MetaFilter posts tagged with sports and olympics

Piloting a bobsleigh while blind

joeclark — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:43:15 -0800

You’d have to be blind to drive a bobsleigh. At least if you want to finish first, second, or third nine times in seven years. Since 2001, U.S. bobsleigh pilot Steven Holcomb has dealt with a degenerative eye condition that left him with 20/500 vision. He drove a sled hurtling down an ice track anyway, often winning. Now that his vision has been restored via an experimental operation, he fuzzes over his helmet visor so it’s just like the olden days. Bobsleigh, it seems, is all about feel. During the seven years he was more or less blind, Holcomb’s sleds finished first four times, second four times, and third once (according to a PDF media guide, including results page).

High Jump Innovator

dhruva — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:57:15 -0800

The Revolutionary "Consider, then, the Fosbury Flop, an upside-down and backward leap over a high bar, an outright—an outrageous!—perversion of acceptable methods of jumping over obstacles. An absolute departure in form and technique. It was an insult to suggest, after all these aeons, that there had been a better way to get over a barrier all along. And if there were, it ought to have come from a coach, a professor of kinesiology, a biomechanic, not an Oregon teenager of middling jumping ability."

The unbearable weight of sports politics

Surfurrus — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:54:31 -0800

Sports activism is dead? - so asks Andy Kroll in his review of Dave Zirin's new book, A People's History of Sports in the United States.

"And since the ‘80s, the money, TV time, and narcissism have only increased. Most professional athletes could care less — that is, if they even know at all — that their sponsors’ shoes and jerseys are made in squalid conditions in third world countries."

Author Zirin argues that “[w]e can pretend sports isn’t political just as well as we can pretend there is no such thing as gravity if we fall out of an airplane.” Kroll calls Michael Phelps 'corporate posterboy' and blasts the Olympic athletes.

" ... Miami Heat and USA Basketball star Dwayne Wade. On the eve of the Games, Wade said of China’s human rights problems: “I’m not even into it that much … I really don’t know what’s going on over there.”

Maybe it isn't 'apathy' -- maybe sports activism isn't completely gone in America - - could it be that it is just relegated to 'product placement'? Phelps in HUMV and military regalia in his hometown celebration. (Simultaneously, other Olympic heros are celebrated -- Jamaicans dance with their heroes.)

Photos of the 2008 Paralympics

GuyZero — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:37:48 -0800

Photos of the 2008 Paralympics. Sadly the Paralympics rarely garners the coverage of the Olympics, but thanks to the internet you can witch videos of the competitions at Universal Sports (though it may be region-blocked, require registration and only seems to work on Windows).

Roger Ebert to Jay Marriotti

An Infinity Of Monkeys — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:02:41 -0800

An open letter to sports columnist Jay Mariotti , who resigned from the Sun-Times and lashed out during a TV interview announcing that newspapers were dead. (via Sports Filter)

Inside the Olympics Stadium in 360 degrees

lou — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:20:54 -0800

Beijing Olympics Stadium, about 30 minutes before the the men's 100m final. A 360-degree view (including overhead) from the stands by Finnish photographer Kari Kuukka.

Gender "Cheats"

Kadin2048 — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:22:22 -0800

In late 2006, Santhi Soundarajan took the Silver Medal in the Women's 800m at the Asian Games in Qatar. Less than a week later, she was stripped of her medal by the Olympic Council of Asia after a chromosomal test. According to the Times of India, "the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said the 25-year-old had failed a sex test, implying she had deceived the sporting world by competing as a woman when she was actually a man." The disqualification ended her athletic career, and several months after returning to her rural village in Tamil Nadu, India, she attempted suicide. Apparently as a result of Soundarajan's disqualification, Beijing Olympic authorities have set up a new lab at Peking Union Medical College Hospital "to test female Olympic athletes suspected to be males." Tests will include chromosomal (principally SRY detection), hormonal, and appearance-based examinations. (Also see: NY Times Blog, RussiaToday.)

They're all gone

never used baby shoes — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:20:09 -0800

Veteran sportscaster Jim McKay dies. The host of ABC's Wide World of Sports for forty years, Jim also called the 1980 Miracle on Ice. However, he will probably be best remembered for being thrust into the role of news journalist during the 1972 Munich Games.

North Korea's Soccer Hero

Chinese Jet Pilot — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:46:49 -0800

70 year old Pak Doo-Ik will lead North Korea's prestigious Olympic torch bearers to Beijing this summer. In the 1966 World Cup at Middlesborough, Pak scored the goal that lead his team to a stunning 1-0 upset win over Italy (video). Pak Doo-Ik and the team returned home as heroes, but ultimately fell under the suspicion of North Korean leadership. The team underwent "mental re-education" and were exiled, Pak Doo-Ik spending ten years as a forest laborer. Dear Leader Kim Jong-il later allowed Pak to coach North Korea's national soccer team, and a fascinating 2002 BBC documentary brought Pak Doo Ik back to the international stage.

One World, One Dream, Four Mascots

homunculus — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:30:52 -0800

China Praises Its Progress Toward Olympics. With one year to go before the 2008 Olympics, China still has many challenges ahead, like dealing with Beijing's terrible air pollution. There is still much criticism over China's record on human rights and freedom of the press, and some protests. But perhaps the most embarrassing public relations setback is that one of the official mascots, Yingsel (aka Yingying) the Tibetan Antelope, has defected from China's Olympic team and gone underground to campaign for a free Tibet. [Some links via BB and MoFi.]

The Future: Apparently It's Much More 80s Than You Anticipated

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:15:20 -0800

The British Olympic Committee unveiled the logo and branding for London 2012 today, at a cost of £400,000 (USD796,000). Reaction has been swift - a petition to change the logo or go back to the old one has already reached 10,000 signatures.

Forecasting financial disaster Olympics 2012

Schroder — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 10:49:16 -0800

Government error in contemporary British history is the stuff of legend and when it comes to the 2012 Olympics can I be on my own in forecasting financial disaster? This morning's announcement that "little can be built until the site's 50 electric pylons are removed" in 2008 comes hot on the heels of an understated Olympics budget which, four days ago, is revealed to be 'short by £2bn.' I am v.fortunate to live in the UK and there is no doubt this government is v.good at bookkeeping; but grandstanding a world event? Not a chance. Discussed in these parts last year, Britain is not good at world class marketing or brand .. management; Britain is not good at capital projects, and Politicians, bureaucrats ... milking the Olympic Games, says London's mayor. I understand but two Olypics have seen modest profit and Britain badly needs Hollywood or Coca-Cola^® to make a success of this.

Mountain Poo.

bardic — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 11:33:10 -0800

Olympicsfilter: American skier biffs hard. How about the rest of the team? Kwan. Miller. Johnny Weir. But props to Shani Davis, the first African American to win an individual gold, and of course, plucky Norway, currently the medal leader. Among other losers: NBC.

Not so hot.

Tin Man — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:09:07 -0800

HotOlympians.com has been shut down by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The domain name hotolympians.com is infringing on federal trademarks. When I registered the domain name, I did some research on olympic trademarks and came to understand... that "olympic" was trademarked and "olympians" was not. I was wrong. And thus we will continue publishing under a new domain name which will be up shortly...

When asked why a local newspaper could publish a feature of an athlete right next to an advertisement, I was told that we weren't a news operation. I was told that hotolympians.com jeapordized American athlete's right to participate in the games.

Ski. Shoot. Repeat.

bardic — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 14:15:32 -0800

Biathlon! Biathletes! History! Primitive style? Proudly an Olympic sport since 1960.

Medal tally by world population

mr.marx — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 21:45:22 -0800

Alternative Olympic medal tally from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, ranking countries by population per gold medal. (Updated daily for the duration of the games.)

Last place finishers

mathowie — Sun, 22 Aug 2004 22:22:55 -0800

When I watched the women's marathon today (which has only existed for 20 years, a shocking story in and of itself), the US coverage noted the final finisher, pulling in at just under four hours, almost an hour and a half after the gold medal. I thought it was odd, and wondered what the last place times and scores were for other events. Lucky for me, I don't have to look too far, as McWetboy's DFL blog tracks the last place in every event at this year's olympics. Because they're there, and you're not.

Oiled, but not nude

PinkStainlessTail — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 08:41:26 -0800

If you don't expect the Olympics to keep it real, you may appreciate the Nemean Games.

Sportsmanship

daveg — Sun, 24 Aug 2003 13:02:00 -0800

False Start
How important is sportsmanship in the modern era? On Sunday afternoon at the IAAF World Championships, Jon Drummond false started in the 100m sprint and was disqualified. He refused to leave the track (initially prostrating himself in the middle of his lane) and ended up delaying the race by more than 50 minutes. In 1996, Linford Christie did something similar in the Olympic games 100m final.
Is it just 100m sprinters, or is sportsmanship going out of fashion?

Welcome to Whistler

timeistight — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 08:50:17 -0800

Vancouver gets the games. 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver, BC. Maybe now we can get a Mefi meetup.

zinegurl — Sun, 16 Jun 2002 18:40:18 -0800

Punks vs. Yuppies in San Francisco I don't know how I feel about trying to get yuppies and punks to reconcile but I do like the idea of a yuppies vs. punks Olympics. It'd be funny if they had one here in NYC (I'd nominate Willimasburg as the location).

diddlegnome — Thu, 04 Apr 2002 16:16:34 -0800

Meet the Athens Olympics mascots. I'm not sure when Olympics sites started adopting cartoony mascots, but I'm sure of this much: This pair is the worst I've ever seen. They're supposed to represent Greek gods? Please. They look like they were drawn in about five minutes.

smcniven — Sun, 24 Feb 2002 18:30:27 -0800

Sporting News Predicts the Future. It's 9:30 pm EST and the closing ceremonies have been on for 1 hour, but the Sporting News has provided us with a complete recap of the night, including Rogges final words to Salt Lake City. They must have hired Ms. Cleo recently.

Dav0xor — Wed, 20 Feb 2002 21:21:26 -0800

Canada Wins Hockey After watching Belarus pull off a miracle, Canada joins in to see them in the semi final. Question is, who's gonna win? Wooooooooo...

prodigaljester — Fri, 15 Feb 2002 16:19:00 -0800

An insider's take on the olympics Working at the speed skating rink apparently holds ample opportunity for port-a-loo incidents and other funny not-so Olympic moments.