Me too how were the American commentators here they were sympathetic to her, I hope the Americans do better in their individual titles, I really don't want the Chinese to take all the gymnastics medals. Like with ice skating the Chinese are great technically but they just don't have heart (it's the best way I can explain) it's pretty boring to watch.

The commentators were sympathetic but I still hate them a whole lot. Poor Alicia. I hope she and the rest of the team can pull it together for the individual competitions.

Two days ago I hadn't even heard of synchronized diving. Now? I am OBSESSED! I keep rewinding my Tivo to watch it over and over, especially the Chinese teams who seriously look like one person multiplied in some kind of Hollywood CGI movie trick. And then! There are the stop motion time lapse shots showing how in sync the divers are! How cool is that?!?! And the way each team counts down to the dive! Fascinating!

You'd think watching Michael Phelps beating the hell out of everyone else would get old but it so doesn't. Also, I want one of those warm-up swim hoodie coats he wears before each event.

Oh, you mean those lazy Romanians who talked and laughed between routines?

The Chinese divers are just freakishly perfect. I'm starting to think that they're all cyborgs.

Imagine just how awesome the Cyborg Olympics would be...

This is a really interesting article about Phelps - it talks about the kind of training he does, how he's physically so amazing, and the ways in which his mental toughness enables him to race the way he does. He really does come across as a complete freak (in the best sense of the world, obv!) I so hope he manages his 8 golds - it's very difficult to see how he won't!

Oooh, if only this were the old days, when a gymnastics coach could berate and emotionally abuse his young trainees to his heart's content.

Seriously, Tim Daggett, when you're explaining why the Romanians aren't as good as they used to be, you don't have to sound so damn wistful for the days when a coach could do and say whatever the hell he wanted to do and say without fear of retribution (as long, of course, as they win medals).

Also, Andrea Joyce can fuck right off. She's lucky that Alicia Sacramone was too completely devastated to get angry at the interview, because that girl looks like she can seriously throw down.

Sasha has a history of being inconsistent. He was incredible this week, though, I'm so glad.

God, Tim blathering about the good old days in Romanian gymnastics was quite possibly the stupidest thing I've heard out of the gymnastic venue this week, and that's a bar that's set pretty high. Yeah, it's a shame the young women actually enjoy competing in their sport instead of being little starved robots. Pity they won't succeed any more. Oh, except for how they, you know, won a bronze medal at the Olympics.

Seriously. I want to find the person who invented that and shake his/her hand and give them some homemade cookies, it's brilliant. The synchronized diving has the Tabby household transfixed, frankly, even Mr. Tabby will come watch.

My commentator rage last night was directed at whichever chick was doing the synchro diving and spent her time making not-so-veiled comments about the weight of one of the Canadian divers. And then, on their last dive, hollered "Oh, it's a TIDALWAVE" when they landed. Even my husband, who'd missed most of the earlier coverage, had a very Oh No She Did NOT moment.

What did Andrea Joyce say to Alicia? That girl punches drunk guys in the jaw - she's not someone I'd piss off.

Yup. Poor Alicia, maybe Sasha Cohen will buy her a beer.

You've seen the Visa commercial, right? Dude totally has hidden flippers. And after seeing how long he stays underwater at a turn, I'm not entirely convinced that he doesn't have gills.

I love Mary Carillo. "Nothing cutens up a country like a panda bear."

Heh. That interview made me laugh. UNTIL THE PANDA PORN. I did not need to see that "panda stud" watching video of pandas doin' it. Unnnngh. So awkward.

I have a lot of respect for the American gymnasts, especially Alicia Sacramone. If I had fallen off the beam just getting on, with the whole world watching, I think I would have run off crying. And to fall AGAIN in the floor routine and then have to stand there with the cameras shoved in her face and not burst into tears, I really respected that.

Also China? WTF was up with that blue eyeshadow. Your 11-year-olds looked like they were shot by Homer Simpson's makeup gun.

I was right there with you. Oh. My. God. In an earlier dive the commentator was trying very hard to make the point that the Canadian girl had some meat on her bones and was not a stick figure like the Chinese girls. She kept rambling on and on and finally said something like "Well they are at a disadvantage because they are not wisps like the Chinese are." Yeah, sucks to be her. She looked healthy and muscled and could totally kick your ass. And she is doing things from a diving board that 99.5% of the population can't do. And she made the Olympic team. And when every other diver made a splash, all she said was "Oh, they didnt quite find vertical." Not "TIDAL WAVE." I had a Tiny Fists of Rage moment.

Awww, I love Bela Karolyi. He was so excitable in the interview--I honestly thought he was going to break into "they can do eeet! do eet girls!!"

Plus he is the only one bringing up the chinese gymnast controversy--if the chinese are violating the rules shouldn't the IOC be investigationg?

Yay! First gold medal for Switzerland at this Olympic Games. It looks like the only thing we're good at is cycling, cause 3 out of the 4 medals won came from cycling. The fourth is from Judo (who knew??).

The Chinese Gymnasts do look younger than 16 to me. I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese Government cheated with the birth dates. They cheated with parts of the Opening Ceremonies. I mean, they pulled a cute kid singer to replace it with an even cuter kid who lipsynched. The Olympic Games are a huge opportunity for them to present themselves to the World in a better light than "regime with serious human rights issues". They are gonna try their hardest to make that happen and part of that is probably winning as many gold medals as they can.