Beijing Olympics Pre-Thread

[Hornin Hong Kong]

Ok as I'm in HK this is reaching a fever pitch - I know last olympics it was USA 1-2 with China

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States 36 39 27 102
2 China 32 17 14 63
3 Russia 27 27 38 92
4 Australia 17 16 16 49
5 Japan 16 9 12 37
6 Germany 13 16 20 49
7 France 11 9 13 33
8 Italy 10 11 11 32
9 South Korea 9 12 9 30
10 Great Britain 9 9 12 30

We all know from Korea that there will be some home cooking this olympics with the threat of Chinese Summary execution and reeducation of any refs that don't toe the line.

Count on the Chinese athletes to be doped to high heavens as well. (people here are like - 'of course we will be and so will you')

My question is this - can we still win the medals total and goals total (by we I mean the USA). Lots of money and pride and huge amounts of betting potential.

USA! USA!

 

[YChang]

US will of course win the "big" sports...but where China will add to their medal count will be in the obscure sports like cross country blow dart or extreme kayaking.

With that said, it's pretty intense the pressure they're putting on their athletes. Now they have to win a gold to become "set" after their sports career or end up with nothing.

NYTimes article on Chinese athletes

 

[Hornin Hong Kong]

Yes, China is going to dominate women's weightlifting and the like.

They also should be good in diving (where many chinese divers are losing their retinas due to too much training) and I a m being **** talked about some hurdler.

My GF is Canadian and HK by passport but plans on rooting for China. Well at first I made her pick one - she wanted to just get them all. She of course abandoned Canada which they all have as their 'safety' county.

It's got to be tough to be the Chinese athlete that gets a bronze or doesn't medal in this Olympics

If things hold true to form then China will care about the golds vs overall medals as they are more competitive there.

 

[TXBabe97]

I am so pumped about the swimming and diving this year (again)!

Also, turns out that the stepdaughter of a guy I work with is one of two females that will be representing the U.S. in the modern pentathlon -- and she's only 16 years old!

He says that all this training has put a big financial strain on them but they find a way to pay for it and think it's worth every penny.

www.gauxgirl.com

 

[HornsInTheHouse]

America happens to dominate events that have a ton of medals--athletics and aquatics. If table tennis or diving had 20 medals China might be on top.

 

[PhantomHorn]

Right now nothing is going right for China leading up to the Olympics. The Yellow Sea has now been hit hard with Red Tide.

 

[midtown]

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[TXBabe97]

I just think it's cool that I know someone whose kid is going. No need to be a jerk about it with your snide little comment.

 

[Hornin Hong Kong]

Ok I bet my bro-in law to be on total medals. I was pretty confident until I went to BJ this weekend.

Now I'm a bit concerned

The pollution could kill us.

The chinese are presumably used to it.

 

[HornsInTheHouse]

I wonder who the pollution will help. Will it help the Chinese in that they're used to it, or has training in it for months worn their lungs down relative to other athletes?

 

[Alum03]

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