Team GB Daily: Day 6

[Olympicsnell 333]

Sailing heads, is the iq foil FINAL a series of races between the three or a straght up final?

[Jon 59]

3 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

Sailing heads, is the iq foil FINAL a series of races between the three or a straght up final?

Straight up final which determines medal colour I think 

[Olympicsnell 333]

2 minutes ago, Jon said:

Straight up final which determines medal colour I think 

It seems silly, if its on the same day as the semi's etc then everyone else is going to be competing and learning the course conditions for the day, but at least shes in!

[Epic Failure 364]

39 minutes ago, JamDH said:

I'd argue its futile for any country to expect a gold in the road races.

I don't think Olympicsnell was *expecting* a gold in the road race. They were using that as an example of the events which are a lottery and which can determine whether this is a 'good' Olympics or a 'great' Olympics.

 

Hell, the BMX racing is another one. Shriever has looked great but the event has so many crashes that you wouldn't expect a gold from it, even if you have a strong contender. You can easily get taken out even if you do nothing wrong. It's not like, say, swimming, where the chance of being taken out should be pretty low.

[Rich 31]

So glad that Andy went out fighting. It looked like they'd limp out but, as the commentators said, they somehow got us believing again. It was a little too late for this match but still amazing to watch Andy (with Dan's help) rage against the dying of the light.

 

The 42 consecutive weeks at number 1 and the 2 Olympic titles probably a better measure of his quality than the number of slams. If he was 10 years older he would have had three times as many. The people who love to put him down like to say it was never a big 4 but for about 4 years it absolutely was.

[Olympicsnell 333]

18 minutes ago, Epic Failure said:

I don't think Olympicsnell was *expecting* a gold in the road race. They were using that as an example of the events which are a lottery and which can determine whether this is a 'good' Olympics or a 'great' Olympics.

 

Hell, the BMX racing is another one. Shriever has looked great but the event has so many crashes that you wouldn't expect a gold from it, even if you have a strong contender. You can easily get taken out even if you do nothing wrong. It's not like, say, swimming, where the chance of being taken out should be pretty low.

Yeah that is exactly what i meant

Shriver looks better than she has all season i think, race to that first corner, hit it first and i dont see anyone catching her, but again what i highlighted you said above

[Epic Failure 364]

Solid evening in the pool. Duncan, Tom and Ben all got the job done with little fuss. Honey and Katie both did excellently to make the final.

 

The 5th place in the relay is about as good as we could have hoped without misfortune for one of the teams above us. Same with Laura really, she might have been 1 or 2 places higher but she was never going to be in medal contention.

 

The big "what if" is Greenbank's DQ the other day. Not sure he'd have had the pace to medal but we'll never know...

[Epic Failure 364]

4 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

Yeah that is exactly what i meant

Shriver looks better than she has all season i think, race to that first corner, hit it first and i dont see anyone catching her, but again what i highlighted you said above

She's looked great but so have Sakakibara and Willoughby. In a clean race those 3 look like the most obvious podium, in some order. Now let's hope for a clean race....

[RussB 189]

All season long Beth has been beaten to the bend by Sakakibara and not got round her. Let’s see if it’s any different tomorrow!

[mpjmcevoy 377]

3 hours ago, Rich said:

So glad that Andy went out fighting. It looked like they'd limp out but, as the commentators said, they somehow got us believing again. It was a little too late for this match but still amazing to watch Andy (with Dan's help) rage against the dying of the light.

 

The 42 consecutive weeks at number 1 and the 2 Olympic titles probably a better measure of his quality than the number of slams. If he was 10 years older he would have had three times as many. The people who love to put him down like to say it was never a big 4 but for about 4 years it absolutely was.

The Big three acknowledge his place among them. That's probably good enough. for me he is something else, something maybe less grand, but more noble. He was the one mortal who bridged the gap to the three gods, even if only for a while. Twice he made 'the catch' - in 2013 when he won 2 of four slams and the Olympics in one year, and the miracle end of 2016 with another grand slam/olympic double along with ATP finals and World number one, and a deep run in the Davis Cup - on both occasions he was unquestionably in a 'big four' - and on both occasions injury intervened to curtail his run, the second time permanently - he was brave post 2019, but never the same player - that's what happens when mortals challenge gods - ask Odysseus, or Prometheus.

 

But  by the gods, he loved trying, and no story of the reign of the Big Three in years to come will be possible to tell without him.

 

And in the end, he left on his own terms, as himself. Raging against the dying of the light, manufacturing little miracles out of sheer will, and loving being THE olympic legend in the men's side of the sport. Rafa owns the clay, Djok the Australian, and with Fed, Wimbledon. But The Olympics, that odd little add on, belongs to Murray. He was Olympian, and that's good enough.