What, for you, were the highlights and low points of the Beijing Olympics?

Monday 25th August, 06:30 AM JST

Latest 15 of 42 Total Comments Show All

Triple888 at 01:00 AM JST - 26th August

Highlight: - China beat its own record and the USA in golds (ok, 10 more overall medals from the USA, fair enough) - China hosted the greatest Olympics of recent times. Many countries made their best ever performance at these games. - Beijing Olympics produced the best ever Olympian and most new world records. - All western media suddenly forgetting about the "smog" in the games. (Maybe the "smog" actually helped those achieve new records and Phelps and Bolt...) - The torch travelled around the world conquering the ups and downs and finally safely taxiing at Bird's Next in magnificent style.

Low points: None really.
jerseyboy at 07:43 AM JST - 26th August

blvtbzk -- Great post. I had the exact same feeling. Especially when the 8 minutes and 30 seconds on the softball players was followed by another one minute and 30 seconds of team arrivals at Haneda. For pity sake, the "news" yesterday was that projections say that the pension fund will be bankrupt in 40 years if nothing is done, but that was not even covered. No, instead we got 10 minutes of hero-worship. Pretty amazing.
borscht at 09:31 AM JST - 26th August

I thought the opening ceremony was the best opening I've seen in decades.

A low point would be, like many have said, Japanese TV concentrating on Japanese athletes to the exclusion of the Winners. Hello? Do all Japanese TV viewers care only about the Japanese athletes and not the actual winners? That Taro came in 25th in the X event is nice to know but I'm more interested in the top three. You think?
undecidedbout08 at 10:08 AM JST - 26th August

The low point would have to be this

Castro defends athlete who kicked judge in face

HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro on Monday defended the Cuban taekwondo athlete who kicked a referee in the face at the Beijing Olympics, saying Angel Matos was rightfully indignant over his disqualification from the bronze-medal match.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D92PESQ80&show_article=1
lynny at 02:38 PM JST - 26th August

High point: Chris Hoy's three gold medals in the cycling.

Low point: Only seeing one of his races as a japanese cyclist was in it!

;-)
Nessie at 02:46 PM JST - 26th August

We have a winner: Undecided.
xpompey8 at 02:51 PM JST - 26th August

Highlights: Usain Bolt, Opening ceremonies, Team USA beating Spain. Lowlights: Questionable judging favoring the host country, BMX racing, trampoline, and water polo.
nigelboy at 03:09 PM JST - 26th August

Not enough Basketball coverage. But at least I got to see my boys Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant play in the Finals.
TheguyNextdoor at 03:14 PM JST - 26th August

Highlight: The olympics itself. Chance for everyone to get together and just compete in as the best in their specific event for their countries.

Low: The sore losers, the guy who tossed his medal down on the floor, the fans not respecting the winners of other countries, the guy who kicked at the ref, the one-sided judging, the murder of a vistor, the arrest of reporters report protest, so many lows...but the highs were the best. I love the Olympics!!
DS at 05:48 PM JST - 26th August

High- Japan's 4x100 track relay team. The happiest bronze medalists I have ever seen!

Low- the fact that China hosted the event. Ham handed security, fake singers, using thousands of soldiers in the open/closing ceremonies, goosestepping with the Olympic flag, using Han chinese in the place of genuine members of ethnic communities (but still wearing their costumes), using underage gymnasts, the list goes on.
rajakumar at 10:18 PM JST - 26th August

Highlights- All 204 nation's people were living together and enjoying sports together.

Low points- I thoughts all seats were going to be taken up. There were many seats still unsold at stadiums. They should given these empty seats to school children for free.
Betting at 11:04 PM JST - 26th August

The low point for me was watching a report on television about a young girl who had cancer and her parents who had to live in some deserted and abandoned buildings just off the marathon track. The cost of her treatment was 50 times what her parents made which of course they couldn't afford. As they couldn't pay, the hospital threw her out leaving her to her fate.

The high point was that even though she has nothing she still completely supported her country throughout the Olympics which is something I could never understand though.
Nessie at 12:09 AM JST - 27th August

For residents, the high point was two weeks of relatively clean air for the first time since the Opium Wars.
Pukey2 at 12:37 AM JST - 27th August

High points:

China topping the medal table with gold comprising over half of total, dominating certain sports. GB improving a lot. Clean air (albeit temporarily), especially for the two marathons. Great opening and closing ceremonies (although I think it should have ended after the GB routine. Far too long). Records galore and fantastic performances by Phelps, Bolt. And for Japan - Kitajima.

Low points:

The constant Chinese bashing which extended to the whole team and people in general. Sore losers (and that includes posters who just can't seem to recognize achievements by athletes from other countries) and allegations of bribery by the Chinese who, lo and behold, did NOT win everything.

As for those who complained about the games given to China - tough! You should have persuaded your countrymen not to attend. It happened in 1980 and 1984.

Most painful moment:

The weightlifter who dislocated his elbow for all to see. Ouch.
pizzaboy at 10:47 PM JST - 30th August

High points: Canadian Simon Whitfield getting the silver in the men's triathalon. Japan softball downing the USA. Japanese men going medal-less in baseball. USA 4 x 100 men's AND women's teams with the MASSIVE choke-jobs.

Low points: having to watch the olympics on Japanese tv, where all they show are the Japanese athletes (98% of the time) and NO BASKETBALL shown on basic cable tv, what an absolute FARCE!!!!!!!