Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

Olympics 2024

1707172737476»

Comments

  • I sent an email to the Olympic committee suggesting a hand gliding competition off of a high cliff while eating a pasty: meat or vegan while getting marks for artistic merit. My reply was no way as that idea was 'Pie in the Sky'

    I'm still awaiting a reply to my email about replacing Skateboards with Escooters (Sshhhh!!)
  • seth plum
    seth plum Posts: 53,448
    Should rock paper scissors be an Olympic sport?
  • guinnessaddick
    guinnessaddick Posts: 28,612
    seth plum said:
    Should rock paper scissors be an Olympic sport?
    Perhaps, not too sure about it for the Paralympics.
  • seth plum
    seth plum Posts: 53,448
    seth plum said:
    Should rock paper scissors be an Olympic sport?
    Perhaps, not too sure about it for the Paralympics.
    Probably a fair point actually.
  • stoneroses19
    stoneroses19 Posts: 7,218


    "The South East alone would have come 20th in the official Olympics medal table, with 3.41 golds"
  • sam3110
    sam3110 Posts: 21,256
    The Kentish Aussie bloke that won 3 medals in the cycling has turned around and said "g'day" to Australia, and announced he's moving back to Blighty and will be part of Team GB from now on 
  • killerandflash
    killerandflash Posts: 69,842
    sam3110 said:
    The Kentish Aussie bloke that won 3 medals in the cycling has turned around and said "g'day" to Australia, and announced he's moving back to Blighty and will be part of Team GB from now on 
    One reason I imagine is that Matt Richardson's girlfriend is Emma Finucane, but pretty strange for an established competitor to switch country like that. In most sports you wouldn't be allowed to anyway, or you'd have to serve a long residency period.
  • Hal1x
    Hal1x Posts: 4,265
    sam3110 said:
    The Kentish Aussie bloke that won 3 medals in the cycling has turned around and said "g'day" to Australia, and announced he's moving back to Blighty and will be part of Team GB from now on 
    We must have given him a pardon.
  • Billy_Mix
    Billy_Mix Posts: 2,707
    sam3110 said:
    The Kentish Aussie bloke that won 3 medals in the cycling has turned around and said "g'day" to Australia, and announced he's moving back to Blighty and will be part of Team GB from now on 
    One reason I imagine is that Matt Richardson's girlfriend is Emma Finucane, but pretty strange for an established competitor to switch country like that. In most sports you wouldn't be allowed to anyway, or you'd have to serve a long residency period.
    The IOC isn't that fussy
    So long as you have a passport and residency they're content, even when you've represented internationally already.
    GB had a German born and trained sprint cyclist for a while cos he had a UK parent or grandparent.
    A number of athletes born and raised in East African nations have represented other nations e.g. Kenyans Celimo and Lagat both switched to USA, Fiona May switched from GB to Italy
    Some sports governing bodies are more prescriptive.  Rarely does anybody have to serve as long a qualifying period as Graeme Hick had to before he could play for England.
     
  • rina
    rina Posts: 2,334
    Billy_Mix said:
    sam3110 said:
    The Kentish Aussie bloke that won 3 medals in the cycling has turned around and said "g'day" to Australia, and announced he's moving back to Blighty and will be part of Team GB from now on 
    One reason I imagine is that Matt Richardson's girlfriend is Emma Finucane, but pretty strange for an established competitor to switch country like that. In most sports you wouldn't be allowed to anyway, or you'd have to serve a long residency period.
    The IOC isn't that fussy
    So long as you have a passport and residency they're content, even when you've represented internationally already.
    GB had a German born and trained sprint cyclist for a while cos he had a UK parent or grandparent.
    A number of athletes born and raised in East African nations have represented other nations e.g. Kenyans Celimo and Lagat both switched to USA, Fiona May switched from GB to Italy
    Some sports governing bodies are more prescriptive.  Rarely does anybody have to serve as long a qualifying period as Graeme Hick had to before he could play for England.
     
    transfer of allegiance in athletics isn't quite as easy as it used to be. to transfer from country A to country B if you have represented A at a regional/world event you have a waiting period of 3 years from the last time you represented A. This can be waived for those with a genuine reason but it's now difficult for countries to just transfer athletes in for cash
  • Sponsored links:



  • sam3110
    sam3110 Posts: 21,256
    Happened with a couple of the long distance runners too, one I think was a champion with Kenya but ran for Bahrain this Olympics 
  • rina
    rina Posts: 2,334
    sam3110 said:
    Happened with a couple of the long distance runners too, one I think was a champion with Kenya but ran for Bahrain this Olympics 
    if you mean the steeplechase gold medalist, she transferred to Bahrain as a kid
  • SoundAsa£
    SoundAsa£ Posts: 22,476
    Billy_Mix said:
    sam3110 said:
    The Kentish Aussie bloke that won 3 medals in the cycling has turned around and said "g'day" to Australia, and announced he's moving back to Blighty and will be part of Team GB from now on 
    One reason I imagine is that Matt Richardson's girlfriend is Emma Finucane, but pretty strange for an established competitor to switch country like that. In most sports you wouldn't be allowed to anyway, or you'd have to serve a long residency period.
    The IOC isn't that fussy
    So long as you have a passport and residency they're content, even when you've represented internationally already.
    GB had a German born and trained sprint cyclist for a while cos he had a UK parent or grandparent.
    A number of athletes born and raised in East African nations have represented other nations e.g. Kenyans Celimo and Lagat both switched to USA, Fiona May switched from GB to Italy
    Some sports governing bodies are more prescriptive.  Rarely does anybody have to serve as long a qualifying period as Graeme Hick had to before he could play for England.
     
    Stuart Leary actually did his National Service and was called upon by many people in the game and media to be capped for England but at that time it wasn’t possible due to his South African citizenship.
  • So I got a ticket for the wheelchair basketball today, arranged travel around it, then found that there were cheap tickets available for the athletics which hasn't sold out. So grabbed a seat for last night and found myself near the start line for David Weir's 5000m heat right at the end of the night. Hard to believe the same bloke who was winning in 2012 and not exactly young back then is still in the mix now. Stadium was about half full at the peak. Torrential rain for most of the evening will have put some people off I guess, plus this wasn't a session with many high-profile events.

  • I seem to have jinxed the British athletes last night. Sorry about that. 

    This time the stadium was completely full and the atmosphere was incredible. My ears were ringing after some of the races and the sprint finish to the wheelchair 5000m was almost painful. An amazing evening despite the lack of British success. 

    So anyway. Wheelchair basketball. Completely bonkers sport. Great to watch, very fast, quite easy to pick up the rules. The women's game was first, Team GB putting up a good fight against Canada and actually leading after the first quarter but losing narrowly. Then it was the men, who beat Canada pretty comfortably. 

    Well worth the trip. I feel like I've been missing out never having watched this sport before. 
  • aliwibble
    aliwibble Posts: 26,276
    @Swindon_Addick you think the wheelchair basketball is bonkers, you want to watch the wheelchair rugby.
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,846
    Should start a new thread. 

    Apparently, Paralympian's don’t like being called Olympians and  bracketed on with the Olympics. 
  • MrOneLung said:
    Should start a new thread. 

    Apparently, Paralympian's don’t like being called Olympians and  bracketed on with the Olympics. 
    Given that the Paralympics happen shortly after the Olympics, in the same venues and with the same "Paris 2024" format of branding, any Paralympian who doesn't want to be bracketed with Olympians is going to struggle.

    The marketing for Paris 2024, which is on posters all over the city, is that "the games aren't over". One of the reasons that some venues are sold out and most have big crowds is that the event is being targeted heavily at Parisians who were priced out of the Olympics. And TBH I think most of the athletes are loving the attention that they get for sports which are ignored mor the rest of the 4-year cycle.
  • Something that struck me during the Olympics was that you could see in the medal table that the well-known boost for host nations applied to all recent hosts except Brazil, which didn't see much of a legacy at all. Well, maybe that wasn't correct. Here's the Brazilian legacy - in the Paralympic medal table.

  • ME14addick
    ME14addick Posts: 9,761
    edited September 2024
    Well done Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett, gold medal in wheelchair tennis.
  • Sponsored links:



  • Rothko
    Rothko Posts: 18,801
    41 gold medals with two days to go, already equal with Tokyo 
  • Rothko
    Rothko Posts: 18,801
    Make that 42 golds and 96 medals in total 
  • aliwibble
    aliwibble Posts: 26,276
    Gutted for Will Bailey in the table tennis, but it was a cracking match.
  • Rothko
    Rothko Posts: 18,801
    100 up