I adore the Olympics, and definitely think it's worth the money. It's the closest thing we have to world peace, in my opinion. All the nations of the world getting together, not to fight, not to discuss politics, but to play together. It doesn't get much more beautiful than that. What's more, because it involves everyone, it's not something we do as a state, it's not something we do as a nation. It's something we do as a planet, as the human race.

~Riella

And back to the actual sports...

I got caught up yesterday watching the cross country equestrian competition. The jumps were rather creative. There was a chess jump, a moon jump, and one that looked like it had Saturn or another of the planets with rings on the side of it. None of the horses even blinked at the strange looking jumps.

I've got the stadium jumping that I need to watch. I've got it recorded.

>> Points to avatar and signature

WOOOH HHOOOOOOO!!! I am SO proud of the girls.

Words can't describe how happy I was for them this morning! When McKayla landed that vault I literally screamed out loud and I NEVER do that. That's when I knew they were going to win...I just knew it. I was SO nervous before the competition started, but after they came out and you could just see the sparkle and determination in their eyes, my worry went away. They rocked the house like no other team has in recent history and won the gold medal in a landslide.

SO happy for these girls that I've been following since they were juniors. It's been an honor to watch them come up through the ranks and become OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS!

I don't like the Australian swimming teams attitude, one woman was upset because she won silver????, i don't know how anyone could be disappointed with that. She was going as far as saying her parents would be disappointed. There was also the mens relay team.....

^^ It's VERY common for athletes to be upset with silver. Silver is actually the most bittersweet medal there is. It's because you know how CLOSE you were to the gold, and second place is just reminding you of your failure to win. When one is expected to win gold, only wants to win gold, yes, silver can be a disappointment. Especially when it's a close race/score.

By comparison, bronze can sometimes be a lot more sweet to win because you're happy just to get on the podium. With silver, it's usually just a reminder of being second best.

Once she gets over the emotions of the moment, I'm sure she will appreciate her silver. But it's not fair to rag on her for being disappointed she didn't win because it's a very natural reaction.

Any chance of someone finding a video of the opening ceremony on YouTube?

I haven't actually kept up with the Olympics in an age, and Winter Olympics were more my thing anyway. But I've heard good things about the Ceremony.

Aslanschild, click the 'video' tab on this page:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/search/index ... ceremonies

There are various clips of the opening ceremonies, and while they're not in order (and include some links to the Beijing 2008 ceremonies), you should be able to find the highlights there.

Congrats to both the US women's gymnasts and Michael Phelps!

In addition to gymnastics and swimming, I've been watching some of the daytime events, such as soccer (football), fencing, and water polo.

I'm so proud of the women's gymnastics team! Seeing them win made me get all teary-eyed, especially after Jordyn Wieber's letdown in not making the All-Around. It was worth it just to see the smiles on her face.

McKayla Maroney's vault was amazing, hands down, as was Ali Raisman's floor routine. All of them nailed it; these girls are incredible.

I will say though that I felt really bad for the Russians. Poor girls. Seeing the tears in their eyes and the disappointment on their faces was really heartbreaking. I hope they can make a comeback in the future and that their Olympic journey isn't completely disappointing.

And how about that mens' relay?! The lead we had was incredible. It's exciting that Michael Phelps is now the greatest Olympian of all time, I'm really proud of him. I've loved watching him swim ever since Beijing and so watching him win last night was really exciting, especially since he's seemed kind of off this year. It was also really meaningful to me that his team helped him get his 19th medal. They helped him get to where he is today, and that is very awesome.

I've also been following Missy Franklin! I was stoked when she got her first gold the other night and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does tonight!

And I mean no disrespect to the other nations, but I can't help but say this:
Go USA!!

Being without cable the only Olympics I've really been able to watch has been at work, so I was able to watch some of the women's gymnastics work. I did manage to catch a replay of Maroney's vault...WOWSERS! How did she not get a 10 out of that??

Also, I'm thinking probably only Gymmie could answer this, but is there an age limit on the gymnastics participants? Why can't Jordyn Wieber just wait another 4 years and give it another go? Or is there an age limit?

The only age limit is a minimum one; you have to be 16 during the year of the Olympics to compete. There is no maximum age limit; that would be silly.

Jordyn can absolutely stick around and try for another olympics. Realistically though, it's a hard road. Gymnastics is such a fickle sport and there are always so many injuries. It also favors the young so this really is the optimum time for Jo to try for the title. You also have to consider the upcoming crop of gymnasts; Jo could stick around for as many years as she wants but might never make a major USA team again due to stiff internal competition. Just this year, the USA left girls at home that every other team would kill to have compete for them. That's the drawback to competing for such a stacked country.

Jordyn's disappointment this year is magnified by the fact that this really was her best shot at capturing that AA title. She could definitely try again, but it would be very hard.

I had hopes that her loss would spur her on to stick around another few years, but now that she has a gold I don't know. Many Olympic champion gymnasts never compete again because they've done what they want to do and they're ready to be normal. I hope this team does decide to stick around; they are super talented and would be a joy to watch longer.

I really wish they covered things more evenly on TV. It seems we are getting more swimming than necessary and less than normal of gymnastics. Don't get me wrong, I like watching swimming but is it really necessary to show us many of the semi-final races? We hardly get to see any of the gymnasts from other countries preform and didn't get to see all of the events from the men's individual all-around. My sister and I were wondering if they even did rings. She's watching it now on the computer ... once it gets through all the commercials and stuff.

A few questions for the gymnastics expert: Why do they have that rule that only 2 people from each country can compete in the all-around? Why don't they just take the top x number? Why do the men have more events than the women?

I will say though that I felt really bad for the Russians. Poor girls. Seeing the tears in their eyes and the disappointment on their faces was really heartbreaking. I hope they can make a comeback in the future and that their Olympic journey isn't completely disappointing.

I know what you mean. I feel so bad for people when they have trouble.

The US women's team did an awesome job.

I really wish the announcers wouldn't focus so much on the athlete's mistakes and "failures." ex. Micheal Phelps getting a silver instead of a gold, Misty May and Kari W. losing a set, Jordyn Wieber not getting into the all around. Don't get me wrong. I do like the Olympics. It is pretty much the only kind of sports I will watch but I do think they could improve in how they cover it.

A few questions for the gymnastics expert: Why do they have that rule that only 2 people from each country can compete in the all-around? Why don't they just take the top x number? Why do the men have more events than the women?

There is a cap on how many gymnasts can perform in the finals (24 is the number) and the FIG instigated the 2-per-country rule in order to prevent a few countries from taking up all the spots. They want to have the finals more widely represented, which makes sense. But it punishes the girls from the top countries because you could be like Jo, having the fourth highest score of the competiton but unable to move on to the rule.

It used to be 3-per-country until the '00 Olympics, when Romania swept the all-around podium. People suspect that the rule change was put in place to prevent that from happening again; I can't vouch for it personally but it's not unlikely. It's sad when politics get in the way of good gymnastics.

And the men have more events because they can do more strength-based apparatus. They do pommel horse and still rings, all upper body strength, and then do paralel bars and high bar instead of uneven bars. It's just the way it's always been. The only event they don't do is beam (which is very understandable, lol).

Anyway, sorry for the lack of gymnastics recaps this time around. I've been running a prediction game on a gymnastics forum and that's taken up a bit of time, plus I've been spending a lot of time chatting and discussing gym with other gym fans, so I haven't really been on NWeb at all, lol.

Today was a great day...I lost my FREAKING MIND during the all-around. Gabby Douglas won; and I NEVER EVER EVER dreamed that would actually happen. I'm still in shock a bit! I'm kind of a believer in the pattern of things, and with the USA taking the gold in team and having won the last two Olympic AA's, I thought there was NO WAY an American would stand atop the podium in London. Especially since Viktoria Komova has looked so good these Olympics; I thought the judges would have no problem having her win.

Well...I was wrong. Somehow, Gabby hit the routines of her LIFE and did it! I screamed SO loud at my computer; it's hilarious, lol. I've never really done that before; not even for the team final because I was so confident the USA would win. But here, I was totally, totally surprised.

Congratulations, Gabby! You have done yourself SO proud. When you think that just a year ago, this girl was balking so badly on beam that she'd have multiple falls and just looked like the biggest headcase you had ever seen, this is beyond incredible.

Shout-out to my girl Aly Raisman, who had probably the worst beam set of her life but still hung in there and TIED for the bronze medal; but lost in a convoluted tie-breaker that frankly I'm still fuming about. She did herself proud and has gained so much respect in the gymnastics community for her perseverance and wonderful class and sportsmanship. It's funny because Aly is without a doubt one of the most bashed/hated/picked on gymnast in recent years because of her form and non-artistic style, but even the staunchest "haters" can't deny what a class act she has been. She is unlucky to constantly be Queen of the Fourth Place, but she has an excellent chance to come away with a medal, possibly even a gold one, in event finals, so her Olympics are far from done.

Also shout-out to Aliya Mustafina who overcame a heartbreaking knee injury just last year to make it back for these Olympics, and Viktoria Komova for delighting us with her beautiful gymnastics and her breathtakingly near-perfect floor routine. They are deserving medalists and I hope they know how proud we all are of them.

^^ It's VERY common for athletes to be upset with silver. Silver is actually the most bittersweet medal there is. It's because you know how CLOSE you were to the gold, and second place is just reminding you of your failure to win. When one is expected to win gold, only wants to win gold, yes, silver can be a disappointment. Especially when it's a close race/score.

By comparison, bronze can sometimes be a lot more sweet to win because you're happy just to get on the podium. With silver, it's usually just a reminder of being second best.

Once she gets over the emotions of the moment, I'm sure she will appreciate her silver. But it's not fair to rag on her for being disappointed she didn't win because it's a very natural reaction.

I would be fine with second best in the world to me, I would probably be disappointed but I wouldn't show it at the time. Anyway it is more the medias fault who keep saying someone is good enough to win. They put pressure on people and pressure makes people either go better or worse.

Just have to post this here: my dad had a dream last night that a Canadian woman 'athlete' won a medal ('though he can't recall if it was Gold, Silver, or Bronze) in a new Olympic sport, a heart-pounding, adrenaline-rushing ...

And that's my contribution to the Olympic thread.

Carry on!

johobbit, that's very interesting.

I have been watching the Olympics with my Mom and siblings, I love watching the swimming and gymnastics. This is the second time I have watched the Olympics and I'm enjoying a lot more this time for the most part, except for how late they show the things we want to see. Last time in '08, my family and I were moving and we watched the Olympics in five states and 8 places. It was kind of crazy.

I was excited when Gabby won last night. Just wish I had been a little bit more awake than I was. BTW, I love reading your posts about gymnastics, Gymfan!

My siblings and I were very excited when we saw the USA is leading the medal count! GO TEAM USA!

SnowAngel