The 2012 London Olympics Sports Thread

[CountDeMoney]

Highly underrated sport, handball. Surprised it never caught on here. Fast, high scoring. Better than basketball to watch for sure.

Looks like something that's played in PE when it's raining out, or it's a Friday and the teacher's looking forward to the weekend.

[Neil]

Croatia must be happy, winning a gold medal against the hated Italians.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Why? He is a legend and charming with it - interacting with the volunteers, taking photos with a spectator's camera, doing the Mo-thing in a tribute to Farah. I'd far rather that personality than an airbrushed false modesty.

I agree. He is awesome at 100m and 200m and says so, don't see what is wrong with that 

Now, if he is nasty to waitresses or hotel staff because they are "mere mortals" then that is a different matter, but there are no reports of that sort of behaviour.

[sbr]

As silly and irritating as the Olympics can be this is why they are still good

http://twitpic.com/aia7gx

[CountDeMoney]

As silly and irritating as the Olympics can be this is why they are still good

http://twitpic.com/aia7gx

  Awesomest pic of the day.  Thanks.

[The Larch]

Why? He is a legend and charming with it - interacting with the volunteers, taking photos with a spectator's camera, doing the Mo-thing in a tribute to Farah. I'd far rather that personality than an airbrushed false modesty.

I agree. He is awesome at 100m and 200m and says so, don't see what is wrong with that 

Now, if he is nasty to waitresses or hotel staff because they are "mere mortals" then that is a different matter, but there are no reports of that sort of behaviour.

And he parties with three chicks from the Swedish handball team after earning gold medals. What's not to like and admire? 

[The Larch]

Awesome game by Spain in the basketball final. To be able to compete on a similar footing with the US team, which has such an embarrassment of riches on its roster that a second team could reasonably compete for a medal on its own, is a huge accolade, even moreso after the dissapointing performances they turned out during qualification. I doubt that this current generation of players can get much further, as our starts are on their way out and the youngsters won't be able to fill their shoes.

[Admiral Yi]

I found team handball pretty boring and one dimensional.  There's no real way to steal the ball from someone who's holding it, and if you overplay a pass that leaves the backdoor for a relatively easy shot, so defense is waving your arms around on the edge of that no go circle.

It reminded me of an endless succession of hockey power plays.  Pass it back and forth for a while, then either the shot goes in or it doesn't.

[DGuller]

Why? He is a legend and charming with it - interacting with the volunteers, taking photos with a spectator's camera, doing the Mo-thing in a tribute to Farah. I'd far rather that personality than an airbrushed false modesty.

Who says he needs to be falsely modest?  There is a classy way to be arrogant, and then there is Usain Bolt way.  Dignity is equally important in winning and in losing.

[DGuller]

Damn, it sucks to have the games end.  I haven't paid that much attention to Olympic games in a long, long time.  For some reason, it feels like these games had something that was missing from many previous Olympic games.

[Eddie Teach]

For some reason, it feels like these games had something that was missing from many previous Olympic games.

A gold medal for Grenada?

[DGuller]

NBC competence, for one.  Yes, NBC was horrific, but not as horrific as it usually was.  The sob stories were mostly gone, and the ones that were left were generally not eyeroll-inducing.  They actually focused on sports much more this time around.

[Ed Anger]

For some reason, it feels like these games had something that was missing from many previous Olympic games.

A gold medal for Grenada?

A crap load of Canadian whining and butthurt?

[CountDeMoney]

Two wrestlers from Egypt forfeited their matches on Sunday when they didn't show up in time. Abdou Omar Abdou Ahmed missed his 66kg first-round match and Saleh Emera missed his 96kg match, unaware that Sunday's schedule started at 8:30 a.m.

All week, wrestling started at 1 p.m. in London. However, because of the Closing Ceremony, the last three weight classes to be wrestled at freestyle were started earlier. The Egyptians showed up to the arena late, saying, "every day one-o'clock." But it was too late. They were out. One of the wrestlers reportedly fell to his knees crying when he learned the news.

The schedule for wrestling has been posted for months. Every other wrestler, official, media member, coach, volunteer and fan at the ExCeL arena knew to show up early.

The worst part of this is that the biggest victim of Egypt's negligence is the wrestlers themselves. When an athlete comes to the Olympics, the only thing he or she should be worried about is competing. Details like schedules, tickets, meals and media requests should be handled by coaches and national organizing committees. Though neither wrestler was favored for gold, it's heartbreaking that they didn't even get the chance.

[Eddie Teach]

For some reason, it feels like these games had something that was missing from many previous Olympic games.

A gold medal for Grenada?

A crap load of Canadian whining and butthurt?

He said something missing from previous games.