Posted by Alan Conceicao on 27th August 2008
There’s still a haze in the air after the warfare that took place over two weeks in Beijing. Vasyl Lomachenko (pictured above) was perhaps the only soul to come out above it all, because everyone else took a beating. The judges, referees, officials, boxing as a sport, announcers…well, not many of the fighters took beatings. This was hardly the most action packed of tournaments, after all. So with the AIBA under fire from both the outside and within, trying to start up a pro league, and 270+ bouts having happened in the meantime, where to start? The scoring is the obvious place. While other subjective sports don’t allow for statistical comparison, amateur boxing does. Do the statistics say anything at all about whether or not there were issues with the Olympic Games?
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Posted in Alan Conceicao, Boxing, Olympics | 2 Comments »
Posted by Alan Conceicao on 25th August 2008
After over 270 fights, boxing at the Olympics finally wrapped up earlier this afternoon. Sadly, NBC showed very limited coverage of the last day’s gold medal matches, which comes as a surprise after such extensive coverage earlier. Still, three of the 6 bouts saw airtime in the US.
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Posted in Alan Conceicao, Boxing, Olympics, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by Alan Conceicao on 23rd August 2008
The first day of gold medal finals saw both exciting performances and some sloppy brawls and one major surprise. We’ll review that action and preview tommorrow’s final day.
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Posted by Alan Conceicao on 22nd August 2008
Freshly edited late in the evening of the 22nd, the review also happens to include a guide of what to expect in tommorrow’s gold medal finals in 5 weight classes.
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Posted in Alan Conceicao, Boxing, Olympics, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by Alan Conceicao on 21st August 2008
Entering the Olympics, the one truly uncertain thing was the Cuban national team. After numerous attempted and successful defections by top fighters, it looked as if their grip on the world scene perhaps was coming to a close. That was the idea, anyways. Reality has returned and returned hard, and after the last qualifiers for the medal rounds were completed, Cuba dominance could hardly be denied.
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Posted in Alan Conceicao, Boxing, Olympics, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by Alan Conceicao on 19th August 2008
Roberto Cammarelle looks for Olympic Gold at Super Heavy. But is there an upset brewing?
The magic of the Olympic draw is the size. At the AIBA World Championships, anyone can send a fighter. Anyone. And they get thrown in a draw of 60-80 fighters and the tournament seems to never end. The Olympics knock that number in half. This gives you the very best, the sorta good, and people given spots because the committee was nice. Sometimes that is a recipe for surprises.
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Posted by Alan Conceicao on 18th August 2008
The rawest of the Americans, Deontay Wilder will win the US’ only medal. But what color?
Its been a wild weekend in Beijing as far as boxing goes, with favorite after favorite being dismissed and analysts left wondering if anyone actually wants to win a medal. There’s been press conferences about scoring, questions about the reffing, talk of conspiracy theories and fixes. In other words, your average Olympic boxing session.
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Posted in Boxing, Olympics, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by Kendall Shields on 15th August 2008
Last night I reread the foreword to Kyuzo Mifune’s classic The Canon of Judo (1954). It includes this:
“Judo is now looked upon with a sense of hope and expectation, not only in Japan but throughout the world. The reason for this expectation and support can be found in the fact that judo embodies in its clear and rational movements the basic conditions for the most natural and unfettered human activity. The techniques and even the essence of judo are made possible solely by its fulfillment of these basic conditions.”
And this:
“Independence has been restored to Japan, and yet world peace still eludes us. True peace is the desire of all mankind, and this means working toward a world free from all forms of evil. Judo contains many aspects of this truth; it knows no borders, and is loved by spiritual people regardless of their nationality.”
A little over the top? Sure. But only a little.
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Posted in Kendall Shields, Olympics, judo | 1 Comment »
Posted by Kendall Shields on 14th August 2008
Perhaps you’ll recall from our Judo Primer last week that one of the stories headed into these Olympic games was the almost complete lack of faith the Japanese press had expressed in captain Keiji Suzuki ever since he crashed out in the second round of the world championships in Rio. Unfortunately for the 29-year-old former Olympic and world champion, he’s done it again. And probably for the last time. Suzuki was upended by a morote gari for ippon in his first match, and faired no better in the repechage.
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Posted in Kendall Shields, Olympics, judo | 4 Comments »
