Final Results

All the calculations are finished and we have our winners:

Gold: Fans of Gro Hammerseng (Ed/Will) from the Jenny Thompson Division

Silver: The Minstrel Winos (Julie) from the Jesse Owens Division

Bronze: Bristol Olympics (Peter) from the Mary Lou Retton Division

It's also worth giving some recognition to Jim's Dino-Crushers (Jim) who won the Jim Thorpe Division and just missed out on the overall bronze thanks to the tie-breakers. All four of these teams featured Michael Phelps, but three divisions were won by non-Phelps teams:

Tamara Willit Hurt (Leslie) won the Carl Lewis Division.

The Torch Bearer (Christy) won the Matt Biondi Division.

Uncle Sam's Chariot of Fire (Jeremy) won the Mark Spitz Division.

Now, on to some other awards:

Non-Phelps Gold Medal: Tamara Willit Hurt (Leslie), who racked up 47 points without Phelps. Leslie would have won in four different divisions... and not just because she is the Commissioner's wife.

Worst Score with Phelps: Panda-monium (Virginia & Caroline), who scored just 35 points despite having 24 from Phelps.

Dark Cloud Memorial Certificate of Participation: Cool Runnings (Charis), who scored just 4 points and finished last. You'll get'em next time, Charis.

Most Ironic Name: Mao Tse Bronze (Shawn), who lived up to his name by finishing with - you guessed it - the bronze in the Mark Spitz Division.

Biggest Draft Steal: Shiffer Brains (Brian), who got 8 points from Matt Grevers, who he drafted in the 12th round.

Biggest Draft Bust: Cool Runnings (Charis), who missed the news about Morgan Hamm's injury and picked him in the first round... and never cut him.

Best Team Name: Beijing Saddles (Jason) from the Jenny Thompson Division.

Highest Scoring Division: Jenny Thompson Division with 239 points (we had to throw out the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Division, which had 8 people, and the Jim Thorpe Division, which had Australian athletes).

Lowest Scoring Division: Carl Lewis Division and Mark Spitz Division (tie) with 206 points each.

Final Standings:

1	Fans of Gro Hammerseng	Ed	59
2	The Minstrel Winos	Julie	57
3	Bristol Olympics	Peter	55
4	Jim's Dino-Crushers	Jim	55
5	Cubicle Farm Medalists	Kat	52
6	Team TBD	Gavin	52
7	Girls Rule, Boys Drool	Courtney, Channing, Campbell	49
8	Tamara Willit Hurt	Leslie C.	47
9	The Torch Bearer	Christy	46
10	North of the 49th Parallel	Roel	44
11	Hellooo Olympian!	Dan	43
12	Rough Riders	Zeb	42
13	Shiffer Brains	Brian	41
14	Uncle Sam's Chariot of Fire	Jeremy	40
15	Team (Your Company's Name Here)	Lea D.	40
16	Jersey Sea Turtles	Lauren	39
17	Beijing Saddles	Jason	39
18	Team TBD	Megan	38
19	The Fighting Irish	Sara	37
20	Baylor Beijing Ballas	Brandon	37
21	Hollywood's Heroes	Mike	37
22	2Gym=1Swim	A.J.	37
23	Two Hookers and a 41-year-old Mom	AOL Sports	36
24	Phelps' Body Double	Bryan	36
25	Big Momma	Melissa	36
26	Team TBD	Robby	36
27	REDSTORM	Daniel	36
28	Panda-monium	Virginia and Carolyn	35
29	WeGotGuns!	Scott	34
30	The Gold Diggers	Dustin and Gretchen	34
31	Team TBD	Weston	34
32	Team TBD	Tom C.	33
33	Orangeblooded	Mike	32
34	Mao Tse Bronze	Shawn	32
35	America's Red Army	Shawn R.	31
36	Team TBD	Steve	30
37	DrewsCrew	Jim	30
38	Thunderball	Marc	30
39	The Orioles	Conor	29
40	Puscifer	Laura	29
41	Destinee's Hookers	Cameron	29
42	Team TBD	Joel	29
43	Gang Green	Joe	29
44	H.I.P.P.O.S	Maria S.	28
45	Bling-Bling	Travis	28
46	Team TBD	Eric	28
47	Team TBD	Benjamin	28
48	Team TBD	Clay	28
49	The Drunken Sailors	Helen	28
50	The Fighting Song	Matt K.	28
51	The U.S. of France	Andrew	27
52	Team TBD	David	27
53	Chicago 2016	Tom G.	27
54	The Riptides	Maeve	27
55	Agent XXIX	Brandi	27
56	Dim Sum of This	Lauren	26
57	People's Republic of Boozin	Susan, Patrick, Erica and Paul	25
58	Summer Surge	Wilson	25
59	USA Rocks the Olympics	Isaac	24
60	Redeem Team	Derek	23
61	THE Cinderella Story	Stephanie S.	23
62	Aces	Hadra	22
63	Run Like You Stole Something	Wagner	22
64	Team Ryder	Leslie	21
65	Marion Jones Steroid Puddle	Scott	21
66	an yun	Lee D.	20
67	USA RULES	Dennis	18
68	The Hoyas	Dave	18
69	FatGuyWins	Cory	17
70	Oerter Team	Steve S.	17
71	Cool Runnings	Charis	4

The Future

With the 2008 Summer Games at an end, we would like to thank all of you for making Fantasy Olympics a huge success. We’re crunching the numbers right now and will have the official results posted later today.

Some of you have asked whether we will be back in 2010. Our goal is to be back bigger and better than ever. We are working to develop partnerships that will allow us to provide additional content and better draft analysis. We will still approach the Games with the same friendly, all-inclusive attitude that you’ve come to expect from the birthplace of Fantasy Olympics, but with access to more news and analysis for the true Olympic junkies.

We expect to have even more participants in 2010. To that end, we are working to develop a more user friendly website. We value the opinions of the Fantasy Olympics community, so we encourage you to contact us at fantasyolympics@hotmail.com if you have any recommendations for the 2010 Games.

We would like to thank everyone again for being a part of this year’s Fantasy Olympics. We never anticipated that so many people would be interested, and it has been fun to see the idea grow. We hope everyone had a good time and will join us again in 2010!

Down to the wire

With just a couple days left in this year's Summer Games, things are coming down to the wire here at Fantasy Olympics. Through Day 13, Fans of Gro Hammerseng (Ed/Will) has a commanding five-point lead over all competitors for the overall title. Thanks to bronze medals from Jill Kintner and Steven Lopez, it looks like Will and Ed will finish with 59 points overall. Is that enough?

The Minstrel Winos (Julie), currently in second place, could end up with 60 points if Bernard Lagat gets gold in the 5000m and Team USA wins the 4 x 400. An overall title is within reach... if you trust the USA track team.

Bristol Olympics (Peter), Cubicle Farm Medalists (Kat), and Jim's Dino-Crushers (Jim) are all tied for third right now with 52 points, but barring a big surprise, none of them look to have enough firepower to catch the leaders. If they remain tied, Kat and Peter both have China as the tiebreaker. If that happens, we (unlike the international gymnastics federation) would call it a tie.

Most of the division titles have been locked up, but there are four divisions worth keeping an eye on. In all four, the team holding Phelps is on the ropes:
-In the Carl Lewis Division, Tamara Willit Hurt (Leslie) is 3 points away from a shocking upset. Leslie can get those points in either the men's or women's 4 x 400 relay.
-In the Mark Spitz Division, Uncle Sam's Chariot of Fire (Jeremy) will win with ease, despite not having Phelps.
-In the Matt Biondi Division, Shiffer Brains (Brian) will knock off the favorite if Bernard Lagat can win the 5000m on Saturday. The Torch Bearer (Christy) also has an outside shot at the upset.
-In the Shannon Miller Division, it all comes down to the 4 x 400 relay. North of the 49th Parallel (Roel) needs a gold or silver from LaShawn Merritt in that event to avoid the upset at the hands of Jersey Sea Turtles (Lauren).

Plenty of action left! And some of you thought it was impossible to beat a team with Phelps.

Judgment Day

Today (Thursday) could be a judgment day of sorts in many divisions, with lots of key medals being handed out. As I type this, Walsh/May-Treanor have just won the gold. Here's what else is on deck throughout the day:

Medal events:
-Men's water polo, gold medal match (USA v. Netherlands), 6:20 a.m. EST
-Softball, gold medal final (USA v. Japan), 6:30 a.m. EST
-Women's 57kg taekwondo final (likely featuring Diana Lopez), 7:15 a.m. EST
-Women's 200m final (headlined by Allison Felix), 7:30 a.m. EST
-Men's 68kg taekwondo final (likely featuring Mark Lopez), 7:45 a.m. EST
-Women's 10m platform final (featuring Laura Wilkinson), 8:00 a.m. EST
-Women's soccer, gold medal match (USA v. Brazil), 9:00 a.m. EST
-Men's 400m final (headlined by Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merritt), 9:20 a.m. EST
-Men's 110m hurdles final (featuring David Payne and David Oliver), 9:40 a.m. EST

Other big events:
-Women's volleyball, semifinal (USA v. Cuba), 12:35 a.m. EST
-Women's basketball, semifinal (USA v. Russia), 8:00 a.m. EST
-Decathlon events (headlined by Bryan Clay), all day

Of course, if the volleyball match was any indication, it looks like the weather might wreak havoc on the outdoor events. The BMX final scheduled for Thursday has already been postponed until Friday. As always, we'll wait until Thursday evening (in the U.S.) to post the results from all of today's events so we don't ruin it for anyone who only believes Olympic news when it comes from the lips of Bob Costas. If you refer to any results in the comments section, please label it as a spoiler.

Favorite Olympic Storylines

There are still four days left of this 29th Olympiad, but I couldn't wait for this post. There have already been so many amazing moments, and you've commented on several. What does our league thinks has been the best?

Is it that Usain Bolt looks like he's out for an evening jog? Even though Bob Costas ripped into the fastest man in the world live on the air.

Do you prefer the women's gymnastics? Shawn Johnson hasn't stopped smiling since she arrived in Beijing, and Nastia Liukin methodically took home the gold. All this while overcoming allegations of rigged judging (Ed. note: I wouldn't be surprised).

Is it that Michael Phelps is now the winningest Olympian, gets his own NBC page and eats in one day what you should in one week (this is equally gross and impressive).

How about the USA softball team, which is bossing the competition so badly that the IOC voted it out of the 2012 games?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Second half push

Well, we're just over halfway done with this Olympics and we've already had our share of breathtaking moments. If you haven't been blown away by the performances of Michael Phelps (with some help from Jason Lezak), Nastia Liukin, and Natalie Coughlin, I'm not sure what to tell you. Plus, did you see that 100m final from Usain Bolt? Ridiculous.

There have also been some fireworks in the Fantasy Olympics. Powered by Phelps, Cubicle Farm Medalists (Kat) has racked up an astonishing 51 points over the last nine days to take the overall lead. The question will be whether all the teams with Phelps can hang on. The only remaining medal hopefuls for Kat's team are Darvis Patton, Marcie van Dusen and Diana Lopez, so this is a long way from over.

Even more surprising, some divisions are being led by teams without Phelps. With the help of some great value in the middle and late rounds (Lezak, Margaret Hoelzer, and Matt Grevers), Shiffer Brains is leading the Matt Biondi Division and could pull off the huge upset if Liukin, Bernard Lagat, Muna Lee and Mikele Barber can bring him home. Another battle is brewing over in the Mark Spitz Division where Uncle Sam's Chariot of Fire (Jeremy) is tied for first with Panda-monium (Virginia & Caroline), which features Phelps. It's also tight in the Shannon Miller Division, where the Jersey Sea Turtles (Lauren) trail the Phelps-powered North of the 49th Parallel (Roel) by just two points.

It looks like it should be a tight race all the way to the finish and you never know who will surprise. Two years ago, we thought it would all come down to Shani Davis vs. Chad Hendrick before Julie Mancuso surprised us all with the gold. Who will it be this year? Let's take a look at the events coming up over the final week.

1. Lots of folks who couldn't get Phelps hitched their wagon to the U.S. Track team. They have been disappointing so far, but there's lots of running to do. The biggest event may be the men's 400m final on Thursday, which should be a showdown between 2004 gold medalist Jeremy Wariner and his American rival LaShawn Merritt.

2. Wednesday will the start of four big days if you have a member of the U.S. taekwondo team on your roster (also known as the Lopez family). A Steven Lopez three-peat could mean three huge points for your team.

3. The team finals at the end of the week will be huge. The softball team and women's hoops are expect to win without difficulty, but you never know at the Olympics. The women's soccer team should face a much stiffer challenge. The date circled on my calendar is next Sunday, where we'll see if the Redeem Team can finish off its gold medal run. Plenty of fantasy points to go around.

4. The beach volleyball finals are on Thursday and Friday, which could reward important medals late in the week if the remaining U.S. teams can avoid the upset.

Hope everyone is having fun!

Best ever?

Everyone from Bob Costas to LeBron James seems to be caught up in Phelps Phever. He's already got more gold medals than anyone else in history and could have three more by the time it's all over... not to mention what he might do at the next Summer Olympics in London(I might start tanking my team now to get in position for the 2012 draft). But is he really the best Olympian ever? Lots of people say yes, but this guy says no.

What do you think?

Open letter to the U.S. women's gymnastics team

Lea found this great open letter to the U.S. women's gymnastics team via The Best Week Ever:

"Dear U.S. Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team,

I am proud of you. You are a group of strong, intelligent, artistic women whose thighs could easily kill a man. So what if a group of 4-year-olds beat you? So what if some of you wobbled, stumbled, or fell? There’s a whole hell of a lot that you did and CAN do:

• You still have the ability to do flips in the air and land on a strip of wood that’s no wider than this box of chicken fries I’m eating right now.
• You can hurl your body into the air, do some crazy twists and turns, land on your BROKEN ankle, stick the landing, and still manage to smile like a champion.
• You can run across a giant mat that looks bouncy and fun but sounds (and feels) like it’s made of concrete when you land.
• You can rock a shiny leotard that looks like it was painted onto your body.
  You don’t need to wear a pound of glitter on your face to make yourself look like you’re an adult.

China only beat you by 2.375 points. Most of that gap was a result of China’s impeccable performance on the uneven bars, not because of Alicia Sacramone’s fall off the balance beam. In case you couldn’t hear the announcers, who reminded us of this fact 400 times throughout the event, the girls on the Chinese team were taken away=2 0from their parents when they were still toddlers. At least you’ve got family! And you’re hot!"

Scoring Correction for Fantasy Olympics

As one of you noted in the comments below, the scoring for Peter Vanderkaay is incorrect. NBC's Web site originally listed him as a member of the 4 X 100 relay team (in the preliminary rounds), but that is apparently not the case. We will adjust the scores accordingly when we do our daily update this evening. Please note that the current 3 points listed for Vanderkaay do not include his bronze medal, which will be reflected in the Day 4 update. We apologize for any confusion.

Olympic Fever is Fun to Contract!

Commissioner put it well in 2006 when he named his team: If You Don’t Have Olympic Fever, It Might Be Dysentery. If you have it, then you know that the only prescription is...more gold.

Today, as The Onion News Network reprots, the deadly virus sweeping China is just Olympic Fever.



Rest easy, World. It's a good problem to have. And continue enjoying the games.

Medal Counts and Rules Recap

Your Fantasy Olympics Committee hopes you are enjoying the already epic Olympic competition. (Did you see that swimming relay? Amazing.)

In case you’ve not noticed, all medal counts will be updated by the Commissioner or a member of the Fantasy Olympics Committee. We aim to update medal and division counts by the end of the working day (Eastern time). So keep checking back to see where you stand.

Also, we recap here the Rules and the Announcements to reiterate how we score the league:

1. For this Olympiad competition, we randomly divided 85 teams into 11 leagues. In light of the increased number of athletes at the summer games (nearly 600 on Team USA), each team picked 12 athletes plus 1 tiebreaker country. We will crown 11 league winners, in addition to an overall champion. The prize will remain the same as in the past: unending respect and admiration, and maybe a free drink from each of the other participants the next time you see them.

2. Remember: Each player will select a total of 12 athletes. Any athletes not drafted will be deemed Free Agents. Teams may add, drop or trade players through their first event. Whoever holds the athlete at the time of his or her first event is locked in and cannot remove the athlete from the roster. A player may draft a tiebreaker country in any round, but remember that the medals won by that country will only come into play in the event of a tie.

3. Medals in team sports can only count once toward the final total, and team sports can only be chosen by one person per league. For example, someone pinning their medal hopes on USA Basketball should choose the team, not LeBron James. After that team is chosen, no one else can choose that team.

4. However, anyone who competes in an individual sport (i.e., swimmers, runners, etc.) should be chosen individually, and each relay medal will count toward your total. The basketball player can't win an individual medal. However, if you take Lezak—SERIOUSLY, HOW GREAT WAS THE 400 FREE RELAY!?!—you do so because he can win medals in several events. Same thing with Venus or Serena. The point is that you get all medals for any athlete who compete in individual events, even if some of those medals come in relays.

5. The winner will be the team with the most points at the end of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Points will be assigned as follows: 3 points for a gold medal, 2 points for a silver medal, and 1 point for a bronze medal. Each team’s final score will be based on an aggregate score from his or her 12 players.

6. Each player will also select one non-USA country whose gold medal count will be used to determine a winner, in the event of a tie among two or more players’ aggregate scores. If the gold medal count fails to break the tie, then the silver count, and finally the bronze count, will be used.

7. We do not weight any sports.

8. Have fun. And tip your waitstaff. They’re working hard for you.

Tracking the Summer Games

Happy Olympics Day, everyone! The rosters are set, and The Original Fantasy Olympics league is ready.

As competition begins, here is a roundup of some ways to track the games and your atheletes:

* The great Beijing Olympics FAN! has a live blog of the lighting ceremony, and many other on-the-ground updates you can't get anywhere else.

* Deadspin has their own Olympics channel and Beijing bureau.

* CBSSports.com has dedicated coverage and headlines that can help you manage your roster.

* A small upstart company, "Google," has their own Olympics gaget through iGoogle. I really hope that site catches on.

* If you're on Twitter.com--and you should be--follow http://twitter.com/beijingolympic and http://twitter.com/NBCOlympics for real-time updates.

* There's always the Bejing Olympic Games Official Website: http://en.beijing2008.cn/video/

* The official medal results are at NBC 2008 Summer Games website, and we'll be posting them in the divisions, as well.

* Here's a report on what it's like to watch the Opening Ceremony in Japanese.

* We are using this site as a resource for daily score keeping. (Note: participants on a relay team receive a medal even if they do not compete in the final, and even if ESPN includes them, they will not be listed as part of our results.)

Any other tools or websites you like? Post links in the comments, won't you?

Team USA loses key athletes to injuries

Injuries always have an impact on fantasy sports. But with the Olympics, something is notably different. Unlike an injured football or baseball player, an injury to an Olympic athlete doesn't represent a seasonal setback, it represents, in many cases, an end to a dream.

As the XXIX Olympiad nears, several U.S. athletes have sustained injuries that will keep them from competing. Women's soccer star Amy Wambach went down recently with a leg injury that will keep her sidelined in Beijing.

Paul and Morgan Hamm, the stars of the Men's gymnastics squad, will be forced to watch the games as well.

U.S. boxer Gary Russell Jr. collapsed trying to make weight and is out of the competition.

And a knee injury will keep tennis player Lindsay Davenport out of singles play, although she is still holding out hope for the doubles matches.

So before the games get underway and we become consumed with those competing, it is appropriate to recognize these injured athletes who have put in countless hours over the past several years in preparation for Beijing.

Even though they won't get to compete, we are proud of them. We thank them for representing themselves and our country with class, and we wish them all the best in their athletic careers.

Let The Games Begin!

With the Opening Ceremony only a few hours away, all the Fantasy Olympics divisions and rosters are set. We hope you all are looking forward to the next 16 days as much as we are!

Good luck to everyone! Enjoy the Games!
The Fantasy Olympics

Fun features

Some fun Olympic features on AOL in honor of the Games, which start Friday (08-08-08 at 8 p.m. on NBC)!

First, a pretty challenging quiz, even for the Olympics obsessed like myself.

Also, there's a "Where are they now?" photo gallery that updates us on some of the more memorable athletes of Olympics past.

I'm not sure if this is a joke or not, but it says diver Greg Louganis (he of the famous head smack on the board) is going to be a host/judge on an upcoming TV show called... wait for it... "So You Think You Can Dive" (:::cringe:::).

And what's Maurice Green up to these days? "Currently dates Claudia Jordan, who holds case No. 1 on NBC's 'Deal Or No Deal.' Also appeared in reality TV show 'Blind Date'."

Ouch! It really saddens me how many former greats have become involved with reality TV (Yeah, I'm talking to you, Bruce Jenner).


Originally posted on The Columbus Dispatch's Celebrity Surveillance blog.

p.s. Thanks for the tip, Derek!

Who's next?

Carl, Jesse, Jim, Mark and Matt are all having their second (or in some cases, like, ninth) shot at glory with Fantasy Olympic divisions named after them. Jenny Thompson is in line for the next division, but after that...well, that's where you come in. Who's next?

Jackie Joyner-Kersee? Flo Jo? Mary Lou Retton? Paul Hamm?

Sorry...Bob Costas is not eligible.

Leave us your suggestions in the comments section.

***EDIT***
Well, with the requests to play pouring in and the name suggestions not, we went with the executive decision of adding the Jenny Thompson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Mary Lou Retton divisions.

Suggestions still welcome, though. Leagues can still form up until Thursday, provided you can complete your draft by that night.

Some possibilities (they're getting kinda weak): The Magnificent Seven (the 1996 Gold Medal Gymnastics Team... thanks, Kerri Strug!), Al Oerter, Ray Ewry, Flo Jo, Shannon Miller, Paul Hamm, Mia Hamm (no relation)

Fantasy Olympics in the News

TheFantasyOlympics.net is starting to spread out from our little corner of The Internets. Check out these stories:

CBSSports.com

"Finally, a reason to follow the entire Olympics"
http://www.sportsline.com/spin/story/10918856

Track author Cameron Martin's Team in the Jesse Owens Division.

San Antonio Express-News

"Olympic fantasy void is now filled"

And more on his blog:
http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/fantasysports/

The Columbus Dispatch

"Fantasy Web site mining for gold"

Rob Oller highlights the Ohio angle.

China and "The Internets"

With the national coverage that Fantasy Olympics has generated in the past few weeks, we couldn't help but notice the one place where no one has taken notice:

China.

The reason: they are not allowed to.

It turns out our site is among many sites currently banned in China. It stems from the Chinese government's filters that screen sites using words like "fantasy" among others.

RotoNation, a popular fantasy sports blog (who has also been banned), has the story.