What is with these people? (Olympics Rant)

[OSheaman]

Now, I am skeptical and certainly not willing to stick my head in the sand when my country does something I am not proud of. But what is with the shitty sportsmanship in these Olympics? For those of you who weren't watching, tonight's individual all-around men's gymnastics competition was the greatest comeback and the most inspirational moment in at least gymnastics, if not the Olympics, since the 1996 win of the US team in the Women's Team Gymnastics competition. Paul Hamm came back from a devastating fall on vault to win the gold by 12/1,000ths of a point, scoring 9.837 on two sets in a row. The real disappointment must have been felt by the South Koreans, who were poised to win gold and silver, but had to settle for silver and bronze. However, it was the Romanians (the same country that had just beaten the US women's team the night before) who had bitter words for the Americans.

"I do not have any complaints about my scores," said Ioan Suciu, who finished fourth. "The only thing I can say is that U.S.A. got something more than it deserved."

Marian Dragulescu, who finished eighth, said, "Everyone got fair judgment with the exception of the U.S.A. that got a little bit more."

And let us not forget the two heavily favored Greek athletes who dropped out of the Olympics after missing a drug test. The Greeks have been quick to postulate that the Americans are the real reasons these athletes decided not to compete. Unsubstantial allegations, to be sure, but widespread nonetheless.

The US has had its share of disappointments, just like every other country. And I can even understand some of the anti-American sentiment that seems to be omnipresent lately. Still, to break the sportsmanship of the games by making juvenile allegations is demeaning to all involved. To me it seems like a total lack of maturity on the part of these countries.

What do you all think?

[rwenos]

1. The Emotion Can Be Summarized as . . .

. . . 'Yanqui go home . . . but take me with you."

How many of those Romanian and Greek Olympians will end up in the U.S., coaching, in a few years?

I'm no jingoist, but let's face it -- the green-headed monster has raised its ugly head.

[HEyHEY]

3. You guys always try to break it down to that

That's not the case

[HEyHEY]

2. Could be this

"tonight's individual all-around men's gymnastics competition was the greatest comeback and the most inspirational moment in at least gymnastics, if not the Olympics, since the 1996 win of the US team in the Women's Team Gymnastics competition." It's that attitude.

If an American does it than it's the GREATEST comeback ever or whatever else it may be....either way it's still the GREATEST.

Other athletes from other countries have done equally amazing things, but Americans live in a little world of their own. That's why people get bitter.

Also, Eastern European nations are notoriously bad losers.

[OSheaman]

4. OK, granted, I might be biased

. . . but honestly, I've watched the Olympics since Barcelona and I am more than ready to give credit where credit is due. Like when the South Africans won that swimming relay the other day; that was really impressive. Or how Puerto Rico bitchslapped the US Dream Team; I cheered then, too (they needed to be taken down a peg).

Honestly, I think this comeback was absolutely inspirational, American or not. I would have been just as impressed and almost as moved had it been the chinese guy that had come back from that disastrous high bar performance.

[HEyHEY]

8. Plus, as I said

Eastern Europeans are poor losers. Whenever comments like that are made, it's from an Eastern Block country

[Poiuyt]

9. You're right, NBC coverage is terrible

Major network coverage of Olympic games has always been terrible. They don't cover the sport, they only cover the Americans. The only way they'll cover any other country is if there is a really pretty blonde.

[Poiuyt]

5. I'm afraid that sportsmanship on that level is a thing of the past

I remember when the first thing that a winner did was congratulate the other competitors. Now all they want to do is beat their chest and take their victory lap. I'm afraid that drugs are a much bigger part of world class sports than is known. Just because an athlete doesn't get caught doesn't mean they aren't "juiced." The money involved in endorsements is to great a temptation to just "be a good sport."

I can't say anything about the Romanians' comments because I don't know enough about the scoring formulas for gymnastics.

[OSheaman]

6. Still, do you watch the swimmers?

Generally the winner is quick to conratulate the other swimmers. This is true of many other sports in the Olympics. In fact, I think that overinflated egos are sstill more of a rarity than a commonality. There is still a lot of comraderie in the Olympics, even among the admittedly heavy controversy.

[seabeyond]

7. it was really cool and the other american

had just got an incredibly low score. that is how these events are. and hamm was excellent. wanted a replay and they didnt do it.

ok other people, who cares. it was an upset. felt sorry for the s korean dude. figured people would be mad.

i personally chose to keep the politics out of the olympics. i would prefer the purity of the athletic excellence. man those gymnists are awesome

and the gals relay, thumbs up. mens relay last night, we were yelling for 'em. and the romanian women so earned there gold, awesome. so i have just been enjoying it all

[Guaranteed]

12. Maybe they weren't biased toward the Americans.

Maybe they were just biased toward Hamm. It seemed like the other guy was just doing "too good." They couldn't let him do that, for some reason. That bad score was for nothing.

[2Design]

10. HHHMmmmmmm

I do think Hamm and the japanese guy were the best but had errors that were catastrophic....but the others had errors too. The koreans were ok but not great....the romanians were great in some......I was surprized he was able to get the score to come all the way back....but on the 'horse' I felt they graded him (HAMM) very low....he did very difficult moves which is what he does on everything yet his scores don't seem to reflect the amount of difficulty.....

Now the others saying stuff.....it happens and when you have mics and cameras in your face all the time.....some of the remarks will be caught.

Everyone works truly hard to get to these competitions and I think the gymnastics takes a lot more out of the athletes for each medal. The rest like swimming is one race. With gym it is like they are doing 6 races combined into one...

The women really were not great yet the commentator kept saying how great they were. The other teams were more poise and accurate, I was actually surprized the women won at all.

And in the swimming last night the second place usa members were ungrateful for winning while the third place team was estatic that they won at all....to me that third place team had more spirit and guts and hope and faith and joy than any other team I have seen. That is what I like to see. Hamm showed that same kind of gratefulness. He did not give up on the floor or say 'yucky' things when scored low or even after his mistake....that is sportsmanship.....

It is interesting to watch all of them and their reactions and actions.

Some do not take things for granted and are very grateful...those are the ones I love to see win.....

[Kenneth ken]

11. What do you all think?

I think any sport which determines its winners primarily on the basis of judging is bound to perpetual antagonism and bias.

Give me sports where the competitors compete against time to see who is fastest.

[girl gone mad]

13. Hamm was excellent..

and absolutely deserved his scores. He benefitted from being last on the high bar, but he was clearly superior to those who came before. As someone else pointed out, gymnastics is subjective, but it is easy to see why Hamm won.

Gymnastics is very big in Romania, so I'm not at all surprised to hear the Romanian men make such comments after losing to a guy from a country where men's gymastics isn't so popular.

Poor sportsmanship, but not unexpected. There is still a lot of adrenaline after a big competition. Give them time to cool off, and I'm sure they will be saying something different.

[alphafemale]

14. Less chest thumping and fist pumping would suit me fine

Where are the gracious winners?

Besides the Romanian Women's Gymnastic team, that is.