Men's 100 meter run

[TheConfessor]

Apparently this event has already been run, according to a headline I saw by accident on a web site. WTF? Why wouldn't NBC show the quintessential event of the whole Olympics? I assume we'll get to see a tape delay at some point.

[a1mamacat]

Apparently this event has already been run, according to a headline I saw by accident on a web site. WTF? Why wouldn't NBC show the quintessential event of the whole Olympics? I assume we'll get to see a tape delay at some point.

CBC showed it live.



It was unfrickin' believable.

Spoiler

JAMAICA!!!!! - New Record too

[JBillyGirl]

Yeah, it's gonna be their "spotlight" event tonight, but everyone already knows the result. NBC still thinks all the big events need to be shown in prime time, while everyone else in the world gets to see them live. It's got something to do with all that advertising they sold. Bleh.

[TheConfessor]

Apparently they feel it's important to show some fluff biographical pieces before actually showing the race. The announcer just came on and said "It's time to CHOOSE the world's fastest human." What does he think this is, American Idol? Are we supposed to text vote for our favorites?

[Ritterskoop]

It was around 9 a.m. Eastern this morning.

[TheConfessor]

Spoiler

Wow, he could have run a lot faster if he hadn't started celebrating before the finish. I guess he wants to keep breaking the WR a little bit at a time, instead of all at once.

[takinover]

I get the CBC too

But I haven't watch any of the Olympics except for a few moments of the NBA Redeem Team.

[ulysses5019]

Spoiler

Wow, he could have run a lot faster if he hadn't started celebrating before the finish. I guess he wants to keep breaking the WR a little bit at a time, instead of all at once.

That's what the great Soviet pole vaulter, Sergey Bubka, used to do. He broke the world record 35 times (indoor and outdoor). It's a lot easier to set records in the pole vault.

[TheConfessor]

Spoiler

Wow, he could have run a lot faster if he hadn't started celebrating before the finish. I guess he wants to keep breaking the WR a little bit at a time, instead of all at once.

That's what the great Soviet pole vaulter, Sergey Bubka, used to do. He broke the world record 35 times (indoor and outdoor). It's a lot easier to set records in the pole vault.

Yeah, and each time he would break the record by as little as possible, usually one centimeter, so he could keep breaking it over and over. It was all about maximizing the bonus money he was paid by track meet promoters. They typically offered bonuses for any competitors who broke world records. It's harder to be so precisely incremental in a timed event, but the same principle applies, and might have entered Bolt's mind when he slowed down at the 80 meter mark.

[etaoin22]

It's all over but the peeing....

[BackInTex]

Yeah, it's gonna be their "spotlight" event tonight, but everyone already knows the result. NBC still thinks all the big events need to be shown in prime time, while everyone else in the world gets to see them live. It's got something to do with all that advertising they sold. Bleh.

Well they certainly got their money's worth showing 95% of the women's marathon.

YAWN!

I kept thinking "certainly they will cut away for 30 minutes or so to show some other events." Not so.

[littlebeast13]

Warning, killjoy whine enclosed.....

Spoiler

Are the Olympics about over yet?

lb13

[ulysses5019]

Warning, killjoy whine enclosed.....

Spoiler

Are the Olympics about over yet?

lb13

Spoiler

The Athens Olympics just finished up.

[Sir_Galahad]

I am glad they showed the race during prime time as this is when I can sit down, relax and watch some TV. Despite his apparent easing up towards the finish, I thought Bolt was aptly named. He just dusted the competition. And, as far as I am concerned, I have had quite enough of swimming.

[silverscreenselect]

And, as far as I am concerned, I have had quite enough of swimming.

Last night's swimming events, with Dara Torres at age 41 just missing the gold medal as the fastest woman on water (by the same .01 that Michael Phelps won his medal) and then Phelps winning his eighth gold had plenty of historic significance. And frankly, most of the finals were pretty darned exciting with a lot of near photo finishes.

[silverscreenselect]

That's what the great Soviet pole vaulter, Sergey Bubka, used to do. He broke the world record 35 times (indoor and outdoor). It's a lot easier to set records in the pole vault.

I remember a number of years ago when they talked to a group of doctors and asked them to predict what the lower limits for world records would be, i.e. a time (or height or distance) that it would impossible for people to beat due to the limitations of the human body. No one is going to run a three second 100 meters for example. The figure for the 100 meters was 9.7. Obviously, Bolt could have beaten that figure by a good bit and there's another Bolt coming along in a few years so we could see a 9.5 somewhere along the way.

Ironically, the one event that they could not put an upper figure on was the pole vault because they felt that improving technology in the design of the pole would make increasingly greater heights possible.

It's not really fair to compare running with pole vault. Bolt has two more events, the 200 and the relay and if he were to run flat out in an event he had won just to go for a record and wound up running out of gas in a later event (or worse, injuring himself), then that would have been silly. No one accuses a runner of letting up when he coasts to a finish in an earlier heat of the race for the exact same reason. The pole vaulter gets to select what height he sets the bar at, and assuming he has already clinched the gold medal, it makes no sense to try to break the world record by several inches only to fail when an attempt at a "minor" new record would have succeeded.

[Sir_Galahad]

And, as far as I am concerned, I have had quite enough of swimming.

Last night's swimming events, with Dara Torres at age 41 just missing the gold medal as the fastest woman on water (by the same .01 that Michael Phelps won his medal) and then Phelps winning his eighth gold had plenty of historic significance. And frankly, most of the finals were pretty darned exciting with a lot of near photo finishes.

Perhaps, but I was burnt out by all the swimming shown on prime time. So Phelps won eight golds. Great! I suppose that does hold some significance for those that care about such things. I just want to see some great competition; not a focus on one particular sport or individual.