2012 Olympics: Who are you following?

[Sundae]

Lamp, there has been a lot of controversy in allowing Pistorius to compete as an able-bodied man. He has had no special consideration - it had been tried and tested and accepted that his prothetics are intended to compensate for the fact that he is a double amputee, not to give him an advantage over those lucky enough to have legs made of flesh and blood.

The Olympics authorities wanted Pistorius to start the relay, as the first 400m is run in lanes and they felt this would be safer for other athletes because there is less chance of a collision (in which his madly flailing blades might cause harm). However the simple mechanics of movement mean Oscar is at a disadvantage racing from a standing start, and the South Africans stuck to their guns and put him in third. That suited his particular style better, but gave him no more of an advantage than any other runner chosen to start in that position. It's common sense - you put your best starter on the start line.

The irony being that it was a rogue able-bodied Kenyan that took out Mogawane, denied the SA team the chance of finishing the race and may in fact deny Mogawane the chance of competing in the final yet due to injury.

And yes, had any other team been knocked out of the competition by a runner wiping out a member of their team, they would have been allowed to compete again. The runner affected was not Oscar Pistorius, so neither he nor his legs have anything to do with the decision.

Then again, maybe they let have have another go because they're black. It's political cirrectness gone mad I tell you!

[Griff]

OMG!!! I just saw wrestling! Jordan Burroughs wins his way to the Gold medal bout by beating the Russian world champ.

...and then the ribbon twirlers

[Sundae]

American female football team.
Greatness shirts. Tacky, much?

Did not like.
You won a gold medal - you wear a gold medal. That's greatness.

[Griff]

It is an annoying idea borrowed from American pro-football and baseball champions. The fun part is that the losers had shirts made up as well, which lead to a meme.

[Lamplighter]

I do actually follow (real) Volleyball, both Men's and Women's.
This morning the semifinals were broadcast LIVE.... YEA !
Russia played Bulgaria... it was like a military battle... with tanks !

Just looking at the Bulgarian volleyball team, I don't think there is a better image of the ideal male athlete
... in terms of height, weight, stature, power, agility and teamwork.

You really don't want to get hit in the face by one of their spikes.

[Sundae]

Just been talking to my brother.
He made me think again about my reaction to the American "winners" shirts.

He asked whether I would have had such a negative reaction had the Japanese team worn them. In Japanese of course, but with the same translation. Or the Brazilian team. Or the Latvian team. And if it had been explained that this was a common occurrence in their country.

He was right.

Although we share a same language with America I know perfectly well we have cultural differences.
It's not up to me to judge another country and their societal mores, especially not to assume they share mine.

So I am honestly apologising - I have been asked to review my opinion and have found it unjustified.
I don't have to like the wearing of the shirts, but I really shouldn't make judgements based on the country that wears them. As the lickle boy says: that's racist.

[BigV]

credits

tits and clits
she likes gasoline?

wow. I'd heard of pussy riot, but not these artists

[xoxoxoBruce]

I don't remember an Olympics, and there's been a lot of them, where I was happy with the TV coverage. Not one. I suppose they feel they have to tailor their coverage to the most popular stuff, and stuff the US teams are likely to do well in, but I'd like to see some of the lesser know competitions.

I too, loved the wrestling today.

[DanaC]

BBC coverage has been excellent!

[Undertoad]

It turns out there is only one US quarter-finalist in the ten different classes of BOXING. One out of eighty!

We have almost given up the sport entirely in a period of years. Partly due to MMA I suppose and partly due to head trauma evidence...

[ZenGum]

Yeah, either I'm seeing double or you have memory problems!

[Rhianne]

You really should look at this small collection of pictures!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-19222190

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's funny, Rhianne.

OK, so the first hour tonight they do a thing about Britain in WW II. It was a great show, but they could have shown that anytime. Instead they're taking up time they could have been showing coverage of the games. Damnit, that's what they're there for.

[Griff]

Important story told completely at the wrong moment. Shows America how she came to be in a permanent state of war... oops wrong lesson. Seriously, all the background and puff pieces could be run before the competition begins. I wonder if the Brits Brokaw interviewed understood a word he said?

I caught a little wrestling between projects yesterday so that was a plus. I enjoyed the track and field coverage (Mo Farah was brilliant) but had seen enough diving so I had to knock off early before the 4x.

[DanaC]

Did the coverage you got show any of the city shots? One of the things I've really loved about these games is getting to see London looking gorgeous at night.