Relieved! Womens Olympic Road Race

Rb5_turbo

Hi,

I am newbie ad thought my first post should be a huge sigh of relief for yesterdays Womens road race and that horrific crash.

I watch it and feared the worst, thank god she is ok and suffered only minor injuries!

The descent was not for the faint hearted but at least it was the same for all, caution seemed to win out and it was certainly a spectacle!

Cheers and happy cycling.

keef66

I'm not sure concussion, three broken vertebrae and a spell in intensive care counts as minor injuries, but yes, good news. I too feared it could have been a lot worse

markhewitt1978

Minor injuries are where you fall over and graze your knee and get back on the bike the next day. Three fractured vertebrae counts as serious. She's tweeted that she'll be 'fine', but there's fine as in she'll survive but I would suspect the road to recovery is a very long one.

DeVlaeminck

I think we have to wait and see - concussion and fractured vertebrae could range from her being back on her bike next week to life changing injuries. It's possible they are playing the injuries down but initial reactions suggest that the injuries are at the less serious end of that but head injuries can have lasting impacts that are not immediately apparent when you are lying in a hospital bed.

Even so if you take her tweets at face value I wouldn't say her injuries are serious in the context of crashing at speed into a raised kerb.

vinnymarsden

I thought the entire downhill section was ridiculous…it looked and clearly was bordering on dangerous as Boardman pointed out…Yes I know its the ultimate prize, but the organisers know that the ultimate prize entices riders to take that extra little risk, and in my opinion they simply did not cater for that higher level of risk taking/ hence possibility of crashing, seriously enough.
The ridiculous drop offs of almost 12 inches into a concrete back wall could have been easily mitigated with a few well placed bales/pads, it wasn't every bend on that descent that was bad, but the injuries appeared to come in the same places.
Having watched a few events now the entire Olympic thing looks to have lost its sparkle. I recall 2012 in London, don't say UK, nothing got outside London really did it!! But that aside, people were watching anything just to say they were there…I saw the Rugby 7s in Rio last night..and the stadium was almost empty for semi finals!!
I think there are factors at work there, of Brazils economy, accessibility to the locations, we are lucky here that we have, to a degree , disposable income for entertainment, I think the average wage in Brazil hasn't been factored into, no doubt over priced tickets for the Olympics at all!!
The cycling road races, both mens and womens…I've seen bigger crowds for a city centre crit on a weekday evening…
Unless the IOC change their strategies I truly think the Olympics as a spectacle like we saw here in 2012 might be a thing of the past.

bobmcstuff

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Minor injuries are where you fall over and graze your knee and get back on the bike the next day. Three fractured vertebrae counts as serious. She's tweeted that she'll be 'fine', but there's fine as in she'll survive but I would suspect the road to recovery is a very long one.

Not necessarily, I've fractured 2 vertebrae (skiing) and it sounds impressive as I can say I've broken by back but in reality it wasn't that bad. I mean, it hurt like hell and I thought I was paralysed for a couple of minutes until someone took my skis off and I realised my legs would move, but it wasn't that bad when you compare it to what normally comes to mind when you say broken back (i.e., paralysis and/or months in hospital). 3 days in a French hospital followed by 10 weeks in a back brace as a precautionary measure, and I suspect if I had the type of medical care and advice a professional athlete has it would have been possible to train (at least on the turbo).

Hinges on whether there has been any damage to the spinal column and it sounds like there may not have been, or at least it's not apparent yet - let's hope not...

dish_dash

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I recall 2012 in London, don't say UK, nothing got outside London really did it!!

Errr... London was the host city... :roll:

dnwhite88

VinnyMarsden wrote:

The ridiculous drop offs of almost 12 inches into a concrete back wall could have been easily mitigated with a few well placed bales/pads

the concrete drop off was a storm drain, and given they were expecting rain lining it with bales/pads was probably not allowed. I agree the route was poorly thought out, even in the dry that was a very technical descent.

markhewitt1978

dnwhite88 wrote:

VinnyMarsden wrote:

The ridiculous drop offs of almost 12 inches into a concrete back wall could have been easily mitigated with a few well placed bales/pads

the concrete drop off was a storm drain, and given they were expecting rain lining it with bales/pads was probably not allowed. I agree the route was poorly thought out, even in the dry that was a very technical descent.

I'm guessing they wanted to go past that lookout point which made going up that was a necessity. Not that the climb was particularly interesting, thickly forested the entire way. Still more interesting than Box Hill, mind.

Rb5_turbo

Hi all,

Fair point re the fractures but when I saw her go down head/neck first and then not move it looked really really bad so I am still relieved all the same

tootsie323

Perhaps not exactly 'minor injuries' but in the context of the footage of the crash itself a lot less significant than what many of us feared. As the OP states, huge sigh of relief.

rich_e

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I recall 2012 in London, don't say UK, nothing got outside London really did it!! But that aside, people were watching anything just to say they were there…I saw the Rugby 7s in Rio last night..and the stadium was almost empty for semi finals!!
I think there are factors at work there, of Brazils economy, accessibility to the locations, we are lucky here that we have, to a degree , disposable income for entertainment, I think the average wage in Brazil hasn't been factored into, no doubt over priced tickets for the Olympics at all!!
The cycling road races, both mens and womens…I've seen bigger crowds for a city centre crit on a weekday evening…
Unless the IOC change their strategies I truly think the Olympics as a spectacle like we saw here in 2012 might be a thing of the past.

Yeah, it's really noticeable, infact even the home team playing in Beach Volleyball had barely anyone in the crowd. Apparently those were some of the most premium tickets, which I suppose means they've not even sold a lot of them. Although not quite on this scale, we had a similar problem in London, but they did eventually make an effort to sell unsold tickets cheaper, along with inviting kids in etc and I believe forcing sponsors to give up un-allocated seats.

You are right that there is a lot going on in Brazil with a negative reaction to the games, but at the end of the day, they are taking place, so they might as well enjoy them. But the road races which are free events had a dismal turnout from what I could see. Perhaps they don't have the local hopefuls that we did in our team like during London, but as you say, once the Olympic spirit set in, people wanted to see anything. I remember watching the men's road race at the top of Constitution Hill and there was a woman who must have been about 80 who sat and waited all day. I also remember going past the Race Walking, and there were huge crowds for that as well.

bobmcstuff wrote:

Not necessarily, I've fractured 2 vertebrae (skiing) and it sounds impressive as I can say I've broken by back but in reality it wasn't that bad. I mean, it hurt like hell and I thought I was paralysed for a couple of minutes until someone took my skis off and I realised my legs would move, but it wasn't that bad when you compare it to what normally comes to mind when you say broken back (i.e., paralysis and/or months in hospital).

I'm no Doctor, but even if three minor cracks in a lower vertebrae is a pretty minor injury as far as breaking your spine goes, it's presumably still open to quite a serious risk that any swelling could cause an effect on your spinal nerve, which can of course have life changing complications.

bobmcstuff

Rich_E wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Not necessarily, I've fractured 2 vertebrae (skiing) and it sounds impressive as I can say I've broken by back but in reality it wasn't that bad. I mean, it hurt like hell and I thought I was paralysed for a couple of minutes until someone took my skis off and I realised my legs would move, but it wasn't that bad when you compare it to what normally comes to mind when you say broken back (i.e., paralysis and/or months in hospital).

I'm no Doctor, but even if three minor cracks in a lower vertebrae is a pretty minor injury as far as breaking your spine goes, it's presumably still open to quite a serious risk that any swelling could cause an effect on your spinal nerve, which can of course have life changing complications.

Yes, and as I went on to say "Hinges on whether there has been any damage to the spinal column and it sounds like there may not have been, or at least it's not apparent yet - let's hope not..."

Just trying to offer something positive as I'm sure we're all hoping she makes a full and speedy recovery.

Crozza

I'm pleased she's OK, and hope she makes a full recovery

I think the comments about the course being dangerous have been slightly overdone. I agree it looked dicey, but so do many of the descents the pros race (Tommy V in someone's driveway, descent of the Poggio, everyone gasping at Froome's descent in the TdF this year).

Any road is dangerous if you ride it inappropriately, and afaik no-one has commented that she took the corner very poorly - on the inside of the bend having to take a very tight line (and hence losing the back wheel). From the footage I have seen it's not entirely clear to me that she "hit" the kerb at any speed - the damage seems to have come from flipping over the bars and landing on the flat road on her neck/shoulders

like I say, I am very pleased she is going to be ok. I can also understand that putting such a technical descent at that point of a "winner take all" race could be asking for trouble. I didn't think it was excessive however, and the riders had already done it twice - they can't say that they didn't know what was coming.

vinnymarsden

The women had t done it twice, just once up and onc down he big hill

vinnymarsden

I used to be able to spell!!!!

Crozza

ah yes, I remember now - fair point

but they could have watched the men do it three times

joe2008

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I recall 2012 in London, don't say UK, nothing got outside London really did it!!

hmmm, sailing, perhaps.

joe2008

I think the comments about the course being dangerous have been slightly overdone. I agree it looked dicey, but so do many (Tommy V in someone's driveway, descent of the Poggio,

I think that's the point, there was no run-off into 'someone's driveway' or anywhere else, just a huge kerb to hit!

davidof

bobmcstuff wrote:

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Minor injuries are where you fall over and graze your knee and get back on the bike the next day. Three fractured vertebrae counts as serious. She's tweeted that she'll be 'fine', but there's fine as in she'll survive but I would suspect the road to recovery is a very long one.

Not necessarily, I've fractured 2 vertebrae (skiing) and it sounds impressive as I can say I've broken by back but in reality it wasn't that bad.

A friend fractured his 7th vertebrae skiing, he's not walked since. It all depends.

bobmcstuff

davidof wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Minor injuries are where you fall over and graze your knee and get back on the bike the next day. Three fractured vertebrae counts as serious. She's tweeted that she'll be 'fine', but there's fine as in she'll survive but I would suspect the road to recovery is a very long one.

Not necessarily, I've fractured 2 vertebrae (skiing) and it sounds impressive as I can say I've broken by back but in reality it wasn't that bad.

A friend fractured his 7th vertebrae skiing, he's not walked since. It all depends.

Sure, and I think I was pretty clear that I'm not saying she's definitely going to be fine... Just that it's not necessarily doom and gloom and there's reason to be hopeful.

That sounds really bad - hope your friend is doing OK. I really thought I was in that position for a couple of minutes, it's terrifying.

markhewitt1978

Rich_E wrote:

Yeah, it's really noticeable, infact even the home team playing in Beach Volleyball had barely anyone in the crowd. Apparently those were some of the most premium tickets, which I suppose means they've not even sold a lot of them. Although not quite on this scale, we had a similar problem in London, but they did eventually make an effort to sell unsold tickets cheaper, along with inviting kids in etc and I believe forcing sponsors to give up un-allocated seats.

It's a problem for a lot of sports. Tickets are given en-masse to sponsors who then often don't choose to turn up to the event. It was a particular problem in London as people were being told the event is sold out, yet ranks of empty seats are visible on the TV coverage.