Team GB Full delegation announced

[Dragon 1,844]

1 hour ago, mpjmcevoy said:

I'm going to go with, yes, treating animals harshly is very bad, but still not on the scale of raping little girls.

 

What I find hard to swallow is the, I'm pretty certain, blinding hypocrisy of it. Naked partisan is one thing. When you know damn well the nature of European dressage training, its difficult to stomach. i'm perfectly content that Dujardin is banned, and Hester is investigated. Good. But I damn well hope the Dutch get what's coming to them too.

I would still like to see what the video contains. Relatively gentle taps on the legs is not to be condoned but if it was relative GBH a) I'd be surprised b) it should be counter productive in the long term

[RussB 189]

Another country ( with I suspect ties to their representative delegation) releasing this at a time which essentially hamstrungs GB in their bid on the team front and and the individual front leaves a sour taste in the mouth. It’s political intervention; nothing more and nothing less 

 

At the same time, the reality of evidence of our leading female olympic medallist acting in a way which is not promoting equine safety and wellbeing leaves a distinct and equally (if not more so) bitter taste. 

Edited July 23 by RussB

[Epic Failure 355]

I'm far less concerned with the alleged political machinations behind the release than I am with the actions being alleged.

 

If Dujardin doesn't do it in the first place, there's no video to release.

 

If what she is alleged to have done is common practice across nations then the sooner we can say good riddance to the whole sordid thing, the better in my book.

 

[Mkbw50 438]

I'm a bit unsure of this "the Dutch did it to sabotage Team GB" thing tbh

[mpjmcevoy 362]

51 minutes ago, Epic Failure said:

I'm far less concerned with the alleged political machinations behind the release than I am with the actions being alleged.

 

If Dujardin doesn't do it in the first place, there's no video to release.

 

If what she is alleged to have done is common practice across nations then the sooner we can say good riddance to the whole sordid thing, the better in my book.

 

I wouldn't disagree. Dressage is a sport long hallowed by its history. But you absolutely would not invent it now - training horses to unnaturally mimic dancing - at leat the other two events train the horses to do something they basically do naturally anyway (gallop and jump). My strong suspicion is that it is impossible to make horses do Dressage to any significant level without fairly frequent physical chastisement. And I think everyone in the sport knows that and keeps schtum, like the old cycling omerta.

 

This is intriguing but it seems pretty likely that one team, or individual on that team has broken that omerta at a time calculated to gain partizan gain. That will bring repercussions, especially given the Tokyo Mod Pent incident.

[mpjmcevoy 362]

5 minutes ago, Mkbw50 said:

I'm a bit unsure of this "the Dutch did it to sabotage Team GB" thing tbh

All the evidence points to Dutch 'whistleblower', right on the eve of the Games when it does most sporting damage to a rival. In a climate where the Dutch generally have taken pelters for choosing child rapists.

 

Ockham's razor.

[Olympicsnell 300]

7 minutes ago, Mkbw50 said:

I'm a bit unsure of this "the Dutch did it to sabotage Team GB" thing tbh

I cant see how it isnt, the timing is too co-incidental to not cause maximum damage but i will be honest i am not as familiar with dressage as others, is it the dutch that are likely to benefit from a poorer gb team? 

 

Where does this leave gb team medal hopes, all gone? Or just more of a battle

[Epic Failure 355]

13 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

I cant see how it isnt, the timing is too co-incidental to not cause maximum damage but i will be honest i am not as familiar with dressage as others, is it the dutch that are likely to benefit from a poorer gb team? 

 

Where does this leave gb team medal hopes, all gone? Or just more of a battle

They aren't the only team who could benefit but they are consistently in the top 5 or 6, so a weakened GBR team undoubtedly would help.

 

GBR's chances are not gone but are weakened.

[Olympicsnell 300]

5 minutes ago, Epic Failure said:

They aren't the only team who could benefit but they are consistently in the top 5 or 6, so a weakened GBR team undoubtedly would help.

 

GBR's chances are not gone but are weakened.

Positive enough for me

[mpjmcevoy 362]

21 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

I cant see how it isnt, the timing is too co-incidental to not cause maximum damage but i will be honest i am not as familiar with dressage as others, is it the dutch that are likely to benefit from a poorer gb team? 

 

Where does this leave gb team medal hopes, all gone? Or just more of a battle

It's an odd sport. a bit like F1, the rider is only as good as the horse. A good rider will do well regardless, but not win. Dujardin had an astonishing horse. She no longer has, but was returning to the top echelons. but the main gold medal shot is Lottie Fry. The reserve horse is not bad at all, and you could argue it doesn't hurt as much as it looks like it would.

 

But the aim here is not, I suspect, the individual event, but the team event which historically has been where the Germans and Dutch excelled before GBR upset that apple cart out of nowhere in 2012. I would think sabotaging the team, rather than just eliminating the person, is the aim - any inquiry/investigation into Dujardin is going to suck in Hester too.

 

IMHO Fry is still a strong bet for a medal in the individual, but the team are probably in trouble.