The Olympics

[kumu]

As usual it is thrilling to view the Olympics, especially the water events.

I have a question. I watched the water polo match this morning between Croatia and Greece (Croatia won) and noticed something I have noticed before. Why is it that water polo players tend to look a little bit (very little) pudgy compared to divers, swimmers, gymnasts? They certainly look in better shape than the average citizen, but they seem to be a bit more full figured than many other athletes. Why would that be?

[Byron]

Extra weight and strength to pull an opponent under water.

[Byron]

Diving events tomorrow 15.00 hrs GMT

(Ryan Lochte seems to have done the right thing with his new swim training program - Gold yesterday and leaving Michael Phelps to fourth position)

[sebbie]

A low body fat body is more important in some sports than others and water polo doesnt require low body fat. Water polo has some characteristics of being on an offensive line on a football team. The ideal physique for winning the 400 m IM medley is not necessarily ideal for being a top-tier water polo player.

In terms of overall fitness the gymnasts probably are at the top of the heap, but I wouldnt expect a gymnast likely to be a very fast runner. The Rowers are very interesting too, as they have upper body strength like the gymnasts, but in doing one basic move. Generally they have big broad shoulders and powerful deltoids. The divers have the huge quadriceps that keep their legs very straight in the ideal dive, but you dont see those on swimmers, where big quads might actually impede speed. The cyclists tend to be very low body fat and huge thighs and calf muscles, but their upper bodies look weak compared with many other sports, in large measure because cycling does not generally stress chest muscles, only used to hold the arms on the handlebars.

[Byron]

One only has to see the Tour De France to understand the cyclists' physique
(look at Bradley Wiggins's arms) but where do you rate boxers and amateur wrestlers which, with martial arts practitioners, I would expect to see alongside gymnasts ?

[PSDave]

its not as much fat as it is solid muscle. They are built for the sport that requires incredible strength all over. They are like floating rugby players or wrestlers that need lots of muscle to take control of the opponent and still have control to throw the ball hard. If I were you, I wouldn't want to call them pudgy to their faces!

[kumu]

Halftime in the US v. Montenegro match, US 4, Montenegro 2. A very exciting match. One of the announcers pointed out there's a professional water polo league in Europe, now I know why landlocked countries like Hungary have fielded such excellent teams for many years. I notice in TV coverage of swim and dive meets in the US the camera often makes an effort to photo the athlete from above the waist as if the sight of a speedo on a male body would be upsetting for American audiences, but these camera people have no such false modesty. Back to the match!

[Byron]

Yes - east European states and The Balkans have some good teams - Croatians are very keen players and it's a popular sport there.

(we should see more of them - with divers they seem to be the last refuge of the speedo)

[swim..]

Wish those suits were available for sale. Would get one in a minute. Some great shots of the US waterpolo guys yesterday. Did you notice the one guy with the suit rolled up like a tiny bikini? Very hot

[kumu]

I have a couple of Turbos, they are solid for water polo play, i use em for body surfing.

Some guys double up their speedos for water polo because like the announcers said yesterday its "brutal and vicious", you can easily lose a suit. Do you think the Olympics water polo guys double their suits too?

[Byron]

What a pity - I didn't see the US competitor hiking up his speedos like the surf boat Aussies do down at Bondi etc.

I don't know enough about the Olympic Rules to know whether double suits are allowed to be worn - but they certainly used to be (and maybe less so now) in club matches and Turbo was always the brand for the water polo players (but maybe AussieBum comes into the picture more nowadays).

We have swimmer members on this board but I don't think I've heard yet from a guy who participates in water polo.

[California Dolphin]

I love the W-Polo events (Exclusively Speedos) :p , but I hate the swimming events (Exclusively Jammers) :mad: .

[kumu]

I was glued to the TV for the mens' synchronized platform diving. Stunning athletics, athletes, and speedos. I was pulling for Garcia and Sanchez from Mexico, they placed second after China, US 3. I caught a bit of womens' water polo and there is no doubt the women water polo players are a bit chunky. I saw one diving competition once, not the Olympics, where one of the divers actually wore board shorts, that didn't seem to catch on and I hope it never does.

[Byron]

Yes - remarkable come-back by the Mexican guys in the synchro diving and a great attempt on the degree of difficulty - I am sure many would have wished to see Gold for them.

CD is right - there is a disappointing and total "uniform" now of black jammers on the starting blocks (correction: just one guy yesterday actually stood out in light blue).

[kumu]

Saw some of the US-Roumania water polo match today. Again stunned by the speedos, they do not look doubled up. The announcers again mentioned how rough the game is, they likened it to hockey for roughness, they pointed out the players might be the best conditioned athletes of any sport. It would be nice if the Olympics and this kind of coverage increases interest in the sport, and helps convince American Youth that it is just fine to wear speedos.

[kumu]

More mens' diving tonight, I thought the Ukranian suits were real attractive, a nice blue front and yellow back. That would be a nice suit to get.

[Byron]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55q7stUjC1qkkoilo1_1280.jpg

Here are three guys with whom I would not argue too much for possession of the ball and pretty certainly French - but whether those eye-catching suits are/were for the national w-p team I am not sure (there is a line of text I believe but very much undecipherable on that print).

[NJHunkguy]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55q7stUjC1qkkoilo1_1280.jpg

Nice suit !!

[California Dolphin]

On the subject of the Olympics, I watched a volley ball game I believe was between the U.S. and Russia. Then about 2 hours later, there was a track meet.

In both events, all the guys were wearing what looked like traditional pre -90s shorts!!!:D

[kumu]

Its also interesting to see a video of a basketball game from the '80's, the shorts really are short, higher than mid thigh, they are so short they remind me of speedos. I guess it was the baggy gang clothing fad that got basketball shorts past knee length, it can't be efficient. Nothing lasts forever. That fad has overstayed its welcome.

When we read history of the original olympic games in Greece the competitors were all male and competed nude, women were not allowed to view the games, their men feared they would be so smitten by the sight of fit young lads that they would never relate sexually with their husbands again. And we know ancient Greece had different standards on homosexuality than the modern world, it wasn't merely tolerated, it was celebrated--in the right context. Those athletes, those finely tuned young athletes, the mind reels.

[Byron]

Agree on shorts for basketball - boxing attire has gone ridiculously long too.

If it wasn't for the economic difficulties in the EuroZone I would say let's all go to Greece (interesting to note that DeCoubertain first got his ideas for an olympiad after watching the way games were played at English public schools).

NJH: I am still frustrated in understanding the tiny roundel and line of text beneath on those three w.p suits. A crest or badge is also faintly discernible at the right hip but do you notice that only the guy at far left has something red at the seam of his left leg opening?

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

Those suits are hot... and the guys in them are too... they also are very well equipped young men...

[Byron]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqmy3l6OLh1qzx74yo1_1280.jpg

To prove the point in w-p tactics "If you can't find the ball, get the man"

[Byron]

....skips the Closing Ceremony to join his close mates for some sun on the beach in The Maldives:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/08/13/article-2187873-14827DE3000005DC-881_634x433.jpg

[Byron]

speedos left to right:
one out and hanging
two in
two out and tied

[Byron]

http://memorabilia.london2012.com/iSynApp/auctionDisplay.action?sid=1100443

Can't see a speedo but twenty pages of items and the US flag has already gone for £8000.

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

Can't say I blame the guy. He said all along that as soon as he was done this time, he was done. He earned the privilege to say "I'm taking my speedo and bolting (no pun intended) this show." He deserves to have fun and relax! I am just glad to see that unlike most beach shots of him (which have him in board shorts), this time he is in a hot looking suit and having fun.

My one pet peave is that a few tabs have picked up the photo and refer to the trip as a "gay" event. Phelps is not gay...but the speedo on the beach stereotype persists. Could it just be that the guys are friends and having fun at the beach? Maybe one of them is gay, I don't know, but who really cares....

And btw, the gay comments did not come from the US... imagine that!

[Byron]

"Goes with the territory" as they say:
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/08/03/tom-daley-gay-hate-tweet-footballer-arrested/

[Byron]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/8/14/1344967420262/Tom-Daleys-trunks-008.jpg

Signed replica just gone at auction - how much would you have bid ?

[Byron]

Speaking of friends, two at the theater in London this week for the Lion King
(USA diver Kassidy Cook and Team GB diver Tom Daley - who fist met at ages 13 yrs.):

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/732491/thumbs/o-TOM-DALEY-GIRLFRIEND-KASSIDY-COOK-570.jpg?4

[Byron]

I think I should say met 2010 and English diver Tonia Couch known since training in early teens.

[Byron]

Footnote to post#27:
MP has cleared himself on a little luggage problem also:
http://inforum.com/event/article/id/371309/

[sebbie]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/08/michael-phelps-leaked-louis-vuitton-ad-could-mean-olympic-trouble/

[sebbie]

Brits do some strange stuff by US standards but I guess its because they never bothered writing a first Amendment. Any American could tweet practically anything to or about anyone that didn't threaten bodily harm without any fear of police action, and esp make any comments directed toward a person deemed a public figure. Freedom of speech laws are drastically different between the US and even Canada, a former british colony.

I'm not even sure if calling someone fat or ugly could bring out the police in Britain.

[Byron]

...............which is why, if you will properly read what is in post #28, you will see that the Police Federation request guidance and say inter alia "...........every time something unpleasant is said".

For your information the British system is such that police can arrest citizens on suspicion of a criminal offence but it is for the Crown Prosecution Service to assess and decide whether there is/there is not a case to be successfully pursued in a Court of Law ( a safeguard long ago introduced to afford suspects some protection against the possibility of police over-zealousness and/or prejudice).

As a writer yourself, at such length, on socio/sexual affairs, I would suggest that you research well before wading into these murky waters. I might for example be a Canadian who finds "something unpleasant " implied when it seems necessary for a nation with its own Constitution of 145 years to be reminded of its history as a British colony.
(I hope you will not wish to go back even further and add a suffix to England as " a former Roman colony")

PS: Would you care to quote the Article of The Constitution which also gives citizens the right to bear arms and so permits the easy availability of weaponry for the commission of so many mass murders on innocent US civilians by crazies exercising their "rights"?

[Byron]

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0alCffQ4mR25D/x350.jpg

Rough play - a win by Italy over Serbia in the recent Olympics but not without a little fabric damage it seems (to one w-p suit being worn).

[Byron]

I was guessing a French team for three guys in their water polo suits but not entirely satisfied even with a Cross of Lorraine.
Now I can make a correction - not France but the SLOVAKIA team has those suits:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5cjeju3Ww1rtqi5no1_1280.jpg

To put the record straight THIS is France:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5hp1cmoUu1rtqi5no1_1280.jpg

[louis]

TSK TSK TSK , GUYS, GUYS, STICK TO SPEEDOS PLEASE, never the less canada may have bene a british colony but history speaken it has nothing to envy the US BUT LETS NOT GET INTO THAT UNLESS WE START A HISTIRY FORUM