Schlafly: Feminism Hurts The Olympics

"Feminist-imposed gender quotas hurt us at the Olympics in events which our Nation once dominated. The systematic elimination of certain men’s sports from colleges has weakened our competitiveness. We won only four medals in all of men’s wrestling, less than half the total won by Iran, and only a fraction of the medals won by Russia in this masculine sport. Wrestling is an immensely popular and valuable sport; it’s inexpensive and safer than other sports. Wrestling develops discipline in boys. Many high-achievers, such as Donald Rumsfeld and pro-life attorney Phill Kline, developed their toughness as wrestlers.  [snip]

"Other men’s sports have also been hurt by this feminist quota, such as swimming and track. Private swimming clubs and a few aging stars like Michael Phelps filled that gap this time, but we nearly struck out in men’s track in the marquee events of 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters, events the Americans historically dominated. While our Nation won the most medals for the fifth consecutive Summer Olympics, many of our medals were in contests of dubious value like beach volleyball. Title IX quotas have hurt our competitiveness in sports that are most helpful to the development of our young men." - Phyllis Schlafly, quoted on Right Wing Watch.

Ten Out Olympians Win Medals

Ten openly gay athletes won medals at the London Olympics. Seven of them took the gold. Cyd Ziegler at SB Nation has the recap:

GOLD: Seimone Augustus [above center], USA, Basketball. The U.S. women's basketball team was arguably the most dominant team in any sport at these Olympics.
GOLD: Carl Hester, Great Britain, Equestrian. Hester and his two teammates won Great Britain's first-ever Team Dressage gold. Hester finished fifth overall in the individual competition.
GOLD: Marilyn Agliotti, Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel, Kim Lammers, Maartje Paumen, Netherlands, Field Hockey. The Dutch women beat Argentina, 2-0, in the gold medal match. Paumen and Dirkse van den Heuvel scored the team's two goals.
GOLD: Megan Rapinoe, USA, Soccer. The Americans beat Japan, 2-1, in the gold medal match. Rapinoe had a key pass in the game. She also had two big goals in the semifinal match. Coach Pia Sundhage is also openly lesbian.
SILVER: Judith Arndt, Germany, Cycling. Arndt was the first out athlete to win a medal in London, taking silver in the road race time trial.
BRONZE: Edward Gal, Netherlands, Equestrian. Gal was on the bronze-medal team for Team Dressage; He finished ninth overall in the individual event.
BRONZE: Lisa Raymond, USA, Tennis. Raymond and partner Mike Bryan won the mixed doubles bronze medal.

Ziegler adds: "If Team Gay was a country, it would have finished 31st overall with seven medals, tied with Mexico, Ethiopia and Georgia. They would have beaten the medal count of such countries as Jamaica, Ireland, Argentina and India. They would have finished 21st overall for most golds (four), tied with Iran, Jamaica, Czech Republic and Korea."

Gayest Closing Ceremony EVAH

Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, openly bisexual Jessie J, and a full stadium singalong with Freddie Mercury on center-stage screens. I don't think we could have asked for much more.

NYT Cheers "Seamless" Olympics

The New York Times thinks Britain pulled off a near flawless Olympics.

The Olympics will also be remembered for what did not happen here. There were no security scares, despite hand-wringing about how vulnerable London might be to acts of terrorism. The serenity came at a steep price, one that could be measured in dollars — roughly $1.5 billion was spent on jets, choppers, snipers and surface-to-air missiles — as well as time. For fans, athletes and the news media, visiting the Olympic park was like arriving at La Guardia during peak flying times. The widely predicted traffic snarls never materialized, either. A small fortune was spent on ads urging Londoners to “Get ahead of the games,” which most of the locals translated to “Get lost, O.K.?” There was plenty of room on the city’s subway, ample seats in restaurants and plenty of empty taxis. Lousy news for local entrepreneurs, good news for everyone else. What passed for a scandal was the appearance of empty seats at some early events, and excruciatingly long lines to pick up tickets. Other than that, the alarmists and detractors had little fodder. Even the weather played nice. This was an astoundingly seamless production, given the size of this city and the scale of the endeavor.

And you know Britain's deserved satisfaction with a job well done is made all the more sweeter by what surely must be a national chorus of "In your FACE, Romney." American memories will be more colored, however, with bitterness over NBC's tape-delays and the IOC's iron fist on the internet. But we can look forward to live coverage (on the East Coast, at least) from Rio de Janeiro in four years.

Final Olympic Medals Tally

Olympic Medals Tally

Olympic Medals Tally

Only one more update to come.

Olympic Medals Tally

I still haven't figured out what the colors mean.

Olympic Medals Tally

Tweet Of The Day - Matthew Mitcham

Source.

Olympic Bearcake Break, Part Three

Gold For Britain's Gay Horseman

The only openly gay Olympian to win gold thus far is British dressage competitor Carl Hestor.

The team, which included Laura Bechtolsheimer and Charlotte Dujardin, celebrated the country’s twentieth gold medal of the games, strengthening the host nation’s place third on the board. Hester, 45, won a team gold and two individual silver medals at the European Championships in Rotterdam last year but this is his first Olympic medal. Raised on Sark in the Channel Islands, which has no cars and where horses are therefore one of the main methods of transportation, in 1992, Hester became the youngest British rider to represent the country at the Barcelona Olympics.

Suck it, Ann Romney.

Olympic Medals Tally

Headline Of The Day II

Source. (Tipped by JMG reader Blair)

Someone's Always Left Out Of A 3-Way

(Via JMG reader Bstewart23)

USA! USA!

Rower #2 has taken to Reddit to defend himself. The thread there is quite amusing. (Via Bilerico) UPDATE: Gawker has published a very scientific analysis.

Olympic Silver Fox Break

At age 39 Bulgaria's Yordan Yovchev is the elder statesman of Olympic gymnastics. London marks his sixth appearance at the Olympic Games, a record for his sport. Yovchev first competed 20 years ago in Barcelona at the age of 19.

Olympic Medals Tally

Olympic Medals Tally

As of midnight last night, NYC time.

Gabby's First Endorsement Deal