Olympics All Format Spoiler Thread

bobmcstuff

ddraver said:

That's what you want to think...

Olympic Gold massively trumps a stage in the 'tour de Italy...thing' with most of the public. Silver probably too. Bronze...?

My only question with Bob is Where does "34 Stage wins" count..? Probably 3.5?

Somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5. I debated where to put the Worlds but "World Champion" is a pretty easy thing to communicate and understand.

pblakeney

bobmcstuff said:

Amateur cyclists in this country get asked if they have done the Tour de France......... I think some people assume it's like the London Marathon where anyone can do it.

My Dad asked if I was going to do the Tour. As he was a keen tennis player and county champion I asked why he hadn't went to Wimbledon. I think he understood.

Mad_Malx

RichN95. said:

DeVlaeminck said:

I've got to disagree with that. Olympic selection would be last and a GC win at the Vuelta or Giro up with an Olympic gold.

You can sort of judge it by the honour's system

Sir - Wiggins, Hoy
CBE - Both Kennys
OBE - Froome, Thomas, Clancy
MBE - Cavendish, Doull, Kennaugh, Cooke (in fact all gold medallists)
Nothing - Yates, TGH, Deignan

Cav has an Olympic Silver (Omnium 2016)

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Ben6899 said:

I suppose my crazy take on life has at least caused some conversation.

I just watched the rowing and the GB steering problems. How does that happen?

Likeliest reason is one of the rowers totally collapses and so the strength on the other side of the boat pulls it around.

Have seen it happen in a coxed 4 I steered - it can be quite dramatic if they really blow up. You shouldn't see that at Olympic final level though.

The one guy said he forgot to steer. I've never rowed but assume they have two things to do, provide forward propulsion and keep the boat on course!

Mad_Malx

Mad_Malx said:

RichN95. said:

DeVlaeminck said:

I've got to disagree with that. Olympic selection would be last and a GC win at the Vuelta or Giro up with an Olympic gold.

You can sort of judge it by the honour's system

Sir - Wiggins, Hoy
CBE - Both Kennys
OBE - Froome, Thomas, Clancy
MBE - Cavendish, Doull, Kennaugh, Cooke (in fact all gold medallists)
Nothing - Yates, TGH, Deignan

Cav has an Olympic Silver (Omnium 2016)

Edit - oh, you meant ‘and all ...’

Pross

hypster said:

To a certain degree I agree with Ben6899's position but only with regards to the Olympics. If I got to the final like in the Taekwondo and lost I'd be mighty pissed off with a silver. Especially like a couple of our fighters who were ahead with seconds to go and threw it away.

I think it still depends e.g. you can go into an event as a national record holder and be in form but you know that even if you improve on that the most you are likely to achieve is an outside medal chance or making a final e.g. something like the steeplechase or hammer throwing as a British athlete where events are dominated by other countries.

I agree that if you are a realistic gold medal winner, as was the case with several in the Taekwondo, it's reasonable to be disappointed with a silver. The British speed skater is probably the biggest example of this - wins world titles, world number one going into Olympics then seems to find new ways to lose.

RichN95.

Mad_Malx said:

Mad_Malx said:

RichN95. said:

DeVlaeminck said:

I've got to disagree with that. Olympic selection would be last and a GC win at the Vuelta or Giro up with an Olympic gold.

You can sort of judge it by the honour's system

Sir - Wiggins, Hoy
CBE - Both Kennys
OBE - Froome, Thomas, Clancy
MBE - Cavendish, Doull, Kennaugh, Cooke (in fact all gold medallists)
Nothing - Yates, TGH, Deignan

Cav has an Olympic Silver (Omnium 2016)

Edit - oh, you meant ‘and all ...’

Correct. He got an MBE before the Silver

ddraver

Pross said:

The British speed skater is probably the biggest example of this - wins world titles, world number one going into Olympics then seems to find new ways to lose.

Elise Christie?

If there is one person I'd love to see win a gold medal it's her...

Her view on Miss Biles is worth reading too.

RichN95.

RichN95. said:

You can sort of judge it by the honour's system

Sir - Wiggins, Hoy
CBE - Both Kennys, Pendleton
OBE - Froome, Thomas, Clancy
MBE - Cavendish, Doull, Kennaugh, Cooke (in fact all gold medallists)
Nothing - Yates, TGH, Deignan

I've added one which further emphasises the 'sport establishment' thinking Olympic track is the sport's pinnacle

Pross

I was slightly surprised yesterday when they said it was GB's best start to a Games. It has felt like they've missed out on quite a few medals they would have expected to win and / or taken silvers and bronzes where a gold was realistic.

There also seem to be a few events where we tend to pick up a lot of medals that aren't going as well as usual (rowing being the most obvious, sailing seemed to get off to a poor start but sounds like it is improving in the windier conditions) but then we haven't yet reached the medal stages so the overall tally is likely to be lower than the last 2 or 3 Games.

Lanterne_Rogue

RichN95. said:

RichN95. said:

You can sort of judge it by the honour's system

Sir - Wiggins, Hoy
CBE - Both Kennys, Pendleton
OBE - Froome, Thomas, Clancy
MBE - Cavendish, Doull, Kennaugh, Cooke (in fact all gold medallists)
Nothing - Yates, TGH, Deignan

I've added one which further emphasises the 'sport establishment' thinking Olympic track is the sport's pinnacle

Didn't she do some horse riding thing though? Queen's notoriously a huge fan of the geegees. Probably hadn't even heard of her cycling.

Lanterne_Rogue

ddraver said:

Pross said:

The British speed skater is probably the biggest example of this - wins world titles, world number one going into Olympics then seems to find new ways to lose.

Elise Christie?

If there is one person I'd love to see win a gold medal it's her...

Her view on Miss Biles is worth reading too.

Ta for the heads-up.

Christie's always struck me as someone who might have fallen a bit foul of the "only here to win gold" mentality - if she'd been less focused on winning and content to accept a medal, might she have tried forcing it a little less and maybe ended up with some more success? It's noticeable that it only really bit her at the Olympics.

RichN95.

Pross said:

I was slightly surprised yesterday when they said it was GB's best start to a Games. It has felt like they've missed out on quite a few medals they would have expected to win and / or taken silvers and bronzes where a gold was realistic.

There also seem to be a few events where we tend to pick up a lot of medals that aren't going as well as usual (rowing being the most obvious, sailing seemed to get off to a poor start but sounds like it is improving in the windier conditions) but then we haven't yet reached the medal stages so the overall tally is likely to be lower than the last 2 or 3 Games.

Swimming are having their best Olympics for over 100 years

focuszing723

Finally, someone else mentions the swimming!

RichN95.

focuszing723 said:

Finally, someone else mentions the swimming!

Last time they did this well, this bloke (Henry Taylor) bagged three golds

Pross

I'd somehow missed 3 v 3 basketball being another 'urban' sport introduced to these games. They should add school yard football in Paris - you take a huge squad and then stand them against a wall to pick the 5 that play, jumpers for goalposts, rush keepers and when the bell rings you have 'winning goal' no matter what the score at that point.

Other sports I'm lobbying for are kerby (maybe adapt the rules so that we don't have to stop whilst .r Price drives down the street in his Lada Riva), off ground touch and British bulldogs (we'll have to get that renamed to avoid accusations of colonial exceptionalism). Very disappointed the London 2012 committee didn't have the foresight to bring these in as I reckon I still had what it takes to have made the kerby squad back then. Sports don't get more inclusive than these.

Lanterne_Rogue

Swimming's a bit odd - there's been so much buzz about the GB team for so long now that it feels weird this is the most success they've had. Not sure if that's the BBC over-hyping things, the fine margins right at the top, or just me being an idiot.

Pross

RichN95. said:

focuszing723 said:

Finally, someone else mentions the swimming!

Last time they did this well, this bloke (Henry Taylor) bagged three golds

His speedsuit was later banned though and he lost his medals.

ddraver

Pross said:

I'd somehow missed 3 v 3 basketball being another 'urban' sport introduced to these games. They should add school yard football in Paris - you take a huge squad and then stand them against a wall to pick the 5 that play, jumpers for goalposts, rush keepers and when the bell rings you have 'winning goal' no matter what the score at that point.

Other sports I'm lobbying for are kerby (maybe adapt the rules so that we don't have to stop whilst .r Price drives down the street in his Lada Riva), off ground touch and British bulldogs (we'll have to get that renamed to avoid accusations of colonial exceptionalism). Very disappointed the London 2012 committee didn't have the foresight to bring these in as I reckon I still had what it takes to have made the kerby squad back then. Sports don't get more inclusive than these.

Ned Boulting has been advocating for the return of Wallball having met Mitch Docker over summer...

(I'm not against this...)

In fact it appears to be undergoing a genuine revival as an urban sport.

I'm loathed to recommend this YT Channel as it is highly addictive but I really want a go at this one day too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KrLV-AeYuA

Mad_Malx

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Swimming's a bit odd - there's been so much buzz about the GB team for so long now that it feels weird this is the most success they've had. Not sure if that's the BBC over-hyping things, the fine margins right at the top, or just me being an idiot.

They were on the naughty step because of the very low return on lottery funding.

lesfirth

It seems a bit strange that teaching a horse to do a silly walk is an Olympic sport but to call the person who sits on the horse an athlete is plain absurd.

above_the_cows

lesfirth said:

It seems a bit strange that teaching a horse to do a silly walk is an Olympic sport but to call the person who sits on the horse an athlete is plain absurd.

You've obviously never tried it. It's hard, hard work. Requires the use of all muscle groups. You don't just sit there.

Pross

lesfirth said:

It seems a bit strange that teaching a horse to do a silly walk is an Olympic sport but to call the person who sits on the horse an athlete is plain absurd.

Says the man who has never ridden a horse.

How many other sports do you not only have to work to get yourself ready to compete but also train your equipment to do what is needed?

kingstongraham

focuszing723 said:

Finally, someone else mentions the swimming!

All happening in the middle of the night, not really seeing it.

pangolin

Pross said:

lesfirth said:

It seems a bit strange that teaching a horse to do a silly walk is an Olympic sport but to call the person who sits on the horse an athlete is plain absurd.

Says the man who has never ridden a horse.

How many other sports do you not only have to work to get yourself ready to compete but also train your equipment to do what is needed?

Does gear indexing count?

RichN95.

ddraver said:

Ned Boulting has been advocating for the return of Wallball having met Mitch Docker over summer...

(I'm not against this...)

In fact it appears to be undergoing a genuine revival as an urban sport.

You say it's urban, but my reign as undisputed World Champion in the version I played came to an end when my parents built a conservatory on the court.

Pross

Lanterne_Rogue said:

RichN95. said:

RichN95. said:

You can sort of judge it by the honour's system

Sir - Wiggins, Hoy
CBE - Both Kennys, Pendleton
OBE - Froome, Thomas, Clancy
MBE - Cavendish, Doull, Kennaugh, Cooke (in fact all gold medallists)
Nothing - Yates, TGH, Deignan

I've added one which further emphasises the 'sport establishment' thinking Olympic track is the sport's pinnacle

Didn't she do some horse riding thing though? Queen's notoriously a huge fan of the geegees. Probably hadn't even heard of her cycling.

She was covering dressage today with Aggers.

Fair play to Agnew, when he found out he was going to cover dressage in Rio he decided he ought to at least learn to ride as he doesn't think you can commentate on a sport without a vague understanding of what is involved (his wife does some dressage apparently too).

focuszing723

Pross said:

RichN95. said:

focuszing723 said:

Finally, someone else mentions the swimming!

Last time they did this well, this bloke (Henry Taylor) bagged three golds

His speedsuit was later banned though and he lost his medals.

God. The history, the valour, the swimming, the Golds...

focuszing723

kingstongraham said:

focuszing723 said:

Finally, someone else mentions the swimming!

All happening in the middle of the night, not really seeing it.

It was all covered in the highlights and online news. Not a comment when I posted it up in here though. I was shocked!

Pross

kingstongraham said:

focuszing723 said:

Finally, someone else mentions the swimming!

All happening in the middle of the night, not really seeing it.

I'm finding this frustrating. Despite being on leave for the duration of the Games the timings and abysmal BBC access (I'm amazed they can't find the money to bid properly for an event they seem to send their entire sports and presenting teams to) means I've hardly seen anything live. However, I then seem to see the same two or three events numerous times on the various highlights shows during the daytime. The best thin about the triathlon was the early start meant I could watch it in full live.