The 2012 Olympics Thread

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Aug 2012 12:03

true. one cannot sit for JEE and expect a top100 rank with prep for AIEEE or 12th std exam. Noko comes out every 4 yrs from their shell, with no in-between exposure and routinely bags some 3-4 golds.

I had seen a video of hicham al guerrouj training in the atlas mountains - either night or pre-dawn hours, at high altitude, high speed, and even a man like him (genetic outlier) said to the interviewer the training is so hard that sometimes he is in agony. but he got it done.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 02 Aug 2012 12:07

aus has taken a big hammering in the pool this year - the french , japanese and south africans have displaced them on the whole. china has emerged as a strong swimming nation too. america remains incredibly strong
just goes to show that there are a lot of hungry wolves out there

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 02 Aug 2012 12:23

Lalmohan wrote:aus has taken a big hammering in the pool this year - the french , japanese and south africans have displaced them on the whole. china has emerged as a strong swimming nation too. america remains incredibly strong
just goes to show that there are a lot of hungry wolves out there

And Chinese pours cold water on a race theory which was even on BR that Whites are goood swimmers and Blacks good runners due to body propotion and Asians are good at neither.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 02 Aug 2012 12:32

yes but the chinese swimmers are built just like their gora peers, and yes - even black swimmers have been excelling this year

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 02 Aug 2012 12:34

read an article within last 2 days that made a point that most medal winners enter adult level by their mid-late teens. true even for our top performers, paes, saina etc. but for most of our players 15-16 is spent in the grind of board exams.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Aug 2012 12:37

boris becker and sampras won their 1st Slams @ 17 and 19 iirc. if oldies recall those matches, both were unstoppable.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 02 Aug 2012 12:47

physical peak for many sports is in that window, there is no substitute for hard training - cheeni system does it centrally planned, other systems do it on individual drive within a secure framework
we have neither

member_23629 · Post by **member_23629** » 02 Aug 2012 13:05

London Olympics 2012: Azerbaijani boxer knocked down five times but wins

London: Boxing competition in the London Olympics 2012 was mired in yet another controversy on Wednesday after Japanese bantamweight boxer Satoshi Shimizu lodged a complaint following a defeat against Magomed Abdulhamidov even after knocking down his Azerbaijani opponent five times.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 02 Aug 2012 13:13

yesterday an australian boxed was shocked to be handed a defeat against a kazakh
thats about 4-5 strange decisions so far

Sriman · Post by **Sriman** » 02 Aug 2012 13:18

Singha wrote:boris becker and sampras won their 1st Slams @ 17 and 19 iirc. if oldies recall those matches, both were unstoppable.

Am i an oldie if i recollect those matches?

James B · Post by **James B** » 02 Aug 2012 13:21

Torture or training? Inside the brutal Chinese gymnasium where the country's future Olympic stars are beaten into shape

James B · Post by **James B** » 02 Aug 2012 13:24

South Korean weightlifter's elbow snaps while back lifting 375 pounds

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 02 Aug 2012 13:55

“Get me a rope, get me a ladder,”

London Mayor Boris Johnson’s turn on Wednesday to have his very own James Bond moment, but it went horribly wrong and he was left dangling in mid-air for several minutes
..
a 45-metre zip wire .. got stuck half way through its journey
..
what happened is they left a brake on
..
he remained “unbowed”.
..

Shaken but not stirred? Gears having issues, James?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Aug 2012 13:59

those chinese gym training (there are many films) would qualify as child abuse in most countries and most parents would not agree to it.
not sure why cheen parents put them to it ... whether they are pressured for more warm bodies to feed the mill or they hope for some future payoff.

James B · Post by **James B** » 02 Aug 2012 15:17

If you want to know what happenes to the Chini medal winners after Olympics is over, read these Time and NYTimes articles

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 20,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/sport ... wanted=all

sum · Post by **sum** » 02 Aug 2012 15:39

Ronjan Sodhi currently 7th in qualifiers...

Comer · Post by **Comer** » 02 Aug 2012 15:44

James B wrote:If you want to know what happenes to the Chini medal winners after Olympics is over, read these Time and NYTimes articles

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 20,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/sport ... wanted=all

All of these might be true. But it also shows massa has thrown the towel

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 02 Aug 2012 15:50

Sodhi has to do some great stuff in 3rd round to make it to top 3

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 02 Aug 2012 15:50

http://www.firstpost.com/sports/vishnu- ... 01829.html

Vishnu and I played one hell of a match: Paes

Aug 2, 2012

#India Olympics #Leander Paes #London 2012 #Sports #Tennis #Vishnu VardhanPrint
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London: Disappointed they might be after the second-round exit from Olympics but veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes said he and his unheralded Vishnu Vardhan played “one hell of a match” against the fancied French combination of Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga here.

Paes and Vardhan lost 6-7 (3), 6-4, 4-6 to Tsonga and Llodra in the men’s doubles second round last night in a gruelling contest that lasted over two hours.

Paes, who teamed up with Vardhan after being rejected by both Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in a bitter selection row, lauded his inexperienced partner’s fighting spirit.

Paes said he was satisfied with the duo’s performance despite an early exit. PTI

“Being the first time that we have played together as a team, we’ve played a hell of a match again. Our first-round match was against some really tough opponents with one player No 33 in the world in singles (Robin Hasse) and the other No 21 in doubles (Jean-Julien Rojer), and we managed to beat them,” Paes said.

“Today it was tougher. We had Tsonga who is No 5 in the world for singles and Llodra who is a multiple Grand Slam champion.

“I have to commend this guy Vishnu he’s got a big heart and I’ve had such a thrill playing with him. He’s a phenomenal competitor and he’s got big stature as far as physique and things go and that is what champions are made of,” he added.

Paes said he was satisfied with the duo’s performance despite an early exit.

“Today we came up one or two games short against a formidable French team, but I was just talking to Vish during the match and saying ‘can you imagine a third or fourth match playing together?’ We have a lot of firepower but there are still a few things that we have to improve on. We have a big game and I’m very happy about that,” he said.

Asked to reflect on the state of Indian tennis, which was rocked by a massive selection row just days before the Games, Paes said, “As far as Indian tennis goes, this last week has been a little bitter-sweet as far as our team goes. Bitter because I have won the championships here five times and we went down today.

“Sweet because I think that we’ve found a great talent here. I’ve always known that Vish is talented and on the world stage he is going to perform.

“Now we really have to nurture this talent. With a little experience, can you imagine? We’ve really rattled the No 5 singles player in the world and a multiple doubles Grand Slam champion today.”

Vardhan, meanwhile, credited his good performance to the effort put in by Paes ahead of the Games.

“Lee and his team have been working on me for the last month and a half. It’s not just an overnight thing. We’ve spoken about strategies and tactics and then the game-plan last night and I cannot thank him enough.

“He is an amazing leader and this is how a champion is. This is a great opportunity for me to play with someone like Leander and this is by far the best match ever. I have no words,” he said.

On his future plans after the big Olympic break, Vardhan said, “I’ve focused equally on both singles and doubles, but in the last month and a half we have been working hard on the doubles game and it’s coming along great.

“What Leander Paes has been doing is great, working on my game. For the last 18 years of tennis what have I learned? I feel I’ve learnt more in the last month and a half. I’m very happy about it.”

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 02 Aug 2012 15:58

IMO, the main difference between Chinese style (or such states as USSR/East European 'Socialist republics') preparation for Olympics and western system is the origination of motivation to compete for such things and the nature of such motivation.

In a country like US (or, west in general) sports pays. And in more than one way. You have scholarships to under-graduate courses at various universities and depending on how good you are, you can land up in Ivy-League College. Post college, there are many national and international meets and events - a successful sportsperson can look forward to endorsements - plus, given the widespread nature of sports at school and higher level, there are openings for formal employment as well. From what I hear and see, sports are seen in a healthy manner and an option worth pursuing. Being the holder of 'XYZ' colored blazer from a particular college for a specific sports is as good a point on your CV as any other. In fact, such a person has more chance to get into Kellogs or HBS than a geek 800 pointer from MIT.

For countries like China, medals in Olympics means big H&D issue. A country which sees it as the natural world leader and super-power, cannot be seen (in the eyes of CPC) to be lacking in medal tally in the Olympics. For them, the end justifies the means - a copy of their economic growth story. Hence, the central authority funded and promoted initiatives in sports - what we see are those fine specimens of humanity who made it so far. What we don't see are the nervous wrecks and drop outs and those who just could not make the cut. There has to be a human, social as well as psychological cost for such a centrally funded program.

This system reminds of USSR system of war-fighting - Red Army had the philosophy of backing only the successful formations. So, if a division with in a Corps or a Corps with in an Army was doing well, everything would be thrown behind this formation - including assets from other formations. Those who were not doing well or did not meet their objectives were left to fend for themselves.

Having said that - I really don't want the western press to pontificate on how bad the Chinese are. They wouldn't have bothered if their athletes had not received the drubbing from the Chinese. AFAIK, for us, a form of American system is what will work. Instead of local governments or central sports bodies funding such programs - which they will not - we need to see more private sector involvement of philanthropic type. Some thing like TATA Archery Academy. What the the GOI can and needs to do is remove the bureaucracy from the system - have minimum number of people to broadly over see and invite the private sector and give them grants and finances.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 02 Aug 2012 16:01

We need to have same approach towards sports that the Indian kings of yesteryear had for arts and music. The only thing a sportsperson should be worried about is the medal - the food and housing for his family and education for his children should be the responsibility of some other party.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 02 Aug 2012 16:34

the british started funding atheletes through the national lottery and also massive encouragement of sponsorship from big companies - the availability of good personal income and the prospect of more as a star is the biggest motivation to turn talent into sustained performance. wiggins for example (gold in cycling time trial and winner of tour de france ten days ago) gets big time TV sponsorship now, cycling has become a major british sport over the past decade thanks to him and chris hoy - who also gets lots of adverts and sponsorship. but its pulled 100's of other athletes upwards

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 02 Aug 2012 16:46

There was a ticker ad in the papers a few days ago of the All India Public Sector Sports Promotion Board stating that 31% of the athletes in London were employees of PSU's.

In a way that support is there already through government jobs. I think its totally another matter that we simply do not provide the facilities and the support for athletes to train and compete in.

Came across this blip being forwarded - Netherlands has over 250 astroturfs for hockey, India has 60. Of that, less than half are in playing conditions.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 02 Aug 2012 17:13

damn...sodhi is virtually out

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 02 Aug 2012 17:29

VikasRaina wrote:If India could focus on 3-4 sport with unusually high medal prospects, we could be winning medals by dozens. If instead of training 18 Hockey players, SAI trained 18 players for sculls and rowing events, imagine the medal windfall in few years just like we are seeing at least one medal prospect in each weight category of Boxing.
Same goes for swimming and Gymnastics.

That was exactly my point from a few pages ago. It's a waste to send out 85 mediocre contestants. Focus on a few sports and focus all the money there. Focus on sports that have a lot of medals.

sum · Post by **sum** » 02 Aug 2012 18:06

^^ Ronjan also crashes out and doesnt even qualify for the final ending 11th.

Have to say that this is turning into a horror olympics given the hype we had around our athletes and whatever interest on other sports had been generated post 2004 will dissipate very rapidly if we end up with just 1 medal to show.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 02 Aug 2012 18:11

you have to look at it another way - the team is competing at a higher level, where before they didn't even show up
they are rising up the rankings
they are getting better
expecting many medals overnight is not realistic - our sports infrastructure has a LONG way to go

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Aug 2012 18:23

Jai Bhagwan bout is on!!

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Aug 2012 18:24

I will rate this olympics better than at Beijing!! We have diversified and our hockey team qualified as well.

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 02 Aug 2012 18:25

SBajwa wrote:Jai Bhagwan bout is on!!

How is he doing?

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Aug 2012 18:26

first round going on.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Aug 2012 18:27

winning by 3-2 after first

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Aug 2012 18:32

losing by 12-6 now

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 02 Aug 2012 18:32

Damn, such a turnaround?

sum · Post by **sum** » 02 Aug 2012 18:36

^^ Dammit...

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Aug 2012 18:36

lost! 16-8

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Aug 2012 18:38

Jai Bhagwan is too aggressive! he needs to put more attention towards his defense!! This experience will definitely make him a much better boxer in future.

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 02 Aug 2012 18:39

Vijendar, Devendro and Manoj Kumar remain now.

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 02 Aug 2012 18:41

phuck

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Aug 2012 18:43

Saina Nehwal is playing Yip Pui Yin next!! as soon as the current match is done.