Yeah I noticed that too!

what are the urban legends?

Think about the moves that female gymnasts make on the beam involving straddling the bar and imagine someone with balls doing them.

Kobe's biggest knock is his low shooting percentage and he goes out and shoots 50% and now he's "shooting bricks"?

You need to let the Kobe hate go :)

1. i'm sure it doesn't feel all that great to be straddling a balance beam even with a vagina.

2. then the make gymnasts don't do the balance beam staddle move. besides, anyone can straddle a balance beam. that's not hard.

Imagine someone slipping and falling with legs apart on the beam. For a woman, it'd hurt bad, but it'd be alright... with a guy... well, he may not be able to have children after that.

LET'S NOT, OK?

OK, so another stupid rule.

Why do they let a completly different group of swimmers qualify for a swimming relay then the ones who are going to actualy swim in the medal round?

Why wouldn't they? You enter the relay as a nation. If you want to try to strategize and rest your better swimmers for the final, that's your risk (and your reward).

This isn't unique to swimming. Track relays are the same.

I could see it being an issue if you were allowed more than one entry in a relay event--you would need to designate your teams. But, with only one entry, I don't see a problem.

I'm not sure why, but the rule is the same for the track & field relays.

Well I think it's stupid.

The people that qualify should have to race for the medal.

And same for gymnastics and any other team event.

Nah, I prefer it this way. It allows for more people to participate. And since it's a team event, I don't see how it's much different than basketball or other team sports where you're allowed to sub people in or out. I just consider the other swimmers the bench players.

dola

Also, this reminds me of when I gained alot of respect for Phelps. In 2004, he gave up his spot in the medley relay final to Ian Crocker. Crocker hadn't raced in the prelims and wouldn't have got a gold if Phelps hadn't done that.

Do the "bench player" swimmers who swim in the qualifying round also get gold/silver/bronze medals?

EDIT: I guess larry's last post answers that.

Hopefully Crocker will repay him by beating him in the 100m Butterfly final.

:D

State-media story fuels questions on gymnast's age - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

No big surprise there.

Ok, not really paying attention what the gymnast's name was... that article confused the hell out of me.

Her name is "He."

We could get a Marx Bros. routine out of this.

What Kobe hate? He was 4-10 while missing dunks and layups in the first half. For Kwame Brown, that is a quality first half, for Kobe, it is shooting bricks;)

I don't have any issue with Kobe at all. When I do, you will definitely know it!:)

I think this was a routine in the latest Rush Hour movie.

That's how I felt reading it. When did the article switch to talking about a guy? Wait, that doesn't make sense grammatically. Maybe it was a typo. No, there it is again and again it doesn't make sense grammatically. Maybe it's supposed to say she? Or her?

Who? Wu?

YouTube - Deadwood Swearengen and WU

Haha, I just watched this movie the other night. Good stuff.

yes, so if 2 of 4 people race the prelim, and are then replaced, all 6 get medals, but only the 4 that raced the final get the cermony, and the world record will be listed in their names.

this is pretty graphic...hungarian weightlifter trying to snatch 326 pounds, his elbow looks like it fully dislocates anteriorally to the humerus

YouTube - Weightlifting accident - Beijing 2008

heh

video no longer available

weird...works when i click on it....just go to youtube and it was one of the "now being viewed" at the top of the page

They showed that on MSNBC yesterday (Wednesday) while I was at the gym (so in the 4:30-6ish p.m. ET time period). They warned that it was graphic, and then kept showing it again and again. They also showed a clip of one of the weightlifters tearing his calf muscle (I think they said it was a torn calf muscle, maybe detached? maybe torn tendon? --it was on mute and I was trying to read the subtitles). Not exactly what I wanted to be thinking of while at the gym.

I saw some previous post about something on Walsh's shoulder. This is a complete guess, since I haven't seen this brace (not even sure who Walsh is, I THINK women's beach volleyball), but I know that while in rehab for a dislocated shoulder, I've been taped up (by physical therapists) in such a way so as to help stabilize it and helps ensure it doesn't slip out (thereby helping reduce some of the stress on the muscles, especially after a therapy session). I'm guessing that said brace may serve a role similar to that.

Ok, since I just typed that out, I'm not deleting it. But I just saw it in an ad. It looks EXACTLY like the tape pattern they used to help stabilize it so it doesn't pop out (or partially pop out). So that's my "final answer."

/tk

it isnt really a brace. everytime they talk about the tape they explain that it is supposed to be increasing blood flow and oxygenation to the shoulder...she had surgery to clean out the joint, but has never had any history of dislocations

they are on at 9pm eastern tonight, and i am sure they will mention it again, they have every other time she has been on

edit to add: they just called it kinesiology tape

I never realized, since I am a longtime member of the International Society of Olympic Historians, how important beach volleyball is. I need to let the members know that it has to be considered one of the premier sports of the games. They get more prime time than almost anyone.

Well, as I said, I can only really go by what I know from personal experience in this matter. Be it a brace or tape (I called it a brace because somebody else did, either way doesn't really change the point), the function is to reduce the stress on the muscles that primarily act to stabilize the shoulder by helping support them. When my PT taped me up, in typical form, I made a nuisance of myself and asked about why it worked, what it was doing, etc, and that tape "pattern" if you will is exactly what I had.

I'm not sure I buy into the "increased blood flow" stuff, but maybe by alleviating the stress, the blood flows better. I have a hard time believing that the Olympic committee would allow something like that in competition if it didn't have at least some supportive function, but that's just a guess, too.

Even without a history of dislocations, there can be instability, and often in athletes who have strong overhead motions (volleyball players, swimmers, gymnasts all fit this mold), there is at least a little instability in the shoulder joint, due to uneven muscle build-up because of which muscles are used mostly in the sport. That she's had to clean it out suggests there MAY have been some instability or something else that's caused damage, which would be reason enough to think about helping the joint out with tape.

I guess in the end, I've definitely had that tape job and I can vouch that it supports the joint itself, helps it feel like it's moving...smoother (my shoulder grinds a bit normally but with the tape job, it didn't). So I'm sticking with my answer for what it's doing. I wonder if they would try to downplay what role the tape may serve because of sponsorships on the main circuit..

/tk

May and Walsh have some competition here. They're down 11-9 in the first set.

those belgian girls are thick

HUGE point coming up.

i'm not trying to argue with your experiences with the tape, but the announcers also said today that they got a call from her doctor yesterday who said he has no idea what she is doing with that much tape on her shoulder.

also people are wearing it on places where there is no joint (calf muscles, across one trapezius)

i found this website about it that explains the different ways it can be used, so apparently we are both right

http://www.kinesiologytaping.co.uk/A...echniques.html

Great response by Walsh and May. By far the most entertaining match I've seen them play.

Nice match

SI

yeah - i'm surprised they got taken to the limit in that first game, but they showed great adjustment and heart to rally and holdoff 5 set points before winning

I thought this was a pretty great read on why olympic/world records keep getting broken:

Human Nature : Olympic Inflation

I wasn't trying to be a dick in my reply to your post, either, though I guess after 11 hours at work, I don't filter nearly as well as I think I do.. Yeah, in the end, we're both right, though I'm still not sure I buy what I've heard the announcers say about blood-flow, except as secondary to muscle support/to ease the stress on the muscles (I've known PT's to use it on people for IT band stuff and around the knees, too). Oh well, if it works for her, I guess that's all that matters. :) I really hope for her sake they put down a good base layer beneath it, that tape is super-sticky and can RIP up the skin when taking it off.

And this has been one heck of a match.

/tk

one of my clients daughters was on the junior national swimteam, and was telling me about those suits...according to her, they are so tight that the swimmers only use a suit one time, so they have a new one for every race (phelps would have had to bring 17). they have to stretch them out so much to get them on and off that they dont have the same effect if used twice

she also said that the reason they are all armless now is that breast strokers and back strokers couldnt move their arms over their heads if there were shoulders and arms on the suits.

second set not really delivering after the first

The constant criticism of today's records, accomplishments etc. is getting just as aggravating as the over-adulation of those same records and accomplishments.

Meh, I disagree. The past week I've heard sooooo many people comment on "how can they keep breaking these records, sometimes by more than a second". Well, that's how.

But that is my point. You can ask those questions about any athlete who breaks any records in any sport. To me, it is a way to discount the talents and efforts of these athletes.

Just a ridiculously dominant race from Phelps, wow.

+1. I find it interesting how stuff like that can effect performance and even more interesting on the ways in which you could compare past times to current times.