Olympics All Format Spoiler Thread

Lanterne_Rogue

No_Ta_Doctor said:

Can't understand why you're all talking about cycling while there's been surfing on...

Italo Ferreira (Brazil) took gold,
Kanoa Igarishi (Japan) silver and Owen Wright (Australia) bronze

Italo celebrates in typical bubbling buzz of energy style with a back flip off the podium.

The feel good story here is Wright's bronze. In 2015 he had a severe head injury while surfing the notorious Pipeline in Hawaii and had to learn how to walk and talk again, let alone surf.

The waves got a bit scrappy through the day, which meant the finals weren't all they could have been (particularly for the women), but I enjoy Ferreira winning - the two heats I saw last night (final and quarter) he started with quite the statement...


Currently watching the rugby sevens - SA have just absolutely blown it against a six (and then five) man Argentina... Scenes!

Lanterne_Rogue

Back to cycling, does anyone else think there would be scope to cheaply add another road event? Given they've got the cyclists there anyway they could just add a criterium race (possibly with heats?) - given the trend in Olympic events towards the quick and the spectacular it'd fit in quite well. Also provides another event that gets away from the stadia so the locals get to enjoy something.

rick_chasey

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Back to cycling, does anyone else think there would be scope to cheaply add another road event? Given they've got the cyclists there anyway they could just add a criterium race (possibly with heats?) - given the trend in Olympic events towards the quick and the spectacular it'd fit in quite well. Also provides another event that gets away from the stadia so the locals get to enjoy something.

I'd be tempted to run a stage race over a crit format, but how do you deal with stage wins vs overall wins etc. Can't offer medals for each stage and the overall. Can't think of a good solution, but certainly the narrative of a stage race running through the olympics, a bit like say the other multi-day events like sailing, would be really exciting.

andyrac

I think/hope we might see Short Track XC MTB in the future; 20 min race to decide the grid for the main XCO race. Makes its debut as a World Championship event this year.

ddraver

In all honesty I think I'd rather have the Kilo and the IP back...

It seems MvdP did an awful lot of prep for the XC, Quite how no one mentioned the ramp not being there I have no idea. (Just to show it's not just Dutch Women that can snipe at each other, both the head coach and fellow rider have also said they said it wouldn't be there

https://twitter.com/CXHairs/status/1419638416170422273?s=20

It is a huge step up for Mens XCO, if not in terms of technicality then in terms of jeopardy and it seems like there wasn't an alternative route for the men. Much as I think the girls should ride the same course, I can see why they put it back in. There are recent world champions that wouldn't have dealt with the drop with no ramp.

Pross

alan_a said:

Also to yesterday’s chat about domestiques in triathlon… In 2012 Stuart Hayes was team GB 3rd wheel. Strong swimmer, strong bike.. mediocre runner.

He was chosen purely to be able to ride next to the Brownlees and provide a bike if either had a mechanical.

As mentioned yesterday, this caused a massive Sh 1t storm and legal action with the highly rated 2008 Olympian Will Clarke being left out of the squad despite frequently beating Hayes. CLarke then went on to IronMan events regularly getting podium finishes including 3 silvers in 2019 season.

It looked like that was the GB tactic in the women's race this morning. I don't think it was quite the intention but Learmonth faded badly on the run after swimming most of the field out of contention and helping drop a couple more on the bike leg

No_Ta_Doctor

rick_chasey said:

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Back to cycling, does anyone else think there would be scope to cheaply add another road event? Given they've got the cyclists there anyway they could just add a criterium race (possibly with heats?) - given the trend in Olympic events towards the quick and the spectacular it'd fit in quite well. Also provides another event that gets away from the stadia so the locals get to enjoy something.

I'd be tempted to run a stage race over a crit format, but how do you deal with stage wins vs overall wins etc. Can't offer medals for each stage and the overall. Can't think of a good solution, but certainly the narrative of a stage race running through the olympics, a bit like say the other multi-day events like sailing, would be really exciting.

Well they don't give medals for the individual sailing races, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a stage race. Obv the sailing is a points system, not time. Sprint stages for a time based race would be useless, so maybe the crits/points system would work better?

ddraver

ddraver

No_Ta_Doctor said:

rick_chasey said:

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Back to cycling, does anyone else think there would be scope to cheaply add another road event? Given they've got the cyclists there anyway they could just add a criterium race (possibly with heats?) - given the trend in Olympic events towards the quick and the spectacular it'd fit in quite well. Also provides another event that gets away from the stadia so the locals get to enjoy something.

I'd be tempted to run a stage race over a crit format, but how do you deal with stage wins vs overall wins etc. Can't offer medals for each stage and the overall. Can't think of a good solution, but certainly the narrative of a stage race running through the olympics, a bit like say the other multi-day events like sailing, would be really exciting.

Well they don't give medals for the individual sailing races, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a stage race. Obv the sailing is a points system, not time. Sprint stages for a time based race would be useless, so maybe the crits/points system would work better?

Yeah, that's not the same though and never has been. That would be like giving a medal for each boxing round. You win the regatta in sailing. The races are just part of the sport.

Lanterne_Rogue

The field for the Paris Olympics is rumoured to be just 90 riders for both men and women. Is thirty rider heats, top 10 going through to a final doable? Say a thirty minute race - that gives you two hours of racing for three heats and a medal race, and with tiny national teams they're mostly split up in the heats so tactics become a bit different. The format might suit both road and MTB riders too.

Part of my thinking was that the limit on cycling at the Olympics is due to the amount of competitors you need to accommodate with every extra event (it's why some of the track events were cut when they went to equal representation), but you've got a load of roadies there for basically one event - so why not give them another?

bobmcstuff

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Back to cycling, does anyone else think there would be scope to cheaply add another road event? Given they've got the cyclists there anyway they could just add a criterium race (possibly with heats?) - given the trend in Olympic events towards the quick and the spectacular it'd fit in quite well. Also provides another event that gets away from the stadia so the locals get to enjoy something.

Americans would love it if you put a crit in...

rick_chasey

Lanterne_Rogue said:

The field for the Paris Olympics is rumoured to be just 90 riders for both men and women. Is thirty rider heats, top 10 going through to a final doable? Say a thirty minute race - that gives you two hours of racing for three heats and a medal race, and with tiny national teams they're mostly split up in the heats so tactics become a bit different. The format might suit both road and MTB riders too.

Part of my thinking was that the limit on cycling at the Olympics is due to the amount of competitors you need to accommodate with every extra event (it's why some of the track events were cut when they went to equal representation), but you've got a load of roadies there for basically one event - so why not give them another?

On reflection I'd be more inclined to re-introduce more track events.

Much more variety available there. The "bit of all events" event is a bit rubbish really.

The sort of purist, repeatable around the world environment of track feels more in keeping with the Olympic spirit generally. World records, seasons bests, etc.

DeVlaeminck

No_Ta_Doctor said:

rick_chasey said:

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Back to cycling, does anyone else think there would be scope to cheaply add another road event? Given they've got the cyclists there anyway they could just add a criterium race (possibly with heats?) - given the trend in Olympic events towards the quick and the spectacular it'd fit in quite well. Also provides another event that gets away from the stadia so the locals get to enjoy something.

I'd be tempted to run a stage race over a crit format, but how do you deal with stage wins vs overall wins etc. Can't offer medals for each stage and the overall. Can't think of a good solution, but certainly the narrative of a stage race running through the olympics, a bit like say the other multi-day events like sailing, would be really exciting.

Well they don't give medals for the individual sailing races, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a stage race. Obv the sailing is a points system, not time. Sprint stages for a time based race would be useless, so maybe the crits/points system would work better?

I'd watch it although I've always found the domestic crit races that used to be televised pretty dull. Possibly with top name riders and a series over a number of days it'd catch the imagination more though. Yes I think points would work - would you make it a team or individual scoring system ?

r0bh

Pross said:

alan_a said:

Also to yesterday’s chat about domestiques in triathlon… In 2012 Stuart Hayes was team GB 3rd wheel. Strong swimmer, strong bike.. mediocre runner.

He was chosen purely to be able to ride next to the Brownlees and provide a bike if either had a mechanical.

As mentioned yesterday, this caused a massive Sh 1t storm and legal action with the highly rated 2008 Olympian Will Clarke being left out of the squad despite frequently beating Hayes. CLarke then went on to IronMan events regularly getting podium finishes including 3 silvers in 2019 season.

It looked like that was the GB tactic in the women's race this morning. I don't think it was quite the intention but Learmonth faded badly on the run after swimming most of the field out of contention and helping drop a couple more on the bike leg

It wasn't a tactic so much as an athlete playing to their strengths. Learmonth is the best swimmer on the circuit, a strong cyclist and not quite so good on the run (although she has run much better than that in the past, she and GTB crossed the line first in the test event in 2019 before being DQed for not contesting the win).

And point of order, a domestique couldn't give their bike to the protected athlete, that's against the rules.

above_the_cows

There's been some upset in the horse dancing apparently.

flite

Going back to MTB: Does anyone know if any other riders, men or women, ramp or no ramp, fell at the big drop-off?

daniel_b

flite said:

Going back to MTB: Does anyone know if any other riders, men or women, ramp or no ramp, fell at the big drop-off?

Nothing shown in the women's race, and I'm fairly sure they would have shown any happenings. Of the front runners, it only seemed to be PFP who was using the actual ramp.

ddraver

I actually bloomin' missed it every lap this morning...

The irony is that it's so un-MvdP to not 'send it' off the drop too. If it has been a CX Baloise series race he'd have thrown a tail whip in too.

JimD666

flite said:

Going back to MTB: Does anyone know if any other riders, men or women, ramp or no ramp, fell at the big drop-off?

One of the ladies nearly took a header when she got caught in two minds as to whether to take the ramp or miss it, but she seemed to be able to keep it upright.

daniel_b

JimD666 said:

flite said:

Going back to MTB: Does anyone know if any other riders, men or women, ramp or no ramp, fell at the big drop-off?

One of the ladies nearly took a header when she got caught in two minds as to whether to take the ramp or miss it, but she seemed to be able to keep it upright.

That was Yolanda Neff - the eventual, and by a good distance, winner.

I think at the time she had PFP right in front of her, so might be that PFP slowed a touch more than was expecting (Perhaps because she was using the ramp) and YN had nowhere to go - speculating.

JimD666

daniel_b said:

JimD666 said:

flite said:

Going back to MTB: Does anyone know if any other riders, men or women, ramp or no ramp, fell at the big drop-off?

One of the ladies nearly took a header when she got caught in two minds as to whether to take the ramp or miss it, but she seemed to be able to keep it upright.

That was Yolanda Neff - the eventual, and by a good distance, winner.

Only saw it on replay. Must of been earlier than I thought then as I could of sworn there was another rider in the picture and she'd left the rest of the field in her dust fairly rapidly. Thanks for the rider ID

focuszing723

I don't get what all the hoo-ha is all about? It's mountain bike riding, not pallet riding.

daniel_b

JimD666 said:

daniel_b said:

JimD666 said:

flite said:

Going back to MTB: Does anyone know if any other riders, men or women, ramp or no ramp, fell at the big drop-off?

One of the ladies nearly took a header when she got caught in two minds as to whether to take the ramp or miss it, but she seemed to be able to keep it upright.

That was Yolanda Neff - the eventual, and by a good distance, winner.

Only saw it on replay. Must of been earlier than I thought then as I could of sworn there was another rider in the picture and she'd left the rest of the field in her dust fairly rapidly. Thanks for the rider ID

It did happen pretty early on, but the commenators either didn't pick up on it, or may have not been on the adio at that point, as for me it was a good 10 minutes into the race before Rochelle and the chaps commentary kicked in.

They did replay it a lot later on though, and they commented on it then - one of those fillers where they show an 'incident' of sorts.

Was dissapointed to see PFP have her fall and then slide down the field, was hoping she would be top 3.
Richards did really well to hang onto 2nd for as long as she did.
And the Hungarian in 4th was phenomenal - a front row start and she would have had a medal I think it is fair to say.

JimD666

What have the Dutch done to upset the locals?!

Cycling Weekly reporting AvDB pulled of her bike by an official during a TT recon.....

JimD666

daniel_b said:

JimD666 said:

daniel_b said:

JimD666 said:

flite said:

Going back to MTB: Does anyone know if any other riders, men or women, ramp or no ramp, fell at the big drop-off?

One of the ladies nearly took a header when she got caught in two minds as to whether to take the ramp or miss it, but she seemed to be able to keep it upright.

That was Yolanda Neff - the eventual, and by a good distance, winner.

Only saw it on replay. Must of been earlier than I thought then as I could of sworn there was another rider in the picture and she'd left the rest of the field in her dust fairly rapidly. Thanks for the rider ID

It did happen pretty early on, but the commenators either didn't pick up on it, or may have not been on the adio at that point, as for me it was a good 10 minutes into the race before Rochelle and the chaps commentary kicked in.

They did replay it a lot later on though, and they commented on it then - one of those fillers where they show an 'incident' of sorts.

Yeah I'd gone channel hopping trying to find some commentary if only to drown out the ruddy whistling... So as an aside I can confirm that the BBC/ES/GCN were all using the same commentary

daniel_b

And it wasn't very good commentary either to be fair - quite ck-esque.

Three notable ones:
PFP has put in an attack, when she was already that distance ahead (At the time) of the 3rd and 4th places Swiss women.

Then Gilmour was convinced that the Swiss 2nd and 3rd placed riders had swapped places 'just now' when all of the shots before had them in the same order.

Additionally she was of the opinion that the same two women were 'working together' to which her co-commentator said he doubted, and then she tried to back pedal to mean she meant something slightly different.

above_the_cows

JimD666 said:

What have the Dutch done to upset the locals?!

Cycling Weekly reporting AvDB pulled of her bike by an official during a TT recon.....

They're persona non grata amongst the other country rowing teams due to positive Corona tests and failure to follow some Corona safety guidelines. Like literally ostracised. They're not able to take the Olympic transport to the rowing facilities and they have to get ready and warm-up in a separate little tent.

TheBigBean

ddraver said:

There are recent world champions that wouldn't have dealt with the drop with no ramp.

That really surprises me. I wouldn't want to do it on a bike, but I don't think it would faze me on skis, so I would expect a pro mountain biker to be comfortable.

davidof

We had Jo Absolom commentating on French TV, seemed to know his stuff. He reckoned the French women had made a bad tire choice

dabber

ddraver said:

I There are recent world champions that wouldn't have dealt with the drop with no ramp.

I find that hard to believe. There never seemed anything exceptional about that drop and the landing area was nicely angled.