But wait, there's more...

There's been a remarkable amount of interest in Matthew Mitcham, so for the budding fan club out there here is a link to his Channel 9 Wide World of Sports interview from Saturday October 18th.

Wide World of Sports : Matthew Mitcham Interview.

And for a Sydney Morning Herald Article from October 8th where he talks about being the only gay in the village and more, click here.

Oh and if there are any people who represent Mini cars out there - can you please email me?

Gold I say, GOLD!

It's not every day you get to meet a superhero, but this weekend I got lucky. Sitting at my right hand side at an intimate dinner party was no less than Matthew Mitcham, who claimed the 10m platform diving Gold in Beijing - as mentioned in my earlier post here. 

The whole experience felt surreal, and the rest of the dinner party was equally engaging, great food, great host, fantastic venue. Matthew is a true delight. Often the reality of meeting someone doesn't meet expectation when there's been so much hype, but in this case - the reality was well beyond expectation. Oh and he speaks fluent French, which just puts mine to shame. 

I see great things ahead for this man and I think he can see them too. 

Superchilled Olympic Challenge: Voting

It's time to vote for your favourite photo from the Superchilled Olympic Challenge.

Find the one you like most below and tick the appropriate box in the top right poll. 

You can go to the original post by clicking the link beneath each photo.

 

Photo # 1

Photo #2

Photo #3

Photo #4

Photo #5

Photo #6

Photo #7

Photo #8

Photo #9

Photo #10

Photo #11

Olympic Challenge #11

Bob M sends these images of Australian Steven Hooker, Gold medallist Pole Vaulter at the 2008 Olympic Games, and becomes the final entrant (unless I get new images before posting the final vote list) for the Superchilled Olympic Challenge.

The final voting list will be up soon. 

For more competition details click here.

Matthew Mitcham: Superchilled Superstar

I have never been as proud of an Australian athlete as I was today watching Matthew Mitcham win gold in the 10m platform diving final in Beijing. A spectacular performance made even greater given the pressure that was on him. Obviously he thrived, and made it through, beating the favourites (China) to the Gold. He's made a big point of the fact that he's an elite athlete who happens to be gay. Being gay hasn't been a huge announcement it's just been a part of who he is, which may be the case for a lot of other olympians - but none of the other men are out. So extra credit to him for not hiding, for being who he is , and for being fantastic at that. 

What a spectacular final dive. 

I hope we get to see as much of him as we have of our other winning athletes. I'm curious how they're going to portray him in the press. And how they're going to treat his partner who was sponsored to go to see him compete as they couldn't afford to pay his way.

He has his own Matthew Mitcham Website here, and is sponsored by purple.oranges - who I know nothing much about - but that I like them. 

Cheers to Superchilled's first Superchilled Superstar Matthew Mitcham (yeah loads of superlatives, but I can, it's my blog ;-) and he deserves them).

Olympic Challenge #10

Peter von Amsterdam sends these images of fellow countryman, Maarten van der Weijden, competing (and winning) for the Netherlands in the 10km open water swim in Beijing. Peter has been very patriotic - I think he should also enter some good photos of Hockey Player Jeroen HERTZBERGER who is sizzling hot. 

Send someone who's caught your eye from the Olympics before it's too late, to superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

It's the photo we're looking for - so you find a better photo of someone already entered - and you can still enter and win!

For more competition details click here.

Who's Leading? China or USA

I was a little surprised during the week when I encountered a medal tally for the Olympics on a Boston newspaper website which showed the USA as the leading country. I'd though China was well ahead and wondered what the USA had done to break into the lead... 

But when I looked at the actual numbers - China had the highest number of gold medals, and the USA had most medals overall, though significantly fewer of them gold... 

So I did some research, and in my rapid global newspaper study, most newspapers tally the medals according to the most number of gold medals won per country, and where that number equals another, the number of silver and then bronze defines the leader. There are a few exceptions with some online newspapers in Canada and the UK who follow their US counterparts who uniformly give the highest marks to the country with the most medals overall. 

Oh, and that happens to be the USA.

So does this technically mean that if a country were to win solely 200 Bronze medals and another 199 Gold - the winner would be the 200 Bronze?

The official Olympic website defines it according to the highest number of Gold medals won.

Here are some examples from my research...

The New York Times

USA Today

Globe and Mail (Toronto)

The New Zealand Herald

The Times Online (London)

Le Monde (Paris)

Jornal Brasileiro (Brazil)

The Australian 

The Olympics Official site

Call me a cynic - but does everyone in the USA not cope with coming 2nd to China?

Is reportage in the USA a little biased, or has the rest of the world got it wrong?

Olympic Challenge #9

Monty of Much Ado about Monty found this image of Sam McGregor from Australia's Waterpolo Team. One good reason to start playing waterpolo perhaps? I do note he's a tall lad too. 

Time is running out to send a photo of someone who's caught your eye from the Olympics to enter the Superchilled Olympic Challenge. After the games are over I'll post all the entries and you will all get a chance to vote for the winner.

Send your last minute entry to superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

For more competition details click here.

By now there are plenty of photos out there. So send 'em in!

A Gold Rush or a DQ?

Being quite an Olympics fan myself, the past week has been quite distressing for me. It's not because Australia hasn't won enough Gold medals (we haven't but we're doing okay), not that there hasn't been enough good sportsmanship (apart from a notable bronze medal throwing event I don't recall too much evil happening) and not because there hasn't been enough eye candy (did anyone notice Andrew Lauterstein in the Australia medley relay team on Sunday?). It's because there is no TV reception for the official Olympic broadcaster, Channel 7,  where I live. Not even with satellite TV. 

And before you suggest it - the internet coverage here is nowhere near satisfying enough. Live streaming? Not on your life. Perhaps 3 minute bytes some hours after the events. 

Now it's not ALL bad - there is coverage by SBS - the 'complementary broadcaster' but if you want swimming, diving, gymnastics or any of the major athletics (and I SO do) then forget it.

I've managed to see the swimming finals at least which aired around lunchtime in all manner of places - from the waiting room at work - to a selection of pubs along the coast here as well as various events at home with some very accommodating family and friends. It's 'One World Many Television Screens' for me. 

But I know I'm a little more obsessive than most. So I have a poll running - up there on the top right - what do the olympics do for you?

Go on - tick a box.

And if you tick the third box specifically - you may want to scroll down to check out the olympic challenge entries. (More entries are heavily welcomed).

After the 1500m swim final today we went for our own planned swim and The Frenchman surprised me by not stopping when he usually does... He was doing his own 1500m. Very cute. 

Olympic Challenge #8

Stephen Looking out from a Southern Closet has sent in this rather spectacular photo of the popular American Artistic Gymnastic Team after their medal performance.

Send someone who's caught your eye from the Olympics, to superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

For more competition details click here.

Olympic Challenge #7

Peter von Amsterdam sends these images of fellow countryman Epke Zonderland, competing for the Netherlands in Artistic Gymnastics at the Beijing Olympics.

Send someone who's caught your eye from the Olympics, to superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

For more competition details click here.

Olympic Challenge: #6 Steeve Guenot

The Frenchman has discovered this Frenchman, Steeve Guenot from the Greco-Roman wrestling competition. A gold medal winner - I think he wins for more than just his sporting prowess. He also has an impressive mugshot on his Olympic page.

Send someone who's caught your eye from the Olympics, to superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

For more competition details click here.

Lyndon Ferns

A reader suggested I consider Lyndon Ferns, who will be competing in today's 100m freestyle final for South Africa. Here is a video of him being interviewed earlier this year and a few photos including Athens in 2004 when they won the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. 

I think I'm in love.

Here he is in the centre winning gold in 2004

and here on the left competing in 2006.

I think I'd like to see a reader find a great photo of him from Beijing to enter in the superchilled olympic challenge. Anyone?

Olympic Challenge: #4 + #5

Martin from TGL@TEOTD sent these two photos in. The first one here is, and I quote, "the hot hot hot boys from the USA artistic gymnastics team". I think he might be right. We'll call them all #4

#5  below is South African Swimmer Gerhard Zandberg. 

Martin is impressed by his arms. (perhaps also by the fact he too is South African?) 

There's all that and more it seems. He's a whopping 204cm tall! And I expect more photos will follow. 

Send someone who's caught your eye from the Olympics, to superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

For more competition details click here.

Olympic Challenge: #3 Matthew Mitcham

Tom Cat from Bondi Beach sends this photo of Matthew Mitcham , from the Australian Diving Team. He came to the public eye when he incidentally came out prior to the games. Watch out for him spinning above the the diving pool soon.

Send someone who's caught your eye from the Olympics, to superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

For more competition details click here.

Olympic Challenge: #2 Rami Zur

Speeding Bullett sends this photo of Rami Zur , who caught his eye, from the US Olympic Kayak Team.

Send me someone who's caught your eye from the Olympics, to superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

For more competition details click here.

Let the Gaymes Begin

So I'm starting  a competition.

An Olympic competition which I'm calling the Superchilled Olympic Challenge.

And this competition is easy and fun. 

All you have to do is find the best images of Olympian men taken from the Beijing Olympics and send them to me. I'll post them individually as they come in - and then at the end - everyone will get to vote for their favourite photo / athlete to determine the winners.  

The world is a big place - and you are all reading this from different parts of the globe, so you're also going to have different local news and sports sites that you might stumble upon. Hell you might be at the games yourself and find some of your own Olympic athletes to photograph - snap away. [if you are in fact at the games I'm curious if you can actually see this blog at all - do let me know]

You can email them to me at superchilledtrevor@gmail.com

If two people send in the same image - it will be the first who gets the glory - just as in the Olympics. 

If you know details of the photograph - who it is of, and who took it - please send that as well. 

Let the Gaymes begin.

It's not about sport, it's about new technology...

On the outside it looks flashy, powerful and new. You've got to have it!

Unpack the box and look really closely at your keyboard.

Grab your magnifying glass and and get close and personal with your new screen.

Your microprocessors.

Your super-fast optical drive.

And how you feel when something goes wrong.