33 replies to this topic

[sienna gold]

Okay! :) This is one of my favourite events, the Boating (well, 3 of the 4. I don't get all jonesed up for sailing).

Today was the Canoe/Kayak Slalom event heats.
The Men's 8's was really good. Germany dominated (which was expected) and the United States won their heat (handily)
In men's pairs Canada won their heat (they are defending medalists.. I wanna say Silver?)

Women's side Britain, Australia and United States all made it to the finals (Women's pair)

It's so exciting watching this. It's like. synchronized swimming. With Oars.

[TWoP Howard]

Yes, I love watching it, especially when it’s a close race, and the lead can change back and forth with the rhythm of the strokes.

[legaleagle44]

Yes, I love watching it, especially when it’s a close race, and the lead can change back and forth with the rhythm of the strokes.

Do you realize that you just awakened my inner 12-year-old by saying that? ;)

[keeptrying]

legaleagle, you're not the only one.

[TWoP Howard]

I changed the phrasing several times trying not to do that. I think it was an impossible task!

[superior olive]

Don't bother trying to re-phrase anything in rowing: half the fun is your inner 12-year-old snickering! Sample (that I just made up to illustrate that they talk about stroke rate a lot; it's not an actual quote. But it could be…) : "Now for the final push the Canadians will up their stroke rate to 30 per minute. If they can keep that rate they'll finish first."

Sigh, oh Canadian men's 8s. You never make it easy on me, do you? Get 'em in the repachage! (which I just learned from Marnie McBean means "fish again". Huh.)

[sienna gold]

Really, fish again. (I LOVE Marnie McBean. Seriously, She's awesomeness).

Well the Canadian's women's 8s did well. :) Men like it tough!
(oh that sounds dirty)...

[alphacat]

I happened to catch the Men's 8 US heat and they mentioned the Regatta of Death. How have I not heard about this? And why am I not following a sport with a Regatta of Death?

This is why I love the Olympics!

[selkie]

I was bummed to learn that it wasn't in Australia or Egypt or some place where the losers get throw into the river that has really big crocodiles.

[Dezdemona]

I just got a chance to see the Women's 8 from earlier in the day. The Canadians were awesome, even beating the time posted by the American team which won the first heat. The final is bound to be exciting.

CTV is doing this fascinating feature on "Superbodies" wherein a doctor explains - complete with animated graphics - what is happening to an athlete's body in a given sport ... what forces are exerted on various parts of the body and so on. He summarized rowing in one word - pain. I knew there was trememdous effort involved, and I imagined they would be battling muscle fatigue, but I wasn't even close. Apparently, rowers are working through such intense pain that their body thinks it's dying. The brain then responds by sending out even more jangling pain to every nerve in the body and starts pulling all the blood out of the arms and legs and sending it to the lungs and heart. The rowers have to attempt to focus their minds on getting past all that. Phew! I'm even more impressed with these athletes than ever.

[TWoP Howard]

God. It was painful just thinking about feeling that.

Don't bother trying to re-phrase anything in rowing: half the fun is your inner 12-year-old snickering! Sample (that I just made up to illustrate that they talk about stroke rate a lot; it's not an actual quote. But it could be…) : "Now for the final push the Canadians will up their stroke rate to 30 per minute. If they can keep that rate they’ll finish first."

All of the stroke comments could also serve perfectly well for the HoYay! thread. Multi-purpose posting!

And why am I not following a sport with a Regatta of Death?

And a repechage. I also like that word.

[SnideAsides]

"And now she's kissing the cox of the Great British team."

[TraceyBee]

It's like. synchronized swimming. With Oars.

The aerial views of these races are the best. It looks like giant waterbugs racing down the river.

I didn't see it, but evidently this happened. Aw.

[Dezdemona]

I saw that, TraceyBee. The people along the side of the rowing basin were clapping and cheering so loud, you would have thought their team was rowing its way to gold. And because he was so slow, the cheers just went on and on, all along the bank. It put a huge grin on my face and I found myself cheering right along with them. Ahem.... one of those crazy moments that only happen watching the Olympics.

[keeptrying]

Sigh, oh Canadian men's 8s. You never make it easy on me, do you?

Well the Canadian's women's 8s did well. :) Men like it tough!
(oh that sounds dirty)...

All of the stroke comments could also serve perfectly well for the HoYay! thread. Multi-purpose posting!

"And now she's kissing the cox of the Great British team."

Embrace your dirty minds. No, really, it makes life so much easier. I love watching rowing for many athletic reasons, but mentally, I love that my inner twelve year old has to work harder. Tennis is easy. They're constantly talking about deep strokes and heavy, fast, slow or fuzzy balls.

[jazz]

So I just turned on NBC and hear,"They liked her so much, they had her stroke the women's quad." Then I saw that it was rowing. So I thought, Oh ok. :)

[SnideAsides]

I'm really enjoying the canoe slalom. We're getting commentary from the Beeb, having apparently nobody in Australia qualified to do it (though that hasn't stopped them before), and they're pretty much toeing the line between "And there was a British guy too" and "YAY BRITAINESE WE CAN HAZ UR BABBYS?" perfectly. Such a change of pace from Nine's dreadful coverage.

[Unusual Suspect]

Yay, Canada! Silver in men's 8. That was a nailbiter.

[briochetwist]

That was an amazing race for the Canadians. I thought they were toast, but they totally brought it at the end!

[superior olive]

Totally awesome race for the Canadian 8s! Way to go guys! Go fish, indeed--from the repechage to a silver medal. I just love the story of their coxswain Brian Price. Cancer gave him the opportunity to be a coxswain, and now he has olympic medals to show for it. Sniffle.

Get 'em, women's 8s!

[Dezdemona]

The men's 8 was a real nail-biter. So happy for the Canadians who really pulled out all the stops in that last 250 meters. Great race; great result.

[ora wai]

New Zealand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem, good racing by GB and the Czech rower. So proud of the rowers - 3 gold medals for NZ! Mahe Drysdale is my hero

[proserpina65]

Hey, they actually showed rowing on NBC in primetime. For five minutes. Because the US won the women's eight. Woo-fricking-hoo!

[beakermuppet]

Hooray for Kath Grainger who has won her first gold medal after silvers in Sydney, Athens and Beijing.

[Forgetful Jones]

I'm sad that I haven't been able to catch any of the rowing this year, but I just saw that New Zealand won three medals! Wow, what an amazing result for a small country. Very exciting.

[culturevulture73]

The highlight for me was South Africa in the men's 4 with that squeaker win, and Terry and Yaz screaming as they pulled it off. See, rest of NBC, there are Olympians from other countries.... especially after hearing that the team rowed around hippos and crocodiles.

It was great to see the rowing so well attended (and to find out finally that the people on the bikes were coaches!)

[ora wai]

The British lightweight men's just pulled a hell of a trick - they got off to a poor start, then one of them claimed that his seat had come lose in the first 100m to force a restart. The Australian commentators were v unhappy since it was likely a user error rather the equipment malfunction. They eventually were beaten by the Danish for gold (Nz in third!) and France put up a protest that was declined. The aust commentators are still saying that it's not fair (unheard of since no Australians were in it). For shame Men's lightweights, after the great effort the other Britons have done.

[SofaSoGood]

he British lightweight men's just pulled a hell of a trick - they got off to a poor start, then one of them claimed that his seat had come lose in the first 100m to force a restart.

Might want to watch that one again - the British pair go off to a great start. I think you may be confusing this race with the cycling the other day...

I know the Aussies were talking a great game before the rowing started (something about turning the men's fours into a "drag race" wasn't it?) but hey, you got a bronze in the pairs just then so jolly well done. ...Oh my mistake that was New Zealand. And the French were complaining? There's a shock.

On a more positive note - 2 more golds and a silver for team GB!

Edited by SofaSoGood, Aug 4, 2012 @ 7:08 AM.

[ora wai]

The men's lightweights did force a restart? The british men had a choppy start originally before the seat 'came loose' but a much better one when the restart happened - it was the opposite for the French, so I understand why the protested. NZ were 3rd either way, so I was happy.

Australians always do talk a great game and then turn on their athletes, at least this to,e the commentators were saying how great the British fours were to beat them, and were disappointed by the idea of a quick trick because it will tarnish the great effort of the other Britons (much like the rubbish that the cycling team pulled, such poor play). They did encourage young kids to head down to the rowing club, so Rio might see Australia stop being the bridesmaid.

NZ still came 2nd in the rowing overall , not bad for only 4 million people. We are all very proud of our team!

[SofaSoGood]

NZ still came 2nd in the rowing overall , not bad for only 4 million people. We are all very proud of our team!

Sorry, I assumed from your post that you were an Aussie not a Kiwi. Think I'm still giddy from all the rowing excitement. There was a lovely moment just after the GB women's pair crossed the line for their Gold when Katherine Copeland, who already looked utterly gobsmacked to win, turned to Sophie Hosking and mouthed "We're gonna be on a stamp!".

And yeah congrats to the Kiwis for finishing second in the regatta standings. I do sometimes forget just how few people there are in NZ - not counting all the Hobbits of course. ;)

Edited by SofaSoGood, Aug 4, 2012 @ 8:06 AM.