What are your favorite moments from the 2008 Olympics?

[sh0kr0k]

Well, it's almost over for another 4 years. I'm not usually a sports fan but I've been glued to the tv these past two weeks. I'm sad it's over, but I'm also happy because some really amazing things happened.

Did you guys enjoy any of the events? What were some of your favorite moments?

Opening Ceremonies
Well this goes without saying, it was marvelous! I loved the drummers and the "Star Men" (the guys with all the lights on their suits). Sarah Brightman's voice was hauntingly beautiful and the perfect backdrop for the events. I'm sorry that I don't remember the male vocalist's name, but he was terrific as well!

Diving
I just saw the amazing upset to the men's 10m platform diving finals, and that definitely makes my list of memorable moments. From seemingly nowhere, China's dominance over diving was over as Matthew Mitcham of Australian took the gold on his last dive!

I also really enjoyed watching Guo Jinjing, the dominant female diving champ, perform throughout the week. She is really incredible! I'm sad that I just learned about her and she's retiring, but at least I got to watch her last 5 dives and the performances with her partner in synchronized diving.

Swimming
Of course, watching Michael Phelps and the US men's swim team take the gold in so many races was history in the making!

Kosuke Kitajima from Japan was also simply amazing to watch! I really hope he returns again at the 2012 Olympics!

Gymnastics
Fabian Hambuchen from Germany winning the bronze metal in men's high bar was a treat also. He had a real bad performance early on but I could see his talent and he captured my attention. During the gymnastics exhibition performances, he was simply amazing.

Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson turned in good performances, but the rest of the women's US gymnastics team were a bit sloppy. Glad we got a couple Gold out of it though, those two girls were great!

Finally getting to see some rhythmic gymnastics was a lot of fun, eventhough the broadcast was cut off from technical difficulties.

Overall, I think I enjoyed diving the most, but I would have liked to see
more events. I don't have cable so I was limited to whatever was shown on NBC.

What events did y'all like the best?

 

[SharkBlack]

Michael Phelps and the US swim team were awesome...

Seeing the guy from Togo get his counties first olympic metal, a bronze in whitewater kayaking

Nastia Luikin was amazing in the all around.

US basketball is back on top where it belongs... (I'm stayinng up to watch it the gold metal match to make sure)

Watching that Cuban Taikwondo asswipe kicking the ref in the face...(My GOD!! what an ass!! but not something you see every day)

Kerri Walsh and Misty May!! THEY KICK ARSE!!! And so does beach volleyball...

The US water Polo, playing for the gold tonight as well...

And I just enjoyed watching a bunch of crazy sports...Saber, Badminton, Soccer, Boxing, Table Tennis, Handball, Womens Field Hockey, Shooting...etc.

Pretty disapointed with US Track N Field but Jamaica's Bolt was AWESOME!!! YA MAN!~

 

[Meedleyx10]

-the women's all-around gymnastics. Both Johnson and Liukin had killer performances
-Phelps. Downright incredible and, as already said, history was witnessed at these games.
-Epic falls during the men's all-around gymnastics

 

[Diamond45]

SharkBlack pretty much summed it up for me. Didn't hear about the ref getting kicked in the face until I saw the article on CNN this morning.

I'm just glad that the Americans really didn't do anything that stupid embarassing, except not winning where they should have. I mean - dropping the baton in both the men's AND women's track relays?? Ugh.

I'm really glad the men's basketball (aka Redeem Team) really tried to be a nice bunch of guys instead of their usual stuck-up NBA star statuses they normally do. Going to other events, supporting the other athletes. Either someone told them to do it, or one of them got a brain cell and figured out that the world doesn't revolve around them!

I'm still sick that China got so many gold medals. Reminds me of the old Soviet Union. :zombie: Yeah, they DID have the better athletes. No question there. But at what price? They're still a communist country that rules over people with an iron fist.

But overall I liked NBC's coverage a hell of a lot better than in 2000 or 2004. Showing events live when it was feasible was nice. They're coverage wasn't as "American centric" as it was last time. Oh, and it also helps to own HDTV (the clarity was outstanding) and a DVR and watch events when you want to.

I just hope that the athletes and coaches take the lessons learned from this Olympics and start preparing NOW for the 2012 Olympics in London. We have a LONG way to go before we come back out on top of the gold medal standings. Hope it isn't too late for the Winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver, BC. IIRC, we did some really bone headed things in 2006 in Italy.

 

[booB]

One of my biggest highlights was seeing James Blake knock off Roger Federer in tennis. He didn't medal, but it was still a momentous occasion in his career.

Also, Alicia Sacramone is hot.

 

[rockyracoon]

The Cuban Taekwondo guy kicking a judge in the face after being disqualified.


The wrestler throwing a tantrum and not accepting his medal after claiming the judges fucked up. Turns out they did fuck up. Good for him.


The alleged age scandal surrounding the Chinese gymnasts.

 

[SharkBlack]

The alleged age scandal surrounding the Chinese gymnasts.

Alleged... I will be shocked if China doesn't get all their medals stripped after the inquisition.. Those gymnists looked 12... Now they are saying that maybe up to 5 of them are under age... Cheatin' bastards

But in the end watch, nothing will happen
Maybe I won't be so shocked after all.

 

[LunaTEKKE]

Diving

I just saw the amazing upset to the men's 10m platform diving finals, and that definitely makes my list of memorable moments. From seemingly nowhere, China's dominance over diving was over as Matthew Mitcham of Australian took the gold on his last dive!

Saw that - VERY cool finish! I also enjoyed the finish to the Women's 4x400 relay.

One of my biggest highlights was seeing James Blake knock off Roger Federer in tennis. He didn't medal, but it was still a momentous occasion in his career.

I'm very bummed that I missed all the tennis! I didn't find out until after the fact that there was coverage on USA.

I also wish I could have seen the USA Men's Basketball and Volleyball teams getting the gold. Great performance from the men's Volleyball team following such a senseless tragedy.

 

[Diamond45]

I also wish I could have seen the USA Men's Basketball and Volleyball teams getting the gold. Great performance from the men's Volleyball team following such a senseless tragedy.

They repeated the Volleyball game tonight on NBC. I agree, it was great to see them get gold considering what happened earlier.

They showed the gold medal basketball game live on USA (at 2:30 AM Eastern), and later on tape delay on NBC the next day.

Having a DVR made a world of difference this time around.

 

[booB]

Alleged... I will be shocked if China doesn't get all their medals stripped after the inquisition.. Those gymnists looked 12... Now they are saying that maybe up to 5 of them are under age... Cheatin' bastards

But in the end watch, nothing will happen
Maybe I won't be so shocked after all.

Asian girls always look much younger than their counterparts from other ethnicities... and gymnasts always look younger than other girls their age. Nastia Liukin certainly doesn't look almost 19.

One of the Chinese girls was already vindicated, after everybody swore she just *had* to be under sixteen.

 

[Jibrille]

Asian girls always look much younger than their counterparts from other ethnicities... and gymnasts always look younger than other girls their age. Nastia Liukin certainly doesn't look almost 19.

One of the Chinese girls was already vindicated, after everybody swore she just *had* to be under sixteen.

It's really easy to be vindicated when your proof is an official government document by the same government that is behind the underage gymnasts in the first place.

As I've posted elsewhere, gymnasts at the age of 16 no matter how much slower they develop should not be missing a tooth that normally comes in at the age of 11. My 8 year old niece looks older than her. Hell, the 9 year old they had lip syncing at the opening ceremonies looks the same age (and happens to be missing the same tooth).

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Women's beach vollyball

Women's gymnastics

the hot mexican diver chick.

yyyep.

 

[rms]

anything volleyball and table tennis related. I didnt see any soccer though, wtf

 

[AngraRULES]

One of my biggest highlights was seeing James Blake knock off Roger Federer in tennis. He didn't medal, but it was still a momentous occasion in his career.

Also, Alicia Sacramone is hot.

Agreed on all accounts.

Any moment with Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin made it worth for me.

Phelps was great.

Men's soccer sucked... (Gee, I wonder why I'm saying this)

 

[No-Mercy]

beach volleyball was sweet cos we dominated.

but so was the baseball game vs china, hahah. man their catcher was slaughtered.

 

[edgeofthorns]

I liked when the US runner dove over the finish line...pretty hardcore if you ask me!

~Brian~

 

[Tess]

My favorite event was the men's 4X100 freestyle relay! My bratty husband said "Go, France" right when it started just because he knew it would fire me up. Sooooooo it was awesome to see Lezak come through against the big mouth French swimmer in the end.

I love a good competition and it was cool that they were running their mouths because it makes it more fun - I think! I think they even made some comment AFTER the race about it being a finger nail that we won by and it being "nothing." LOVE IT!

 

[Cheiron]

Watching the US men's gymnastics win the bronze. And watching Natia win the individual gold. Both were very intense and my heart was racing.

Unfortunately, most of the track events were delayed and I already knew the results. And if Americans weren't winning them they didn't show them often. Annoying. Hell they barely even highlighted Clay winning the decathlon, which is an awesome event.

 

[sh0kr0k]

Unfortunately, most of the track events were delayed and I already knew the results. And if Americans weren't winning them they didn't show them often. Annoying. Hell they barely even highlighted Clay winning the decathlon, which is an awesome event.

I agree, I would have liked to see more of the decathlon and Clay's accomplishments. It's one of my favorite events since it incorporates so many skills that are iconic Olympic games, like discus, shot put, javelin... and Bryan Clay is amazing

 

[Stingray11214]

I mostly watched stuff like Team Handball, Rowing, and yes, Basketball/soccer/water polo. Thank God I was able to catch some great matches on USA and MSNBC. Rarely watched the NBC coverage