Olympic Quick Hits - Hazelwood

-One event that's been a disappointment so far is boxing. The scoring system is vastly different than in professional boxing making it difficult to follow, and the quality of fighting has been surprisingly low. You've probably already seen the famous bite clip, but look at it again and don't just focus on the bite - instead, notice how immediately the fighters go into a wrestling hug at the beginning of the round, typical of the general sloppiness the fights.

-An interesting photo essay on China's very youthful female gymnastics team.

-Even with the sense of unfairness in the women's gymnastics event overall - not only from the underage controversy but a puzzling bronze for China's Cheng Fei over Alicia Sacramone in the vault despite a crash landing - gymnastics has been surprisingly fun to watch. While I can't completely shake the suspicion that I'm being tricked into watching ballet, the athletic feats are pretty mindblowing - especially on the suspended parallel rings.

-All other sporting events seem like they're being pushed to the back page, but in case you missed it, the Rays are now in first by 4.5 over Boston.

-Hazelwood

Olympic Quick Hits - Agent Easy

- Phelps
Ok, most everything has been said. The enduring images of Phelps will be his Lezak primal scream, out-touching Cavic, and maybe even the goggle toss, when he won the 200 Butterfly without being able to see.

Just as revealing were Phelps' reactions to his other wins. For example, check out how he reacted to winning the 200 IM, in WR time no less. No excitement, barely any joy, only a controlled and almost perfunctory salute to the crowd. It was matter-of-fact. His lack of enthusiasm after the 200 Butterfly win was just as telling as his head shakes and deep breaths of elation and relief once on the medal stand for the 100 Butterfly (The Cavic race). Phelps had said from day one that 8 golds was his goal and this accounted for the most striking aspect of his time in Beijing, that for him the individual races were subjugated to that larger goal. And thus we saw that startling image of an athlete not celebrating a gold medal.


- Women's Gymnastics
Despite it's name, considering that the senior members of the teams are still teens, Girls Gymnastic seems more appropriate. With this in mind, it was somewhat discomfiting to see the steely looks of determination and focus on faces that you're used to seeing exclaim "We're BFFs!"

They would refuse to even look at each other when standing feet apart awaiting they're respective turns. Sure, it's what's expected from a high class athlete, but not from a high school girl, and it was difficult to reconcile the two.

To confuse me further, the formality of the presentation was peculiar itself: between events they were marched single-file, all the while looking straight ahead, as if they weren't permitted to acknowledge the crowd except for the specified times when they should curtsy after completing a routine.

Sticking with the age theme, was anyone else struck by the particularly high cut of their uniforms? Ok, obviously people were noticing, but if we're speculating that some of these girls aren't even 14, isn't anyone at all perturbed by this? Then again, I suppose the times, they are a changin...


- Usain Bolt's 100M
Thankfully only a few people have complained or bothered to characterize Bolt's jubilation as "antics." That celebration was full of joy and positivity and was so completely in the moment; it lacked the sometimes stale feel of premeditated endzone celebrations.

I don't buy the idea that it was showboating. The kid has been racing the 100M for only a year, and though yes, he did break the WR a few months ago, he didn't strike me as someone so full of himself that he slowed up to taunt the other racers. Rather, he looked to the right at the end of the race because the man to beat, Asafa Powell, was to his right, and when he saw no one, the chest pounding that followed came from exuberance, not from gloating.

While the analysts speculated that he could have made up as much as another full tenth of a second had he run the race in full, and thus completely obliterated the previous record, the image of him pumping his arms and pounding his chest, winning the race with such flare and still breaking the record at 9.69 - the visual of it all - will be just as, if not more memorable than a lower time. Without that memorable finish to go with it, the record would be just like any other as it would eventually be lowered over the years and at some point Bolt's name would be relegated to the level of nostalgia currently afforded LeRoy Burrell. Instead, the image of Bolt crossing the finish line will have Beamon-like staying power.

Of course Bolt made all of this moot when he broke Michael Johnson's already ridiculous 200M record, and thus cemented his legacy irrespective of his boyish joy.

-Agent Easy

The 4X100 Free Was Awesome

I watched the 4x100 Freestyle Relay in a bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The bar was packed and the TVs were on with the sound off. More importantly, the bar was packed with hipsters, a group that generally does not care too much about sports, and only one tv was showing the games.

The French team's quote flashed on the screen as the teams were warming up.

"The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for."

That comment only received minimal murmurs of boos. Obviously, relatively few people among the crowd of 100+ were paying attention, but for those that were, it got them that much more amped for the race. My group, for instance, tried to spread the antagonistic word as much as possible.

As the race went on, the din grew louder; more and more people were watching.

The crowd gave bursts of cheers anytime the Americans took, or even simply battled for, the lead, and conversely, responded with "ughs" of disappointment anytime they gave ground.

The cheers were trumping the "ughs" as Jason Lezak jumped in the pool for the anchor lap, though I would bet the majority (myself included) had assumed that it was Phelps swimming the last leg.

The cheers grew during the first 50 meters as Lezak was close to even with Alain Bernard (the author of the above quote), and they even culminated in a "USA" chant as they approached the turn. Though immediately after, the bar fell silent when we saw the gap in the turnaround, Bernard suddenly seeming to lead by more than ever before, and instantly the room's anxiety was palpable.

As Lezak started gaining ground in the middle of the pool, the crowd went from resigned disappointment to hope in those five seconds; the murmur grew and had already burst into screams by the time he touched the wall. This time, when the official finish flashed, the 100+ of us sustained the drunken USA chants for much longer, replete with fist pumps and bar slaps.

That was then followed by a cacophony of "wows" and everyone catching their breath.

Just as the chant had died down, and a chant of "Fuck the French" had failed to gain traction, NBC showed the replay and a loud burst a of "Yeahs" answered. They showed the replay again not 10 seconds later, and as Lezak touched the wall, now for the third time, another huge cheer came . And then they showed the replay again and again, maybe 10 more times, and each time as Lezak touched the wall the entire bar erupted with yet another hurrah.

The bar exchanged high fives and traded exclamations of excitement, and the high lingered as everyone seemed to be less shocked by the actual race, and more surprised at the spontaneous passion that it inspired.

-Agent Easy

Update: A cool interactive graphic of the race (NYT)

Thoughts on a China Olympics Boycott

We've discussed before on this site the controversy over China's hosting this year's Olympics. Recently there's been a lot of talk in the US and elsewhere about boycotting the Beijing games.



The problem with these boycotts is that they come at enormous cost to the athletes themselves. The intense training and short window of opportunity for athletes means that a boycott can effectively derail their life's efforts up to that point. Recently Canadian athletes spoke out against such a boycott - including some who are still pained by their country's boycotting of the 1980 Moscow Olympics over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This article from the SF Chronicle describes the fate of US athletes who missed their chance because of the 1980 boycott - although it goes too far in the other direction in overestimating the ability of the Olympics to change a host country for the better.



"If there is one thing more punitive for a repressive regime than an Olympic boycott, it is the Olympic spotlight. Adolf Hitler's twisted vision of Aryan superiority was shattered by the four-gold performance of Jesse Owens, an African American, in the 1936 Berlin Games. "

... leading Hitler, of course, to see the error of his ways and resulting in the peaceful, willing dissolution of the Nazi regime.



If ordinary Americans are upset about China's human rights practices and want to express their disapproval, here's an idea: instead of outsourcing the sacrifice to some track runners and swimmers, how about boycotting watching the games instead?

UPDATE: Clinton suggests, maybe just the Opening Ceremony (found on TheBigLead)

Links: China gets ready for Olympics

With 6 months to go until the Summer Olympics in Beijing, the coverage is starting to pick-up. Yet, most of it hasn't focused on the athletes or the competitions, but rather the host.

A brief compendium:
Since getting the games in 2001, China has been remodeling the look of their homes and streets, razing entire neighborhoods including large parts of the historic sector of Beijing. In their eagerness to appeal to the western world, the new new high rises that are being built in place of the old homes have names like "Greenwich" and "Upper East Side."

However, the intense modernization and urbanization has come at the expense of people's livelihoods and sometimes their lives. Thus, unfortunately, the hyper-modernization has been on the face only, as the country's long-condemned human rights record has yet to improve, despite the promises made when campaigning for the bid eight years back.

They've been educating their citizens in etiquette, teaching them how to queue and instituting a "give your seat up on the bus" day. At the same time, they're jailing citizens that have dared protest, and asking athletes (their own as well as everoyne else's) to keep their mouths shut. Throughout all this, the IOC has kept their own mouth shut without being asked.



*That second to-last link was found on thebiglead.

Update: China will resume human rights dialogue with US