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jim wrote:

cards2468 wrote:They double as sex toys.

Better than a stub?

You're sick, lol

Welcome to the GRB olympic thread where we're discussing amputees stub blasting gymnasts.

Seriously, I've always thought those things look fun and I'm sure it takes a ton of time and control to master them. I'm still not sure about having them mixed into regular sprints. As much work as they are, it's almost half of their leg that doesn't have to be conditioned and exercised. No risk of sustained injury. At worst they break or wear down and you put on another set. Instinctively it just doesn't seem fair.

There's a very attractive athlete/model who wears these too, but I forget her name. She was in this art house trilogy called the Cremaster cycle. Never saw it but ive seen stills. Freaky stuff, so consider yourself warned before you google it.

Well, this is the last place I expected to see The Cremaster Cycle namedropped.

http://www.themat.com/section.php?secti ... leID=25419



By Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
08/08/2012

Clarissa Chun captured an Olympic bronze medal on Wednesday night.

LONDON – Clarissa Chun ran around the mat, holding the U.S. flag over her head with a huge smile on her face.

The sellout crowd of 6,500 fans stood and cheered.

She didn’t win the gold medal she planning on winning here at the 2012 Olympic Games.

But the bronze medal she captured on the sport’s biggest stage still provided a special moment for the 30-year-old from Hawaii.

Chun knocked off 2004 Olympic gold medalist Irini Merleni of Ukraine 1-0, 3-0 to capture a bronze medal in women's freestyle wrestling on Wednesday night at the ExCel North Arena 2.

"This time, I learned from Beijing that I didn’t get in the emotional roller coaster ride," said Chun, who placed fifth in the 2008 Olympics. "I just stayed calm, cool and collected for the opportunity. I’m just so grateful for every opportunity I have to step on the mat.

"It’s not the color I imagined, but I’m happy. Gold is what I strive for, but I’m happy with the bronze. For me, it was about finishing strong. That’s the difference I made from Beijing when I lost in the semis. I was a nervous wreck after I lost in 2008."

Chun's bronze-medal win gives the U.S. its first wrestling medal of this Olympics at the halfway point of the eight-day competition.

Four years after nearly making the finals of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, Chun came back strong to earn a spot on the medal podium at the 2012 Olympics in London.

Chun fired in for a clutch double-leg takedown on Merleni and finished with just three seconds left to take the first period 1-0 at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. Chun, a 2008 World champion, then delivered with a huge three-point arm throw late in the second period en route to earning the bronze.

Chun avenged a loss to Merleni from the bronze-medal match at the 2008 Olympics. Chun placed fifth in that event.

"Clarissa's gone through a lot of tough times," U.S. Coach Terry Steiner said. "To hold things together and believe she could do it here is really impressive. She's just an unbelievable athlete and a super human being on top of that. I'm so happy for her."

Chun qualified for the bronze-medal match by launching World bronze medalist Iwona Matkowska of Poland to her back and recording a dramatic second-period fall in the repechage. Chun dropped the first period after Matkowska finished in the leg clinch, but Chun came back aggressively in the second period to prevail.

Chun opened with a 5-0, 1-0 victory over two-time World bronze medalist Shasha Zhou of China at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. Chun spun behind Zhou for a takedown before adding a pair of two-point gut wrenches in the first period. Chun won a ball draw after a scoreless second period and finished in the leg clinch to prevail.

Chun ran into 2009 World champion Mariya Stadnik of Azerbaijan in the second round. The powerful Stadnyk took control early to earn a 2-0, 3-0 victory over Chun, a 2008 World champion. Chun received a chance to wrestle back after Stadnyk advanced to the finals.

Chun beat an Olympic champion and two World bronze medalists on Wednesday.

American Elena Pirozhkova dropped her first match in three periods to 2012 European runner-up Anastasija Grigorjeva of Latvia. Pirozhkova won the first period 2-0 on a pair of takedowns before the Latvian prevailed 5-0, 2-0 in the final two periods at 63 kg/138.75 lbs.

“She definitely had a good strategy,” Pirozhkova said. “She kept pressuring me and trying to wear me out. I felt pretty confident going into the match. I had studied her and had a good game plan. But it was a higher pace than I expected. I couldn’t sustain the match pace. I have a lot more conditioning I need to work on.”

Pirozhkova was eliminated when Grigorjeva fell short of reaching the finals.

“We didn’t find a way to slow her down and raise our level up,” U.S. Assistant Coach Vladislav Izboinikov said. “We just got exposed out there. We have to be able to wrestle at a higher pace and get in the fight. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that today.”

Day 5 of the eight-day Olympic wrestling tournament is scheduled for Thursday at the ExCel Center. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. (8 a.m. Eastern Time) in London. Fans can watch a live webcast of the event on nbcolympics.com.

Americans Kelsey Campbell (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and Ali Bernard (New Ulm, Minn./Gator WC) are scheduled to compete on Thursday. Campbell competes at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Bernard wrestles at 72 kg/158.5 lbs.

Campbell placed fifth in the 2010 World Championships at 59 kg/130 lbs. Bernard placed third in the 2011 Worlds and fifth in the 2008 Olympic Games.

cards2468 wrote:

jim wrote:

cards2468 wrote:They double as sex toys.

Better than a stub?

You're sick, lol

Welcome to the GRB olympic thread where we're discussing amputees stub blasting gymnasts.

Pfft ... you ought to see the [expletive] that I end up erasing. I've put stuff - or thought about putting stuff up - that would probably be instant ban.

55 kg wrestler Kelsey Campbell has to beat Ratkovich of Azerbaijan and Zholobova of Russia to win a bronze medal.

Vidor wrote:I love it when we piss Canada off.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/five_ring_ci ... ccer_.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics-- ... anada.html

It was no secret Canada's strategy against the deeper, more talented Americans was to slow the game down. That included, Wambach said, having goalkeeper Erin McLeod hold the ball as long as possible, even over 15 seconds at times during the first half. Soccer rules say the goalkeeper must get rid of the ball within six seconds.

[ Photos: U.S. defeats Canada in Olympic semifinal ]

During the second half, with the U.S. frantically trying to speed up the game while attempting multiple comebacks, Wambach began running near referee Christiana Pedersen and counting off the seconds that McLeod held the ball. She said she often got to 10 and into even the teens.

"I wasn't yelling. I was just counting," Wambach revealed Tuesday during an interview at the team hotel. "Probably did it five to seven times."

The last time came in the 78th minute, with Canada trying to milk a 3-2 lead. McLeod made a save, and Wambach began counting again.

"I got to 10 seconds right next to the referee, and at 10 seconds she blew the whistle," Wambach said.

The call was for delay of game. There was confusion on the field, because it was an exceedingly rare decision. Not another American or Canadian player or coach remembers the call ever being made, let alone in such crucial moments of an international tournament.

Regardless, the result was an indirect kick for the Americans inside the Canadian box. That kick wound up hitting a Canadian defender's hand, which meant a penalty kick for the Americans.

Wambach stepped up to the spot in the 80th minute and drilled a low shot off the left post and into the net to tie the game. In the final minute of stoppage time in the last overtime session, the USA's Alex Morgan headed a cross past McLeod for the incredible game winner.

[ Related: New Zealand coach angered by U.S. women's soccer celebrations ]

Canada fumed, both during and after the game. Canadian star Christine Sinclair went as far as to charge the referee with deciding before the game that she would do whatever it took to help the Americans win.

"We feel like we didn't lose," Sinclair said. "We feel like it was taken from us. It's a shame in a game like that, which is so important, that the ref decided the result before the game started."

McLeod, the goalkeeper, claimed she had the ball a far shorter time and the ref shouldn't have included the few seconds it took for her to get up off the ground. She also said she was never warned by Pedersen herself; she merely was given a general reminder about speeding up play from a linesman at halftime.

"We feel like we got robbed in this game," McLeod said.

Wambach disputes that, saying that after she started the counting routine Pedersen continually told McLeod to speed up play and McLeod would acknowledge it by raising her hand to the referee.

The more times Wambach counted, the more impossible it became for the referee to ignore the delays and thus not make the call.

lukethedrifter wrote:

Vidor wrote:I love it when we piss Canada off.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/five_ring_ci ... ccer_.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics-- ... anada.html

It was no secret Canada's strategy against the deeper, more talented Americans was to slow the game down. That included, Wambach said, having goalkeeper Erin McLeod hold the ball as long as possible, even over 15 seconds at times during the first half. Soccer rules say the goalkeeper must get rid of the ball within six seconds.

[ Photos: U.S. defeats Canada in Olympic semifinal ]

During the second half, with the U.S. frantically trying to speed up the game while attempting multiple comebacks, Wambach began running near referee Christiana Pedersen and counting off the seconds that McLeod held the ball. She said she often got to 10 and into even the teens.

"I wasn't yelling. I was just counting," Wambach revealed Tuesday during an interview at the team hotel. "Probably did it five to seven times."

The last time came in the 78th minute, with Canada trying to milk a 3-2 lead. McLeod made a save, and Wambach began counting again.

"I got to 10 seconds right next to the referee, and at 10 seconds she blew the whistle," Wambach said.

The call was for delay of game. There was confusion on the field, because it was an exceedingly rare decision. Not another American or Canadian player or coach remembers the call ever being made, let alone in such crucial moments of an international tournament.

Regardless, the result was an indirect kick for the Americans inside the Canadian box. That kick wound up hitting a Canadian defender's hand, which meant a penalty kick for the Americans.

Wambach stepped up to the spot in the 80th minute and drilled a low shot off the left post and into the net to tie the game. In the final minute of stoppage time in the last overtime session, the USA's Alex Morgan headed a cross past McLeod for the incredible game winner.

[ Related: New Zealand coach angered by U.S. women's soccer celebrations ]

Canada fumed, both during and after the game. Canadian star Christine Sinclair went as far as to charge the referee with deciding before the game that she would do whatever it took to help the Americans win.

"We feel like we didn't lose," Sinclair said. "We feel like it was taken from us. It's a shame in a game like that, which is so important, that the ref decided the result before the game started."

McLeod, the goalkeeper, claimed she had the ball a far shorter time and the ref shouldn't have included the few seconds it took for her to get up off the ground. She also said she was never warned by Pedersen herself; she merely was given a general reminder about speeding up play from a linesman at halftime.

"We feel like we got robbed in this game," McLeod said.

Wambach disputes that, saying that after she started the counting routine Pedersen continually told McLeod to speed up play and McLeod would acknowledge it by raising her hand to the referee.

The more times Wambach counted, the more impossible it became for the referee to ignore the delays and thus not make the call.

I'm not one to crow about competitiveness most of the time. But that seems like pure smarts and competitiveness on Wambach's part. Hearing her account, it sounds pretty credible. Just trying to create every advantage possible. Akin to Alexander slicing the gordian knot, or Kirk's solution to the Kobayashi Maru. Okay, i may be getting carried away there. Also, a nerd.

Seriously though, it puts me in mind of how refs are worked in basketball.

Yeah, Canada's full of crap on this one. The rule violation was correct, the handball was correct, and the goalie had been warned

Why is Nancy Grace announcing women's diving?