"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

[gwalla]

Did anyone else see that Brazilian marathon runner get tackled mid-race by some asshole from the crowd?

That was bad enough. What a shitty thing to happen, and what a shitty thing to do. But what really pissed me off was that the announcers started referring to the costumed jackass as an "apparent protester", and then as simply a "protester". Why? There wasn't any evidence that the guy was protesting anything, and the guy he assaulted was Brazilian, not American.

And it eventually turned out that he wasn't a protester, he was just some (ex?-)priest from Ireland with mental problems, who had also run out onto the track on a previous occasion (wearing the same costume!) during an indy-car race and narrowly avoided getting his ass run over.

(Oh yeah, and nice job, Olympic Security! One of your guys was right there on a bicycle and couldn't prevent the guy from attacking; the crowd had to pull him off of the runner.)

Comments

[ludwigvantx.livejournal.com]

This years games kinda sucked. Between all the drugs and bad judging, you get some crazy incidents like this. But at least there were no terrorist attacks, and Athens got ready in time for the game. I hope this will help the Greek economy.

They awarded Vanderlei de Lima a medal for 'sportsmanship'. WTF? Is that like some sort of consolation prize? How 'bout a medal that says 'sorry we were thumb wrestling with our butts to prevent the guy from costing you the gold medal'.

Same goes for Yang Tae Young who should've won gold instead of Paul Hamm. They awarded two golds in pairs figure skating in Salt Lake two years ago because of a bad judge.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say the Games sucked as a whole. There were a lot of good competitions. El Guerrouj's wins were particularly compelling. But there're always some irritating bad spots (and gymnastics seems especially prone to them, probably because it's judged, although the diving was free of scandal).

The sportsmanship medal is pretty much a consolation prize, but there aren't many other options. The possibilty that Lima would have won the gold is a big question mark, not a sure thing, so giving him an extra gold would be iffy (and, frankly, it'd still be a consolation prize because he didn't actually cross first). It kinda sucks for the other medalists, too, because there will always be a big asterisk by those medals in the record books.

I feel bad for Paul Hamm. It wasn't his fault that the judges were crooked as all get-out. I should also point out that, while the judges started Tae Young at a too-low difficulty level, they also neglected to take off a mandatory deduction for having too many of a certain kind of technique, and that could have put him out of medal contention even with the proper difficulty. I'm also not too impressed by the IOC's passive-aggressive "request" that Hamm give back his gold.

Sometimes you just can't make an unfair situation fair again.

[ludwigvantx.livejournal.com]

Oh Hisham was impressive. He was out to just win one gold medal in his last Olympics, and he got two. The male Chinese diver who's name I forget completely OWNED the competition. He had a 101 point dive!

And I agree that Hamm shouldn't give back his gold, especially after his high bar routine. If he hadn't messed up in vault, there would be no dispute over the winner.

Remember the Ukrainian (or was it Russian) female hurdler who was knocked out of the finals by a Canadian runner who stumbled over a hurdle? I would've let the Ukrainian run again by herself (don't make the whole field re-race) since it wasn't her fault.

I'm so glad I didn't seek a career in sports. Things aren't always fair.

[ludwigvantx.livejournal.com]

The defrocked priest may have been protesting something... he was wearing a sign about Israel and Armageddon or something. Just exactly was his point, and why he had to ruin someone's Olympic dream, is not apparent to me.

I agree with what they're saying; he's probably insane. I've been there myself. I once shaved my head because I thought Hitler was trying to control my brain.

[maritzac.livejournal.com]

He got the bronze.

But he was GOING TO HAVE THE GOLD. And he didn't, because sh*t happens.

No, the guy has mental problems. Just your regular wacko. There's no logic in the actions of someone sick on the brain. And for that, even though I'd strangle the guy, uh, better not.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Well, there's no guarantee he would've won. People who lead the marathon by a wide margin for a long time frequently don't win in the end, and there was quite a ways to go in the race. However, he was certainly in contention, and now we'll never know if he could've done it or not.

At least he ended up getting the bronze. That certainly counts for something, especially since it's Brazil's first medal in the event ever.

[upc747.livejournal.com]

That's completely fucked up.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia already has up-to-date articles on Vanderlei de Lima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanderlei_de_Lima) and his attacker, Cornelius Horan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Horan). Impressive.

[haesslich.livejournal.com]

You know, if this was the height of Olympic Security, I'm betting there are a BUNCH of people who are kicking themselves for not sending members of their own delecations to attend in Semtex vests with bags-of-nails-for-trimmings. :P

Still, it sucked to be the Brazillian runner, though I'm sure that if it had been a GREEK runner who'd been caught out like that, that he'd have gotten a gold medal anyways.

[ludwigvantx.livejournal.com]

I feel bad for Cornelius. Nobody's been named Cornelius since the late Roman Empire. I'm even tempted to want to beat him up because of his name.