Olympics: Biggest scam in sports?? - Page 2

I googled it. Bayern Munich used the Olympic stadium until 2002.

Say what you want about the IOC and its horrible venue choice, but the USOC came off looking even worse this week by forcing the US track cyclists to apologize for having the gall to wear the face masks that were distributed to them. What a crock. Even if it was an organized "statement", it's not like they showed up at the airport wearing "Free Tibet" t-shirts. I guess we were afraid the Chinese government would start calling in their debts that we owe them.

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"Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things"

-- Some dude

The Olympics have been a staging area for years to promote products through athletic competition. Large athletic wear corporations, pharmaceutical companies, health food etc. that have product to sell want to get their name out there.
Athletes want to win and get their face on a Wheaties box and of course rake in endorsement money. Local businesses and inverstors want a cut.
Corruption abounds within the framework, but as far as an international money making event I think it beats a war even if a pair of Nikes doesn't sell for as much as an RPG or tank.

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Dope,when training and talent just aren't enough.

I was a big fan of the olympic ideal prior to allowing professionals. Once they let pros in, I really don't see the purpose. Professional athletes always have been and remain much different than the amateur who pursues his sport (ideally) for different reasons. To be honest, I haven't followed the olympics in ages, and don't even know when they start this year.

Regardless of the prevailing cynical wind in this thread, I will still appreciate the superhuman exploits of the "best of the best" athletes in the world...Corporate greed and corruption will never be eradicated (same can be said for doping in any sport) as long as there remains a human element involved...Where there is competition, forever will there be someone looking to gain an advantage (legally or otherwise) over their counterparts - call it human nature...

The olympics is for sport.

Perhaps in theory, but how do you explain synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics?

I say get rid of everything that has subjective scoring.

http://www.slate.com/id/86069/

Stolen from another site:

I remember the first time I saw the rhythmic gymnastics.... I concluded there were a bunch of IOC officials sitting around a table somewhere, getting high and feasting on hoho's and dorito's, inventing "sports" and wondering if they could get people to watch them on tv....

Official 1: "dude! like maybe we can get some hot babes in blue spandex to just dance on the mats for us!"
Official 2: "yeah but dude, what are we gonna call it? we gotta give it a name so that it sounds like a sport... man, pass them brownies over here..."
Official 1: "we could like, call it rhythmic pelvic thrusting or something cool like that!"
Official 2: "no man, if we call it gymnastics everyone will buy into it.... rhythmic gymnastics... that's it!
Official 1: "dude... you are my hero!"
Official 2: "let's head over to the strip joint to see if we can round up some competitors...."

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

I agree 100% with that statement. Paid-off judges, political vendettas, etc...but I still love boxing...

Yeah... I got to admit... I like watching amateur boxing. It's just three rounds of an all-out punchfest. And they wear protective headgear to satisfy the pacifists. Gold medal night is great viewing.

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These small modifications would make the Olympics a lot more entertaining.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Jeebus Christ. I just want to see some of the $300 million the Chinese spent on the opening ceremonies and it's been fifteen minutes of NBC crap without a ceremony in sight. This blows.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

I have to say, it is pretty impressive what an inexhaustible supply of extremely impoverished labor can produce in terms of an opening ceremony.

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
-- Albert Einstein

The Munchen Olympiastadion was opened in 1972.

From season 1972-3 until 2005-6 both TSV 1860 Munchen and Bayern Munchen (never Bayern Munich) shared the stadium.

Both play now in the Allianz Arena

Just thought you'd want to know.

Some of it was impressive. I was surprised to see that the matrix of boxes that made patterns were controlled by people.

Watching the Olympic flag be moved around by goosestepping chinese soldiers was too funny given the parallels to the Nazi Olympics that have been made.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

I've read that the Athens stadium is unused and a lot of the other venues are falling apart. It does not look like Greece got much in return for their Olympics.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates