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[MonkeyHead]

I can remember first hand back to the 88 Seoul Olympics, and honestly, the quality on show in all sports has never been higher, or closer in terms of top level competition. The BBC deserve some massive praise for thier presentation - thier online player which keeps you updated with EVERYTHING while allowing you to choose what to watch live is a masterstroke.

[palsch]

I wasn't a fan of the new player when they switched the Formula One to it because it made using multiple windows to show multiple feeds much harder. But watching Wimbledon on it was great and it's been absolutely fantastic for the Olympics. My only wish is they combine it with something like the feed system that MLG use, where you can load multiple streams on the same page. Would be great for sports where you can get multiple angles or information streams alongside the main feed. But I guess the Beeb encouraging everyone to run three or four streams simultaneously is a little risky for our current internet infrastructure.

[Leafsnail]

Also I don't like how the countried are being ranked. Currently the method that they're being ranked is first by number of golds, then number of silvers, then number of bronzes. There's not a hint of weighting the medals. Not only does this mean the Britain (at 8/6/8) is behind Korea (at 9/2/5), but shockingly Russia, with the third highest number of total medals, 23 (3/12/8) is currently in tenth place, just behind Kazakhstan with only four (4/0/0).

I think it's always like that - in 1996 GBR on 1/8/6 finished behind Ethiopia on 2/0/1.  A fairer system would probably be to do it on points - something like 3 for a gold, 2 for a silver, 1 for a bronze.

[Yoink]

Just watched the women's pursuit cycling, Australia vs USA.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Argh! It was going so well! D: We had an almost 2-second lead, and then, well, I'm no expert, but either we started going much slower or they started going much faster.

Also watched the end of Lithuania vs USA in the men's basketball.
And Kim Crow in the rowing, earlier...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think she was just in too many events, overall. I know she's an incredible athlete, but she's still human! I've seen about two women's rowing events in total that didn't have her in it. Bronze is still a good result, though! An intense battle.

[MonkeyHead]

Mens 10,000 metres tonight could be legendary. There is so much quality in the field.

The mens 100 m seems wide open too. So many athletes running high 9 and very low 10's...

[Yoink]

Boxing:

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Damn, that Egor was insane! He was like some kinda force of nature.
I guess in normal boxing Hooper could've gone for a knockout or something, but there really wasn't that much he could do. The slightest opening and the more experienced guy just started throwing accurate, hard punches like incredibly painful confetti.
It was an awesome finish, though; kudos to both of them for really going for it. (Especially Hooper though, since he was getting the worst of it and didn't give up. )

Now there is a men's walking race on. Oh man.
Imagine if every busy, rushed person in cities did this! It would add a huge element of comedy into everyday business.
When the camera is focused on their upper bodies they don't look strange at all, just as though they're jogging...
Then it zooms out to show how slightly they're moving their legs and it is hilarious.

I watched some pole-vaulting too, earlier on.

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Way to go, Alana Boyd! That was intense, twice she managed to get over on her final try after failing twice. And then she did the last, hardest jump with comparitive ease.

[Heron TSG]

Also, there are some state on the dimensions of the athletes, and the heaviest is over 7 times the weight of the lightest.

According to the 'which Olympic athletic are you most like' section, I range between Paula Radcliffe the British marathon runner and Sarah Clark, the British Judo-er. Huh.

holy fucking shit did Team USA Basketball score a lot against Nigeria. Never seen 156 points racked up like that before.

Nor has anyone else. It's a record for the Olympics, I hear.

[rhesusmacabre]

I think it's always like that - in 1996 GBR on 1/8/6 finished behind Ethiopia on 2/0/1.  A fairer system would probably be to do it on points - something like 3 for a gold, 2 for a silver, 1 for a bronze.

That would be fairer, but that way a silver is worth twice a bronze but a gold is just 50% more than a silver. Maybe a 4:2:1 or 5:2:1 ratio?

Mens 10,000 metres tonight could be legendary. There is so much quality in the field.

If Mo Farah can stay with the leaders until the last few laps, he's got a very good chance. He can't kick out as well as Tirunesh Dibaba did last night, but you can bet the others are going to try and break him before then.

The mens 100 m seems wide open too. So many athletes running high 9 and very low 10's...

The semi-finals are going to be facinating. All the favourites made it through their heat without having to really try so it'll be good to see them being tested.

Heptathlon:

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Jess Ennis seems to have this in the bag tonight and it's just down to if she can beat 7000 points. Apparently she needs about 2min5sec for that (PB 2:07.81) but she's clearly in great shape and on a fast track.

What's radio coverage like where everybody is? The BBC have pretty much blanket coverage, and it's a great way to keep track of everything that's going on, even if they do focus on the British athletes a bit too much. Yesterday they were doing commentary on the dressage.

[Heron TSG]

was nigeria bad, or america good?

Nigeria is widely considered one of the best in Africa, and for good reason. They must have dropped the ball for that game, though. I've never seen a team get an average of 1 point every 15 seconds like America did. Their defense was a bit sloppy that time, but usually it's their strong point.

[Yoink]

Cycling:

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Well done to the British women's cycling team, setting three world records in three rides.
They'd barely even set the record and they were back breaking it again!

[palsch]

Cycling:

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Well done to the British women's cycling team, setting three world records in three rides.
They'd barely even set the record and they were back breaking it again!

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Six in six actually. Utterly obscene.

In the Tennis;

Spoiler: Mixed Doubles (click to show/hide)

Murray and Robson through to the finals, so Murray will be playing two gold medal matches on centre court at Wimbledon tomorrow.

The match was really good fun, and Laura Robson won the final point with real style, essentially covering Murray's arse. Really good stuff from a very young player.

[MonkeyHead]

Spoiler: Basketball (click to show/hide)

USA men in basketball didnt seem as untouchable today - Latvia had done thier homework and had seen thier 3-point %age had been low(ish) in thier last few games (at least compared to thier high standards) and kept them at range. USA won with a small gap by the end, and needed a signifigant number of points from turnover breakaways. Plenty for thier potential oponents in the knock out stages to think about.

Spoiler: Tennis (click to show/hide)

Cant see Murray overturning Federer thoigh. The Swiss man has too much class and experience, and his agressive style works well to counter Murrays counterpunching on grass - Wimbledon final showed that. GB could do the job in the mixed doubles though.

[rhesusmacabre]

The elimination race in the omnium was fantastic. Essentially, the last rider across the line every other lap is eliminated until just two are left and it becomes a regular (if knackered) sprint.

[Yoink]

Yeah, just watched that, myself. Luckily for the racers there were no crashes.
Oh, ad break's over, let's see what's next...

[ed boy]

I think it's always like that - in 1996 GBR on 1/8/6 finished behind Ethiopia on 2/0/1.  A fairer system would probably be to do it on points - something like 3 for a gold, 2 for a silver, 1 for a bronze.

That would be fairer, but that way a silver is worth twice a bronze but a gold is just 50% more than a silver. Maybe a 4:2:1 or 5:2:1 ratio?

Really? I would have said that the if anything the golds were being overvalued in the 3/2/1 system. I would have gone for something like 5/3/2, or 6/4/3. In many sports, the difference between the first place and the second place is so miniscule, the value of the medals should reflact that.

Spoiler: Tennis (click to show/hide)

I've got a really good feleing about Murray in the mixed doubles finals. In the singles, I don't think he'll be able to beat Federer. He'll likely put up a hell of a fight, but not be able to win it.

On the women's front, the singles final was brutal. Every time I see Serena play singles, she absolutely destroys the opponent. Sharapova was ranked third in the world, and she only managed to win one game in thirteen. I'm surprised the doubles wasn't as one-sided as the singles was.