Athens 2004

[Daz]

On the brighter side, the british sprint team did ok, beating a couple of American world champions in the relay. And Kelly Holmes going home with 2 gold medals, after all those injuries.

Did anyone see the mens marathon, where the leader was bundled into the crowd by some idiot and finished off in second place? I thought that was a discrace. I s'pose some blame goes to the sercurity and the organisers for not doing anything.

-Daz

[Andail]

The tiny mountainous area referred to as "Norway" actually beat us in the medal race. How humiliating.

Seriously though, Esseb, how the heck did you do it? Did you bribe all the judges with oil?

[Esseb]

Something like that. It involved oiling at least.

[Nellie]

RAARGHBLARGHGRRRPaulaRadcliffeSNARFGAHHBLARRR!!!

So is that sympathy or scorn, Chris?

Maybe I'm just a big softie, but I have almost the exact opposite opinion.Ã,  15 other women dropped out of that marathon (and they were all going at a less punishing pace than she was), and 22(!) men dropped out of yesterday's marathon.Ã,  Unless we're going to harshly criticise 37 Olympic-class athletes for not finishing the marathon too, Radcliffe definitely deserves sympathy there.

As for the 10k meters, it was disappointing that she didn't finish, but I guess she was going for glory or bust.Ã,  And having seen how devastated she was in the marathon (and appreciating that her body hadn't had time to recover), I can't bring myself to think she did anything terrible by stepping off the track when she couldn't keep up the pace.Ã,  It's not like a kitten explodes whenever an athlete drops out of a race.

But, Chris, knowing you as someone on the forum who is slow to criticise, and quick to forgive, and having seen you step into a few threads where you felt someone was being unfairly criticised, reading your rant against Radcliffe was a pretty funny shock for me.

[Felipe]

Did anyone see the mens marathon, where the leader was bundled into the crowd by some idiot and finished off in second place

I'd say the security during this Olimpcs was great... if it wasn't for what happened during the men's marathon.

Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima was leading the marathon when this idiot came and grabbed him. He lost precious seconds, but worst than that and the "phisical damage" was the "psycological damage". He still managed to get back to the proof and ended up in 3rd place.

The Brazilian Olimpic Comitee expected some kind of "recompensation" for that, and now he'll receive a medal in honour for what he's done... a medal last (and only, if I'm not mistaken) given in 1988.
I think the best thing to do in that moment was to stop the marathon and have it again the other day or two days after.

Anyway, about the idiot who grabbed him, I'm pretty sure most of you remember him, it's an ex-priest from Ireland - named Cornelius Horan - the same that entered in the midle of the track during the GP of Silverstone with posters and wearing a skilt... remember that?
Well, I don't know what you guys think, but in my opinion people like him should be in a mental asylum!

I'm not trying to say that Vanderlei would have won (I'm not saying he wouldn't, either - that's something we'll never know) but I think special actions should be taken...


-Felipe-