NBCAthens 2004 Olympic Games : Gymnastics

Disc 1 is the entire opening ceremony; disc 4 is the entire closing ceremony. One of the other 2 is general highlights; the last is Greek athlete highlights (I did not watch it).These were done by a Greek company, so the English subtitles leave something to be desired. They are also very distracting and too fast to read at times; they also obscure what is going on. I strongly advise that they be turned off. You don't need them, since the announcements are done in Greek, French, and English anyway, and you don't need to know what the Greek commentators are saying, anyway (see below). Even if you have difficulty hearing, you don't need them: they don't identify the various cultures represented, etc., so all you would miss would be the welcoming speeches.The commentators were all too often disrespectful. They would continue to talk while announcements and other things were said by people involved; they belittled several nations and ignored others. Thankfully, one can turn off the commentary also, and I highly recommend that you do so.The highlights could have been two hours instead of one, but at least they included often-overlooked events such as shooting and equestrian, as well as all types of cycling. And, they did include "my Olympic moment" when Paul Hamm was mentally/emotionally stunned by his fall, but courageously finished the competition and came back to win the gold (they showed the fall and then his amazing final routine).If you really enjoyed the opening ceremonies and found the living-art depictions of the various cultures to be excellent (they were extremely accurate "reconstructions" of paintings and sculpture), you will enjoy the set (so long as you turn off subtitles and commentary). If you love Greek contemporary culture, you will enjoy the closing ceremony (ditto re: subtitles and commentary). If your focus was strictly the sporting events themselves, you will find this set disappointing since only about 60 minutes out of the 502 are general highlights (plus another 60 of Greek highlights).

It will not play and acts like it is blank... Or wrong REGION I do not know...No need to have it if it doesn't work....

Athens is beautiful on this DVD collection

Great editing.

heros

This DVD is not a complete showing of all the gymnastics done at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Frankly, since I am not a hardcore fan, I preferred that! I did not want to sit through every single routine of every athlete in the competition. I wanted to see the best! And those are the athletes that are on this video! The narration provides enough suspense leading up to the eventual outcome. I think they picked the athletes and the stories they told that they felt were most interesting, so this was not strictly about the routines. I saw enough complete routines that I am not sure what the previous reviewer means about them not showing complete routines, because I saw the start and the landings which I presume is a complete routine. I would have been fine with the addition of the bronze medalists' routines but I did not really miss them. Eventually watching too many of the athletes doing similar routines would have gotten very tedious and I'm sure that was what was considered when putting together this souvenir of the Athens Games! And just so you know, the picture quality is beautiful and the sound is very good on the DVD. I really thought this DVD was good!

To all true gymnastic fans and fans of any sports event and Olympic games, this DVD is a complete disaster!!!!There is nearly not ONE routine shown in its entirety, even most of the winning routines where cut!I have no Idea what NBC was thinking, having ALL the recordings of each event, then hacking up every single routine of every gymnast who's shown on this DVD! Talking about the gymnasts shown - we don't even get to see 1/5 of all the competitors!!This is absolutely a waste of money, unless one wants to see and remember the faces that won in the team, all around and individual events, because that's pretty much all this DVD offers, quick face shots and a hacked up exercise. It doesn't even show the athletes that made bronze medals - like for example on rings, legendary Yuri Chechi - he's not even mentioned!More than a sad excuse for an Olympic Gymnastics DVD - don't waste your money on this you'll be very, very disappointed. NBC from 1-10 you get a -10 for it! - too bad they don't offer negative stars on the rating above!J.S.

Ce coffret est un important souvenir des Jeux Olympiques d'Athènes. L'excellence du contenu en fait un document exceptionnel.

Eine Erinnerung an die besten Olympischen Spiele der Neuzeit! Habe damals versäumt, diese DVD-Box in Athen zu laufen und freue mich sehr, dass ich sie nun doch noch über Amazon kaufen konnte! Einzigartig emontionale Momente auf DVD.

the best JO all the times a very good DVD and a good remenber, thank you very much for this DVD