Summer Olympics / What will you watch?

On the eve of the opening day of the 2004 Athens games and out of curiosity,
which Olympic summer sport do you, as a xc skier, favor? Why?

JMC

"JMC" wrote:

On the eve of the opening day of the 2004 Athens games and out of curiosity,
which Olympic summer sport do you, as a xc skier, favor? Why?

Since I'm cyclist who in the past did some x-country skiing as a form of
winter training, I should favor cycling. But, though I will watch the
olympic cycling races, I don't consider them that much worth, since cycling
is one of those pro sports (like soccer, basket, tennis) in which the
Olympic gold is a minor achievement when compared to some non Olympic
events (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, the "monument" classics etc...).

So in the end I think that, as usual, the best memories from these Olympics
will be the ones from track&field, because that one is still the queen of
the olympic disciplines.

JMC wrote:

On the eve of the opening day of the 2004 Athens games and out of curiosity,
which Olympic summer sport do you, as a xc skier, favor? Why?

JMC



Cycling because it is my favorite summer activity. But I do a bit of
running too, so I enjoy the distance runs. And I used to do Masters
Swimming, so I watch that too. However, cycling is at the top because I
do a lot of it.

Leland

Opening and closing ceremonies, cycling for sure, and will probably have it on
most of it's course. Still deciding just how much to tape, there is going to be
a lot of coverage.

John Wilke
Milwaukee

On 13 Aug 2004 01:27:24 GMT, (J999w) wrote:

Opening and closing ceremonies, cycling for sure, and will probably have it on
most of it's course. Still deciding just how much to tape, there is going to be
a lot of coverage.

There is going to be a lot of coverage, but do you actually think that
they are going to show much actual competition in cycling or other
endurance sports? Everyone knows Americans only care about human
interest stories, Olympic history and travel/tourism/historical info
about the host country. And Lance Armstrong.

JT
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(J999w) wrote in message ...
Opening and closing ceremonies, cycling for sure, and will probably have it on
most of it's course. Still deciding just how much to tape, there is going to be
a lot of coverage.

Unfortunately, I don't have cable, so when I watch, I'll be forced to
watch up-close and personal segments, ads, and commmentary. Mixed in
will be some woman's gymnastics and track & field.

Jay Wenner

As little as possible. Wake me up when it's over.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,
bt

"JMC" wrote in message m...
On the eve of the opening day of the 2004 Athens games and out of curiosity,
which Olympic summer sport do you, as a xc skier, favor? Why?

JMC


Paddle sports. Since XC skiing is at least 40% upper body
conditioning... increasing to 100% with classic double-poling...
paddling is a natural for skiers, especially with the increasing
interest in distance events. As in skiing there is alot of technique
involved if you want to be efficient - I'm not talking about jumping
into a sea kayak and flailing away. Watch a good fla****er kayaker in
an ICF boat... it can be very elegant.

Watching the Canadian men's eights in rowing.

The 1500m on track should be exciting with Lagat and El Gerrouj, and
the 10,000m. Why don't they have an Olympic cross-country running
event? They used to up until the '30s. I think Paavo Nurmi won it
once. Now it's only in modern pentathlon, which to me is a really cool
event when I think about it.


Mountain biking... now that the Belgian cheater is gone. Did Carl
Swenson make the Olympic team - I thought he was a xc cyclist in the
summer? I think xc cycling has more kinship with xc ski than road
biking, and the Olympics are more of a big deal since they don't have
any of these multi-stage monster events...

I'm taking the last week of August off to watch and get in some late
summer paddling and cycling around home here in Ottawa.

In article , "JMC"
wrote:

On the eve of the opening day of the 2004 Athens games and out of curiosity,
which Olympic summer sport do you, as a xc skier, favor? Why?

JMC

Kirsten Gum

JMC wrote:
On the eve of the opening day of the 2004 Athens games and out of
curiosity, which Olympic summer sport do you, as a xc skier, favor?
Why?

202 nations taking part, many of those have racers/performers who
have not met the Olympic qualification but are there because they
are the best from that nation. Thats what I'll be watching for.

Sure they'll be eliminated early, but the Organisation is setup to give
them the chance to beat their own PB's and to take those memories
home. Remember Eric the boy from Guinea? who'd only recently
learnt to swim. What a hero.

I was once lapped in a small local ski race, I was doing KDP and this
guy did only DP. It turned out he was a rower.
Thats why I shall be watching the events at the water park.
Mike