Epic Failure

Technically he became known as the 'brains' behind a small independent trade team that was outperforming national teams, before then working with the Danish TP in Tokyo. It was after all that happened that INEOS/GB finally came calling. I think they never fully appreciated his talents until it was almost too late.

The Red Wings' maverick approach of having practically no competent defenders or goalies has started about as well as you would imagine that it would. Looks like it could be a long season....

Completely dumb and unnecessary.

Well...mostly unstoppable.

Got a bit hairy late, but pull away from 58-55 in the rugby.

lead in the rugby 28-27 at the half.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c990yd94j7eo These sportsmen and women are tough cookies.

Dammit. Had I made it to Paris I'd still have been in with a shot, but LA looks like I'll be aged out!

I'm sure he doesn't. But I'm sure that he feels better for the relay and probably wouldn't have benefitted if they had spent the entire week just telling him what an idiot he was for the FS. Maybe they did. Who knows? The point isn't to criticise winning but criticising winning at all costs (and therefore, by default, writing off those that didn't win but only got bronze or a top 8 finish as not worthy of admiration).

Which is even more impressive when you realise that some of France's top 8s were effectively guaranteed by being the host nation.

I think both are important. Like, I'm not going to criticise Australia and the Netherlands for being delighted with their gold figures in Paris. They should be rightly proud. Equally, I think we should be rightly proud of our overall performance, especially in terms of total medals. Other countries can be proud of their first medal, or in some cases their first final. There's not a limit to happiness! In related news, I'm pleased with the comments coming out of UK Sport, looking at both their own website and the Beeb story about the athletes coming back from the Games. I still hope that they (and the various sports) have the sensible tough discussions that all good governance should have but also that a "win at all costs" mentality is not necessarily conducive to healthy environments.

Men have competition from Ireland as well. Bigger issue will be whether Scotland will agree to work with the ECB on this or do a football. Obviously Wales isn't a problem on that side. On the subject of how people performed, think you are being harsh to some sports, if you are judging them on how they could have been expected on form. The women's rugby were not seeded to qualify from the group. So coming 7th is an over-peformance on that front. There's a separate argument about whether they should be doing better generally but that isn't related to the performance at the games. Same with table tennis - both Hursey and Pitchford lost to higher seeded players in the round you would expect them to do so. That's doing what is expected to me. Again, if we want to consider the overall health of the sport, that's a different matter. Skateboarding getting a 5 whilst mountain biking getting a 10 also seems weird. Both delivered pretty much exactly what we might have expected from them.

I dislike that Yorkshire gets its own segment but the right side of the Pennines just gets lumped into "North West".

I really want to but LA in July and August makes my pasty British body burn in anticipation.

Agreed that there are countries that would be hurt more but our total medal haul would be affected for sure. Gymnastics probably the most obvious sport where we would definitely lose medals to them.

My gut for LA is that we'll be somewhere around 50-70 medals, with a gold total somewhere between 12-25 (ie roughly what we have been at all Games since 2008!). The Aussies are bound to have a good Games there as they prepare for Brisbane and with the advantages they have in qualifying routes. The French will still be feeling some benefit from Paris, Japan perhaps less so from Tokyo. I'm not 100% convinced that the Dutch will repeat their performance here. Obviously the great unknown is when - if ever - Russia is allowed back to play. Things like quotas etc will undoubtedly come into play as well, which does make an impact. If push comes to shove, and no Russia, I think we will end up 4th in LA behind the usual 2 and the Aussies.

I think losing athletics and swimming from those champs probably makes them less appealing for a host city unfortunately. The European Games being in Turkey in 2027 are obviously going to be important as well, considering the increasing move towards them as a qualification route.

I mean, after Paris having the surfing in Tahiti, Oklahoma isn't that far away from LA in comparison.

Oh I know that it isn't likely to happen. It's just a wish I'd ask a genie if one appeared. But it would be lovely if that changed somehow, even if that meant some of the funding had to come from the UK to enable it. It just would be a fitting conclusion to the Games for it to go out on a note like that, where it all started.

Also, someone posted earlier in another thread a tweet from a fairly reliable journalist that Glasgow might be taking over the Commonwealths in 2026. That would be huge if true.

So take this with a huge grain of salt because it is only my opinion, but I reckon that 88 of our 135 top 8 finishes have a strong chance of being back in LA. Of that 88, 40 of our 65 medalists could reasonably return, including 12 of our golds. My vague methodology to work it out was removing anyone who would be over 30 in 2028, or potentially even younger in some sports (ie swimmers and gymnasts sometimes retire competitively by the time they are 25). I've also positively included teams like rowers, where we always seem to find someone who will be at least competitive in most disciplines. Same with athletics relays etc. I've been cautious in my thinking, erring on the side of ruling someone out if I thought there was any doubt. Obviously there will undoubtedly be some of the athletes who will make it who are older and some younger who won't. But it is a good starting point to consider. This definitely was not a team of grizzled veterans.

I really hope so. Would be a shame to lose it. If we do lose it, I'd prefer it to be in 2030 after a successful Canadian hosting. Just because I think there would be a lovely symmetry to that.

1. Everything about Tom Pidcock's mountain biking 2. The artistic swimming, both the performance and the reaction. 3. Megan Keith epitomising the Olympic spirit in the 10000m.

Actually, the progression in the 800 is far more believable. She went 2:03 as a 20 year old, coming second in the British age group champs in 2014. Hell, she'd gone 2:08 as a 15 year old. That might not sound impressive, but it is quicker than Phoebe Gill went at the same age. Bell was a talented youth who fell out of love with the sport after a disastrous few years, including a couple of years in the NCAAs which did nothing for her. She's now being trained by the same coaches as Keely Hodgkinson, coaches which include Jenny Meadows (a 1:57 800m runner herself). I understand that people will have their doubts and I'm certainly not going to sit here and claim that no British person would ever be a doper. But let's not also pretend that she has no absolutely no athletic background at all either.

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.