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[Remalle]

The most famous game's called "Blood in the Water".   How cool is that?
It reminds me of ice hockey, just warmed up a few degrees.

[Sirus]

"What goes on under the water the ref can't see very well".

Quick, someone post this in the out-of-context thread!
 

[Yoink]

So it's really not the winning that counts...

One of the Chinese badminton pairs managed to deliberately lose their final group game to avoid having to play the favoured Chinese pair in the first elimination round. Seems the Koreans they were playing knew what was going on and tried to do the same thing, so there were a number of services directly to net.

You know you're badass when the entire tournament consists of teams deliberately throwing games to avoid coming up against you.

Also, I need to become more fully nocturnal so I can watch more Olympics.
Watched Phelps's race, though. Even though he's American, Australian TV has seemingly adopted him as one of their favouries.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It was a shame he didn't manage to pull off the gold, that would have been quite the feat. It was amazing to watch though... At the end, with that guy catching up to him and Phelps really stepping it up a notch... Didn't know who had won til the results came up.

[palsch]

And disqualified.

The Badminton World Federation  has disqualified eight players after accusing them of "not using one's best efforts to win".

Four pairs of players - two from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia - are out of the Olympics after their matches on Tuesday.

The eight were charged after a stream of basic errors during the match.

All four pairs were accused of wanting to lose in an attempt to manipulate the draw for the knockout stage.

Something tells me the Koreans are going to be especially pissed off, given previous events at these games. Some video from the match that shouldn't be region locked.
EDIT - now I check the Guardian it seems the decision may not have been made yet, or may be being appealed or something. Either way, may not be conclusive. OK, now confirmed.

In brighter news, Yahoo have done a full photo set and explanation of the hand signals used in beach volleyball. And yes, it is 25 close ups of butts.

[MonkeyHead]

Fair play to the Fed for having the guts to kick them out - which IMHO is what they deserve.

[RedKing]

Saw Ye Shiwen take another gold in the 200m IM last night. I don't see anything that suggests doping. I think it comes down to mechanics. For one, when swimmers come off the wall in a turn, they tend to "cruise" a few meters just using that momentum before engaging their stroke again. From what I saw, she doesn't cruise. As soon as she makes that turn, she's paddling like crazy. She does have some scary good acceleration, but not in every type of stroke. She actually took the lead in the 2nd lap, only to cede the lead on the 3rd leg (breaststroke). Which made it all the more impressive when she rocketed back into the lead on the last leg. I think she's just really, really streamlined and gets good propulsion from her handstrokes and kicks. And she's from Hangzhou! 


Also, the US women were KILLER in the gymnastics all-around yesterday. They were certainly helped by Russia crashing and burning on the balance beam and floor exercise, but they didn't just back into the gold. They were damn near flawless in both of those areas. Gabby Douglas in particular looked like a world-beater in every event she was in...and she was considered the weak link coming into the Games. 

Also nice to see Phelps finally get a gold in London (and become the most decorated Olympian of all time). Even if he's lost a step from Beijing, dude is still awesome.


edit:
Also, as far as the medal counts...Germany apparently saw my dig the other day and responded in blitzkrieg fashion, picking up 9 medals since then, including 3 golds. Mein Gott! I take it back! Not in ze face! 

Britain finally has a gold, thanks to women's rowing.

Japan continues on this weird trend of being good at not-golds. Theyre in 3rd place by total medal count (13), but in 12th place by weighted medal count because only 1 of those 13 is gold.

[Loud Whispers]

Also, the US women were KILLER in the gymnastics all-around yesterday.

When the Japanese were up I was like 0_0
When the Americans were up I was like O_O

[MonkeyHead]

Turns out the fuss over Ye Shinwen "coming from knowhere" is a bunch of ass. She has been competing at the very highest level since she was 14 - thats 2 years. Consistantly over that time she has improved her times at every major competition by a signifignat margin. As you might expect as she grows and develops into adulthood, her poerformances keep on getting better and better.

[Yoink]

Cycling's on now, and meanwhile I think the Opals have another game on against... Brazil, maybe?
Hopefully they show more of that soon, far more exciting than cycling.

Also, I saw some skeet shooting yesterday(I think), and that was insane. The reflexes those dudes have!
All I see is this tiny flash of hot pink and then BAMF it's turned into a tiny flash of hot pink dust. Wow.

They've also been showing a lot of men's hockey.

[RedKing]

Correction: They've been showing a lot of men running around on grass with sticks. 

I refuse to call that hockey. I'll grudgingly accept field hockey as a descriptor, but if there isn't ice and bodies getting slammed around on it, it ain't hockey.

[palsch]

Two big British riders in the cycling, Wiggins (looking to beat Redgrave's total medal record) and Fhoom. I recommend the always snarky Guardian liveblog for this.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is Boris Johnson.

[Yoink]

Oh cool, another Hewitt match!

Just [INSERT WITTY COMEBACK TO REDKING'S COMMENT HERE], since I need to go watch this.

[palsch]

Britain's Eilish McColgan has been declared fit to compete in the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the London Olympics, despite being hit by a car on a training run. McColgan was completing her final run at the UK Athletics holding camp in Portugal this morning when she was struck a glancing blow on her left side, which caused her to fall onto the car's bonnet. However, the car is said to have been slowing at the time and the 21-year-old Scot did not suffer any serious injuries, even managing to run the remaining two miles to the team hotel in Monte Gordo. McColgan, the daughter of Olympic silver medallist Liz McColgan, was assessed by UKA medical staff and cleared to fly to London with her team-mates this afternoon. Her mother had earlier wrote on Twitter: "Eilish got hit by car this morning in her run but thankfully she is ok. Just stiff back prob be bit worse Tomo. Lucky lady." The heats of the 3,000m steeplechase take place on Saturday morning.

...

[Loud Whispers]

Britain's Eilish McColgan has been declared fit to compete in the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the London Olympics, despite being hit by a car on a training run. McColgan was completing her final run at the UK Athletics holding camp in Portugal this morning when she was struck a glancing blow on her left side, which caused her to fall onto the car's bonnet. However, the car is said to have been slowing at the time and the 21-year-old Scot did not suffer any serious injuries, even managing to run the remaining two miles to the team hotel in Monte Gordo. McColgan, the daughter of Olympic silver medallist Liz McColgan, was assessed by UKA medical staff and cleared to fly to London with her team-mates this afternoon. Her mother had earlier wrote on Twitter: "Eilish got hit by car this morning in her run but thankfully she is ok. Just stiff back prob be bit worse Tomo. Lucky lady." The heats of the 3,000m steeplechase take place on Saturday morning.

...

...

[Yoink]

Oh, well, that is lucky!
I love the nonchalance of her mother, "Oh, prob a bit worse tomo."

Spoiler: Hewitt vs Djokovic (click to show/hide)

Oh man, I hope Hewitt wins this. When I started watching he was playing really well, now it's falling apart a bit.
I saw him get beaten by Djokovic earlier in the year, at some tennis tournament or other. (Probably an Open? I don't watch much sport. ) This is intense stuff right here.

Also, the Opals' match against Brazil in women's basketball is good stuff; I just hope they don't end up with Jackson and Cambige fouled out of the game again. So far they're doing

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

great!