Shani Davis

As far as the Hedrick/Davis bitchfight, yawn. Grow up people.

Personally, I couldn't believe how Davis acted like such a weiner after he won Gold a few days ago (can't remember which event, 1000?). Really hard to be happy for a guy who looks pissed off to have won. I loved the interviewers reaction, though. I thought she was gonna say, "Well, f--- you too!" as he walked away.

Whatever, short track is soooooo much cooler anyhow.

Winning a Gold Medal (in the 1000) is not representing his country?  Can you explain that to me?

Why is Hendricks personal goal of 5 Golds more important than Davis' personal goal?

-Chris 

I have no problem with him not racing in the pursuit and I think it's selfish for the others to be pissed at him for not increasing THEIR chances at gold.

Having said that, watching that interview I can't stand the guy and I hope he dies.

Jus sayin'.

Sure, he's not doing what's best for his country in the Olympics.  He's doing what's best for himself.  He would have likely won gold in the 1000 regardless of whether or not he competed in the pursuit, but he wanted extra insurance that he did.

Perhaps I should have worded it to say that he's not representing his country the best way possible.

But like I said, it's his decision, and he has to live with it.  If he's ok with it, then more power to him.

We'll have to disagree on this one.

We obviously have different opinions on what 'best for his country' means.  I thought he was there try to win medals.

Why do you seem upset with him?  ( your use the phrase: "he'll have to live with it" )

-Chris 

By not competing in the pursuit, a discipline that he hadn't trained for by the way, he let another skater have the opportunity to compete.

Michael Phelps qualified for the Athens Olympics in the 200 back, but opted out because he didn't have a great chance of beating Aaron Piersol. He probably would have won a medal, though. Did he not represent his country well, or as well as he could have?

I'm not upset with him.  I wish he'd done things differently, but if he's ok with how he did it, that's all that's important.  I'm ok with "he'll have to live with it".  We all have to live with decisions we make whether other people agree with them or not.  In the end, it's not about what other people think about our decisions.

And I'm not quite sure where you're going with the "best for his country" thing.  He IS there trying to win medals.  By not competing in an event, he eliminated his chance at winning another one and greatly diminished his teammates' chances as well.  Maybe it's just me.

Um, since when did winning medals have any real impact on our country. It's not like winning gold ends a war or ends poverty. It's for fun. I love the Olympics and I actually dig the unabashed nationalism for a couple of weeks every couple of years, but if these guys really wanted to do what's best for their country, they'd join the military or the Peace Corps or work for a nonprofit or run for office or.... This is sports and they entertain and inspire, but it's not really important.

Oh come on.  He's trained in any number of distances and could compete with little notice.  He didn't do it altruisticly.  Don't kid yourself.

And the Phelps thing has been tried as well.  The difference is that the US is very deep in swimming events and can do that while still having a chance for a medal.  His non-participation in the pursuit all but guaranteed that we wouldn't place as we're not a deep team.  Phelps was also participating in a ridiculous number of events and not just focusing on one or two.

This isn't a story about the greater good or the big picture in life.  It's about the Olympics.  If not for representing your country, why else would it be such a big sporting event?

Pursuit is a different discipline, the way it's different in track cycling from the 1000m TT. Being able to skate fast is part of it, but there's the team dynamic as well. I'd venture to say it *is* something you have to be prepared for.

I never said he did it altruistically, but his not skating did open a slo tfor someone else. 

I know this is surprising, but I disagree.  I watched the event.  You skate fast and finish with your teammates.  It's not like there's a rock climbing event in the middle of it.

Hell, even he's not arguing that that's why he skipped it.

I doubt if any of us is really qualified to say whether Davis competing in the pursuit would have affected his performance in the 1000.  He might have won gold in both.  It's also possible, had he done the pusuit, that he would have medaled in neither.  I'm not saying it's likely, just that in hindsight it's possible.  We lost in the quarterfinals in the pursuit to the team that eventually won the gold.  The same might have happened anyway.  One could argue that given the choices of 0, 1, or 2 medals for the USA he gave up on 2 to ensure 1 and was giving the USA the best chance for medals.

By the way, if you're going to go hard on the "for the country" stuff I hope you're bashing the heck out of Jacobellis for costing "the country" a gold medal with her crap.

hmmmm, who are you talking about?  Hijacking my own thread here, but I wish Bode-big-mouth would shut up.  He said he could easily be sitting on four golds if things went better?  Yeah, well if I had been in Kona and finished the race faster than Faris I'd be the world champion.  Duh.  Like him or not, at least Davis performed as advertised.

Careful what you wish on others.  Karma's a bitch. 

The network anchors bash him for not skating in the pursuit, and then they are surprised that he's a bit gruff with them?  Hehehe.

-Chris 

 In track and swimming, relays are mixed into the program, not saved for the end.

Karma's a bitch. 

Yeah but I figure since it already didn't happen, I'm okay.  Besides, I like to think that I've got some good karma stored up.

It's paceline skating, something speed skaters don't normally do. Think of it as the different the way pack riding on a bike and time trialing are different. Get it? It's different.

Also, no one's mentioned that it's not *just* an additonal race on his program. There are prelim, quarters, semis and then a final, so it takes 4 races to win. That's a lot.