As predicted, many of the Athens 2004 Olympics events are being digitized and uploaded to the Internet. The quality is good, often ripped from HDTV and international sources. (Many of the clips are from Brazilian television, with commentary in Portuguese. Those darn Brazilians again!)
To judge the video quality, here’s a sample clip of yesterday’s controversial judging of Russia’s Alexei Nemov, in which the audience’s vocal protests shut down the Men’s Gymnastics High Bar Finals for a full ten minutes.
Video: Alexei Nemov – Male Gymnastics High Bar Finals (Sample) (.MPG, 25MB)
Like Yahoo’s Most Popular, there’s an emphasis on women’s beach volleyball and women’s gymnastics. But many other events are represented, as well. Below is a list of every event posted to the alt.binaries.olympics Usenet newsgroup since the Olympics started on August 13.
2004 Olympics Opening Ceremony
Artistic Gymnastics Women, All Round Finals
Artistic Gymnastics Women, Team Finals
Basketball Men’s, 15th August 2004, USA vs. Puerto Rico
Basketball Women’s BRAZIL vs NIGERIA, Aug 20th
Basketball Women’s, Aug 16th – BRA vs. GREECE
Basketball Women’s, BRAZIL vs AUSTRALIA, Aug. 22nd
Basketball Women’s, Brazil vs Japan, Aug 14th
Basketball Women’s, BRAZIL vs. RUSSIA, Aug 18th
Beach Volleyball Men’s, BRA vs USA, Aug 19th
Beach Volleyball Men’s, BRA vs. CUB, Aug 17th
Beach Volleyball Men’s, BRAZIL vs SWITZERLAND, Aug. 22nd
Beach Volleyball Men’s, Semis – BRAZIL vs SWITZERLAND, Aug 23rd
Beach Volleyball Men’s, USA vs. Australia
Beach Volleyball Women’s, Australia Vs Bulgaria – Highlights
Beach Volleyball Women’s, BRA vs BRA, Aug. 22nd
Beach Volleyball Women’s, BRA vs. ITA, Aug 17th
Beach Volleyball Women’s, BRAZIL vs AUSTRALIA, Aug. 23rd
Beach Volleyball Women’s, BRAZIL vs. CUBA, Aug 19th
Beach Volleyball Women’s, BRAZIL vs. GERMANY, Aug 19th
Football Women’s, BRA vs. GRE, Aug 17th
Football Women’s, BRAZIL vs MEXICO, Aug 20th
Gymnastics Women’s, Apparatus Finals – BALANCE BEAM, Aug 23rd
Gymnastics Women’s, Apparatus Finals – FLOOR, Aug 23rd
Gymnastics Women’s, Individual All-around Finals
High Bar Finals Men’s, Aug 23rd
Rowing Men’s, Eight Prelims
Rowing Women’s, Eight Prelims
Swimming Men’s, 200 Meter Freestyle Prelims
Swimming Women’s, 100 Meter Backstroke Prelims
Swimming, Aug 20th
10m Platform Women’s Semis, Aug 21st
Tennis Doubles Men’s, Finals. First EVER Gold Medal for Chile, Aug. 21st
Trampoline Men’s Semis, Aug 21st
Volleyball Men’s, BRA vs. ITA, Just Tie-breaker set, Aug 17th
Volleyball Men’s, BRAZIL vs RUSSIA, Aug 21st
Volleyball Men’s, BRAZIL vs. NETHERLANDS, Aug 19th
Volleyball Men’s, USA vs. Italy
Volleyball Women’s, BRAZIL vs GREECE, Aug 20th
Volleyball Women’s, BRAZIL vs KOREA, Aug. 22nd
Volleyball Women’s, BRAZIL vs. ITALY, Aug 18th
Hey, what newsgroups are these posted in? I dug around but my usenet foo is weak. Thanks.
They’re all in alt.binaries.olympics.
Thanks Andy. My Usenet foo is not so weak. It’s the Comcast news servers that have the weak foo.
How do I connect to Usenet?
using what software?
Usenet is a network that predates the Web, and is more difficult than your average Kazaa-like P2P application. There’s a good tutorial at Slyck.
Personally, I recommend using the web interface for Easynews. I wrote about it a couple years ago.
I tried searching on alt.binaries.olympics for indoors volleyball, but I couldn’t find anything… Any help? I’ve been searching for those everywhere…
ok, forget about it, I couldn’t even sign up to Usenet…
Do you know anywhere else where I can find indoor volleyball matches from the Olympics??
Any torrents on gymnastics out there? Suprnova.org has one of Paul Hamm, one on the Female indiv all around finals but no men at all. This saddens me.
Nice tutorial. I found it very helpful. Thanks.
Looks like I’m almost two years too late for the files =) If anybody knows of ANY PLACE where I can get my hands on the entire opening ceremony during the Athens games, please do share that info with me. I’ve been dieing to see the Cube Man again ever since the Torino games came on.
I tried searching on alt.binaries.olympics for indoors volleyball, but I couldn’t find anything… Any help? I’ve been searching for those everywhere…