The End – Fun Olympic Facts and Stats

Yes folks, it is the end of the Olympics today and I for one am looking forward to no more people asking me if I am watching the Olympics!

We (the whole entire world and viewers of NBC) have been inundated with Olympic coverage. From Live Streaming of ALL events to the proliferation of the internet and internet / social media enabled devices, everyone has the opportunity for Olympic overload. Don’t believe me? Check out these stats.

 

• Estimated 70% of the world population will view at least some part of the Olympics at least once.
• More Olympic Tweets were recorded the first day on twitter than all of the 2008 Olympics.
• If one were to try and watch all streamed events – It would take one person 230 continuous days of watching to see everything.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed watching many of the sporting events and my kids certainly have the Olympic Spirit. But as time went by I found myself watching less and less and listening to the “spoiler” alerts more often.

So, how am I going to celebrate this historic event? The end of the Olympics?

How else than by providing you with some fun filled, off beat, and strangely alternative stats and events.

Enjoy!

First Up – Tourists Bought lots of Services:

International visitors to London spent $700 million on their Visa accounts the first week of the Olympics. And mind you, this is just Visa data.

 

The largest spending category, $133.7 million solely on “Services”. Hmmmm just what kind of services are being purchased in London anyway? . . .

Relax, according to Visa, things such as jewelry and shoe repair and trips to the spa. Still, that’s a heck of a lot of massages and mud baths!

Next up – Olympic size paychecks:

So, how much do Olympic medalists earn for their medals? It depends on their country or local officials favorite past time.

• Singapore pays gold medal winners $780,000.
• The USA $25,000
• Great Britain $ 0.00 but you do get your mugshot on a stamp!
• In Australia you get the stamp and an upgrade to 1^st class airline seats for the flight back home.
• In India, you can become an Olympic Coach!

 

A governor from Russia offered up $1 million to any local athlete who brings home a gold medal.

So governor, you owe Mansur Isaev (Judo Champion) a million dollars.

 

Andrew Kam owns a Gold Mine and a Racket Club in Malaysia.  He offered any Malaysian Athlete a Gold Bar worth #600,000 for winning the gold in Badminton.

 

Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia came in second. . .

 

Next Up – Security and Art:

 

Strangely, these are related.

• From British authorities admitting that they lost the keys to the stadium and had to change locks.
• To the general public allowed to test out an anti aircraft missile launcher.

 

• To a local graffiti artist going undercover planting his works of art around the city.

Perhaps this is what Mitt Romney meant when he said the Brits were not ready to host the Olympics.

Do Not Attempt This At Home

These Olympians are professional athletes.

I saw a news report this morning about a woman who was struck in the head by an arrow during target practice.

The incident occurred on private property and the woman was flown by helicopter to a local hospital where she is expected to make a complete recovery. Fortunately, the arrow did NOT pass through or into her skull and her injuries ended up being non-life threatening.

On a slightly different side thought . . .

I, as well as a couple million other people, have been actively following the Olympics.

Strangely, I could not help but wonder if the arrow incident wasn’t because somebody suddenly decided they wanted to be an Olympic Archer, athlete or heroine in a hit movie.

Now I realize that no-where in this article was there any mention about the Olympics or any re-creating of sporting events but I couldn’t help but wonder if the two were in some way related.

Now before you laugh any more, I have some history to back this up. Back in the 90’s (1990’s that is) the USA had some really good swimmers and divers winning medals and setting records. One such person was Tom Dolan who won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics and held the world record in the 400 m individual medley.

His world record lasted eight years until another young boy-wonder by the name of Michael Phelps came along and broke it.

Anyway, my first born son who was all of 6 or 7 at the time thought being an Olympic swimmer winning medals was really cool. So he wanted to be one. Of course he would have to practice. So being short a pool and some water, decided to pretend his bed was the edge of the pool and his room floor was the pool.

Don’t worry; he did not kill himself jumping off the bed diving onto the floor.

The edge of the dresser broke his fall instead. . .

And he ended up getting a couple stitches in his ear.

All is, and was, fine; he recovered, you can’t even see the scar and he graduated high school and college with honors.

This memory and series of events, news stories and such, got me to thinking . . .

I wonder if there is an uptick in emergency room visits during or shortly after major sporting events and victories?

So far, I have not found any compelling statistical evidence on the internet, so I thought I just throw it out there and ask everyone’s opinion.

Until next time . . .

Be Good, Do Well, Have Fun
And don’t try this stuff at home.

It’s Not What It Looks Like – Honest

Is this Japanese Coach paying off a member of the IOC or one of the judges?

No.

The IOC requires a “fee” to protest a ruling and – since VISA is the official card of the Olympic Games –  my guess is that the coach only carries American Express.  😉

He was protesting the ruling that a stumble was actually part of the dismount routine and should be awarded points instead of a deduction.  The judges reversed their decision and the difference was ultimately the deciding factor between a silver medal and 4th place.

So, bravo, money well spent.

But to openly display several hundred dollars being exchanged between a team and the IOC judges!  Really?

I would think everyone, including the overly sensitive IOC, would be doubly cautious about appearances.

Hasn’t anybody heard of bill me later programs?

BTW, regardless of the outcome of the decision, the IOC gets to keep the money.

Wow, just wait until Roger Goodell hears about this money making idea!

In For A Penny In For A Pound

Gambling on the Olympics is big business for the host nation of the Summer Games. The British gambling industry expects to handle anywhere from $75 million to $150 million worth of bets during the Olympics, which would more than double the action from the Beijing Games.

Nearly 1 in 8 Brits will place a bet during the Olympics — about 6 million people in all.

Not only can they bet on who will win or who will lose, but the odds makers across the pond have created a long list of quirky propositions such as:

–          Would a nude streaker disrupt the opening ceremony?

–          Will it rain during the men’s 100-meter race?

–          Will the Olympic Village run out of condoms?

–          Would a flying saucer appear over the Olympic Stadium (1,000 to 1 odds)?

–          What outfit would Queen Elizabeth II chose for the opening ceremony?

Unfortunately the bookies took a killing on that last one because word got out beforehand what the Queen Mum would wear.

Historically, the trend for gambling in England has evolved much like drinking alcohol.  It’s gone from being a sin to being a vice to being a socially acceptable leisure activity.

Gambling has kept up with the modern era as well with online activity becoming an increasingly popular way of not only watching and commenting on the Olympics but also for betting on the Olympics.

This online trend has also changed the nature of betting.  A huge share of Olympic betting is coming from “in-play” action — wagers made while a game is still in-progress.

Of course, with all this money involved, some have raised concerns about how gambling could possibly affect the outcome of the games and competition itself.  Rest assured officials are watching closely and to date, no one has been caught rigging an Olympic event.  Yet. . .

So what do you think?  Should sports betting be allowed as a socially acceptable leisure activity endorsed by all; even here in the USA?

Should countries get more involved with monitoring this activity?

Or perhaps get in on some of the action to help sponsor and finance their respective teams?  (perhaps they already are by collecting tax on earnings)

Do you think this topic is too controversial?

Well, stand by for my next post titled:  Should The IOC Have A CBA?

Until next time:  Be Good, Do Well, Have Fun and good luck 😉

Three and Out – For The Week Of July 27

1. 10,000 Olympians, 20,000 Journalists, at least 1.5 million extra tourists, and only 1700 ATM’s near Olympic Venues . . .  Hmmm what’s in your wallet?  Better bring cash (AKA – British Pounds) and keep it safe.
2. Heading into the Opening Ceremony, Twitter is already seeing more Tweets about the Olympics in a SINGLE DAY than during the ENTIRE Beijing games in 2008.  You can follow all Olympic happenings on twitter here .
3. And speaking of twitter, I posted a Chris Cooley Training Camp quote from the Washington Post.  Just to keep things in perspective . . .

HTTR!

And Go USA!

Cheers

Leap Year Sports Birthdays

Even though Leap Year only happens once every four years, there are plenty of sports related birthdays of note.

1988 Scott Golbourne, English footballer

1984 Adam Sinclair, Indian Hockey player

1984 Cam Ward, Canadian hockey player

1984 Darren Ambrose, English footballer

1980 Taylor Twellman, American soccer player

1980 Simon Gagne, Canadian Hockey player, NHL player (Philly Flyers) who has been an all-star

1976 Bryan Gillooly, Auburn NY, diver (Olympics-96)

1972 Mark Farraway, CFL offensive linebacker (Edmonton Eskimos)

1972 Chris Devine, Allentown Pa, diver (Olympics-96)

1972 Fabien Bownes, NFL wide receiver (Chicago Bears)

1972 Cyrus Beasley, Rowe NY, rower (Olympics-1996)

1968 Bryce Paup, American football player, NFL linebacker (Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills)

1968 Pete Fenson, American curler

1968 Cary Conklin, NFL quarterback (Redskins, SF 49ers)

1968 Chucky Brown, NBA forward (Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks)

1964 Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player

1960 Dan Daoust – NHL center for Toronto Maple Leafs.

Star Gazing…

“Crosby is so far ahead of Ovechkin right now Ovie would need a telescope to see him.”

“Crosby has won the Stanley Cup (by going through Ovechkin), the Olympics (again, by going through Ovehckin) and the World Championships.”

“I don’t believe Crosby ever won a world championship, though he did win a world juniors title. But Ovechkin was part of the Gold-medal winning Russian squad in 2008. So, instead of 3-0, we’re now talking about 2-1. Of course, if we’re just measuring world titles, Caps winger Jason Chimera seems to have won one in ’07.”

“Ovie behaved wretchedly during the Games when he shoved the camera of some woman…Ovechkin…is bordering on out of control.”

These are just some of the quotes and topics and blog posts literally FLYING around DC since the Olympics.

I actually have to say I like all this a lot! Ovie behaving the way he did with fans and their cameras is totally irresponsible but everything else is great!

Why, because this just adds to the rivalry. Fuel for the fire. Even more hype for the upcoming playoffs and championship run.

I think it will, hopefully, play into the Caps favor and become a real motivational revenge factor.

Three of the soviet Olympic team members are on the Caps. All three have been around for all the losses to Crosby and what ever team he is on.

And let me just say here, they are both all stars. “Beasts” as I have heard that term used a bit too often lately. Of course each, being one player, do not make a championship team. They help of course, but it takes all the pieces fitting together to make a championship team.

Watching Olympic Hockey was really great this year and I totally enjoyed it, even though the USA team lost in OT.

And now, I can’t wait for the playoffs to start. To watch Ovie, Semin, and Varlamov take on you know who and, hopefully, wipe them off the 2010 NHL map!

Have you heard…

So by now you probably know that Evgeni Plushenko’s web site awarded, at one point, a Platinum Medal to the Olympic Skater for his LOSING performance.

Never mind the fact that there is no such thing as a platinum medal, it just sounded better to them and looked Really Cool!

Of course now, that claim to fame no longer exists and he has a statement which now claims he had no knowledge nor did he endorse such a post.

I saw his performance and while he did more than one quad jump, All his jumps were just a bit off. Still it was an impressive performance and he is a talented athlete.

Unfortunately, quads are like blow fish sushi, one should not attempt it unless it is perfect.

A Question

Q: Why are there separate men and women Curling competitions?

After all, the strength, agility and stamina requirements of the sport are easily achieved by both. Why not have them compete against one another?

I think I know the answer, and the men would lose every time!

A: Because the women are so much better at sweeping…

Hurry Hard !

Participating in the Olympics is costly and requires sometimes creative ways to raise money and awareness of you, your team and sport.

Curling is one of those Olympic sports that is ALWAYS looking for sponsors.

Curling also involves shouting instructions at your teammates and calling out the line and speed of the stone you just threw.

One often shouted term is “Hurry Hard”.

Hurry Hard means for the sweepers to well, sweep faster and harder.

When watching curling, it is pretty easy to hear them shouting this out from time to time.

So, a few USA curlers were sitting around one day just shooting the breeze and trying to think of new ideas for raising money. After all, they had already come up with the idea of having people paying $30 to test your skill against Shuster and the Olympic team. Pretty cool, but they needed more in order to go to the Olympics.

When out of the blue, someone joked that “hurry hard” would be a good name for a condom.

The idea was then mentioned to Kodiak chairman Dan Field, who had a connection to MCAP, and the program took off from there. USA Curling informed the U.S. Olympic Committee of the project before announcing it.

“HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention is a noble cause and the USOC, much like the IOC, certainly supports sport playing a role in tackling these and other terrible afflictions,” USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky said.

A worthy cause, and partnership.

However, I quite possibly will never look at the curling stone the same way again.

You can find out more about the sport of curling, the athletes and other sponsors here.

You can ummmm “help raise awareness” here.