Athletics 2016 Discussion Thread

[phelps 7,706]

5 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Ah, I thought it was "top-8" OR "sub-3:45"  

 

initially they said so, but then they started to say "top 8 but within a certain distance from the medallists"...

basically, they wanted our athletes to show a certain level of competitivness, which Giupponi failed to give...

but with Italian sport federations you can be sure that no standard is so strict...they will always find the way to adjust things to their favor, if they really want...

and the same will happen with swimming...we can be sure that at the end the team will be larger than expected, with some late additions even if the original criteria haven't been matched...

[NearPup 3,072]

22 minutes ago, phelps said:

 

initially they said so, but then they started to say "top 8 but within a certain distance from the medallists"...

basically, they wanted our athletes to show a certain level of competitivness, which Giupponi failed to give...

but with Italian sport federations you can be sure that no standard is so strict...they will always find the way to adjust things to their favor, if they really want...

and the same will happen with swimming...we can be sure that at the end the team will be larger than expected, with some late additions even if the original criteria haven't been matched...

Those seem like insane selection criteria o.o

[heywoodu 15,174]

Andreas Thorkildsen is now a retired athlete  

 

Such a shame, he had everything going for him in terms of being an awesome athlete: Norwegian, throwing huge distances and for God's sake, his name starts with the name of the one and only God of Thunder 

[Agger 1,663]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Andreas Thorkildsen is now a retired athlete  

 

Such a shame, he had everything going for him in terms of being an awesome athlete: Norwegian, throwing huge distances and for God's sake, his name starts with the name of the one and only God of Thunder 

 

Sad news indeed.

One of my absolute favourites!

[dcro 10,210]

2 hours ago, Agger said:

 

Sad news indeed.

One of my absolute favourites!

 

I always preferred Tero Pitkamaki in their duels.

[Agger 1,663]

33 minutes ago, dcro said:

 

I always preferred Tero Pitkamaki in their duels.

 

I liked both!

[heywoodu 15,174]

The organizers in Shanghai totally fucked up the start of the 800m, resulting in Bram Som not being able to set the pace and therefore screwing Thijmen Kuper's by far best chance ever to qualify for the Olympics.. 

[dcro 10,210]

7 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

The organizers in Shanghai totally fucked up the start of the 800m, resulting in Bram Som not being able to set the pace and therefore screwing Thijmen Kuper's by far best chance ever to qualify for the Olympics.. 

Do you know how much Bram Som gets paid for being a pacemaker?

 

If I'm not mistaken he has been a pacemaker for quite some time.

[heywoodu 15,174]

Just now, dcro said:

Do you know how much Bram Som gets paid for being a pacemaker?

 

If I'm not mistaken he has been a pacemaker for quite some time.

I have no idea

 

I'm pretty sure he has already made the decision quite a while ago that he simply isn't good enough as a full 800m runner anymore, but he definitely is good enough to be a well-paid pacemaker. If I was him, I'd very much prefer being a well-paid pacemaker than being an athlete who mostly appears in small meets and heats of European championships  

[rybak 3,222]

3 next Polish athletes achieved standards for Rio