London Olympics: General Discussion Thread

[JensenS]

Your lack of knowledge about the current level of competition is showing.

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The fact of the matter in 04 we didn't win every game by 50 points, in fact we didn't even win Gold. We also lost at Worlds in 02 and 06 with our pro's. In 08 we beat a Spanish team with six NBA players by 11 in the Gold Medal game.

[ban basketball]

Well, based on when this rule change went in, and from what I can gather, we have won gold 4 out of 5 Olympics, right? Not necessarily a poor showing.

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My statement of "winning by 50 points" was a bit facetious; another of my poor attempts at exaggeration.

[JensenS]

Just watched May and Walsh knock off Australia in straight sets in beach volleyball.

Great series of volleys to set up the winning point.

[vaisforlovers]

Lochtke smoked the field. Phelps took 4th. Lochtke flirted with Phelps World record for a bit, but ended up about 2 seconds off. Will be interesting to see how Phelps responds.

[ODH]

Watched Judo online today. Connection was a bit spotty, but it was cool to finally see whole matches with world class Judoka.
Some interesting contrasts with wrestling:
1. Top eight competitors are seeded
2. Loser to anyone who make the semifinals gets pull into the repecharge (consolations)
3. Usually one score was all it took to win a match.
4. Tiebreaker is a sudden death period

I would be curious how wrestling fans without any prior exposure to Judo would find the matches, I would think the techniques would look familiar and the rules should be easy to understand (the actual scores are little complex, but it not that imporant since one score usually wins. The simple way to look the scoring is takedowns with a gi and you only get points if you take them down directly to their back)

Right now I think I would prefer to watch Judo over wrestling. Maybe half the medal round matches were very dfensive and a few were decided in OT with a penalty, however, compared to wrestling where almost every match is defensive and many matches are decided with the clinch.
I know the US wrestlers and some of their competitors which makes the competition more interesting where I don't know any of the Judo competitoris and the US has only qualified a handful and ony hae one medal contender

[ODH]

So I am wathcing the men's gymnastics right now and I wonder how is the US so good.
Some of the excuses we use for US wrestling being average internationally seem to be even worse for male gymnastics. NCAA men's gymnastic has been almost completely eliminated, there is no professional path for male gymnasts. The nmber of boys who do ymnastics has to bevery small. maybe it is diferent in the northeast but it is essentially unheard of for boys to compete. My daughter does gymnastics and at the meets that I have gone to with hundred of girls I have only ever since one boy.

[arm-spin]

I haven't watched much Judo, but I do like the idea of wrestling seeding their tournaments. It could easily be done without politics becoming involved, either through finishes at the last WC or points accumulated on the international circuit. I don't mind the way the international brackets are personally, I would prefer a full bracket but the current system is much better than the old pool system.

In terms of contrasting gymastics vs wrestling, I think the biggest reasons the US hasn't reached its potential is that people train the wrong style in hs/college. Everything else is secondary and exponentially less important.

[RYou]

Great move by NBC to show the team archery final, US vs Italy....right down the last round and last shot. US shoots 8-9-8 to let Italy back in and the last Italian nails a 10 on the final shot of the tournament to squeeze out the win by 1 point. 9-9-9 US has the gold, but it was not to be.

[ODH]

I haven't watched much Judo, but I do like the idea of wrestling seeding their tournaments. It could easily be done without politics becoming involved, either through finishes at the last WC or points accumulated on the international circuit. I don't mind the way the international brackets are personally, I would prefer a full bracket but the current system is much better than the old pool system.

In terms of contrasting gymastics vs wrestling, I think the biggest reasons the US hasn't reached its potential is that people train the wrong style in hs/college. Everything else is secondary and exponentially less important.

Seeding could work in wrestling as long as there is a set criteria (i.e. points in international competition) not subjective decision by a committee like the NCAA does. I think that is way it is done in Judo. The pool system was horrible

Agree with you 100% on the wrestling analysis. I was mostly trying to counter all the other arguments that are brought up by Folkstyle fans.