C
Craklord
Guest
Danm micheal phelps and the USA swim team talk about pwning France.. lol
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2008 OLYMPICS
- Thread starter Craklord
- Start date
- Watchers 0
F
FireCrazy
Guest
Yeah no doubt, the kid is awesome!
First that hes great enough to make it to the olympics, and then he breaks the damn world record!
Now he might even break the record on one single person getting the most medals.
All while breathing that smoggy air and polution in China!
First that hes great enough to make it to the olympics, and then he breaks the damn world record!
Now he might even break the record on one single person getting the most medals.
All while breathing that smoggy air and polution in China!
Go to http://www.google.com .
In the search field type "french military victories" and click "I'm feeling lucky".
In the search field type "french military victories" and click "I'm feeling lucky".
F
FireCrazy
Guest
BEIJING – Jason Lezak churned like an unstoppable nuclear submarine, redlining to complete an impossible mission.
He pummeled the last 50 meters of water, dilating fans’ pupils and scorching their veins with adrenaline and sucking their torsos forward in their seats. He churned straight for Garrett Weber-Gale, who was cursing and howling and pounding on the starting blocks. He charged toward Cullen Jones, who jumped so frantically that he almost slipped and fell into the pool. And he roared past U.S. coach Eddie Reese, who was being squeezed nearly to death by one of his assistants.
And in the last meter of the greatest relay race in the history of the Olympics, Lezak grazed his outstretched fingertip on the wall just ahead of France’s Alain Bernard, who last week boasted of “smashing” the Americans in this event. When Reese tried to capture the moment later, he thought for a second and shook his head.
“It would have to be in the unbelievable category,” he said. “That’s the biggest word I know.”
That sounded about right, as fans milled around the Water Cube shaking their heads in disbelief, with dazed smiles, as if to say, Did that just happen?
Label it inconceivable, unimaginable or impossible. Just don’t expect the description to stick for long. The swimming world will be swapping out superlatives for ages on this one. Five – five – of the teams that took part in Monday’s 4x100 relay final beat the word record set by the United States in the preliminary round. And the new world record established by Lezak, Weber-Gale, Jones and Michael Phelps cut 3.99 seconds off the former mark.
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That alone might have made it the greatest race in relay history. But this one had the feel of a Hollywood script – the kind that would never make it to the movie screen simply because it bent reality too far. From Phelps’ second gold hanging in the balance, to Bernard’s pre-race boast, to the United States struggling to regain supremacy in an event it once owned, this one had the makings of greatness before the swimmers took to the starting blocks.
And just when it seemed it couldn’t get any better, the Americans and French dueled in an epic final 100 meters. A final leg that pitted Lezak – who was the anchor on America’s disappointing 2000 and 2004 4x100-meter freestyle relay teams – against Bernard, who was the world-record holder in the 100-meter freestyle going into the event. Bernard lost that record in the first 100 of the race when Australia’s Eamon Sullivan opened with a 47.24 leg, grabbing Bernard’s record.
But it was Lezak who would deliver the deepest cut to the French. With Phelps and Weber-Gale coming out fast, the United States fell behind in the third 100 meters, with Cullen Jones touching the wall over six-tenths of a second behind the French. By the time Lezak made his final turn, that gap had grown to .82 seconds, a virtual eternity in a 50-meter sprint. But just when the race appeared to be over – NBC commentator Rowdy Gaines actually called the race for the French with about 60 meters left – Lezak pulled off the fastest 100-meter split in the history of the games: 46.06 seconds.
“It had to be the best ever and it was the best ever,” Reese said. “That’s the kind of anchor you dream of. … When you put the world-record holder in on the end of a relay and you go into the pool behind him, the chance of you beating him is slim and none. There’s never been (a 50 meters like that) in my memory – not running down somebody that holds a world record and that’s on their game. That was incredible.”
Incredible and sweet for the 32-year-old Lezak, who had pulled the team together in a meeting a few days before the race and talked about his 2000 and 2004 failures. The Americans already knew the tales by heart. Until 2000, the United States had never lost the 4x100 freestyle. That was before the Sydney Games, when Gary Hall Jr. rolled out a proclamation even more colorful than Bernard’s, saying of a powerful Australian 4x100 team: “We’ll smash them like guitars.” The Americans lost the gold by .19 seconds that year, and the Australians mockingly played air guitars atop the medal stand.
Then came 2004, when the U.S. could only muster a bronze after finishing behind South Africa and a Cinderella Netherlands quartet. In that race, Phelps swam a subpar 100, and his ailing teammate, Ian Crocker, had the slowest leg of any of the 32 swimmers in the finals.
BEIJING - AUGUST 11: Jason Lez…
Getty Images - Aug 11, 1:27 am EDT
In both of those years, the Americans were considered the prohibitive favorite. A far cry from these games, when France’s powerful foursome of Bernard, Amaury Leveaux, Fabien Gilot and Frederick Bousquet were considered the toast of the 4x100 relay. Knowing that, Lezak dusted off some painful memories and pointed out what the Americans had learned the hard way over the last two games: favorites fall hard.
“I could see on his face the pain of losing something like that,” Weber-Gale said of the meeting.
And when it came down to the last 50 meters, and Lezak had to do the unthinkable and make up a half-body length, Weber-Gale could only think the Americans had found the right person in the right moment.
“I was just thinking to myself, if there’s anyone on this team or in the world that is going to do it, it was going to be Jason,” he said.
Yet for a split second, when Lezak made his final turn and saw Bernard so far ahead, he said he briefly thought “there’s no way,” before deciding to just blow out his remaining energy and hope for the best. He pulled his body as close as possible to Bernard’s lane, drafting behind him for 25 meters, and then swiftly made up the last few inches, digging and kicking and reaching for the wall. And when it was over, the team exploded in unison, flexing and leaping and exorcising eight years of – as Reese put it – getting “spanked” in freestyle relays.
It was a euphoric moment that had roots earlier in the day, from when Phelps sought out Weber-Gale to tell him of Bernard’s acidic boast: “The Americans? We’re going to smash them.”
“It fired me up more than anything else,” Phelps said. “I told Garrett and he said ‘You know what? We’re going to let our swimming do the talking. ‘ ”
He pummeled the last 50 meters of water, dilating fans’ pupils and scorching their veins with adrenaline and sucking their torsos forward in their seats. He churned straight for Garrett Weber-Gale, who was cursing and howling and pounding on the starting blocks. He charged toward Cullen Jones, who jumped so frantically that he almost slipped and fell into the pool. And he roared past U.S. coach Eddie Reese, who was being squeezed nearly to death by one of his assistants.
And in the last meter of the greatest relay race in the history of the Olympics, Lezak grazed his outstretched fingertip on the wall just ahead of France’s Alain Bernard, who last week boasted of “smashing” the Americans in this event. When Reese tried to capture the moment later, he thought for a second and shook his head.
“It would have to be in the unbelievable category,” he said. “That’s the biggest word I know.”
That sounded about right, as fans milled around the Water Cube shaking their heads in disbelief, with dazed smiles, as if to say, Did that just happen?
Label it inconceivable, unimaginable or impossible. Just don’t expect the description to stick for long. The swimming world will be swapping out superlatives for ages on this one. Five – five – of the teams that took part in Monday’s 4x100 relay final beat the word record set by the United States in the preliminary round. And the new world record established by Lezak, Weber-Gale, Jones and Michael Phelps cut 3.99 seconds off the former mark.
ADVERTISEMENT
That alone might have made it the greatest race in relay history. But this one had the feel of a Hollywood script – the kind that would never make it to the movie screen simply because it bent reality too far. From Phelps’ second gold hanging in the balance, to Bernard’s pre-race boast, to the United States struggling to regain supremacy in an event it once owned, this one had the makings of greatness before the swimmers took to the starting blocks.
And just when it seemed it couldn’t get any better, the Americans and French dueled in an epic final 100 meters. A final leg that pitted Lezak – who was the anchor on America’s disappointing 2000 and 2004 4x100-meter freestyle relay teams – against Bernard, who was the world-record holder in the 100-meter freestyle going into the event. Bernard lost that record in the first 100 of the race when Australia’s Eamon Sullivan opened with a 47.24 leg, grabbing Bernard’s record.
But it was Lezak who would deliver the deepest cut to the French. With Phelps and Weber-Gale coming out fast, the United States fell behind in the third 100 meters, with Cullen Jones touching the wall over six-tenths of a second behind the French. By the time Lezak made his final turn, that gap had grown to .82 seconds, a virtual eternity in a 50-meter sprint. But just when the race appeared to be over – NBC commentator Rowdy Gaines actually called the race for the French with about 60 meters left – Lezak pulled off the fastest 100-meter split in the history of the games: 46.06 seconds.
“It had to be the best ever and it was the best ever,” Reese said. “That’s the kind of anchor you dream of. … When you put the world-record holder in on the end of a relay and you go into the pool behind him, the chance of you beating him is slim and none. There’s never been (a 50 meters like that) in my memory – not running down somebody that holds a world record and that’s on their game. That was incredible.”
Incredible and sweet for the 32-year-old Lezak, who had pulled the team together in a meeting a few days before the race and talked about his 2000 and 2004 failures. The Americans already knew the tales by heart. Until 2000, the United States had never lost the 4x100 freestyle. That was before the Sydney Games, when Gary Hall Jr. rolled out a proclamation even more colorful than Bernard’s, saying of a powerful Australian 4x100 team: “We’ll smash them like guitars.” The Americans lost the gold by .19 seconds that year, and the Australians mockingly played air guitars atop the medal stand.
Then came 2004, when the U.S. could only muster a bronze after finishing behind South Africa and a Cinderella Netherlands quartet. In that race, Phelps swam a subpar 100, and his ailing teammate, Ian Crocker, had the slowest leg of any of the 32 swimmers in the finals.
BEIJING - AUGUST 11: Jason Lez…
Getty Images - Aug 11, 1:27 am EDT
In both of those years, the Americans were considered the prohibitive favorite. A far cry from these games, when France’s powerful foursome of Bernard, Amaury Leveaux, Fabien Gilot and Frederick Bousquet were considered the toast of the 4x100 relay. Knowing that, Lezak dusted off some painful memories and pointed out what the Americans had learned the hard way over the last two games: favorites fall hard.
“I could see on his face the pain of losing something like that,” Weber-Gale said of the meeting.
And when it came down to the last 50 meters, and Lezak had to do the unthinkable and make up a half-body length, Weber-Gale could only think the Americans had found the right person in the right moment.
“I was just thinking to myself, if there’s anyone on this team or in the world that is going to do it, it was going to be Jason,” he said.
Yet for a split second, when Lezak made his final turn and saw Bernard so far ahead, he said he briefly thought “there’s no way,” before deciding to just blow out his remaining energy and hope for the best. He pulled his body as close as possible to Bernard’s lane, drafting behind him for 25 meters, and then swiftly made up the last few inches, digging and kicking and reaching for the wall. And when it was over, the team exploded in unison, flexing and leaping and exorcising eight years of – as Reese put it – getting “spanked” in freestyle relays.
It was a euphoric moment that had roots earlier in the day, from when Phelps sought out Weber-Gale to tell him of Bernard’s acidic boast: “The Americans? We’re going to smash them.”
“It fired me up more than anything else,” Phelps said. “I told Garrett and he said ‘You know what? We’re going to let our swimming do the talking. ‘ ”
H
hydro
Guest
looks like a winner to me!
D
Dem0nic
Guest
What's up with that hydro?looks like a winner to me!
French History of Warfare
- Gallic Wars
- Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian. [Or at ths time in history, a Roman -ed.]
- Hundred Years War
- Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman." Sainted.
- Italian Wars
- Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.
- Wars of Religion
- France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots
- Thirty Years War
- France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.
- War of Revolution
- Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.
- The Dutch War
- Tied
- War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War
- Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.
- War of the Spanish Succession
- Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.
- American Revolution
- In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."
- French Revolution
- Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.
- The Napoleonic Wars
- Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.
- The Franco-Prussian War
- Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.
- World War I
- Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States [Entering the war late -ed.]. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.
- World War II
- Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.
- War in Indochina
- Lost. French forces plead sickness; take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu
- Algerian Rebellion
- Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.
- War on Terrorism
- France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe. Attempts to surrender to Vietnamese ambassador fail after he takes refuge in a McDonald's.
The question for any country silly enough to count on the French should not be "Can we count on the French?", but rather "How long until France collapses?"
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. All you do is leave behind a lot of noisy baggage."
Or, better still, the quote from last week's Wall Street Journal: "They're there when they need you."
H
hydro
Guest
looks like the guy is winning
looks like the guy is winning
Probably because the kid in the wheelchair is getting more action then Hydro ever will.
French Legion 2008
http://www.mcpmedia.com/images/myspace/*******.jpg
http://www.mcpmedia.com/images/myspace/*******.jpg
O
Onyxia
Guest
This photo was taken at Cut Throat's last family reunion.
C
Craklord
Guest
AND... 8 GOLD MEDALS FOR PHELPS.........go USA.....
B
Black Betty
Guest
That was INCREDIBLE to watch! Simply amazing.
Go USA!!
Go USA!!
D
Desolation87
Guest
Doesn't anyone here find it strange how BADLY the USA are doing? Without the incredible Phelps, USA would be struggling to keep ahead of tiny Britain! China are unbelievable!! Yes they are on home turf, but I think the chinese have drugged their atheletes to impress the democratic states, and have been feeding the US olympic team sedatives.
IT'S THE ONLY POSSIBLE ANSWER!!! It's not like a commie country havn't tried this before!
IT'S THE ONLY POSSIBLE ANSWER!!! It's not like a commie country havn't tried this before!
B
Black Betty
Guest
Without Phelps??????
He just won 8 out of 8 Gold medals. I don't see anyone beating that record from China OR tiny little Britain.
D
Desolation87
Guest
Without Phelps??????
He just won 8 out of 8 Gold medals. I don't see anyone beating that record from China OR tiny little Britain.
GOLD MEDAL TALLY AS OF 8/18/08
1 China 39
2 USA 22
3 Great Britain 12
Take away the Golds Phelps has won, that leaves USA only 2 ahead of GB. So in the words of the virgin Mary, come again???
A
After the Lovin'
Guest
It is in China, the government is probably holding the judges families hostage.
D
Desolation87
Guest
My exact point. I've never seen the USA under-preform so badly before. A government has drugged their olympic team before, so you never know!
EDIT: last Olympics Gold Medal Results
1 United States 35
2 China 32
3 Russia 27
HMMMMM!!!! The're up to something!!!
Oh well, we lead the medal count.
W
wee papa smurf
Guest
W
wee papa smurf
Guest
Without Phelps??????
He just won 8 out of 8 Gold medals. I don't see anyone beating that record from China OR tiny little Britain.
Yea damn them tiny little britains, come on the extremly large Scottish!!
