Fool’s gold consoles unloved America

[Upton]

There were not many journalists from non-combatant nations present in the remote corner of Beijing where Japan played the US in the Olympic women’s softball final on Thursday night.

But a Scandinavian sat opposite me in the press room afterwards. We exchanged conspiratorial smiles: the Americans had lost and that always goes down well with everyone else at the Olympics.

In the main stadium around the same time, two US relay teams dropped the baton and crashed out of events they might have won. The smiles there, I understand, were less furtive.

American unpopularity at the Olympics is hardly new. It is a natural response to a great and sometimes overweening power. But it has grown: many sports journalists remember the we-know-bestism that pervaded the badly run Atlanta games in 1996; and the effect of George W. Bush’s presidency on America’s global standing is well-attested.

My own theory is that the US has never quite grasped the give-and-take character of world sport. Countries devoted to soccer, cricket and rugby play regular international fixtures; they win some and lose some, and learn to live with that. The biggest US sports (American football, baseball, basketball) are particularly their own and primarily domestic. Neither their athletes nor spectators are well-prepared for the Olympics.

Others stand aghast as they try to follow the logic of NBC, the television network that is the Olympics’ chief paymaster. It is basking in a ratings triumph for these games, so I suppose they are not interested in bleats from me. The fact remains that they declined to show live both the opening ceremony and the 100 metres, the two seminal moments of the games. The desperate had to turn to the internet. Meanwhile, the remotest reaches of the world were sharing the experience.

There have also been a couple of unfortunate incidents here. The protest by the US team that cost Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles his silver medal in the 200 metres was seen by some, perhaps unfairly, as bullying of a small nation. There was also the bizarre election scandalette in the poll among competitors for athlete-representatives to the International Olympic Committee. The US tried to ensure victory for its candidate, Julie Foudy, by offering team members a $50 (€34, £27) shopping voucher if they voted.

The consolation for Americans is that they believe they are triumphant. The medals table is unofficial and, indeed, frowned on by the Olympic Charter, which insists the games are “between athletes . . . and not between countries”. Nonetheless, its format is well established: the number of golds decides the placings, with minor medals used to settle ties. At least, it is well established outside the US.

The American media add up the golds, silvers and bronzes, giving them equal weighting, which is ludicrous. By an amazing coincidence, this puts the Americans on top, well ahead of China. The normal method has the US far behind. But guess which way plays better in Peoria?

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0df0d4b8-7057-11dd-b514-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1

[trumad]

1. Sorry but I think the total medal count should be considered.

and when China is running out 12 year olds in Gymnastics, I think that should be considered to.

I will uses this anti American screed you posted up above as bird liner. I think the American athletes have been superb in these games and if you haven't noticed, the most popular athletes of all over there were our American basketball players.

Ah fuck it----FUCK YOU and your piece of shit post.

[Upton]

2. The Americans finished second by a wide margin

in the true measure of Olympic success...gold medals. Stop making excuses and playing the ugly American, I'm sure the US will do better in London.

[joeybee12]

4. "True measure" in what Olympic handbook is that gem gleaned from?

Stupid post.

[trumad]

5. True measure in his anti-American head....

If it's only Gold to be measured on, why have the Silver and the Bronze meddle.

You know--- There's a whole bunch of shit that I don't like about my country-----but when some asswipe starts a stupid fucking thread like this, I ain't gonna turn my cheek.

[H2O Man]

6. I remember the 1968 Olympics.

Of course, there was the "black power salute." I liked that. I also liked when young George Foreman waved the flag in the ring.

George has since noted that he was a product from LBJ's "Great Society" programs. He had been a troubled youth, and got his life on track in the Jobs Corp. He remains a solid democrat.

The media prefers to display George as a happy, burger-eating guy. He is much more than that. Although the media will not give him a platform to discuss politics, George is a solid democrat. He talks in person about the need for America to return to its compassionate nature, and to invest in human services/ social programs. He has spoken out against the greed and cruelty of Presidents Reaga, Bush1, and Bush2.

I also remember how in 1960, some reporters from another land attempted to get Cassius Clay to speak out against this country. Clay stood his ground, and put the reporters in their place.

I agree that there are things wrong in this nation. But I am glad that Cassius Clay/ Muhammad Ali and George Foreman won Olympic titles. And I'm glad they dedicated a lot of effort to improving this country.

[Ekirh]

7. Yo H20 Man . .

Since you are the man to go to when it comes to boxing. I'm not a huge boxin person but I'll watch it from time to time.

With that being said I tried to watch Olympic boxing this year.. and well.. I just couldn't sit through it. I keep on reading about the changes to the judging and the anti-american bias in the judging (I'm not disputing that.. in the two Chinese/Ireland boxing matches I watched I saw very inconsistent judging) so I want to know . . . is there a certain point in which Olympic Boxing starting to become the way it is?

Just seems Olympic Boxing was once so revered . . . and now it's all wrong.

[H2O Man]

9. In the late 1990s,

things began to change.

Certainly, the failure of the boxing team this year is not entirely due to the scoring system. There were serious issues that began over a year ago, and the people in charge of the national program were involved in a power struggle with the people who had trained and managed the individual fighters.

More, some of the fighters lacked the discipline that is needed to compete at that level. In boxing, as in life, it is often better to have a work horse you can depend on, rather than a race horse that you can't depend upon. And our team had too many kids who thought they were race horses.

The fights that you mentioned illustrated the way the scoring ruined the entire tournament, and not only for US fighters. It is foolish to think that five individuals, with their hands on two gadgets that "count" punches, are going to come close to an accurate score in an action-packed fight. As Teddy and Bob pointed out, even if both men are throwing a four-punch combination, there will not be accurate counting of punches that are landed.

Regarding the US team: our fighters are schooled in a system that, much like professional boxing, has long valued things such as effective aggressiveness and ring generalship. More, in the current system, only "clean" punches count. When we review George Foreman's Olympic fights, we see that the majority of his best punches were actually partially blocked -- and hence would not score points -- even though he had the power to punch through opponents' defenses, and even knocking them out. (In his early pro career, an opponent blocked one of Big George's punches, and suffered a fractured forearm. That has to count for something!)

There was a lot of resentment against the US teams, going back to the great '76 group, and the '84 team. The truth is that with a level playing field (or ring), the US tends to do very well in Olympic boxing. Cuba has, too. Many of the European nations have resented both the US and Cuban boxing teams. They instituted the scoring system that favors a stiff, straigh-up standing fighter who lands pity-patter punches, and have handcuffed the American and Cuban fighters, who bend at the knees and waist, and throw a variety of punches, including hooks. The result is a type of "competition" that would result in, for example, Joe Frazier being being penalized or disqualified.

[Ekirh]

10. Thank you for the informative answer.

I've never been big on boxing.. but never had anything against it either. Usually when I do actually sit down to watch boxing I find myself for the most part enjoying it . .I've just never followd it consistently or for a long enough period to claim knowledgability etc.

But since CNBC has been showing mostly boxing these olympics.. I figure I sit down and catch a few bouts and see how they went.. and I was just throughly dissappointed by what I saw. Not just U.S's dismal performance . . but just the bouts in general seemed lacking, unexciting, it was a huge downer for me.


Still, there was quite a bit in these olympics I liked. . . and not just involving the American athletes.

As far as America goes.. Michael Phelps domiance in the pool of course, Our Women's Soccer Gold (Women's Soccer is always one of the big things I watch) . . . our surprising silver in Water Polo . . been trying to keep the men's volleyball unspoiler for me since It hink they are broadcasting tonight.. either way gold silver it's awesome.

On the non american side. . the Japanese ending our dominance in softball. I felt for the U.S team . . but I must tip my hat to the Japanese Girls.. especially the pitcher and what she accomplished.

Bolt on the tracks was of course amazing.. and of course he'll be back. Incredible.

I'm horrible with names as I've mentioned before.. but the Australian Diver who was able to keep the Chinese from winning all the diving events . . what an awesome final dive.

The Male Chinese Gymnastic team . . were just amazing.

There's been downers and disappointments . . but I'm not even caring about the total medal count and by how we should measure ultimate success. . I'm proud of every gold, silver, bronze our athletes were able to achieve . and it was amazing to watch the likes of Bolt, the Japanese Solftball team, and the Chinese Gymnastics excel in their fields.

[TZ]

8. I agree with you.

And this is the most successful Olympics for the US outside of the ones held in the US..The fact that the Chinese have been aiming for YEARS to have outstanding performances specifically now, and the US still wins the medal count...speaks volumes for the quality of American atheletes.
BTW, I used to despair with US team play and yet..the majority of the US teams did very well (even if they didn't all win gold) something that makes me happy..

[H2O Man]

3. I agree.

I have some mixed feelings about the Olympics. My favorite sport is boxing. It is evident that the scoring system ruined the boxing competition. I can say without any chance of error that this scoring system is rooted in an anti-US agenda in international amateur boxing. It is one sport where we send young amateurs to compete against people who are in a level that is closer to our professional ranks. More, the scoring ruined the competition for almost everyone, not just the the US team.

There is a different atmosphere at the Olympics; perhaps it started with the horrors in 1972. But there is too much "politics" and corruption in the games. As an American, I do take pride in our young athletes, who tend to be good and decent people, and who show the benefits of self-discipline. As a member of the world community, I can take the same interest in the athletes from other countries.

People can view the medal count in different ways, I suppose. I think that the US did quite well, over all. And I enjoyed watching the competition.