DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Summer Olympics 2008 Thread

Did anyone get to watch the fencing - womens individuals today? The US swept the medals. I don't watch much fencing, but it was pretty awesome. For the bronze, it was tied 14-14 (winner is first to 15). Gold wasn't quite as exciting, but awesome nonetheless. And as a little local pimping...gold and bronze winners were both from Beaverton, Oregon - where I work, and about 2 miles from where I live.

Gold Medal 1 for Phelps.

Is michael phelps human?

I've had fun watching so far..saw the fencing sweep and the womens beach volleyball.

There is a tragedy being reported in Beijing.. my thoughts are with the US Mens volleyball team and the family.

American killed at Games was coach's father-in-law

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A Chinese man wielding a knife stabbed an American couple in central Beijing on Saturday, killing the man and seriously wounding the woman before jumping to his death from an ancient tower, said U.S. Olympic officials and state-run media.

A female Chinese tour guide also was wounded in the attack, which happened around noon at the Drum Tower, a popular tourist site, China's official news agency, Xinhua, reported.

The U.S. Olympic Committee identified the dead man as Todd Bachman, the father-in-law of Olympic Men's Indoor Volleyball Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon. Bachman's wife, Barbara, suffered "serious and life-threatening" injuries, the committee said.

However, Xinhua reported that she and the tour guide were in "stable" condition at a hospital.

The couple's daughter, Elizabeth Bachman McCutcheon -- the coach's wife and a member of the 2004 indoor women's volleyball team -- was with them during the attack but was unharmed, USOC said.

Dale Bachman, second cousin to Todd, said that Barbara Bachman had made it through surgery Saturday and was being treated in intensive care at a Beijing hospital.

"The next 24 hours are critical and we appreciate all your thoughts and prayers," he said.

The Bachmans were not wearing apparel that identified them as relatives of members of the U.S. delegation at the time of the attack, USOC said.


Dale Bachman said the family has been "simply overwhelmed" by an outpouring of support and sympathy from across the globe since news of the attack broke.

"The U.S. Olympic family is another family for Todd and Barbara," he said. "They were very excited about making this trip to China. One of the messages that came back was to a friend of Todd's, an e-mail after the opening ceremonies letting her know that Todd had seen the opening ceremonies and enjoyed them and was inspired by them."

The attacker, identified as a 47-year-old man from the Hangzhou, in eastern China, jumped from the second level of the building, a spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Government Information Office told Xinhua.

"It is impossible to describe the depth of our sadness and shock in this tragic hour," USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth said. "Our delegation comes to the Games as a family, and when one member of our family suffers a loss, we all grieve with them. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences are with the Bachman and McCutcheon families."

President Bush, who is in Beijing for the Games, said in a statement that he and the first lady were "saddened" by the attack.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. And the United States government has offered to provide any assistance the family needs," Bush said.


The U.S. Embassy has offered the victims' families whatever assistance is needed, a White House spokesman said.

The ancient Drum Tower in and the nearby Bell Tower are popular tourist sites. Both sites told the time in the capital city, with the bell rung in the morning and drum beaten in the evening, throughout the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties
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Is Amanda Beard on the swim team this year?

Seriously, is she?

he's part dolphin

1-1 USA vs Netherlands in soccer.

I'm pretty excited about this soccer game. This can't be all the best Netherlands players though, I don't see their goalie and haven't seen Van Percy.

Can't wait for basketball today.


Correction 2-1 Could we really beat these guys?

Some freakin idiot throws a foul with like 1 minute in stoppage time and sets them up for a free kick next to the box. Which they make of course.........

Infuriating. Someone needs to slap this guy Holden in the head

Dwight has got to step up!!!!

What channel is the game on???

And wow ... if you would of given me a draw against the Netherlands in soccer before the game, I would of taken it ... but we almost beat them??

The basketball game is on NBC. Its almost over though. The game is a complete ass whooping.

31 point win.

Exciting game - USA was in a tight one until the end of the second - I just watched the soccer as well - good game though we should have won!

NBC decided to screw over the west coast. They played the game live on the east coast, but decided to tape delay it 3 hours for the west coast.

LeBron James as looked amazing, while Kobe Bryant seems to be struggling a bit. Some of the things Lebron has been able to do has been jaw dropping. He blocked a couple of layins from behind ... one, he caught the layup, and in one motion, tossed it back down court for an nice full-court assist. Then that dunk late in the 2nd was just .... WOW! Caught an olly-oop behind him with one hand, and slammed it down with one hand ... all with a chinese dude hanging on his back!!!

j/c

I find it interesting that the Chinese have done so well in a lot of events that they've never been very successful at. They've done well in a lot of their heats in swimming and their men's sand volleyball team has their own island to train on.

They really have gone all out since they're hosting. It'll be interesting to see how they do in the 2012 Olympics.

i saw a news report somewhere that when it was learned that Beijing would host the olympics in 2001, the chinese government pulled some children out of school, designated them to a sport, and said for the next 7 years you will train exclusively for that event to ensure they would have a strong showing in their home country.

I heard something similar... sounds like they pumped a TON of money into their sports programs... with that said, typically host countries always do well in the olympics just because of the amount of support there is and being in a familiar area...

Just look at how well America did in the Atlanta Olympics!

I used to look forward to it as a kid. I watched the Winter games a bit more in recent years.

I won't watch everything. Some of it is flat out boring. Some of my favs to watch, though:

Boxing
Volleyball/Beach Volleyball
Basketball
Track and Field- mostly sprints and shorter races
Diving
Occasionally swimming
Soccer
Rhythym gymnastics (just kidding)

I was on NBCOlympics.com and saw there is a sport called trampoline...... never saw that before, now I'm interested.

HOLY CRAP!

What a comeback by the U.S.!!!! The relay sprint team overcame an almost full bodylength deficit to win the gold and SHATTER the world record!

Incredible comeback by U.S. on the swim team race. The world record was shattered. I think 3 teams passed the previous record.

Yep, the French came there to "smash" the Americans...

That brousard guy for the french was on a tear though! Im conviced michael phelps is part dolphin or something.

What a race! Won by .08!

MAN that was exciting!!! Screw you France

Hell yeah! That was awesome! I almost jumped up and yelled, but didn't want to wake up my 2 ladies in the other room.

I even jumped on the phone to call my dad and ask, "did you just see that?!?!?!"

Do you think michael is going to get the other 6 gold medals?

That event was supposed to be the toughest for him to win. So with that gold out of the way, his chances just greatly improved.

Anyone watch the medal ceremony?

I can never get tired of that. Watching the Stars and Stripes flying high above all else, listening to our National Anthem playing proudly. I couldn't imagine standing up there. It would be something to remember forever.

All I gotta say is... EAT SOME CROW you frenchies...

He seems to be swimming his very best so the rest of them shouldn't be that difficult.

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i saw a news report somewhere ...

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Then it must be true...

He makes it look so easy... but I'm sure he'll still get challenged... I love watching that boy swim... we had a guy I swam with growing up who ended up making it to the olympic trial but never the olympics... he had a very similar build (but shorter) as Phelps and it was always amazing to watch him swim too.... just looked so much more natural in the water than on the land.

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just looked so much more natural in the water than on the land.

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you've never seen me in my pool on my raft, with a floating cooler!