Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Thread

[WhiteCrow]

well we did win 2 bronze medals......

The horses should be turned to glue - Darwinianism, if we put down the losers, we're left with only superior stock to build better athletes. Same should be true of their riders.

I don't really agree with equestrian as a sport. The rider gets the medal - but who really does all the work?

[Kaybee Bailey]

Unbelievable world record from the men's pursuit team! Gold medal yes, but they won by 6.7 seconds and took 3 off the world record, which is just incredible really. With the rate that records have been going in the velodrome it would be nice to see that one stand for a while now.

Controversy in the gymnastics... not only is everyone stood around wondering how the American girl didn't go ahead of China's He Kexin with a better routine, but we also have the passport mystery. He Kexin was reported as being a 13 year old prodigy by the Chinese state media nine months ago, but her recently issued passport says she is 16. Happily this makes her eligible to compete, as gymnasts under the age of 16 are barred as they are deemed to have an advantage because their joints and bones are more flexible than those of adults. Now far be it from me to get PS censored in China, but I feel that the official documentation may not solve this one...

I don't really agree with equestrian as a sport. The rider gets the medal - but who really does all the work?

Hmm... go try it. The physical effort required to ride a plod properly round a riding school is pretty high. Then try holding back 1500pounds of excitable Thoroughbred. There aren't too many people in the world that can do it... and there's very few elite horses too. With the exception of swimming and the gymnastic events, there is nothing in the Olympics which requires a greater degree of physical exertion from an athlete.

Ian... didn't realise that Jo was at Ben Rhydding. She's at Bowden Hightown now (she used to car-share with a Leeds girl to get over there). It's only a difference of two leagues but it's enough to make a difference to your international career.

[Larry]

Unbelievable world record from the men's pursuit team! Gold medal yes, but they won by 6.7 seconds and took 3 off the world record, which is just incredible really. With the rate that records have been going in the velodrome it would be nice to see that one stand for a while now.

.

the fab 4 not only smashed the world record they toatally destroyed the Danes .. with both our boys through to the sprints and Victoria Pendleton, through to the womans sprints and all 3 looking awsome you would not bet against another 3 medals tomorrow.

in the sailing Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield secured a silver medal and Paul Goodison, is but guaranteed a gold medal tomorrow all he has to do is not finish last in his final race ..

[Larry]

Hmm... go try it. The physical effort required to ride a plod properly round a riding school is pretty high. Then try holding back 1500pounds of excitable Thoroughbred. There aren't too many people in the world that can do it... and there's very few elite horses too.

Also added to that when it comes to the show jumping the riders are not only concentrating on the horse but have to remember the correct sequence to jump the fences in

With the exception of swimming and the gymnastic events, there is nothing in the Olympics which requires a greater degree of physical exertion from an athlete.

not quite sure how you can seriously say rowing dose not require the same "physical exertion" as swiming and gymnastics - you only have to look at the state of the rowers at the end of each race to see what a physical and mentaly exhausting event it is.


.[/quote]

[WhiteCrow]

Hmm... go try it. The physical effort required to ride a plod properly round a riding school is pretty high.

But it's like winning an 8-(wo)man rowing event, but only giving the medal to the cox!

[Kaybee Bailey]

not quite sure how you can seriously say rowing dose not require the same "physical exertion" as swiming and gymnastics - you only have to look at the state of the rowers at the end of each race to see what a physical and mentaly exhausting event it is.

Yeah rowing I'll give you. And there's probably other sports we could argue about, but when I wrote that I was thinking about the number of muscle groups being used at any one time. Swimming is kind of the rare one where every part of the body needs to be strong, and I assume gymnastics also. Rowing is every bit the same as these - a combination of strength and athleticism, but the muscles used (quads, hamstrings, biceps etc) are less specialist, that is to say sport specific, than some of the minor groups used in swimming or riding. So if you or I was to take up rowing we'd hardly be elite athletes the next day... but we'd be able to use our base fitness in the same muscles we use to walk around the house. If we try to get on a horse or race butterfly tomorrow, there would probably be pain in places you'd never noticed there was muscle.

But it's like winning an 8-(wo)man rowing event, but only giving the medal to the cox!

Well, maybe. But contrary to popular belief, the horses are part of the medal ceremony and usually get a sash or rosette instead. However, I think if you were to poll the horses on the issue of medals or treats in their feed after a competition, they'd probably trample the medals on the way to their bucket!

[WhiteCrow]

However, I think if you were to poll the horses on the issue of medals or treats in their feed after a competition, they'd probably trample the medals on the way to their bucket!

It all depends on if the Gold medal is 24-carrot or not!

[Captain Tancredi]

Happily this makes her eligible to compete, as gymnasts under the age of 16 are barred as they are deemed to have an advantage because their joints and bones are more flexible than those of adults.

Or as a medical student friend of mine put it many years ago, by the time they're legal it's all gone...

Moving swiftly on, I'll willingly confess to having a bit of a downer on horses. Not because I see a horse and think it's a bottle of Copydex that hasn't reached its potential yet, but I've had a few bad run-ins down the years. In no particular order these include:

-Being plonked on the back of a donkey aged about 3 and really not liking it
-Having seen police horses charging onto a football pitch at first hand
-Being dumped in favour of a horse (slight exaggeration but only slightly)
-A horse doing a dollop right next to the bus stop where I get the bus to work in the height of summer a couple of years ago, so it took about a week to go away.

That said, I think the thing about the Olympics is that it's actually a fairly loose confederation of competitions run by each activity's governing body which just happen to take place in the same city at the same time. Some sports and other activities include artistic interpretation as part of their scoring and some don't- you could compete in the archery naked and standing on your head but the points would still be the same. What Team GB seem to have done quite sensibly is to base the team on areas like rowing and cycling where we know we're strong and build from there- sports like volleyball are quite popular elsewhere in the world so we probably won't ever have a massive pool of talent to choose from (and if you want to see a really vicious chick fight, watch an Australia-New Zealand netball game!).

What I think is particularly good is the potential that somebody like Rebecca Adlington has to be a role model for today's teenagers- she seems like a normal, grounded girl from an ordinary background who's just worked really hard at her swimming, and we need more people like that to counter a lot of the influences on youngsters today.

[WhiteCrow]

As we've got such a massive medal haul, does that mean we're going to get a film about it ...

"Chav idiots on fire"

Or something?

[Dave Tudor]

We're doing rather well, aren't we!?

[WhiteCrow]

I was watching/perving the Womens Beach Volleyball this morning.

Course in Greek times, the Olympics were performed naked, so my History teacher told me.

Time to seek out THAT picture of Victoria Pendleton again.

[Milky Tears]

Great stuff in the Velodrome from Pendleton, Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy.




Sneaky edit!

[Dirk Gently]

The most successful games for GB since 1908 & Chris Hoy is the most successful Olympian since 1908!


Oh, and I'm with Kaybee on the Equestrian point. If you ever ride a horse you'd never question that you have to be an athlete to ride them competitively. The only time a horse rider does not look like an athlete is when they are pure show jumpers & they're not in the Olympics.
3-Day eventing is gruelling but as has been pointed out, you don't have to be physically fit to be an Olympian, look at one of the French archers! She was huge!

[WhiteCrow]

Great stuff in the Velodrome from Pendleton, Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy.




Sneaky edit!

I'm reminded now - I want to ride my bicycle!

[Dirk Gently]

The rider gets the medal - but who really does all the work?

I don't see Chris Hoy's bike getting a medal!
A Horse is just a tool to get the job done, just a living one.

It's almost all been cycling and rowing...

Well that's not surprising is it? We almost always win medals in rowing & that's been the same this time. Also we almost always win medals in cycling & in this instance we've won 7 golds out of 10 events in the velodrome & no other country has won more than 1. That's over half our total gold medal haul in cycling! (Including road races).

I think if GB wasn't doing so well in these events then there would be more coverage of other events but naturally the coverage follows the GB competitors.

[Dave Tudor]

I thought I could rely on James for that Pendleton piccie!

Well done to Victoria and to Chris Hoy for their cycling golds.

Elsewhere, good luck to Christine Ohuruogu in the ladies' 400m final, in just over an hour!

[WhiteCrow]

I think if GB wasn't doing so well in these events then there would be more coverage of other events but naturally the coverage follows the GB competitors.

Not necessarily - we're absolutely rubbish when it comes to Football, which we didn't even qualify for the recent European Cup, but the European cup was still very popular.

We're one of the top nations in Rugby, but Football is still the more popular sport.

[Larry]

another 5 medals won today 3 gold and 2 silver one of those being a very unexpected silver won by Germaine Mason , in the high jump mean whikle
light-heavyweight Tony Jeffries is now gauaranteed at least a bronze in the boxing.

[Dirk Gently]

Not necessarily - we're absolutely rubbish when it comes to Football, which we didn't even qualify for the recent European Cup, but the European cup was still very popular.

We're one of the top nations in Rugby, but Football is still the more popular sport.

But what do they have to do with the Olympics?

[WhiteCrow]

Anyone else thinks it's a bit of spin that they day after we get a record medals haul, we're told Team GB needs £100 million for training for the next olympics.

[Larry]

16 GOLDS I SAY COUNT THEM THATS 16 GOLDS...











christine Ohuruogu wins womans 400m..

[Larry]

Anyone else thinks it's a bit of spin that they day after we get a record medals haul, we're told Team GB needs £100 million for training for the next olympics.

no I don't what there telling us is if we are to continue this success into 2012 then we must have the funding..

[Kaybee Bailey]

christine Ohuruogu wins womans 400m..

Yeah, not sure what to make of that one. I don't really agree with the habit we have of waiving our rules when it suits us. The GB rules are that anyone banned for doping offences (not failing a drugs test, but a violation of policy in any way) receives a lifetime Olympic ban. She missed 3 tests in 18 months... because it clashed with her training. To me that's very suspect. Athletes should know that if you are asked for a sample you drop everything and go. Maybe I'm too harsh, but I can only see one genuine reason to repeatedly miss tests.

We have a few cases to look at... today it was announced that the silver medal winning heptathlete Blonska has failed a drugs test and is likely to be kicked out of the games. She's already had a two year ban for failing a test (2003-2005), and when she came back her performances were better than when she was taking steroids. Kelly Sotherton has called for her to be banned from the Olympics because under current rules she would be. But the rules at the time meant she was not given an Olympic ban, and where has it got us?

I was going to bring up Dwain Chambers. I don't want to say too much as I think it's fairly obvious where I stand... but it's his attitude now I don't like. He says winning can't be done clean, maintains a grudge against Darren Campbell because he's angry that Campbell resents Chambers having cost him medals, and now has been told that although he can't compete now, it may be possible in future because our rule 'maybe be unlawful'. Anyway, the trouble is I see a lot of that attitude in Ohuruogu. She gets angry if people question her right to compete, she seems very detached from the Olympic experience... I was very surprised at her lack of reaction when she won. Anyway, time will tell.

Interestingly we had a judoka who also competed in Beijing who had missed three tests. He was let off on the basis that he had been part of a trial system to let athletes know that they would be tested, and it was later suspended as people hadn't been getting messages. Maybe there is a case there, and maybe it's irrelevant as he didn't win anything. But what is the point of rules when we'll just break then for convenience.

[Si Hunt]

Don't talk to me about the Olympics! What are BBC playing at? I used to get News every morning with my breakfast - you know, financial news, local news, traffic news... useful stuff. What was on this morning? Bloody SAILING. Sailing ships move very slowly. Sometimes hardly at all. What tool had the idea of TELEVISING it, let alone putting it on instead of the morning news! Grrrraaaargggh!

Si.

[WhiteCrow]

Yeah, not sure what to make of that one. I don't really agree with the habit we have of waiving our rules when it suits us. The GB rules are that anyone banned for doping offences (not failing a drugs test, but a violation of policy in any way) receives a lifetime Olympic ban. She missed 3 tests in 18 months... because it clashed with her training. To me that's very suspect.

Some very interesting points there Kaybee, and I have to agere with you on a lot of it.