The Olmypics thread *spoilers*

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  • Paulie W
    Paulie W Posts: 1,492
    TheStone wrote:
    The problem with swimming that there's way too many events. It's the only* sport where they make up slower ways of doing something to create more events.
    * maybe walking too, but I'd definitely get rid of that anyway.

    Lightweight rowing?!
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291

    Lightweight rowing?!

    Don't have the same problem with weight divisions (at least in fighting sports).

    My problem with rowing is the way they can have one stick or two and pretend it's a different event. With or without the boy at the front/back?

    If you have 1, 2, 4, and 8 person options, you've already got 32 different events! How do they select the olympic ones?
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  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,941
    Which is the only Olympic race in which no competitor ever crosses the finish line?
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,730
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Which is the only Olympic race in which no competitor ever crosses the finish line?

    Swimming?
    _
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,941
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Which is the only Olympic race in which no competitor ever crosses the finish line?

    Swimming?

    Top marks.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,730
    Enjoying the weightlifting during my lunch break.
    _
  • Paulie W
    Paulie W Posts: 1,492
    TheStone wrote:

    Lightweight rowing?!

    Don't have the same problem with weight divisions (at least in fighting sports).

    I think weight classes are fine in combat sports and in weightlifting (although I'd actually prefer a Superstars style competition where all weights compete and victory is awarded to the one who lifts the most relative to body weight!) but lightweight rowing is a bit like introducing a high jump for competitors under 6 foot!
  • sketchley
    sketchley Posts: 4,238
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Which is the only Olympic race in which no competitor ever crosses the finish line?

    Swimming?


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    Chris

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  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Enjoying the weightlifting during my lunch break.

    I generally just go for a walk.
    Ben

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  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    Ben6899 wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Enjoying the weightlifting during my lunch break.

    I generally just go for a walk.

    Same thing in my case :oops:
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,730
    Is eventing always full of suspensions of play?
    _
  • Paulie W
    Paulie W Posts: 1,492
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Is eventing always full of suspensions of play?

    Only since H&S became an issue - they used to ride over the corpses of fallen horse and rider.
  • Ginjafro
    Ginjafro Posts: 572
    I would like to see some of the old sports/events brought back to the Olympics such as Tug-of-War, live (yes, live) pigeon shooting, hot air balloning (WTF!) and rope cimbing all of which featured in the early days of the Olympic revival during the early 1900s.
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  • el_presidente
    el_presidente Posts: 1,963
    Ginjafro wrote:
    I would like to see some of the old sports/events brought back to the Olympics such as Tug-of-War, live (yes, live) pigeon shooting, hot air balloning (WTF!) and rope cimbing all of which featured in the early days of the Olympic revival during the early 1900s.
    six-weird-former-olympic-sports-tug-of-war_57290_600x450.jpg


    Look at all those empty seats!!! I tried to get a ticket for the Tug of War and even the 2 shilling seats were sold out!!
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,730
    Ah a shame. Daley and Waterfield miss out.

    Were leading at the halfway point, but their 4th dive was a bit of a disaster (apparently) and they finished I think 4th.
    _
  • Gizmo_
    Gizmo_ Posts: 558
    Paulie W wrote:
    Ben6899 wrote:
    Paulie W wrote:
    Ben6899 wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Have to say, I know this sounds really gimpy, but I much prefer watching olympic boxing to professional boxing.

    Rick, it's much better. I put it down to the head guards, the scoring and the format.

    Amateur boxing is for people who dont actually like boxing - it's become a completely different sport.

    Am I the exception to the rule? Because I like both.

    I think my point was that amateur boxing has become increasingly removed from the pro sport and is much closer to other striking sports like Karate and Taekwondo now - so it's quite possible to dislike pro boxing while enjoying the Olympic version because they don't have a lot in common any more.

    The scoring format drives me mad because it equally rewards the fighter who lands a wild 'slap' and the fighter who works to create an opening and lands a power shot. There is no direct reward for effective aggression, for slipping punches, or for inside work (because the judges often cant see it properly); head punches are favoured over body punches, and judges often only score one punch when a quick combination is landed because of the bizarre system of judges hitting buttons when they see a punch land!
    It occurred to me last night that Amir Khan was almost the perfect 'Olympic amateur' fighter - he was quick, fit and hit reasonably hard. But as soon as he went pro and took the head guard off that chin was exposed. :D
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  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,941
    Is it just me or does the Olympics not *really* start until the Athletics programme begins?
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,730
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Is it just me or does the Olympics not *really* start until the Athletics programme begins?

    So halfway through?...
    _
  • beverick
    beverick Posts: 3,461
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Is it just me or does the Olympics not *really* start until the Athletics programme begins?

    No, it just means you have no interest in any of the other sports and events in the olympics including cycling.

    Bob
  • greg66_tri_v2.0
    greg66_tri_v2.0 Posts: 7,172
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Is it just me or does the Olympics not *really* start until the Athletics programme begins?

    I sort of know what you mean, but I'm loving it nonetheless. We have our first fully ticketed event tomorrow & family 66 is v excited. We also have a couple of girls staying with us (daughter of a mate & friend) who are working at the venues. They come home and point at the TV at shout "Ohhh! I served him/her/their coach lunch today!", which all helps add to the excitement a bit.

    So. Ye. Not of little faith, of vast improvement in the last 12 months and a final 50m freestyle in the 400m IM that was faster than Ryan Lochte's in the same event.

    Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would have said...
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  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,941
    Greg66 wrote:
    So. Ye. Not of little faith, of vast improvement in the last 12 months and a final 50m freestyle in the 400m IM that was faster than Ryan Lochte's in the same event.

    Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would have said...


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  • Paulie W
    Paulie W Posts: 1,492
    Greg66 wrote:
    So. Ye. Not of little faith, of vast improvement in the last 12 months and a final 50m freestyle in the 400m IM that was faster than Ryan Lochte's in the same event.

    I'm always more suspicious of big improvement when it comes in an athlete who has previously been less than stellar - Michelle Smith is a good example of this. Ye is a world champion and is only 16 so big jumps forward are not outside the realms of possibility but her time for the freestyle leg of the medley is insane and 'unbelievable' in the fullest sense of the word.

    Having said that I'm not sure the US coach should be coming out and saying this so publicly at this point in the Games (presumably before the outcome of the routine testing is even known).
  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    To be fair, they do (Chinese female swimmers) have History, however it does make you wonder why no-one is questioning the Lithuanian, at least Ye has previous form in terms of being a world champ, so its not like she has come from no-where!
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,730
    rubertoe wrote:
    To be fair, they do (Chinese female swimmers) have History, however it does make you wonder why no-one is questioning the Lithuanian, at least Ye has previous form in terms of being a world champ, so its not like she has come from no-where!

    It's the way it was swum.


    http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ju ... ympic-swim

    Tucker points out that, on average, female medley swimmers finish the 400m IM in a freestyle time that is between "18% and 23% slower" than that of a top 100m freestyler. But Ye's leg was about 10% off the times set by the best 100m freestyle swimmers. "The conclusion that I would draw from this," Tucker writes, "is that her 100m freestyle leg is disproportionately fast not only by comparison to Lochte, but also to her peers, and to the best 100m freestyle swimmers." That, Tucker says, is too big a gap. "Based on everything we know about performance and pacing. I suspect that Shiwen would probably be two or more seconds faster if she went out harder and pushed to the point of fatigue."

    It would make more sense, Tucker suggests, for Ye to swim faster over the first three legs and trade that improvement off for a slight loss of time in the final 100m. As Leonard said, "to swim three other splits at the rate that she did, which was quite ordinary for elite competition, and then unleash a historic anomaly, it is just not right".
    _
  • greg66_tri_v2.0
    greg66_tri_v2.0 Posts: 7,172
    Paulie W wrote:
    Ye is a world champion and is only 16 so big jumps forward are not outside the realms of possibility but her time for the freestyle leg of the medley is insane and 'unbelievable' in the fullest sense of the word.

    That is exactly my view. One of those factors is credible; the other isn't, and together they really don't look good. I am also (I suspect) predisposed to prejudice after having seen Ma's army of Chinese distance runners appear, smash world records, then recede under a doping cloud.
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  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    I get all that, about the final 100m freestyle and surely fatigue should have set in, Don't get me wrong I am questioning the performance as much as anyone...
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

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  • clarkey cat
    clarkey cat Posts: 3,641
    so the tw@t who tweeted to Tom Daley 'you really let your Dad down, you know that' has been arrested.

    Since when has being an ar5ehole been a criminal offence?
    Dolan Mythos
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,730
    clarkey cat wrote:
    so the tw@t who tweeted to Tom Daley 'you really let your Dad down, you know that' has been arrested.

    Since when has being an ar5ehole been a criminal offence?

    It's a recent thing.

    There was a spate of internet trolling that was ruining family lives (often being targetted after losing a close relative).

    So police have powers to crack down on that behaviour...
    _
  • clarkey cat
    clarkey cat Posts: 3,641
    actually just read some of his later tweets - pretty offensive stuff. threatened to drown him!

    got to say, if you're going to dispatch of Tom Daley, drowning has to be a pretty crap way of doing it. He's pretty handy in the water I'd imagine.
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,730
    clarkey cat wrote:
    actually just read some of his later tweets - pretty offensive stuff. threatened to drown him!

    got to say, if you're going to dispatch of Tom Daley, drowning has to be a pretty crap way of doing it. He's pretty handy in the water I'd imagine.

    He's also f*cking stacked.

    People may take the p!ss out of the divers and gymnasts, especially when they have to point their toes and do funny steps or stand in front of a few million in a pair of budgie smugglers, but they'd probably kick the sh!t out of most people.
    _

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