Olympic 2008

[sunnyside]

Olympic Paintballing would rock.
SAS vs Delta Force /drool

Also they need American Football as an olympic sport.

I think everybody would enjoy Olympic Paintball. Well, viewers anyway. I suppose the connotations could be bad and maybe the Olympic committe wouldn't want to touch it.

But a sweep in fencing!

Anyway what I'm posting about is that apperantly some Euro countries can watch olympic stuff online for free.

We can here in the US, sort of, Microsoft is up to its old tricks. So you have to use their special plugin and be using one of their newer BS operating systems. Screw vista. I hope some of it comes up on youtube.

[Reliant121]

the womens synchronised diving was good.

[Mikey]

But a sweep in fencing!

Is it just me, or is saber the most "American" of all the fencing disciplines?

[Monroe]

Saber has the most liberal rules on where you can hit an opponent. I think I like rapier the best personally but saber's good too.

[sunnyside]

But a sweep in fencing!

Is it just me, or is saber the most "American" of all the fencing disciplines?

Because you can slash with it?

Do you mean foil Monroe? Rapier isn't an event.

I kinda like Epee. Wider target area, but it uses a larger slower sword you can follow better and requires heavier hits to trigger the button.

[sunnyside]

Hmmmm something I noticed looking at the schedule.

It would seem that the events China traditionally does well in are earlier while events the US does better in are occuring later. I don't remember how things went in years past, but I'm at least a little dubious that this might be a deliberate effort on Chinas part to ensure they get at least a little while where they're ahead.

If events turn out roughly as they did in past Olympics I would expect China to lead in medals for a week or so before being overtaken.

[Mikey]

Because you can slash with it?

That, and because the face and head are valid targets. I wouldn't say the most liberal target areas, because the areas which are hardest to defend - below the waist - are invalid in saber. I uess I just like it because I was never tall enough to be useful at foil or epee.

[Teaos]

I saw part of it, I wonder how much those fireworks cost, them seemed to go for ages.

[Sionnach Glic]

I imagine they cost a lot. I remember hearing that there were around 20,000 of them.

[sunnyside]

I saw part of it, I wonder how much those fireworks cost, them seemed to go for ages.

By the way had you not heard this?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/12/fake ... index.html

Beijing enhanced Olympics show with faked 'fireworks'

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Not all was what it seemed during the spectacular opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
Beijing Olympic organizers say their opening-ceremony fireworks were enhanced by prerecorded footage.

Beijing Olympic organizers say their opening-ceremony fireworks were enhanced by prerecorded footage.

Beijing organizers confirmed Tuesday that some of the fireworks display featured prerecorded footage.

Fireworks that burst into the shape of 29 gigantic footprints were shown trudging above the Beijing skyline to the National Stadium near the start of the ceremony.

Though the footprint-shaped fireworks were real, some of the footage shown to television viewers around the world and on giant screens inside the "Bird's Nest" stadium featured a computer-generated three-dimensional image.

"It was confirmed that previously recorded footage was provided to the broadcasters for convenience and theatrical effects -- as in many other big events," Beijing organizing committee spokesman Wang Wei said. "On the day of the ceremony there were actual footprints of fireworks from the south to the north of the city.
Don't Miss

* Olympic opening uses girl's voice, not face
* Olympic show opens with a bang

"However, because of the poor visibility of the night, some previously recorded footage may have been used."

The computerized images were produced by Crystal Digital Technology Co. of Beijing.

"We did our best to create a rendering that would look like the shot was taken live," company spokesman Lei Ming told the Beijing Times. "Most people could not tell the difference."

NBC said broadcasters Bob Costas and Matt Lauer told viewers the display was cinematic.

"This is actually almost animation," Lauer said on the air.

The ceremony won rave reviews around the world and was watched by more than 1 billion people.

In the United States on NBC, the ceremony averaged 34.2 million U.S. viewers, making it the biggest American television event since the Super Bowl.

On a similar note the little girl singing was just lip synching. Apparently the actual singer was just too damn ugly.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html

[Monroe]

But a sweep in fencing!

Is it just me, or is saber the most "American" of all the fencing disciplines?

Because you can slash with it?

Do you mean foil Monroe? Rapier isn't an event.

I kinda like Epee. Wider target area, but it uses a larger slower sword you can follow better and requires heavier hits to trigger the button.

Oh maybe I'm thinking of Epee. Whatever uses a rapier. Talking about sports in general not Olympic events and I'm kind of rusty on fencing terminology.

[Monroe]

Because you can slash with it?

That, and because the face and head are valid targets. I wouldn't say the most liberal target areas, because the areas which are hardest to defend - below the waist - are invalid in saber. I uess I just like it because I was never tall enough to be useful at foil or epee.

Yep I'm rusty then.

[sunnyside]

Sabre looks like this


Note the metalic stuff on their upper torsoes. That's the target area and it's conductive so they know when a sword connects. You can thrust, cut, or slash (in the others you can't slash you have to hit with the tip). In Sabre in particular you tend to get a lot of situations where they rush in at each other and hit at almost the same moment.

Foil looks like this


The target area is just the torso. And the swords are extremely light and long. Therefore they don't stay straight as you'll notice in the picutre. it often looks like they're trying to whip each other, and sometimes they actually are as the weapon can whip around a parry and still connect with the point to score. Also note that the weapon is held in a push daggar type grip for longer reach.


Epee looks like this


A pistol grip is used generally. Here the target area is the whole body. But the sword is shorter, heavier, and you need to score a more solid hit for it to count. Which makes it easier to track as a viewer. Epee also tends to be more deliberate than the other two.

[Teaos]

Heh yeah I heard about the fake fire works, there were real ones but they didnt want to risk the shot.

[Reliant121]

I think thge fireworks used on the stadium were real, but the city wide ones may not have been.

and the thing about the child being to ugly to be displayed as the actual singer of the opening ceremony was just cruel to be honest.