.512 on his second for an average mark of 9.599. He had small hops on both of his vault landings.
The 22-year-old gymnast from Calgary became Canada's first medallist in artistic gymnastics Sunday with his gold-medal performance on the floor.
Deferr defended his Olympic title in the event with an average score of 9.737, while Sapronenko was awarded a 9.706.
It's the latest protest launched in the gymnastics competition at the Athens Games.
South Korea is protesting a scoring error that gave American Paul Hamm the all-around title over Yang Tae-young.
Shewfelt was gracious after the scores were handed out, telling CBC that even though he wanted a medal, he was still pleased with how his second Olympic experience went.
"I'm a little disappointed because I thought I did two pretty good vaults and the last guy fell on one his vaults," he said.
"That's the nature of sports. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I was lucky enough to win yesterday and that's what I'm going to focus on – my gold medal from yesterday."
Despite having eight of the best vaulters in the world, the competition didn't go as many experts had expected.
The first vaulter in the men's competition, Alexei Bondarenko of Russia, had two bad falls and appeared to suffer a back injury. He was taken away on a stretcher.
Two vaulters later, Li Xiopeng, the current world champion, stutterstepped on his way to the beatboard and didn't get enough height on his first vault, resulting in a poor landing.
Since his 12th place finish in the floor at the Sydney Games in 2000, Shewfelt has been one of the sport's rising stars.
After a handful of World Cup medals over the past four years, Shewfelt put the gymnastics world on notice, winning bronze medals in floor and vault at the 2003 world championships and gold medals in floor and vault at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Shewfelt faced adversity leading up to the Athens Games. He injured his left ankle and foot at a World Cup in Germany in March, an injury that kept him from competing until the Canadian Olympic trials in July.
Written by CBC Sports Online staff
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Well at least somebody is fighting to win!!! :thepirate |
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| TheNeonAlien |
Canada always gets shafted.
I wish kyle started swearing or kicked marion off the podium during the award cermony.
they guy hopped outta the ing ing screen, utter bull.
becky scott, sele and peltier and i hope kyle gets his medal too. |
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| starsearcher |
| quote: | Athens Shoots Past Sydney in Olympic Ratings
Mon Aug 23, 8:02 AM ET
By Andrew Wallenstein
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Midway through the race between Olympics past and present, this year's edition is outrunning its predecessor from four years ago.
NBC has drawn to its Athens-based primetime broadcast an average of 26.6 million total viewers through Friday, up 15% from the audience that tuned in to the first eight days of the Olympics in Sydney. NBC's 16 rating/28 share in households is up 9% from the 2000 Summer Games.
NBC's eight-day ratings are also 67% higher than the combined primetime rating of ABC, CBS and Fox over the same period.
Among viewers 18-49, NBC is averaging 9.3 million and a 5.8 rating -- up 60% over the combined rating of its competitors in that demographic.
This year's Olympics wasn't as fast out of the block as the 2000 edition, with the first two days of coverage finding fewer viewers than Sydney's opening nights. But NBC soon quickened its pace, running at top speed Thursday with 31.7 million tuning in. No single night of Sydney coverage topped that tally.
On Friday, NBC drew 23.7 million, up 3% from the eighth night of coverage in Sydney. NBC's entire portion of Olympics coverage that evening, which lasted beyond primetime, drew 26.4 million, up 14% from the comparable period in Sydney.
NBC is spreading its ratings wealth to its cable counterparts as well, with CNBC, MSNBC, USA and Bravo attracting 48 million total unduplicated viewers over eight days. Bravo's 5-8 p.m. coverage last week (Monday through Friday) posted the channel's highest-ever total-viewer average.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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| starsearcher |
| Alright who is this goofball singing O Canada for the Steelback Red commercial at the skydome - looks like before an Argo's game??? :stongue: :stongue: :stongue: :haha: :haha: :haha: He's so funny, every time I see him i roll on the floor laughing. :haha: :stongue: :haha: |
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