Sports Discussion

[swca92]

More like a human octopus...

[HandoZiZle]

Couldn't careless about the Olympics except for a couple of events. I live in America so they don't really show much of Indonesia competing.

[fclen]

I'll record the closing ceremony & the race. Dual tuner dvr ftw!!!

[shailf1]

this is a f1 website and everyone here is an f1 maniac. so it would be worthless to ask whether if they would watch f1 or some other thing.

[phil1993]

Latest medal tables, and guess whos leading!!!!!!!!!!

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze TOTAL
1 China 13 3 4 20
2 USA 7 7 8 22
3 South Korea 5 6 1 12
4 Germany 4 1 1 6
5 Italy 3 4 2 9
6 Australia 3 2 5 10
7 Japan 3 1 2 6
8 Russia 2 4 3 9
9 Great Britain 2 1 3 6
10 Czech Republic 2 0 0 2
11 Dem P Rep Korea 1 2 4 7
12 Azerbaijan 1 2 0 3
13 Netherlands 1 1 2 4
14 Slovakia 1 1 0 2
15 Finland 1 0 1 2
16 Romania 1 0 1 2
17 Spain 1 0 1 2
18 India 1 0 0 1
19 Thailand 1 0 0 1
20 France 0 7 2 9
21 Zimbabwe 0 2 0 2
22 Austria 0 1 1 2
23 Cuba 0 1 1 2
24 Kazakhstan 0 1 1 2
25 Colombia 0 1 0 1
26 Hungary 0 1 0 1
27 Norway 0 1 0 1
28 Sweden 0 1 0 1
29 Turkey 0 1 0 1
30 Vietnam 0 1 0 1
31 Brazil 0 0 3 3
32 Armenia 0 0 2 2
33 Chinese Taipei 0 0 2 2
34 Indonesia 0 0 2 2
35 Algeria 0 0 1 1
36 Argentina 0 0 1 1
37 Belarus 0 0 1 1
38 Croatia 0 0 1 1
39 Georgia 0 0 1 1
40 Kyrgyzstan 0 0 1 1
41 Mexico 0 0 1 1
42 Switzerland 0 0 1 1
43 Tajikistan 0 0 1 1
44 Togo 0 0 1 1
45 Ukraine 0 0 1 1
46 Uzbekistan 0 0 1 1

[phil1993]

China Olympic ceremony star mimed

By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing



Officials thought Lin Miaoke had the looks and the showmanship
A pretty girl who won national fame after singing at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was only miming.

Wearing a red dress and pigtails, Lin Miaoke charmed a worldwide audience with a rendition of "Ode to the Motherland".

But the singer was Yang Peiyi, who was not allowed to appear because she is not as "flawless" as nine-year-old Lin.

The show's musical director said Lin was used because it was in the best interests of the country.

The revelation follows news that a fireworks display used during the opening ceremony was apparently faked.

'Smiling angel'

Speaking on Beijing Radio station, musical director Chen Qigang said the organisers needed a girl with both a good image and a good voice.
Yang Peiyi had the perfect voice but apparently not the perfect face

They faced a dilemma because although Lin was prettier, seven-year-old Yang had the better voice, Mr Chen said.

"After several tests, we decided to put Lin Miaoke on the live picture, while using Yang Peiyi's voice," he told the radio station.

"The reason for this is that we must put our country's interest first," he added.

"The girl appearing on the picture must be flawless in terms of her facial expression and the great feeling she can give to people."

Singer Lin, who is being called the "smiling angel", has already become a media celebrity because of her performance.

She told state-run China Daily that she felt "beautiful" in the red dress she wore during the performance.

Her dad told the newspaper that she already had fans all over the country.

According to Chinese news reports, Yang said she did not regret the decision, saying she was satisfied to have had her voice featured in the opening ceremony.

This is the second "fake" story about the opening ceremony

Viewers around the world saw a display in which 29 firework "footprints" travelled across Beijing from south to north.

But a senior official from the Beijing organising committee (Bocog) confirmed on Tuesday that footage of the display had been produced before the big night.

This was provided to broadcasters for "convenience and theatrical effects", according to Wang Wei, Bocog's executive vice-president.

"Because of poor visibility, some previously recorded footage may have been used," he told a daily press conference.

[Haukinen]

Yeah, I heard about this. Guess the opening seremony wasn't so perfect after all

[swca92]

I'm not surprised. Lip syncing happens everywhere. I get the feeling military discipline was used in that ceremony,and when training the Chinese athletes. Those Chinese people/athletes who cocked up,god knows what happened to them.

[phil1993]

yes, but she wasn't even miming herself, she was miming a 7 year old who had a 'great voice' but 'wasn't pretty enough', whereas the girl that mimed was 'pretty but didnt have a voice as good'

[phil1993]

The 2008–09 Premier League season (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) will be the seventeenth since its establishment. Manchester United are the defending champions, having won their tenth Premier League title on the final day of the previous season. The campaign – the fixtures for which were announced on 16 June – will begin on Saturday 16 August 2008, and is scheduled to end on 24 May 2009. A total of 20 teams will contest the league, 17 of which contested in the 2007-08 season, and three of which were promoted from the Football League Championship. Starting with this season, clubs will now be allowed to name seven substitutes on the bench instead of five. This season is also different in that there will be no New Year's Day game, as is usually traditional. This is because the FA Cup Third Round is traditionally the first Saturday in January, which in 2009 will fall in the usual spot for New Year's league games.

P
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation

Participating teams:

1 Arsenal
2 Aston Villa
3 Blackburn Rovers
4 Bolton Wanderers
5 Chelsea
6 Everton
7 Fulham
8 Hull City
9 Liverpool
10 Manchester City
11 Manchester United (Current Champions and European Champions)
12 Middlesbrough
13 Newcastle United
14 Portsmouth (Current FA cup holders)
15 Stoke City
16 Sunderland
17 Tottenham Hotspur (Current League Cup holders)
18 West Bromwich Albion
19 West Ham United
20 Wigan Athletic

The usual pre-season community shield match between the champions and fa cup winners took place on Sunday with Man Utd beating Portsmouth on penalties 3 - 1 after 90 minutes of play without a goal

[swca92]

As a staunch Tottenham fan I can only hope we do better than last year. Pre-season we've been in fantastic form (Beat Roma 5-0). I fancy Darren Bent to get atleast 20 goals this season.

[raikkonen4ever]

This season is still gonna be red and blue battle (Man.Utd and Chelsea)
I believe Chelsea will become stronger after the arrival of Scolari, but I think Manchester United will keep their title this year

[phil1993]

My prediction:

1 Man Utd
2 Chelsea
3 Liverpool

it will be very close between these teams

4 Arsenal
5 Aston Villa
6 Portsmouth
7 Tottenham

very close between these as well, Spurs good up front but a lack of goalkeepers could be a problem. Portsmouth and Villa have a strong squad but Arsenal have sold good players, but have a french beast, Samir Nasri

8 Everton
9 West Ham
10 Newcastle
11 Middlesbrough
12 Sunderland
13 Man City
14 Blackburn
15 Wigan Athletic
16 Fulham
17 Bolton

18 West Bromwich Albion
19 Stoke City
20 Hull (worse than Derby county last year maybe...)

[swca92]

Its gonna be one hell of a contest to between Stoke and Hull to see how few points they can get.I predict Hull to get less than 15 points...

[iceman1]

How the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games got their logo :