USA SMASHES FRANCE IN THE 4*1 FREE!

orpa wrote:

i too wondered how legit swimming relays are since there is no "baton"

How come there aren't more disqualifications?

I have hard time believing noone jumps before the touch.

there are sensors in the blocks and on the wall....its actually quite easy if someone jumps early....as it pops up on some computer screen....

and its not hard to see them as you're looking down anyway...and when you do it for 8 hours a day you think you'd be able to time it well....its exactly the same as timing your exchange in the 4x1 perfectly

Okay, I think it requires a non-American to explain American history... your whole war of independence was based off of French republicanism and french revolutionary ideas. Your founding fathers loved France and the ideas which came from it. Not to mention where in the blue hell did you think that the Statue of Liberty came from? Germany? or why is that Alexis de Tocqueville "Democracy in America" is still required reading for anyone wanting to learn about American politics? Learn you own damn history and stop saying these absurd things about France. Its like some people in the States have collective amnesia about how for most of your history you detested England and loved France.

America has the potential to be the best country in the world if it only were to live up to its own ideals, so stop being purposefully ignorant just so that you beat your patriotic chests about non-issues.

That being said that victory today, while not "smashing" the French, was tremendous. I think almost every leg of your team out performed what anyone would have reasonably expected of them and made a fantastic race.

Mr Robott Mann wrote:

Is there a beep or tone that sounds when your teammate touches the wall? That's the only way I could see the relay being legit. Otherwise, how do you not jump the gun? How can you see them touch and time it just right? I don't get it.

Um... they probably know how to time the exchange because they've practiced it. Believe it or not, swimming does have officials on deck to make sure no one goes early.

They also have sensors on the blocks to catch someone leaving early.

You make some decent points. It should only take a brief look at Yorktown or Rochambeau and Lafayette's work with George Washington for an American to appreciate what France has historically done for the US.

However, as I pointed out earlier, De Gaulle really annoyed the west in the post-war era when he got too big for his britches.

runner_pucci wrote:

Okay, I think it requires a non-American to explain American history... your whole war of independence was based off of French republicanism and french revolutionary ideas. Your founding fathers loved France and the ideas which came from it. Not to mention where in the blue hell did you think that the Statue of Liberty came from? Germany? or why is that Alexis de Tocqueville "Democracy in America" is still required reading for anyone wanting to learn about American politics? Learn you own damn history and stop saying these absurd things about France. Its like some people in the States have collective amnesia about how for most of your history you detested England and loved France.

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?' A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck.. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

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A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?' Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

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A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.' The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.' 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !' The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any damn Frenchmen to show it to.'

would every one in the press shut up about michael phelps chances at 8 golds being kept alive. they should be talking only about the 4x4 performance. it ticks me off to no end that the press are taking away the well-deserved glory of the other 3 on the team.

This is a running site.

There is no doubt that you can find many instances of French people acting snooty, however, if I were to base my opinions on America off of the negative encoutnres I had with Americans that would be ridiculous.

All I am saying is that this jvenille hatred of France should really stop. Or continue eating your Freedom Fries and tear down the Statue of Liberty because God knows we wouldn't want that French Idol representing American values.

Oh yeah, I Love little stories too, here is one :

Once upon a time a french guy said dont go to Irak but USA went ! they were so happy and smiling at this time when CNN announced them the war coming ! a few months later thousands of soldier died (and will continue for sure),some of their women soldiers got raped by their own troops showing how civilized the average american are.

And the sadest part is that americans are too stupid to see that they are going down, down and down every single year. But that is not all they are also not balsy enough to make their government stop their crap, instead they prefer to watch the superball or the olympics games saying bullshits about other teams whereas they should care a little bit more about what is going on in their own country.

But here, we are not talking about what happened 50 , or 100 years ago but about something happening right now.

Dont get me wrong I really love american but when I see how annoying some of you can be on this thread it really make me wonder why ! you piss off other countries that like you and I am sure one day you will wonder why no one like you

runner_pucci wrote:

That being said that victory today, while not "smashing" the French, was tremendous. I think almost every leg of your team out performed what anyone would have reasonably expected of them and made a fantastic race.

I don't care about anything you said until this part. No, they did not "smash" the French time-wise, but they obliterated their confidence, psyche, and most of all their pride. The "smash" term was in reference to the Frenchman who was talking trash saying they would "smash" the Americans. Haha. So, even though they didn't directly smash them in terms of finish time, I think it is safe to make the comment "The Americans smashed the French in the 4x100m relay".

Moving to your next point, nobody reasonably expected them to perform that well? Nobody reasonably expected Michael Phelps to set an AR? Are you kidding me? Throw that guy in a pool, tell him to swim a distance with a specific stroke and he will do it faster than any human ever could before him (Obvious exaggeration, but you get the point). Cullen Jones just swam 47.6 the day before in the prelims - hence why he was on the team in the first place. Kind of easy to predict what he was capable of. GWG swam a 47 flat, which is not unreasonable. The only "unreasonable" leg was Lezak, but anything that is faster than the fastest ever is "unreasonable" to expect. But he is the closer over Michael Phelps for a reason.

Nice try for undermining how great of swimmers that american quartet is, they were the better team and they proved it on that day. They were all capable of those times, its just a matter of who puts it together on the day.

lolooloo wrote:

Oh yeah, I Love little stories too, here is one :

Once upon a time a french guy said dont go to Irak but USA went ! they were so happy and smiling at this time when CNN announced them the war coming ! a few months later thousands of soldier died (and will continue for sure),some of their women soldiers got raped by their own troops showing how civilized the average american are.

I look at it a little differently. While everyone else in the world wanted to allow a tyrant to rule the nation of Iraq, the Americans took out a truly evil dictator. Then when things got tough in Iraq, even most Americans wanted to run away with our tail between our legs, but instead of running, a few politicians did what was unpopular, but right, and our military redoubled their efforts to stabilize the country. Now a free, independent Iraq appears likely.

4x4? come on now, the subject even says that it was the 4x1 free. it ticks me off to no end that you could be so dumb

Quick Kick wrote:

would every one in the press shut up about michael phelps chances at 8 golds being kept alive. they should be talking only about the 4x4 performance. it ticks me off to no end that the press are taking away the well-deserved glory of the other 3 on the team.

dmb aka dumb and dumber.

dmb wrote:

Je me rends - all the french you need to know!

the418miler wrote:

trollism wrote:

The French choked as badly as Katie Hoff.

Katie = second place is in NO WAY CHOKING.

The French = second place is in NO WAY CHOKING.

Hey pucci - the only thing more amusing than the French military misadventures are those of the Italians

The Italians had the fastest tank (in reverse)

They were route by a primitive Greek Army

alright 4x1...you get my point though frenchie.

dwigt schrude wrote:

4x4? come on now, the subject even says that it was the 4x1 free. it ticks me off to no end that you could be so dumb

Quick Kick wrote:

would every one in the press shut up about michael phelps chances at 8 golds being kept alive. they should be talking only about the 4x4 performance. it ticks me off to no end that the press are taking away the well-deserved glory of the other 3 on the team.

the moronic 418miler wrote:

Katie = second place is in NO WAY CHOKING.

The French = second place is in NO WAY CHOKING.

Well, they choked as badly as each other then.

I really meant that Hoff screwed it up something proper. Adlington isn't a better 400 free swimmer than Hoff. Hoff got scared of Pellegrini and went far too early. She died coming down the last length, but she still would have won had she not had a good stare to her right and missed the wall.

runner_pucci wrote:

Okay, I think it requires a non-American to explain American history... your whole war of independence was based off of French republicanism and french revolutionary ideas. Your founding fathers loved France and the ideas which came from it.

Amazing how our Founding Fathers based their revolution on a revolution that didn't happen until 15 years later. They must have been very clairvoyant!

Either that or you have it quite backwards.