Did you hear about Ghana’s first ever participant at the Winter Olympics, Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong (nicknamed the ‘Snow Leopard’)? He competed in the men’s alpine skiing slalom event, finishing in 47th (2nd last) place. I did, but I did not hear about who won. It is another reminder of why I don’t get too excited about the Winter Olympics. The media think that it is more important to fill up their coverage time with human interest stories rather than the sporting results. As a sporting fan I watch sport to see the action, the competitiveness and the champions. At each Olympics the same thing seems to happen – the media outlets focus their telecast towards the common man, non sports fan, who are more interested in gossip and drama.
Rob's Blog
Entries Tagged as 'Olympic Games'
We Just Want To See A Snow Leopard
February 28th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Olympic Games, Winter
Tags: Ghana·Winter Olympics
A New Drug
October 3rd, 2008 · Comments Off on A New Drug · Olympic Games, Sports Medicine
When any athlete beats their opposition by a large margin at the international level, there are always suspicions that an artificial aid has been used.
I have always thought that when something is too good to be true, it often is. At the Olympic Games, there were two athletes that dominated the opposition and surprised many: Bolt and Phelps. Why have the questions not been asked?
As in many of these cases, time will tell, and then people may be saying ‘why did we not see it? It was right in front of my eyes”.
Related Pages: Doping in Sports, Michael Phelps Profile,
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Radio vrs TV Olympic Coverage
October 2nd, 2008 · Comments Off on Radio vrs TV Olympic Coverage · Olympic Games, Spectators
By all accounts the TV coverage of the Olympic Games in Australia by Channel 7 was disappointing. The TV coverage is not made for the sports fan. They spent too long interviewing the families of athletes, delving into the stories behind the stories, and about China and Beijing.
What the sports fan wants is an educated commentary of whole events, without breaks at crucial points in the events. The alternative on Australia TV was SBS, which was better as it showed continuous coverage of some events, but the mainstream sports were not given to them to show.
What we did hear on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) radio coverage was excellent. I wonder why they cannot take lessons from the radio for the TV coverage. The radio is able to convey the excitement of events as they are happening, cross from one event to the other when they are on at the same time, and be thoroughly entertaining.
Related Pages: Summer Olympic Games, Australia at the Olympics
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Missing it All
October 2nd, 2008 · Comments Off on Missing it All · Olympic Games, Spectators
The Olympic Games have come and gone, and I practically missed them. I have been traveling around Australia in a campervan (see website) with no TV and mostly out of radio range as well.
We stopped at caravan parks that have a TV room a few times and dropped in for a beer at the pub to catch a little bit of the highlights, but there is so much on, you need to sit in front of the TV all day to get a good viewing.
We did manage to regularly buy the newspaper to read about what was going on and to check the news updates on our mobile phones.
On a positive note, we did miss a lot of the disappointing TV coverage, and what we did hear on the radio coverage (ABC) was as usual excellent.
Related Pages: Summer Olympic Games, Australia at the Olympics
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Unusual Olympic Fuels
October 2nd, 2008 · Comments Off on Unusual Olympic Fuels · Olympic Games, Sports Nutrition, Track & Field
Does fast food make you fast? Usain Bolt (which has to be one of the greatest names for a sprinter – like he was born to run fast) was quoted as saying he eats Mcdonald’s nuggets before his events as if it was some kind of wonder pill.
Similarly, Australian race walker Jarred Tallent (winner of silver in the 50 km walk) was also in the local press revealing that he fuelled himself on pizza on the eve of his race and coke during the final stages of his race. Pizza is his favorite food and he finally gave in after two weeks at the food hall right before the race. After his 20 km race he threw up during the final stages and afterward, and after his pizza binge, he was afraid it would happen again.
Where are the sports dietitians advising these athletes? Why would they risk one of the most important events in their sporting careers? They were obviously good enough to still win their races despite having junk food, but please don’t brag about it as if it helped you. There is too much fast food eaten in this world already, we don’t want our elite athletes promoting it too.
Related Pages: sports nutrition
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Fast Dollars for Fast Food
October 2nd, 2008 · Comments Off on Fast Dollars for Fast Food · Olympic Games, Sports Nutrition, Track & Field
Nathan Deeks, an Australian Champion racewalker, appeared in a full-page color advertisement for the fast food restaurant McDonalds, saying that he eats ‘Maccas’ after his events, including at the Olympic Games.
I know that he was probably only trying to earn a few sponsorship bucks in return for all the effort he puts into his training, but as a sporting role model, it was such a disgusting thing to promote eating undoubtedly unhealthy food.
I don’t mind that he had the occasional fast food snack, but it is not right for an athlete representing Australia to say it so publicly. It does not say much about the dietitians at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) if one of their athletes comes out of there with this attitude that this is OK to do.
A few days later, a very similar-looking ad was published (obviously on purpose), with an ex-Australian Olympian and NBA star Luc Longley, promoting healthy eating, saying that he never considered eating junk food before or after competing. The ad was a welcome response to the McDonalds one, which needed to be done, but I don’t think enough ho-ha was made of it.
The government spends millions of dollars trying to address the problem of childhood obesity, including trying to get more people active and into sports, and millions are spent on the AIS getting athletes including Nathan Deeks properly prepared for the Olympic Games. I don’t think he has done his long-time supporter (AIS) any good and hopefully, he got into trouble, all for a small financial reward.
Related Pages: Summer Olympic Games
See more about sports nutrition
Phelps the Grestest Ever?
October 2nd, 2008 · Comments Off on Phelps the Grestest Ever? · Olympic Games, Swimming
The swimmer Michael Phelps may have won the most number of Olympic gold medals ever at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, but does that qualify him to be called the greatest ever Olympian?
Being the world’s major sporting event, the Olympics has had its share of champions and success stories. It is always difficult to compare athletes of different sports yet alone different eras. Other notable Olympic Champions which would give him a run for his money in the best ever category include Carl Lewis (U.S., track and field), Paavo Nurmi (Finland, track and field), Larisa Latynina (Soviet Union, gymnastics), Birgit Fischer-Schmidt (Germany, kayak), and Steven Redgrave (United Kingdom, rowing). Probably others too.
Comparing Phelps to Mark Spitz is the easiest as it is in the same sport, and Phelps wins that comparison. The flaw in this argument is using the number of gold medals as the benchmark, as swimming has more medals on offer than most other sports, consequently, it is relatively easier to pick up a bag of medals.
Phelps may well be the greatest ever, but I think it is too close to call. Let’s just wait until he finishes his career. If he does the same again in London 2012, then there may be no question about him being the greatest ever.
Related Pages: swimming, Olympic Games, Beijing 2008
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Marion Jones – Catch me if you can
October 7th, 2007 · Comments Off on Marion Jones – Catch me if you can · Olympic Games, Sports Medicine, Track & Field
Marion Jones has found out that no matter how fast you are, you cannot run away from the truth.
In hardly a surprise for many people, USA Sprinter Marion Jones admitted yesterday that she was a drug cheat. She had taken the designer steroid THG, which was also known as “the clear” by the BALCO laboratory.
She had vehemently denied any wrongdoing for a long time, under mounting evidence. I don’t know how she had remained clear for so long. Even the head of Balco, Victor Conte, who has repeatedly and publicly accused Jones of using drugs, was her personal “nutritionist” at the Sydney Olympics.
Now and rightly so her reputation is in tatters, and she is apparently broke. She will lose many of her records and the medals she won at the Sydney Olympic Games. I have no sympathy for her. It makes me angry that I have to give these athletes the benefit of the doubt, when all the anecdotal evidence and rumours paint a dirty picture, but unfortunately, the drug tests have failed to find any evidence, and they deny all the allegations.
It makes me think of the saying that “When something is too good to be true, it probably is”. When I watched her sprint away from the rest of the field in the 2000 Sydney Olympics 100 metre sprint, my first thought was that in such a competitive event that someone cannot be that much better than the next best sprinter in the world. And now it is shown that no one was, naturally.
Even the second placegetter in that race has subsequently been done for drugs, and who knows which other athletes in that field also had artificial enhancement. As I have said before, it is hard to enjoy watching some sports when my first thought is always whether the winner had taken drugs to get there. This applies at the least to cycling, track and field, and weight-lifting.
Related Pages: Doping in Sports, Track & Field, Marion Jones profile, 2000 Olympic Games
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Norman Black Power
October 9th, 2006 · No Comments · Olympic Games, Track & Field
Australian sprinter Peter Norman recently passed away. His silver medal in the 200m at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 is still the best performance by an Australian male sprinter. Norman ran 20.06 seconds, which is still an Australian record. Despite his great performances, he is not a well known sportsman in Australia. However, many people have seen a photo of him receiving his Olympic medal, as he was part of one of the classic Olympic Games controversies. Norman came second behind American Tommie Smith, and in front of John Carlos also from the USA. Smith and Carlos were African Americans, and made their black power salute, raising their fists with black gloves on. All three athletes wore human rights badges, with Norman showing his support for their cause.
Related Pages: Mexico 1968, Summer Olympic Games, Australia at the Olympics
Tags: athletics·Australia·olympics·protest·sprinters·track and field
Early Start for Swimmers
August 7th, 2006 · No Comments · Olympic Games, Swimming
It has recently been announced that the Beijing Olympic Committee are considering turning the swimming program on it’s head, so that the swimming finals at the 2008 Olympic Games are in the morning and the heats in the evening.
The reason for this is so the finals are on at prime time in the US. I have no problem with this, and I think the swimmers should welcome it. Although the world’s top swimmers are professional athletes, as with all sports, there are able to be professionals due to sponsors and the public who enjoy watching them perform.
By swimming their finals in the morning they are able to satisfy both of these groups. Physiologically, they should be more than capable of swimming their best in the morning. Look at every swimmer’s training program, and you will see that they are up early every day doing laps in the pool. If the Olympic program is switched around, you will see all the lead up meets also change their program around so they can get used to the new schedule.
I have also always wondered about how fresh the swimmers are after swimming several heats in the morning then coming out later that day to swim in their finals. Having to come to the pool fresh each day to race their finals, we may well see better performances – then we will not be hearing any complaints.
Related Pages: swimming, Olympic Games, Beijing 2008
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