Post Games Analysis | How do you analyse your country's performance at Tokyo 2020?

[Nickyc707 382]

3 hours ago, Grassmarket said:

For  pretty much a 9/10.  Almost every sport exceeded expectations. Only Rowing was a disappointment with internal political struggles producing an under-prepared team. Shooting lost a medal favourite, Amber Hill, to COVID. Taekwondo list another medal favourite, Jade Jones to nerves & having to fight an opponent from a merged weight category.  No Gold in Athletics, but Athletics is going through an era of very high standards.

 

Otherwise, everyone far exceeded expectations. Optimistic predictions were for 15 Gold, 50 Medals total, top 10 overall.  Instead 22G, 65 total - more than London 2012 - and 4th overall.  Many new or unknown sports like BMX, Mountain Biking & Modern Pentathlon were introduced to the British public. Established sports like Swimming & Cycling created a new generation of fans.  Many of our best competitors will be going forward to Paris, so there is lots to look forward to.

Can't disagree with most of what you've said. Initially GB had a target of 54-92 medals which was subsequently reduced to 45-70 due to the difficulties and uncertainties caused by the pandemic. Personally I was expecting a tally in the low 50s while secretly hoping for something in the high 50s so 65 exceeded my expectations and comfortably met UK Sport's target. Indeed but for the Covid forced withdrawal of Amber Hill and injuries to one or two key athletes like KJT they might easily have surpassed Rio which would have been a remarkable achievement and worthy of a 10/10 score.

 

Sports like boxing (+3), equestrian (+2), modern pentathlon (+2), sailing (+2) which have always been reliable contributors to GB medal hauls stood tall, while swimming (+2) has proven a growing area of strength. Cycling, diving, taekwondo and triathlon also continued with their solid contributions which was particularly satisfying in the case of the former as there were concerns about a drop off in success on two wheels. Growth in MTB and both BMX racing and freestyle helped to prevent that.

 

The three sports that saw significant falls were rowing (-3), canoeing (-2) and gymnastics (-4). Rowing had internal problems and there were suggestions that their high altitude training had gone wrong. It was also a hugely inexperienced squad with 80% newcomers. Margins are small and if they had turned some of their six fourth places into medals they would not be facing the level of criticism they have received. Most of GB's success in canoeing has come from slalom and in Tokyo I don't believe they had their strongest men's team. The selection process used saw the elimination of then reigning Olympic champion Joe Clarke and multiple medallist David Florence both of whom would I believe have strengthened the team.

 

Gymnastics is an increasingly competitive sport as we see the spread of medals among different countries increase every cycle. The question facing some countries is do we concentrate on winning team or individual apparatus medals. The strongest can do both while the less strong probably aren't going to challenge for team medals anyway and should target individual apparatus. I think GB managed to fall between the two choices leaving question marks about their selections. I may be wrong but I believe they are returning to five member teams in 2024 so that should help solve some of the selection quandries.

 

GB performed at about par in athletics with six medals although we missed out on gold for the first time since Atlanta. On the downside were the injuries to KJT, DAS and Gemili. One of my biggest frustrations in sport are the apparently never ending injuries and niggles to British track & field athletes. On the upside is the revival of British middle distance running with medals in both men's and women's 1500m and women's 800m. The saddest story of this cycle from a British perspective has been the decline of the men's 400m flat and hurdles, two events in which the country has a rich history and which also applies by extension to the 4x400m relay. More support in this area and in field events should be a priority for UK Athletics.

 

Anyway overall it's been a great games with some outstanding performances from athletes not only of GB but of many nations who have had to overcome incredibly difficult preparations. Well done Japan and well done to all the officials and helpers for delivering something to remember and lift the spirits after the traumas of the past two years.

 

[Griff88 1,952]

1. 8/10, upwards trend from 2012

 

2. Surprises: Probably Indonesian men's doubles in badminton not getting any medal (not that surprising for me, tbh). Ahsan/Setiawan failing to win bronze is also a heartbreak.

 

3. Our goal is a gold medal and better rank, so only 50% achieved. Targetting only one gold medal and hoping for a better position in the medal table is beyond me actually.

 

4. Our economy is in tatters so nothing will change  

[MHSN 3,619]

I already wrote a long post about it somewhere else, I'm not going to repeat what I already wrote

 

1)

I think 6 out of 10.

it wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. only 7 medals is indeed disappointing, no medal for our female athletes was very disappointing. but on the other hand winning 3 gold medals considering all the problems we had in past 4-5 years was a good result. specially since we left two of our best gold medal chances at home.

 

2)

surprises: first ever medal in shooting which was gold! 6 months ago we didn't even expect Reza Geraei to qualify for the Olympics. so him winning the gold was indeed surprising.

heartbreaks, our great Champion Yazdani (probably the most popular athlete here) losing to Taylor in last 20 seconds was really heartbreaking. the next day was like a national mourning day.

Hamideh Abbasli going home empty handed was also heartbreaking, she was our best chance for having a female gold medalist. she even beat the eventual gold medalist but got injured in her last group match, and most probably will need another surgery on her knee

the biggest disappointment was MH Mohammadian in wrestling. I still can't believe how the hell he wrestled like that. that was our strongest weight, and we had 4-5 top wrestlers we didn't even know which one to send!

 

3)

Iranian sport officials never announce a target, so whatever happens they consider it as success ! even the disastrous 2008 Beijing was a success for the guy in charge at the time

 

4)

almost impossible to invest on anything in current financial situation. and the pandemic is still taking lives. the best we can do is to keep what we already have.

[De_Gambassi 1,223]

7 hours ago, Fly_like_a_don said:

1. Rate the performance on a scale of 1-10

 

 

0/10 We had our worst tally since Athens. No one expected that. Fuck, we are the next host, we were supposed to be on the rise before Paris, so actually it's -10/10 . But, BUT we had 3 golds in team sports, so it's like 40 golds in one ! And that includes the freaking volleyball team, that same one that was almost out after two games, that same one who was lead 0-2 against Slovenia in Berlin OQT in January 2000 ! And, we secure our Top 10 in medals table, even overpassing Germany and Italy on the last days just for the sake of it !

 

So really...

 

I don't know / 10

[gubchandrolai 17]

1.  Difficult to rate, but ... 8/10.

 

Would have given 7 or even 6.5, if we didn't have the magic in the penultimate day. The games started with a silver and ended with a gold, so only good vibes will stay now, but the few days in the middle have been very depressing. 

 

2. Suprises : The Men's HOCKEY BRONZE! I can't overstate how crucial that was for the future of the sport in India. Now the required investment will come, there will be rise in interest about it and I think we can get a world class team in a few years. Upwards from now.

Although we were hoping to reach Semi and in the process making a slight upset (if you call it that) against a better team (on paper and recent result wise). We finished second in the group and did beat the strong countries of recent times. So a nice effort.

 

Lovlina's Bronze in Boxing is a bit surprising but not much since she was favourite to reach QF, and then we were rooting for her to beat atleast one of the seeds. Good that she avoided Turkey and China both. A lot of credit to her and very important for Boxing in India, after the loss in interest due to lack of results and also absurd scoring system.

 

Sindhu on paper wasn't a medal favourite, given the run she was in, but we always knew she performs on big occasions. So, a very minor surprise.

 

And, FINALLY, Neeraj Gold. Honestly I wished if he can get atleast a medal, so that we will have the first Athletics medal of independent India and one without a controversy (GB claims Norman Pritchard's 1900 Paris medals as theirs, although IOC gives them to us). Sad that Milkha Singh just passed away and couldn't watch this historic moment.

Surely, I thought Gold is not in the cards, as there was certain someone named Vetter competing, but what a result and what a disaster for Vetter. 

 

Heartbreaks : Well, a lot, which could have made this Olympics one of the worst, in terms of not sustaining the momentum (and also, funding). 

 

Shooting Team. Well, they performed their absolute best in the WCs and we were one of the top nations in terms of medals (if not the TOP). We didn't get anything in Mixed Team Pistol after winning 5 golds and a Silver in the last 6 WCs (also second team won some bronzes and a silver I think). Now there is a lot of in-fighting coming up to the surface. Well, I hope they recover. 

 

Amit Panghal - He just ran after winning the first round. Really pathetic performance as a world no 1.

 

Vinesh - Don't know what went wrong with her.

 

Mary - Didn't expect a medal honestly but was hoping against hope. Really a tough, controversial, and heartbreaking loss to take. But salute legend, for what you have done!

 

Both Hearbreaks and Surprise:

 

Women's Hockey Team: Well, the way they reached SF beating Australia was superb. First time in Olympic Semi and then lost two close matches (especially the bronze one). Heartbroken but proud.

 

Aditi Ashok (Golf): Absolutely devastated the way she lost her medal. She had no right to be there among the medals for three straight days with a world ranking of 200, and weak tee shots. But she did unbelievable, heartbreaking how the ball didn't went in, in the penultimate hole in the last day, which cost her the medal. Didn't sleep the night to watch golf from 3am and was absolutely depressed till late afternoon before Bajrang's medal and then Neeraj's magic. Anyway, Hats off Aditi.

 

3. We had three targets I guess.

 

First double digit medal haul - which we didn't manage to achieve because our heavy favourites choked (apologies for the unkind word) at the big stage.

 

Better London Tally - Happened. This is our best ever Olympics.

 

Win a Gold Atleast - After all the disappointments, we got an unexpected gold from our last participant in the Games!

 

4. I see Hockey will now have greater fundings. Wrestling and Badminton will continue to have support, being the most consistent sports for us in the recent games. Bhavani Devi and Aditi Ashok made Fencing and Golf a bit popular in the Games, though not sure if they will be funded much.

 

Athletics, Boxing, Weightlifting can have increased fundings. Although a lot will depend on what IWF and IOC do with the latter.

 

We spent so much on our Shooters in recent years and I fear the Rio and Tokyo debacle might catalyse a fund reduction! 

 

[Oldira 88]

1/ 8/10. First time since 1932 that we won 2 golds by different competitors and the first time ever 2 Golds in different sports. 4 medals in total is our joint best result but we were so close in other events. With luck it could have been 7-8.

 

2/ Biggest surprise was Aidan Walshs bronze in Boxing and biggest heartbreak was Nadia Coyles horse refusing to behave in Pentathlon. Also Rowing where we were expected by most observers, to win 3/4 medals and ended up 'only' winning 2. Something happened our Double Sculls crew and I am sure we will find out later.

 

3/ Target was 3-4 medals and that was achieved. 2 Golds probably not expected.

 

4/ We invest (for political reasons) way to much in Horse Racing, Gaelic Games and Football. The latter because of financial mismanagement by the FAI rather than too much at grass roots level. We should invest a lot more in Boxing, Gymnastics and track cycling as in build a velodrome.

[MagyarBabu 153]

-1. Rate the performance on a scale of 1-10

 

7/10. Many medals but few gold. If we talk about statistics, we have the second worst ranking in our history (15th), but how can I give a bad rating now that we are back to 20 total medals after 25 years?

 

 

-2. What were the suprises and  heartbreaks ?

 

Both very few. 
Probably Hárspataki (Karate) like surprise, Siklósi (Men's Épeé)  like "heartbreak".

 

 

-3.Was your country's goal achieved? 

 

13 medals according to Hungarian NOC, 28 according to media. I expected a middle ground and so it was.

 

 

-4. Which are the sports that will be invested more in future? 

 

I really don't know. Handball???? 

 

[Agger 1,662]

. Rate the performance on a scale of 1-10

 

I'm going with an 8/10. 2nd best since 1948

 

2. What were the suprises and  heartbreaks ?

 

Rowing both had the biggest surprise and the biggest heartbreak. Felt so terrible for Sverri missing the medal while men's pairs were of course the one massive upset! Felt very sorry for Sara Slott ending her carreer with a fall as well.

 

3.Was your country's goal achieved? 

 

More than just achieved

 

4. Which are the sports that will be invested more in future? 

 

 

Considering the results canoeing and sailing could possibly be in for a raise. Especially sailing where IQ foils are already more popular in Denmark than the RS:X's.

Meanwhile swimming could be in serious trouble!

[hoversaBR 441]

1. Rate the performance on a scale of 1-10

 

6. Despite the historic result, many medals were somewhat "surprise" and others from new sports. Our main sports like sailing, volleyball and judo didn't convince. Overall this could be a problem for the upcoming Olympic Games.

 

2. What were the suprises and  heartbreaks ?

 

Beach volleyball was for sure the biggest disappointment, although the results are no surprise.
Brazil had some good surprises in judo, swimming, boxing and athletics, but for sure the best was the bronze in women's tennis.

 

3.Was your country's goal achieved? 

 

Yes, best result by total medals in history. We almost beat the total of golds, but matching Rio 2016's number was already a good result.

 

4. Which are the sports that will be invested more in future? 

Current / Upcoming sports

 

 I'm honestly afraid of that answer.

[hckošice 14,824]

 

Rate the performance on a scale of 1-10

 

5  - Not great, Not Terrible

 

 

 

2. What were the suprises and  heartbreaks ?

 

Surprise or better say shock, obviously Rory Sabbatini and his unbelievable final round, coming out of nowhere in the last round marking new Olympic Record of 61 in the last day which catapulted him to the absolutely unreal Silver medal and was one single avoided bogey or just a bit better 3rd round from the Gold medal

 

Heartbreaks,

there were much more than pleasant surprises this time, the biggest being at least for me Boris Makoev having a disastrous but really disastrous draw in the epic return of Slovak wrestling, all 3 months of hard training and work preparation for his biggest careers moment went to the absolute oblivion in a matter of seconds after the draw with Naifonov in 1st round and Yazdani being also in the same part of bracket. So all chances of huge boost and popularisation of this sporten in the country ended by only 1 single match wrestled in the middle of the night...terrible dissapointement for Boris. His tears in front of cameras and that feeling of wasted lifetime chance will hurt much for a long while I am afraid.

The other one was the Canoe Slalom M C1, to fail to win a medal in this pure Slovak event for the very first time in history will need some time to swallow

 

 

3.Was your country's goal achieved? 

 

I believe we do. Winning 4 medals and a couple of other honorable placements and efforts or even some small but very valuable partial achievements like first ever win in Badminton and Boxing at the Olympic Games was great.

 

Also remember that more than 60 % of our team in Tokyo was made of olympic debutants and young athletes which first goal was to learn and gain olympic experiences, some of them made even the finals (Mintálová, Škáchová, Jány) or Zapletalová made the semifinals in barely regular lane 1 in that huge rain storm

 

4. Which are the sports that will be invested more in future? 

 

No idea. I do believe nothing will really change, the main sport will remains Ice Hockey. We are actually living some huge hype with our current Under 18 Team which is by far the best we had in history. The team around expected 2 next year NHL Draft 1st rounders maybe even top 10s Finished in Silver postition during the Olympics at the prestigious Hlinka-Gretzky Cup beating the likes of USA, SWE, FIN or GER by smashing 12-2 .

 

So sad this generation will not have the chance to play the Top division world championships though, since their predecessors were relegated to the Division I. Well, hard luck for the other teams in this division this year, our youngs will very likely eat them alive one by one.

 

 

Plus the most important moment of the year 2021 for Slovakia is still just to come, in 3 weeks, the Ice Hockey Olympic Final Qualifier. This will decide about the future of this country even more than with some parliamentary elections