+1. I have spoilered this because it's a bit political, but not about U.S. or Canada... and it's all my opinion. Spoiler If the IOC had any fucking balls, they'd ban North Korea and the People's Republic Of China from competing at the Olympics indefinitely, or until there's new governments in place. They did it to South Africa, so why not to them? No-one could objectively say that what happened in South Africa from 1948 to 1989 was worse than what China's been doing since that time (and North Korea not long after). I was happy for Cameron van den Burgh when he won his gold as the first locally-trained swimmer to do so, but I was saddened he didn't spit in that multi-faced cunt Sam Ramsamy's face. Ramsamy is a racist fuckass who should be nowhere near athletics or any sport. He's ruined the chance for almost every white athlete (apart from swimmers, who entirely trained and competed in the U.S., and maybe Elana Meyer) to compete effectively at the Olympics, because they know they will get no support whatsoever from SASCOC, or SASCOC will actively block them (read: 2004 S.A. National Hockey Team, who were not allowed to compete at the Olympics due to lack of Black players - the Olympics teams should be selected on merit and not skin colour; S.A. were very highly-ranked at the time). This is why I will not support S.A. at any Olympics.
I'll just leave this here... <a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181374/Ye-Shiwen--forging-Mandarin-mermaid-How-Chinese-children-brutalised-future-Olympians.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... pians.html</a> Those pictures are disturbing.
It is always nice to get that funny feeling in my crotch during women's beach volleyball, but not the gymnastics. Another 4 years have gone by without me turning into a pedo.
Holy crap, the third set between a Canadian guy and a French guy ended with the score 25-23. 6-3 3-6 25-23 win goes to France I guess, but wow, thats an interesting "you have to win by 2" event.
Let's not exaggerate. The Chinese Olympic training regime is incredibly ruthless and demanding, but it's not "farming children", either. It's forcing them to train very hard from an early age to the exclusion of other pursuits, and strongly encourages them to take drugs in some instances, but for most of these kids and their families, it's as good an opportunity as they would otherwise have. (And the dirty truth about sports is that such a system is actually the best way to excel at them) As RCGT and JWags pointed out, this causes gasps of horror in polite, liberal, Western society. In the East, however, it's all about the results. I have a grudging respect for that, even if it's not a system I would want instituted in the US. (And by the way, this same lack of ethics and focus on results is a major reason why China is such a major world power now)
Some of the action shots from gymnastics are troubling: A gymnast with her face about to explode like in Scanners: A gymnast violating the laws of space-time: Um, yeah...
I would never want to live in a country like China in a million years. However, I have a certain appreciation and respect for their culture. Is that difficult for you to understand? I don't view the world in a purely black-and-white manner.
Only a matter of time before this thread got racist... I think I'm more into 6v6 Volleyball than Beach, all the chicks actually had more bodies and nicer asses.
If the Chinese system does not constitute farming children in your mind, what would? This isn't a uniquely Chinese thing at all. A whole bunch of profiles a month ago showed that one of the Olympic female weightlifters from the US was living on $400 a month. A lot of Olympic athletes are doing things that require full time dedication, but aren't very economically fruitful.
They're yellow, not black or white. You guys can't even get your racism right. On a serious note, if you haven't had a chance to watch handball, check it out. It's like soccer, hockey, and basketball at a super fast pace. I played it for a very short while in college and I forgot how much fun it is until I saw it the other day.
That to me IS 'farming'. So what happens if you still don't cut it after all this training to the exclusion of other pursuits? What happens to these kids? It's not like they're Grade B beef to be used in Chunky Beef Stew ... wait ... Jesus ... well I hope not. In my PERSONAL opinion (as I don't speak for the entire North American continent) — I don't think the end justifies the means here. Not by a long shot. I have no respect for this method regardless of what it yields. Back on track — That was one hell of a match. Damn France though. You could here the cumulative *sigh* in our office when the French guy won.
I imagine it's not nearly as difficult for us, as it is for you to understand that you are continuing to speak admiringly about the mass, systemic, deliberate and brutal abuse of children, in the pursuit of something that has at most trivial and fleeting benefit, and that's utterly repugnant to any emotionally intact human. It's not that I don't understand your point - it's that I don't understand how you can make that point without having the basic humanity to at least pretend that your admiration for their program is less than your repugnance at the damage it's doing to children. In any western country - any program run like the Chinese sports training regimes would be shut down and the majority of staffers would get time for child abuse. Parents who knew of the practices and consented would probably lose their kids over it. If the programs were being run as part of a real and promising effort to cure cancer, the officials and parents would get time and it would be the outrage of the century. But the Chinese program is doing it to win recognition in sports. The flow on benefits of complete success in their programs are utterly trivial. And really, at what point does efficiency over ethics stop being admirable? Do you think that Tonya Harding's big mistake was not finishing the job and actually breaking Kerrigan's leg?
I doubt it. Here's the transcript of the only conversation NBC has had about the Olympics: "Hey, can we make this the shittiest Olympic coverage ever?" "Yes. Yes we can, and by God, we will!!!"
My sister was flipping out about this today. Gymnastics got ruined for her (don't worry I'll spoil nothing), and she was bitching about how the 1.5 hour gymnastics competition is chopped up and peppered throughout the broadcast to shamelessly get ratings. My own gripe is how shitty their online coverage has been. The majority are shown without commentary, even though its there. Oh except for swimming which has some random Australian crew. So basically, since ESPN has rights to nothing, they give no fucks and show scores and results immediately. So if you want to do anything but radio silence all day, you can see them live on the stream, but then its awkward as hell as they play in silence. Why can't ESPN put in an Olympic filter where you can browse the site without seeing Olympics stuff and then choose to see results? Probably too busy wanking themselves to Broncos training camp and fighting with NBC.