Are winter Olympics included in that Medals per Capita? I only ask because I found it interesting the top 5 are what I would think are more winter sport dominate.

I know Norway is 1 in winter sport overall medals with usa 2. The u.s. winning Vancouver was the first time they'd won winter in a coon's age.

I feel really sorry for that South Korean fencer. Losing out on a medal by 1 second, especially in those conditions must really kill you. And it showed that it did nearly kill her with how long it took her to leave the arena.

I finally watched a rip of the opening ceremonies and enjoyed it quite a bit. The rip was 6 hours long, but after about ten minutes I jumped to the beginning of the ceremony (2 hours in) and watched all of it from there. There were parts that weren't as good as others, but nothing that wasn't good. The commentators seemed real excited about the torch thing at the end while they were bringing in pieces with the teams, so that was a bit of a let down. I've been avoiding all info/pictures about it so the only thing I knew going in was Rowan Atkinson was going to show up at some point. Once the announcers said that it was Danny Boyle who created it I got excited, and wasn't let down. Liked hearing some Murphy music in there too.

Glad you enjoyed the ceremony.

 

 

GB finally got a gold medal :D

^ I am glad the rowers finally got us a gold - hopefully this will lead to others emulating and break our inability to perform under the media pressure. These Games have proven thus far that Britain does best in underdog conditions.

Wiggins wasn't an underdog. He's the best time trialist in the world and one of the best cyclists in the world full stop. There's little-to-no debate about that; he's proven it twice already this year in the TdF on a far more difficult stage. It's a shame he broke his collarbone last year because the result of that TdF would probably have told us the pecking order between the Schlecks, Contador, Evans and Wiggins. From what I understand of the two rowers, they've dominated that event for the past four years, so there was little doubt about that either.

 

I think what Wiggins hasn't had, unlike Daley, is a media circus following his every move through some voyeuristic obsession with his "life story" since he was aged nine. I can't imagine what ungodly amount of pressure he must have felt on top of that diving board.

Yeah, Wiggins was easily the favorite, it also didn't hurt that some of his top competition have suffer some recent injuries.

I stayed up late to watch the women's time trial, a Kiwi was coming second up until the 20km mark, but she dropped off the pace at the end and finished fourth. Damn we love getting fourth.

How about phelps breaking the 60 year old record? Greatest Olympian ever.

How about phelps breaking the 60 year old record? Greatest Olympian ever.

That guy is anything but human. He is everything an athlete should be. He's a [bleep]ing machine. It's crazy. I love watching him and hearing about him. I'm not even American but when that guy gets in the pool i feel proud for some reason.

I think my favorite thing about him is the win or bust attitude. I mean 15 golds out of 19 medals? That's [bleep]ing nuts.

He was a good athlete, but he's slipping. The 4x 200m relay was won by his team - he was the only person to lose ground over the other teams.

 

As much as I want to say congratulations, I can't really without feeling that he relied on his team to do all the work to make him 'the greatest olympian ever'.

I wouldn't call him the greatest Olympian ever. Not taking anything away from the guy, he probably is one of the best swimmers ever, but he competes in an event which has a lot of medals on offer with the combination of different strokes and lengths.

Wiggins wasn't an underdog. He's the best time trialist in the world and one of the best cyclists in the world full stop. There's little-to-no debate about that; he's proven it twice already this year in the TdF on a far more difficult stage. It's a shame he broke his collarbone last year because the result of that TdF would probably have told us the pecking order between the Schlecks, Contador, Evans and Wiggins. From what I understand of the two rowers, they've dominated that event for the past four years, so there was little doubt about that either.

 

I think what Wiggins hasn't had, unlike Daley, is a media circus following his every move through some voyeuristic obsession with his "life story" since he was aged nine. I can't imagine what ungodly amount of pressure he must have felt on top of that diving board.

 

Wiggins isn't, but he's only one example. Think of all the underdogs from Beijing who won gold and haven't thus far been able to replicate their success at home - that swimmer in particular, I forget her name but she has a large nose, who won bronze. As for Glover and Stanning, they were not underdogs but their winning gold was not a dead cert as far as I know; this was their first Games, and on the world stage they have never won more than silver before. To say they dominated is not really true.

 

I don't really include Daley as an underdog, just a media darling, and because of this I agree the pressure must have been unbearable.

 

@Phelps fans: he's not really the greatest Olympian when you take into account the potential number of medals that can be won in swimming compared to other sports. It's massively over-represented at an Olympic level.

Sorry that he's not living up to your superhuman expectations. I don't see why you're penalizing him because the sport he happens to do is "over-represented." Which is a silly statement in itself.

I'm honestly more impressed by the previous holder of that record, who won 6 medals each in 3 consecutive olympics in gymnastics. Guess how many events there are in women's artistic gymnastics in which to win medals? Six (individual all-around, team all-around, vault, floor, beam, bars). She medalled in everything for three Games in a row.

 

But yeah, still, props to Phelps to be sure.

 

I've been very happily fanboying over gymnastics the entire time thus far. Can't wait to see Raisman competing in the all-around today - I was sorely hoping she'd make it in. Also looking forward to Maroney in the vault finals, just because she's such a beast there.

See now that is an argument I can understand. But the guy saying phelps relied on his team is just silly. He has 11 (and could possibly get 13) individual medals.

He was a good athlete, but he's slipping. The 4x 200m relay was won by his team - he was the only person to lose ground over the other teams.

 

As much as I want to say congratulations, I can't really without feeling that he relied on his team to do all the work to make him 'the greatest olympian ever'.

 

Did you watch the 4x2? He was up 2 body lengths and basically swam a victory lap.

 

And if you really wanna play that card, you must not have seen the 4x1. He swam the best American time AND the 2nd fastest time of ANY swimmer, and had us in first while our anchor lost it. The team came through there eh?

 

He has a set INDIVIDUAL world records a total of 27 times.

He was a good athlete, but he's slipping. The 4x 200m relay was won by his team - he was the only person to lose ground over the other teams.

 

As much as I want to say congratulations, I can't really without feeling that he relied on his team to do all the work to make him 'the greatest olympian ever'.

 

Did you watch the 4x2? He was up 2 body lengths and basically swam a victory lap.

 

And if you really wanna play that card, you must not have seen the 4x1. He swam the best American time AND the 2nd fastest time of ANY swimmer, and had us in first while our anchor lost it. The team came through there eh?

 

He has a set INDIVIDUAL world records a total of 27 times.

 

Did you watch the 4x2? He was pretty much that far up when he started due to the rest of the team. He is probably one of the best male swimmers, but other Olympians have done more amazing things imo. Swimming has too many medals to offer.

 

P.s Obvious fanboy is obvious.

What are these more amazing things? And you just confirmed what I said about the 4x2. Obvious British failure is obvious

And if swimming has so many medals how come it took someone 60 years to do it?

And if swimming has so many medals how come it took someone 60 years to do it?

Because the feat is impressive. The people that disagree with you aren't saying it's not impressive, they're saying it doesn't make him the "greatest olympian ever."

I just don't think its fair to say "he was a good athlete."

Incredible performance by the GB team sprint team and a real shame about the women's disqualification. Also Phelps is a god - there are definitely a lot of medals to be won in swimming but he is still an incredible athlete but also there is no denying he's beginning to be caught/slipping in his own performance but then again its only to be expected he is past his prime.