More Olympic Shenanigans

[JAGED]

Why bother with the Olympics when I can find that here on the Forum?

Touché! 

[Nwbie]

I'm going to create a play about the American Revolution. It will be an epic production and show an authentic view of it that will stir your soul.

....but I'm going to use Nigerians to play all of the roles.

They wern't Nigerians?

 

[MORAY37]

You said "shenanigans".  You will now be pistol whipped.

[trax1]

I was reading the article from the link to The Times of London about this and it mentioned that during rehearsals for the opening ceremony a leading dancer was seriously injured and possible paralyzed from the waist down, I wonder what she was doing and how it happened, has anyone else heard more about this?   

[trax1]

I declare shenanigans on this whole thread, OP do you accept this decree of shenanigans?

[Holden McGroin]

Why go out of the way to try to pull the wool over the world's eyes by claiming that these kids were each from all of the 56 ethnic groups that represents China's populations, instead of saying they just represent them?  

They were not athletes....  It was a show...

[moot]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/science/12tier.html

If athletes didn’t have to cheat to win, they and society would be better off, says Bengt Kayser, the director of a sports medicine institute at the University of Geneva. In a 2005 article in The Lancet, he and two bioethicists argued that legalizing doping would “encourage more sensible, informed use of drugs in amateur sport, leading to an overall decline in the rate of health problems associated with doping.”

In the British Medical Journal last month, more than 30 scholars signed a statement supporting an article co-authored by Dr. Kayser calling the current system a failure that needs to be changed. The article also criticized the medical authorities for undermining their credibility with “prophylactic lies” that exaggerate the dangers of drugs like anabolic steroids based “on scant evidence tainted by a misguided moralistic motivation to protect sports.”
...
If elite adult athletes were allowed to push the limits of human performance in return for glory, they might point the way for lesser mortals to coax more out of their bodies. If a 50-year-old sprinter could figure out how to run as fast as her 25-year-old self, that could be useful to aging weekend warriors — or any aging couch potato.

I’d like to see what would happen if someone started a new anything-goes competition for athletes over 25. If you have any ideas for how to run it or what to call it — MaxMatch? UltraSports? Mutant Games? — submit them at nytimes.com/tierneylab. Maybe fans would object to these “unnatural” athletes. But maybe not. The fans, after all, include people with laser-corrected eyes, chemically whitened teeth and surgically enhanced anatomies. Not to mention the pharmacopeia coursing through our veins.

We all know the body can be improved. We all know Olympic athletes have the highest-functioning bodies in the world. They can call themselves natural, just as they used to call themselves amateurs, but at some point that claim may seem the most unnatural thing of all.

[JAGED]

They were not athletes....  It was a show...

A show, yes, under the Olympic experience umbrella.  Honesty, integrity, etc.   

[Holden McGroin]

A show, yes, under the Olympic experience umbrella.  Honesty, integrity, etc.   

The Olympic Oath is taken by one athlete and one judge at the opening ceremonies of each Olympic Games. It was spoken in Greek at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and in Italian at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

The athlete, from the team of the organizing country, holds a corner of the Olympic Flag while reciting the oath:

In the name of all the competitors I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.
 
The judge, also from the host nation, likewise holds a corner of the flag but takes a slightly different oath:

In the name of all the judges and officials, I promise that we shall officiate in these Olympic Games with complete impartiality, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them in the true spirit of sportsmanship

Hmmm... no oath taken on behalf of hot dog vendors, trash collectors, t-shirt or pin vendors, or anybody else that is "under the Olympic experience umbrella".

I guess the IOC does not consider that important.

>>and it isn't

[texasmom]

The problem isn't that the kids weren't "authentic."  So what if they had other kids dressed up to represent the other minority groups?

The problem is that the Olympic committee insisted that they were "authentic."  Why just not tell the truth?  It's the same thing that compulsive liars do... lie about crap that doesn't even matter...
Just tell the truth! *rolls eyes*

Jaged had it pegged from the start.

[JAGED]

The problem isn't that the kids weren't "authentic."  So what if they had other kids dressed up to represent the other minority groups?

The problem is that the Olympic committee insisted that they were "authenic."  Why just not tell the truth?  It's the same thing that compulsive liars do... lie about crap that doesn't even matter...
Just tell the truth! *rolls eyes*

Jaged had it pegged from the start.

<S> Thank you TexasMom! You get it... Holden is just being contrary for the sake of being contrary... 

[JAGED]

Hmmm... no oath taken on behalf of hot dog vendors, trash collectors, t-shirt or pin vendors, or anybody else that is "under the Olympic experience umbrella".

I guess the IOC does not consider that important.

>>and it isn't

China disagrees with you and the IOC:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/aug/13/reports-of-olympic-size-deception-emerge/

"China's propaganda ministry moved in Tuesday, deleting many online discussion entries and blocking access to video links showing Lin's lip-syncing."

"Internet postings speculated on whether the revelations of lip-syncing and animated fireworks would topple careers. Enormous secrecy surrounded the lead-up to the ceremony. Korean television reporters were chastised for leaking footage of a practice run, while those working on the production were told they faced seven years' imprisonment for disclosing details."


The eyes of the world are on China as the host country to the Olympics.  This was their chance to show the world what they are made of.  Instead we get Opening Ceremony shenanigans (there I said it again), with threats of prison to anyone exposing the sham!

Lipsyncing girl
Ethnics who were not
Fireworks, what fireworks?
Volunteer performers, what volunteers? (they were regular army and paramilitary)

[indy007]

They intentionally undersold tickets to the venues also. That's why they always look half full. They were "afraid of a crowd larger than they could handle." ... after spending more on the Olympics than they spend on healthcare AND education annually... they wouldn't even sell available tickets to their own citizens who are paying for it.

They bussed in paid volunteers to fill up the seats once people started asking why the stadiums never seemed full.

 

[VonMessa]

"Fifty-six children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag," read the ceremony program.

False advertising! They could have said, "56 children wearing the traditional garb of the 56 ethnic groups..." but no, they were passed off as actual "ethnic" children.  Just another misrepresentation like the fireworks, the singing vs. miming girl, etc...

Your outrage comes from what?  (I refer to all of your posts in this thread)

The presumption that people from another country are held and bound by the same laws, morals, and behaviors that we, in the US are?

How quaint.

[JAGED]

Your outrage comes from what?  (I refer to all of your posts in this thread)

The presumption that people from another country are held and bound by the same laws, morals, and behaviors that we, in the US are?

How quaint.

   Touché

Outrage is a little strong.  Dissapointment might be a better fit.  Dissapointment in China's squandered opportunity to show integrity and honesty as the host of the Olympics.