LondonLax Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Great action from the rowing. What has happened to Australia? having a shocker... I did say at the start of this thread I thought we'd do poorly but I didn't think it would be quite so bad. To be fair we have a lot of silvers and the margins can be quite close between looking good and looking very poor on the table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Great action from the rowing. What has happened to Australia? having a shocker... I did say at the start of this thread I thought we'd do poorly but I didn't think it would be quite so bad. To be fair we have a lot of silvers and the margins can be quite close between looking good and looking very poor on the table. Below the Kiwis???!!! Its been dreadful in the pool, with over confidence and under performance. I ve been amazed by how poor some of them have been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 Anyone see the excellent analyst on Sky yesterday basically calling the Americans a disgrace for their behaviour over the Chinese swimmer? It was very interesting and enlightening. He knew his stuff and firmly put all of the Americans' suspicions in the bin. Everything technique-wise that she is doing has been done before. Her 8 beat kick style at the shorter distance; while extremely impressive; is not unique and they need to let it go. She is simply the next generation of swimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 The Yanks dont like China beating them. In 2008 they changed the way the medal table is ordered (most golds is 1st) just so they would finish top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 3, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted August 3, 2012 I've always thought that they should give the medals points. 3 for a gold, 2 for a silver and 1 for a bronze. Seems silly that, in theory, USA could get 100 silver medals, but no Golds, and GB could get 1 gold and no other medals, and that would put us first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 Because winning is everything in the Olympics. I remember a Ricky Bobby quote along those lines FWIW I agree with the 'gold, then everything else' ordering of the medal table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tegis Posted August 3, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted August 3, 2012 Such a shame Kluft has retired from the Heptathlon. She was without a solid rival at her peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 The Yanks dont like China beating them. Ah they'll get used to it. We all will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Katarina Johnson Thompson I have to say the Olympic stadium is looking rather impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted August 3, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted August 3, 2012 Federer could be on his way out. I'd love Murray to win gold at Wimbledon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Anyone see the excellent analyst on Sky yesterday basically calling the Americans a disgrace for their behaviour over the Chinese swimmer? It was very interesting and enlightening. He knew his stuff and firmly put all of the Americans' suspicions in the bin. Everything technique-wise that she is doing has been done before. Her 8 beat kick style at the shorter distance; while extremely impressive; is not unique and they need to let it go. She is simply the next generation of swimmer. One of the things the Chinese have become very adept is avoiding drug testing; would love to see this Chinese swimmers out of competition tests. As far as I know they haven’t been published. From my understanding (from a prominent swimming expert) the Chinese athletes tend to disappear from view to obscure parts of China. Its entirely possible she’s drug free, but when you have a nation such as China that has been involved in a systematic doping in swimming its easy enough to see every performance questioned. They have already had a swimmer banned from China for EPO before the games, it really muddies the water. Should the coach come out with it? No. Are most of the commentators and experts behind the scenes from most of the world questioning it? You bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 Yeah I get that China has a history and people were right to ask the question. But it has been answered. She's clean. The point now is that it should be dropped. The Yanks are still going on about it. Being Chinese doesn't make you a drug cheat by association, but that's almost the implication here. That a country of 1.5 billion people couldn't possibly have the fastest swimmer in the world and she should be viewed with nothing but suspicion. It's kind of sad really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tegis Posted August 3, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted August 3, 2012 One of the things the Chinese have become very adept is avoiding drug testing; would love to see this Chinese swimmers out of competition tests. As far as I know they haven’t been published. From my understanding (from a prominent swimming expert) the Chinese athletes tend to disappear from view to obscure parts of China I thought they couldn't do that any more? My understanding is that you have to place on record where you are more or less all the time so that you can get randomly tested. Not complying with it equals a ban. That said, if they get randomly tested is another question. Getting to an obscure place makes it difficult for the agencies to get to them even if they know where you are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 You can tell people where you are; that doesn’t mean that it easy for people to get there to test them. WADA has a limited budget to do this and so not all athletes are tested as much as they should be. In the case of Ye, I think she spends most of her time in Australia, so I would hope she’s been fully tested. Yeah I get that China has a history and people were right to ask the question. But it has been answered. She's clean. I am presuming she hasn’t failed any drugs tests, which is kind of an answer. But it doesn’t remove the question and the scepticism... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Federer could be on his way out. I'd love Murray to win gold at Wimbledon. Me too, but I think Djokovic has to be favourite to take the gold. He has been the best player in the world over the past 18 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 But it doesn’t remove the question and the scepticism. Well then in reality there's nowhere else you can really take a discussion if people won't accept someone's innocence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 But it doesn’t remove the question and the scepticism. Well then in reality there's nowhere else you can really take a discussion if people won't accept someone's innocence. But surely you can see why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 3, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted August 3, 2012 Ainslie's sailing is set up very excitingly for the last race. He lost the first race today to the Dane by a place, but then beat him in the next race by 2 places (Ainslie finished first by miles) Which means going into the final race, the Dane is ahead by 2 points. And in the medal race, points are worth double, meaning Ainslie only has to win by 1 place to tie, and therefore win by the fact he'd have placed higher in the medal race. Could get exciting, and will be interesting to see if the Dane employs some "tactics" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 In other news, we need to invest in school sports Olympics 'dominated by privately educated' Lord Moynihan said it was wholly unacceptable that more than 50% of medallists at the Beijing Olympics came from independent schools. He described it as one of the "worst statistics in British sport". He said it meant half of Great Britain's medals came from just 7% of the population who are privately educated. Chairman of the British Olympic Association Lord Moynihan called for an urgent overhaul of school sport policy, saying private school dominance of sports was "wholly unacceptable". 'Future priority' He said: "There is so much talent out there in the 93% that should be identified and developed. "That has got to be a priority for future sports policy. I have spoken about it many times and I will continue to speak about it until there is not breath left in me." Lord Moynihan said Olympic sport should aim to have the same ratio of state to private school pupils as football. "Football is different, it is an interesting example. The balance of professional football is that around 7% of players come from the private sector, which is an absolute mirror image of society. "That should be the case in every single sport and that should be the priority in each and every sport and that is something that every government should strive for. The way you do it is you focus on a sports policy that is primarily geared to providing a sporting opportunity." Around 7% of children in the country are privately educated, but at the last Olympics one third of Team GB went to independent schools, nearly 40% of British medal winners, and 50% of gold medallists. They included multiple gold medallists Sir Chris Hoy, a product of George Watson's College in Edinburgh and Ben Ainslie, who went to Truro School in Cornwall, and every single one of the equestrian medallists. 'Imbalance' Private schools can usually afford to devote more time to sport, and have better facilities and often top-class coaches. That is especially the case in sports where the basic cost of taking part is high, such as equestrian events and sailing. Rowing has already taken action to address the imbalance - with Moe Sbihi, who won bronze in the men's eight yesterday, one of the beneficiaries. A programme was launched more than a decade ago to pick teenagers with the necessary physique from comprehensive schools to become elite rowers. At this Games, 50% of the rowing team are from state schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 But it doesn’t remove the question and the scepticism. Well then in reality there's nowhere else you can really take a discussion if people won't accept someone's innocence. But surely you can see why?I can, but only up to the point where she is proven clean, which she has been. At which point someone has to concede, however begrudgingly. You more than most must be frustrated trying to defend clean cyclists from suspicion. Not all cyclists and not all swimmers are dirty, even if they win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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