Bwa! The Australian commentators did that as well, don't worry. As well as comparing every single male Australian swimmer to Ian Thorpe. I felt a bit sorry for Grant Hackett when he was grilled for having the nerve - the nerve! - to come sixth in the final for something. How dare he not win it? WHAT ABOUT OUR NATIONAL PRIDE?!?

Gah. Poor guy.

Man, I love watching fencing. Especially saber, so it's awesome that the U.S. women swept the medals in that event. Becca Ward, who won the bronze, has to leave the Olympics before they're over to get back to the U.S. for her freshman orientation. Mariel Zagunis, who won the gold, also won the gold in Athens and is starting law school. And Sada Jacobson, who won the silver, goes to Yale. Never in my life have I felt like so much of an underachiever.

That is pretty much how I feel every single time I watch the Olympics. This year, three people from my school are competing for Canada in the Olympics--three! One in whitewater slalom kayaking, one in flatwater canoeing, and one in K-4 kayaking. All of whom are also getting like...engineering degrees and other difficult stuff like that. Sigh.

Apparently unpopular Olympics opinion: I like men's gymnastics much more than women's. (I say this is apparently unpopular because when I voice this to other people in real life, they all give me this weird look all you freak.) I like gymnastics more as a show of athletic skill and prowess than tiny, undernourished, underaged girls who are "washed up" by the age of eighteen or so.

Also, Sasha Artemev completely blew me away on the pommel horse today. The whole team was awesome.

Awww, I love beach volleyball. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are two of my volleyball heroines. It's just amazing how well they complement each other and get the job done right. They've had 101 wins in a row!

Michael Phelps has a gorgeous back. My family cheered so loud for his race. I can't believe how fast he is in the water, he's like a dolphin.

I like beach volleyball, too. It looks like so much fun.

The women's gymnastics scares me a bit, too, I have to admit. They're just so small they look like a bad fall could shatter them into pieces.

Yay for Stephanie Rice!

Speaking of men's gymnastics, isn't Japan's Kohei Uchimura cute?

I liked that NBC showed us how South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan fell/dove into the pool and was disqualified in Athens when he was 14. I always feel so bad for athletes who make stupid mistakes like that, so it made me happy when he won the 400-meter freestyle.

They sent him to the hospital for -*test*-('")s and observation. SI article. Knockouts are fairly uncommon in amateur boxing because the goal is to get as many points for clean blows as you can in eight minutes. The commentators seemed surprised by this bout and not exactly impressed. I generally prefer the middleweight and lower divisions (especially flyweight, those guys are wee!).

My DVR didn't record the NBC primetime coverage and I didn't realize that it was recording until after 11:00 PM. Grr. Considering AT&T is a major sponsor and Uverse has this crazy interactive Olympic feature, you'd think it would be easier to program the Olympics into the DVR. It did manage to record 6 hours of coverage on USA network and 3 hours on CNBC. The DVR can record four programs at once, so I may never be able to watch all I record.

Dressage has got to be my least favorite equestrian event.

I used to do dressage so I love it. But I can understand its not that stimulating if your not completely into it.

Just an FYI - There is no spoiler policy for the Olympics due to the short span (2 weeks), the international airing schedule is not consistent for anyone and many events are time-delayed. Just realize that while you are welcome to spoil big events (say Phelps wins every medal in all events) that haven't aired if you so choose, but please, don't spoiler-tag everything. It'll just look bad.

Also, this policy is ONLY for the Olympics. Any other TV show, the usual rules apply.

ETA: I edited the topic title to reflect that there's spoilers here.

Okay, I know that high-level gymnastics screws with a woman's development, but does anyone seriously believe that the first Chinese gymnast on floor exercise is 16? She looked eleven!

I really enjoy watching women's gymnastics, but man are those NBC commentators annoying.

There have been rumors that the Chinese gymnasts are under age and that the Chinese officials gave them fake birthdates.

Yeah, I'm not one to be all OMGZ CONSPIRACY, but I find it extremely hard to believe that she's 16. I can see a young girl maybe looking a year or two younger than she is, but she doesn't even look close to 16.

NBC?!

People seeking out prepubescent girls and purport they are older than they actually are?!

Cris Hansen needs to sting the Chinese Olympics committee.

I'd heard the rumors, too, but this is ridiculous. Like nikita, I don't think they look even within a year or two of 16. They're amazing athletes, but at what cost?

Anyone else like rooting for the lesser-known athletes? I mean, I cheer for the US by default, but I cheer for Lochte over Phelps and Sloan over Johnson.