>> ^Sagemind:
But..., whose medals are they???


I thought the same thing... I sure hope that they sold it just cause they have a bunch of silver and gold medals, and not because they needed the money for a drug habit or something depressing.

AND THE WTF GOLD MEDAL GOES TOO.....!!! ^

He should have had a news conference and said

"HEY I WON 9 GOLD MEDALS I DON'T DESERVE ONE DAMN BONG HIT ??!!"

and stormed off.

I just don't understand the logic behind punishing the man for smoking pot. The fact that he smokes pot doesn't change the fact that he won a fuck ton of gold medals at the Olympics. It doesn't change the fact that he broke world records and was a national hero. He's still the same person he was, now we just know something about him that some of us don't approve of, so he's suddenly blacklisted. It's silly.

The man is a Olympic hero, let him smoke in peace. The dude earned it.

>> ^legacy0100:
Though I'm sure they go through just as much gruesome training, I still like this sport better over any other 'artistic' female sports such as figure skating or the gymnastic ones where girls are skinny thin. Plus one slip, and your career is done.
You could say the same thing about injuries in any sport category. But at least in this one the girls look healthy and it actually requires both strength and coordination as well as rhythm.
Feminine physical beauty at its best i think


I agree, this and the balance beam are my favorite.

This makes those gold medal routines that much more incredible and impressive.

Damn, those Chinese really are quick.

Edit: Hopefully the new video will still work after five minutes.

>> ^kulpims:
dead already

A few years ago I saw a fascinating documentary about the actual origin of the olympics as we know it (not the original re-makes featured in the movie Chariots of Fire). Basically, it was the Nazis that brought the olympics back from obscurity and into a giant marketting campaign for their own superiority at the 1936 Berlin olympics. It was the Nazis that added all the ceremony and even the olympic symbol if I remember correctly.

Of course, their plan to use it as a showcase of the superiority of the master race kind of backfired when Jesse Owens (an african american) trounced them winning four gold medals... (edit: whoops, I checked wikipedia and while it is true that Jesse Owens "owned" at the olympics that year, the Germans did in fact get the most gold medals overall... sorry, guess they were the master race )

Going back to China... really, in this day and age, I find it kind of disengenous. I know that the Olympics are supposed to be about bringing the world together, but it seems more like that we all just get together and "look the other way" in regards to the major problems. It is highly corporate, political, and ultimately doesn't seem to address anything important. Some people get together and play some games. Meanwhile all the millions (if not billions) of dollars that are poured into this event don't quite serve to make anyone's life that much better.

The fact that we have to drug test everyone is yet another sign of the fake-happy-face nature of the event.

yeah, can you tell I'm not a sports fan in general

>> ^lucky760:
No worries mate. I didn't know you were an Aussie. That's neat that they speak so much about Phelps there; I was also surprised about the lengthy discussion by the Brits in this clip. I guess he must be something special to have qualified for the Olympics at age 15. Maybe he has gills behind his ears and knows how to find dry land.


I don't think it's so much about his age, but moreso he's about to become the single largest gold medal winner in the history of the Olympics, no mean feat by any stretch.

This looks really familiar... It was on the sift a while ago but is MIA now. Darn Americans, stealing Olympic gold medals from North Korea because of a vastly larger population to draw from.

Thirty one is a good age. Body still good and strong, mind still sharp, libido on an upswing (for us females), energy high. My dad briefly had the world record for 400 meters and went on to win two gold medals in the Olympics when he was 31.

May you have many peak experiences during your thirty-second year on this planet.

Whats wrong with having a set of rules as a guideline that you should stick by except in extraordinary cases? Not just because you want to give a congressional gold medal all willy-nilly and spend my damn money on it. Sorry, but I've got more important things to spend my money on like nonsense wars

dag wrote:

I know he's a strict constitutionalist - but I don't think I could go as far as to vote against giving Rosa Parks a medal.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 573. At the same time, I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies. However, I oppose the Congressional Gold Medal for Rosa Parks Act because authorizing $30,000 of taxpayer money is neither constitutional nor, in the spirit of Rosa Parks who is widely recognized and admired for standing up against an overbearing government infringing on individual rights.

Because of my continuing and uncompromising opposition to appropriations not authorized within the enumerated powers of the Constitution, I must remain consistent in my defense of a limited government whose powers are explicitly delimited under the enumerated powers of the Constitution--a Constitution, which only months ago, each Member of Congress, swore to uphold.

Perhaps we should begin a debate among us on more appropriate processes by which we spend other people's money. Honorary medals and commemorative coins, under the current process, come from allocated other people's money. We should look for another way.

It is, of course, easier to be generous with other people's money.

had all the series as they were produced (2nd grade, mid-70's)

they resurected them for 2000....grabbed a box for old time sake....some are really good Gold Medal Flour is Old Metal Files, with a guy behind bars for the logo.....personal fav.....Final Step cat litter (fresh step)....mines and bear traps in kitty's box.....AWWWWWWWW!

As an MMAer myself, I don't quite understand what's so mindblowing about MMA making it onto the cover of SI. It's a terrific sport, albeit somewhat misunderstood, and is quickly becoming one of the leading sport draws. I men, it's fighting for pete's sake, how can that NOT appeal to young adults?

As you may know, mixed martial arts, in the form of pankration, was one of the most popular sports in the original Greek Olympic games, back in the 600s B.C., and is currently under review for admittance as a demonstration sport in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Contrary to popular belief, mixed martial art fighters are not mindless brawlers: in fact, to reach a high level in the sport requires excellence in not just one martial art, but many arts, in order to adequately cover the three ranges of combat (standing, clinch, and ground) as well as both striking and grappling. For example, Fedor, almost universally considered the best fighter in the world, draws his base as an international champion in judo and sambo, and usually trains in submission grappling, boxing, and Muay Thai. He has, among many other feats, thrown and submitted an Olympic gold-medal judoka, hip tossed an Olympic silver-medal Greco-Roman wrestler, submitted some of the world's best Brazilian jiu-jitieros, and knocked out high-level Muay Thai fighters and kickboxers.

MMA has become a proving ground for martial arts, in what I believe is the spirit of Bruce Lee's philosophy of Jeet Kune Do: take what works, discard what doesn't. Arts that are effective are proven in the ring, and ones that aren't are dropped quickly - people can't make excuses when they get hit in the face. And the arts that work have coalesced into an overarching view of fighting, making for basically the most effective method of training and preparation for unarmed combat.

As for homoerotic overtones....well, I guess one can see what one wants to see.

Sifters interested in learning more about specific aspects of MMA can check out my Fighting Arts playlist, which includes sifts covering an expanding selection of martial arts practiced and used in mixed martial arts competitions.