Kosuke Kitajima celebrates his victory Monday.
BOCOG PHOTO

Kitajima wins gold with world record in 100 breaststroke; U.S. takes relay gold

Monday 11th August, 11:39 AM JST

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Latest 15 of 47 Total Comments Show All

ExPrinceska at 11:47 PM JST - 11th August

and think her English is adorable

that is encouraging, but I have limited grasp, I admit it. But still enough to tell my opinion.

The French swimmers, they have this je ne sais quoi that makes them so good.
usaexpat at 11:54 PM JST - 11th August

Kitajima was brilliant as was Lezak in the 400. It's a good games for swimming, records are being broken all over by the men and the women.
Chessnutroastin at 12:45 AM JST - 12th August

Princess:"The French swimmers, they have this je ne sais quoi that makes them so good."

A certain "I don't know what" they makes them so good? More like they didn't know what hit them when Lezak caught and passed Bernard on the last leg. Bernard after the race looking stunned? Priceless.
cleo at 01:06 AM JST - 12th August

There was only 0.08 of a second between gold and silver in the men's relay. Both the US and France swam a good race, there's no need at all for bickering and one-upmanship.

Meanwhile in the women's 400m freestyle Great Britain took gold and bronze. Yay.
helloklitty at 06:18 AM JST - 12th August

Good race - broke the WR by 4 seconds. What would be a great race in your opinion?

I agree that France should stop bickering and layoff the one-upsmanship. Show some Olympic spirit - like the USA.
rjd_jr at 07:33 AM JST - 12th August

Before some get too carried away with what is sportsmanlike conduct and what isn't, let's not forget that the U.S. swim team in 2004 also made some rather bold and not so gentlemanly predictions, before eating some humble pie. One has to admit that the trash talking by the French team only added to the impact of the U.S. win.
USNinJapan2 at 07:55 AM JST - 12th August

ExPrinceska

you do not like my messages and my limited grasp of English :( I just express opinion like everybody else to the best of my abilities. Most of my messages are deleted by the mods, if this makes you happy...

I have never said anything about your command of the English language; I think you've confused me with someone else. I think your English is just fine and quite good for a non-native English speaker.

On the other hand, I can't imagine the nature of your posts that the moderators are deleting but like I said earlier, I think it's unfortunate that the opinions you you do choose to express here are principally 1) your negative opinions regarding the US and 2) your frivolous views regarding how someone looks.
USNinJapan2 at 11:17 AM JST - 12th August

ExPrinceska

This discussion should be not about me, but about the swimmers. I respect all the swimmers but sometimes I doubt about all these records.

And another thing. It's damn right rude and unsportsmanlike yourself to dismiss these Olympic and world records as results of cheating.
smithinjapan at 03:52 PM JST - 12th August

USN: As for her messages being deleted, it's because some yahoo came on here challenging me and everyone else to meet up and fight, calling ExPrincess an America-hater, etc. Her latest posts were actually an apology for any misunderstanding and an appeal to ensure the opposite -- that she doesn't hate Americans in the least. Anyway, the moderator deleted all of said 'challenger's' comments, plus anyone else's that related. Hence, the erased comments.

As for questioning the judging and results of olympic contests, there's nothing 'damn right rude' or unsportsPERSON-like (she's not a man, after all, but a person) about questioning records. I've read all her comments, and nowhere do I see her saying anyone cheated... in fact, you have no clue at all what she means by the comment... maybe she's saying, "I question the current method of testing," or, "I question the use of certain bathing suits,", or hell, "I wonder how our bodies are evolving"....

It's 'damn right rude' of YOU to make assumptions based on zero fact, and to call people rude while you do so.

All of the swimmers, and Phelps in particular, are doing a PHENOMENAL job! And what Japanese on the planet is going to come onto a thread praising their gold medal athlete and wonder if the results were from cheating??? Jeez, man... chill out! As to other sports in particular where judging is 100% a person's opinion (or people's), it's more than valid to question any records or judging, but again, we have no idea what Princess is thinking.
USNinJapan2 at 06:29 PM JST - 12th August

smithinjapan

Why you're coming to this Russian woman's defense is beyond me. She first praised Kitajima and the French swimmers' performances because she finds them attractive then dismisses the other swimmers' victories as suspicious and tainted. Did she really have to use the word 'cheated' for you to get her drift? For me the following was enough:

I do not trust any of the acievements of Aussies and Americans in swimming. They all look genetically changed.

I respect all the swimmers but sometimes I doubt about all these records...

I do not trust any of the achievements in atheltics and swimming these days. Sorry but Ben johnoson and Marion Jones...you know.

As for 'unsportspersonlike', come talk to me when you can find it in the dictionary and MS Word no longer thinks it's gibberish.
cleo at 07:37 PM JST - 12th August

Why you're coming to this Russian woman's defense is beyond me.

If smitty is 'coming to this Russian woman's defence' (and I'm not sure that he is, and even less sure of the significance of her nationality) perhaps it's because of the altercation that took place here last night, starting with 'not supporting the US and not being a native speaker of English means you're anti-American' and ending with silly and rather pathetic 'meet me outside' threats before the mods did their job and deleted it all.

Gotta say personally I find the 'US whupped the French, whooppee' posts sadly lacking in Olympic spirit and sportsmanship. There was a difference of a fraction of a fraction of a second between the two. Both teams swam superbly. Why not just accept that instead of souring it with cock-crowing? The guys who did the swimming were able to shake hands afterwards. Keyboard-bashers should be able to do the same.
USNinJapan2 at 08:12 PM JST - 12th August

cleo

I hope that wasn't meant for me because I wasn't a part of any of that. Sorry but you're preaching to the choir. Like you I feel that ALL of the competitors should be congratulated and their accomplishments respected. That is precisely why I took offense to ExPrinceska's ridiculous passive-aggressive insinuations that the Australian and US performances somehow involved doping and genetic alteration. Why couldn't she just leave out any negative comments about the Aussies and Americans, or better yet congratulate their superb performances, in addition to gushing over Kitajima and the French swimmers? Instead she had to throw in numerous absolutely unneccessary slants that I doubt anyone would like to hear about their country's athletes. I don't care what smithinjapan says I feel that that is rude and ungracious to say the least. I'm just calling a spade a spade, that's all.
ExPrinceska at 08:18 PM JST - 12th August

hello, please stop arguing. I like the French swimmers because they challenged the Americans in a teasing way. I mean they have sense of humour. I do not understand why Americans take it so seriously, it was just a joke.
helloklitty at 12:14 AM JST - 13th August

Alain Bernard is a swimming star whom I respect. Go France. Stop the USA!

Sacre bleu, but it's "Elaine" and it's a little late to stop the USA.

We salute our competitors from another continent although our California wines are much better as is the moonshine I make out back in my trash cans. My oh my, these victory fries are delicious.

Hakuna matata you non-Americans. Don't forget, you can use your swim caps if you run out of surrender caps. Au revoir.
Badsey at 02:48 AM JST - 13th August

hate can only take you so far, and having technique is certainly better. Kitajima's technique is the best and that made him a champion -it's quite surprising actually and very few swimmers are gold specialists. If he hits 40yrs old and is still getting gold in the breathstroke I will be even more amazed.

Olympics is all about passion for sport, I think TV spins the nationalism thing a bit much. It would be nice to see every nation have a shot at the gold -as an example, it's nice to see NK compete and win a few (and they have). When the NBA stars loose a game = it's actually good for the sport. -So I guess grandstanding for the other team is ok.