Ben Dover said:
Right,
By definition geeks and dorks would fail to see the need for true excellence in sports.
Congrats,
Korbel
FINAL!!! Canada has 18 medals! 3 Gold 9 Silver 6 Bronze
- Thread starter CockAsian69
- Start date
Right,
By definition geeks and dorks would fail to see the need for true excellence in sports.
Congrats,
Korbel
Hello all,
Congratulations to the Canadian Olympic team. I am sure that is an excellent score balanced against many countries with a population of around 33.5 million and many larger ones.
Bravo,
Korbel
Congratulations to the Canadian Olympic team. I am sure that is an excellent score balanced against many countries with a population of around 33.5 million and many larger ones.
Bravo,
Korbel
Korbel said:
---------------------
Indeed Korbie its pretty good !!!
!!!Now the IOC decided that baseball and softball will not be on the programme for 2012. The two sports are, however, eligible back for inclusion in the programme of the 2016 Games.
The IOC also voted againts these five candidate sports (Roller Sports, World Squash, Golf, Karate or Rugby) to be included on the programme of the 2012 Games.
PLEASE NOTE :
The IOC also gave an honorable mention to include "" Hide-and-Seek ""
for the Chinese "Women's" Gymnastics Team in 2012 !!!
SexyNadya said:---------------------
Indeed Korbie its pretty good !!!
Now the IOC decided that baseball and softball will not be on the programme for 2012. The two sports are, however, eligible back for inclusion in the programme of the 2016 Games.
The IOC also voted againts these five candidate sports (Roller Sports, World Squash, Golf, Karate or Rugby) to be included on the programme of the 2012 Games.
PLEASE NOTE :
The IOC also gave an honorable mention to include "" Hide-and-Seek ""
for the Chinese "Women's" Gymnastics Team in 2012 !!!
Hello Sexy Nadya,
The removal of baseball and softball is ridiculous. These sports are very popular in many areas of the world. Their removal is absurd. Of the others you mentioned, I could see Karate being included legitimately with it's worldwide following. But I saw BMX cycling and the severe crashes involving several bikers at a time. I think the dynamics of this sport need retuning. It looks like little more than demolition derby the way it is.
Cheers,
Korbel
Korbel said:
I agree with you & i'll miss those two sports from the next games. I can't understand why other X-Games types of sports are in the Olympics, such as the one you mentionned & others like Trampoline. Synchronized swimming? Please!! Ping-pong?? This is a joke! What's next to be introduced? Dodger Ball? Bat Can? Roller Derby? Skateboarding? Surfing? Bowling? Croquet? Sandcastle buidling?
(even though an exciting sport to watch, i'm not even sure Beach Volleyball has its place at the Olympics)
Trampoline girl gets to carry the flag at closing ceremonies....what a joke!
Cockburn named flag bearer
Silver medal trampolinist Karen Cockburn, who won medals in three consecutive Olympics, will carry the Canadian flag into the closing ceremony.
Now, that's a bloody joke!!!
I would have given it to either Emely Heymans or Alexandre Despatie. But no!!!!!! They give it to a fuckin' trampoline bunny!!!!
Cockburn named flag bearer
Silver medal trampolinist Karen Cockburn, who won medals in three consecutive Olympics, will carry the Canadian flag into the closing ceremony.
Now, that's a bloody joke!!!
I would have given it to either Emely Heymans or Alexandre Despatie. But no!!!!!! They give it to a fuckin' trampoline bunny!!!!
Canada aims higher for 2012
BEIJING — Every day in the Olympic plaza, spectator after spectator struck a bizarre pose on the flagstone plane outside the immense Bird's Nest stadium, stretching an empty hand upward and smiling for the cameras. Only in the final image did the intent become apparent — the hand appeared to be holding the Olympic flame, which was burning in the cauldron high above.
It was an illusion, of course.
Likewise, Canadians wrap up their mission to the Beijing Olympics with a mixed feeling that they've bounced back from hitting bottom at Athens four years ago. Core sports such as track and field and swimming broke the gloom of medal shutouts, and the country will finish with its best medal total since Atlanta in 1996.
It might be the Canadian way to bask in the improvement and gush that sport is on the right track. But a dose of reality comes packaged in green and gold. Australia has shown the Canadians what can happen when you over-reach, organize and overachieve. Other countries, such as the small island of Jamaica, where the best sprinters in the world now compete for the homeland instead of rival countries, are also pulling away from Canada.
Here in China, the Canadian Olympic Committee's goal was a top-16 finish in the medal count. The plan for the London Olympics in 2012 calls for a top-12 finish. How does Canada make that jump and what were the lessons learned as the Beijing Games wind down?
Alex Baumann's job is to push, prod and prioritize Canadian summer sport so that the best programs improve, even if at the expense of others. His title is the executive director of the Road to Excellence, and he's not afraid to say what needs to be done: improve high-performance coaching; centralize athletes for optimum training, as Australians do; and locate those facility-based institutes in large urban areas (Toronto has no such facility for the many national-team athletes who live and train in Southern Ontario.)
The mindset has to change, too. Winning has to become an essential pursuit, not a dirty word. In an e-mail message to Canadian athletes, former Alpine Canada president Ken Read recently wrote: "An organization's mission statement should be no more than one sentence — and in our case, it is one word: win. It says it all."
Baumann, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, agreed, adding that his recent trip to Beijing convinced him serious decisions have to be made and quickly.
"I had meetings with sport officials from Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand," Baumann said. "What I've taken back is that it's going to take a fairly concerted effort in 2012 to reach our goal, given the amount of investment needed. Great Britain is the big mover, having received 600 million pounds over six years.
"My feeling, right now, is the new [federal government] money from Road to Excellence [an additional $24-million a year beginning in 2010] will only maintain or barely improve our chances in 2012."
The call for more cash is hardly a new tactic, and the COC is looking into various ways of attracting corporate partners for assistance. But if the government says, "You're not getting another dime from us," and the business sector sides largely with our Winter Olympians, what, then, for the sports that can't get by unless they get more money for better training opportunities?
"We may have to focus on sports with multiple medal chances," Baumann said. "I'm not apologetic for making hard decisions on targeting sports. That's why I was hired."
The sports that did well in Beijing were easy to spot. Swimming and athletics, rowing, canoeing and kayaking and women's wrestling continued to produce results along with diving, which also introduced several younger athletes to the Olympic show.
"Those are among the five to seven targeted sports that had success from Games to Games and world championships to world championships," Alex Gardiner, the COC's international performance director, said. "They will continue to be supported."
Some sports are either in trouble (boxing and men's wrestling) or on the way out (women's softball ended its Olympic run this week, although it will apply for reinstatement for 2016, while baseball is being dropped from the Olympic agenda in 2012).
But simply throwing more money at them won't solve problems with how the sport is managed.
A prime example of a successful sport in Canada is canoeing and kayaking. It was well organized and resourceful even when it received little funding. As it grew, as athletes from Caroline Brunet to Adam van Koeverden produced medals, the funding increased and the people in charge used it effectively.
"You've got to be successful," said Anne Merklinger, the director-general of CanoeKayak Canada, "but a lot of things were already there before the money."
CanoeKayak Canada has invested wisely in itself. Graham Barton was hired as the sprint high-performance director in 1999. Seven coaches now work with the Canadian national team. Regional coaches were hired to identify and train paddlers across the country.
"Our athletes in competitive programs have increased by 20, 25 per cent," said Merklinger, who works with an annual budget of $2-million. "In 2003, we had 45 clubs. Now, we have 80. Twenty-five [of those clubs] have full-time year-round coaches. There are a lot of opportunities to be a professional canoeist and kayaker."
To further upgrade the sport, CanoeKayak Canada is working with the Ontario government to land the Pan American Games of 2015 for Toronto. The bid, if successful, would result in "a semi-world-class venue" being built in what is an avid paddling region. That would help keep canoeing and kayaking at the top of the funding food chain, where the big fish get to dine on the little ones.
"We supported the top-12 criteria that was put in place four years ago," Merklinger said of the COC's toughened qualification standards for the Athens Olympics. "At that point, we didn't have enough resources in our system to support everyone. We believe in top-down, prioritized sports that are performing."
There is a trick, though. Sports with emerging athletes and medal potential need to be recognized and enabled. This coming fall, Canada's summer sports associations will plead their case for Road to Excellence payouts. If a sport can show it has promising athletes, with good coaching and an ability to produce results, then it will likely win some extra funding.
A failing grade on any of those counts and it's "Nice try. Next?"
"What people have to understand is that Road to Excellence funding is enhanced funding," Baumann said. "They can still get their funding from Sport Canada, but they have to prove they have potential for medals."
That's how it is now for Canada's practitioners of summer sport. Competing in world championships and Olympic Games is no longer good enough. Canadians want to see their athletes succeed. Canadian athletes want to succeed, too.
Baumann said he was happy to see Canadian athletes fighting for medals and those who were dissatisfied when they finished fourth or fifth. He considered that a shift, however small, in the culture of excellence. Donovan Bailey, a gold medalist from 1996 in Atlanta, spoke of that need to succeed after watching the Canadian men's team perform in Friday night's relay.
"It's the Olympic Games, what are you being careful for?" he said. "Make the podium or drop the stick. Go hard or go home."
To make that leap to the next level, to become one of the top-10 countries in the world in summer sports, is not going to be easy.
For Baumann, an Olympic participant with no real chance of a medal is an illusion. He wants the real deal — bodies in the finals and medals around the necks of Canadian athletes.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...lym-canada-future-22/BNStory/beijing2008/home
BEIJING — Every day in the Olympic plaza, spectator after spectator struck a bizarre pose on the flagstone plane outside the immense Bird's Nest stadium, stretching an empty hand upward and smiling for the cameras. Only in the final image did the intent become apparent — the hand appeared to be holding the Olympic flame, which was burning in the cauldron high above.
It was an illusion, of course.
Likewise, Canadians wrap up their mission to the Beijing Olympics with a mixed feeling that they've bounced back from hitting bottom at Athens four years ago. Core sports such as track and field and swimming broke the gloom of medal shutouts, and the country will finish with its best medal total since Atlanta in 1996.
It might be the Canadian way to bask in the improvement and gush that sport is on the right track. But a dose of reality comes packaged in green and gold. Australia has shown the Canadians what can happen when you over-reach, organize and overachieve. Other countries, such as the small island of Jamaica, where the best sprinters in the world now compete for the homeland instead of rival countries, are also pulling away from Canada.
Here in China, the Canadian Olympic Committee's goal was a top-16 finish in the medal count. The plan for the London Olympics in 2012 calls for a top-12 finish. How does Canada make that jump and what were the lessons learned as the Beijing Games wind down?
Alex Baumann's job is to push, prod and prioritize Canadian summer sport so that the best programs improve, even if at the expense of others. His title is the executive director of the Road to Excellence, and he's not afraid to say what needs to be done: improve high-performance coaching; centralize athletes for optimum training, as Australians do; and locate those facility-based institutes in large urban areas (Toronto has no such facility for the many national-team athletes who live and train in Southern Ontario.)
The mindset has to change, too. Winning has to become an essential pursuit, not a dirty word. In an e-mail message to Canadian athletes, former Alpine Canada president Ken Read recently wrote: "An organization's mission statement should be no more than one sentence — and in our case, it is one word: win. It says it all."
Baumann, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, agreed, adding that his recent trip to Beijing convinced him serious decisions have to be made and quickly.
"I had meetings with sport officials from Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand," Baumann said. "What I've taken back is that it's going to take a fairly concerted effort in 2012 to reach our goal, given the amount of investment needed. Great Britain is the big mover, having received 600 million pounds over six years.
"My feeling, right now, is the new [federal government] money from Road to Excellence [an additional $24-million a year beginning in 2010] will only maintain or barely improve our chances in 2012."
The call for more cash is hardly a new tactic, and the COC is looking into various ways of attracting corporate partners for assistance. But if the government says, "You're not getting another dime from us," and the business sector sides largely with our Winter Olympians, what, then, for the sports that can't get by unless they get more money for better training opportunities?
"We may have to focus on sports with multiple medal chances," Baumann said. "I'm not apologetic for making hard decisions on targeting sports. That's why I was hired."
The sports that did well in Beijing were easy to spot. Swimming and athletics, rowing, canoeing and kayaking and women's wrestling continued to produce results along with diving, which also introduced several younger athletes to the Olympic show.
"Those are among the five to seven targeted sports that had success from Games to Games and world championships to world championships," Alex Gardiner, the COC's international performance director, said. "They will continue to be supported."
Some sports are either in trouble (boxing and men's wrestling) or on the way out (women's softball ended its Olympic run this week, although it will apply for reinstatement for 2016, while baseball is being dropped from the Olympic agenda in 2012).
But simply throwing more money at them won't solve problems with how the sport is managed.
A prime example of a successful sport in Canada is canoeing and kayaking. It was well organized and resourceful even when it received little funding. As it grew, as athletes from Caroline Brunet to Adam van Koeverden produced medals, the funding increased and the people in charge used it effectively.
"You've got to be successful," said Anne Merklinger, the director-general of CanoeKayak Canada, "but a lot of things were already there before the money."
CanoeKayak Canada has invested wisely in itself. Graham Barton was hired as the sprint high-performance director in 1999. Seven coaches now work with the Canadian national team. Regional coaches were hired to identify and train paddlers across the country.
"Our athletes in competitive programs have increased by 20, 25 per cent," said Merklinger, who works with an annual budget of $2-million. "In 2003, we had 45 clubs. Now, we have 80. Twenty-five [of those clubs] have full-time year-round coaches. There are a lot of opportunities to be a professional canoeist and kayaker."
To further upgrade the sport, CanoeKayak Canada is working with the Ontario government to land the Pan American Games of 2015 for Toronto. The bid, if successful, would result in "a semi-world-class venue" being built in what is an avid paddling region. That would help keep canoeing and kayaking at the top of the funding food chain, where the big fish get to dine on the little ones.
"We supported the top-12 criteria that was put in place four years ago," Merklinger said of the COC's toughened qualification standards for the Athens Olympics. "At that point, we didn't have enough resources in our system to support everyone. We believe in top-down, prioritized sports that are performing."
There is a trick, though. Sports with emerging athletes and medal potential need to be recognized and enabled. This coming fall, Canada's summer sports associations will plead their case for Road to Excellence payouts. If a sport can show it has promising athletes, with good coaching and an ability to produce results, then it will likely win some extra funding.
A failing grade on any of those counts and it's "Nice try. Next?"
"What people have to understand is that Road to Excellence funding is enhanced funding," Baumann said. "They can still get their funding from Sport Canada, but they have to prove they have potential for medals."
That's how it is now for Canada's practitioners of summer sport. Competing in world championships and Olympic Games is no longer good enough. Canadians want to see their athletes succeed. Canadian athletes want to succeed, too.
Baumann said he was happy to see Canadian athletes fighting for medals and those who were dissatisfied when they finished fourth or fifth. He considered that a shift, however small, in the culture of excellence. Donovan Bailey, a gold medalist from 1996 in Atlanta, spoke of that need to succeed after watching the Canadian men's team perform in Friday night's relay.
"It's the Olympic Games, what are you being careful for?" he said. "Make the podium or drop the stick. Go hard or go home."
To make that leap to the next level, to become one of the top-10 countries in the world in summer sports, is not going to be easy.
For Baumann, an Olympic participant with no real chance of a medal is an illusion. He wants the real deal — bodies in the finals and medals around the necks of Canadian athletes.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...lym-canada-future-22/BNStory/beijing2008/home
Doc Holliday said:Cockburn named flag bearer
Silver medal trampolinist Karen Cockburn, who won medals in three consecutive Olympics, will carry the Canadian flag into the closing ceremony.
Now, that's a bloody joke!!!
I would have given it to either Emely Heymans or Alexandre Despatie. But no!!!!!! They give it to a fuckin' trampoline bunny!!!!
-------------------------
I agree although I see nothing wrong with a true sport such as Trampoline, that certainly helped to a decrease in millions of viewers around the Globe !!
Korbel said:
-----------------------
Absolutly Folks !!
Did anyone saw the Game between the Powerhouse Cuban Team againt South Korea !!! It was a Great game !!!
And to have a game such as Baseball out of the "" SUMMER "" Olympics is an awful descision.
Clearly if an emerging country like Korea takes the Gold, its certainly as to do with the fact that the Sport is doing very very well in all of Asia ... the most populated erea of the World !!!
Jacques Rogge !!! You are an Idiot !!!
Last edited:
Doc Holliday said:
Hello Doc,
Hey, why don't they let the WWE in. Why not? It's a world popular ..."sport" ...lol ...isn't it.
Pssssft,
Korbel
SexyNadya said:------------------------
Korbie !!! No its "" Texas hold'em ""
Do you know that the Americans have actually supported the validity of
Poker as a true Sport !
Figure that one out !
Hmmmm Sexy Nadya,
Well, certainly the athleticism in drinking Jack Daniels, smoking big cigars, and covering your cards will take oodles of years of training. I can see how the timing of the arrival of the Domino's pizza boy will be a critical strategy for victory. Who ordered anchovies...bwahahahahaha.
Nuts,
Korbel
Doc Holliday said:Cockburn named flag bearer
Silver medal trampolinist Karen Cockburn, who won medals in three consecutive Olympics, will carry the Canadian flag into the closing ceremony.
Now, that's a bloody joke!!!
I would have given it to either Emely Heymans or Alexandre Despatie. But no!!!!!! They give it to a fuckin' trampoline bunny!!!!
Okay, i'm taking all of my comments back. I'm now happy that they selected Karen Cockburn to be the flag bearer. I just saw a few videoclips of her on CBC and she's a little hottie!!!
Good choice, Canada!!!
Karen's hot!!
I just saw Canada's Karen Cockburn at the closing ceremonies. Yep, Karen could come & jump on Doc's trampoline anytime she wants!!
I just saw Canada's Karen Cockburn at the closing ceremonies. Yep, Karen could come & jump on Doc's trampoline anytime she wants!!
Less sex in Olympic Village
Scoring down in Olympic Village
Athletes using fewer condoms
Athletes here may be going for the gold, while trying to score a lot less than in previous games.
Officials produced 10,000 condoms for use by athletes at the Olympic Village, but Chinese media are reporting that less than a third of the packs have been scooped up.
A spokesman for the Athletes Village could not confirm the number for Sun Media on Saturday here.
Olympians have been given free condoms since Barcelona in 1992, to help promote safer sex.
Beijing also wants to use the Games to acknowledge the threat of AIDS and HIV. In fact, one Chinese condom maker has produced a series of popular print ads, using condoms as props for Olympic stick-men including as a basketball net and bike wheels.
"There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes' village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available," Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters.
"A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters."
In Beijing, the condoms are placed into brochures about HIV, available at the medical center at the village.
In 2002, around 100,000 condoms were handed out during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, against the backdrop of protest by religious groups.
While they ran out of 70,000 condoms during the Sydney Games (20,000 more had to be brought in) Athens doubled the number. However, athletes in Beijing seem to be in a less than sexy mood.
And Athletes Village official told a Chinese website that, as of last Thursday, the 10,500 athletes had been choosing to keep their minds on competing, and not on copulating.
But that could change quickly, as the Games come to a close, and athletes try to find ways to get rid of lingering tension.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Olympics/2008Beijing/Columnists/Burnett_Thane/2008/08/22/6544906-sun.html
Scoring down in Olympic Village
Athletes using fewer condoms
Athletes here may be going for the gold, while trying to score a lot less than in previous games.
Officials produced 10,000 condoms for use by athletes at the Olympic Village, but Chinese media are reporting that less than a third of the packs have been scooped up.
A spokesman for the Athletes Village could not confirm the number for Sun Media on Saturday here.
Olympians have been given free condoms since Barcelona in 1992, to help promote safer sex.
Beijing also wants to use the Games to acknowledge the threat of AIDS and HIV. In fact, one Chinese condom maker has produced a series of popular print ads, using condoms as props for Olympic stick-men including as a basketball net and bike wheels.
"There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes' village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available," Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters.
"A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters."
In Beijing, the condoms are placed into brochures about HIV, available at the medical center at the village.
In 2002, around 100,000 condoms were handed out during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, against the backdrop of protest by religious groups.
While they ran out of 70,000 condoms during the Sydney Games (20,000 more had to be brought in) Athens doubled the number. However, athletes in Beijing seem to be in a less than sexy mood.
And Athletes Village official told a Chinese website that, as of last Thursday, the 10,500 athletes had been choosing to keep their minds on competing, and not on copulating.
But that could change quickly, as the Games come to a close, and athletes try to find ways to get rid of lingering tension.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Olympics/2008Beijing/Columnists/Burnett_Thane/2008/08/22/6544906-sun.html
As I'm watching the Closing Ceremonies on the CBC with "" Jimmy Page "" playing the guitar to
"" Whole Lotta Love "" , I beleive that Canada did very well ! But for me two names
will be long remembered in the History of The Games of the 29th Olympiad :
Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps !
AND NOW ... ON TO LONDON !!!
"" Whole Lotta Love "" , I beleive that Canada did very well ! But for me two names
will be long remembered in the History of The Games of the 29th Olympiad :
Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps !
AND NOW ... ON TO LONDON !!!
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