2008 Beijing Olympics

[drakos13]

about Phelps swimmer hes 23 now so i guess he was 19-20 back in Athens...hes not doping I dont think. He seems to invite them to test him because hes clean...I beleive him really. The man is basically a dolphin.

Bolt has got to be tested IMO. He smashed the record, and in the last strides even slowed and started waving his arms up - thats unreal. Its no disrespect, but smashing world records, got to ask the question.

Everybody should be tested, otherwise, the concept makes absolutley no sense. You cant only test "randomly" the idea is not to allow banned substances.

But, I wont be surprised if the IOC is balancing them out intentionally.

If people found out Phelps and Bolt were doped out of their minds - would the media shift its whole attention to the Olympics every year? When they find out, that nearly all athletes are doping, are people going to even care when records are broken anymore?

I feel like theres incentive for IOC to not want to expose every case, and let records to be "cheated" as it draws great press for the Olympic Games, and if theyre all frauds, then the integrity is shot. They need to make it seem real??? I mean record breakers - everybody loves them. People get excited...If nobody could take them seriousl anymore the IOC's Games would be hurting big....

[Clover22]

Good point drakos and I also find difficult to believe that all these swimming records are being broken, one after the other, legitimately. Where theres politics and money, things can't all be clean and legitmate. And yeah, it would be nice to know just what their procedure is for testing; I mean, every athlete has to be tested the same number of times if they want to be fair about it.

[Clover22]

Also the article on Halkia says she volunteered to get tested; could it be some sort of mistake?

[BlueStriker]

I guess it was a mistake for her to volunteer.

[Guest TheLegend]

I guess it was a mistake for her to volunteer.

she was part of a group tht volunteers to get tested every day i read.

Why would u be so stupid as to do that if u know ur on something.

Guys no matter what the IOC does they cheated and no mater how good they are they made Greece a joke and should never be allowed to represent again...

About Bolt I reealy think something is up with him beating the record and going the last 20 meters waving his hands in the air.... wtf is that... so hes almost double the speed of the other world bests??

Anyways I hope we can hit 10 medals this year. With some sort of luck well have bronze in basketball

[PurelyAcademic]

Phelps might be "clean" in the sense that whatever he's taking just isn't on the blacklist yet. I have a hard time believing that he can be so dominant in two straight Olympics without any sort of "aid," and don't tell me it's the 12,000 calories a day that does it!

[Irlandos]

Results 18/8/2008:

*Stella Papadopoulou qualified for the finals in the hammer throw. :)

*Kostas Douvalidis qualified for the next round in the 110m hurdles. :)

*Greece defeated PR China in basketball 91-77 :tup:

*Spain - Greece 10-6 in water polo :tdown:

[PurelyAcademic]

3/4 is not bad! Unfortunately both men's and women's water polo this year were very disappointing. For what it's worth, the match against Spain had no bearing as I believe both teams were eliminated...but a win against the Spaniards, even in polo, would have been nice anyway!

[cyberfish]

Also the article on Halkia says she volunteered to get tested; could it be some sort of mistake?

From the little I understand, I think Halkia (and the others) thought she was "safe".

This is what I understand, and if someone knows more I'd love to learn.

Athletes take drugs in doses and at specific times in a cycle with the goal to peak during specific games. Most dopping takes place well before the games and increases their capacity to parctice more and to build muscle mass.

Athletes try to evade tests by taking "masking" drugs, and by testing when the substances can't be traced any longer (if they can help it). Most doping takes place well before the actual games and that's why they get tested randomly throughout the year. It is not practical to test everyone all year round.

This time around the tests seem to have gotten more sophisticated. Tracing drugs that were previously undetectable, tracing them beyond what athletes and their doctors think is possible (time-wise after they stop taking them) seems to have trumped the Greek team that is falling behind it their doping game.

It also helps that the IOC has quadrupled their budget and testing frequency in these Olympics.

Personally I don't believe that it is humanly possible to break established world records in any sport without drugs today (that includes the swimmers with their space-age suits). Maybe I am a little overly-cynical, but I have a hard time seeing much difference between the Olympics and Pro-Wrestling any more. I am glad they are cracking down.

[drakos13]

what part of smashing world records with total ease and consistency doesnt raise eyebrows with the Olympic comittee exactly????

[PAO_OR_DEATH]

NZ has atm 6 medals......2 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronze.... just saying greece better get their arses into gear so my friends dont make fun of our lack of medals at the olympics....

[drakos13]

weve got a few now man, 3 is the count...

[drakos13]

[loup]

Nothing today

Long jump - faulted on 3 jumps and sent home before the final jumps took place

hurdler came last

Basketball vs Argentina in 2 days after beating

China

[loup]

worst part is that Tsatoumas - the long jumper - had a jump in the preliminaries that would have gotten him the silver medal

Didn't see the jumps -- did he fault or was he hurt?

[BlueStriker]

He faulted, he didn't seem hurt. Poor guy, on NET-ERT I heared he was crying for a while after he was eliminated.

[BlueStriker]

This time around the tests seem to have gotten more sophisticated. Tracing drugs that were previously undetectable, tracing them beyond what athletes and their doctors think is possible (time-wise after they stop taking them) seems to have trumped the Greek team that is falling behind it their doping game.

We need some better drugs. :LOL:

[athinaios]

I just read that Fannie Halkia was found dopped. Today, her second sample was positive too. What a shame.

Halkia was the one that was sent to Beijing even though Hadji (what's her name) who had better time this year and had asked for 1 play-off meeting with Halkia??!!! But, the officials didn't listen. I guess they're sorry now. :angry:

The "funny" thing is that 15 Greek athletes were found to be using the same illegal substance! Organized crime?

PS>I don't understand why both could not go? Doesn't every country have the chance to send 3 athletes for a sport with 3 medals?

[PAO_OR_DEATH]

add another bronze to NZ's tally, now we have 7. I just saw douvalidis came 4th in his 2nd round hurdels heat just beaten by the chinese guy (not the famous one of course)

[PAO_OR_DEATH]

do any atheletes think of maybe NOT taking drugs,,,,just a thought

[Irlandos]

I read yesterday that one of the athletes caught on performance-enhancing drugs was a shooter (skopeftis).

How on earth do drugs enhance the performance of a shooter? :blink:

[drakos13]

I read yesterday that one of the athletes caught on performance-enhancing drugs was a shooter (skopeftis).

How on earth do drugs enhance the performance of a shooter? :blink:

maybe muscle relaxant? hold the gun steadier?

[BlueStriker]

do any atheletes think of maybe NOT taking drugs,,,,just a thought

For sports that rely heavily on strength and/or speed, IF all the big countries are doing it (and getting away with it), you pretty much have no chance of winning without doing drugs. So either you're clean and almost certainly lose, or you take your chances and cheat.

I know, it sucks, but sadly that's the reality of the Olympics :tdown:

[Clover22]

Thanks for the response cyber. I have another question; is there enough being put into the sports development programs in Greece? Because I think we really should be doing better than this even with the doped up athletes that got caught. Anyones opinion?

[Irlandos]

In my days zip was being invested in athletics. Double-zip for women.

Anyone know what the story is now?

Btw, our water polo team defeated China. I think the score was 13-8.

Kaklamanakis has a good chance for a medal in sailing, later in the day. Also, our basketball team plays Argentina in the quarters. :gr: