Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Anybody else watching?

I personally love the Olympics and it's not all just tied into the US being good...I love sports and I love competition and the Olympics has that in spades.

Swimming, Diving, Track (God I love track), Basketball, Tennis...the Olympics is just good quality entertainment.

Pissed about the new gymnastics rule though...apparently, no matter how good you are, you can only qualify for the all-around finals if you are the best or second best from you country...so, last night, one of the US gymnasts finished 4th overall, but because she happens to be from the US she didn't qualify for the finals because two of our other girls finished above her.
So when they hand out the medals, they can feel free to put a little asterisk next to them and the note at the bottom can read, "Did not compete against the 24 BEST gymnasts, because the defending 2011 World Champion did not qualify because she had a SLIGHTLY off night"
I mean, it'd be like if in swimming, Michael Phelps in a qualifier posted up the 4th best time, but didn't qualify for the final...it's a QUALIFIER, people don't hang it all on the line because they are just trying to QUALIFY.

"Oh hey, it's pre-season, so don't worry about it........unless of course you lose one game in which case we're gonna forfeit your entire season."

Yeah, I thought the change to the gymnastics rules was STUPID. Bela Karolyi seemed extremely upset about the change too, when asked how he felt after she was eliminated.

The 24 best should compete, regardless of country. This is supposed to be the Olympics. How can we determine the best in the world if the best aren't allowed to compete?

Anyway, now that I'm past that, I LOVE the Olympics. Both seasons. I am fascinated by all the different people there and all of their stories. I get so excited for even the foreign people when they get medals. From beginning to end, I feel like the Olympics really does accomplish the goal (at least for two weeks every couple years) of uniting most the world under a banner of peace. It makes the kid in me a bit teary-eyed.

Regarding the gymnastics rule, I had a similar reaction as most. But then I heard some other opinions on the radio that actually made it seem a little less unfair.

First, the point of the Olympics is not necessarily to have the best in the world compete against each other so much as the best from each country.

As such, pretty much every sport has a cap on the number of competitors that each country may send to the Olympic games. The big difference is that most sports have elimination trials at home to determine who gets those slots and thus actually attends the Olympics.

Gymnastics works the same way, but they don't have the trials until your at the olympics. That's the part that seems unfair. To get these poor girls' hopes up while they're already there competing. They should do like other sports and have the trials/qualifying part for the individual country's slots at home months before the games. Not AT the games where it might affect your performance for other things you did qualify for (like the team event...).

Is it weird that I can't find any interest in the Olympics?

Figured I'd ruin the Olympics for everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqe2ACfFap4