Team GB Daily: Day 16

[G-ann 113]

Gutted for Carlin, definitely too far for a gold/silver but a shame. Glad he seems as ok as you can be!

 

(perhaps this is why my step dad never took me to any track cycling as a little one…) 

[Jon 43]

The last day of action continued in much the same vein as previous. 
 

The positive I think is that some sports may undertake a root and branch review, as Rowing did after Tokyo, which is certainly no bad thing. 
 

UK Sports targets:

50-70 medals - ACHIEVED

1/3 medals to be Gold - NOT ACHIEVED

Top 5 Place - NOT ACHIEVED 

 

[Epic Failure 355]

Today definitely falls into the "bad luck" argument for me.

 

We lose a potential gold medal hope to illness, we lose 2 minor medal hopes to crashes in front of them, and we get a bronze in an event where there's not an unreasonable chance that had she been on the other side of the draw it might have been silver.

 

The only real disappointment today is the selection of Evans, who looks hopelessly off form.

 

Thanks to Emma and Emily we get through the Games winning a medal every day, which is a first for us that I know about, at least in the modern era.

 

 

 

 

Overall, a good games for me. Not a great games, the drop in gold clearly prevents that. I've no doubt that it will be seen as worse in public perception than it actually was, because of that drop in gold.

 

We increase our total medal tally from Tokyo, as well as our top 8 finishes (as things stand; please no drugs failures taking things away!). We match the tally from Tokyo of medalling in 18 different sports, including 2 new ones (artistic swimming and climbing). That to me shows that our sports are generally in a good place.

 

Clearly I'm sure there will be serious conversations happening, as there should be.

 

But - for me at least - it's easier to have those conversation when you have some silverware to back it up. It shows a system that is mostly working but needs tweaking, rather than a system that needs ripping out and starting again.

[Olympicsnell 300]

And like 3 years ago, here i am watching water polo clutching on to the dying flames of the Olympics wishing it we had another week. 

Week 2 was underwhelming but hopefully we can bounce back in L.A and have more champion's like we know our team is capable off. I have enjoyed having this forum to share the experience with as well, and look forward to following the progress towards 2028 (and 2026 winters of course, but its not the same) maybe create a review topic for tomorrow? 

Winning more medals than tokyo, very good! 
Winning significantly less golds than expected, bad
Finishing below netherlands and other sporting rivals, very bad and hopefully the shot in the foot we need going into the next olympiad

[Epic Failure 355]

I just hate the 2 week wait until the Paralympics start. Don't want to go back to normal life.

 

Not having a Commonwealths in 26 sucks as well. Normally that's a lovely mid point in cycles.

[Epic Failure 355]

So I've not worked out exactly, but with the medals won by teams etc, around 110 of our 320-ish athletes are coming back with a medal of some colour. 36 athletes will be coming back with a gold.

 

That sounds like a silly thing to care about, but each of those medalists might serve as an inspiration to someone from their local community down the line. You just never know.

[Olympicsnell 300]

Last event 😭

[G-ann 113]

  On 8/11/2024 at 1:13 PM, Epic Failure said:

So I've not worked out exactly, but with the medals won by teams etc, around 110 of our 320-ish athletes are coming back with a medal of some colour. 36 athletes will be coming back with a gold.

 

That sounds like a silly thing to care about, but each of those medalists might serve as an inspiration to someone from their local community down the line. You just never know.

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I’m tempted to also work out the ages of both medalists and those who came in real close. Just as I have a feeling that some of the near misses were athletes competing for the first time or are on the younger side of things. Appreciate it’s not always a measure of likely success but hopefully an indication of things to come. But I want the data first before throwing a wild theory round! 

[Olympicsnell 300]

  On 8/11/2024 at 2:57 PM, G-ann said:

I’m tempted to also work out the ages of both medalists and those who came in real close. Just as I have a feeling that some of the near misses were athletes competing for the first time or are on the younger side of things. Appreciate it’s not always a measure of likely success but hopefully an indication of things to come. But I want the data first before throwing a wild theory round! 

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Yeah this is something im interested in, the keeleys, the finucane's and yee's who will be at their peak in 28

[G-ann 113]

  On 8/11/2024 at 3:00 PM, Olympicsnell said:

Yeah this is something im interested in, the keeleys, the finucane's and yee's who will be at their peak in 28

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And this is how I justify binning off all the actual work I need to do today… what a shame…