How cool is the internet?
Last night I discovered that you can watch events LIVE on the internet via nbcolympics.com. Over the weekend, the US team swept all three medals in women individual sabre matches, but the networks only showed the gold medal bout and you had to watch all day to make sure you saw it.
But last night I was sitting up late watching the Women's Individual Foil Olympic competition for the first time in my life. I can watch Sabre, but I don't "recognize" it since I didn't do it in college, and epee is foreign also, but THIS I RECOGNIZE from my three years of bouting in college. I found that I'd forgotten several dozen things (re: rules) in the 16 years since I last fenced, but after a few rounds it started coming back to me. It's so cool. No commercials, no NBC know-it-all, just live, like you're there.
Our computer isn't fast enough, uncluttered enough, to upload the fancy viewer that would let me watch all four foil bouts at the same time on a split screen during the round of 32. About 11:30 p.m. I realized I HAD to go to bed, and I wouldn't get to see the three US fencers live.
So I got up this morning and rushed to the computer to watch the medal round LIVE for women's individual foil. The US women had been knocked out of the competition while I slept, and Italy's Trillini had just lost a semifinal to a Korean. (Which was shocking because the Italian trio were expected to sweep the medals this year.) Then we watched Granbazzi lose to Vezzali. Then Granbazzi bouted Trillini for the bronze, and Grabazzi took the medal, her first!
Last night I discovered that you can watch events LIVE on the internet via nbcolympics.com. Over the weekend, the US team swept all three medals in women individual sabre matches, but the networks only showed the gold medal bout and you had to watch all day to make sure you saw it.
But last night I was sitting up late watching the Women's Individual Foil Olympic competition for the first time in my life. I can watch Sabre, but I don't "recognize" it since I didn't do it in college, and epee is foreign also, but THIS I RECOGNIZE from my three years of bouting in college. I found that I'd forgotten several dozen things (re: rules) in the 16 years since I last fenced, but after a few rounds it started coming back to me. It's so cool. No commercials, no NBC know-it-all, just live, like you're there.
Our computer isn't fast enough, uncluttered enough, to upload the fancy viewer that would let me watch all four foil bouts at the same time on a split screen during the round of 32. About 11:30 p.m. I realized I HAD to go to bed, and I wouldn't get to see the three US fencers live.
So I got up this morning and rushed to the computer to watch the medal round LIVE for women's individual foil. The US women had been knocked out of the competition while I slept, and Italy's Trillini had just lost a semifinal to a Korean. (Which was shocking because the Italian trio were expected to sweep the medals this year.) Then we watched Granbazzi lose to Vezzali. Then Granbazzi bouted Trillini for the bronze, and Grabazzi took the medal, her first!
Cameron and I were at the computer for the entire gold medal match - and for a moment I thought Korea's Hyunhee had figured out Vezzali's strategy and was going to win - letting time run out and she was a point ahead (5-4) but Vezzali came on strong at the last 10 seconds and scored twice (the last with four seconds remaining) and took it back. Vezzali is the first woman to win three gold medals in women's individual foil back to back to back. She won a Silver in 1996, Gold in 2000 and 2004, and this sets a new record (I think - hard to know without the announcer...)
When I get home from work tonight you will find me on the computer searching for more LIVE events. It's a good thing the atheletes are sleeping during our daytime hours or I might have to take a lot of my vacation time to sit on my *fast* computer at work and watch Olympics all day.
No comments:
Post a Comment