XXXth Olympiad - London

[SmoothieX]

I'll be on the road when the US men play hoops later. I'm sick of the Dream Team comparison though. I expect they will win the gold, but there are teams loaded with NBA players on them. And after the badminton scandal, why isn't anyone talking about Spain tanking it against Brazil so they would not have to play the US until the gold medal game.

Also, for those of you outside the States, there is a lot of talk here on the sports talk radio stations that we should send an under-23 team from here on in, as it will be more competitive and we won't beat teams by 80 anymore.

I think this is ridiculous. Send your best against out best. If I were a foreign team, I'd feel more insulted if we sent the B-team than if our best blew you out of the gym.

There are plenty of sports we have no chance at. I don't see the Russian hockey team or the Chinese divers sending in the JV squad.

 

[Angel4576]

The French are having a proper mardy about our domination in the velodrome. Illegal wheels, doping, I swear they're not far from actually accusing us of using witchcraft and magic......!

 

[Roger Wilco]

Well, GB is skirting the rules at least regarding their equipment, which should be commercially available and only very technically is. Regarding doping - well, history has shown in cycling, that extraordinary performances are almost always based on extraordinary preparation, so you get cynical easily when you follow the sport long enough. But since nobody on the British track team has any history of doping (as far as I know), and especially since that is not something the French can say of their own team, it's not a fair accusation.

 

[SmoothieX]

We live in an era where any extraordinary feat or someone who hits their stride at a later age than what is typical in the sport is suspected of doping.

Cycling is renowned for drug use. Not a big sport here, but in baseball anyone whose numbers suddenly pick up is suspected as juicy.

 

[Deckerd]

The French are having a proper mardy about our domination in the velodrome. Illegal wheels, doping, I swear they're not far from actually accusing us of using witchcraft and magic......!

The French have not suggested the GB team are taking illegal drugs. They have never suggested this during the Olympics. They didn't say the wheels were illegal either. In fact, the GB team wheels are made in France.

 

[Jono]

Added a second sailing gold to the Australian tally. These last two days has seen the feelings over the Olympics pick up with these extra golds, especially as now we're back ahead of NZ.

Already seeing the fall out of the swimming with a review by Swimming Australia announced yesterday to look into their disappointing performance in terms of getting golds.

 

[MacLeod]

Well, GB is skirting the rules at least regarding their equipment, which should be commercially available and only very technically is. Regarding doping - well, history has shown in cycling, that extraordinary performances are almost always based on extraordinary preparation, so you get cynical easily when you follow the sport long enough. But since nobody on the British track team has any history of doping (as far as I know), and especially since that is not something the French can say of their own team, it's not a fair accusation.

So your saying their equipment is commercially availble, which means it complies with the rules. How can that be considered skirting them? Now if you are saying they are very expensive then the governing body should specify an upper price that can be used.

If the British can buy them, so can the French (or any other nation) as the wheels are made in France.

 

[Angel4576]

The French have not suggested the GB team are taking illegal drugs. They have never suggested this during the Olympics. They didn't say the wheels were illegal either. In fact, the GB team wheels are made in France.

Perhaps I should have been clearer - I'm not talking about the French officials - although Isabelle Gautheron is sailing close to the wind with comments about the wheels - this is based on a daily poll run by L'Equipe, asking whether people thought that Britain's Cycling performance was tarnished by cheating. Of 45,000 votes, 70% answered yes. The range of comments cites conspiracy theories around the wheels, circumvention of doping controls, and unsporting interpretation of the regulations.

 

[Roger Wilco]

So your saying their equipment is commercially availble, which means it complies with the rules. How can that be considered skirting them? Now if you are saying they are very expensive then the governing body should specify an upper price that can be used.

If the British can buy them, so can the French (or any other nation) as the wheels are made in France.

This is literally the only place you can buy the bikes used by the British team on the track, and Brailsford himself has said they have never sold a single one of them.

Does that conform with the letter of the regulations? I would suppose so, or there would be some outrage about it, but it's certainly not what these regulations are for.

 

[Shaytan]

Perhaps I should have been clearer - I'm not talking about the French officials - although Isabelle Gautheron is sailing close to the wind with comments about the wheels - this is based on a daily poll run by L'Equipe, asking whether people thought that Britain's Cycling performance was tarnished by cheating. Of 45,000 votes, 70% answered yes. The range of comments cites conspiracy theories around the wheels, circumvention of doping controls, and unsporting interpretation of the regulations.

I'm purely shocked

 

[Angel4576]

I'm purely shocked

Wouldn't worry - if the shoe was on the other foot, I almost daren't imagine what convoluted load of tripe the Daily Mail would be coming up with.

 

[Angel4576]

This is literally the only place you can buy the bikes used by the British team on the track, and Brailsford himself has said they have never sold a single one of them.

Does that conform with the letter of the regulations? I would suppose so, or there would be some outrage about it, but it's certainly not what these regulations are for.

I'd imagine that they'll probably sell some after these games!

 

[MacLeod]

So your saying their equipment is commercially availble, which means it complies with the rules. How can that be considered skirting them? Now if you are saying they are very expensive then the governing body should specify an upper price that can be used.

If the British can buy them, so can the French (or any other nation) as the wheels are made in France.

This is literally the only place you can buy the bikes used by the British team on the track, and Brailsford himself has said they have never sold a single one of them.

Does that conform with the letter of the regulations? I would suppose so, or there would be some outrage about it, but it's certainly not what these regulations are for.

The fact that they have never sold one is irrelevant, they are available to buy to the general public, and thus comply with the regulations. The general public can't be forced to buy
them.

 

[Shaytan]

I'm purely shocked

Wouldn't worry - if the shoe was on the other foot, I almost daren't imagine what convoluted load of tripe the Daily Mail would be coming up with.

I'm not worried, I'm amused

 

[Angel4576]

I'm not worried, I'm amused

Aren't we all....

 

[Roger Wilco]

The fact that they have never sold one is irrelevant, they are available to buy to the general public, and thus comply with the regulations. The general public can't be forced to buy
them.

I'm not saying the equipment is illegal, but clearly UKSports is very much more interested in not selling anything than in doing so, and that they are doing the absolute bare minimum of what they have to to claim commercial availability. Also, I don't actually know that you're able to buy anything from that site, they only give an e-mail, what if they tell me to fuck off if I ask for a price?

That said, I don't think the bikes give British riders any physical advantage, but clearly they are winning the psychological war regarding equipment.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Fun day of taekwondo on BBC Olympics - a number of interesting rule changes and improvements to the scoring since Beijing, and the competitors are now more clearly using arms to block (unlike at, most notably, Athens) - but the OBC director should be prosecuted for crimes against camerawork for sticking to the furthest corner of the hall to show the WTF demo team from - so that you could see fuck all. (If the screen was divided up like a Sudoko thing, they'd only have been in the middle square) - yet is perfectly fucking happy to show the empty mat from right in close while we wait for the medal presentation. Fucker.

 

[MacLeod]

Well at least we'll have one Brit in the a Taekwondo final.

 

[Deckerd]

First woman ever to get an Olympic boxing gold is British!

 

[Lonemagpie]

The bout between Stamper and Tazegul (I'm having some sort of Bond/LOTR moment there...) was the best thing in the Olympics so far. Great fight. And also a great last minute storm from Jade Jones as well.