The Olympics Thread

[Jackal]

Anyone have any opinions on the current betting scandal hitting the Irish Olympic team. A disgrace from whoever it is. On better note Nevin looked very good as did O'Neill. Looking forward to Nolan now

[blockhead]

Did'nt see the race myself but heard about it on the news.
Cavendish of team GB, cheated out of a gold medal by the entire field.
Is this true?
Who do these johnny foreigners think they are?

[cormac]

Did'nt see the race myself but heard about it on the news.
Cavendish of team GB, cheated out of a gold medal by the entire field.
Is this true?
Who do these johnny foreigners think they are?

GB team were obsessed with getting a medal for Cavendish, but it broke out into an individual race and they didn't have enough riders to dictate the pace of the peloton for the entire race.

[Xanthippe]

Did'nt see the race myself but heard about it on the news.
Cavendish of team GB, cheated out of a gold medal by the entire field.
Is this true?
Who do these johnny foreigners think they are?

GB team were obsessed with getting a medal for Cavendish, but it broke out into an individual race and they didn't have enough riders to dictate the pace of the peloton for the entire race.

The funniest part was when the reporter on the evening news started his report on the race by stating that it was won by 'convicted drug cheat' Alexander Vinokurov - the fact that they have David Millar in their team seems to have escaped his notice!!!

[suisse]

Of all the countries to put their flag against.

Will be a few red faces in Glasgow tonight:

Before the match, Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said: “The Olympics is of huge importance and the fact Hampden will be front and centre as the world turns it attention to the UK is great news for Glasgow and Scotland as a whole.

“The Olympics is our chance to show the world what we are capable of as a nation and the hard work of people across the country is helping ensure the success of the Games.

“I am looking forward to watching the game and hearing the first-ever Olympic roar at Hampden later today.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympi ... gaffe.html

Suisse..... What's the reaction in Korea like?

They found it very funny actually. However, I'd love to see the reaction from the SKs if the Japanese flag was put beside their soccer team. I think most people found it funny, but can you imagine if the Union Jack was raised beside Katie Taylor if she won a medal? The reaction would be of real anger.

I always wonder when their athletes go to places like this, do they never realise that everything they have been told is complete horseshit? Even if they are locked up in rooms, or the training ground, 24 hour electricity must send them posing for questions. They should watch Jeremy Kyle.

[mikey]

I suspected that the various TV stations would struggle to find sufficient quality to sustain the level of commentary that's going to be required over the next few weeks, but the BBC guy doing the cycling there was horrific. Two guys cross the line for gold and silver. Then a trailing pack of half a dozen or so battles it out for bronze. Then the peleton arrives and this moron says, about 10 times:- "Here's the battle for fourth place. Fighting hard for fourth place here..."

That was Hugh Porter - hard going for the guy and you have to feel for him as he was commentating forvthe entire race - and was making the kinds of gaffs the entire way through!! Does the TDF and is usually pretty good - cycling legend himself as he as a 4 time world champion.

[fourthirtythree]

To be fair on the commentators on the cycling the TV coverage was quite shambolic, they didn't provide gap times, they didn't know who to look at, or when, they missed a lot of significant events. For the women's race they were doing the gap timing themselves. He also made a point of suggesting to the director "the cameras may want to stay on the three leaders here now, we're 3K from the finish and there may well be a breakaway attempt and the group is not going to catch up now". Cue the director cutting to nothing happening in the peloton. That said at the end of the race they had stopped cooperating for about a minute before the commentators noticed it (perhaps because it was Cooke who initially shirked going to the front by pretending to take a wrong line on a corner and the media narrative is that nobody helps the British...)

The worst commentary I think I heard was RTÉ's volleyball. Guy had no idea what was going on. Called the points wrong (hard to do as there was a guy there telling you who scored, but he managed it).

[Peg Leg]

Anyone have any opinions on the current betting scandal hitting the Irish Olympic team. A disgrace from whoever it is. On better note Nevin looked very good as did O'Neill. Looking forward to Nolan now

Turns out the bet was placed by O'Leary on one of his sailing races for a race in Bejing 2008. Stupid- yes, wrong- yes, worthy of kicking him out of this olympics - no. Someone released this betting info at a time adjudged to be the most damaging for some reason. I'm glad to see the olympics commitee taking this into account.

[cormac]

Annalise Murphy going great guns in her sailing comp. Three wins from three races so far. Hopefully this won't put the mockers on her.

[Slipper1]

Annalise Murphy going great guns in her sailing comp. Three wins from three races so far. Hopefully this won't put the mockers on her.

As long as the wind keeps blowing there is every possibility she can keep winning races. The good start is really important with a race result to discard and double points medal race at the end. 5 point lead after 3 races is great, long may it last!

[Darce]

4 from 4

Super effort

[TerenureJim]

Fingernail stuff from Clos to beat Phelps at the end, would have been nice to see Phelps get a gold in his last Olympics but looks unlikely now.

[cormac]

Fingernail stuff from Clos to beat Phelps at the end, would have been nice to see Phelps get a gold in his last Olympics but looks unlikely now.

dictionary definition of spoke too soon.

[blockhead]

Annalise Murphy going great guns in her sailing comp. Three wins from three races so far. Hopefully this won't put the mockers on her.

As long as the wind keeps blowing there is every possibility she can keep winning races. The good start is really important with a race result to discard and double points medal race at the end. 5 point lead after 3 races is great, long may it last!

Do these first 4 wins out of ten count at the end? or is it simply a qualifying position? Knowing our recent olympic history I bet the boat fails a drug test.

[ribs]

Annalise Murphy going great guns in her sailing comp. Three wins from three races so far. Hopefully this won't put the mockers on her.

As long as the wind keeps blowing there is every possibility she can keep winning races. The good start is really important with a race result to discard and double points medal race at the end. 5 point lead after 3 races is great, long may it last!

Do these first 4 wins out of ten count at the end? or is it simply a qualifying position? Knowing our recent olympic history I bet the boat fails a drug test.

9 out of the 10 races count (you drop your worst). Then the top 10 go into a medal race at 1pm Monday where finishing positions are double (i.e. 2 for 1st, 4 for second, 20 for 10th). If Murphy can keep at the pointy end this week (touch wood), she might have the required 19 points ahead of 4th to guarantee a medal on Monday, but a Looooooonnnggg way to go. Amazing start though with GB right behind.

[tackle-bag]

Sorry, can somebody please explain to me how that senile moron Jimmy Magee ever came to be regarded as a "legendary" sports broadcaster. For years, RTÉ have been deploying him to commentate on sports about which he knows sweet FA. In my view, however, he's equally bad for the sports on which he is supposedly an expert.

Just listened to his commentary for Darren O'Neill's fight there. He added absolutely zero value to the experience. I'm not really a boxing fan, and I don't understand how the points system (which I suspect might be an arbitrary pile of sh!te) works. As such, the one thing I'm looking for from a commentator (which, to be fair to the old hack, Jim Neilly on the BBC provides) is an idea of when a point is scored. I suspect that the majority of fair-weather fans who have tuned in for the Olympics are in the same boat. Instead of providing this insight, Magee spent the entirety of the 3 rounds waffling on about how O'Neill was from Kilkenny and therefore could have been a great hurler in his youth.

I have to say that the BBC have the right idea in getting younger lads like Andrew Cotter and Nick Mullins to call the plays. Neither of those two are particularly compelling to listen to, but you can be sure that they'll always do their research in relation to a sport which is outside of their comfort zone. Crucially, they'll also bother to tell you what's going on before your eyes in a sport you might be watching for the first time.

[Amz]

Have to agree, wasn't at all interested in O'Neill's history, or where he works etc. I know he's bigged up as being a man with loads of useless knowledge about various sports/sports people but that doesn't mean he has to try and jam as much of it into the three rounds he's on TV for. Save that for the preview if you insist on including it. Got more value from reading the updates on Twitter rather than listening to Jimmy. Which obviously made watching the fight difficult.

[the spoofer]

Sorry, can somebody please explain to me how that senile moron Jimmy Magee ever came to be regarded as a "legendary" sports broadcaster. For years, RTÉ have been deploying him to commentate on sports about which he knows sweet FA. In my view, however, he's equally bad for the sports on which he is supposedly an expert.

Just listened to his commentary for Darren O'Neill's fight there. He added absolutely zero value to the experience. I'm not really a boxing fan, and I don't understand how the points system (which I suspect might be an arbitrary pile of sh!te) works. As such, the one thing I'm looking for from a commentator (which, to be fair to the old hack, Jim Neilly on the BBC provides) is an idea of when a point is scored. I suspect that the majority of fair-weather fans who have tuned in for the Olympics are in the same boat. Instead of providing this insight, Magee spent the entirety of the 3 rounds waffling on about how O'Neill was from Kilkenny and therefore could have been a great hurler in his youth.

I have to say that the BBC have the right idea in getting younger lads like Andrew Cotter and Nick Mullins to call the plays. Neither of those two are particularly compelling to listen to, but you can be sure that they'll always do their research in relation to a sport which is outside of their comfort zone. Crucially, they'll also bother to tell you what's going on before your eyes in a sport you might be watching for the first time.

Listened to him go on about Carl Lewis this morning. Is that the same Carl Lewis who failed a test but had it covered up?

On another point, all we can say about our swimmers is that at least none of them drowned.

[blockhead]

http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics/2012/0 ... y-the-ioc/

Good on ya Jimmy! Ligiinndd!

[Hornet]

The funniest part was when the reporter on the evening news started his report on the race by stating that it was won by 'convicted drug cheat' Alexander Vinokurov - the fact that they have David Millar in their team seems to have escaped his notice!!!

The difference being is that whereas Millar fully admits to his wrongdoing Vino never has. That said, I don't think anyone who whas been convicted of a drugs offence, that has lead to a ban, should be allowed to compete in the Olympics. As regards Cavendish's remarks, he was spot on. If I were Andre Greipel or Matt Goss I would have been well hacked off at the tactics my team employed in the Men's Road Race. If the tactics of the sprinters teams were to deny Team GB the chance of a sprint finish, they also denied their own sprinters. Even Sagan, who I would have had as a good e/w bet was caught out by the tactics. As for Team Ireland, both Roche and Martin were poor considering how well up the GC they finished in the Tour de France.
There was a great atmosphere around the Surrey Lanes on Saturday, (rather than watching in Richmond Park, I headed out deep into the Surrey countryside, away from huge crowds). Yesterday's TT was just as good, although being a work day, the crowds were not as huge. I watched in Surbiton as it was the best option to get away from and get back to Gatwick in time for my flight home. Good experience, and I avoided all the bullshit security that was going on at certain points, (always a plus).