Field Theory by Hadyn Green

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Field Theory: Did you see that?

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  • Hadyn Green,

    Yes, turning into another person is truly amazing, even for someone as talented as Phelps.

    Yeah, I got that. I was talking about Phelps' last 25m. Where he was trailing the Australian by maybe 2m and he caught it up.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Bob Munro,

    But is he the greatest Olympian of all time?

    Apart from Zeus himself of course, I should think Steve Redgrave would be in the frame?

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    Oh, my mistake then. The split times are broken down a bit here. I'm not sure what it all means, though.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    How NZ can match Phelps (and Spitz, and Biondi ...):

    Olympic Rowing Events:

    2000m: Waddell & Drysdale (same boat), Waddell & Drysdale (relay boats), Waddell, Drysdale.
    1500m: Waddell & Drysdale (same boat), Waddell & Drysdale (relay boats), Waddell, Drysdale.
    1000m: Waddell & (you get the picture)

    Repeat for women
    Repeat for mixed
    Repeat, but facing a different way

    I mean, these swimmers are great, but that's what the medal haul really comes down to: opportunities, arbitrarily decided. Why do (e.g.) windsurfers spend over a week and many races getting just one? Why can't they race six times over six distances for six golds?

    Put me on the IOC, I'll sort it out.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • noizyboy,

    I mean, these swimmers are great, but that's what the medal haul really comes down to: opportunities, arbitrarily decided.

    indeed. yamis over at blogging it real raised the same point the other day...

    WHAT THE FUCK? 50m free style, 100m, 200m, 400m, 1500m, 10km marathon swim, plus the relay versions and then you can add in all the different strokes over the same distances, plus medley replays.

    If you throw in the one for water polo, 2 for synchronised swimming and 8 for diving it means there are 45 medals decided in a large puddle of water. That's bullshit. Track and Field only has 47.

    If they are going to have that many for swimming then they may as well add in the 50m sprint in athletics as well as the 100m backwards, 100m hopping (2 feet and one foot events separated of course), the blindfolded run, the wheelbarrow race, the frisbee relay race, the race with arms outstretch like and aeroplane, the 200m windmill arm race, the 400m bouncing a ball while running race and the handstand race.

    I suggest though that they get rid of the butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke as freestyle is the fastest. Why the hell would you do something a slower way and then turn it into a competition. They may as well add in the piggy back 100m sprint if that's the case.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 171 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    How NZ can match Phelps

    That was exactly my argument too.

    Weightlifting is the same. It's not like they get a medal for the snatch and another for the clean and jerk.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    ...I suggest though that they get rid of the butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke as freestyle is the fastest. Why the hell would you do something a slower way and then turn it into a competition...

    and now I shall attempt to defend swimming, after dissing it.

    You do those strokes for the same reason weightlifting has judges: technique. Ok, not quite the same.

    Every swimmer (apparently) hates breaststroke. It's hard and slow. So why do it? Because it's a very tricky stroke to master, hence if you win a lot of your victory comes from the fact that you have a better form and technique compared to the other swimmers, rather than just brute strength or speed (compare and contrast Phelps with Kisuke Kitajima who won the 100m Breaststroke).

    In this way athletics has the hurdles, the cross country, the triple jump, and the the pole vault.

    Distance is a different issue.

    Also just as a side note: Freestyle means you can swim that race (or leg) in any style you want. It's just that the front crawl is the fastest, so everyone uses that.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    Darren Liddell won 3 Commonwealth golds in KL, thanks to the generous double (triple) dipping rules. With that, NZ zoomed up the medal table, was no longer a Nation In Decline, and Jenny Shipley was saved.*


    *until France.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    __How NZ can match Phelps__

    That was exactly my argument too.

    My Dad, who was at the 1976 Olympics, who had friendly rivalry with the Canadian he was staying with over whose team would perform better, tells a story of the day he was able to inform his mate that New Zealand had won 11 gold medals in a single day ... our hockey team had triumphed :-)

    How can we match Phelps? We don't need to. Phelps is in 8 events and may win 8 medals, Snell was in two events and won both - they'll both have acheieved their aim.

    Put me on the IOC, I'll sort it out.

    I don't think it's up to them. The IOC have allowed swimming into the Olympics (and is it 42 other sports?), I believe its up to the international swimming body to sort it out (within limits, I'm sure). I had heard at one point that this might be why the IOC couldn't kick out synchronised swimming.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Gabor Toth,

    The Fencing uniforms comments of my last post) wires for fencers have been around for a while. They still have the shorts with the high socks though.

    Electronic scoring for Foil and Epee has been around for ages and was relatively easy to do because those two fencing disciplines are all pointy-jabby. Stick a button on the end of the foil (i.e. sword) and you're away. Sabre on the other hand (which what was on telly the other day) is all slashy-slashy where cuts count as much as jabs. This made electronic scoring quite difficult and for many years this continued to be scored by "humans" (up to four officials required in top competitions). Now with a fully metallic upper-suit covering the head and torso, sabre has also gone electronic - so yes the big silver welding helmet thing (much bulkier than the masks used by Foil and Epee fencers) and the flashing lights are quite new.

    Wellington • Since Dec 2006 • 137 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Dowden,

    And I still love that world-record green line zooming along the pool, and the country names on the lanes (in the rowing too)

    How about those pretty fireworks? P'raps they can also sketch in a few happy smiling family members to watch from the empty seats.

    Canberra • Since Dec 2007 • 38 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    they'll both have acheieved their aim.

    Who cares about them? The medal table is for us and our blobby butts, so we don't have to ring Murray Deaker and moan that we're below Uzbekistan because our kids have been captured by politically correct teachers who don't keep the score.

    It's a stupid problem so it needs a stupid solution. This used to be boycotts (we were a Great Sporting Nation in 1984), but now we have to be more creative. Getting rugby in is just the start.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • simon g,

    Hey, it turns out I can emulate Phelps.

    From the BBC:

    "I have been eating a lot of pasta and pizza, a lot of carbs. I have been eating and sleeping as much as I can."

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • Bob Munro,

    My Dad, who was at the 1976 Olympics, who had friendly rivalry with the Canadian he was staying with over whose team would perform better, tells a story of the day he was able to inform his mate that New Zealand had won 11 gold medals in a single day ... our hockey team had triumphed :-)

    We beat Australia in the final. There was a lovely photo from Whenuapai in the paper next day with an Australian Air Force plane being guided to a stop by a man with crossed hockey sticks.

    Downside. The Africans (including Iraq!) stayed away because of us.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Macdougall,

    How about those pretty fireworks? P'raps they can also sketch in a few happy smiling family members to watch from the empty seats.

    Yeah, what's with that? Where are all the crowds?

    Is it possible that the local population just isn't that interested? (Or maybe their interest is in other sports we're not seeing televised?)

    Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    How about those pretty fireworks?

    When we were watching the firework footprints I said "that looks like CGI". Then there was a shot inside the stadium with the fireworks exploding overhead and I said, "wow that was real". I feel kinda duped.

    P'raps they can also sketch in a few happy smiling family members to watch from the empty seats.

    The weightlifting, gymnastics, basketball etc seem to be full. Also the Japanese hockey and soccer matches were quite full too.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Thomas,

    yuh we thought the fireworks flyby looked obviously fake too. i guess they thought it was too fake to pull off, so they'd better admit it. it must've been an odd thought process that lead to the decision to CGI fireworks

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    From what I can tell the fireworks were real and were set off, but the camera footage was fake.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    and yet for some reason the beach volleyball girls still have to wear bikinis

    The front page of this morning's Dom Post had a small pic of two female volleyball players hugging after (I assume) winning their game. That might sound fairly ordinary, but one of them had her hand on the other one's bare arse cheek.

    But, you know, it's sport, not cheesecake.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    Anyone else see the Men’s slalom kayaking last night? (And why are we not a contender there?)

    Highlight was the guy from that well-known mountain river rapids nation of Togo, who got bronze.

    In his celebrations he smashed his paddle clean in two. He stopped for about .5 of a second and then just kept going. Highlight of the games for me so far.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Great Men's team Gymnastics yesterday. Some pretty incredible performances and the crowd was going nuts as China's victory drew towards certainty. Women's today.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    Brilliant wasn't it. He celebrated more than the guy who won, loved it.

    I've been waiting for the "corrupt official" event. You know - the one where the cousin of the official gets to learn to swim and then needs to be saved from drowning in the first heat, only to exit a hero. And thereby winning the "corrupt official" event.

    Mike McRoberts smugness over the (lets say) editing of the opening of the Olympics is a real downer. It was a brilliant show - stop peeking in the magicians hat.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    I wonder if the likes of Mike McRoberts etc. actually believe that all the scenes in LOTR were real too…

    And the shock / horror in the lip-synching by the 9 year-old who happened to be more telegenic than the real singer has been nothing short of xenophobic. Spice Girls / True Bliss anyone?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    And the shock / horror in the lip-synching by the 9 year-old who happened to be more telegenic than the real singer has been nothing short of xenophobic.

    People are conveniently forgetting that sports stadiums don't typically have fantastic acoustics and it's normal for singers at sports events to lip sync.

    What's sad is that the singer was rejected because she had crooked teeth, and now has evidence of her dental imperfection hitting the front pages of the world's newspapers and websites.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

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