The 2012 Olympics Thread

saip · Post by **saip** » 12 Aug 2012 10:22

Bolt won the 100 m in 9.63 sec. But the time for 4X100 relay at 36.84 is nearly 2 sec faster than 4 X 9.63 (which is 38.52). Is it because the relay runners get a running start?

Just curious.

Victor · Post by **Victor** » 12 Aug 2012 10:31

So what should be our National Sport now? I vote for archery, the weapon of Ram, Lakshman, Arjun etc. Hockey should be given a quick burial and if at all, the money and energy spent on it should go to soccer which has a far bigger spectator base in India. There will be people, specially on the political level in Delhi, who will argue to keep it going but this should be firmly rejected. There is really nothing "Indian" about hockey and it is not the same game that brought us golds in the old days. That game was bought out by the West with their expensive new turf stadiums that replaced art with brute force.

Fidel Guevara · Post by **Fidel Guevara** » 12 Aug 2012 10:34

Suraj wrote:All these per capita and per unit GDP figures are ultimately meaningless. Only one thing matters - gold medals.

Suraj, from the point of view of national results, yes I agree, but from the point of view of sports culture, this is a good indicator of the current state.

For example, a small town in places like Jamaica and New Zealand will have a few Olympic medal winners living there. They will be out at events, motivating the kids, liaising with the politicians to provide funding, all that good stuff. In these countries, a good % of the population personally knows a current or previous Olympic medallist, and obviously that is advantageous from the motivation, support and guidance that the newcomers can get. In India there are entire STATES which have never seen an Olympic medal...low sports interest=low success=lower interest is a self-perpetuating cycle that needs government will and support to break free.

The UK govt-led model, NOT the US free-market model, is what India needs right now. The free market will just continue the depressing cycle.

nelson · Post by **nelson** » 12 Aug 2012 10:35

saip wrote:Bolt won the 100 m in 9.63 sec. But the time for 4X100 relay at 36.84 is nearly 2 sec faster than 4 X 9.63 (which is 38.52). Is it because the relay runners get a running start?

Just curious.

Yes, the additional time taken for initial acceleration to full sprint is saved for the last three runners.

Fidel Guevara · Post by **Fidel Guevara** » 12 Aug 2012 10:41

Victor wrote:So what should be our National Sport now? I vote for archery, the weapon of Ram, Lakshman, Arjun etc. Hockey should be given a quick burial and if at all, the money and energy spent on it should go to soccer which has a far bigger spectator base in India. There will be people, specially on the political level in Delhi, who will argue to keep it going but this should be firmly rejected. There is really nothing "Indian" about hockey and it is not the same game that brought us golds in the old days. That game was bought out by the West with their expensive new turf stadiums that replaced art with brute force.

The focus area needs to be:

1) a sport with lots of medals
2) something which Indians will play by the millions, in every village...
3) a sport where physical strength is not the primary determinant of success

Archery fails in (2) and is so-so in (1).

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 11:08

Wrestling should be our National Sport IMO. Its a part of our history and culture. I can see a lot of guys taking it up now.

We should definitely focus on Greco Roman. Lack of Indians in that style is apalling

Will definitely strengthen and re-warriorize the SDRE' s to an extent

Fidel Guevara · Post by **Fidel Guevara** » 12 Aug 2012 11:10

http://ca.reuters.com/article/sportsNew ... KL20100709

Surprised to hear that the first white guy to cross 10 seconds for 100m, was in 2010! 79 blacks have crossed the 10 second barrier since 1968.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 Aug 2012 11:23

I don't really see the medals/GDP being so related to 'sports culture'. For example, I don't see a particularly great sports culture in China, compared to say, Australia. They don't produce Olympians because kids grow up dreaming of being one. The Chinese results are a product of one specific thing - focused state-driven efforts since their return to the sporting fold. As such, golds/GDP doesn't really have much relationship. Lets look at numbers: in 1984, China won 15 golds and had a GDP of maybe $350 billion. In 2008 it won 50 and had a GDP of $5000 billion. In comparative terms does that mean they became MUCH worse ? Few would say so.

Success at this level comes from focused investments and training in specific sports. Small countries like Jamaica have it easy in that they can harness natural genetic sprinting benefit into sports where they can be world level powers. I agree with the argument that we should focus on specific medal rich sports. I disagree with the blanket suggestion that sports with physical strength as the primary determinant is a bad choice. We have have had boxing and wrestling medals recently, and have done well in weightlifting.

We just don't have the kind of training and talent spotting system that will assure as consistent medals in a given sport at this level. It's a question of building maturity in the system to achieve that level of performance. We've already got CWG level covered. Next goal is 25 golds per AG, focussing on OG sports (i.e. not chess, cue sports etc). At that level of ability, a few golds in OG is a reasonable consequence.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 12 Aug 2012 11:38

trindad & tobago and bahamas have also quietly become sprinting superpowers. perhaps the gene pool of people who were were kidnapped from africa and taken to work in plantations there were the same.

btw both in US and UK there are 5k run pgms where parents and kids run together. its meant for the kids, but parents can also run or puff along depending on their condition. in one UK event my friend kid got a pic with paula radcliffe after finishing. so what Fidel said is true...almost any significant population center has a few olympic level people....

onlee in India we have bollywood and Xyzwood stars be the flag bearers and "leaders" of running events

abraham sir is feted for his footballing prowress and bose sir for his marathons (well add soman sir too). but atleast these guys go out and work hard - no complaints against them...but overall focus on upper middle class who can afford a good diet and reasonable time for training is more on gym work than the outdoors....the poor condition of our roads, layouts , parks and nonexistent trails is responsible for acting like a deterrent...and the raping looks sundry loafers give to women going out for a run is another reason why they retreat to the safety of gyms only.

if a guy gets bitten by a stray dog, nobody wants to know his condition but secular media brigade will deploy in force to make sure nobody touches the mutt and take to task anyone who suggests getting it terminated or atleast deported to inner mongolia for reducation. any such brave guy would be called saffron terrorist and brute.

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 13:22

Sushil knocks out Olympic Gold Medalist...Yeah Baby !

archan · Post by **archan** » 12 Aug 2012 13:24

Sushil Kumar beat the gold medalist of last time. I don't like the ball draw though. In the last match the guy lost the game due to the draw. Just let them fight till one of them loses. Test of endurance.

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 13:26

^^ Archan.. We have lost 3 matches because of Clinches (Ball draws). I think it was even game with Sushil/Turk ...although the Turk looked a tad stronger in the first round

Yogesh,Amit,Geeta started from advantageous position in Clinches and lost them..

Deans · Post by **Deans** » 12 Aug 2012 13:39

[/quote]

The focus area needs to be:

1) a sport with lots of medals
2) something which Indians will play by the millions, in every village...
3) a sport where physical strength is not the primary determinant of success

Archery fails in (2) and is so-so in (1).[/quote]

Actually, physical strength helps us /Asian countries in the lower weight categories, since we tend to be stronger for the
same weight, than a Caucasian (who would be considered underweight, compared to the average weight of people in that country).
This is particularly true of women, and gives us a slight advantage in women's weightlifting/boxing/wrestling.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 Aug 2012 13:41

Sushil takes on Nuvruzov of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinal next. If he succeeds, he faces the winner of Safaryan (Armenia) vs Tanatarov (Kazakhstan) in the semis. Getting to semis will guarantee him at least a repechage place, and therefore assure thay he will be in the hunt for a medal without depending on someone else to win first.

Sushil's fight is 20 minutes from now (9:42 London Time)

A lot of Sushils recent opponents at the world level are already out: Alan Gogaev (Russia) and Mehdi Taghavi (Iran) being those I thought would be the main challenges. I don't see much of either his QF or potential SF opponents, but the final opposition might be strong.

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 13:53

^^ Sunil should watch out for Nuvruzov. He did look pretty good against the beijing bronze medalist.

Jabarail and the Japanese guy are solid contenders

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 Aug 2012 14:10

Sushil wins Period 1 by 3-1 . Two more periods left; winning one of the next two will send him through.
Navruzov wins Period 2 by 2-1
Sushil wins Period 3 by 2-0

Through to semis!

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 12 Aug 2012 14:16

Sushil wins!!!

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 14:20

Yep...Damn had a heart attack after the 2nd game

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 12 Aug 2012 14:20

So is that a guaranteed Bronze now?

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 14:22

^^^ Nope ...If he loses in Semis he plays for Bronze against the Repechage winner..

Only a win next match guarantees a gold or silver

archan · Post by **archan** » 12 Aug 2012 14:22

Great play. Never thought I'd be able to appreciate wrestling.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 Aug 2012 14:22

No bronze guarantee. He's guaranteed to be able to fight for bronze now, because if he loses semis, he's in the repechage. He'll only have to fight one repechage match because he would be the losing semifinalist and therefore fight the winner of the previous repechage fights for the top half bronze.

If he wins semis, then either G or S guaranteed of course. Bottom half of the draw is strong. I expect the bottom semifinal to be Hasanov vs Yonemitsu. Time to shiver violently in dhoti while cowering in dark narrow places.

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 14:28

Match starts in 9 mins...

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 12 Aug 2012 14:30

*Dhoti Shiver*

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 14:37

The Japanese guy just manhandled the Black guy and also bit him

.. Most likely he will get past Jabarayil into the Finals

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 12 Aug 2012 14:49

Its already 10:27 and the match hasn't started yet.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 Aug 2012 14:50

Mat occupied by another match.

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 12 Aug 2012 14:51

kshatriya wrote:The Japanese guy just manhandled the Black guy and also bit him .. Most likely he will get past Jabarayil into the Finals

I saw that.

But then, the Canadian guy kept putting his hand back into the Japanese guy's mouth.

VikramS · Post by **VikramS** » 12 Aug 2012 14:52

Is there a way to watch the stream in the US for those who do NOT have a valid TV connection to watch it on nbc olympics?

VikramS · Post by **VikramS** » 12 Aug 2012 14:57

Marten: It seems the Comcast is going paqui and not letting the feed through....

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 12 Aug 2012 14:59

VikramS wrote:Marten: It seems the Comcast is going paqui and not letting the feed through....
I am checking the text feed 4-0 to the good guy.

They made it 3-0.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 Aug 2012 15:00

Sushil vs Tanatarov
Period 1: 3-0 to Sushil
Period 2: 3-0 to Tanatarov
Period 3: 6-3 to Sushil

Through to final! Fantastic come from behind win after trailing 0-3!

It'll be either 1-1-4 or 0-2-4

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 12 Aug 2012 15:03

sushil looses

VikramS · Post by **VikramS** » 12 Aug 2012 15:04

Tanatarov seems to be running away after the 1st period

Tie... 6-6
....
9-6 to sushil now

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 12 Aug 2012 15:05

Sushil Wins Again! Lungi Dance!!!

VikramS · Post by **VikramS** » 12 Aug 2012 15:07

Now go for Gold..

. Make Najafgadh proud again.
The Jat belt is leading the Indian charge in this Olympics it seems.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 12 Aug 2012 15:08

Supratik, Please tell me you are jinxing onlee...

edit
OK. You were jinxing onlee..

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 Aug 2012 15:08

The third period gave me a heart attack after the Kazakh went up 3-0 with a minute. What a stunning fightback from Sushil to win it 6-3!

1-1-4 Please!

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 12 Aug 2012 15:09

BLOODY GENIUS !!!!

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 12 Aug 2012 15:09

I was about to switch it off when I saw the Kazakh take a 3-0 lead in the final period.