The 2012 Summer Olympics in London

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Vancouver Sun's somewhat lame attempt at revenge for 2010.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...480/story.html

The sad part is that he's hardly even mean.

It's obvious that it's just cracking fun at them, not meant to be mean. Apparently none of the people commenting on the story noticed that either.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

It's obvious that it's just cracking fun at them, not meant to be mean. Apparently none of the people commenting on the story noticed that either.

That's true and is hinted at the beginning of the article/blog, which also appeared in the Guardian BTW, but the problem is that the revenge is lame.

At least go with some good shots that actually makes fun of the Brits cynicism and whiney press look like the dbags they are (even if in good fun).

Seriously the best he could come up with is trashing the logo? Yeah because that's fresh and new. Seems so Canadian to be polite even when we're trash talking.

[Barnet Flame]

Spot the mistake.

[Table 5]

So am I the only one that's a little underwhelmed by CTV's presentation?

I remember CBC always used to make the Olympics feel more special...with great music, awesome stories, and presenters who seemed to set the mood just right. CTV just feels so flat and amateurish in comparison.

I keep finding myself turning to NBC. Yes it's American-centric, but it feels more entertaining.

[Senator Clay Davis]

^^My only guess is the adidas logo is backwards on his shirt.

[dubc80]

^^^ Other than the fact that the font is all screwy, the year is wrong on the ladder. London 2102.

Looks like they used the letter "N" as the number "2".

[SebC]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

There's been a lot of stuff in the media about the 8000 torches for 2012. They cost £500 to make and initially the 8000 torch carriers were told they had to buy them if they wanted to keep them. Then it got bad press so the Government u-turned and gave them to the carriers for free, the bad press was mainly down to people calling into radio shows and appearing on TV saying it was awful they could not keep their torch as it was so special to them...

For Vancouver, if you wanted a torch you had to buy it, and it wasn't necessarily the one you ran with (which is necessary, many people ran with the same torches). But they were less than 500 pounds.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Table 5

So am I the only one that's a little underwhelmed by CTV's presentation?

I remember CBC always used to make the Olympics feel more special...with great music, awesome stories, and presenters who seemed to set the mood just right. CTV just feels so flat and amateurish in comparison.

I keep finding myself turning to NBC. Yes it's American-centric, but it feels more entertaining.

I like the way CTV does it. It lets the athletes and their performances speak for themselves. I'm there to watch the events, not some sauced up production on Michael Phelps for the twentieth time.

[Senator Clay Davis]

We should seriously consider whether we should stop going to the Summer Olympics. We probably have no shot of catching North Korea in the medal table, at least when it comes to gold medals. A country that doesn't even feed its own people produces more Summer Olympic champions than us. Forget wasting money on it, lets just focus on dominanting the Winter Olympics.

I think I was only half joking at that....

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I like the way CTV does it. It lets the athletes and their performances speak for themselves. I'm there to watch the events, not some sauced up production on Michael Phelps for the twentieth time.

CBC gave you both. It's nice to have context and story built around the events so you can connect with the athletes a bit better.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

We should seriously consider whether we should stop going to the Summer Olympics. We probably have no shot of catching North Korea in the medal table, at least when it comes to gold medals.

Yeah, it's kind of sad when the the biggest Canadian news of the day is that one of the American gold-medal winners has dual citizenship.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The problem for Canada is the sports that are popular in the country and well represented at the Olympics....are sports already dominated by other countries. Canada will never be a big threat in swimming or athletics or gymnastics, and thats where a ton of medals are.

[shermanator]

BREAKING NEWS: The Sedin's long lost triplet discovered in London.



No mention on if whether he dove after missing this shot...

http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2012/0...ally-triplets/

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The problem for Canada is the sports that are popular in the country and well represented at the Olympics....are sports already dominated by other countries. Canada will never be a big threat in swimming or athletics or gymnastics, and thats where a ton of medals are.

I think the biggest problem is that hockey's so damn popular. Pretty much every kid with athletic talent goes for hockey first, leaving the talent pool for every other sport pretty thin.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Yeah, it's kind of sad when the the biggest Canadian news of the day is that one of the American gold-medal winners has dual citizenship.

I actually heard this morning from one of the station saying, it was a memorable day for Canada... he was talking about the Bronze Medal for synchro diving i think. Canada's first medal in this Olympic. It's just sad that for a big country like Canada, we should be in the Top 5 or even Top 10 medal at least.

[GirlySports]

But population wise Canada isn't that big of a country.
The only country that has less population than us that does better is Australia and they pour a tonne of money into the program.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

ThCanada will never be a big threat in swimming or athletics or gymnastics, and thats where a ton of medals are.

Australia managed to do all that, with a smaller population.

[MrMastodonFarm]

The amount of medals given out in Swimming is ridiculous.

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by troutman

Australia managed to do all that, with a smaller population.

Yes, but Australia is helped with a year round Summer climate which allows for their athletes to train year round. It's a lot more difficult for Canadian athletes who need to either find indoor training facilities or move down south to find proper training.

Although I do quite agree that Canada needs to find a way to be more competitive. We aren't even competitive in some of the major events (athletics, swimming, most of the team sports) in any discipline. Meanwhile the US has serious medal contenders in essentially every event. Population is a part of that of course, but we still should put up better results than we have shown thus far.

Even beyond just the medal account how many Canadians were serious medal contenders in the first 3 days? Really only the divers, who actually had a disappointing final dive, and would have won the Silver if they had hit their expected maneuver.

Another issue is that are only top athletes are for the most part women, who win out in sports that only so many countries bother competing in (like mountain biking, tampoline or wrestling). Not to sound sexist, but it's quite a bit easier to win medals in those fringe events than sports like swimming, track, or gymnastics.

Remember when Donovan Bailey won the gold in 1996? I really wish we could have historical victories like that every year; I would consider that one of the top 5 greatest moments in Canadian sports history.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by troutman

Australia managed to do all that, with a smaller population.

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Yes, but Australia is helped with a year round Summer climate which allows for their athletes to train year round. It's a lot more difficult for Canadian athletes who need to either find indoor training facilities or move down south to find proper training.

Yeah, Australia is still reaping the rewards of pouring money into their programs and infrastructure for their 2000 games in Sydney. Canada did the same for our Winter Athletes two years ago for Vancouver, and we'll see those benefits for years to come as well.

Canada always lags behind the first week at the Summer games. I think it was on day 5 or 6 when that female wrestler got our first Medal four years ago.