Paris 2024 Olympics Thread - 11th August (pg 430)



Came out in the last couple of days that the USADA broke the global code by not suspending drugged up athletes between 2011-2014. Certainly doesn't fill you with confidence of what you're seeing.

And of course the USADA had a response to the WADA. Including that below for completeness only:

 
Whilst being Olympic champion is great and absolutely what the individual athletes should be striving for, I think for the countries, the medal count is a better reflection of the 4 years of hard work.

There are multiple people at this Olympic Games who are the best in the world but haven't won gold. Gold medals are only a small window and some require a lot of luck.

Bethany Shriever didn't medal due to a slight error in the final but won every race up until that point. The women's windsurfer was miles ahead won nearly every race all week, then the scores reset and 1 misjudgement got her nowhere near gold. Noah Lyles won the 100m by 0.005, on another day he wouldn't have medalled. All golds require talent and skill but some of them have had a lot of luck as well.

Look at Tom Pidcock, brilliant Olympic champion but a puncture nearly cost him.

UK Sport judge it on medal count for a reason and that's the uncontrollables. Getting medals is less lucky than getting gold.

I'm with you on this one. Another interesting thing is the breadth of sports we've medalled in which is significantly more than the likes of China and Japan. The French (homes games programmes) and the US have medalled more broadly but apart from them our breadth is greater than everyone else including the Aussies and the Dutch etc. Currently we don't dominate a single sport like others do and we have done in that past and that's impacted our placing in the table, the advantage of a broad base is that if we underperform in a sport or two we are still competitive. If the Japanese wrestling team had caught covid they'd have plunged down the table. Ignoring the bragging rights of Golds, I'd say that was a fairly healthy Olympics despite the many close but no cigar moments..
 
I'm with you on this one. Another interesting thing is the breadth of sports we've medalled in which is significantly more than the likes of China and Japan. The French (homes games programmes) and the US have medalled more broadly but apart from them our breadth is greater than everyone else including the Aussies and the Dutch etc. Currently we don't dominate a single sport like others do and we have done in that past and that's impacted our placing in the table, the advantage of a broad base is that if we underperform in a sport or two we are still competitive. If the Japanese wrestling team had caught covid they'd have plunged down the table. Ignoring the bragging rights of Golds, I'd say that was a fairly healthy Olympics despite the many close but no cigar moments..
Not a bad Olympics for GB but far from great also.

Why can’t we compete in the field events you don’t need a big area to practice them. Just do not seem to put any effort into finding people who have the necessary attributes.

I read Joanna Rowsell’s autobiography and she joined the GB cycling development squad after a visit to her school from scouts looking for potential talent. Surely the people running athletics could go round all the schools in the country and grab some kids with potential.
 
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I am thinking we have definitely deteriorated from the last 4 Olympic Games and I think I have found the reason. The CEO of the British Olympic Association is Andy Anson, who is also the Chair of Lancashire County Cricket Club, who are having a garbage season. And I can prove it’s his fault, he is a fucking rag
 


About 1 in 4 of us being thick as fuck. The true answer is <1%. 1 in 16 think they could make the 100m in LA or the Cycling team haha.

I wonder what sports you'd get closest in, I imagine a lot of the non-physical sports, Archery, Shooting are your best chances.

Maybe each Olympic race needs a “normal” athlete in it to show how good these athletes are.
 
Currently sat in a bar in northern Italy watching the Italian volleyball girls give it large with their quality anthem! Proper joyful stuff which is how it should be.

Given the challenges associated with the last Olympics I imagine the IOC will be very happy with the French. They've got behind it and embraced it in a similar way we did to London 2012, well done to them.
 
I am thinking we have definitely deteriorated from the last 4 Olympic Games and I think I have found the reason. The CEO of the British Olympic Association is Andy Anson, who is also the Chair of Lancashire County Cricket Club, who are having a garbage season. And I can prove it’s his fault, he is a fucking rag

I disagreed with your analysis until the last sentence and now I'm having to rethink my position.
 
The curtain about to close on the Olympics. Thoroughly enjoyed it as usual. The racing sports e.g swimming, rowing, cycling and the Athletics being my favourites.
Always enjoy it when we win unexpected medals.
On the downside. I had to follow a lot of it via the BBC website due to work etc and the endless bigging up of GB athletes who ultimately didn’t win or get near was infuriating. Team GB were the Rags of the Olympics going solely by the Beeb.
 
Given the challenges associated with the last Olympics I imagine the IOC will be very happy with the French. They've got behind it and embraced it in a similar way we did to London 2012, well done to them.
I think the French put on a superb show, highlighting Paris and using existing venues and cultural buildings to showcase their city.
The beach volleyball held under the Eiffel Tower
The Taekwondo in the Grand Palais (stunning)
Equestrian at the Palace of Versailles
Boxing at Roland Garros.
Swimming on the Racing rugby ground
No unnecessary buildings erected.

All the beds were made of recyclable cardboard.

They seemed to have got an awful lot right
 
A very good Olympics. Great to have crowds again and with it being so accessible to so many its been fantastic. The sailing events pretty poorly organised, you can't control the weather but it's clearly not the best place for it. Swimming in the Seine...probably not the greatest idea either but got there in the end.

Some excellent drama and a good performance overall from GB in terms of overall medals. However, not a great performance with too many missed chances seeing us lose 5-6 golds. To end up below the Dutch, Aussies and French is a bit disappointing.

Bring on LA!
On the US charts we finished third.

Excellent medals total but missed a few golds that on another day; also potentially robbed of one due to poor officiating.

Mainly watched in the evenings die to work but most enjoyable. Certainly the best event since 2012; went to three events there so that will never be bettered for me. Might think about going to L.A. Ss we have friends that live there, who just happened to stay with us (in the UK) last week.
 

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