Boxing has been a heritage of the USA in Olympic games going back over 100 years.  The US statistics for medals has been staggering, delivering such amazing greats as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.  Who watched the 1968 Olympics and does not remember George waving the American flag after winning his bout to take the Gold?!

Other American boxing champions have emerged from the Olympic stage demonstrating America’s great boxing heritage.  Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar de la Hoya, and Ray Mercer are all greats that won Gold in their respective Olympics.

We noticed this year that the coverage in the Olympic Boxing events on television was non-existant.  We couldn’t seem to find a single match being publicized on the news or on NBC’s coverage.

We decided to find out why, and we were discouraged when we did.  It was the sad performance of the US Boxing team.  We sent nine boxers to these Olympics; only one managed to medal, and that was for a Bronze. Deontay Wilder managed to get into a semi-final round against defending world champion, Italy’s Clemente Russo.  Russo outclassed Wilder easily, taking the Gold.  Three of our other boxers lost in their very first fight.

Even Rau’shee Warren lost in the flyweight class in his first bout against South Korea’s Lee Oksung.  In a close decision, Warren lost 9-8, leaving him in tears instead of on the Olympic podium.

In another case, one of our US contenders didn’t even make the ring. Gary Russell Jr. passed out before the weigh-in and was disqualified.  It was later determined he had dehydrated so much he lost consciousness. That is bad coaching, but the blame game is alive and well, and the coaches blamed Gary.  They should have been on top of Russell all the way!!  That is their job!  How could they let a boxer that has trained for years pass out and later try to explain it away as his fault??  Were the coaches too busy downing Tsingtaos? Well that would explain why they didn’t get dehydrated themselves.

Some have blamed the judging, saying that the American style of boxing is out of fashion in the Olympics.  Perhaps, but Gary didn’t even make it to the ring, and from what we could see of the matches we could dig up, the US just had no heart and no chance.

In five consecutive Olympics, the United States has won three Gold medals, a sad tally that cannot be easily explained.  Prior to that, the US boxing team had consistently delivered strong results at the Olympics.  From 1904 through 2004, US boxers have won 104 medals in boxing, more than any other country.  America’s teams had also won 48 Gold medals.  Again the most in the world!! All this despite our abysmal showing over the last 20 years.   In 1976 the US won 7, 5 Gold.  In 1984, 11, 9 Gold.  In 1988, 7.  In 2008, 1, a Bronze.

We are asking our readers for reasons.  Please comment.  Is this because the US has gotten lazy.  Is it just horrible planning and coaching?  Could the rest of the world have suddenly surpassed the entire US in boxing?  We are at a loss, and unfortunately, so are our Olympics Boxers.

Deontay Wilder, the only US contingent in Boxing who garnered Bronze in the heavyweight (91kg/201lbs) fight with Mohammed Arjaoui of Morocco .

Demetrius Andrade, the reigning welterweight (69kg/152lbs) wold champion takes loss from South Korea’s Kim JungJoo Kim

Arab-American Sadam Ali is defeated by Georgian Popescu of Romania in the Lightweight (60kg/132lbs) division. Ali was eliminated in the first round.

Shawn Estrada lost in the quarterfinals to James Degale of Great Britain in the middleweight (75kg/165lbs) division.

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Javier Molina lost in his first light welterweight (64kg/141lbs) bout against Bulgaria’s Boris Georgiev, 14-1.

Rau’shee Warren lost in his opening fight against South Korea’s Lee Oksung in the flyweight (51kg/112lbs)

Raynell Williams is defeated by Khedafi Djelkhir of France in his second fight in the featherweight (57kg/125lbs).

Luis Yanez lost to Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia in the light flyweight (48kg/106lbs) bout.

Gary Russell Jr didn’t even make it to fight in the bantamweight (54kg/119lbs) division as he collapsed from dehydration before the competition began.

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]]> http://myrealitytelevision.com/2008/08/2008-us-olympic-boxing-disgrace-leaves-gold-medal-opportunities-dehydrated/feed/ http://myrealitytelevision.com/2008/08/top-ten-reasons-why-the-chinese-cheat-in-olympic-womens-gymnastics/ http://myrealitytelevision.com/2008/08/top-ten-reasons-why-the-chinese-cheat-in-olympic-womens-gymnastics/#comments Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:58:16 +0000 admin http://myrealitytelevision.com/?p=2341

The question that is most often asked is why did China cheat? China cheated in the 2008 Women’s Gymnastics by sending girls well under the age of 16 to compete in Olympic gymnastics, but why?  What did China and their gymnastics team gain by cheating and lying to the remaining Olympic teams?

This article presents the top 10 reasons in reverse order of importance.

10.  Female athletes past the age of 16 are physically developed and have weight distribution that is quite different from younger gymnasts.  In some events, this provides an advantage to girls less developed. It is easier for them to perform many of the exercises. Most that have won gold are 16 or younger.

9.   Psychology has much to do with the issue.  Older athletes feel the pressure more than children who are not mature enough to possess the same feelings of pressure and stress. Younger kids worry less.  Experienced coaches know this.  Bela Karolyi, the former coach of Olympic gold  medalists Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton, was interviewed before the Chinese performed, and said, “This young Chinese team (is) using 14-15 year olds, all kids, they have no pressure…”.

8. Younger girls appear to be less prone to injury.  Whether this is because of flexibility issues or some other reason is not known. Some of these statistics can be seen here.

7. Pressure is another factor related to 9 above. For older girls there is much less of chance of repeating in the Olympics.  That makes it a much more do or die scenario.  The younger girls can look at it more as just another competition or preparation for future games taking the pressure off.

6. A nation choosing to violate the rules and enter younger girls into the Olympics allows the girls to acquire more experience in the Olympics at a younger age.  Sneaking in 12-14 year olds allows those athletes to return at 16-18 well seasoned in Olympic competition giving the team better odds of delivering winners.  Most 16 year olds in the competition will likely not be able to compete again in future Olympics due to age issues and injury, but a 12-14 year old is guaranteed, if she remains healthy, to have a solid opportunity to repeat.  Essentially, for most women gymnasts, their career is over by 18.

5. The Olympics are only once every 4 years!! Some of your best talent may never get a chance to compete.  Girls that are 15 are excluded from the Olympics.  Their probability of maintaining their level of excellence, avoiding injury and surviving as competitors given the general pressures of teen-hood for four years, and then performing in their first Olympics at 19-20 is slim.  China’s dishonesty takes advantage of all the countries that could not send girls that were within just months or days of the requirement.

4. Smaller Framed women have less of a chance of going out of bounds during floor exercises because they can execute the same move in a shorter distance.

3.  Prescreening. Some girls can perform when in practice, but cannot in the stadium.  This provides the team a chance to screen the participants prior to giving them key positions on the team for future competitions.

2. Psychological advantage.  The girls on competing teams know the other girls are cheating to take an advantage and it impacts their performances.

1. First and foremost, sneaking in underage girls widens the field of prospects considerably. If you are limited to just girls over 16, you have a much narrower field to select from.  A girl 2 months shy of the deadline, healthy and with as good a prospects as a girl only 2 months her senior cannot be considered, even if the older girl is injured or is not as talented.  China could consider everyone because they are dishonest and have no problem with cheating to get the best of their girls to the Olympics.  Many American Olympic gymnastic athletes had injuries, but because the USA follows the rules, many 15 year olds that were readily available could not take their place.  The US had to enter the all-around competition with numerous injured athletes.

Deng LinLin of China walks by Nastia Liukin and Alicia Sacramone during the Women’s Gymnastics Team Finals in Beijing, China on August 13,2008.

Conclusion

China’s cheating hurts everyone.  It is a disgrace.  And it isn’t the first time.  The Chinese were caught “red” handed in the 2000 Olympics lying to the world and got caught. It hurts all our girls that could not go and may never get the chance to go.   And every girl they cheat from other nations out of an opportunity comes at a stiff price to that country and their potential medalists.  China is not only cheating, they are stealing from those nations and participants that obey the rules.

We believe China should be suspended from the next Olympic games entirely as the truth comes out and everyone realizes that they cheated once again.

There was little doubt as the swimmers entered the pool area that this race was to be US all the way. This relay team was just too strong to miss Gold, but Australia and Japan may have a bit to say about that. Aaron Peirsol was to start, and the weak link was Brendan Hansen, who failed to medal in his heat. How would it play out?

If the team won this race, then Phelps would get Gold #8 and pass Mark Spitz. The key word there is “team”. For any man to break the record Spitz had set 36 years ago, he would have to depend on the rest of his team. The relay is a team effort. If Jason Lezak had not chased down braggart Frenchman Bernard in the 4×100 Meter Freestyle Relay, Phelps chance at history could not have been possible.

Once again, Phelps could contribute on his leg and without him the US could not win, but it required that the entire team perform for Olympic Gold!!

Peirsol started off the race in the backstroke. Peirsol was ahead at the turn, but not by much. Peirsol had been out-touched in the 200, and his injured elbow was a concern even though the coaches said it should not impact his performance. He was on World Record Pace, and in the lead, so it looked good so far.

Hansen leaped into the pool for the breaststroke ahead of world record pace. He maintained the lead at the turn, but Kosuke Kitojima of Japan was on the hunt. Now as they neared the next leg, Australia and Japan had pulled ahead of the World Record and Kitojima once again asserted his dominance over Hansen taking the lead. Brendan Hansen was behind at the touch, and Phelps was slow to leap into the pool not wanting to take the chance of any disqualification ruining the team’s chance at Gold.

Phelps entered the pool behind, but by only a hair. Australia, the US and Japan were all kissing the world record line, and it was way way too close to call. Michael’s pursuit of #8 could all go down the drain right here.

Phelps once again demonstrated that he is the strongest swimmer in the world. On the turn, he established his lead. Michael was ahead of world record pace and the other swimmers were starting to fall behind. But it all came down to our hero of these Olympics and the swimmer that made the win in the 4×100 Meter Freestyle Relay possible, Jason Lezak.

Jason made the surface of the water a hair in the lead, but he had the lead, and it was up to him to lose it. This is where Lezak does not lose. When it is just Jason on the line, he does not seem to have the strength to take Gold, but when it is the team on the line and history on the line, this man excels. “Team” is what Jason is all about and he once again rose to the occasion expanding the lead at the turn.

Australia and the US were both ahead of the world record, and Australia was coming on fast. But Lezak was an incredible body length ahead of the World Record and just as in his prior anchor leg, he was not about to lose. He touched first and made history for America. Phelps would now have GOLD #8. And he has his team to thank!!

16 medals, 14 GOLD!! 8 in this Olympics alone, taking the historic record away from Mark Spitz.

The team embraced and they knew they were all part of history, the Olympic tattoo on Hansen’s shoulder accentuating all that Olympic competition is all about.

Michael said after the race, “It’s the help from these guys that made it all possible, you know? It’s the relays and putting four guys together that really made it possible. This shows how much teamwork and how much togetherness we have. It is amazing to be a part of, and I am..honored.”

Michael, you are a champion, because you recognize that so many factors go into your achievement and we love you for proving once again that greatness is the sum of its parts.

Nastia Liukin won Gold Thursday night in the Women’s Gymnastics all-around Final.  She was spectacular and clearly the undisputed Gold medalist of the entire world.

But as she performed, her mother, Anna Liukin, went sight seeing.

“Actually, I wasn’t in the building at the time”, said Anna, “I decided to go and do sightseeing around the Beijing Area”.  Nastia had to text her mother saying, “I won, love you Mom”.

As Nastia hugged her father and teammates, Nastia’s mother was touring Beijing.

Her mother said she was too nervous to attend, “It would be too many butterflies in my stomach”.

At 8 AM, she texted her daughter to say “Stay focused and have fun!! Text me when you done.  Love you”.

Nastia later said, “I saw her a few hours after I won and it was the first time I had seen her since I left for the Olympics.”

Nastia’s Father, Valeri Liukin, was by her side every step of the way.

Photo Credits: Lluis Gene / Getty Images / NBC

PRICE Of GOLD SOARS!!! Michael Phelps Takes #6 in Men’s 200 Meter IM

It was time for Phelps to see if he could take medal number 14 and his 6th consecutive Gold in this Olympics. Michael had to face Lochte in this race, but Lochte had just come off a race 25 minutes earlier. No one could possibly hope to race Michael after only 25 minutes rest unless they tied cinder blocks to Phelps feet.

At the end of the Butterfly, Phelps was easily in the lead already. They broke to the backstroke and it was obvious, Lochte was tired. He wasn’t going to pull Gold this time. Phelps was at world record pace…note that I just cut and paste that from every article on Phelps because it is always TRUE!

They moved to the breaststroke, and Phelps started to pull away from his nearest competitors, who both looked to be tiring. His turn into the freestyle had him leading by a full body length, and you don’t catch Michael in the freestyle.

Gold number 6 for Phelps!! World Record #6 for Phelps at 1:54.23. 1 away from tying Spitz’s record. 2 away from taking the record for most Gold Medals in history in a single Olympics held by Spitz for 36 years!

It all sounds like we know it already. It sounds like it is just a given and that it is already old news!! History is being made and this man is so phenomenal that people are in shock. It may take years before they realize what he has accomplished!

Phelps also now has 26 individual world records, tying Mark Spitz on that front.

A tired Lochte still took the Bronze only 25 minutes after winning a Gold over Peirsol. That was impressive.

USA Lochte “Peirses” World Record To Take Gold over Peirsol in Mens 200M Backstroke, 25 Minutes to Phelps?

This was an incredible race with the only two contenders, Ryan Lochte and Aaron Peirsol side by side in an American Dual.

This was to come down to the final 50 meters!! The two were head to head at the final turn and had been the entire race.

Lochte turned it on in the end and took the GOLD with a world record time of 1:53.94. Peirsol, the defending Gold medal champ, settled for Silver. Both are American Heroes and Go 1-2 for the US GOLD and SILVER. Now that is our kind of race!

Lochte, after breaking the world record and taking the Gold gets a 25 minute rest before having to face Phelps!! Would he beat them both?

By Evan Roessle, Guest Writer

Having lost to this same Greek team four years ago in Athens, the US team was determined to redeem itself and come away victorious.

As the United States basketball team prepared for their third game in the summer Olympics, you could sense the tension.  Would the US dominance in the games come to an abrupt end as it did in 2004, or would the improved level of competition put a road-block in the US team’s pursuit of a Gold medal?

In 2004, the US lost to Greece in the Bronze medal competition, and the fear was they would they just choke under the pressure, and their desire to return home to their cushy multi-million dollar contracts.

As the game began, the teams volleyed for dominance, each team in turn rotating between establishing its offensive and defensive strategies.  The volleying made it difficult to establish if either team had the advantage.

Jason Kidd started for the United States at point guard, and picked up three fouls in the first two minutes, creating a dire situation, leaving coach K to possibly have to resort to his reserves.  Chris Paul and Deron Williams were ready though, and both have more talent than most of the US competitition, so it wasn’t all that difficult of a problem.

Greece took an early lead, and with the US trailing 13-9 in the first quarter, Dwayne Wade entered the game. From there, Wade led the US team increasing both the intensity on offense and defense, reversing the trend and taking the US lead to 17 at half time.

In the first half, Wade, and Chris Bosh had the largest impacts providing tough D! Several steals for Wade and a couple of blocks for Bosh helped the US establish a lead Greece would be staring at for the rest of the game.

In the second half, the United States controlled the tempo, maintaining their twenty-point lead.  Aggressive defense and assistance from a Greek team that was not prepared to come from behind led to a final score of 92-69.

The United States proved that it is not the same team it was four years ago, and the Greeks were an easy target.  The team that lost to Greece in 2004 can now anticipate and prepare for their next competitor, Spain.   Experts believe Spain will be their toughest competition, having a mixture of NBA and European players.  The Spanish team has talent, and may be able to hang around with the United States team, but our bet is on a US GOLD rush and Spanish SILVER!!

Photo Credits: Nicolas Asfouri / Filippo Monteforte / Jeff Gross / Getty Images / NBC

Dalhausser/Rogers played Baracetti/Conde of Argentina.  The Argentinian team defeated the Latvian team that beat Dalhausser/Rogers in their opening match.

Dalhausser/Rogers opened the lead early, and continued to open it up.  Argentina was forced to call a time out after the US Team went up 15-9 following an uncontested spike by Rogers as the Argentinians just stood and watched.  The Argentinians were beginning to look more like spectators than participants, just watching the ball go past.

The timeout didn’t change anything.  Rogers, despite being the shorter American, was delivering winner after winner.  Another score delivered by Rogers and it was 19-11.  No one can come back against Dalhausser/Rogers in that situation.

Set over on a Dalhausser spike.  21-12.

The US team did not look as sharp in the second set, giving Argentinia numerous chances.  But the Argentinians never led in the set, despite blunders such as serves straight into the net by Dalhausser.

Dalhausser helped the US pull away with an Ace while all the Argentinians could do was stare, 14-10 .  Dalhausser at 16-10 made a super human move.   He went up to block but the ball went past, he fell backwards and placed the ball up for Rogers, who set up the spike.  Dalhausser actually got up in the air fast enough to deliver the winning spike.

It was déjà vu in the second set at 19-11.  And bye bye Argentina, 21-13.

Next?

Photo Credit: Thoma Coex / Getty Images

Michael Phelps started for the US, and, as usual, surged to the front.  He took the first turn ½ body length in front and was extending his lead as he got to the second.  Phelps touched well ahead of the world record and no one was close.

Phelps continued to extend his lead to what appeared to be 2 full body lengths for Ryan Lochte who, at the first turn, had a 2 ½ second lead over Russia, the next nearest contender.  Lochte reached the second turn still well ahead of the world record, and again, not one other racer in the pool was beating the world record.  His lead at the end of the 2nd leg, about 2 body lengths.  He widened it on the turn.  By the third turn, Lochte was three body lengths in front and the US was destroying the World Record.  Lochte , a 3 time world champion wasn’t going to give up an inch.

Lochte handed off the baton (figuratively of course) at over 3 seconds ahead of world record pace.  Ricky Berens took over and by the end of the first lap, was so far out in front, it looked like he could have stopped for a Margarita on the side of the pool and still won.  Berens was already stroking home as other competitors were just making the turn.

Peter VanderKaay (PBK) entered the pool at 3.65 seconds ahead of the World Record.  If Jaws was not in the water hungry for Americans, this was over.  Again, at the turn, PBK was so far ahead of the pack that the rest of the swimmers could not even flip at the turn before he was clearly driving away.

As PBK turned home, no one was close, and not only did the US team beat the world record, they beat 7 minutes!! The time was 6:58.56 destroying the world record by 5 full seconds and everyone else in the pool by 5.14 seconds.  Unheard of!!  The camera had to go to super wide angle just to get everyone competing in the picture for the last lap.  This was such dominance, that no one could have believed it unless they actually saw it.

That now is 11 total Golds for Phelps!!  One more, and he will not only have the most Golds ever in history in the Olympics but the most medals period.

Photo Credits: Nick Laham / Paul Gilham / Getty Images

Michael Phelps was about to take away Mark Spitz record as the most decorated Gold medalist in history. Spitz’ record has held for 36 years! And it would take a miracle swimmer like Phelps to do it.

Phelps was ahead at the first turn and in perfect form, but the turn was not crisp and allowed Burmester of New Zealand to take the lead, but that lead didn’t last long. By the end of 100 Meters, Phelps had returned to the front of the pack.

Phelps was chasing the world record at the final turn. And Burmester from New Zealand was somewhat close, but no one could touch Michael as he made Olympic History with a new World Record and the Gold!

Phelps actually appeared disappointed despite making history taking his 10th career Olympic Gold medal. Why? Because Michael wanted to break 1:52, and he did not make it. A World Record was not enough for Phelps!!

Phelps is now only one medal away from tying Spitz for total medals. In less than one hour, Michael would have his chance to do it.

Photo Credit: Itsuo Inouye / Getty Images

Here are all of Mark Spitz’s medals from the 1968 and 1972 Olympics:

* 1968 — 4×100 m freestyle relay Gold

* 1968 — 4×200 m freestyle relay Gold

* 1968 — 100 m butterfly Silver

* 1968 — 100 m freestyle Bronze

* 1972 — 100 m butterfly Gold

* 1972 — 100 m freestyle Gold

* 1972 — 200 m butterfly Gold

* 1972 — 200 m freestyle Gold

* 1972 — 4×100 m freestyle relay Gold

* 1972 — 4×100 m medley relay Gold

* 1972 — 4×200 m freestyle relay Gold

Michael Phelps current standing in Beijing 20008 Olympics:

So far: Eight finals, Eight gold medals, Seven world records, One Olympic Record.

His Events:

200m free- won Gold, Aug. 12

100m fly- won Gold, Aug.15

200m fly- won Gold, Aug. 12

200m IM- won Gold Aug. 15

400m IM- won Gold, Aug. 10

4×100m free relay- won Gold, Aug.11 with Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak, and Garrett Weber-Gale

4×200m free relay - won Gold, Aug. 12 with Peter VanderKaay

4×100m medley relay- won Gold with Aaron Peirsol, Jason Lezak, and Brendan Hansen

Buy the latest issue of Sports illustrated, Michael Phelps on the cover! August 25, 2008 issue!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GREATEST SWIMMER IN THE WORLD!! Thank you for making history!!