i doubt she would really feel good though. she still has to always know she screwed up huge (twice) in her biggest moments even if a DQ gets her the gold. and that's what sucks about these cheating medal strippings. there's no way you can feel the elation you would have just winning it outright by getting it months or years later. you'll always remember losing (like that 200m guy yesterday) and think you weren't good enough. but officially, we should get those medals and hey, i'm sure they'll take them. edit: but i don't think they're ever going to actually stand up to china and take the medals back.
LOL. I totally agree. On a similar note, the greatest NBA teams of all time should no longer be judged by Championships alone but rather, conference championships and playoff appearances should be counted also! Hooray for moral victories!
It's funny how people are so fascinated by second and third place winners.. But hey, everybody's a winner right? Moral victory ftw!
yes, if you bust your ass for 4 years, training harder than most people probably ever will for anything, and one person out of 6.5 billion happens to end up better than you, you're achievement is worthless and should be quickly forgotten. since when have silver and bronze become so worthless to people? judging by their reactions, the athletes that win them certainly don't seem to think they're worthless.
I read a report where China's participants are actually told anything less than a gold is nothing. Heck, I think participating is an honor that I would love to have. I mean what percentage of people on Earth can say they participated in the Olympics? Way less than 1% I'm sure.
So why stop at 2nd and 3rd? Why not 4th, 5th, etc etc? What about last place? I'm sure just being part of the olympic experience in itself is something to be proud about. There's no doubt about that. But we're talking about medal races and seeing people grasping for straws for bragging rights is pretty ridiculous. I agree a silver and bronze is QUITE the accomplishment -- for the individual/team that earned it. They have every right to be proud of the accomplishment and brag all they wish. I agree wholeheartedly. But its different when non-relevant people use these generic statistics for a sense of superiority over another country's athletic accomplishments. They are not talking about the inspiring performance by an athlete of their country who just happened to come up short. They're not talking about a specific performance. They're talking about these medals in general and as if it were theirs. And as I mentioned earlier, its for the sole sense of superiority and competitiveness. In this case; USA vs China.
This is a great post. As I have said before I am probably one of the older posters on this board. The first games I can recall every really paying attention to were the 1960's games in Rome and I have to say the times have changed to a point where things have become really disappointing. Regardless of who used to win we celebrated gold, silver, and bronze medalists as champions and revered them for their accomplishments. And now we come to today were I hate to say it but really does appear people are coming to the mindset that silver and bronze are worthless positions. People now days want to solely b**** about worthless medal counts and devalue the athletes accomplishments in the process. Its just sad. But at least some people still get what these medals mean and how precious they are. Again great post francis 4 prez.
USA vs Russia in mens indoor volleyball is pretty good. It is no Lake Placid but it seems like the US are underdogs. 0-9 vs team Russia.
So you didn't feel proud of the Rockets and proud to be a fan of theirs when they lost in the finals to Boston?
I never really understood the "worked hard and trained hard and give it your best" thing that people seem to like to associate with the Olympics. On a personal level, I agree. But from the audience's perspective(yours and mine), the Olympics is about winners. That's why gold medalists get all the accolades, the sponsorships, the adulation, the $$. And those that don't even medal don't even get air-time on TV.
True. Michael Phelps isn't going to make a crap load in endorsements simply because he did his best. It's because his best happened to be 8 gold medals.
Yeah, but we're #3 (or 4) and we had a 2-0 lead. Letting the Russians take the last 3 sets would be a killer.
Holy Crap US upsets the Russians!!!! Get a shot at the gold for the first time in 20 years. Congrats to the men's volleyball team!!!
