XXIX Olympiad (Otherwise known as the 2008 Olympic Games)

[kinboshi]

[Jon MW]

The target for 2012 is to win all of them

[kinboshi]

The target for 2012 is to win all of them

I should think so, slightly disappointing this time really.

[Royal Flush]

I think Rebecca Adlington will probably be up there too.  At 19 she has two gold medals from one olympics and completely destroyed a WR.  I can honestly say I've never watched such an amazing race in my life, she smashed the hell out of it. 

Arrghhh WR meant nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That World Record stood for 19 years - in a sport where technology makes everybody go faster every year - so I would contend that that WR did mean something.

And it was an amazing race  - that was nominally the 8 best in the world and nobody else was anywhere near her.

Yep, it was the longest standing female world record, and she only beat it by two seconds...crap obv.

Is there any WR in the pool that didn't get beaten this year?

Someone said the suits might only improve times by 2%, judging by other results i would say its got to be more by that but if its only 2% then thats just short of 10 seconds!!! She only beat it by 2 seconds.....

Smashing the race and getting gold, wd, breaking the WR, meh

[Royal Flush]

that is sick!!

[PocketLady]

I think Rebecca Adlington will probably be up there too.  At 19 she has two gold medals from one olympics and completely destroyed a WR.  I can honestly say I've never watched such an amazing race in my life, she smashed the hell out of it. 

Arrghhh WR meant nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That World Record stood for 19 years - in a sport where technology makes everybody go faster every year - so I would contend that that WR did mean something.

And it was an amazing race  - that was nominally the 8 best in the world and nobody else was anywhere near her.

Yep, it was the longest standing female world record, and she only beat it by two seconds...crap obv.

Is there any WR in the pool that didn't get beaten this year?

Someone said the suits might only improve times by 2%, judging by other results i would say its got to be more by that but if its only 2% then thats just short of 10 seconds!!! She only beat it by 2 seconds.....

Smashing the race and getting gold, wd, breaking the WR, meh

I agree that a ridiculous amount of WRs have been broken this year in all sports, and as such it begins to mean less and less as more get broken, but this one did stand out for me.  I think it was just the whole race tbh.

[kinboshi]

Anyone see one of our high-jumpers (Bernard) go clear in one of his jumps after hitting the bar fairly hard?



The end of the bar flicked up from the bracket that holds it up and then landed on the top of the side support.  How lucky is that?

[kinboshi]

Expect to see that on A Question of Sport in the 'What happened next?" round.

[Jon MW]

I think Rebecca Adlington will probably be up there too.  At 19 she has two gold medals from one olympics and completely destroyed a WR.  I can honestly say I've never watched such an amazing race in my life, she smashed the hell out of it. 

Arrghhh WR meant nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That World Record stood for 19 years - in a sport where technology makes everybody go faster every year - so I would contend that that WR did mean something.

And it was an amazing race  - that was nominally the 8 best in the world and nobody else was anywhere near her.

Yep, it was the longest standing female world record, and she only beat it by two seconds...crap obv.

Is there any WR in the pool that didn't get beaten this year?

Someone said the suits might only improve times by 2%, judging by other results i would say its got to be more by that but if its only 2% then thats just short of 10 seconds!!! She only beat it by 2 seconds.....

Smashing the race and getting gold, wd, breaking the WR, meh

I agree that a ridiculous amount of WRs have been broken this year in all sports, and as such it begins to mean less and less as more get broken, but this one did stand out for me.  I think it was just the whole race tbh.

The point I was trying to make is that swimming world records usually seem to get beaten every other year or so - but this one stood for nearly 20 years, it's an indication of how beating this time is different to the other ones.

Agreed the 2% advantage from the suit was enough to make a difference this time, but when that record was set she had a technological advantage over the previous record holder who had a technological advantage over the previous one to her (etc etc etc).

Every sport has this to some extent or another so every world record is as meaningful or meaningless as each other.

[Royal Flush]

I think Rebecca Adlington will probably be up there too.  At 19 she has two gold medals from one olympics and completely destroyed a WR.  I can honestly say I've never watched such an amazing race in my life, she smashed the hell out of it. 

Arrghhh WR meant nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That World Record stood for 19 years - in a sport where technology makes everybody go faster every year - so I would contend that that WR did mean something.

And it was an amazing race  - that was nominally the 8 best in the world and nobody else was anywhere near her.

Yep, it was the longest standing female world record, and she only beat it by two seconds...crap obv.

Is there any WR in the pool that didn't get beaten this year?

Someone said the suits might only improve times by 2%, judging by other results i would say its got to be more by that but if its only 2% then thats just short of 10 seconds!!! She only beat it by 2 seconds.....

Smashing the race and getting gold, wd, breaking the WR, meh

I agree that a ridiculous amount of WRs have been broken this year in all sports, and as such it begins to mean less and less as more get broken, but this one did stand out for me.  I think it was just the whole race tbh.

The point I was trying to make is that swimming world records usually seem to get beaten every other year or so - but this one stood for nearly 20 years, it's an indication of how beating this time is different to the other ones.

Agreed the 2% advantage from the suit was enough to make a difference this time, but when that record was set she had a technological advantage over the previous record holder who had a technological advantage over the previous one to her (etc etc etc).

Every sport has this to some extent or another so every world record is as meaningful or meaningless as each other.

I don't think any advancement has gone this far before, giving you a 10 second edge is pretty huge!

Is there any event that the WR has not been set in this year?

Has any other sport had so many records smashed??

[Jon MW]

...
Is there any WR in the pool that didn't get beaten this year?

...

about half of them

[kinboshi]

Another cracker from the BBC:

"1325: Over to Hong Kong - and the dressage! And there's no other way of putting this - there is a British horse dancing to the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive. It's Emma Hindle and Lancet, and apparently it was pretty good. Still, if I was one of the best squash players in the world, I'd be crying into my jam sandwiches having just watched that."

[Jon MW]

And it may have been a big single leap - but even if it wasn't a series of smaller improvements in the future would have lead to the same effect, so what difference does it make if we got there a bit quicker.

[kinboshi]

A medal in the high jump! 

Bronze at least for Germaine Mason, probably not more than that - but who knows!!

[kinboshi]

Silver!!  Nice one (let's ignore that he's actually Jamaican, a good signing really).