Drugs in other sports and the media.
Comments
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Pinno wrote:
French sport is in the doldrums and until they start competing, everyone is doping in their eyes.
There's no imminent Mauresmo, Henin, Henry, Hinault or Cantona in sight. Just a bus load of up and comings with potential.
It really isn't.
It's quite telling too that you list two kickballers who really achieved little of note outside of the UK. And shortly after the national side narrowly lost a Euro final.Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy0 -
The day following a record transfer fee for a french footballer.0
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Two footballers who achieved little of note outside of the UK, except that one of them won the Euros and the WC, the Spanish League, the Copa Del Ray, the Champions League, the Spanish Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. So not a lot then.
And the Euros wasn't exactly blessed with quality football was it?!Trail fun - Transition Bandit
Road - Wilier Izoard Centaur/Cube Agree C62 Disc
Allround - Cotic Solaris0 -
If you look away from the road and other mainstream sports then the French are doing ok. Loic Bruni, Julien Absalon and Jerome Clementz on the varying types of MTB. Sebastien Ogier seems to have done a pretty good job of picking up the mantle handed over by Sebastien Loeb. In the sailing world, particularly offshore racing, they still do rather well and so on.Trail fun - Transition Bandit
Road - Wilier Izoard Centaur/Cube Agree C62 Disc
Allround - Cotic Solaris0 -
lostboysaint wrote:Two footballers who achieved little of note outside of the UK, except that one of them won the Euros and the WC, the Spanish League, the Copa Del Ray, the Champions League, the Spanish Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. So not a lot then.
And the Euros wasn't exactly blessed with quality football was it?!
Ah yes, the old "it was a poor tourney" chestnut.
And any way you look at it, Henry was little more than a show pony - prolific against the Coventries and Saudi Arabias, but the notion that he was a standout international player is bordering on risible - a single goal outside of the group stages for his euros and WC winner's medal.Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy0 -
More than happy to debate it with you, but not on this thread. It was a poor tournament from a footballing point of view.
And yet he was constantly selected, by both club and country, and has those medals
Trail fun - Transition Bandit
Road - Wilier Izoard Centaur/Cube Agree C62 Disc
Allround - Cotic Solaris0 -
Dinyull wrote:
It's plain to see that you are going to disagree with me. I have no problem with that. However, name me a 'main stream' sport that the French are doing well in apart from the Vendee Globe and World Rallying.
Cycling. No.
Football. The final of the Euro 2016 and that's that since 2000.
Swimming. No.
Tennis. No.
Athletics. No.
No French Winner of the Skiing world cup since 1997 (men). No female winner since the early 90's.
Rugby. No. Haven't won the 6 nations since 2010 but success in the European Rugby, i'll concede that.
Triathlon. No.
F1. No.
Moto Gp. No.
Golf. No.
Mountain biking. Apart from Julien Absalon, nothing else across all disciplines.seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
Probably more golfers than just McIroy.
Are any of our classics riders A-listers yet?0 -
Pinno wrote:
Cycling. No.
They're doing fine. Certainly not in the doldrums.Football. The final of the Euro 2016 and that's that since 2000.
And a finals appearance in2006 where they lost on penalties. And narrow QF defeat against the eventual winners, with a young and relatively inexperienced team in 2014. So, like, apart from all of that relative success you mean?
They're doing fine, certainly not in the doldrums.Swimming. No.
Three golds, two silvers and a bronze in 2012. Not so great this year, but these thinks tend to be cyclical. Not in the doldrums (yet).Tennis. No.
Two players consistently in the top ten. Consistently making it to later stages of grand slam tourneys. Not world beaters, but unless you have a binary scale between serial grand slam winners on one side and shit on the other, then not in the doldrums.
Women's Wimbledon champion in 2014 (?)Athletics. No.
Couple of outside chances for a medal. Which has been their level since as long as I can remember. No more in the doldrums than has been the case for decadesRugby. No. Haven't won the 6 nations since 2010 but success in the European Rugby, i'll concede that.
The latter is, by and large, the reason for the former. Club rugby is where the money and power lies in French rugby and they care not about the national side. The club game is doing absolutely grand.Triathlon. No.
Mainstream sport? Might as well include handball - where they've been the dominant power until pretty recently.F1. No.
That one isn't even a sport. And its at risk of dying on its are anyways.Golf. No.
Certainly not a mainstream sport in France.Mountain biking. Apart from Julien Absalon, nothing else across all disciplines.
So yeah. Unless any nation that isn't dominating is in the doldrums, they're doing fine. Could certainly be better, but your initial assertion was wide of the mark.
Edit: as was you assertion that this is the motivation for doping stories.Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy0 -
Pinno wrote:Dinyull wrote:
It's plain to see that you are going to disagree with me. I have no problem with that. However, name me a 'main stream' sport that the French are doing well in apart from the Vendee Globe and World Rallying.
Cycling. No.
Football. The final of the Euro 2016 and that's that since 2000.
Swimming. No.
Tennis. No.
Athletics. No.
No French Winner of the Skiing world cup since 1997 (men). No female winner since the early 90's.
Rugby. No. Haven't won the 6 nations since 2010 but success in the European Rugby, i'll concede that.
Triathlon. No.
F1. No.
Moto Gp. No.
Golf. No.
Mountain biking. Apart from Julien Absalon, nothing else across all disciplines.
Nah, you're probably correct. Just pointing out that Pogba is there or thereabouts on the world football stage and had it not been for injuries and suspensions (Varane, Benzema) France should have probably won the Euro's. Same could be said of 1 or 2 others mind!0 -
coriordan wrote:Probably more golfers than just McIroy.
Are any of our classics riders A-listers yet?
Probably not but I am not saying that we are doing brilliantly. It's not a comparison with our current sporting prowess. It was simply an observation that if the French get beat, it's because the opponent/opposition are doping.
Their treatment of Froome has been disgusting. I think the events (by default) in this years TdF have endeared him to the French public a little bit but he was still getting boo'd here and there.
It's a French thing. You want your hero to be spilling blood (Hinault) or bawling his eyes out over the finishing line (Virenque). You don't want a seemingly mechanical metronome from an over obsessive machine called SKY. LA was just that in their eyes - totally dominant, emotionless android and they don't see Froome much differently.
(I think our friend Arthur Vichot is looking into the distance for his drug dealer to finally show up).seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
Oh I agree with all your comments, I was just wondering if Westwood, Rose etc get a place alongside McIlroy as A listers.
Then I was wondering if Stannard/Thomas could be counted as A Listers. Probably not, but worth a thought anyway.
Mainly in reply to Rich0 -
Pinno, FINA are a joke and their leadership appalling
Sun Yang was handed a ban of derisory leniency - and that was only after the Chinese came under huge pressure not to sweep it under the carpet
You can fall back on the tired meme of 'oh it's just the French being jealous, look how mean they were to poor Froome'
But people of many nationalities involved with swimming - the athletes, coaches, swim fans, a number of journos covering swimming - are showing at these Games that they've had enough.
Same goes in relation to Efimova.0 -
No. This A list is for the real elite of sport. Those that are in the biggest two or three names in big sports. In golf right now it's just McIlroy, Day & Speith. In cycling just Froome, Sagan and perhaps Contador and Cavendish.coriordan wrote:Oh I agree with all your comments, I was just wondering if Westwood, Rose etc get a place alongside McIlroy as A listers.
Then I was wondering if Stannard/Thomas could be counted as A Listers. Probably not, but worth a thought anyway.
Mainly in reply to Rich
The five names I mentioned are all well known outside Britain by people who don't follow their sports much.Twitter: @RichN950 -
Any women among A listers?0
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I've really enjoyed the swimming so far, although I've found myself "hmmm" ing a few times with some of the performances. I'll be honest, I don't really know anything about swimming, so is shaving 1 second off a 100m wr or 2-3 seconds off 400m wr really doable? Especially when they aren't wearing these super swimsuits anymore?0
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Yes I did struggle thinking of one British one. Kind of got stuck with the Williams sisters in tennis. Back 4 years you had Jessica Ennis perhaps but that's in a minor sport.RichN95 wrote:
Not British ones.Tangled Metal wrote:Any women among A listers?
Now we don't have any big female name, unless I'm being very unfair here.0 -
Richmond Racer 2 wrote:Pinno, FINA are a joke and their leadership appalling
Sun Yang was handed a ban of derisory leniency - and that was only after the Chinese came under huge pressure not to sweep it under the carpet
You can fall back on the tired meme of 'oh it's just the French being jealous, look how mean they were to poor Froome'
But people of many nationalities involved with swimming - the athletes, coaches, swim fans, a number of journos covering swimming - are showing at these Games that they've had enough.
Same goes in relation to Efimova.
It's odd how so many of the world governing bodies are French (or at least based in France with a distinctly French history) - The UCI, FIA, FIFA, UEFA, IOC etc etc. Collectively, they could have the power to change a lot.
In the immediate aftermath of the Festina affair, I sensed a retraction from the IOC. I said then that their response to the Festina affair was a 'sweeping under the carpet' reaction.. At least the UCI since the departure of Verbruggen has tried it's best to clean up it's sport.
Do you honestly think that the Chinese would allow random testing by WADA at any time of their sports personnel? Not on your Nelly. As long as the Russians and the Chinese are not transparent (and there are other nations), the rest of the athletic world who are complying may not think anything will ever be a level playing field.seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
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On a global sporting stage? With all the other sports included?Pinno wrote:Tangled Metal wrote:Any women among A listers?
Lizzie Armitstead.0 -
It's odd how so many of the world governing bodies are French (or at least based in France with a distinctly French history) - The UCI, FIA, FIFA, UEFA, IOC etc etc. Collectively, they could have the power to change a lot.
Aren't most of thse based in Switzerland, not France?0 -
Pinno wrote:It's odd how so many of the world governing bodies are French (or at least based in France with a distinctly French history) - The UCI, FIA, FIFA, UEFA, IOC etc etc. Collectively, they could have the power to change a lot.
Aren't they all/mostly based in French speaking Switzerland...0 -
Richmond Racer 2 wrote:Pinno, FINA are a joke and their leadership appalling
...Same goes in relation to Efimova.
The problem as I see it, is that Russia should never have been allowed to go to Rio. This is where I think that politics has played a far too bigger part in letting them compete.
It sets a poor bar for the future.seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
Head of UEFA was Platini. Head of FIFA was Blatter, Former head of the IOC was Jacques Rogge...seanoconn - gruagach craic!0
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Blatter is Swiss.0
