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Vikingdaddy

Listed below are comments made by Vikingdaddy between Saturday, 9th August 2008 and Sunday, 24th August 2008.

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What have been your Beijing highlights? 10:16pm on 24 Aug 2008 My highlights?

Matthew Mitcham in the 10m platform diving.

I have stayed up most of the night to watch Phelps complete his promotional tour and have admired his determination to achieve what was contracted by the US media.

Usain Bolt's performance enthralled me, the joy and exuberance of an athlete dominating his sport. Even more so after the IOC bureaucrat Rogge found it appropriate to comment on his 100m celebrations.

But to me, the highlight has to be Australia's Matthew Mitcham. In a competition which everyone agreed would be another Chinese victory, he performed the most perfect dive in Olympic history. While many athletes have overcome personal problems to reach the highest level, Mitcham's story must be unique. The only openly gay Olympic champion during competition, he must have faced extraordinary pressures, media, competitors, officials and not the least from the IOC.

A great role model.
Why gym doesn't fix it for volleyball 11:45pm on 22 Aug 2008 Beach volleyball must the be most sexist sport in the Olympics since women were allowed to participate at all. There can be no justification for the discrepancy between the womens' gear and the mens'. According to an editor of an American beach volleyball magazine the players are only required to wear clean, customary beach wear, both men and women. Yeah sure...

One cannot help thinking the sport is included in the games because NBC, who owns the broadcasting rights in America, needs to keep the male demographics interested in the games during the gaps between Phelps and the US basketball team. I also understand that they only broadcast a compilation of the athletics events with a ten hour delay.
China for gold, Britain for bronze? 11:08pm on 22 Aug 2008 Well done, Team GB!

Absolutely fascinated by the medals table discussion. The IOC view of "it's not about the countries but only about the athletes" is of course silly after having the competitors parade behind their national flags at the opening. I mean how dim can you get...?

Not wanting to take anything away from the athletes and their extraordinary accomplishments, many of us do care about the medals tables. If healthy competition in sports can spare us arms races, the world would be a better place, wouldn't it. See how sentimental a hardened cynic can get...?

The system, unique to the US, of preferring a total medals count to the gold medals is promoted by The Associated Press which is the main US international news service, owned by a cooperative of US media organisations. They provide all American media with international news feeds around the clock and it is not clear to me if the US editors are allowed to "correct" AP statistics. Brave New York Times allows discussion about this method on their Olympics Blog but the moderators are keen to point out that AP has been doing this for the past three Olympics at least.

We shouldn't get too wrapped up in this. For the average American television viewer, the Olympics consisted of Phelps performing to script, the men's basketball team in their skirt-shorts on their way to take the gold, with women's beach volleyball filling in the gaps in programming. There were some other sports referred to in quick compilations, but the average viewer would probably not have been concerned about the medals tables. The US were winning everything on television.
Phelps 100m away from matching Spitz's magnificent seven 00:46am on 16 Aug 2008 And I have to say, I would have admired Phelps' achievement a lot more if some silly journo had not prompted these "greatest ever Olympic athlete" headlines. It's offensive to athletes past and in the end diminish Phelps' own achievement. Easy journalism desperate for hype.
Phelps 100m away from matching Spitz's magnificent seven 00:38am on 16 Aug 2008 Just two things to say:

Mark Spitz wore speedos and he's in a class of his own. We are grateful for Phelps not opting for the sexless full body armour, but this is in a different category of enjoyment from Munich.

The way swimming events are organised by the IOC, the athletes are prompted to go for multiple medals. It's as if track and field athletes were running the same distances in several different types of footwear and getting medals for it.

Great for Phelps and I am not protesting against his metal haul. But let's just keep things in perspective.

Karl
Storms bring out the Smurfs 00:35am on 15 Aug 2008 MMAlpha, thanks for pausing to reflect on this but the swimmers are actually welded and flattened into their high-tech full body armour and appear completely sexless when they emerge poolside...

Smellslikesalmon, you are right about the divers, it's the last spectator sport for the viewers who appreciate the physique of the athlete as well as their performance. And don't get me wrong, the Olympics is about sports achievement and I watch it for the athletes' performance rather than their physique. But with the schedules of the live events, a little help for staying awake watching the games in the European time zone would not be a bad thing.
Storms bring out the Smurfs 10:58pm on 14 Aug 2008 Love the Smurf angle, makes for great alternative visuals. Speaking of which, and your women's beach volleyball picture reminds me of this, what's the British view on the discussion going on blogosphere about sexism manifested in the choice of competition uniforms for men and women? I mean, take beach volleyball. Women athletes wearing bikinis and men shorts down to knees. Not to mention the US basketball team in their trouser-skirts... US bloggers are complaining that commercial interests seem dictate the choice for women having to wear revealing clothing to assure a male viewing audience. How does BBC define their potential viewer demographics? Is there room for straight women and gay men, for instance? And visuals to encourage them to keep tuned in?
Is Phelps really the greatest? 9:13pm on 13 Aug 2008 Thanks, Tom, for putting things into perspective, again. Just a remark on the lack of competition for the likes Koenders-Blank and Nurmi. They obviously did not have the type of support structure and pretty much had to motivate and coach themselves without any sponsorship during and in between the games.

Karl
Sensory overload at the opening ceremony 04:33am on 09 Aug 2008 Another thought, would it be helpful if the BBC posted the opening hours of their moderating service for other blogs than yours online? It seems they are sticking to a British time zone while the action takes place in "foreign parts". Just helping us who are in the Olympic time zone.
Sensory overload at the opening ceremony 04:09am on 09 Aug 2008 Just curious, we're going at it here but can you read us loud and clear over there in China, Tom?

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