An Olympic Medal for Canada

[maplesyrup]

Divers Heymans, Hartley capture Canada's first medal

Canada has just won its first medal at the Olympics, and

am delighted for our two athletes personal achievement.

Having said that I have been getting the feeling a lot of Canadians have been upset that Canada was not performing better.

Who cares?

[Stoker]

Who cares?

If you mean that in the rhetorical sense......I couldn't agree more.......Who cares?

[maplesyrup]

13 construction workers have been killed on Olympic sites

For different reasons the families of these workers who built the structures care.

I wonder what kind of union protection these workers did not have!

[maplesyrup]

Ian Thorpe: our greatest Olympian

"Only one man can win - the best one, and that's Ian Thorpe."

Gracious in defeat.

[Stoker]

For different reasons the families of these workers who built the structures care.

Whats does that have to do with Canada medal winners?

I wonder what kind of union protection these workers did not have!

Your link says they had the benifit of belonging to a Union

"Five people died building the Olympic stadium, others in the athletes' village, others at the equestrian site," says the General Secretary of the Greek Construction Workers Union, George Theodorou. "It is incredible that there were deaths at the athletes' village, because it is made up of two-storey buildings."

And the likely reason for the deaths:

A deadly combination of companies cutting corners to get the venues finished, extremely lax safety standards and inexperienced workers is to blame. It's common to see men on Greek construction sites wearing thongs or sandals, but not helmets or safety harnesses.

Thongs and sandals

[maplesyrup]

Where does it say they berlonged to a union?

[Stoker]

Where does it say they berlonged to a union?

Who would the head of the union be commenting on the subject if they were not in the union?

If they were not in the union, how would the union leader be privy to all of his inside info on the accidents?

[maplesyrup]

For Phelps, a Lesson Learned

Quite the contrast.

[August1991]

Thanks MS for starting this thread.

The CBC has noted in its Olympic coverage that we don't support Olympic sports enough. The result is that we don't win medals.

WTF?

I'm supposed to pay taxes so that some Joe/Mary can win a silly medal and get her/his 15 minutes of fame?

Sorry. Subsidies to get people to be active/lose weight/be healthy? Maybe. But subsidize the swimming equivalent of Brittany Spears? No way. Let the Chinese/Russians/Americans get into this silly nationalism.

The fewer medals we win, the better - unless its some girl/guy out on a personal lark.

BTW, why are athletes/medal totals identified by country and not continent? I think athletes should swim by continent, or under their own person colours.

The modern Olympics are Nationalism gone silly.

[maplesyrup]

Don't usually pay too much attention to the Olympics, and when they came to Montreal, I went to Cavendish Beach and had a wonderful vacation.

China already has 10 gold medals, and I wonder if this will be the Olympics where China begins its domination never again to be seriously challenged in the forseeable future.

[caesar]

I am not interested in the Olympics; particularly the summer olympics. I do enjoy watching the ice skating but as for medals; we know that the Olympics are about politics and lots of the judging is very flawed. I am now really anti Olympics now that we in BC are spending all our hard earned tax dollars for the 2010 olympics instead of where the money should be going; healthcare, handicapped or abused children, schools, etc.

[maplesyrup]

There is something fundamentally wrong when the host nation has to fund the costs of the event.

Maybe a more productive approach would be to have all the participating countries contribute financially into a fund, with a sliding ability to pay scale, and have the

Olympics take place in developing world venues.

[August1991]

Maybe a more productive approach would be to have all the participating countries contribute financially into a fund, with a sliding ability to pay scale, and have the Olympics take place in developing world venues.

I once thought that the Olympics should always occur in Athens. The site could improve over time; the athletes would approve. Then I understood that US television pays off the monopoly IOC. Asian times to prime TV EDT are messy.

Africa and South America have never hosted the Summer Olympics. (Correct?) Why not a few permanent venues with schedules for US/Europe audiences? Why not an 'international' games with competitions in different countries? Why not swimmers in Ghana, runners in Argentina, baseball players in Cuba?

I agree with you MS.

[caesar]

It costs a small fortune just to make a bid on the games; win or lose. There is no guarantee that a host country will make enough profit from the games to cover the costs. We even have ski hill operators demanding compensation for the loss of profit for the 2 weeks of the games. After all the money the government (taxpayers) pay out for improvement to access to their businesses and the improvements to their existing properties and world exposure; they want compensation??????

[kimmy]

Synchronized diving is right up there on the list of sports Canadians love, right alongside the likes of competitive trampoline, skeet shooting, and rhythmic gymnastics. To me nothing says "Olympics" like some 11 year old twirling ribbons and juggling bowling pins to opera music.

I don't think I'd walk across the street to watch a judo competition or shotput or whatever.

I like sports. I have played lots of team sports, and competed in individual sports. I can run a very respectable 10k but I have always done it for my own enrichment. And if my swimming team wanted to travel to a tournament, we got there the old fashioned way-- by pleading with our parents.

I'm not sure why Canadians should be concerned with providing a lot of funding for people who compete in sports that we as a nation could not care less about. I don't think the government should commit a bunch of money with the goal of intending to train a world-class judo-throwing team. However, I don't have a problem with the government providing help for Canadian athletes who *are* exceptional to getting to the Olympics. Like, if somebody can show they're able to meet international standards at sprinting, judo-flipping, ribbon twirling, trampolining, or whatever, I wouldn't object at all to the government spending a few bucks of public money to send that person abroad to represent us. I think that would be admirable, in fact. What I don't think is very admirable is that some people feel taxpayers should fund athletes full time while they train for these events.

As for who should host it, I don't agree with the idea of having a permanent site. I thought part of the goal of the modern games is to promote an international spirit. If the games take place someplace new each time, they let the rest of the world learn something about the hosts. Also, I think that some good can come from the international media attention. Like, when China hosts the Olympics, they will have to open their doors to media from around the world, and maybe cause them to reflect on the image they wish to portray. The money that the host nation spends on the Olympics should be made up by the money they receive from selling TV rights and tickets to events. If they're run properly they should be a break-even even, plus leave behind new facilities and lots of tourist money in the local economy. Didn't the Commonwealth Games in Victoria result in a bunch of new housing being built for the athletes, which turned into student housing at the University of Victoria after the games were finished? Some good can come from events like this, as long as they're well run.

-kimmy

[August1991]

I don't think I'd walk across the street to watch a judo competition or shotput or whatever.

The next chocolate bar you buy will contribute (GST) to the shotput team, or whatever.

Like synchronised swimming? Pay for it on your own dime. (I prefer subsidized Internet connections. I think the government should help Canadians to enter the technical age. Canadians can exercise in the street.)

BTW, Kimmy, I disagree with your comments even if my friends agree with you!

[The Terrible Sweal]

I think it's time to examine who there actual is out there in favor of supporting Canada's 'elite' athletes with tax dollars. Who benefits by this policy? Who advocates it?

I mean talk about a 'special interest'! -- Worthless Diletantism.

[Cartman]

I am currently applying to make posting on Mapleleafweb an Olympic sport. Any support for this? And if any of you are interested in joining my fingerpuppet squad, let me know. What are the requisites for an Olympic "sport" (i.e. as opposed to a "game")?

I am a sports oriented person, but I think that the true Olympic spirit of healthy competition was lost a long time ago. Rather, I should say that I think it is now secondary to economic gain. I say that if they want to have the Olympics great, but I do not want tax money to go into it. Let the corporations pay. I am also an NHL fan, but I do not want tax money going to this either.

The premise of improvement has been lost to winning at any cost. This is evident by the sad fact that many athletes are pumping so much crap into their bodies in order to win.

If I am wrong, I am interested in hearing anything to the contrary. Any takers?

[maplesyrup]

Cartman....sounds like a plan.

Security tightened after Canadian fan leaps into Olympic pool

Has the world gone nuts over security?

I think security is the latest scam.

This is ridiculous!

What a farce the Olympics have turned into.

[Cartman]

Whatta story MS. Unreal.

[RB]

no surprises for the Canadian showing off the finer side of his femininity, needed was the wan to compliment the outfit then to some disappearing act.

Yeah the picture painted is a security tampered.

But the Olympics it is BIG commercial activities sporting high profits. It makes money sense and added bonus for the host countries of infrastructure, improved communications, and ongoing tourist atrraction, and yes also 'em YOUTH participation - I mean here are youths with some focus

Furthermore, competition is natural instincts and so why can’t we promote it civilly as sports instead of war

But I like the theme bigger, faster and stronger so for now I am glued to sports

[maplesyrup]

Do you know why that Canadian is being charged for jumping into the Olympic diving pool?

It is because $2 billion, yes that's right folks, two billion dollars, was spent on security, and it shows the whole world that this security con job is the farce the security industry and the police forces don't want you to know about.

[maplesyrup]

The athletes in Athens are often performing in semi-empty spectator venues.

Typical of elitism.

Reminds me of symphonies where prices are too much for the average person, and so they have priced themselves out of the market.

All they have to do is drop the prices and these venues will be filled.

[maplesyrup]

Greek sprinters pull out of Games

Two points:

1 - one of the main reasons the modern Olympics are in disfavour is drugs.

2 - I am very tired of people like Pierre Bourque complaining about Canada's performance - his headline today: Canada: One Measly Medal - Bourque is doing a major disservice to our athletes who depend on our media for their feedback.

[Big Blue Machine]

Canada sucks in the Oylympics so far.