Thomas & Kennaugh - naughty step

Surrey Cyclist

My point was that to come out and do a 3:58 qualifying and then a 3:56 as your first competition ride is pretty good going. It did not look as slick as it could have been but that already means there's room for improvement from what is a very quick time.

Another interesting aside:
What do people reckon about the omnium. Ed Clancy is the obvious choice as he is a former world champ and also more suited to the timed events (i.e. ones that don't rely heavily on group tactics and being in the right place at the right time). However, he does not want to compromise his team pursuit chances so should Swifty be given the chance to hone his all-rounder abilities in hope of a medal come the Olympics?

rick_chasey

Surrey Cyclist wrote:

My point was that to come out and do a 3:58 qualifying and then a 3:56 as your first competition ride is pretty good going. It did not look as slick as it could have been but that already means there's room for improvement from what is a very quick time.

Another interesting aside:
What do people reckon about the omnium.

It's a rubbish event no-one gives a monkeys about apart from the athletes involved in it.

tremayne

Gold's a gold though Rick?

rick_chasey

tremayne wrote:

Gold's a gold though Rick?

Absolutely, and people will care if he has a chance for a gold.

It's not very spectator friendly though, and it's come at the expense of races which are very spectator friendly.

For me, the Kilo is such an athletically challenging event I think it really deserves a place in the olympics - and it gets to what I feel the olympics is about.

The ominum is basically the least bad person in all disciplines.

inkyfingers

I wouldn't have a problem with the Omnium being in the Olympics if they hadn't chucked out a load of top events to make room for it, It's like chucking out the 100m and the 110m hurdles in athlectics just to fit in the Heptathlon. The Individual Pursuit and The Kilo are far more in keeping with the Olympic spirit of athleticsm that the Omnium.

Whilst i'm all for equality for the men and women they should have just had more events for each, if they can find room in the schedule at the World Championships or the World Cups then surely they can make room for it in the Olympic Program? After all the more events they have the more tickets they can seel to claw back some of the costs associated with hosting the games. Let's face it, if they'd had more tickets for more events they would have sold out.

Surrey Cyclist

I think we all know why the UCI haven't just added more events to gain equality. It's because that is far too sensible and logical an option for them. God forbid the governing body make a good choice

Pross

inkyfingers wrote:

I wouldn't have a problem with the Omnium being in the Olympics if they hadn't chucked out a load of top events to make room for it, It's like chucking out the 100m and the 110m hurdles in athlectics just to fit in the Heptathlon. The Individual Pursuit and The Kilo are far more in keeping with the Olympic spirit of athleticsm that the Omnium.

Whilst i'm all for equality for the men and women they should have just had more events for each, if they can find room in the schedule at the World Championships or the World Cups then surely they can make room for it in the Olympic Program? After all the more events they have the more tickets they can seel to claw back some of the costs associated with hosting the games. Let's face it, if they'd had more tickets for more events they would have sold out.

+1 the kilo and pursuit epitomise sport to me. There's an element of 'luck' in the omnium whereas in the kilo or IP the best man wins. All those swimming events that are basically the same could be condensed into a 400m medley

But for me the bigger issue is the reduction to one rider per event per country. Can you imagine that in track & field if they tried reducing the 100m to one competitor per country. As far as I'm aware it doesn't happen anywhere other than track cycling (possibly boxing and tae kwon do??).

ddraver

Is nt it the IOC that specifies the number of events per sport, so they had to remove a cycling discipline to give the women track cyclists more events? It would be unpopular but I think they would have been better removing the two road disciplines as no one really cares about them...In some cases it was nt the UCI's fault (and I don't say that easily), to look at it another way, the Ominum is a way of getting 5 events for the place of 1..?

That said, the only reason the Keiren is in the Olympics is because the Japanese bunged Pat and Hein a few mill' to put it in...

Moomaloid

Surrey Cyclist wrote:

My point was that to come out and do a 3:58 qualifying and then a 3:56 as your first competition ride is pretty good going. It did not look as slick as it could have been but that already means there's room for improvement from what is a very quick time.

Another interesting aside:
What do people reckon about the omnium. Ed Clancy is the obvious choice as he is a former world champ and also more suited to the timed events (i.e. ones that don't rely heavily on group tactics and being in the right place at the right time). However, he does not want to compromise his team pursuit chances so should Swifty be given the chance to hone his all-rounder abilities in hope of a medal come the Olympics?

Considering what you have to ride to win, it should be held in higher regard. I guess. For me its a nothing event though. And to think they ditched the Individual Pursuit for it. Joke. Nobody will remember the Omnium winners after a few years.

On the subject of Clancy, his frustration is surely down to this being his last chance for an Olympic medal. His road career has never really seen him step up to the top level and this will be one of his final chances for a big win, no?

RichN95.

Moomaloid wrote:

On the subject of Clancy, his frustration is surely down to this being his last chance for an Olympic medal. His road career has never really seen him step up to the top level and this will be one of his final chances for a big win, no?

He's only 26. He's got at least one more Olympics in him if he wishes.

Moomaloid

is he really, my bad, i thought he was older...

oldwelshman

Some interesting points and some rubbish as usual
Wiggins will not be in the team pursuit, he has won medals in this before and realises he has a chance to to TDF and get good result and this will also hlp prepare for the RR and TT but certainly wouldn't helpfor team pursuit, plus he is not stupid and probably thinks the Aussies will win.
Thomas and Kennaugh will get faster by August guarenteed so will Swift, and they still have Burke and couple of others.
I would not put Clancy in the Omnium, he struggles too much in scratch, points and devil, I have not seen much of Sam Harrison but if he is on form he is worth a shout as he is very good at all disciplines, he beat Zach Bell in world cup event last year and did a storming time in the kilo 1:03 I think which would have got him a medal in the 1K individual.
It is a shame to take away some events but I would not go as far to say the IP and kilo are the pinnacle, they are very specialist events with quite a small participation. The omnium will get more popular and it is no luck to get consistent oplacings over so many disciplines, and fitness levels and awareness have to be good, dont forget there is an IP and Kilo as part of the omnium.
As for those saying it is boring, can you call the sprint stages of the TDF exciting where it is a parade for 95% of the race where teams agree who can break away for publicity, then a 10km lead out and sprint at the end ?
Is TT really exciting ?
Can you say that Laura Trotts devil race was not exciting ? Horses for courses and you always have the off button on remote control
Personally I think GB mens TP will get silver at worst but have their work cut out with the Aussies to get gold,whoever wins will probably berak the worldrecord, there are the two best teams ever by a long way.
I think they should only allow one jamaican in sprint events and only 100m and not 200m, only 1500 and not 800m, and same for swimming, either that or restore the cycling events and have same for men and women with max 3 riders from each team

ddraver

oldwelshman wrote:

Is TT really exciting ?

Fair point!

mr_poll

oldwelshman wrote:

Some interesting points and some rubbish as usual

I think they should only allow one jamaican in sprint events and only 100m and not 200m, only 1500 and not 800m, and same for swimming, either that or restore the cycling events and have same for men and women with max 3 riders from each team

This is true but it wasn't the IOC that made the ruling (hence why it doesnt stand for other sports) it was the UCI. The UCI in their globalisation of sport agenda saw the increase in cycling interest in the UK post 2 good olympics and have obviously decided that if they can spread that around a bit then they will get other countries interested. Best way to do that is to handicap those that are successful.