The Olympics

[octothorp]

Personally, not very. There haven't been any great stories that I've been following. Maybe Felicien's race against Gail Devers. But for the most part I haven't been caught up in any sort of pre-olympics hype. How interested is everyone else?

[Pagal4321]

yippie, olympics, yahhhh! It's gonna be so bad not lookig forward to it all. And to top things off I'll be in the states so will baisically have to check up on the canadians online. Hopefully via CP ;)

[troutman]

I generally am more excited about the Winter Olympics, but I am interested in Athens because I visited Greece four years ago. It is great the the Olympics are returning to the birthplace. Hopefully there are no security issues. All the doping and steroids has made me jaded, and I just hope most of the athletes are clean.

The 100m and 400m relay are always highlights for me. Maybe the marathon too. The judging in Boxing always seems so corrupt. I wish for soccer that countries could send the best players. Basketball could provide an upset of the dream-team this time.

The women's diving events are also nice. ;)

[Deelow]

I am interested to see what will go wrong...other than that I can't get into it.

[browna]

I never get excited going into it, but always wish they would go a bit longer, when they end. There's always Canadian surprises, and some great Canadian sport moments and calls (Simon Whitfield, then in '96, Bailey and relay team had some electric Don Whittman calls..and stories about guys you may have bumped into on the street you had no idea who they were, bringing glory to Canada).

Then, for some reason, I always have a fasicnation for events that I wouldn't watch in a month of Sundays in the next 3 years, that I get drawn to, just because they are on TV..no Canadians need to be involved, just the thrill of sport.

I remember getting up for the 1998 3am hockey games at 1am, and proceeding to watch a 20K cross country skiing event, and enjoying it. Or, in 2000, watching archery and then diving and then field hockey for a couple hours....dull, boring, non glory sports any other time of the year, but intrguing in such a setting every 4 years.

[lucid]

I love the Olympics.... winter, summer, makes no difference to me. I'm not too much into sports and sports teams, but once it involves putting the Maple leaf on the backs of our athletes and sending to compete against other countries, I'm all over it.

I'm a huge fan of swimming, and to a lesser extent diving. Coverage of international meets is very hard to come by, and I can't wait to see Canada go head to head with the Australians, the Dutch and the Americans.

I'm always pulling for our Canadian athletes, regardless of the sport; somehow though, I have a feeling we'll be leaving Athens with fewer medals than we left Sidney with.

An Olympic year means we'll actually see our tax dollars put to (better) use on CBC. I love CBC coverage, as it beats American coverage by a landslide, and it's on practically 24/7 for the entirety of the Games.
Plus, we'll get to see good ol' Brian Williams stun us with his amazing ability to tell time and explain to us the exact science of time zones. He may be bothersome and annoying to some viewers, but I still get a kick out of it ;)

[kipperiggy]

Back in 2000, I wasn't excited at all. Then in 2002 when the Winter Olympics came I was really, really excited. Now I'm intrigued as to what sports I'll really want to watch since I don't really know because I haven't followed it very much before!!

[TheCommodoreAfro]

I'm not much of a summer Sports watching guy. Some of the stuff is interesting (soccer, judo, etc) but living in Japan, I'm to be subjected to replays of the womens and mens marathon, as it is one of the most popular events over here.

Given my druthers, and being a skier, skater, having curled and a massive hockey fan to boot, my loyalties are with the Winter Olympics.

The one thing that is intriguing with Athens, though, is the race to finisrh the infrastructure. Other than that put my interest at "mild", but nowhere near where it would be for the Winter Games.

[Cube Inmate]

All the negative stories about this olympics --

-Infrastructure problems
-Terrorism worries
-IOC corruption
-Drugs, drugs, and drugs

these have all really dampened my enthusiasm.... Usually, like browna said, I even get into dull sports that I'd never watch during the Olympics, but I don't see that happening this time around.

(Maybe it's playoff hangover)

[sbailey924]

This is utterly cheesy (HAH! pun), but I think the spirit of the Olympics is the main draw for me. The worldwide communion is nice to see. I will just sit down and watch events that normally I have no interest in whatsoever (never in my life would I think I would have watched Equestrian, until the last Summer games). The feel-good stories that are shown on the athletes' pasts are nice, but they get a little old after a while.

[JiriHrdina]

The Summer Olympics do next to nothing for me. Too many of the sports are boring. And simply put - there are way too many events.

About the only thing I'm looking forward to is:
1. Seeing the US basketball team fail
2. See how the Canadian baseball team does.

[Tron_fdc]

My opinion on the olympics:

- a competition that sees who can cheat the best and not get caught, all done in a city that has bribed the most to host the events.

The only reason I'm going to watch is to see how sunburnt the fair skinned Irish swimmers get in the outdoor pool.

[Cowperson]

The men's marathon, basically the last event of the entire thing, is always intriguing and dramatic for myself.

And some of the other long distance running events.

I haven't been in my usual antici. . . . pation about these Olympics but I'll probably be into it by the end.

Cowperson

[troutman]

Opening ceremonies in one hour on CBC TV (radio too I think).

Official Olympic web-site:

http://www.athens2004.com/

[JohnnyO]

I am interested to see how many synthetic drug user get caught. I also hope the terrorists are taking the summer off as well.

[Table 5]

I love the Olympics too!

Unfortunately I have to watch nbc's sh*tty american pom-pom waving coverage that isn't even live. Say what you want about the CBC, but their sports coverage is the best I have seen anywhere....

[troutman]

I can't help but notice that the media (not just the CBC) devote an inordinate amount of attention to Canada's attractive blonde female athletes. This year Christine Nordhagen is getting all the spot-light. At other times, it was Joanne Malar, or Catrina LaMaoy Doan. Not that I have anything against attractive blondes, but it must be frustrating for all the other athletes who are trying to get noticed.

The amount of coverage these ladies get is out of all proportion.

[Bill Bumface]

Catriona LaMoay Doan is blonde???

EDIT: just did a google search- Christine Nordhagen is attractive?

[troutman]

Catriona looks very blonde here:

http://bible.beliefnet.com/imgs/tout/catriona3.jpg

I would say Nordhagen is attractive:

http://christinenordhagen.com/graphics/christine3.jpg

And, while I'm at it here is Joanne Malar:

http://www.actnowprogram.com/BIOS/focusOn/...Joanne-head.jpg (http://www.actnowprogram.com/BIOS/focusOn/images/focus-l_Joanne-head.jpg)

[Bill Bumface]

Survey says:

http://www.slam.ca/2002GamesGalleryPreImages/020206a.jpg

Brunette.

Although I'm not about to argue her being a good looking speed skater ;)

[moon]

I don't care if she is blonde or brunette there is no way you are going to convince me that Catriona Le May-Doan is good looking.


And while we are at it neither is Nordhagen

[troutman]

Well maybe "good-looking"is a relative term when we are talking about average people and athletes. We're not talking about anorexic super-models here. I stand by my original theory. These women have lots of charisma and get lots of coverage. Probably they have agents and handlers that always position them for maximum exposure.

Watch the Opening Ceremonies tonight. Nordhagen gets as much screen time as the entire Canadian team combined. I went to the gym after work, and picked up the free fitness magazine Impact on the way out. Guess who was on the cover? Malar and Nordhagen. Both had features inside and full page sponsorship ads. Malar did not even qualify for the Olympics.

[browna]

I would say Catorina is attractive. Million $$ smile, and a pretty muscular yet feminine body that fills out the often unflattering skin tight suits.

http://www.mcpspeakers.com/catrionalemaydoan.jpg

[kipperfan]

Shes good looking, her legs are like tree trunks, but in street clothes shes pretty hot acctually.

[calf]

Joanne Malar gets my vote - the rest get a big ol' "meh". My fave American Athlete is Softball pitcher Jenny Finch. Yum.

As for the Olympics, I'll watch if there's nothing better on, or if someone has a good shot at a medal, but overall not too excited. I enjoy the rowing events though for some reason - they're almost hypnotic.

[Dirty Mr. Clean]

Olympics for the most part of very boring; winter or summer that is. I like to watch a few events but for the most part I could care less. I think it's just a huge waste of money that could be better spent on things like Heath Care.

[calgaryred]

I usually don't care about the games, but when the opening ceremonies start I get hooked.

Winter Olympics my favs are ice hockey, figure skating (I know but still), snow board half pipe and speed skating

Summer Olympics my favs are 100m, boxing, soccer, and baseball

[Wookie]

I love the Olympics!

I'm going to watch as much as I possbily can!

At first I was skeptic because of the drugs... Man think how many people in the past may have been juiced, it ruins it.

Anyway, as soon as I turned on the Ceremonies I couldn't help but be excited.

Maybe I should try out for something in the near future. I suddenly have an urge to go to the olympics :)