The Olympics have their low points too

[hanselthecaretaker]

Probably the biggest blemish from the weekend-

Fencing controversy forces Korean to sit on piste for ages, eventually costs her medal | Fourth-Place Medal - Yahoo! Sports

The most elite competition in the world, and you're telling me they can't find a functional clock??


Also, is this really what all the greatest athletes in the world deserve after pouring years of blood, sweat and tears into preparing for and finally competing in their events-
Olympic medals' monetary value may shock you - Yahoo! Sports

Those things should be PURE gold, silver, and bronze. The cheap knock off mixture of filler metals is a huge insult to what they've achieved.

Here's hoping the London games go smoothly from here on out.

 

[stosstruppe]

Also, is this really what all the greatest athletes in the world deserve after pouring years of blood, sweat and tears into preparing for and finally competing in their events-
Olympic medals' monetary value may shock you - Yahoo! Sports

Those things should be PURE gold, silver, and bronze. The cheap knock off mixture of filler metals is a huge insult to what they've achieved.

Here's hoping the London games go smoothly from here on out.

Seriously, some if not most of them have achieved fuck all. Have you seen some of the events? Air rifle etc? Nothing but a multi-billion pound commercial farce.

 

[uamaverick]

^^perhaps some of the events are dumb, but a lot of them require a lot of training. The ones who win the air rifle, etc. events aren't really going to get sponsorships and money from it. The sprinters, swimmers, and gymnasts? Sure, but those events require a ton of physical conditioning to be good at.

 

[uamaverick]

One thing I kind of don't get is rowing. Granted, I'm watching women's rowing right now, but their stroke rate is around 35 per minute. My gym has a few rowing machines, and I used to do a 5 minute warm up on it on my deadlift/lat days. I could easily average high 40 strokes per minute, and could "sprint" into the 60's. Even the men only average high 30's/low 40's. Would I have been a world champion rower 2 years ago, or is there more to it? I understand the need to synchronize your rows, and you can't just go balls to the wall or you'd veer off course, but still. I guess the water creates more resistance than the machine did? I dunno.

 

[EarthRider]

One thing I kind of don't get is rowing. Granted, I'm watching women's rowing right now, but their stroke rate is around 35 per minute. My gym has a few rowing machines, and I used to do a 5 minute warm up on it on my deadlift/lat days. I could easily average high 40 strokes per minute, and could "sprint" into the 60's. Even the men only average high 30's/low 40's. Would I have been a world champion rower 2 years ago, or is there more to it? I understand the need to synchronize your rows, and you can't just go balls to the wall or you'd veer off course, but still. I guess the water creates more resistance than the machine did? I dunno.

it's not the number of strokes you get but the effeciency, it's kinda like jacking off bro. the americans kicked ass the other day and they were 3 strokes under per minute than the rest of the field.

 

[SpyWizard]

ya get what you get and you don't throw a fit

 

[EnderJE]

Kudos for everyone that makes it to the Olympic level. I might not care about their sport (ala I don't care about most of the Winter Olympics), but I'm happy that they've achieved something with it. That said, I'm not always sure what people are going to do after the Olympics is over. I mean I like riding the bobsled, but I don't see a profitable career in that field. However, to quote the immortal Digi, chacun son gout...

 

[stevesmi]

well thats a tough break for the Korean girl but welcome to reality. that happens all the time in sports where score keepers screw up or an official throws a flag they shouldn't of or miss a call. its a game of inches no matter what sport it is. i dunno if sitting there and crying for 30 minutes about it was the best thing to do, but hell she got a lot of publicity for that, maybe it will pay off back home

 

[billfred]

well thats a tough break for the Korean girl but welcome to reality. that happens all the time in sports where score keepers screw up or an official throws a flag they shouldn't of or miss a call. its a game of inches no matter what sport it is. i dunno if sitting there and crying for 30 minutes about it was the best thing to do, but hell she got a lot of publicity for that, maybe it will pay off back home

They forced her to stay there for 30 minutes while they processed the appeal. It wasn't her choice.

 

[stevesmi]

^^^ yeah i know.. but she didn't have to cry the whole time, wasn't the end of the world.. she still had a chance for the bronze

a tough break but happens all the time in sports.

my buddy brownbrown has the Mens BBALL game US vs. Tunisia and its a 55 point spread lol. you all olympic fans should go over to the bookie forum and take some of his karma.

it starts in the next couple hours on NBCSports network

 

[billfred]

^^^ yeah i know.. but she didn't have to cry the whole time, wasn't the end of the world.. she still had a chance for the bronze

a tough break but happens all the time in sports.

my buddy brownbrown has the Mens BBALL game US vs. Tunisia and its a 55 point spread lol. you all olympic fans should go over to the bookie forum and take some of his karma.

it starts in the next couple hours on NBCSports network

Well when you are in the Olympics, we shall see how you behave in that situation.

 

[nefertiti]

One thing I kind of don't get is rowing. Granted, I'm watching women's rowing right now, but their stroke rate is around 35 per minute. My gym has a few rowing machines, and I used to do a 5 minute warm up on it on my deadlift/lat days. I could easily average high 40 strokes per minute, and could "sprint" into the 60's. Even the men only average high 30's/low 40's. Would I have been a world champion rower 2 years ago, or is there more to it? I understand the need to synchronize your rows, and you can't just go balls to the wall or you'd veer off course, but still. I guess the water creates more resistance than the machine did? I dunno.

lols

As a former competitive rower, I can tell you that if you are doing 40 strokes per minute, your form probably sucks and your split time (how long it takes you to row a hypothetical 500 meters) is probably meh.

When using correct form (here come the jokes about my perfect form), the thrust phase from the legs will generate far more power at a far lower stroke rate. I have been next to dudes going nearly twice as fast as me on the ergometer (rowing machine), but you see my split time averaging 1:55ish and theirs 2:20ish. Meaning they are pulling twice as fast, but I'm beating them in a hypothetical 500 meter race by 25 seconds. They also usually have the drag set at ten, whereas I keep mine set at 3/4 (which is closest to water like resistance level), so on top of them using more strokes, they are getting more fake resistance to aid their distance. And they are bigger. With longer legs. And stronger. So efficiency and form are everything.

I do HIIT on the ergometer and my routine is generally a "moderate" pace of 18-21 strokes per minute with a 2:05ish split time for a minute followed by 30 seconds of a ~30 strokes per minute "sprint" at a 1:45-1:50 split time depending on how overtrained or tired I am at the time. Damper setting between 3-4. 12 cycles.

Next time you get on the rower, set it to highlight split time, set the damper (the setting on the wheel) to 3/4 and see how well you're actually doing.

 

[uamaverick]

OK coolm thanks for the advice. I'm a huge piece of shit right now though, I need to get back into the gym.