[GandalfTheGrey]

*tips hat to South Africa*

that was one great win in the coxless four rowing. Your thinking is it Denmark? Is it Australia? Is it Britain? - and then out of nowhere South Africa powers through. Dissapointing seeing Australia pushed out of the medals though.

[unbalanced zealot]

It is! Along with our Olympic team... But I have Foxtel. So lots of sport for me without channel fucking 9.

The e-mails I've been getting from my family are along the same lines ... Foxtel is pretty good but the 9 Network coverage sucks even by Nine network standards.

I take it they don't have Bruce McAvaney ... which is a sin. That dude is king of Olympic commentary IMO. (I like his AFL work too actually).

How fucked up is it to have Bruce McAvaney's talents wasted at Olympics time?

[Igor Antunov]

I didn't even realise the Olympics were receiving coverage in this country. I was switching channels today to see if there was a mention of the olympics, nothing.

[GandalfTheGrey]

^ what?

[Magnetonium]

I could use a new refrigerator right about now.

Although NKDR athletes have a long way to go in matching American or even South Korean athletes in terms of medal performance.

http://news.yahoo.com/north-koreas-key- ... ories.html

Highlights:

North Korea's Olympic athletes are thrilling their countrymen with surprising success in winning medals and they are attributing their success to their Dear Leader Kim Jong Un.

But others, including former North Korean athletes who have defected, suggest the success of the country's small contingent of athletes at the games may be the result of a policy of training them from a very young age at specialized schools, backed up by rewards like cars and refrigerators for winners and the threat of labor camps for losers.

That pride is exactly what the country's new 28 year-old leader Kim Jong Un is looking for. He has taken control of the impoverished nation of 25 million after his father Kim Jong Il passed away last December. Decades of famine have left many North Koreans bitter and analysts say this Olympic Games' fever is a perfect opportunity to generate loyalty and devotion among his subjects.

Gold medalist Kim Un-Guk, who set an Olympic record in 62-kilogram weightlifting, dutifully attributed his triumph to their leader Kim Jong Un.

"I won first place because the shining Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un gave me power and courage," he told reporters in London.

An Kum-Ae, who won her gold in the women's judo 52-kilogram division, said, "I cannot be any happier than right now for I can give my gold medal to our great leader, Kim Jong Un."

Hand-picked by the Communist Party's Sports Committee, the athletes are trained at very young ages and registered at specialized schools which provide "daily meals and spending money at times," said Gu-Kyeong Bang, a defector living in South Korea.

Bang was a student athlete in Taewondo in the North. Training involved four hours of "ideological education" per week aimed at cultivating loyalty to the leader.

"They play with a different mind set," said another North Korean defector to the South, Kim Yo-Han. "An absolute loyalty towards the country and the leader is the core foundation of the North Korean athletes' sportsmanship."

But poor performances, especially losing to their archenemy nations like the United States or South Korea, have consequences. Rumors of athletes being sent directly to labor camps upon arriving home are not confirmed, but it is a common procedure to open "review meetings" after the sports events in which participants "assess" their own and each other's games, said Kim Yo-Han.

If during that process the person is determined "disloyal" to their Dear Leader, the athlete is likely to be expelled from the sports organization and at times sent to labor camps.

[Rancid]

When reporters interview these people, can they keep a straight face when they praise their leader like a God? I couldn't do it, I would just laugh in their face.

[Otebo]

[Magnetonium]

I like how they inject a bit of humour with political overtones to lighten up otherwise predictable and boring chart with useless numbers!

[Magnetonium]

Whoa. WHOA!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/o ... cmpid=rss1

Liz Cambage made the play of the day — maybe of the Olympic women's basketball tournament.

The 6-foot-8 Australian dunked.

FIBA couldn't confirm if the 20-year Cambage was the first woman to dunk in an Olympic game. But she and her teammates knew she had done something special Friday in Australia's 70-66 victory over Russia.

“That's the first time I've seen it in the Olympics,” said Australia forward Lauren Jackson, playing in her fourth Olympics. “Even in the WNBA, you see some girls do it, on a fast break but she had the zone around her, she had people around her. She made it look so easy.

“It's a historic, iconic moment in women's sport.”

[GandalfTheGrey]

"No Gold for Australia but there is a silver lining" - is quickly becoming the cliche of the games in Australia's media

[Igor Antunov]

Australia is sucking like it never sucked before.

[Repeat to Fade]

Russia isn't fairing too well in the medal table either.

[Igor Antunov]

India is being super sucky too.

[Repeat to Fade]

India has never done really well at the olympics. They sit 37th just now which compares favourably with their 50th place position 4 years ago. Russia on the other hand used to be rather assured of finishing in the top 3 with China and the US but are now 10th on the medal table below kazakhstan and north korea. The British are certainly making the best of home advantage.

But please more talk of why Russia sucks.

[Igor Antunov]

If north and south korea were united it would be coming 3rd easily. In spirit at least, the Koreans are coming 3rd. I really don't see why they don't compete together at the Olympics. It would be a small thing with a big outcome.

Likewise Hong kong and Macao should be in with the rest of China, and probably Chinese Taipei as well.

[Rancid]

United under control of the north, or control of the south?

[Igor Antunov]

United under the Olympic flag, at the olympic games, for the time being. Unless the South kicks out the foreign bases and troops they can never be truly unified back on the peninsula. THe new NK leader appears to be a reformer, but he isn't going to go running into the arms of a US puppet regime down south.

[fuser]

United under control of the north, or control of the south?

North, of course.

India is being super sucky too

There never have been an Olympic where India hasn't been super sucky.

[Repeat to Fade]

If north and south korea were united it would be coming 3rd easily.

Oh dear........ no they wouldn't since you are working on the idiotic premise they would have the same atheletes as they do seperately. Of course each countries participation in any single event is limited so it's not just a case that a cobined Korean team would have all the Korean athletes and therefor medals.

[Otebo]

The British strategy is to excel in sports involving expensive equipment which most of the world can't afford. We then strategically deploy some brown people in the track and field events just in case.

Seems to be working well.