2009
12
Jan
The city’s proposal to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games has strong ties to Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago. The bid’s motto, “Stir the soul,” plays on the famous words attributed to Burnham: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” And in the spirit of the Burnham Plan, the [...]
2008
21
Aug
Philip Dalhausser and Todd Rogers from the United States have defeated Fabio Magalhaes and Marcio Araujo of Brazil in a close match to win the gold medal in the men’s volleyball.
Brazil also took the bronze medal in the men’s beach volleyball in an earlier match.
2008
21
Aug
Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego of Brazil beat Georgian pair Jorge Terceiro and Renato Gomes in the bronze medal match of men’s beach volleyball.
They won in two sets 21-15, 21-10.
2008
20
Aug
China’s Xue and Zhang Xi had a fairly easy win over Brazil’s Talita and Renata from Brazil to win the bronze medal in the women’s beach volleyball.
China’s Tian Jia/Wang also have a chance to win gold in the same event when they play Walsh/May-Treanor from the United States.
The match is scheduled to start at 11:00A.M. [...]
2008
20
Aug
Todd Rogers and Philip Dalhausser from the United States defeated Renato Gomes and Jorge Terceiro of Georgia 21-11, 21-13 to make it through to the final of the men’s beach volleyball. The only match the Americans lost was in the first round against Latvia.
“This is probably the first beach volleyball match I’ve been nervous [...]
2008
20
Aug
Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor beat Brazil to make it through to the final against China’s Wang Jie and Tian Jia.
“We’ll just have to pretend the crowd is cheering for us,” May-Treanor said.
The match is scheduled for Thursday morning at 9:00A.M. Beijing time. The United States team have won 12 straight Olympic matches.
“We don’t [...]
2008
16
Aug
In an article on Slate.com, the author asks “Why are beach-volleyball players always patting each other on the butt?”
He even tries to argue somehow that it is not “worthy” to part of the Olympics.
“…beach volleyball is unworthy of the Olympics. While it is clearly a healthful pastime, a fun athletic-ish endeavor, and a fine [...]
2008
14
Aug
Filed under: Beijing
So has your DVR received a workout rewinding moments in women’s beach volleyball? Especially, the repeated NBC replays (YouTube) of the American women celebrating their gold last Olympics. Maybe it’s just my husband who does that.
King Kaufman at Salon wondered why the women wear bikinis and the men wear shirts. I came across a genius ploy for page hits video essay at Yahoo! that explains this more than just saying “duh, so men will watch.”
Basically, the short answer can be found on not-as-gratuitous picture on page 6. Beach volleyball Olympian Holly McPeak explains that though men typically train wearing board shorts and no shirt, for competition,
“[T]he governing international body for the sport prefers a cleaner look with their country, names, and numbers on their shirt.”
What no Speedos? I would think there would be plenty of room for country and name information on board shorts.
I guess male Olympians are getting more clothed in various events, like the full body suits for swimming events. Though I suppose diving is still a place to see scantily clothed mens.
Personally, as someone who played quite a lot of beach volleyball, I don’t see how the women dive in the sand and not lose their bottoms. But then again, I also wonder how the men don’t lose their trunks in the swimming and diving events because they seemed to be perched rather er precariously low.
I really shouldn’t worry so much about athletes losing their smallish outfits, I suppose, as the original Olympics were a celebration of the human form and the events were performed in the nude.
And if you think that the picture I used with this story was gratuitous, well it is. It’s the non-cropped picture straight from Getty Images. The Sydney Morning Herald didn’t think their pictures were sexed-up enough, so they cropped their volleyball booty picture especially close as illustrated by the blog article “Women still the sex class in international elite sports.“
Next, maybe I can learn why the Chinese feel compelled to play tons of music from the 80’s during the beach volleyball competition. Perhaps it is in homage to the iconic 80’s movie, Top Gun. (YouTube below for those who are unfamiliar with my reference or perhaps are into reliving moments of ultimate 80’s cheese)
2008
11
Aug
I had a laugh at this article from Reuters:
If film stars in sunglasses in dark clubs at night seem ridiculous, it looked even more baffling when beach volleyball players at the Olympics took to the court wearing frames with no lenses.
“The lenses fog up because of the humidity, so you can’t wear the glasses without [...]
2008
9
Aug
While the patch of rain earlier today delayed the start of the tennis, it was no problem for the beach volleyball.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh from the United States beat Japan’s Chiaki Kusuhara and Mika Teru Saiki 21-12, 21-15.
“It felt good out there, it was our first time on centre. But it’s so humid it [...]