2016 Rio Olympics

[F1Brits_90]

Amazing to think that just yesterday team gb at won more gold medals (7) than we did in Barcelona & Atlanta combined (6) if you count the sailing that we are guaranteed but have to wait til Tuesday til it's official

cider_and_toast certainly I understood the health worries. But as few were saying if you pull out of a major it will be there next urgent & another one in 6 weeks. This isn't for 4yrs they should of gone. But love story of the audience that til final Rd was in bronze he was only competing because 4 other Australian had pulled out

 

[cider_and_toast]

Yeah I understand the health fears but I can't help thinking that it was over hyped. There will be a lot of regretful golfers this morning.

 

[KekeTheKing]

I think any golfer that cited Zika as a concern was just using that as a convenient excuse. Johnny Miller must have said 15 times during the US coverage that he hadn't seen a single mosquito all week.

No doubt guys like Day. McIlroy, Spieth, D. Johnson, and Scott will regret missing this Tourney one day. Or maybe not.

Was certainly great to see those who made the trip battle for pride alone though.

 

[gethinceri]

if you pull out of a major

Nope, it's still not a major.

 

[Hamberg]

Jealous much....

Australian, French and German cyclists raise questions over Team GB's track success

 

[gethinceri]

Sour grapes, it's easy to insinuate while not saying "you're taking drugs", and the media are happy to sell more papers or get more clicks on the bait. Sad, if you're being beaten then get better.

 

[Kewee]

Hamberg
gethinceri

The Aussies have never been good losers, especially in cricket and rugby, we Kiwis have been putting up with their sour grapes for as long as I can remember. Best just to laugh at them,

 

[Greenlantern101]

top craic

 

[Olivier]

Canada has been a bit underwhelming with the exception of Penny Oleksiak who won 4 medals including a gold (and she is 16!). The big story is Andre De Grasse who seems to have developed a special rapport with Usain Bolt. After beating De Grasse by 2/100 s in the 200m semis, Bolt said;

"Andre was supposed to slow down. He didn't!" he said.

"I said: 'What are you doing it is the semis?' He said he had to push me.

"I was a bit lazy, I don't know why, but I executed it."

 

[KekeTheKing]

It's been well known for some time that Ryan Lochte is just a few IQ points from being classified as mentally disabled, but alas I'm still surprised he could have concocted something this moronic. He and these other chucklehead swimmers are an absolute embarrassment. And how fitting that he left the other 3 nitwits behind to face the inevitable unraveling of the yarn.

Every time I saw Lochte on camera this Olympics I said "what a douche". So in that sense this is sort of satisfying, I just wish he was in Brazil to face the wrath.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Another gold, two silvers and a bronze this afternoon. Team GB are getting quite good at this.

 

[KekeTheKing]

You've gotta say that GB's success this year must be sort of a legacy from the intense focus placed on the London games 4 years ago.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Alastair Brownlee walked the last 20meters of the triathlon and still finished 43 seconds ahead of 3rd place man. Johnny only 6 seconds behind his brother. Dominant performance all-round.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Indeed KekeTheKing. Between the funding for sports programme from our National Lottery and the increased focus on the Olympics from London 2012 we have come a long way from our lowest ebb which was the Atlanta games in 96.

Interestingly, while we have one of the biggest teams of Athletes we are still reasonably behind the curve in the Track and Field events.

 

[Viscount]

I think our athletes are still behind due to the difficulties of talent identification. Using the 100m as an example, there are 66 sprinters in the UK under 20 years old who have run a sub-11s 100m this year but not a single one of them is funded by UK sport. They'll all still be developing and probably need more than their local athletics club coach or PE teacher to reach their potential in the 100m or could even be better suited to a different event such as the long jump. But athletics is still just a hobby at that stage, so only a few of them (and not necessarily the best) might continue sprinting to reach a level where they're funded (which is currently only between £15,000 - £28,000 a year for our 'Podium Potential' athletes).
Even less attention is given to potential field event athletes, so without the kind of smart targeted campaigns that British Cycling and Rowing have run, the best talent doesn't always come through.

Plus there's the draw of other more profitable careers and sports such as Lawrence Okoye the British Discus national record holder moving to try to make it into the NFL where the minimum salary is $450,000.

 

[F1Brits_90]

what a story this is, Lochte has night out, next morning phones his mum says they got robbed, mum blabbed to world press, brazilian police investigated CCTV, find he lieing his arse off actual vandalised the petrol station. & now the world knows what a prat he is

 

[Viscount]

What an idiot.

 

[cider_and_toast]

In other news it looks like the Paralympic Games organisation has become an utter farce. Only 12% of the available tickets have been sold. The IOC has had to lift its ban on further state aid from the Brazilian government and state companies in order to get enough money just to pay the travel grants. Some of the venues are being closed so that there is enough infrastructure available to staff and support the remaining areas.

All this is a far cry from London where 2.4 million Paralympic tickets were sold in the run up to the games.

Once again the host nation selection process leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Greenlantern101]

That is a disgrace. Sad thing is a paralymics gets very poor coverage in some countries. Not an excuse, just a sad fact.

Rio Paralympics 2016: Games to go ahead with major budget cuts

 

[Greenlantern101]

OMG that was some win for the girls in the hockey. So didn't deserve it but stole it out from under the feet of a much better dutch side. Just amazing took the chances when they needed to and won the penalty shoot out. I was shouting at the tv. Just brilliant performance. GOLD