pinky

I'm sure many are watching the Olympics at the moment. And I'm sure some of you are wondering if the Chinese atheletes are really that good. Now I'm not getting into the age discussion here, so let's leave that out of it. I've watched a bunch of it and really can't see the infractions they speak about on the tv. It all looks like 10's to me. But......

Consider this possibility.....China, is a large and growing world economic power. They have 1.3 billion possible consumers. Now not everyone in the country is going to be driving Lada's but they will all need "something". What better opportunity is there to get "favored" status for your country then by giving the Chinese athelete a higher score for the same performance? You don't think this is going through the minds of some country's officials? Do you really think the playing field is level in business?

This is not meant to infer the Chinese are cheating, actually the other countries are.

groundpounder

It's a scam.

I wonder how many Chinese gold medals were awarded in past years when the Olympiad was held elsewhere?
For that matter, though, I wonder what the trend is for host countries winning medals of any sort, but especially gold, versus their respective medal haul in other Olympic games?
When I think about it, it seems the host country wins an inordinate amount of medals...

be interesting to know that, but I'm not worried enough about it to be going to look it up...

__________________

Peter Parka

To be honest and this completely unbiased here I'd wonder more about Great Britain's unusual haul seeing we're hosting it next and need good publicity.

__________________

groundpounder

yeah, Brits don't strike me as, um, Olympic titans. No offence....

Personally, unless it's a feat of pure athletic/mental skill, (running, throwing, shooting, swimming) I think the whole thing is a sham.

It's fun to watch in HD, though, lemme tell ya. I was watching table tennis in HD on ye olde flat screen and mrs gp was like, "WTF are you watching ping pong for?" I was like, "Because it's in HD."

I'd watch underwater basket weaving if it was in hi-def...

__________________

Peter Parka

Still third in the medal table and I'll take that whatever, you know it isn't really true that we dont care about the result as long as it's fair, right?

__________________

groundpounder

perhaps.....

__________________

pinky

None taken. I'm not a Brit.

I watched the table tennis doubles. Now that was fast action. But I still don't understand why syncronized diving is in the competition.




edit: I should read other posts before I post. sigh

Minor Axis

I don't know if this has been mentioned all ready, but I'm suspicious of the 16 year old Chinese gymnasts who 6 months ago were 13 years old. If you want to allow 13 year olds to participate, lobby to change the rules, don't falsify their documentation to get them in. I saw them perform. They did not look like 16 years olds but I guess that is not 100% proof.

__________________
"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"

gLing

There is no conspiracy going on. Those athletes are winning the medals because they earned it. Now during gymnastics some mistakes were missed or over looked but that always happens in the Olympics. Judges don't always catch everything.
China doesn't have enough muscle to intimidate anybody into judging in their favor.
Since these games are in Beijing China went crazy preparing for them and was determined to come out on top with the gold medals. China is all about looking good on the world stag.

As for the age of some of those gymnasts. Some probably are under age. A medalist who said she was 16 in the 2000 games later admitted she was only 14 so I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Chinese slipped a few underage girls in there this time around.

__________________

CMDxAbsolution

^^^I disagree. Their was def one gymnastic event where the American girl landed her routine way better then her CHinese counterpart, and the judges gave the chinagirl the Gold. Also...The situation where the two girls tied, and instead of giving out two medals (Which is done all the time, and has also been done during this olympiad, although for silvers) they go to some obscure rule aout the tech score or whatever, giving the Chinese girl the edge again.

All im saying, is that if you take all the medals away that require judges decisions....Then China is only beating the US by 2 golds.

Fox Mulder

Host nations ALWAYS do better in the Olympics. The reasons are varied--obviously they know the courses and venue well because they train there on a regular basis. They are in their own time zone, which is actually a HUGE advantage--you are asking many athletes to compete at times they are no used to competing (like the middle of the night or very early morning). You also have the issue of adrenaline and the boost you get from your home fans screaming loudest for you. Finally, that last factor has a pyschological effect on the judges--two performances that are otherwse equal, it will appear with all the screaming for the home country performer that that was a better performance (i.e., for those events with subjective scoring. In fact, in all sports, the home field always gives an advantage. In the NFL for example, the odds makes calculate that the home field gives about a 3 point advantage to the home team on average, but its more in venue that are very tough to play for opposing teams like Philadelphia, New York, or Boston.

gLing

That is a new gymnastics rule about the tie breaker. It has nothing to do with the judges.

__________________

CMDxAbsolution

As far as I heard, its an obscure rule, not a new one.

gLing

You're right it isn't that new. It's an idea that was brought up by the IOC in 1997. When exactly they started it I can't tell. I don't think there have been any ties in Olympic gymnastics since then but it is the rule. Nobody seems to like it but the IOC being the morons that they are put it in anyways. In fact nobody likes the new scoring system they started this year for gymnastics. But then the IOC is pack of monkeys.

__________________

Alien Allen

every Olympics there are isses with judging. gymnastics , swimming and boxing have a long history of pathetic judging and figure skating in the winter.

saw elsewhere that they have found the original documents or the doctored documents proving the China gymnasts were under aged.