One of my favorite activities at the Olympics is making fun of SI writer Brian Cazeneuve when one of his medal picks gets eliminated in the preliminaries. You can read all of Cazeneuve's picks this week as SI's Olympic preview hits newsstands and mailboxes in the next 48 hours. Mr. Michael Phelps is on the cover.
Earlier today the United States Olympic Committee announced its team members for competition at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Some highlights:
•The team will consist of 596 athletes: 310 men and 286 women.
•Forty-seven U.S. states will have athlete representatives. California will send the most representatives with 175. Slackers Montana, North Dakota and Vermont do not have a representative on the team.
•Four members of the team are over 50 years old, including sailor John Dane III, the oldest Olympain at age 58.
•Libby Callahan, who will compete in shooting, is the oldest U.S. female Olympian all-time at 56.
•The United States will field a team in women's field hockey for the first time since 1996 and in baseball for the first time since 2000.
•The team will compete in 30 sports at the 2008 Olympic Games, including the newest Olympic disciplines of bicycle moto-cross (BMX), open water swimming and women's steeplechase. The only team events the United States will not compete in are men's field hockey and team handball.
•Three athletes are appearing in their fifth Olympic Games: swimmer Dara Torres, archer Butch Johnson and cyclist George Hincapie. There are 12 other U.S. athletes will be competing in their fourth Olympic Games, including Sheila Taormina, who will compete in three different sports (swimming, triathlon and modern pentathlon).
•Women's 1- meter synchro diving team members Mary Beth Dunnichay and Haley Ishimatsu are both 15, making them the youngest U.S. athletes.
•Twenty women on the team are mothers, including Torres, basketball's Lisa Leslie, and softball's Jennie Finch.
Cazeneuve predicts the U.S. will win 121 medals, followed by China (102) and Russia (75). PriceWaterhouseCoopers concludes that Cazeneuve is a flag-waving Kreskin. They say China is on target to win 88 medals overall, beating the U.S. by one.
What do I say? I say go with the economic wonks:
China, by a field goal.
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Comments (133)
It still comes down to politics as always. The Olympics is not THE sport event during the decades cycle. The world championships will ALWAYS be the proving ground for athletes. You have to peak at just the right time to win the Olympic title, but you have to be in CONSTANT form to win the world title. A huge difference. One is held every 4 years, the other every 2 years. But, I could be just mistaken! I'm just saying....
DEVO (SPECTRE) | 07/24/08, 12:52 AM
Report Offensive Commentthe bigger economic spectacle the Olympics become, the less relevant it is as a sporting event.
Clef, Sir Treble of - Knight | 07/24/08, 01:16 AM
Report Offensive CommentInteresting points, DEVO and C-Knight.
Handsome avatars as well.
Richard Deitsch | 07/24/08, 01:23 AM
Report Offensive Commentyeah, Richard. Mine does have a certain "flair" to it.
Clef, Sir Treble of - Knight | 07/24/08, 01:39 AM
Report Offensive Commentin a strangely Facebook sort of way...
Clef, Sir Treble of - Knight | 07/24/08, 01:39 AM
Report Offensive CommentMorning Richard.....which are the smallest participating countries and which country is sending the smallest contingent?
Skooter23g | 07/24/08, 02:17 AM
Report Offensive CommentI was thinking the exact same thing, Skoot.
thehemogoblin: Tibet: $0.99 | 07/24/08, 02:30 AM
Report Offensive CommentAre there any Monegasques? Any Vaticanese? San Marinans?
thehemogoblin: Tibet: $0.99 | 07/24/08, 02:31 AM
Report Offensive CommentAre there any Poles in this thread?
thehemogoblin: Tibet: $0.99 | 07/24/08, 02:46 AM
Report Offensive Commentsorry hemo...had to get rid of the in-laws
Skooter23g | 07/24/08, 02:50 AM
Report Offensive CommentI'm not sure which of these countries are actually participating in the olympics. I know the Vatican is not, but Barbados and Andorra are. Here are the twenty smallest countries in the world. Rank Country Total Area (sq km) 1 Vatican 0.44 2 Monaco 1.95 3 Nauru 21 4 Tuvalu 26 5 San Marino 61.2 6 Liechtenstein 160 7 Saint Kitts and Nevis 261 8 Maldives 300 9 Malta 316 10 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 389 11 Barbados 430 12 Antigua and Barbuda 442 13 Seychelles 455 14 Andorra 468 15 Bahrain 620 15 Saint Lucia 620 17 Singapore 647.5 18 Micronesia 702 19 Kiribati 717 20 Tonga 748
Skooter23g | 07/24/08, 02:50 AM
Report Offensive Commentthat would be funny, the Vatican Olympic team....."We will smite thee if thou doesn't win a medal"
Skooter23g | 07/24/08, 02:51 AM
Report Offensive Commentthat would be funny, the Vatican Olympic team....."We will smite thee if thou doesn't win a medal"
Skooter23g | 07/24/08, 02:51 AM
It'd be funny. Theoretically, it'd be possible, but I doubt that they have an Olympic federation. You either have to be a bishop/the Pope/Swiss Guard to get Vatican citizenship.
thehemogoblin: Tibet: $0.99 | 07/24/08, 02:58 AM
Report Offensive Comment"Liechtenstein"-
Ach, how could I forget zis?
thehemogoblin: Tibet: $0.99 | 07/24/08, 02:59 AM
Report Offensive CommentThe pope doing the 400m
Skooter23g | 07/24/08, 03:09 AM
Report Offensive Commenthemo.....gotta do some stuff...catch ya later
Skooter23g | 07/24/08, 03:10 AM
Report Offensive CommentThe pope doing the 400m
Skooter23g | 07/24/08, 03:09 AM
He puts the steeple back in steeplechase.
thehemogoblin: Tibet: $0.99 | 07/24/08, 03:15 AM
Report Offensive CommentGood morning everyone or nobody as it seems.
Franz - Brute for Hire | 07/24/08, 07:28 AM
Report Offensive CommentGood morning Franz.
bendle1-Waffle King | 07/24/08, 07:41 AM
Report Offensive CommentMorning, guys. How are the waffles this morning, bendle?
DOC - Major Medical | 07/24/08, 07:51 AM
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