Competition

[rake60]

Competition has never, nor will ever be a factor here.

Every one of us give our projects the best effort we can and share what's to
be gained or best lost from those experiences.

Starting tomorrow the world goes to war...
It's not a country against country or race against race war.
It's a battle for every competitor there to turn out their personal best
ON DEMAND!

I know that I'll be watching every moment that I can and will be hoping for every one
of them to be at their best that day, and celebrating their victories!
I don't care where their from...

Give em hell kids!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2vrHYgMj_Y[/ame]

 

[Mcgyver]

lol I thought this was going to be another HMEM competition, you know like Bogs one, build a hang glider out of 3 rubber bands, two knitting needles and aunties old girdle. Then i got it, the Olympics! Wow, have been too absorbed in work and workshop, i was oblivious this was going on, I mean i knew abstractly that it was Beijing in 08 but not that it was now 08 in Beijing. do they do hockey in these games? :big:

 

[b.lindsey]

Wonderful post Rake!! I will be watching just as intently. Makes you wonder though if we can come together and celebrate our common humanity for 2 weeks, then why not for 2 months, or 2 years, or 2 millineum. Why does it begin only with the fanfare of the opening ceremony and end all too briefly? I was fortunate to be in Greece about 11 years ago and stood on the site of the ancient games...what a rush!! But even then they would stop wars long enough to hold the games, only to return to fields of battle thereafter!! Sadly some things never change...but at least for these next few days and weeks we can celebrate (even as onlookers) what is best within us. Thanks for reminding us of that.

Bill

 

[mklotz]

I'll get excited about the Olympics (maybe even watch a bit) just as soon as there's an international competition, funded with billions of dollars by governments and corporations, where our young people compete in various intellectual endeavors, win medals to worldwide press acclaim, and use their notoriety to obtain huge endorsement contracts which money they use to fund their useful future research.

Imagine how shallow your life is if the best you can say about yourself is that you once jumped a tenth of an inch farther than anybody else in the world.

 

[Bogstandard]

Marv,

I am not a spoilsport, but like yourself I think it has just become a massive money making scheme.

As soon as they let professionals take part, I totally forget about any sporting event.

It isn't a matter of winning medals any more, it is about buying them, by the amount of cash you can throw at the athletes preparations and training, and as you say, skimming off the top after it is all over.

In the amateur days, which was what the Olympics used to be all about, you had to have a job to support yourself, and do the training as and when you could. Any mention of sponsorship and you were out.

John

 

[Metal Mickey]

Well Rake I am going to buck the trend......(I love most sports, I even have a large cross to bear in being a West Bromwich Albion supporter (soccer team to those over the water) but I shall be spending every spare moment in the workshop......but I may watch a little in the afternoons....... :big:

 

[tel]

Bah! Humbug!

Support for the Olympics is support for the rampant corruption that is the IOC.

The athletes, most of 'em without two brain cells to rub together, are just pawns in a mighty money generating machine.

 

[mklotz]

The athletes, most of 'em without two brain cells to rub together...

And one of those two cells is inhibitory.

 

[rake60]

I've tried to avoid making a reply here but I can't...

I can see where it would be very easy to sit back in an arm chair and
develop those opinions. I respect them as such.

I had a personal friend who busted his humps to earn a place on the
Olympic team. He was a Golden Gloves boxing champion in his younger
years. Was there money spent in his training?
Damn STRAIGHT there was!
In his final qualifying competition he was defeated.
It wasn't money that he lost to. He lost to a boxer who was more on is game
on that given day.

Having been that close to the game I'm very disappointed by the views expressed
here.

Four years from now the Summer Olympic Games will be held in a different city.
Some town called London.

Let's hope the native population of that city won't waste their efforts and money
on something as frivolous as the Olympics...

I'll be watching than as well, knowing what the young people who are there have
gone through to get there.

Perhaps by then they will have developed 4 working brain cells to make it more
palatable to the arm chair athletes....

If I appear to be a tad pissed off, it just might be because I AM!

This whole forum was started because I didn't like the the way people were treated
in the anonymous public eye.

Life is a learning experience.
My own eyes have been opened once again..........

Rick

 

[rickharris]

I also had every intent to not enter this debate - Sadly I think the Olympics has been tainted by past competitors who had a win at any cost attitude - BUT, I think there are many, especially now with increased adverse publicity and increased testing to identify cheats, who are honest in their endeavours.

They and their families put in hours of time and personal sacrifice in training with no guarantee it will pay off. In the UK at least they get very little national support in their early days and not a vast amount even later if they rise through the ranks to international level (here I have to exclude the professional who is paid to perform)

Sadly, for me, they have allowed professional sports to be included in what was originally a pure athletics event. But there are few UK professional athletes around - who would employ them? - OK some may get sponsorship from companies for advertising their products but vast amounts - relatively I think not. All those early mornings - We have a student who gets up at 5:30 AM 3 days a week to go swimming - he is good - a county swimmer and only 11 years old - But he and his family make a considerable sacrifice to do this. surly that is worth some reward?

We had an international junior gokart champ a year or 2 back - until he got to be good and sponsored his karts cost £1000 a year + running costs - paid for by his family - eventually he got a sponsorship deal. he isn't going to be Lewis Hamilton, in fact he is at university learning to be an engineer at present. He couldn't see a financial future in the sport but the engineering attracted him.

They - the athletes - work hard for long years I think they deserve their chance/moment of fame and glory in all fairness. They can all do better and more than I personally ever could, (much as everyone here is a better machinest and engineer than i ever will be and I respect you all for that) , and I applaud their efforts.

I don't stay up all night to watch it - Thank heavens for video - I don't watch every event they show but just as I watch F1 races and admire the technology and skills of the teams, (not just the driver), I admire the efforts and skills of the competitors in the Olympics.

Got to be better than throwing bombs at each other to "prove your better" than the other country!! What ever better means.

 

[BobWarfield]

I'm with you, rick. I don't watch any sport much, but these athletes deserve more respect than this.

Sincerely,

BW

 

[Cedge]

Easy boys....
It is what it is. The sad part is that the kids who compete wind up being placed in the middle of a political storm, when all they want is a venue to showcase their best efforts. That seems to be the way with anything good anyone accomplishes, these days.

Relax... let them enjoy their moment and just leave it at that. Getting all heated up here on HMEM isn't going to change anything except the peaceful atmosphere we've worked to build among friends.

Steve

 

[rake60]

Your right Steve
This debate does not belong here.

I'm sorry for even making the original post!

It was intended to be an international gathering of minds and efforts.

Evidently it isn't...

It makes me wonder what is..........

Rick

 

[shred]

As somebody heading off to a sporting (of a sort) World Championship competition (wherein I do not expect to be on the podium), I can see several sides to this. Many of the top athletes train very very hard for very little return. Almost universally, the competitors that are better than me train harder and have less of a life outside of the sport.

Where the Olympics lose is on is the well-paid superstars of a very few events that monopolize the air time, and the silly 'medal races'. Most all the main coverage isn't showing the best doing what they do best, it's vignettes and stories and chatter about overcoming adversity, mixed with 30 seconds of gymnastics, track and swimming. I'm all for the former, not keen on the latter.

I have a whole separate rant about 'sports', the results of which are entirely the result of judging by humans, but I'll save that for later..

 

[Brass_Machine]

Time to change gears a little... I am highjacking this post in the name of curiosity (that and to defeat a flame war before it happens!)

Shred... what sport?? Do tell us.

Eric

 

[dsquire]

Time to change gears a little... I am highjacking this post in the name of curiosity (that and to defeat a flame war before it happens!)

Shred... what sport?? Do tell us.

Eric

Eric

I was also wondering what type of competition he was taking part in. He has probably pulled the plug for the night so we may have to wait until tomorrow to find out unless someone else here knows what some of his other hobbies are.

Cheers

Don

 

[Loose nut]

When the difference between winning and losing is a couple of hundreds of a second the idea of competition is meaningless.

 

[BobWarfield]

I see an English team is trying to set a land speed record for a steam powered vehicle. I wonder if Shred is involved with that?

Best,

BW

 

[Loose nut]

I just heard that the air quality in Beijing is so bad that a lot of the competitors are having trouble breathing and some have even left. No wonder China is in the lead.

 

[shred]

My thing is one of the few where older guys can still hang with the young 'uns at; target shooting. The kids have the speed and eyesight, but the sneaky old guys have the experience and patience to hang in for the long haul. In the speed events (where I'm headed next weekend, out to California), the winner is usually decided by a tenth of a second or so over the course of about 80 to 100 total scored seconds. The kids do well there, but one of my heroes in that event regularly places in the top 10 and is also ten years older than me. It all comes down to whoever makes the least mistakes and he makes very few. October is the big World Championships in Bali with 1000 plus competitors from all around the world. You'll see a lot less of me around here before then

No land speed records for me, sorry