olympics deprecation thread

For the same reason that not everything spoken in English belongs to England. "in French" does not equal "belongs to France".

IOC is an international organisation based in Switzerland, where they speak French.  

Simon

Because Pierre De Coubertin was french.

Nice!

Totally agree John, but am interested in he running and jumping about stuff too ... though not so much in the cycling since about 4.00 today ... seemed like a conspiracy. 

Team cock up?

More like lock out.

Jono

+1 more.

It made me smile to see and hear so many globally recognized people and tunes being that hail from this small rock in the Atlantic.

This thread hijack thing is good fun BTW.

Jono

Cycling,

Think it's a mix:

The cock up - knowing help/share of the load wasn't there; not making a move when the numbers breaking could turn the leaders into a sustainable pack - near the end of the Box Hill sector.

The mixer; others not sharing the load - why did Germany bother to turn up?

Re the Olympics; happy to separate the sport from the lies and corporate - the latter deserve criticism.

Cheers,

OW

On the positive side, just to say that I was really impressed with Underworld's musicial contribution to the opening ceremony.

And on the negative, what the f*** has happened to the news! BBC 24 has become another sports channel, and it is good thing that the Syria civil war has been postponed until after the games, no-one is shooting or stabbing anyone else, and the Euro is just fine, as long some people are running around tracks. Well that is what it seems to be according to the news channels right now.

I tried CNN, as BBC ad Sky rolling news were just showing the Olympics, and guess what, they are just showing the same junk too.

I am also amazed that the BBC news didn't think that any team other than 'Team GB' were going to train the the bloody event, and the fact that other countries can ride a bike is such a shock to them.

Good job  I have a backlog of Sky+, a DVD player, some CDs, and a train set to keep me sane (the latter being a debatable point I admit).

I just have to hope that World War 3 doesn't break out during the games, as the first I will know of it is a bloody great big flash and bang, and that some country has also won something that the UK thought it had a strange hold on in some sport I don't care about is all we will hear of it from the TV news.

Thank the lord(s) for the test match this week, now that is something important.

+1 (With gritted teeth)

> I am also amazed that the BBC news didn't think that any team other than 'Team GB' were going to train the the bloody event, and the fact that other countries can ride a bike is such a shock to them.

Certainly caught me out .... I didn't realise the others would all conspire to stop us winning. 

However such tactics were absent today as Lizzie got the Silver, later on Becky also achieved a medal and we won our beach volleyball match (what a great game), hockey (4-0), good positions in the equestrian and sailing and great rowing performance .... so it's looking up: :not keen on basketball (7'11" people don't fit on my smallish screen) or handball though and agree cricket, croquet, darts and snooker would have been better Olympic sports. 

I'm quite glad to have a break from the usual world news saturation that we seem to get these days; it is a relief to have something good happening that we can all enjoy. That said, I nearly always turn off news, politics, things to do with history and those endless David Attenborough style  programmes and other dramas ... so for me the TV schedule has never been as good, though keeping up with all is a challenge. 

Mind you what were all those cars driving round in circles for on BBC1 ... no idea so turned that off courtesy of the red button. 

Hi Mick,

I am indeed over 50, but not overweight. I have always been, and remain active in sport. My main sport is cycling, both as means if transport, and competitively. I ride about 250-300km per week week year round. I just returned from a short trip where 3 buddies and I did close to 600km in 4 days. In past lives I have been active in windsurfing, yachting, triathlon and running. Don't presume to know anything about me other than what I tell you.

I choose to skewer the olimpyx' corporate thuggery and borderline racism of of the nationalistic fervor, because I think we shouldn't accept, at face value, this bull$h!t. The competition itself, I mostly enjoy but at have no time for horse hopping, synchronised anything or games where they shoot stuff.

I also whine because it s fun, and also because it gives me something to do during theinterminable advertising that comprises most of the broadcast.

I ddn't realize that forum members were on the GB cycling team . But yes, few other teams seemed interested in closing down the break. I was especially disappointed with the Australian team, who did nothing. Yes, Stuie was in the break, but I would have thought that they would back Gossie against Cav, rather than assume Stuie could have won from that talented and large breakaway.

In some ways it was indeed a conspiracy against Cav and GB. This was not really a surprise. He's TOO good, meaning that few countries' teams had an interest in bringing it back together for a sprint.

I was pleased to see Vino prevail. Nice finish to a career that whilst tainted, certainly entertained us.

It broke my heart when Fabian crashed out.

Vos was a totally deserving winner in the women's. Nice job. (Over-hyped US women were absolutely pathetic, at best. Embarrassing.) I still don'understand why the women don't ride the same distance as the men.

Yes. Agree. Bring it on.

Those damn pesky foreigners. Who the Sam Hill do they think are? Didn't they realise we were supposed to win this event?

Or perhaps they just planned their race a bit smarter than we did.

Womens race was great to watch. Tactics and strength.

My wife is really getting into this cylce racing, she loved the way the three different riders worked togther as a unit and then finally the gloves are off and they compete at the line.

I've forced her to watch the Olympics and some Tour stages this year. She is officially converted now.

Just my penny farthing worth on the cycle event subject...

Cycle road racing just doesn’t suit or belong in the Olympics.

It’s a team sport that’s too haphazard, far too much depends on luck and chance both good and bad.

You could run the same guys on the same route every day for a week and get a different winner each and every time. The reason they have cycle road racing is probably for the entertainment value, like seeing crashes, which is all very well for the morbid minded but not really in the interest of finding out who is the strongest and fittest competitor on the day.

What they should have is the ‘race of truth’ time trial, such as…

a short fairly flat time-trial of 25 miles,

and on another day a very hilly course over 35 miles

This mean competitors race alone in 2 minute intervals.

That would sort the shirkers out from the workers, and imo would be far more interesting to watch.

Debs

I know what you mean but lots of Olympic events are about one-day performances not always the best athlete, and lots of great cycle races are over one day, including the world championship.

One change that might make a difference would be to run it as a team event not individual. Say giving points or times to the top 3 riders out of the 4 team members? Would add a tactical element that made it a bit different and get away from teams just working to aid the chances of a single individual only.

Bruce

But they’re all fit enough to win a road race if luck came their way, may as well throw the medal up in the air and see which one catches it. Then they could all go off for a big mac.

Good idea about team points though, could do that in the time - trial ; )

Could also include hill climb event, six minutes of pure suffering up a vicious 1 in 5.

Individual time-trial testing would be far more interesting.

To find the 'best' you'd need multiple disciplines because road cyclists can be sprinters, or climbers, or time trial specialists, or great stage riders but they are rarely more than one (or two) of the above.

The last few Olympic road races I can recall have have been one by well known and very good riders, not just random 'anybodies'. I was going to say 'well respected' but Vinikourov....ahem, perhaps history says not.

Bruce

There's a 27 mile time trial on Wednesday.

http://www.london2012.com/docu...time-trial-route.pdf

I've watched many time trials and they are pretty boring. There will be over a hundred competitors but only a handful will have a realistic chance of winning. Of course anybody not knowing who these rider are, may find it interesting.

Conversely, anybody not knowing the intricacies of cycle racing may find it uninteresting. Rather like watching a 6 hour game of chess only knowing the person who takes their opponents king is the winner.

At least you can combine the Time Trial with a visit to Infidelity and Sigme Cycles in Hampton Wick.

Jono

I think you have a point. Not every sport belongs in the Olympics. Road racing has its own major competitions. A huge variety one day classics, minor stage races and the three grand tours.

I'd prefer a full track program. The Olympics has long been the pinnacle for track riders. The road guys, not so much.

These would be fairer tests of fitness and strength, but TT is pretty boring to watch. As the Olympics are a commercial, rather than athletic enterprise, your suggestion might not get much support from the sponsors' marketing VPs who ultimately run the Olympics.

Snap, loads of track events for boys and girls. Easy to run, easy to televise and very exciting.

Just one decent TT plus the BMX and MTB events should do. Especially coming so close to the finish of the TdF.

Jono