London 2012 Olympics

[Dasquian Belargic]

SPORT

who's loving it? :D I spent about half of today just watching various bits of tennis, hockey, rowing and a variety of other stuff

Here's the current medal table: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/medals/countries

Team GB is currently 5th, having just picked up 2 more golds and 1 silver so far today! :eee

[CMJ]

I have watched an obscene amount of coverage.

[Droo]

I loved watching the men's canoe slalom, I was on my feet for most of it, and when the boys secured not only a gold but a silver medal, too, I was cheering away. Then I made sure to catch the cycling in work, two world records and a gold. Not bad for a day's work, eh?

[Dasquian Belargic]

What a disappointment with the ladies cycling sprint pair :(

[Liam Jinn]

The obvious response to that is - 'Murica.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I'm watching it right now, in fact I've just had the tv on all day, every day. I love the Olympics, :)

[Droo]

A gold medal and a world record smashed on home turf? I think the men's team pursuit team can file that one under "job done!" What a moment!

[Dasquian Belargic]

Get in :eee Team GB owning the velodrome

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EDIT: ANOTHER BLOODY GOLD :dance PENDLETONNNNN

[Droo]

That was amazing! The acceleration came out of nowhere, and when that happened, I lost the plot!

Edit: I loved the reaction from Honk Kong's Wai Sze Lee. She looked overjoyed and was so giddy with excitement when she arrived at the podium she faced the wrong way! :lol

[Dasquian Belargic]

25 golds and 23 sports on today including...

Helen Jenkins going for triathlon gold! Live from Hyde Park right now, with the ladies swimming through the Serpentine

(hey Hollie, the Serpentine is the lake that the Baa'li demon rose out of in our roleplay 'Behold, the Cursed Seed of Enoch' :D)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Another pair of golds and a silver already today! TEAM GB!!

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[Droo]

Jessica Ennis! Greg Rutherford! Mo Farah! What a night for British athletics! :eee

[Dasquian Belargic]

Would have loved to be in that stadium! Amazing night

[Droo]

"He's crumbled under the pressure like Queen Elizabeth's teeth!"

I just heard it in the replay! What a way to end the match! :lol

[Lilaena De'Ville]

25 golds and 23 sports on today including...

Helen Jenkins going for triathlon gold! Live from Hyde Park right now, with the ladies swimming through the Serpentine

(hey Hollie, the Serpentine is the lake that the Baa'li demon rose out of in our roleplay 'Behold, the Cursed Seed of Enoch' :D)

they should not swim in that water :ohno

[Dasquian Belargic]

"He's crumbled under the pressure like Queen Elizabeth's teeth!"

I just heard it in the replay! What a way to end the match! :lol

I can't believe more people didn't notice / comment on this! Maybe no one else was watching the match? :lol

[Lilaena De'Ville]

What event was that in? They dont show any velodrome stuff until 12:30am. Yes, AM. West coast time that is 8:30am yours...the next day!

I did watch what they had of it to see Glorius GB win. :)

[Droo]

Oh, Andy Murray. How sweet does it feel to beat Roger Federer in the final at Wimbledon? Poetic isn't the word!

And now he's about to compete in the mixed doubles final, too. That's a hardy Scot for you! :love

[Droo]

I love watching Laura Trott. Check out her elimination race for the women's omnium if you can.

[Kyran O'Hurn]

Not a huge soccer (football) fan, but Canada's women's team got hosed. I'll admit the winning goal was a thing of beauty, but the penalty that let the American's tie it up was BS...

Hopefully they didn't leave too much out on the field and have enough to go for Bronze.

[Morgan Evanar]

Oh, Andy Murray. How sweet does it feel to beat Roger Federer in the final at Wimbledon? Poetic isn't the word!

And now he's about to compete in the mixed doubles final, too. That's a hardy Scot for you! :loveFederer looked tired, but Andy absolutely gave him everything and it was great to see him overcome one of Tennis's best.

It's nice to see the hosting country do well.

[Dragon]

Not a huge soccer (football) fan, but Canada's women's team got hosed. I'll admit the winning goal was a thing of beauty, but the penalty that let the American's tie it up was BS...

Hopefully they didn't leave too much out on the field and have enough to go for Bronze.

More specifically, it wasn't the penalty call, but the bizarre indirect free kick call against the Canadian goalie for holding the ball too long before putting it into play. I'm only a casual fan myself, but I had never heard of such a thing, and it seemed that neither had the commentators. At the time, nothing about the goalie's ball-handling seemed excessive to me, especially considering the kind of pathological clock-milking you see in every soccer match ever.

If the US team had really earned a free kick from inside the penalty area, I wouldn't have minded the handball call so much. But the whole situation seemed to be manufactured by the ref. It's the sort of call I'd expect a team like Brazil to get, which made me feel incredibly skeevy. It's a shame, especially when both teams put on such a heroic effort.

It's not the US team's fault, and Alex Morgan's winning goal in the 123rd minute was epic. But I would have liked to see if they could have tied the game on their own in the waning minutes of regulation. I'm obviously still rooting for the US women to get the gold, but I genuinely feel bad for the Canadian players and their fans. If they play as well against France as they did against the US, the bronze match should be a massacre.

[Kyran O'Hurn]

Not a huge soccer (football) fan, but Canada's women's team got hosed. I'll admit the winning goal was a thing of beauty, but the penalty that let the American's tie it up was BS...

Hopefully they didn't leave too much out on the field and have enough to go for Bronze.

More specifically, it wasn't the penalty call, but the bizarre indirect free kick call against the Canadian goalie for holding the ball too long before putting it into play. I'm only a casual fan myself, but I had never heard of such a thing, and it seemed that neither had the commentators. At the time, nothing about the goalie's ball-handling seemed excessive to me, especially considering the kind of pathological clock-milking you see in every soccer match ever.

If the US team had really earned a free kick from inside the penalty area, I wouldn't have minded the handball call so much. But the whole situation seemed to be manufactured by the ref. It's the sort of call I'd expect a team like Brazil to get, which made me feel incredibly skeevy. It's a shame, especially when both teams put on such a heroic effort.

It's not the US team's fault, and Alex Morgan's winning goal in the 123rd minute was epic. But I would have liked to see if they could have tied the game on their own in the waning minutes of regulation. I'm obviously still rooting for the US women to get the gold, but I genuinely feel bad for the Canadian players and their fans. If they play as well against France as they did against the US, the bronze match should be a massacre.

Yeah the indirect kick is what I was talking about. In terms of the penalty kick, everything I heard/read after seemed to agree that it was a "ball to hand" vs. "hand to ball", and that usually if the ball is wailed at you (like it is on a free kick) and hits your hand/arm because you can't get out of the way it's not usually called, versus sticking your hand out and hitting the ball, but obviously it wouldn't have come to that if it hadn't been for the initial "delay of game" call.

I think the biggest issue was that the officiating was inconsistent the entire game. There were calls that should have been made against both sides that weren't and calls that were made that made no sense.

Mind you strange/controversial/random officiating seems like par for the course in soccer.

[Droo]

Never gets old when the commentators in the velodrome say "Here comes D'Hoore of Belgium!" :lol

Edit: Laura Trott, I think I love you! Twenty years old, and two gold medals from her first olympic games, and she's cute as a button! Well in, Trotty! :D

Edit: Sixth gold for Chris Hoy! What a legend! There's nothing like the excitement of the velodrome. Love it!

It's a shame that Victoria Pendleton couldn't go out quite on top, but a gold and a silver from her final olympic games is an excellent way to go out. She was understandably emotional in the end, but incredibly gracious, what a classy lady.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Amazing.. amazing amazing amazing. Honestly, I'm still reeling from the Ennis/Rutherford/Farah triple triumph.

Team GB, you are doing us all so proud :swoon:

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Someone please explain the race in the velodrome where they go super slow until the last instant. It makes no sense. :whaa

[CMJ]

Someone please explain the race in the velodrome where they go super slow until the last instant. It makes no sense. :whaa

They're trying to position themselves. The trailing rider has the advantage because they can slip stream off the front rider to fly past them at the end. So, in the race you mention the rider in front (Rider A for this discussion) is trying to either force the trailing rider (Rider B) to the front position --- so then Rider A would be able to draft off of Rider B.

OR Rider A is trying to create a gap of some sort, where Rider B cannot get into a slip stream position.

[Ben Merasska]

I have to admit, there's a bunch of cuties on the Great Britain field hockey squad. And I learned that there's men's field hockey. My brothers and I laughed for a while after that.

[Droo]

A gold... in Taekwondo... for Team GB!? Get in, Jade Jones!

[Dasquian Belargic]

I love the diversity of the sports that we're medalling in!

[Karl Valten]

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/2d26100ce3/the-olympic-ticket-scalper-with-patrick-stewart-ryan-lochte-simon-pegg-maisie-williams?rel=player&playlist=310726

[Dasquian Belargic]

Last day today! Closing ceremony starts at 9pm GMT and is supposed to be a celebration of Brit music :)

[Droo]

Watching the footage of Tom Daley from yesterday got me all emosh, and to see his reaction, overjoyed, beaming from ear to ear and jumping into the pool with his coaches and friends - and that was just for a bronze medal! What will this lad do when, not if, he gets a gold is anyone's guess, but that's a wonderful way to end the games, none of this sour-faced feet-dragging over not getting the gold. This is the olympic spirit, and having followed him since Beijing when he was just fourteen years old, even in the replay today I felt I was sharing in the pride of the nation. :)

Edit: And I love this picture. :D

[Dasquian Belargic]

^ Possibly my favorite shot of the Games :D

[Droo]

Closing Ceremony about to begin and already I feel all :cry

[Dasquian Belargic]

You're welcome, world

[Droo]

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Team GB :love

[CMJ]

As always, I am sad to see the Olympics end, but kinda happy I can get my life back. I probably watched over 8 hours A DAY of coverage. :)