We totally pwned men's beach volleyball this morning!

 

Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal annihilated the Germans, and then I watched two more of our men tonight.

 

I think our women's gymnastics are doing pretty well, all things considered. China is leading us, I believe, but we're still doing well. Having a bit of difficulty with falling off of things. :unsure:

 

BUT, we lead in total medals! China does have more gold than we do, but we've got the highest overall count. WIN! :w00t:

i dont like china... im deeply suspicious about their drugs abuses. average athletes seem to suddenly turn up a gear..

 

we got a medal in the bikes, time trials.

i dont like china... im deeply suspicious about their drugs abuses. average athletes seem to suddenly turn up a gear..

 

Either that or they're just used to competing in the smog and pollution..... :lol:

 

 

i ment the swimming medal table :blush:

Oh sorry :blush:

 

I think Emma Pooley has won a medal in cycling but its getting hard to keep up :drama: :P

Why do we keep putting B teams in the swimming relays assuming we qualify and then we don't :cry:

Michael Phelps was amazing this morning. He won the relay this morning for the USA by himself pretty much. GBR were pretty unlucky not to win a medal too, was a brilliant swim from them.

He has like 11 Gold Medals now don't he? :o

 

I'm thinking of whether to stay up till 6:30am to watch the Saunders fight, but I don't know If I can be asked. :lol:

He has like 11 Gold Medals now don't he? :o

 

Yes - as a guy on NBC said (they had a bit of it on Games Today tonight), "he's the most winningist athlete in Olympic history". Don't you just love some of the words Americans come up with?

Yes - as a guy on NBC said (they had a bit of it on Games Today tonight), "he's the most winningist athlete in Olympic history". Don't you just love some of the words Americans come up with?

Winningest. I've heard it before; it isn't an actual word, but it's pretty common.

 

MICHAEL PHELPS = AMAZING. :cheer:

 

I have to admit I'm a bit frustrated with the gymnastics. I'm glad we won silver, but we had such a tough time! Ugh.

 

And with men's...I thought it was a bit ridiculous. Our guys were doing brilliantly, were faultless, and got 15-point-somethings every time, but then the Chinese would go out of bounds and get 16-point-somethings. <_< But it seemed they didn't even expect to get bronze, since we lost the Hamm twins, but I thought we could've easily won silver.

China seems to be bringing in those medals pretty quickly. Home advantage really does help.

 

Everything about this seems so wrong to me. From the pollution, to the little girl who "sang" at the opening ceremony, to the Chinese gymnasts who are all apparently 16. Not to mention the whole political thing.

 

Oh and :lol: that the "blue screen of death" appeared during the opening ceremony. It's universal. :P

 

Anyway, I like Track and Field the best. However I watched an intense water polo match today as well as beach volleyball. Good stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protests still unwelcome in Beijing

 

China has set aside three parks during the Olympics, to allow people to demonstrate. But, as the BBC's Michael Bristow finds out, the parks are empty and those who apply for permission to protest are even finding themselves arrested.

 

 

Shijie Park is full of tourists admiring model buildings rather than protesters

Just before the Olympic Games began, officials said ordinary Chinese people would be able to apply for permission to vent their feelings.

 

But several would-be demonstrators appear to have been detained by the authorities after trying to apply for that permission.

 

This is just one way in which China is attempting to restrict embarrassing protests during the Olympic Games.

 

"The protest application process clearly isn't about giving people greater freedom of expression, but making it easier for the police to suppress it," said Sophie Richardson, from Human Rights Watch.

 

One of those detained is Zhang Wei, who was held after applying to stage a protest about her family's forced eviction from their courtyard home.

 

 

Her son, Mi Yu, said she was initially supposed to be held for just three days for "disturbing social order", but that that had now been extended to 30 days.

 

Ms Zhang, forced to move to make way for redevelopment in Beijing's Qianmen district, made several protest applications.

 

"She went every two or three days after seeing a report about the parks. But the police did not give their approval," Mr Mi said.

 

His mother was taken away last week. The family have not heard from her since.

 

Many obstacles

 

Another activist held after making a protest application was Ji Sizun, who was detained on Monday, according to Human Rights Watch.

 

The 58-year-old, from Fujian province, wanted to call for greater participation by ordinary people in the political process.

 

Citing witnesses, the rights group said Mr Ji was taken away shortly after entering a Beijing police station to ask about his application.

 

This application process is a taxing one. Would-be protesters even have to tell police what posters and slogans they intend to use.

 

There have been reports of others who have been prevented from staging protests in the designated areas.

 

Some have just had their applications turned down, one was sent back to her home province and yet others have been stopped from travelling to Beijing.

 

Confusion

 

The parks designated as protest zones - Shijie, Zizhuyuan and Ritan - do not seem to have been inundated with protesters.

 

 

There has been the occasional protest by pro-Tibet campaigners

 

At Shijie ("World") Park on Wednesday one worker said there had not been a single demonstration since the Olympics began.

 

Potential protesters might have been put off by the police car and van parked directly outside the main entrance of the park, which houses large models of famous world sites.

 

No one seemed to know where a protest could be held, even if Beijing's Public Security Bureau gave its approval.

 

"I don't know anything about that," said a ticket collector when asked where protesters could express their opinions.

 

It was a similar story at Ritan Park, where there seems to have been no protests either.

 

Dissuading people from protesting is just one tactic being used by China's security forces to prevent demonstrations.

 

Beijing's streets are full of police, other security personnel and volunteers, wearing red armbands, on the lookout for trouble.

 

Eight pro-Tibet demonstrators from Students for a Free Tibet were quickly detained on Wednesday after staging a protest.

 

Some well-known Chinese activists have also been told to keep a low profile during the Olympics. The friend of one said she had decided to leave the city during the Olympics to avoid trouble.

 

BBC News

 

Another broken promise from the Chinese authorities... How much more proof do you people need that these "games" are a fukkin' joke and the IOC is a disgrace.....? <_<

 

 

Oh look, here's MORE proof.....

 

ITN reporter attacked and detained by Chinese police at Tibet protest

By Clifford Coonan in Beijing

Thursday, 14 August 2008

The Independent

 

 

 

Police hauled John Ray, ITN's China correspondent, from a park less than a mile from the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium to a nearby restaurant, where they threw his shoes in the corner and sat on his arms, shortly after foreign protesters unfurled a pro-Tibet banner. The reporter said after his release: "I wonder how this fits in with their solemn promise of free and unrestricted reporting... it was a wrestling match".

 

Ray, who is fully accredited to report in Beijing during the Games, said he was detained for about 20 minutes and his equipment bag was confiscated, despite repeated protestations in Chinese that he was a journalist. He was thrown into a police van and he had bruising on his hand from where a police officer stood on it, he said.

 

The pro-Tibetan independence group, Students for a Free Tibet, said two of its protesters who unfurled the banner were arrested while six other members were also detained for protesting nearby. They included six Americans, an Israeli-American and a Japanese national.

 

Last month, the Beijing Olympic organisers said they were introducing three "protest parks" where anyone who wanted to express their opinions could do so. However, the demonstrations require approval and any protests that might harm "national unity" and "national, social or collective interests" are forbidden.

 

Ji Sizun, 58, who describes himself as a grassroots legal activist from Fujian province, was arrested this week after he applied for a permit to hold a protest in one of the three designated protest zones. In his application, Mr Ji said the protest would call for greater participation of Chinese citizens in political processes, and denounce rampant official corruption.

 

When it was awarded the right to stage the Games in 2001, China pledged to allow foreign media to report just as they would anywhere in the world, but the government has been criticised for continuing to block reports on sensitive issues, such as Tibet and Xinjiang.

 

The British embassy expressed "strong concern" to the Chinese authorities about the incident involving Ray. Jonathan Watts, president of The Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) in Beijing, said: "The FCC is appalled by this treatment of an accredited journalist within half-a-mile of the main Olympic stadium. We call on the authorities to return his equipment, to apologise and, if it is proved that a crime has been committed, to punish those responsible."

 

WAKE UP PEOPLE... How the hell is this the Chinese complying with the promises they made to the IOC of allowing free and unrestricted reporting....? So, I count THREE promises that the Chinese authorities have broken... And, sh"t, there's still another THREE WEEKS of this utter farce to go.... Plenty of time for another "Tianemen Square"-style massacre of young kids..... <_<

Handball in 2 hours

Basketball in 4 hours

:w00t:

 

I'm scared how we'll do without Balić :(

*fingers and toes crossed*

By 2012 we will hopefully have a change of Govt, and hopefully our troops will be out of Iraq and Afghanistan... But these things are FAR from being the only reasons for Londoners to be p!issed off.... I really don't think you have any idea whatsoever of the growing discontent and anger many Londoners are feeling about 2012, especially regarding the bare-faced lies that were told about the costs, which are ever spiralling and growing more and more out of control every year....

 

Well no I don't live in London :lol: But I certainly know we couldn't build a brick wall without quadrupling the cost in this country, especially it seems in London, the Dome, Wembley, etc etc. I'll be bloomin well surprised if everything's built in time.

I think its fair the whole country should pay for it, i mean its not as if The Isle Of Man will ever host it and its a national pride thing not just London, though of course its better for London excluding the cost.

Badminton :cheer:

 

I'm actually rather good at Badminton :lol:

No Badminton is :nocheer: :cry:

 

I'm actually rather c**p at badminton, though i like it :lol:

 

I don't think GB are having a very good day :(

I love badminton :lol: haven't played it in years though!

 

 

handball is starting!!!!!!! :wub:

I've become an adopted LITHUANIAN for the basketball. They were amazing against Russia earlier.

Croatia lost :nocheer:

 

basketball next

Edited August 14, 200816 yr by Robbieca