Ahhh, women's gymnastics, one of the few sports that can outstupid MLB's all-star game. There, every team has to have a representative regardless of merit. In women's gymnastics, no team can place more than 2 competitors into the all-around... regardless of merit.

Why actually have the best compete when you can instead exclude someone because too many people on the same team are good.

7/30/2012 4:54:28 AM

Stupid indeed. Jordan had the 4th highest score, but can't compete.

7/30/2012 9:55:44 AM

DIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7/30/2012 10:12:53 AM

new zealand's field hockey team on patrol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJPtZ7m9cCQ

7/30/2012 11:23:45 AM

Quote :

"In women's gymnastics, no team can place more than 2 competitors into the all-around... regardless of merit."

sometimes it takes moments like that to instigate rules changes. lets hope this is one of those instances

7/30/2012 11:30:25 AM

Just saw this little gem on a "friends" Facebook page from last night

Quote :

"it's amazing that you can finish 3rd in gymnastics, yet a chic who falls off the balance beam 3 times and steps out of bounds 2x on her floor routine can go to the finals....hmmm...even Olympic gymnastics has a welfare system"

7/30/2012 12:36:11 PM

^^^"Theres no such country...boys, assemble"

hahahaha, those guys were hilarious.

7/30/2012 2:33:18 PM

Phelps looks like Walter Jr. when he looks up at the results after a race. (ibtHeSwimsLikeHimToo)

7/30/2012 3:53:09 PM

While I tend to agree with the sentiment expressed over the gymnastic chick from the US being left out, I wonder how people would feel if, say, the SEC had the top 4 football teams in the country one year and so all 4 of them filled out the "playoff". I know the rules for the playoff probably don't allow that, but would yall feel the same way about that?

7/30/2012 11:58:49 PM

that'd mean the best BigXII/BigTen/Pac12/etc teams would have like 3 losses each

7/31/2012 12:01:52 AM

I would be completely fine with that of the rules allowed for it. You have to think it would take a trwmenoualy unlikely series of events for it to happen, unlike in gymnastics where it seems not unlikely that one country could field several girls for any one apparatus or for the all around.

7/31/2012 12:25:54 AM

Quote :

"Why actually have the best compete when you can instead exclude someone because too many people on the same team are good."

yeah, why even let all of these random countries come to the olympics. i mean 80% of the top 300 basketball players are from the us. Why not just have all of them compete on multiple american teams?

7/31/2012 1:37:10 AM

Each country gets one team. In the case of gymnastics the maximum possible all around competitors would be 4, if a country used the same 4 gymnasts on every apparatus for the team qualifying (not using the 5th gymnast n the team at all. This would be a rare occurrence, but would reward success and versatility.

I will add the US and China already send far more Olympians than a country like Moldova or Panama. For individual or double sports it is common for larger/more competitive countries to field multiple people, and have several make the finals. Your comparison is not valid, unless you are.suggesting the entire Olympics be more like gymnastics.

7/31/2012 3:24:47 AM

We aren't talking about olympic qualifying, we're talking about once they're actually at the olympics, competing for the gold medal. Do you want to actually have the top people competing for the medal or do you want to exclude them because they're from the same country. If 3 romanian gymnasts were in the top 4 for the all around I would have the same issue.

7/31/2012 8:59:42 AM

Affirmative Olympics!

Jordan...YOU WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH

[Edited on July 31, 2012 at 2:03 PM. Reason : e]

7/31/2012 2:01:55 PM

jeez. nbc is gonna accuse this swimmer of doping with literally zero evidence of it? come on

7/31/2012 10:49:45 PM

It's not just NBC, the swimming world has said there's something fishy about her speed. It comes down to the fact that she swam the last leg faster than a male.

From the Chit Chat Olympics thread:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181374/Ye-Shiwen--forging-Mandarin-mermaid-How-Chinese-children-brutalised-future-Olympians.html#ixzz22F3kryZS

[Edited on July 31, 2012 at 10:55 PM. Reason : link]

7/31/2012 10:53:39 PM

^^ kind of like you in the Tour de France thread

7/31/2012 10:57:29 PM

except that cyclists have been juicing, pretty much all of them, for the past 30 years. only a fool would think those guys have stopped

7/31/2012 11:06:04 PM

there has been doping in the Olympics for just as long in a ton of sports

7/31/2012 11:07:35 PM

I think it's highly likely that she was doping, it'll come out sooner or later.

The olympics have been full of corrupt judges, steroids, blood doping, and rampant cheating for the last 40+ years. Why would we think things have changed now? A performance so amazing and so far ahead of the previous world record just makes it evident that we need more and better testing. Does anyone outside of the chinese press actually think that she's clean?

8/1/2012 12:36:49 AM

lol jesus christ - you think every cyclist is a doper but you give fucking china a pass on suspicions of tainted medals?

8/1/2012 1:01:36 AM

olympics is about the top from each country competing for top in the world. its just a courtesy that multiple people get to come. that way if somebody fucks up big time, usa would've still had jordan. just because a country is best at something, doesn't mean they should be the only ones competing for gold.

this is the same exact argument as having an all sec championship in football.

8/1/2012 2:01:19 AM

8/1/2012 8:03:54 AM

^that reminds me, if Russia had several catastrophic failures in all events but the parallel bars then how bad did the other countries do for Russia to still get silver, let alone medal

8/1/2012 8:06:33 AM

Quote :

"^that reminds me, if Russia had several catastrophic failures in all events but the parallel bars then how bad did the other countries do for Russia to still get silver, let alone medal "

They started with high point value things. Also, it seems that the US dominated. Anybody else notice that nbc stopped showing the overall standings to try to keep drama for the floor routine? The US is way better than any other country this year and it's extremely obvious.

8/1/2012 9:36:21 AM

Quote :

"A performance so amazing and so far ahead of the previous world record just makes it evident that we need more and better testing. Does anyone outside of the chinese press actually think that she's clean?"

You realize that Phelps's records from 8 years ago mirror this situation pretty well, right? Cutting off 5 seconds from your time in one year. Smashing world records at a young age. Let's try to be objective and less xenophobic.

8/1/2012 11:11:00 AM

why is there a Mexican-sounding horn that goes off periodically during beach volleyball??

8/1/2012 11:32:36 AM

8/1/2012 11:42:46 AM

^^^ But the girl almost beat the best men's IM'er in the world on the free leg. Doesn't matter if he slowed down at the end. He still should have beaten her by 4 or 5s.

And lets face it, all communist countries cheat. Its a fact.

Ok, you're talking about 8 years ago - not 4. Still, she's cheating.

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 12:56 PM. Reason : ^]

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 12:57 PM. Reason : edit]

8/1/2012 12:56:15 PM

Phelps also doesn't look significantly different physically than other male swimmers. Being tall with big feet isn't a sign of some sort of steroid use.

This girl has features that stand out and make her look different than.... girls. That doesn't mean she isn't just an anomaly of an athlete and great. And I'm not one that is all anti-other countries. Just like people from other countries are a fan of Phelps I'd be a fan if shes just a great story and a great swimmer that goes on to dominate the sport for 4-5 years because I appreciate watching dominant once in a lifetime type athletes.

But with steroids/HGH whatever more often than not where there has been smoke, there is fire. Not many instances of people being accused of use and it not turning out to be true, or at least some reasonable evidence supporting it.

8/1/2012 1:12:03 PM

it's not xenophobia, it's accusations based on past history. they got away with murder when the IOC turned their heads on obviously underage gymnasts in Beijing 4 years ago. they've been involved in huge swim doping scandals in the past. if she had just set a record, no big deal. but you swim faster than a physically mature male counterpart? it deserves every question it gets

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 1:32 PM. Reason : .]

8/1/2012 1:23:22 PM

I just read up a little bit on the 08 age controversy because I forgot the details. That was pretty bad.

8/1/2012 1:52:01 PM

china cant even play badminton without cheating.

8/1/2012 1:57:08 PM

usa is playing terribly in this water polo match. Hope these girls dont blow their shot at gold here

8/1/2012 2:13:42 PM

Quote :

"Hope these girls dont blow"

Now just wait a minute here

8/1/2012 2:19:49 PM

oh, i didnt realize every team qualifies for the medal rounds and this is just jockeying for position.

Great 2nd half. The goalie armstrong couldn't stop anything in first half but shes been incredible in the 2nd even stopped a penalty shot. USA really extended their defense and forced spain to take bad shots. They're so strong in the post on offense they can overcome a poor shooting game


LOL, right after i type that the USA has a stunning collapse blowing a 3 goal lead with two minutes left. What the hell is wrong with that team. They look like crap one minute and amazing the next.

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 2:42 PM. Reason : a]

8/1/2012 2:29:57 PM

Feel bad for the dude in charge of the underwater cam in womens water polo.....

8/1/2012 2:45:52 PM

Epic fail for women's fencing

8/1/2012 2:51:08 PM

And rowing.

8/1/2012 2:51:38 PM

i'm sure this has been covered but the ability to turn commentary completely off and leave the ambient noise on is amazing.

8/1/2012 2:54:59 PM

LAWD HAVE MERCY SPOILERS

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 5:02 PM. Reason : unless you people are watching the tv cast but fuck it]

8/1/2012 5:02:09 PM

my baby aliya fell of the beam

8/1/2012 5:05:17 PM

Live tv cast. Sorry if fencing was going to be the highlight of your evening.

8/1/2012 5:34:34 PM

that was pretty epic fail in fencing, some USA State shit right there

8/1/2012 5:51:49 PM

link to the fencing? or who vs who. want to check out the replay.

http://www.mercurynews.com/olympics/ci_21211256/olympics-american-fencing-star-mariel-zagunis-shutout-womens

[Edited on August 1, 2012 at 8:00 PM. Reason : xs]

8/1/2012 7:53:51 PM

prolly have it on nbcsports.com

absolute definition of a meltdown

8/1/2012 8:26:11 PM

Heavyweight Judo athlete from Guam weighs 100 pounds more than the combined weight of the Japanese volleyball team.

http://www.london2012.com/athlete/blas-jr-ricardo-1023625/

8/3/2012 2:07:42 PM

so youre saying that the six women of the japanese volleyball team weigh a combined 381 pounds? that cant be right

8/3/2012 3:19:57 PM

I'm going by what they said on NBC Sports Network. I haven't looked up their weights

8/3/2012 3:28:29 PM