The Olympics Blog » United States

Bryan Clay: No Feet of Clay

bill — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:29:00 +0000

Forget the overhyped Michael Phelps, the real strongman in the Beijing Olympics is American decathlon gold medalist Bryan Clay. A short visit to his website made me an instant fan. I particularly like the fact that he takes time to answer questions from his fans:

Q: Bryan, best of luck, all the Hapa Kepanis peeps worldwide are pulling for you. My query is how much of an Asian influence did your mom bring to your family, e.g. did you eat a lot of Japanese food and/or get exposed to Japanese culture?

A: Japanese culture and food were a huge part of my life growing up. My mother made sure I knew who I was and where I came from.

Q: Bryan, why did you choose Azusa Pacific an NAIA school over a NCAA Division I School? Azusa Pacific has an excellent reputation in the decathlon. Most people don’t realize some of our countries greatest decathletes have come out of the NAIA. GO FOR GOLD!

A: I chose APU because I felt it was the best combiation of academics, athletics, and atmosphere. All that stuff together has allowed me to be successful.

Q: Brian, what’s your typical Ipod playlist? I want to know what you listen to to motivate you when you are competing.

A: I usually have a mix of christian, country, r&b, and techno.

Congratulations, Bryan Clay. Anyone who’s got country music in his ipod playlist is fine by me.

Photo source: xinhua via beijing2008

American Crybabies II: Torri "False Start?" Edwards

bill — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:19:00 +0000

Argh. This is just pathetic and another instance of American athletes being crybabies.

AP via Huffington Post: The U.S. track and field team’s protest of the women’s 100-meter final at the Olympics was rejected Sunday night.

The Americans asked that the race be reviewed because of a possible false start by Torri Edwards, one of the country’s sprinters.

Edwards herself said she thought she false-started. She wound up finishing last as Shelly-Ann Fraser led a Jamaican sweep of medals in the dash.

Let us get this straight. So Torri Edwards may have made a false start — which should give her an advantage because she started before everybody else — yet still lost. And now the Americans wanted to invalidate the results because Edwards may have made a false start?

I understand the urge to complain because you were disadvantaged. But complaining about the results because you had an unfair advantage? That’s one for the books. I wonder if Torri Edwards would go out broadcasting to the world that she may have made a false start, and ask that the race be reviewed, if she won this event and didn’t end up dead last.

Related: American Crybabies

Jon Stewart: Michael Phelps vs. the Giant Clam

bill — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:34:00 +0000

The unfortunate rivals of Michael Phelps might want to pick some tips from this video on how they can beat the merman. Brought to you by Jon Stewart.

Phelps Bags Seventh Gold, the U.S.’s 15th

bill — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:20:00 +0000

Isn’t it interesting that almost half of the gold medal harvest of the United States is produced (or co-produced) by Michael Phelps? Here’s the merman celebrating after winning his seventh gold medal in the men’s 100 meters butterfly.

Photo source: beijing 2008

Naked Olympians: The U.S. Gymnastics Team

bill — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:24:00 +0000

Just because this U.S. artistic gymnastics team “only” won the bronze medal doesn’t mean they can’t show off their muscles, abs, and armpits.

So now the nakedness score between the dueling male and female Olympians: males = 2 vs. females = 2. The naked females would be Rebecca Romero and Britta Heidemann while the males would be this gymnastics team and New Zealand’s football team.

I erroneously stated earlier that the male vs. female nakedness score is even. In fact, it’s only now that the score got even.

By the way, I said in an earlier post that Americans are crybabies but let’s give them credit for having an ethnically diverse team. Diversity is part of what makes America great, no?

Nastia Liukin Bags 14th Gold for the U.S.

bill — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:25:00 +0000

Nastia Liukin increases the U.S. gold medal total to 14 when she won in the women’s all-around artistic gymnastics. All is quiet in the Chinese front so far. As of posting, the gold medal race between China and the U.S. stands thus: China = 22 golds vs. U.S. = 14 golds.

Photo source: nbc

America’s Gold Medal # 13 Courtesy of Michael Phelps

bill — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:22:00 +0000

Merman Michael Phelps got himself another gold medal [12th overall] which brings the U.S. total gold to 13. This is probably the most productive day for the U.S. in the swimming pool. No response yet from China as of this posting.

By the way, that’s Ryan Lochte (gold medalist in the 200 meter backstroke and bronze medalist in the 200 meter individual medley) with Michael in the AP file photo above. Nice head touching, no? But don’t you dare do that when you are in Thailand, Mr. Phelps. Head touching is a no, no there even if you are the “greatest Olympian evah”.

Photo source: AP via ESPN

Ryan Lochte is 200m Backstroke Champ

bill — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:01:00 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, the gold medal race between China and the U.S. is now getting exciting. It’s been a bit boring for sometime with the U.S. stuck at 10 gold medals while China attacked in all fronts winning 22 gold medals.

But it’s now 12 golds for the United States following Ryan Lochte’s victory in the 200 meter backstroke. [The 11th came from Rebecca Soni.] Congratulations to you Ryan. Make sure you bite your gold so we will include you in our list of gold medal biters.

How to Train Like Olympic Gold Medalist Natalie Coughlin

bill — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:36:00 +0000

Do you want to have a body like Natalie Coughlin’s? Then follow her training regiment [via fitness magazine]:

1. Two hours in the pool twice a day
2. Run with your dog for 45 minutes to an hour every day
3. Lift lift weights two or three times a week.
4. Do Pilates every day
5. See a private instructor two times a week

After six months of doing the above [the dog and the private instructor are optional], you will have a body like Natalie’s. If you are a woman, that is. If you are a man, you will have a body like all the male Olympic swimmers you see on TV.

Anyways, Natalie won a gold medal for the women’s 100m backstroke, the United States’ seventh gold medal in swimming.

Photo credit: Robert Ascroft/Fitness Magazine

Aaron Peirsol: "Famouser" Than Phelps in Teh Internets?

bill — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:05:00 +0000

Man, American gold medalist Aaron Peirsol (100 meters backstroke) is internet-famous. He is the first Olympian I googled who’s got at least three fansites dedicated to him: Aaron Peirsol Online, APO News, and Aaron Peirsol from which I took the image below.

What about Michael Phelps? He’s got his official site and only one fansite. Hah! Take that, Michael. You may have more medals but Aaron appears to have more dedicated fans.

Photo sources: Daylife and Aaron Peirsol fansite