Damn...BIAS!....just replayed the Women's Uneven Bars (Monday, 06 August 2012 14:50). The GB's should not be in 3rd, unclean landing. http://www.london2012.com/gymnastics-artistic/event/women-uneven-bars/phase=gaw007100/index.html
Sixteen year old new babe? LOL... If I were you, I'd be careful how I'd say that else the pedo police be after you. Besides, we all 'know' that she may really be only fourteen, LOL...
in related news.... US judoka expelled from Olympics for doping after eating weed brownie “My positive test was caused by my inadvertent consumption of food that I did not realise had been baked with marijuana, before I left for the Olympic Games,” -lol
Like, yeah, sure... "...inadvertent" LOL... he just got busted royale I'm surprised he and or some of these outed athletes aren't claiming red Chinese conspiracy; ie. have a hot sexy Chinese chick out of the blue, suddenly sit down with you for to have, ...ahem, coffee, and then she offers you one of her own 'home baked' brownies. No kidding, he was probably the one with the most potential, but that lame leg of his had been his literal Achilles Heel. Really sad.
14!...so young! Just love to see gen. after gen. of Chinese sweeties in diving. Guo JingJing...Wu Minxia... Chen Ruolin (reminds me of Taiwanese singer Wang Ruolin...I love her voice) Now He Ji, WangHao and Hu Yadan.
You make a compelling argument, and I do agree that the guilt-of-association fallacy probably plays a role in our opinion of the matter. But even if this fallacy is a factor in people's opinion of China's winnings, it doesn't fully justify China's method or reasoning for winning the medals. As you said, China's tainted integrity has to do with merchandise imitation, which falsely leads to the non-Chinese perception of "China have only been known to cheat". Therefore the Chinese athletes must be cheating. However, this association fallacy is stemmed by the ignorance of those who believe in it. Needless to say, you and I both know this statement is flawed. And since we both know it's false, we can look at the real facts. China (as of yet) as not been proven to have cheated. However, we've seen plenty of articles and videos that demonstrates China's obsession with gold medals. I guess my point is, perhaps Yi's win did get married with this association fallacy through no fault of her own. But regardless of whether or not this is the case, the argument remains that even prior to Yi's win, the method in which China trains its athlete (perhaps Yi included) from youth is highly unethical to Western standards. And this argument (from what I can see) is void of the association fallacy. I realize what I just wrote is unstructured and confusing. I'm writing what I'm currently thinking, from my phone lol.
LOL... After the embarrassing questions raised during the '08 Olympics, with various sources digging up damning electronic footprints, I'm sure the PRC is now so very detailed oriented as to scrub out any trail of evidence that would point to the real ages of any of their athletes; in effect their age is what the government says. On another note, I find it really interesting too that Gabriel Douglas did so poorly after winning the top All Around, coming in at the tail end on the unevens and then falling off the beam. One needs to seriously ask, so this is supposed to be a gold medal, corn flakes box champion? LOL... Additionally, I'm also a bit puzzled as to where the Chinese woman's gymnastics team was this year. Despite their spectacular showing during '08, they seem to have seriously struggled and had little presence at all in this series. Also, totally aside from the athletes is another problem highlighted by viewers around the world; that of selective media coverage during the games. I read an online report about how Australians are being pissed that there seems to be no other events in the Big O except swimming. At least according to whats available on their television broadcasts; that is, they see nothing except for swimming events, LOL... This calls attention to what I think has been a major drawback of allowing only one channel to cover events; they decide what one can see. IMHO, I think that the Big O should be open to all news organizations; if events are space limited then footage should be pooled. I'm sure that the Olympic organizations make money from providing exclusive rights to certain media groups, but in the long run, I think that becomes ultimately hurtful to overall fan and viewer interest.
Well, yes and no; China has "...not been proven to have cheated" in this particular set of games. However, from the BBC article, it also pointed out that during the 1990's, the PRC had thirty two positive cases identified within the ranks of their swimmers alone (not considering other sport categories) and one confirmed case less than a year ago. ie. the feeling is, not only had the PRC historically cheated but it seems they're continuing to do so. So in essence, despite the article being directed towards Ye's individual defense, it also firmly established the background as to why there is so much suspicion to begin with, of PRC athletics as a class, and why this perception will continue to persist. Also, I firmly agree with your assessment that Chinese methodologies aren't justified by their winnings; in fact, nothing, from a western sports rationale, would justify their methods. But IMHO, one has to remember their rationale for winning; again, it frankly isn't at all about sports, but politics. If they come out on top, it allows them convincing political mantra to feed their own masses; that they're the best country in the world owing to the stellar leadership of their party. In other words, they're not winning medals, per se; they're winning arguments over which political system (their's versus others) is better. This argument isn't public, but rather it resides deep within the hearts of their population; that is the arena that they're really playing to. This facet is the entire basis and raison d'etre for Leninist sports; athletes aren't looked upon as sportsmen, but considered by the state to be soldiers of ideology. Hence, any brutalizing boot camp, where individuals are considered expendable fodder, is perfectly acceptable as they solely exist for the defense of the party.
You know, I think you've just identified a point that strikes an extremely difficult chord with me. The whole reason I watch the Olympics at all is because it's inspiring to see the best of the best representing their country, displaying values that inspires us, motivates us to be better. These athletes earn the title of Olympians not just because of their mastery of their art, but due to the values they instil into some of us. I think this is why watching that video you linked was particularly difficult. People seem to have forgotten the meaning of: Sportsmanship Honour Dedication The drive to be the best, not for material rewards like medals, but for the self. Pride And most importantly, valour. Call me obsessive, sappy, idealistic, outdated, dreamer or antiquated, but I think the code of knighthood and chivalry is an extinct art. And it's a shame.
I read an article yesterday in the New York Times that detailed just about all the things you mentioned, Dan. The silver lining if you will, is that the article stated that even the Chinese people themselves, have begun to question this 'medal at all costs' attitude, especially after Liu Xiang pulled up lame again. There seems to be a lot of agreement amongst fans that Liu was forced to run even as he knew he was already injured because the state demanded that of him; in so doing, he injured himself further. LINK On another note, did anyone else see the France v Spain, Punch To Groin clip?: Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...n/08/08/spain-france-quarterfinals/index.html Damn, Basketball violence, LOL... I wonder how Portland is going to receive Batum when he goes home to the Trail Blazers after the Big O? Personally, I think that Batum should have been immediately disqualified from the games for this sort of juvenile shit. In post game interviews, he even seemed to gloat about it. LINK Of course, this goes straight to the point of the seemingly poor officiating that all venues in London 2012 seems to be having all around. LINK
As an aside from all this, what I've found to be interesting (perhaps tellingly so) about this sports proxy nationalism is the total lack of non Chinese in any of the PRC teams. While foreign teams often have ethnic Chinese in them (with many performing to spectacular results), I wonder if there would ever be a chance of a non Chinese participant being fielded by the PRC? Indeed, IMHO he should have been not only penalized but ejected and disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct. A foul is an inadvertent physical contact that is penalized; this was an outright physical assault. It has no place on the court as well as no place ever in any Olympiad. I think what Big O officials should start considering is that behavior like that displayed by Batum should be grounds for having a team disqualified from the contest. In other words, he won't just ruin his own chances, but his nation's. After all, he is there as a representative of his country; if this is how he wants people to see (in this case) France, then IMHO, the entire French team should be blamed for his willful unsportsmanlike actions.
Is anyone trained in WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) style Taekwondo? It might be due to my ITF (International TKD Federation) mindset, but today's TKD matches are as brutal and painful to watch as seagulls sparring. Can anyone explain to me why these TKD "experts" can't seem to perform basic fundamental techniques? Such as hands-the-fuck-up in guarding stance? Or perform a single side kick against someone who likes to do continuous turning kicks (which by the way these guys love to do)? Or hell, use their frigging hands to block? Are their World TKD rules against hands? This isn't Taekwondo, it's boxing with feet.
i didn't see that game till late last night but def surprised he was still playing after what he did ...if that was NBA automatic ejection and 3-5 games suspension importantly that game was close he fucked his country up by that bone headed play he doesn't have a history of being dirty so i give him the doubt that it was a "heat of the moment" action FIBA can suspend him for future games but thats months down the road...he wouldn't care lol Portland gave him a 50million dollar extenstion this summer...almost big as Lin's contract
One of the things that really gets my ire up about these guys is they're acting like the American tourist who thinks it's OK to behave like shit in a foreign country. That is, someone who does bad things when visiting another country, things which he knows he will never get away with at home; but he does it anyway just because he thinks he can get away with it elsewhere. If say, Jeremy Lin did some crap like that I would lose all respect for him, not as a player but as a human being. Hence, Batum may make his big bucks; in the final analysis, he's become just another uncouth asshole with money. On another note, the funniest news out of the Olympics this week is the sudden disappearance of seven athletes from Cameroon. There is rampant suspicion that they plan to defect to any other country in order to have better training and logistic support as Cameroon is not only one of the poorest countries in the world, but it's sports facilities make abandoned tenements look inviting, LOL... LINK Talk about a slap in one's own face; the representatives a nation sends to an international event, all flee at their first opportunity as any place else in the world is better than home. But of course, then there's the Yahoo Sports Blog called "Fourth Place Medals" There's an article that details all the players who got sent home thus far; I would personally refer to them as: Spoiler: The Big Oops - Not Even Last Place Which athletes were sent home in disgrace? By Pauline Vu Fourth-Place Medal Thu, Aug 9, 2012 4:50 PM EDT No Olympics is complete without certain elements: glorious victories, stunning upsets, heartbreaking losses… And athletes kicked out of the Games. These Olympics saw the dismissal of several competitors, with the use of performance-enhancing drugs as the main culprit. People were also kicked out for being openly racist, tweeting inappropriate things, purposely trying to lose, and, in the case of one athlete, getting so drunk in public that he looked like he wet himself. Click on the links below to see what infractions the following athletes committed that had them packing up early: Victoria Baranova Nick D'Arcy Kyung Eun Jung Tameka Williams Kenrick Monk Alex Schwazer Xiaoli Wang Gijs van Hoecke Ivan Tsikhan Yang Yu Dimitrios Chondrokoukis Amine Laalou Greysia Polii Diego Palomeque Jung Eun Ha Hysen Pulaku Ha Na Kim Nicholas Delpopolo Michel Morganella Paraskevi Papachristou Meiliana Jauhari Luiza Galiulina Min Jung Kim Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/athletes-were-sent-home-disgrace-205008104--oly.html And finally NBC never forgets to provide stimulating family entertainment from these games: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bcf_1344586580
