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And It's Over... Your Beijing Top 5?


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So the Games are officially done. What were your top 5 (and only 5) moments?

Mine are...

5. The Men's platform diving - 10 metres. To see an Aussie knock off theChinese - priceless.

4. The opening ceremony - well done, visually stunning.

3. The volunteers - you may have needed to be there for this one - but they were all smiles, tried very hard to speak English and were just joyous that their countrie's big moment had finally arrived.

2. The Korean archery team final - amazing to see live - amazing world record.

and -

1. Michael Phelps. He may be as thick as a plank of wet wood - but the boy can swim!

Edited by thatsnotmypuppy
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Competition is not done airing here in the US yet, but thus so far, my personal top 5?

5: The US Men's Gymnastics team's surprise bronze medal. See, folks? You CAN win medals other than gold and still be thrilled. Nice to be reminded of that.

4: The Opening Ceremony. Little intimidating at times, but absolutely breathtaking, especially the movable type segment and the lighting of the cauldron.

3. Togo's first Olympic medal, a surprise bronze in whitewater kayak. I cannot remember the athlete's name at the moment, but the image of him breaking his paddle in half and raising the pieces in celebration is a favorite of mine.

2. Usain Bolt. It's only gloating if you can't back it up and brother, did he back it up. The only regret? If he hadn't started celebrating so early in the 100m, I'm almost certain we would have seen an 9.50 time. The big question now is will he add the 400m to his program for London. The record books are waiting.

and...

1. Big shock here: Phelps. It's gotten played to death but his celebration at the end of the 4x100m freestyle relay is just burned in my mind. Just an amazing performance that was... well... Olympic. :)

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5. Usian Bolt (even though I fear he and the other Jamaicans are 'chemically enhanced')

4. The Togo kayaker!

3. Anna Meares. Almost paralysed 6 months ago, silver medal in Beijing

2. Steve Hooker - first Aussie T&F male gold in 40 years

1. The Cuban guy kicking the judges head

Honourable mentions to Matthias Steiner, Sally 'The Bogan Nutcase' McLennan & ABC Radio's great coverage

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5. The opening ceremony

4. Togoan kayaker dude!

3. Usain Bolt

2. Icelands handball team

And at number 1, Norway's handball team's semi final win against South Korea. Not just for patriotic reasons, but for the sheer explosion of joy throughout Norway when the 29-28 goal was scored with fractions to go.

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1. Opening Ceremony

2. Matthias Steiner's jig after he won gold in weightlifting and his sadness due the death of his wife during the medal ceremony

3. Michael Phelps

4. the result of the United States, United Kingdom, Deutschland, Australia, Italia, France, Nederlanden, Espana, Romania, Canada, Polska, Norge, Magyarorszag, Cesko, Slovensko, New Zealand, Danmark, Schweiz/Suisse/Svizerra, Türkiye, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Suomi, Latvia, Belgique/Belgie, Eesti, Portugal, Hrvatska, Lietuva, Ellada, Ireland, Österreich, Island, Chile....

5. The Watercube

Edited by Citius Altius Fortius
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My 5...

5. China.. we all questioned how well they would be able to pull off these games, and I know I'm disappointed. Sure there were judging controversies and the occasional driving rainstorm, but these organizers delivered. And as someone with an HDTV, bless your souls for investing the money to set up every single venue for high-definition. The images were beautiful and they all should be proud.

4. Team USA.. So many teams out-performed expectations. Medals were won by both basketball teams, both water polo teams, both volleyball teams, baseball and softball, women's soccer, plus sweeping the golds in beach volleyball. Some of those were expected, others not so much. But they certainly gave us some thrills over the past 2.5 weeks.

4a. Men's team gymnastics.. You could tell by the way NBC was covering the event that even they didn't take team USA seriously at first. And can you imagine how well the team might have done with 2 healthy Hamm brothers instead of 0. I'm not a huge fan of gymnastics, but I was into it here and for me that was the most exciting night of all of it.

3. The opening ceremony.. That was spectacular. For that many people to pull off a show that well done is nothing short of amazing. In terms of pure emotion, I think the cauldron lighting in Sydney was a little better, but hard to argue with the overall package here

2. Usain Bolt.. I was fortunate enough to be in the stands when he originally broke the world record in New York back in May. And for someone who has an autographed Michael Johnson picture in his apartment, I was sad to see that record fall. But what Bolt did ranks up there with what the best sprinters of all time have done and the best part is that is he just beginning. Looking forward to seeing him again in London.

1. Michael Phelps.. An obvious choice, but I was yelling at the TV when Lezak was on the final leg of the 4x100 free relay and watched from a bar with friends when he out-touched Cavic in the 100 fly. His quest for 8 golds certainly wasn't without drama and for all the controversy NBC created by moving the swimming finals, to get all those events live made it even better. And like Bolt, we certainly haven't seen the last of Phelps. Not impossible that he could have 20 career gold medals by the time it's all over.

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In no particular order--

1) Michael Phelps. Again...and again...and again....

2) Oksana Chusovitina's silver medal in gymnastics/vault, at age 33 and FIFTH (!!!) Olympics.

3) Matthew Mitcham's platform diving gold. Talk about doing the Dive of Your Dreams when it mattered the most.

4) Benjamin Boukpeti (to be known forevermore as "the Togo kayaker dude") :D

5) Usain Bolt. Again...and again....and again.

Interesting to see so many Opening Ceremony mentions on this thread. It didn't rate with me at all.

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I was fortunate enough to by coincidence tune into the slalom event just as the final 4 were starting. Once the Togoan started getting close to the finish line, I realized history was in the making. :D

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5 - Dara Torres - at 41, her silver should inspire people to think about sport/fitness for life

4 - Team Britain's golden hind - good things to come in 2012

3 - Team China's golden horde - good show on home ground

2 - Bolt - Three's Company

1 - Phelps - Eight is Enough

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5. Park Tae-Hwan winning South Korea's first-ever Olympic swimming medals, a gold and silver in the freestyle races.

4. Carol Huynh securing Canada's first medal (gold) a week into the Games, and her emotional cries on the podium, which set off a flurry of medals for the Canadian nation in the second week.

3. The resurgence of Great Britain. Especially great to see them rule the waves. Are they poised to become an Olympic powerhouse once again?

2. Phelps. I'm tired of hearing about this guy, but 8 golds is 8 golds.

1. Usain Bolt and his electric performances. He's shattered records, he's got personality, he's a youngster, he's a Jamaican sprinter actually running for Jamaica, and best of all he endeared himself to China's earthquake victim kids. He's got it all, and Rogge can stuff it.

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5 - the Cuban drop kicking the ref. Priceless :P

4 - Carol Huynh winning gold. Every Olympics there is some Canadian that is endearing -

3 - Dara Torres - an inspiration to people who are close to the same age as she is

2 - Bolt - amazing

1 - Michael Phelps. What more needs to be said

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5 - British domination of the velodrome

4 - Opening Ceremony

3/2 - Usain Bolt's record beating performance

2/3 - Michael Phelps' record beating performance

1 - China's position in the medals table/ number of nations included on the medals table

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Well, at he risk of being repetitive, and in no particular order:

5: The outdoor venues, particularly the road race at the Great Wall and Triathlon at the Ming Tombs

4: The rise of Team GB up the tables

3: Usain Bolt

2: Michael Phelps

1: The Opening ceremony

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The Canadian men's 8's in rowing and rowing in general, 8 boats, 5 in the finals, 4 medals, second in total to Britain that spends 6 million more than use

Winning medals in athletics and swimming again, though we need to improve the colour

The German weightlifter

Andreas Thorkildsen winning gold in the javelin

Opening Ceremonies

Disappointments

Canada's lack of gold

the Union Jack instead of the Drapeau tricolore, with Boris Johnson making it worse

Michael Phelps, I'm disappointed he won 8.

Iceland losing to France

No Queen

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5 - the Cuban drop kicking the ref. Priceless :P

4 - Carol Huynh winning gold. Every Olympics there is some Canadian that is endearing -

3 - Dara Torres - an inspiration to people who are close to the same age as she is

2 - Bolt - amazing

1 - Michael Phelps. What more needs to be said

I would like change my #5 choice. That was stupid.

Bryan Clay, winning the decathlon and becoming the "World's Greatest Athlete" as well as the Mens Basketball Team showing some class for a change I put in that position.

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I would like change my #5 choice. That was stupid.

Bryan Clay, winning the decathlon and becoming the "World's Greatest Athlete" as well as the Mens Basketball Team showing some class for a change I put in that position.

Except for the dog calls when they got onto the podium that was just stupid.

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Except for the dog calls when they got onto the podium that was just stupid.

And your response to Bolt's showmanship (chastised by Rogge) and the Brazilians disrespect during our anthem was?

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And your response to Bolt's showmanship (chastised by Rogge) and the Brazilians disrespect during our anthem was?

I hate showmanship and the arrogance that Bolt displayed, it was disrespectful, its one thing to win but to rub it in is pathetic. But Jamaicans don't exactly have the best reputation, especially where I live. Arrogant and Ignorant are the adjectives most associated with Jamaicans here.

Phelps also over did his celebrating too, most do a fist pump or something, he slaps tits, splashes like a four year-old and screams like a girl.

I assume the Brazilian disrespect was during volleyball, probably the men's indoor medal ceremony. I hadn't heard a thing, but I think incidents like this disrespect the rightful protests during the Cold War era by puppet-state athletes. But again Brazilian sportsmanship is not a well-known quality and the Brazilians have always had adverse opinions of the United States. But if you don't like it, just stand there and shut up, don't ruin the moment because its not yours.

And Todd you should know me better, I would never selectively pick on the Americans.

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I hate showmanship and the arrogance that Bolt displayed, it was disrespectful, its one thing to win but to rub it in is pathetic. But Jamaicans don't exactly have the best reputation, especially where I live. Arrogant and Ignorant are the adjectives most associated with Jamaicans here.

Phelps also over did his celebrating too, most do a fist pump or something, he slaps tits, splashes like a four year-old and screams like a girl.

I assume the Brazilian disrespect was during volleyball, probably the men's indoor medal ceremony. I hadn't heard a thing, but I think incidents like this disrespect the rightful protests during the Cold War era by puppet-state athletes. But again Brazilian sportsmanship is not a well-known quality and the Brazilians have always had adverse opinions of the United States. But if you don't like it, just stand there and shut up, don't ruin the moment because its not yours.

And Todd you should know me better, I would never selectively pick on the Americans.

I know you don't.

Fair enough.

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1. Liu Xiang, and the spirit the Chinese showed despite his withdrawal

2. Michael Phelps climbing on Mount Spitz

3. Opening Ceremony

4. The Bolt Trifecta

5. Chris Hoy (GB) , Michael Mitcham (AUS) , Steve Hooker (AUS), Britta Steffen (GER), Kirsty Conventry (ZIM), Matthias Steiner (GER)

Disapointments

1. Liu Xiang

2. Australian Men's Field Hockey

Others

1. Japan winning the softball, Korea winning the baseball. Usually property of the US and Cuba.

2. Rise of team GB

3. Equestrian on a golf course. hawt.

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