The 2008 Summer Olympics

[flicko]

 

Welcome to the official international Athletics discussion, as well as the home of the 2008 summer olympics!

 

*Warning- Extreme use of tables. If you are allergic to tables, please do not scroll down

 

Welcome, since there isn't a topic of this magnitude, I've decided to make one. This took me a fair while, I'm actually rather ashamed to say how long, but as you can see, I've taken a lot of time out and put a hella lot of effort into this. Personally I'm a massive Athletics fan, and always manage to watch it whenever I can. I love the olympics and every event it holds, and I miss nothing whenever it's on, including the opening ceremony, closing ceremony as well as all the events. Thus why I have also created the official home to the 2008 summer olympics, which will be taking part in Beijing later on this year. In this thread will be information on athletics, World records stats complete with videos, legendary moments in the history of athletics and general chit chat about the sport. Enjoy!

 

 

Contents-

 

Introduction

 

History of Athletics, and the Olympic games

 

Outdoor World records

 

Endurance World records

 

Indoor World records

 

The greatest athletes the World has ever seen

 

Legendary moments in the history of Athletics

 

My view

 

 

History of Athletics, and the Olympic games-

 

 

The original and only event at the first Olympics in 776 BC was a stadium-length foot race or "stade", run on a track.

 

There were several other "Games" held in Europe in the classical era:

 

Panhellenic Games:

The Pythian Games (founded 527 BC) held in Delphi every four years

The Nemean Games (founded 516 BC) held in Argolid every two years

The Isthmian Games (founded 523 BC) held on the Isthmus of Corinth every two years

The Roman Games – Arising from Etruscan rather than purely Greek roots, the Roman Games deemphasized footraces and throwing. Instead, the Greek sports of chariot racing and wrestling, as well as the Etruscan sport of gladiatorial combat, took center stage.

Other peoples, such as the Celts, Teutons and Goths who succeeded the Romans, enjoyed athletic contests. However, these were often related to combat training. In the Middle Ages the sons of noblemen would be trained in running, leaping and wrestling, in addition to riding, jousting and arms-training. Contests between rivals and friends may have been common on both official and unofficial grounds.

 

In the 19th century the formal organization of the modern events started. This included the incorporation of regular sports and exercise into school regimes. The Royal Military College, Sandhurst has claimed to be the first to adopt this in 1812 and 1825, but without any supporting evidence. The earliest recorded meeting was organised at Shrewsbury, Shropshire in 1840 by the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt. There are details of the meeting in a series of letters written 60 years later by C.T. Robinson, who was a pupil there from 1838 to 1841. The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich held an organised competition in 1849, but the first regular series of meetings was held by Exeter College, Oxford from 1850.

 

Modern athletic events are usually organized around a 400 meter running track on which most of the running events take place. Field events (vaulting, jumping, and throwing) often take place on the infield, inside the track.

 

Athletics was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has formed their backbone ever since. Women were first allowed to participate in track and field events in the 1928 Olympics.

 

An international governing body, the IAAF, was founded in 1912. The IAAF established separate outdoor World Championships in 1983. There are a number of regional games as well, such as the European Championships, the Pan-American Games, and the Commonwealth Games. In addition there is a professional Golden League circuit, cumulating in the IAAF World Athletics Final, and indoor championships such as the World Indoor Championships. The sport has a very high profile during major championships, especially the Olympics, but otherwise is less popular.

 

The AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) was the governing body in the United States until it collapsed under pressure from advancing professionalism in the late 1970s. A new governing body called The Athletics Congress (TAC) was formed. It was later renamed USA Track and Field (USATF or USA T&F). An additional, less structured organization, the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA), also exists in the United States to promote road racing.

 

In modern times, athletes can receive money for racing, putting an end to the so-called "amateurism" that existed before.

 

It's so amazing to see the transformation which has occured since the first recorded Olympic games were produced. As time has progressed so has athletics, including the athletes abilities, take the 100 metres race for example, the World record in 1936 was 10.2 seconds, by Jesse Owens. As the years progressed the World's fastest man gradually got faster and faster, and todays' World record is an obliterating 9.74 seconds by Asafa Powell. How things have changed thanks to modern technology.

 

And now, time to remember the greatest and fastest athletes to ever grace the planet, complete with videos (click on the athletes names).

 

 

Outdoor world records-

 

Complete with video links (from what I can find)

 

 

Event	World record holder (male)

Time (seconds)/PointsWorld record holder (female) Time (seconds)/Points 100 metres

9.74Florence Griffith Joyner USA10.49200 metres

19.32Florence Griffith Joyner USA21.34400 metres

43.18

47.60800 metresWilson Kipketer DEN1:41.11Jarmila Kratochvílová CZE1:53.281500 metresHicham El guerrouj MOR3:26.00Qu Yunxia CHI3:50.465000 metresKenenisa Bekele ETH12:37.35Meseret Defar ETH14:16.6310,000 metres

26:17.53Wang Junxia CHI29:31.78100/110 metre hurdles

12.88Yordanka Donkova RUS12.21400 metre hurdles

46.78Yuliya Pechonkina RUS52.343000 metre steeplechaseSaif Saaeed Shaheen KEN7:53.63Gulnara Samitova RUS9:01.594x100 metre relay

Mike Marsh,

Leroy Burrell,

Dennis Mitchell,

Carl Lewis

 

United States

Jon Drummond,

Andre Cason,

Dennis Mitchell,

Leroy Burrell

37.40East Germany

Silke Gladisch,

Sabine Rieger,

Ingrid Auerswald,

Marlies Göhr

41.374x400 metre relayUnited States

Jerome Young,

Antonio Pettigrew,

Tyree Washington,

Michael Johnson

2:54.20Soviet Union

Tatyana Ledovskaya,

Olga Nazarova,

Mariya Pinigina,

Olga Bryzgina

3:15.17DecathlonRoman Šebrle CZE9026N/AN/AHeptahlonN/AN/AJackie Joyner Kersee USA7295High jump

2.45 metres

2.09 metresPole vault

6.14 metresYelena Isenbayeva RUS5.01 metresLong jump

8.95 metres

7.52 metresTriple jumpJonathan Edwards UK18.29 metresInessa Kravets UKR15.50 metresShot putt

23.12 metresNatalya Lisovskaya RUS22.63 metresDiscus throwJürgen Schult GER74.08 metresGabriele Reinsch GER76.80 metresHammer throwYuriy Sedykh RUS86.74 metresTatyana Lysenko RUS78.61 metresJavelin throwJan Železný CZE98.48 metres

71.70 metres

 

 

Endurance World records-

 

 

Event	World record holder (male)

Time (hours:seconds)World record holder (female) Time (hours:seconds) 10 kilometres

(road)

Haile Gebrselassie ETH27:02Paula Radcliffe UK30:2115 kilometres

(road)

Felix Limo KEN41.29Kayoko Fukushi JAP46:5520,000 metresHaile Gebrselassie ETH56:26.0Tegla Loroupe KEN1:05:26.620 kilometres

(road)

Haile Gebrselassie ETH55:48Lornah Kiplagat KEN1:02.57Half marathon

(road)

Samuel Kamau Wanjiru KEN58:33Lornah Kiplagat KEN1:06.25One hour

(track)

Haile Gebrselassie ETH21.285kmTegla Loroupe KEN18.340km25,000 metresToshihiko Seko JAP1:13:55.8Tegla Loroupe KEN1:27:05.925 kilometres

(road)

Paul Malakwen Kosgei KEN1:12:45Mizuki Noguchi JAP1:22.1330,000 metresToshihiko Seko JAP1:29:18.8Tegla Loroupe KEN1:45:50.0MarathonHaile Gebrselassie ETH2:04.26Paula Radcliffe UK2:15.25100 kilometres

(road)

Takahiro Sunada JAP6:13:33Tomoe Abe JAP6:33.1120,000 metres walk

(track)

Bernardo Segura MEX1:17:25.6Olimpiada Ivanova RUS1:26:52.320 kilometre walk

(road)

Vladimir Kanaykin RUS1:17.16Olimpiada Ivanova RUS1:25.4130,000 metre walk

(track)

Maurizio Damilano ITA2:01:44.1N/AN/A50,000 metre walk

(track)

Thierry Toutain FRA3:40:57.9N/AN/A50 kilometres walk

(road)

Nathan Deakes AUS3:35:47N/AN/A

 

 

Indoor World records-

 

 

Event	World record holder (male)

Time (seconds)/pointsWorld record holder (female) Time (seconds)/points 50 metresDonovan Bailey CAN5.56Irina Privalova RUS5.9660 metresMaurice Greene USA6.39Irina Privalova RUS6.92200 metresFrankie Fredericks NAM19.92Merlene Ottey JAM21.87400 metresKerron Clement USA44.57Jarmila Kratochvílová RUS49.59800 metresWilson Kipketer DEN!:42.67Jolanda Èeplak RUS1:55.821000 metresWilson Kipketer DEN2:14.96Maria Mutola MOZ2:30.941500 metresHicham El gerrouj MOR3:31.18Yelena Soboleva RUS3:57.71MileHicham el Geurouj MOR3:48.45Doina Melinte ROM4:17.142000 metresKenenisa Bekele ETH4:49.99N/AN/A3000 metresDaniel Komen KEN7:24.90Meseret Defar ETH8:23.722 milesKenenisa Bekele ETH8:04.35N/AN/A5000 metresKenenisa Bekele12:49.60Tirunesh Dibaba ETH14:27.4250 metres hurdlesMark Mckoy CAN6.25Cornelia Oschkenat GER6.5860 metres hurdlesColin Jackson UK7.30Susanna Kallur SWE7.68High jumpJavier Sotomayor CUB2.43 metresKajsa Bergqvist SWE2.08 metresPole vaultSegei Bubka UKR6.15 metresYelena Isinbayeva RUS4.95 metresLong jumpCarl Lewis8.79 metresHeike Drechsler7.37 metresTriple jumpAliecer Urrutia CUB

Christian Olsson SWE

17.83 metresTatyana Lebedeva RUS15.36 metresShot putRandy Barnes USA22.66 metresHelena Fibingerová CZE22.50 metresHeptathlon/PentathlonDan O'Brien USA6476Irina Belova RUS49915000/3000 metres walkMikhail Shchennikov RUS18:07.08Claudia Stef ROM11:40.334x400 metres relayUnited States

Andre Morris,

Dameon Johnson

Deon Minor

Milton Campbell

3:02.83Russia

Yuliya Gushchina,

Olga Kotlyarova,

Olga Zaytseva,

Olesya Krasnomovets

3:23.37

 

These records just go to show how high the level of ability athletes can acheive. Every single one of these records are unbelievable, inhumane in fact. Out of all the World records listed above I cannot select ten which stand out, they are all amazing. Sergei Bubka and Yelena Isinbayeva come to mind, the first people to pole vault over milestone lengths. Javier Sotomayor's World record in the high jump is impeccable, to jump backwards, over an 8 foot plus obstacle is quite some feat. Michael Johnson's World records in the 200 and 400 are out of this world, as are Florence Griffith Joyners and Asafa Powells. Every single World record is worth bowing down to, truly majestic.

 

 

The Greatest athletes the World has ever seen-

 

 

Asafa Powell, Jamaica-Maurice Greene, United States-Micheal Johnson, United States-

 

 

Jesse Owens, United States-Sergei Bubka, Soviet Union/Ukraine-Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopia-Florence Griffith-Joyner, United StatesYelena Isinbayeva, RussiaCarl Lewis, United StatesHicham El Guerrouj, MoroccoMicheal Edwards, Great Britain and N.IThere are no doubt many more truly legendary, unforgettable athletes, these are just a select few of what I can think of in my head. If anybody would have any suggestions as to anybody else I could add on there, please, feel free to let me know.

 

 

 

Legendary moments in the history of athletics-

 

 

Jesse Owens versus Adolf Hitler

A very talented, native American black athlete, against the most powerful man on the planet's myth of Aryan supremacy. Nevermind the Olympics, this was, and still is one of the greatest and iconic moments in the history of sport. The 1936 Olympics, completely dominated by white Europeans, and along comes Black American Jesse Owens, who set out to destroy this myth. Owens wins not only one event, but four. The 100 metres, 200 metre, 4x 100 metre relay, as well as the long jump were all completely annihilated by Jesse Owens, at the watchful eyes of the demonic Adolf Hitler. Truly mesmorising stuff.

 

 

 

 

Ben Johnson drug scandal

The line up for the 1986 olympic games 100 metre final was in place, and all eyes were on two people; the formiddable Carl Lewis, and World record holder Ben johnson. The winner, in a truly unbelievable time of 9.79 seconds, completely smashing the World record, was Canadian Ben Johnson, who completely annihilated the field, including the great Carl Lewis. Unfortunately he didn't do it alone, fuelled by anabolic steroids which helped him win the race, Ben Johnson was inevitibly disqualified and removed of his gold medal, as well as his World record time. One of the biggest cheat scandals in Athletics history.

 

 

 

 

What a Beamer!

On October 6th, 1968, history was truly made. The long jump finals were currently ongoing, and up steps lucky-to-qualify Bob Beamon. Having only just qualified (two fouls in qualifying), Bob Beamon wasn't exactly the favourite for the long jump title. Views had changed, however, after his first jump. The distance, a truly unpresidented 8.90 metres, further than any human had jumped before. And he was also the first man to jump over 28 feet, AND 29 FEET! To show how amazing the jump actually was, the previous record was 21 inches lower. The record lasted almost 23 years until it was broken in 1991 by American Mike Powell. Quite possibly the leap of the century. Brilliant.

 

 

 

 

Eric the eel

Probably my favourite moment EVER! It was the 100 metre freestyle swimming qualifiers in the 2000 Olympic games. Eric Moussambani (eric the eel) only qualified for the Olympics because more countries without decent training facilities had the chance to experience something. The Equitorial had never seen a 50 metre pool before the Olympics, and only learnt to swim eight months before the Olympics began, in a 20 metre pool. But this didn't affect his performance. He actually won his race, as the other athletes were disqualified. All he had to do was to finish the race, as quick or as slow as he wanted. Seems easy, was it f*ck. Eric managed to complete the race in a whopping... 1:52.72 seconds, which is even slower than the 200 metre freestyle World record, but hey, The Equitorial Guinea record was completely smashed!

 

 

 

 

Spitz' seven

To win one gold medal in the Olympics would be pretty intense, to win seven would literally be off the scale! That's what American Mark Spitz did in the swimming department, as well as breaking the World records in every race. One of, if not the greatest performance by an athlete in the Olympic games.

 

 

 

 

Lorz of the rings

The year was 1904 at the Saint Louis Olympic games, and the marathon race was underway. Less then half of the 31 starters of the race actually finished due to the heat, and the winner was American Fred Lorz. There is however, a story behind this. After nine miles of the race Lorz was suffering from cramps, so his manager gave him a lift in his car, an 11 mile lift! before it broke down. Lorz then carried on running and finished the event in first place. Although initially going along with it, Lorz then told officials he had a lift in his manager's car, and only finished the race for a joke. But the officials weren't laughing, and Lorz was inevitibly disqualified.

 

Unfortunately there isn't a video for thise one, it was in 1904, after all!

 

 

Louganis' headache

Greg Louganis, who at the time was the greatest diver in the World, was about to make his ninth preliminary dive in the 3 metre springboard competition. Unfortunately, on the way down he banged his head against the board, and splashed into the water. He suffered from cuts to his head which led to stitches. Still manged to win the competition though.

 

 

 

 

1968 Olympics black power

The 1968 Olympics Black Power salute was a noted black nationalist protest and one of the most overtly political statements in the 110 year history of the modern Olympic Games. It was the ceremony for the 200 metres final race, where black man Tommie Smith won gold, Australian Peter Norman finishing second and black man John Carlos finishing third. Tommie Smith and John Carlos, wore black socks when they were on the podium, with no shoes, to represent black poverty. Smith als wore a black scarf around his neck for black pride, whereas Carlos wore beads which he described were for black individuals that were killed and no prayer was said for them. The picture above became Worldwide news and sparked a mass political debate. While there national anthem was playing, they both held there arm held high, each with a black glove on, to salute black power. They ended up getting booed off but held no regrets.

 

 

 

 

The Munich massacre

About two weeks into the 1972 olympics a tragic event happened. Members of the Israeli olympic team had been kidnapped and held hostage by Yaser Arafets organisation. In the end 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed, aswell as a German police officer and 5 terrorists, totalling 17 deaths. The three terrorists who survived were arrested and later released following the hijack of Luthansa airliner. Israel responded to this by a series of air strikes and assasinations of those Israel claimed were planners of the killings. There was later a film mad about the incident, directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg.

 

 

 

 

 

Again, if anybody has any suggestions for stuff to add to this section, feel free to let me know.

 

Well that's it, this is basically a factsheet and general discussion about the history of athletics, greatest athletes ever, legendary moments and World records. What is your favourite athletics event? Do you aspire to be an athlete one day? who is your true iconic athletic hero? what is you favourite World record?

 

For me, my favourite atletics event has always been the 100 metres, and was the event I was best at, at my school. The buzz of the final of the 100 metres is electrifying, and alway entertaining. Thus my favoruite World record would have to be Asafa Powell's blistering time. As for my favourite athlete of all time, I simply cannot choose, if I were to write a shortlist, you'd be reading all night. Jesse Owens, Michael Johnson, Eric Mousambani to name a few, the list is endless.

Edited April 14, 2008 by flicko

[flicko]

 

-- days

 

 

 

Not only is this the official home of international athletics, but the home of the 2008 Summer Olympic games, which will be kicking off in the polluted country of China, on August 8th-24th. Hopefully it will be as enjoyable as the last one, with the thrill of the opening ceremony, and the sheer excitement of the finals of events. Last year I missed virtually nothing, if you love the Olympics as much as me, neither will you. There will be approximately 10,500 athletes participating in this year's olympic games from a total of approximately 205 countries (may not be accurate), in a total of 302 events spanning across 28 sports, so there is a lot on offer. Definite entertainment is a certainty.

 

Events like the 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, and practically every other track event are all absolutely astounding to watch, and are also tense, as well as brilliantly entertaining. Bike races at the velodrome are always so entertaining, as well as tense and gripping, and are also great because it's virtually the only event us British really do well in. Swimming events are usually on at the beginning of the games, and are also fantastic to watch, it's unbelievable how amazing some of the athletes are. I also love watching the rowing races, flatwater canoeing/kayaking, archery, the marathon, the rings, boxing, weightlifting and practically everything else in the olympics. The only events I don't really enjoy watching are the women's dancing and gymnastics, not really for me.

 

 

Contents-

 

Countdown to the Olympics

 

Introduction

 

Origin of the Olympic games

 

The Olympic flame

 

Olympic mascots- The Fuwa

 

The Venue

 

Opening ceremony

 

Countries participating

 

List of events

 

Winners from 2004 and blank table for this years winning roster

 

2004 champions

 

Olympic records

 

My view

 

 

Origin of the Olympic games-

 

 

The Games first started in Olympia, Greece, a sanctuary site for the Greek gods near the towns of Elis and Pisa (both in Elis on the peninsula of Peloponnesos). The Sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia housed a 12 meter high statue in ivory and gold of Zeus, the father of the Greek gods, sculpted by Phidias. This statue was one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World.

 

The Olympic Games were held in four year intervals, and later the Greek method of counting the years even referred to these Games, using the term Olympiad for the period between two Games. The historian Ephorus who lived in the 4th century BC is believed to have invented the use of Olympiads to count years, much as we today use AD and BC. Previously every Greek state used its own dating system, something that continued for local events, which led to confusion when trying to determine dates. "Diodorus states that there was a solar eclipse in the third year of the 117th Olympiad, which must be the eclipse of 310 BC. This gives us a date of (mid-summer) 776 BC for the first year of the first Olympiad".[4] Nevertheless, there is disagreement among scholars whether the games truly began at this time or not.

 

The only competition held then was, according to the Greek traveller Pausanias, the stadion race, a race over about 190 meters, measured after the feet of Hercules. The word stadium is derived from this foot race.

 

The early Olympics were also held to be the place where the Greek tradition of athletic nudity was first introduced in 720 BC, either by the Spartans (and Acanthus in particular) or by the Megarian Orsippus.

 

Related to the Elis/Pisa conflict, is the Heraea Games, the first sanctioned competition for women, held in Olympic Stadium. It originally consisted of foot races only, as did the men's competition. Some texts, including Pausanias's Description of Greece, c. AD 175, state that Hippodameia gathered a group known as the "Sixteen Women" and made them administrators of the Heraea Games, out of gratitude for her marriage to Pelops. Other texts indicate that the "Sixteen Women" were peace-makers from Pisa and Elis and, because of their political competence, became administrators of the Heraea Games.

 

It's amazing how much it's changed as time has progressed. Pretty phenomenal stuff. None of this stuff really appeals to me, but for you people interested in the hstory of the games (if any), this is your burden.

 

 

The Olympic flame-

 

The Olympic flame is one of the most important and popular symbols for the Olympic games. The flame is derrived to commemorate the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, and is obviously originated in ancient Greece. The flame was introduced in 1928 and to this day is still Olympic tradition. The Olympic torch is ignited several months before the opening of the games in ancient Greece. Eleven women, all representing the roles of priestesses, perform a ceremony in which the torch is kindled by the ray of the sun via a parabolic mirror. The flame stays lit right through until the Olympic games have finished, when it is extinguished. The torch travels from continent to continent, visiting various countries along the way, and many celebrities hold the Olympic flame while running, to pass it on in a sort of relay. The relay ends at the Opening ceremony of the games when a specially selected celebrity/athlete will run out into the stadium with the flame, run towards the cauldron, usually placed at the top of a grand staircase, and then uses the torch to start the flame in the stadium. Which in turn, states the beginning of the Olympic games.

 

 

 

The mascots-

 

The Fuwa

 

 

The Fuwa (Chinese: 福娃; pinyin: Fúwá; literally "good-luck dolls") were unveiled as the mascots of the games by the National Society of Chinese Classic Literature Studies on November 11, 2005, at an event marking the 1000th day before the opening of the games. They were originally named "The Friendlies", but this name was dropped as Chinese officials were worried that it would be misunderstood as "friendless" or "friend lies."

 

The Fuwa consist of five members that incorporate fish, giant panda, fire, Tibetan antelope, and swallow designs. They roughly correspond with the five elements of Chinese philosophy: water, metal, fire, wood, and earth. The Fuwa each have as their primary color one of the colors of the five Olympic Rings that stand for the five continents. The five Fuwa are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. When the first syllable of each of the five names are said together, the result is the phrase 北京欢迎你 (Běijīng huānyíng nĭ) which means "Beijing welcomes you".

 

 

 

Venue-

 

Being as the Olympic games is labelled largely as Beijing 2008, that is obviously the place it will be taking place. Beijing is the capital city of China, and has a population of around seventeen and a half million people. So obviously it is a very large area, but there's also a major downside, pollution.

 

The amount of pollution in Beijing is on average five times as much as the World health standards organisation for safety, mainly because of the inefficiency of China's main source of energy; coal. As you can probably guess this would cause major problems for athletes taking part in the olympics, especially endurance runners. Haile Gabrselassie being a main example. Due to his asthma, the favourite and World record holder for the marathon, has opted not to run in the marathon, fearing for his health. He will however, run the 10,000 metres race. Paula Radcliffe, who is also an ashtmastic, has vowed that she will run the marathon, amidst the dangers of high pollution.

 

Because of this, as well as the dangerously high levels of pollution the city produces, the Chinese government announced that it would close 144 gas stations in Beijing, to improve air quality, prior to the olympics.

 

 

Overview of the venue-

 

(click on the image to see which numbers go to which)

 

 

 

The twelve New venues in Beijing-

 

Click on the images to find out more information

 

Click here and here to view the remaining two new venues.

 

You will be able to view the remaining venues (31 in total) on the official website, by clicking on the first image. As you can see, China haven't dissappointed with the venues, both new and old are absolutely beautiful, unique and indifferent, and will no doubt make for a great tournament, complete with fantastic scenary.

 

 

Opening ceremony-

 

Like every other opening ceremony, this one is sure to be a majestic thing to witness. Athens 2004' opening ceremony was fantastic to watch, and really was the best way to kick off the Olympics. I'm sure this one will be no exeption, China are a wealthy nation and will no doubt impress at both the opening and closing ceremonies. Just for memory, here's the 2004 olympic games' opening ceremony in pictures excuse the sh*te music)-

 

 

 

 

Countries participating-

 

 

Afghanistan AFG Albania ALB Algeria ALG American Samoa ASA Andorra AND Angola ANG Antigua and Barbuda ANT Argentina ARG Armenia ARM Aruba ARU Australia AUS Austria AUT Azerbaijan AZE	Bahamas BAH Bahrain BRN Bangladesh BAN Barbados BAR Belarus BLR Belgium BEL Belize BIZ Benin BEN Bermuda BER Bhutan BHU Bohemia BOH Bolivia BOL Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH Botswana BOT Brazil BRA British Virgin Islands IVB Brunei BRU Bulgaria BUL Burkina Faso BUR Burundi BDI

Cambodia CAM

Cameroon CMR

Canada CAN

Cape Verde CPV

Cayman Islands CAY

Central African Republic CAF

Chad CHA

Chile CHI

China CHN

Chinese Taipei TPE

Colombia COL

Comoros COM

Congo CGO

DR Congo COD

Cook Islands COK

Costa Rica CRC

Côte d’Ivoire CIV

Croatia CRO

Cuba CUB

Cyprus CYP

Czech Republic CZE

Czechoslovakia TCH

Denmark DEN

Djibouti DJI

Dominica DMA

Dominican Republic DOM

Ecuador ECU

Egypt EGY

El Salvador ESA

Equatorial Guinea GEQ

Eritrea ERI

Estonia EST

Ethiopia ETH

Fiji FIJ

 

Finland FIN

 

France FRA Gabon GAB

Gambia GAM

Georgia GEO

Germany GER

Ghana GHA

Great Britain GBR

Greece GRE

Grenada GRN

Guam GUM

Guatemala GUA

Guinea GUI

Guinea-Bissau GBS

Guyana GUY

Haiti HAI

Honduras HON

Hong Kong HKG

Hungary HUN

Iceland ISL

India IND

Indonesia INA

Iran IRI

Iraq IRQ

Ireland IRL

Israel ISR

Italy ITA

Jamaica JAM

Japan JPN

Jordan JOR

Kazakhstan KAZ

Kenya KEN

Kiribati KIR

North Korea PRK

South Korea KOR

Kuwait KUW

Kyrgyzstan KGZ

Laos LAO

Latvia LAT

Lebanon LIB

Lesotho LES

Liberia LBR

Libya LBA

Liechtenstein LIE

Lithuania LTU

Luxembourg LUX

FYR Macedonia MKD

Madagascar MAD

Malawi MAW

Malaysia MAS

Maldives MDV

Mali MLI

Malta MLT

Mauritania MTN

Mauritius MRI

Mexico MEX

Micronesia FSM

Moldova MDA

Monaco MON

Mongolia MGL

Montenegro MNE

Morocco MAR

Mozambique MOZ

Myanmar MYA

Namibia NAM

Nauru NRU

Nepal NEP

Netherlands NED

Netherlands Antilles AHO

New Zealand NZL

Nicaragua NCA

Niger NIG

Nigeria NGR

Norway NOR

Oman OMA Pakistan PAK

Palau PLW

Palestine PLE

Panama PAN

Papua New Guinea PNG

Paraguay PAR

Peru PER

Philippines PHI

Poland POL

Portugal POR

Puerto Rico PUR

Qatar QAT Romania ROU

Russia RUS

Rwanda RWA

Saar SAA

Saint Kitts And Nevis SKN

Saint Lucia LCA

Saint Vincent And The Grenadines VIN

Samoa SAM

San Marino SMR

São Tomé And Príncipe STP

Saudi Arabia KSA

Senegal SEN

Serbia SRB

Seychelles SEY

Sierra Leone SLE

Singapore SIN

Slovakia SVK

Slovenia SLO

Solomon Islands SOL

Somalia SOM

South Africa RSA

Spain ESP

Sri Lanka SRI

Sudan SUD

Suriname SUR

Swaziland SWZ

Sweden SWE

Switzerland SUI

Syria SYR

Tajikistan TJK

Tanzania TAN

Thailand THA

Timor-Leste TLS

Togo TOG

Tonga TGA

Trinidad And Tobago TRI

Tunisia TUN

Turkey TUR

Turkmenistan TKM

Uganda UGA

Ukraine UKR

United Arab Emirates UAE

United States Of America USA

United Kingdom UK

Uruguay URU

Uzbekistan UZB

Vanuatu VAN

Venezuela VEN

Vietnam VIE

Virgin Islands ISV

W

 

No listings available Yemen YEM Zambia ZAM

Zimbabwe ZIM

 

 

List of events-

 

The shortlist of every event in this year's olympics

 

(Click on the sub category sport to see the full list for said category)

 

 

Diving	Swimming

Synchronised swimmingWater Polo Archery Athletics (track and field) Badminton Baseball Basketball Boxing Flatwater canoe/kayak Slalom canoe/kayak BMX Mountain biking Road cycling Track cycling Equestrian Fencing Field hockey Football (soccer) Artistic Rythmic Trampoline Handball Judo Triathlon Modern pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Beach volleyball Softball Table tennis Taekwondo Tennis Indoor volleyball Weightlifting Wrestling

 

There's a total of 302 events, in almost every department of sports. So there's practically entertainment for anybody. It's certainly going to be a hectic few weeks, shame it only comes around once every four years, I get mentally unstable when the closing ceremony is on.

 

Just so nobody forgets, here's the winners concerning medal count from 2004's competition-

 

 

 

Pos. Nation GoldSilver Bronze1United States3639272China3217143Russia2727384Australia1716165Japan169126Germany1316207France119138Italy1011119South Korea912910Great Britain9912

 

And here is a blank table, which will hold place for the winners of this year's competition-

 

 

 

Pos. Nation GoldSilver Bronze1.............2.............3.............4.............5.............6.............7.............8.............9.............10.............

 

 

Medal winners-

 

2004's champions

 

 

Event Winner (male) Time (seconds)/PointsWinner (female) Time (seconds)/Points100 metresJustin Gatlin USA9.85Yulia Nesterenko RUS10.93200 metresShawn Crawford USA19.79Veronica Campbell JAM22.05400 metresJeremy Wariner USA44.00Tonique Williams-Darling BAH49.41800 metresYuriy Borzakovskiy RUS1:44.45Kelly Holmes UK1:56.381500 metresHicham El Guerrouj MOR3:34.18Kelly Holmes UK3:57.905000 metresHicham El Guerrouj MOR13:14.39Meseret Defar ETH14:45.6510,000 metresKenenisa Bekele ETH27:05.10 ORXing Huina CHI30:24.36100/110 metre hurdlesLiu Xiang CHI12.91 =WRJoanna Hayes USA12.37400 metre hurdlesFelix Sanchez DOM47.63Fani Halkia GRE52.823000 metre steeplechaseEzekiel Kemboi KEN8:05.81N/AN/A4x100 metre relayGreat Britain

Darren Campbell

Marlon Devonish

Jason Gardener

Mark Lewis-Francis

38.07Jamaica

Aleen Bailey

Veronica Campbell

Tayna Lawrence

Beverley Mcdonald

Sherone Simpson

41.734x400 metre relayUnited States

Derrick Brew

Otis Harris

Andrew Rock

Jeremy Wariner

Darold Williamson

Kelly Willie

2:55.91United States

Crystal Cox

Monique Henderson

Monique Hennagon

Sanya Richards

Moushaumi Robinson

DeeDee Trotter

3:19.01DecathlonRoman Šebrle CZE8893 ORN/AN/AHeptahlonN/AN/ACarolina Kluft SWE6952High jumpStefan Holm SWE2.36 metresYelena Slesarenko RUS2.06 metres ORPole vaultTim Mack USA5.95 metres ORYelena Isenbayeva RUS4.91 metres ORLong jumpDwight Phillips USA8.59 metresTatyana lebedeva RUS7.07 metresTriple jumpChristian Olsson SWE17.79 metresFrançoise Mbango Etone CAM15.30 metresShot puttYuri Bilonog UKR21.16 metresYumileidi Cumbá CUB19.59 metresDiscus throwVirgilijus Alekna LIT69.89 metres ORNatalya Sadova RUS67.02 metresHammer throwKoji Murofushi JAP82.91 metresOlga Kuzenkova RUS75.02 metres ORJavelin throwAndreas Thorkildsen NOR86.50 metresOsleidys Menéndez CUB71.53 metres OR

 

=WR= Joint World record

OR= Olympic record

N/A= Not applicable

 

I'm only listing the track and field winners from the last Olympic games (aside from endurance), otherwise there will be a stampeed of tables polluting this topic, which there probably will be anyway. If anybody is interested in other winners from the previous tournament (like me) then go to here, and click on option number nine on the contents.

 

 

Olympic records-

 

..In athletics (track and field)

 

 

Event	Winner (male)

Time (seconds)/PointsWinner (female) Time (seconds)/Points 100 metresDonovan Bailey CAN9.84Florence Griffith-Joyner USA10.62200 metresMichael Johnson USA19.32Florence Griffith-Joyner USA21.34400 metresMichael Johnson USA43.49Marie-José Pérec FRA48.25800 metresVebjørn Rodal NOR1:42.58Nadezhda Olizarenko RUS1:53.431500 metresNoah Ngeny KEN3:32.07Paula Ivan ROM3:53.965000 metresSaïd Aouita MOR13:05.59Gabriela Szabo ROM14:40.7910,000 metresKenenisa Bekele ETH27:05.10Derartu Tulu ETH30:17.49100/110 metre hurdlesLiu Xiang CHI12.91Joanna Hayes USA12.37400 metre hurdlesKevin Young USA46.78Fani Halkia GRE52.823000 metre steeplechaseJulius Kariuki KEN8:05.71N/AN/A4x100 metre relayUnited States

Mike Marsh

Leroy Burrell

Dennis Mitchell

Carl Lewis

38.07East Germany

Romy Müller

Bärbel Wöckel

Ingrid Auerswald

Marlies Göhr

41.604x400 metre relayUnited States

Andrew Valmon

Quincy Watts

Michael Johnson

Steve Lewis

2:55.74Soviet Union

Tatyana Ledovskaya

Olga Nazarova

Mariya Pinigina

Olga Bryzgina

3:15.27DecathlonRoman Šebrle CZE8893N/AN/AHeptahlonN/AN/AJackie Joyner-Kersee USA7291High jumpCharles Austin USA2.39 metresYelena Slesarenko RUS2.06 metresPole vaultTim Mack USA5.95 metresYelena Isenbayeva RUS4.91 metresLong jumpBob Beamen USA8.90 metresJackie Joyner-Kersee USA7.40 metresTriple jumpKenny Harrison USA18.09 metresInessa Kravets UKR15.33 metresShot puttUlf Timmermann GER22.47 metresIlona Slupianek GER22.41 metresDiscus throwVirgilijus Alekna LIT69.89 metresMartina Hellmann GER72.30 metresHammer throwSergey Litvinov RUS84.80 metresOlga Kuzenkova RUS75.02 metresJavelin throwJan Zelezny CZE90.17 metresOsleidys Menéndez CUB71.53 metres

 

To save time, and a mountains amount of space, if you want to view the other Olympic records for every other event, simply go here and click on the sub category events to view the records.

 

Who are your favourite ahletes, and who would you tip to win this year's events? Aside from a few, event have no outrunner, somoeon who if they don't win, it will be ridiculous. But the majority of events are closely competitive, and it's gonna be a great tournament, I seriously can't wait!

 

Special thanks got out to Ottae, JoeyLeone25, Tank and obviously Wikipedia.

Edited June 4, 2009 by flicko

[flicko]

 

The country game-

 

Let's add some fun and entertainment into this thread. If anybody wants to take part in this, let me know, the rewards for the winners are somewhat... rewarding. This is how it works; As many people as possible can take part, you'll have to let me know if you want to. And whoever is taking part, once the countries for Beijing 2008 are revealed, I will write them all down, and place them into a hat. Then, judging from the order people entered, I will pick a country out of the hat, which will be a certain members' chances of winning. At the end of the tournament the member with the country who have won the most amount of medals (5 points for a gold medal, 3 for silver and 1 for bronze) will win the competition. Understand? Good. The rewards are as follows-

 

 

The country game results
*1st place- The right to control any other competitor's signature space for a whole week!
*2nd place- A pixelated cookie!
*3rd place- Absolutely f*ck all. No wait, self respect?

 

As you can see, a lot is on offer, and, potentially, this can be really fun. Just let me know if you want to take part.

 

 

Participants-

 

 

Member name/randomly selected country
Eddie280- France
flicko- Oman
Tommy vs. Claude- Moldova

 

Member name/randomly selected country
Runey.- Indonesia
Andyserb- Ghana
OH NO- Greece

 

 

Member name/randomly selected country
Radicell- Romania
Stefan.- Bulgaria
Lazlow chatterbox- Germany

 

*Coming soon (August 8th)...

Edited July 21, 2008 by flicko

[flicko]

 

The country game cont.

 

 

Member name/randomly selected country
Greebo-man- Hungary
TenaciousD.- Georgia
Ottae- Lithuania

 

 

Member name/randomly selected country
pimp_60cent- Rwanda
?
?

 

*Coming soon (August 8th)...

Edited August 10, 2008 by flicko

[ceedot]

Good work dude.

 

 

Must have taken you AGES. Good work man, good work.

[flicko]

 

Good work dude.

 

 

Must have taken you AGES. Good work man, good work.

Cheers mate, and yeah it did. All in all it took me a few weeks, but I wasn't working on it all the time. Thus it felt like an eternity. Glad I got it finished though, I only hope it kicks off.

 

So who is everybody tipping to top the medal table at this year's Olympics?

 

As always The United States will be the favourites, many talented athletes there. And they always seem to bring the most competitors to the games. But because this year's competition is in Beijing, China will probably bring in more competitors, and will probably be up there at the top as well. Russia will also be up there, as well as the Australians. Swimming was completely dominated by the Aussies last time round. I highly doubt Great Britain and N.I will do anything, in 2004 I was actually surprised at the amount of medals we won, I doubt we'll do as good this year. Hope we can though.

 

Is anybody going to Beijing this year to go and watch the Olympics? I was going to, but money has become a major issue, I'll be sure not to miss te 2012 Olympics though.

 

Does anybody have any suggestions I can and to the "Greatest athletes ever" or "Legendary moments in the history of athletics" list? I'm only sixteen, so I haven't really been around too long to witness great athletes and historical moments from years ago, from the looks of it, the 1988 Olympics were the greatest in terms of World records etc, can anyof the older fish enligten me?

 

A serious question, has anybody atually rea through the whole of my first two posts?

 

Edit- Added "Eddie the eagle" at request.

Edited April 2, 2008 by flicko

[Yatesyz]

Your first post is the biggest post made on the forum I think. Well done on getting it all done though.

[Seddo]

Great topic flicko, really does look awesome, i can see alot of effort went in with the table codes, i bloody hate table codes, so it must of been a pain in the arse to do.

 

As always America will be the favourites for most medals as they always pawn in the Olympics , Hopefully Britain can rake in a fair few aswell. They seem quite far off at the moment but it will end up flying upto us.

[flicko]

 

Great topic flicko, really does look awesome, i can see alot of effort went in with the table codes, i bloody hate table codes, so it must of been a pain in the arse to do.

 

As always America will be the favourites for most medals as they always pawn in the Olympics , Hopefully Britain can rake in a fair few aswell. They seem quite far off at the moment but it will end up flying upto us.

Yeah the tables were a right pain in the arse. Consumed a hell of a lot of space up aswell (if you quote the first post, you'll see just how much). Was worth it though. And cheers.

 

Definitely, look at the greatest athletes of all time, the majority of them are yanks. As for Britains chances, I can definitely see us winning medals, however not as many as 2004's competition. I feel in 2004 we exceeded expectations a bit, hopefully we can this year, I just can't see it. Pollution levels may affect our athletes aswell, but I suppose it'll affect the majority of athletes.

 

While we're on the subject of Country's winning medals, this brings me to "The Country game" I have devised and only recently updated into the thread, located on the third post. Like it says, let me know if you wish to take part, you'll have my word that I won't cheat, chances are the majority of people will have sh*t nations!

 

@Yatesyz- Cheers, I don't know about that though, but it's certainly my biggest topic to date.

Edited April 3, 2008 by flicko

[flicko]

 

Demonstrators grabbed at the Olympic torch, blocked its path and tried to snuff out its flame Sunday in raucous protests of China's human rights record that forced a string of last-second changes to a chaotic relay through London.

Source

 

 

 

I don't really understand this. Can somebody enlighten me?

 

Edit, The Olympic flame was extinguished in Paris not too long ago-

 

Source.

Edited April 7, 2008 by flicko

[Hodgey.]

The protestor are dick heads what the hell does the Olympic Torch have to do with Tibet. China yes not the Olmpics.

[Eddie280]

Great work flicko.

 

Poitics shouldnt get mixed up in Athletics but then again politcs gets mixed up in a lot of things it hasn no right to get mixed up in.

 

 

EDIT: Yeah, flicko count me in on your Country game....where's your dad's stash?

Edited April 7, 2008 by Eddie280

[flicko]

So basically problems between Tibet and China have lead up to protests during the Olympic torch run?

 

Forgive me for being misinformed, but what's the ongoing fued between China and Tibet all about?

[AndyGanteks]

Lets not bring politics into this topic,theres D&D for that.

 

Good topic flicko i'm looking forward to these games,and i hope some guys won a medal or two for Serbia!

[flicko]

Update- Added "countries participating" table onto the second post. Added countries to ahtletes names on medal winning tables, updated special thanks, added "participants in the country game" table.

 

I've drawn your country out Eddie, and you've got France, which isn't too bad considering all the other countries. But still, BAP!!

 

I've also drawn my country, wish I hadn't now. I've got f*cking Oman, for f*ck sake!

 

Andyserb- Are there any Serbians in contention for medals at this year's games? I'm only aware of track and field, perhaps in other events?

Edited April 8, 2008 by flicko

[AndyGanteks]

Remove Yugoslavia from participating,that country doesnt exist anymore.

 

Anyways,we have a soccer team,a volleyball team(m and w),waterpolo team,Tennis players will participate,Milorad Cavic in 50 and 100 m butterfly(he got banned from euro champs a few weeks ago because he wore a Kosovo is Serbia shirt,he did win gold on 50 m before that though ),Jasna Sekaric in sharpshooting,we have some more swimmers and athlets dunno which one,we are trying to qualify in boxing and some other minor events too!

 

Also great work,you should get a medal for this !

[flicko]

Ah sh*t, cheers for that. Just noticed I added both West and East Germany in there aswell.

 

So there's quite a lot of athletes then, and some with decent chances of winning medals. There football team isn't too bad either. Regarding tennis, is Djokovic taking part? Usually the better tennis players don't participate in the Olympic games.

 

And cheers for the comment.

 

 

[Eddie280]

f*cky ball bags.

 

Im France.

 

PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN THE COUNTRY GAME

[tommy vs. claude]

 

 

Im France.

 

 

Cheer up, France is good at running away.

 

@flicko The USSR is no longer a country, and add me into your Country Game.

Edited April 9, 2008 by tommy vs. claude

[flicko]

 

f*cky ball bags.

 

Im France.

 

PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN THE COUNTRY GAME

Yeah, look at the participants table, look which country I've got, then come back to me.

 

@Tommy vs. Claude- f*ck, the source where I got this from can't be accurate, ah well, aside from the countries that don't actually exist, it might well be. Cheers for that.

 

And I've drew your country. Turns out you've got Moldova. Not the best draw, but still better than f*cking Oman!

[Eddie280]

lolOman

[Runey]

I'd like to participate in the Country Game.

 

[flicko]

I'd like to participate in the Country Game.

 

Sure thing. The country you've been drawn with is Indonesia, which isn't the worst country in the World.

 

I know I've asked this before, however it went unresponded. Does anybody have any suggestions for athletes I could add into the "Greatest athletes of all time" section? Or perhaps can think of historic moments that I have missed?

[Eddie280]

Sporting moments? Well there have been loads of pivotal moments at the olympics, not so much to do with the sport itself but a few off the top of my head are the Black Civil rights action at the 68 Olympics in Mexico City and the 72 Munich Olympics in which the Israeli team was held hostage by Palastinian terrorists.

 

But Ill get back to you on the Athletes question.

[flicko]

 

Sporting moments? Well there have been loads of pivotal moments at the olympics, not so much to do with the sport itself but a few off the top of my head are the Black Civil rights action at the 68 Olympics in Mexico City and the 72 Munich Olympics in which the Israeli team was held hostage by Palastinian terrorists.

 

But Ill get back to you on the Athletes question.

How could I forget the Munich incident?!?!?!

 

I've even got the film Steven Spielberg directed about the whole incident. Cheers mate, I'll look them up and add them in. And thanks for re-booting this topic.

 

Edit- I've added the two.

Edited April 14, 2008 by flicko

[AndyGanteks]

The topic is pretty cool

 

I'm in that country game 100 %,hopefully i get a good draw eh

 

 

[flicko]

Not the worst draw Andyserb, but you have to bear in mind that out of the 212 countries, about 20 are actually decent, maybe less. The country you've been drawn, as you may already know as it's in my third post, is Ghana.

[OH NO]

Jesus christ Flicko this is immense. Ill take a good look tmorrow when im less stoned... will make good reference. Well in.

 

 

..oh and put me in the hat.

 

 

 

edit: yeah some serious things going on here. Good to see Colin Jackson still holding the indoor 60m hurdles record. Just looking at the long jump results and record holders..crazy the distances they can jump. Never realised also that the womens discus record is longer than the mens.

Edited April 21, 2008 by OH NO

[flicko]

Thanks a lot for the feedback mate!

 

Yeah it's the only one he's still holding isn't it? Shame his long lasting 110 metre hurdles record was beaten, twice in one race. But Liu Xiang is one immense athlete. The High jump event World records really bemuse me, they're atually unbelievable. To jump, backwards over an 8 foot pole without knocking it off is mesmorising. Oh and about the Discus, the reason the Women's WR is greater than the men's is because the discus women throw is lighter, just like the Shotputt and Javelin etc, although men are greater in those two departments. All of the World records are sublime though, just goes to show the lengths and limits people can actually push there body's to.

 

And I've drawn your country out, turns out you're stuck with Greece. I'd be very happy with that considering.

[OH NO]

Haha yeah I asked my old man about it and he called me a numpty for not realising that the discus was actually lighter in the womans event. Hes an olympics/sport in general nut, ill be watching it a lot down his (Hes a Forest fan as well, youd get on lol)

 

 

As for the high jump, yeah, every time I see it im thinking along the lines of "what are you doing up the top of that 8ft pole" I mean, its bizzare, on some superhero sort of level. Such slight margins of error.

 

Colin Jackson ive met a few times, used to eat in a carribean restaurant down at Cardiff Docks/Bay. As nice a guy in real life as you would imagine. Absolute legend.

 

 

Oh and Greece eh, No bad.