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Amelie Morgan, apparently has re-retired 

Came back to the elite squad last year, but something has gone wrong, although her mother confirmed it is not linked to the shock resignation of the Women' Coach today, just days before the Europeans.

 

Gadirova, Gadirova, Onedine and now Morgan, with Kinsella not entirely health. They've also lost Fragapane and Ellie Downie definitively in this cycle.

Team GB's men are in decent nick, but the women are now in absolute tatters.

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1 hour ago, Epic Failure said:

The only disappointing thing about the Kenny jump was that there wasn't a proper crowd there to see it and roar him on.

 

Obviously due to circumstances beyond anyone's control but that's why at times Tokyo just didn't feel entirely like a 'true' Games for me. Nobody's fault obviously. And it's why I'm even more hyped for this summer to see full crowds again (fingers crossed!!)

 

That and the camerawork for that final. That wasn't great either.

As a remote fan, I was grateful it happened at all - it seemed all too likely at one stage it wouldn't, and I'm amazed how quickly the world has all but forgotten the mayhem of that 18 months more generally - I had major health incident just prior to the first lockdown so it was quite surreal to watch it happen in real time from my own convalescent bed.

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34 minutes ago, RussB said:

For the Brits I’d have to agree with my other commentators on:

- redgrave’s 5th “‘the Italians are coming!”

- men’s 4x 100m - I’m not sure I’ve ever been more pumped watching the Olympics 🤣

- also like the Redmond inclusion for what the spirit of the games is all about 

 

id like to throw in a nomination for Jason Kenny in the Kierin Tokyo 2021 - the end of his career, hadn’t really shown any form in the individual sprint and looked like a rather meek goodbye - then in the final against an odds on fav in Harry L, he drifts off the front and isn’t immediately closed down and goes full gas 3 laps out to win by half the straight. Beautiful chaos.

I’d also mention Adlington’ 400m free Beijing 2008 when she came from nowhere to win. The US comms didn’t even mention her name until the last 10 metres! GB took 2 medals home from that race with Jo Jackson getting bronze which was a shock.

The Kenny gold was great fun, and also a powerful lesson that sometimes wit can beat power and speed. If you watch closely you notice that Glaetzer on second wheel is clearly as nervous as hell, no doubt worrying about Harrie. He's super twitchy. But its all very good us noticing it - what's important is that Kenny noticed it, in race, and there comes a point, about a lap before the derny leaves where Kenny starts throwing looks back at Glaetzer quite rhythmically - and EVERY time he does, Glaetzer reflexively looks back at Harrie et al. now he has the fish on the line, Kenny keeps baiting poor Matthew, and literally when the derny pulls off, throws a final long look back at the precise second he puts down a smidge of power (Kenny is known for being able to speed up while looking back)- and Glaetzer can't help himself, and looks back just at the point Kenny jumps - it's a millisecond, but its enough for Kenny to get a maybe 10 metres - at that point for a brief second the whole group is looking at Glaetzer as second wheel, and he's kind of looking at them, and they all just too slowly realise "F*** me, Kenny's off!!" - meanwhile Kenny is absolutely all over the track banks trying to get speed before they realise.

 

They never get near him again. It as a thing of beauty.

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2 minutes ago, Epic Failure said:

Gotta love technicalities... Next you'll be telling me that our 1936 ice hockey gold doesn't really count because the team was basically Canadian.

🍁🍁🍁

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And FWIW, my honest personal favourite 5 Global moments

 

Mattheus Steiner 2012 - lifting the weight of the world from his shoulders for one night.

Anna Kiesenhofer 2024 - the Greatest Trick the cyclist ever pulled was convincing the peloton she didn't exist.

Kohei Uchimura - Because sometimes it's just perfect.

Michael Phelps 8 in Beijing - Greatness in real time

Kathy Freeman - Dreamtime to Dreamland.

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29 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

Two of my personal top five will be the same nationally i suspect, 

Super Saturday At 2012

Redgrave's 5th At 2000

My other personal 3 to round out the 5 would be 

Chris Boardman individual pursuit 1992 (first games i watched)
Men's 4x100 2004
Mo's double (but rio 2016 as i was at both) (humble brag)

 

I suspect the 4 x 100 guys will be a secret fave of more than you'd think - the story was just so good, Had a mini "miracle on ice"/Hogan's Heroes vibe to it .

 

It should have been impossible. It was impossible. They did it anyway. THAT'S the Olympics!

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5 hours ago, Epic Failure said:

some strong choices.

 

Others I'd consider -

 

• The Mens Hockey Gold in 88 - at least partly because of Barry Davies's commentary
• Derek Redmond in 92 - memorable for the emotion, not the sporting success obviously
• Redgrave/Pinsent in 96 - an Olympics that was a nadir for British Olympics generally, so this was the sole really bright spot. But it maintained our record of a gold at every Summer Games
• Kelly Holmes doing the double in Athens
• Andy Murray in 2012
• The entire opening ceremony. Utterly bonkers and utterly brilliant

That 'gold every games' record is impressive, but it's on the shoogliest of pegs re: 1904. The single gold, won by a man who refused British money and a British uniform, insisted he represented only Ireland, and tried to tear down the Union Flag! Still, adds to the gaiety of Olympic history.

 

my own fives change daily but:

 

Ireland:

 

Katie Taylor 2012

Michael Carruth+Wayne McCullough

O'Donavons' silver (I know the gold was four years later, and better, but that first rowing medal said we'd arrived)

Pat O'Callaghan's hammer, the first

Ronnie Delaney

 

A certain ginger swimmer who rattled when shook has been expunged from memory.

 

Great Britain (entirely personal)

 

Redgrave's 5th

Murray 2012

Super Saturday

Coe v Ovett

Men's 4 x 100 gold - a team of 'failures' who became champions

 

honourable mention for Whitlock 2 gold in 2 hours, Kelly Holmes, Men's Hockey, Women's Hockey and Brad Wiggins TT

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1 hour ago, Orangehair43 said:

We know non Chinese swimmers will treat the Chinese team like the cheating scum they are. I won’t  be like some sports where Russians being treated badly was rare. They will all boycott them and China can cry racism all they like but everyone knows. China are getting banned by Trump from LA 2028 anyway.

go away.

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1 hour ago, Dragon said:

Yes, we haven't had a good Chinese swimming doping story since the team were caught smuggling growth hormone into Australia at the 1998 World Championships.

Hmmm.

 

There's no doubt that there are going to be issues in China, It's too big, and the state is too authoritarian not to suspect, but they seem to have a strange attitude - once they get called/warned/suspected on it, they seem to back off in a way that Russia, to put it gently, do not. For that reason I sometimes think these sort of stories are like a 'shot across the bows', warning China to knock it back if it is felt they are ramping up the dodgy - the mind goes back to Ma's army, Sun Yang (who, despite the warnings, f***ed around and found out), Ye Shewin etc.

 

For the past 12 months, Chinese swimmers have been absolutely pulling up trees in the pool. One entirely hopes its on the up and up, but this does seem, possibly, like a pre-Paris warning, right around trials.

 

Time, I suppose will tell.

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On 4/10/2024 at 7:51 AM, Grassmarket said:

And not just in Poland.   Gymnastics legend Max Whitlock will retire after Paris.  Cannot tell you how unlikely a British Olympic Gold Medallist in Gymnastics seemed back in the 70s and 80s, but he got there.

 

Max Whitlock to retire after Paris 2024 Olympics - BBC Sport

To those of us of a certain vintage, British gymnast (or Irish for that matter) was an oxymoron on the level of a Samoan luger. Sure, it was technically possible, but they weren't gonna win much. Neil Thomas was legendary for his seemingly lone bid to make British gymnastics actually mean something, until the arrival of Beth Tweddle, who probably ought to have ben the first Olympic gold. But for Max to be sitting on 3 Olympic golds, 6 medals including an AA medal, and be in the conversation for the greatest pommel worker of all time...

 

He will be missed.

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9 hours ago, Siddhartha Talukdar said:

France supports India's intention to host Olympics. India wants to host 2036 Olympics and 2030 Youth Olympics 

 

I think an Indian Olympics is inevitable, but I don't think it'll be 2036. It seems obvious to me that Bach et all will want 'virgin territory' for legacy purposes, and deep pockets for financial ones. I also would not be surpised if he wants the Games to return to Russia a some sort of symbolic 'welcome back' though that seems a way off, thankfully. I'd say prepare for Games in India, Saudi and either Egypt or South Africa before 2060. 2036 could be Budapest.

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On 12/12/2023 at 8:55 AM, Grassmarket said:

Has not been a hugely great year for individual achievement in  so our list includes a few people with lifetime achievements alongside great winners from the year. 

 

Stuart Broad - Cricketer

Frankie Dettori - Horse racing

Mary Earps - Women's Football goalkeeper

Alfie Hewitt - Wheelchair tennis

Katarina Johnson-Thompson - Heptathlon World Champion

Rory McIlroy - Golf

 

Mary Earps probably the favourite based on the numbers of viewers of her games in the Women's World Cup.

 

Sports Personality of the Year 2023 shortlist: Broad, Dettori, Earps, Hewett, Johnson-Thompson & McIlroy - BBC Sport

 

Jake Jarman, Matt Richards, Josh Kerr, Beth Potter, Tom Pidcock, Bryony Page, Emma Finucane and Joe Choong all raise a quizzical eyebrow....

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On 12/22/2023 at 7:15 PM, Grassmarket said:

 Norn Iron  ie Northern Ireland’s personality is middle distance runner Ciaran Mageean.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/67797272
 

Wonder is this the first time a Nordie has won the RTÉ prize (Rhys McCleneghan), but failed to pick up BBC NIs prize....

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On 12/16/2023 at 11:23 PM, dodge said:

The award ceremony was tonight

 

Sports person of the year - Rhys McClenaghan (Gymnastics)

 

Young SPOTY - Evan Ferguson (football)

 

Team OTY - Limerick (hurling)

 

happy with the top two 

Happy with both, albeit Dan Wiffen was dreadfully unlucky with timing

Limerick...sigh. Even with a QF loss, the men's rugby team were huge. Extended period as #1, a win over the world champs, a grand slam finally at home. The women's football team amazing turnaround post world cup, and the European gold, World bronze of the men's sevens also

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16 hours ago, Dragon said:

Here's what I saw https://radiojamaicanewsonline.com/sports/swiss-sprinter-alex-wilson-implicated-in-fbi-anti-doping-investigation

It seems in relation to the UK athlete that jigsaw identification is possible. If I'm correct about that, it's going to be heartbreaking.

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18 minutes ago, Dragon said:

The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, said that the issue of ensuring the safety of Russian athletes at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is critically important, which was also noted by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its comments always says that the issue of security is critical in this situation. The same was discussed at the board of the Ministry of Sports. Neither the national federation, nor government services, nor the national Olympic committee, which is cut off from the process by these recommendations, will deal with this,” TASS quotes Pozdnyakov as saying.

 

This sounds a lot like what the USSR said before the 1984 Games. Using athlete safety concerns to justify pulling out of the Games

Interesting. This is where the French organising committee can play its cards. If they are keen to make IOC President smile they make noises about meeting the Russians and extra security if required. If they prefer the Russkis don't come, they make indignant noises about existing security being entirely adequate and the Russian noises insulting and inappropriate.

 

If they want to really rile the Russians, they pronounce their security entirely adequate, while noting that there are limits as regards what any state can provide when met with the sort of organised international mendacity we saw in, for example, Salisbury.

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54 minutes ago, Biathlonfan said:

Ok,so then no big deal if it happens

That's not the worry.

 

The fear isn't, and never was, Moscow 1980 or Los Angeles 1984 for anyone but Bach and his own personal gripes.

 

 

The fear is Munich 1972.

 

A couple of hotheads who think they can strike a blow for freedom if they attack some judoku or gymnast aligned to the Russian Army club coming out of the cantina.

 

Put it this way. I would REALLY not be comfortable sharing a tower block in Paris with AIN athletes. I don't like the odds.

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I think there's something to be said for a 'Best Sporting Moment of the year' classification - that stand out Olympic sport episode, separate from the best athlete. It can even be sort of negative - a sporting howler that created a monumental climax

 

I think there's possibly a similar class for a kind of 'social moment' of the year, when an athlete somehow transcended sport - think Rashford's food drive or the ~US gymnasts taking on their federation over Nasser et al from years past.

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Best. Sports. Ad. Ever.

 

And it's not even close.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuAPPeRg3Nw&ab_channel=C4Paralympics

 

Honourable mentions

 

 

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30 minutes ago, Grassmarket said:

Interesting that it's the Kenyans themselves who are doing this.

It's the key difference that is keeping Kenya this side of the Russia line - the doping is clearly as systemic as in russia, maybe even a little worse. But the state and authorities are not actively in on the deal; they are trying to get a grip on it...and as cycling showed, the first stages of getting a grip can look pretty awful - but are still better than ignorance. The important thing is that Kenya doesn't backslide in the face of dreadful headlines.

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1 hour ago, MHSN said:

I was hoping to see they crown Tommy B as the lifelong king of IOC. 

 

he shouldn't be just IOC's president, he should be the King. I mean he acts like a true dictator, why not giving him a throne 

Nah, he's not a king.

 

He's a Pope, and the IOC is his Conclave. If he had his way, Lausanne would become a new Vatican of sport.

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1 hour ago, Grassmarket said:

Good idea to keep it away from the normal games.

Would it not be better, if you're going this direction, calling it the Olympic EGames

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54 minutes ago, hckošice said:

they could have given him more space, such a small table for the president is a shame

 

Putin-esque levels of physical separation. Figures.

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3 hours ago, Grassmarket said:

 Doping Control not getting much cooperation from athletes.

 

ONLY ONE participant in the final of the men’s 100 metres; a steeplechase athlete who kept running after crossing the finish line to evade dope testing; several winners skipping the medal ceremony as they were worried about being asked to give samples.

 

The final day of the Delhi State Athletics Championship (September 23-26), at the warm-up track of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the national capital, turned into a cat-and-mouse game between athletes and doping control officers on Tuesday.

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/dope-testers-show-up-at-delhi-state-athletics-meet-most-athletes-bolt-only-1-in-100-metre-final-8957732/#ln2p6zh0agp1yc5tz

Ain increasingly strong argument for making membership of a specific anti-doping pool a criterion to participation - if the size of India makes it impossible, as it seems to be, to run anti-doping in a competent fashion, perhaps the only answer is to reduce the task to a small registered pool of athletes, and anyone else cannot compete internationally.

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1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Not really talking about sprinters though, since Dutch sprinting didn't really improve or undergo any significant change since Schippers' successes. Dutch athletics has improved more in a sort of broad sense.

At European level at least, I distinctly remember an improvement in your women's 4 x 100 team - and suspect your current strength in women's 400 and 400 hurdles has similar roots.