Epic Failure

That's an easy position to take when tou have a country of 1.4 billion people obsessed with that one sport.
 
My view is 'loathe away', but don't expect the rest of us to care, or capitulate.

Frist international century in the Italian history! 
Btw, they are foreign with an italian heritage.

I agree about the ranking points issue but I think the bigger issue is the fact that the tours themselves continue to hold events during the Olympics.
 
If we want tennis players to treat the Olympics as more important than normal events, then we should treat them as more important. Don't schedule a hard court event in DC the same week. It's literally tempting players to make the 'professional' choice.

I mean, the change of surface aspect *is* a thing and happens sometimes in non-Olympic years, especially for those who are grass or clay specialists.
 
Hell, Rafa Nadal is doing the opposite - he's skipping grass this year precisely because he wants to do the Olympics without changing surface.
 
I'm sure some of it is because the Olympics might be less special for some tennis players than it is for other sports. But the change of surface thing is a real phenomenon.

If ICC truly wants to expand the game, they can do the following 
1) Include nearby associate nations in minimum T20 tournaments in bilateral tours. Better if 1-2 games can be hosted by the associate nation. For example, let's say India is touring England for T20, ODI and Test series let there be a T20 with Scotland, Netherlands, England, Ireland, India. Similarly, any team touring the subcontinent can have Nepal, Malaysia and Hong Kong
 
2) Include atleast 1 player from a pool of top associate nations in teams of top franchise leagues like IPL, BBL, PSL. This player should play 30% of league games. For example, in IPL teams play 14 league games, so an associate nation player must play 4 games. This will improve exposure of associate players 

Hard Agree.
 
There are ways to utilise the Full Members and Senior associates to provide real incentives tot he rest of Europe without flooding the calendar - a tiered series where Netherlands and Scotland only join in at penultimate stage (sort of QF), and Ireland and England at the ulitimate stage (sort of SF). might not sound like much, and possibly only requires literally a game or two from England, Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland, but it would be epic for other European teams to at least theoretically have a one off crack at a 'big boy' - at worst, the recognised best four European teams have a quick warm up for the summer. at best, a smaller European nation gets a major publicity boost.

As an aside that sort of time bodes well for Yeargin being one of the 4 chosen in the relay final. Also she might well be a contender to run in the mixed relay (at least heat) if she doesn’t make the individual.
 
I’m hoping we get a couple more field athletes there, it’s sad to see so little GB representation. The two boys in the hammer are banging on the door, and it would be great to see someone break through in the javelin again.

I'd like there to be a change in mentality in the ICC and for them to insist that anyone coming north to play England also play at least 1 of Ireland and Scotland whilst they are there. Only way the game will ever grow is more chances and exposure for smaller nations.

If the Dutch want a challenge, let's get them to try and move this statue of old Otto in Hamburg...
 

Scotland have still got 2 perfectly reasonable shots. Either Namibia knocking off England (much more likely in a shortened game) or beating Aus tomorrow. Far better for the game if one of those were to happen than a rain decided conclusion.

Very worrying news about Jess Warner-Judd - you might remember she was heading for a top 10 place in the Women's 10000m on Tuesday with about 2-3 laps to go but DNF.  Well, there was a reason.
 
Jessica Warner-Judd diagnosed with focal epilepsy after suffering a seizure at European Athletics Championships - BBC Sport
 
 

Mondo will pay the price for his lack of vision.

Order 66 is about the only way to stop Mondo. See how he would fare vaulting with the 501st firing at him...

1 and 2 are definitely fixable, albeit not guaranteed. Eilish clearly just needs more miles in her legs. Whether she can get it in time for Paris is very debateable but the problem is pretty easy. She was saying coming into Rome that she was surprised that she was ahead of schedule. She did 5k yesterday, which would on its own be 10th in Britain on time.
 
KJT is the same. You would hope that this was nothing more than an attempted cobweb blowing, so to speak. She realised that she wasn't at top form and if she did have a niggle, there's just no point in risking Paris even 1% for the Euros. Obv with the hept there is always the jeopardy of injury but certainly nothing to worry about right now.
 
Jemma's kick will be less important in the 800m unless both Keely and Mu are injured. Because one of them will be trying to grind the others down. The only time it would be a problem would be if everyone lets Moraa dictate the tempo. It probably still won't be enough for Jemma but I'm not sure there's much more she can do.
 
The relay is immediately fixable with something closer to a first team out - Azu and Hughes would be nailed on the first 2 legs. What the make up of the others is remains to be seen, but there's a perfectly likely possibility that none of the 4 in Rome will even be in the Paris squad.
 
Jessie just looks past her best. Hopefully she'll prove me wrong, but no disgrace if she is. It happens to us all sooner or later.

A full strength mixed 4 x 400 from GBR will absolutely be competitive if it includes both Charlie and Matthew - BIG IF. But it looks increasingly impossible to combine mixed 4, sexed 4 and individual 4 without mega depth. Mutterings beginning already that Rhasidat Adeleke is going to be pulled from Irish relay teams to protect her individual chances (which I think is insane, not least given how strong Sharlene is as a relay runner) - feels more and more like rowing where you have to look at your pool and concentrate your crews! GBR of course has already tasted this problem in the pool itself with the workload put on Scott, Guy and Dean (and which will be put also on richards this time)
 
As for where GBR are, there have been a handful of genuine disappointsments and setbacks, but really not many - youngsters like Keith, Dobson and Caudery may be pissed off with missing Gold, as will Neita but they have reinforced their world class credentials - a welcome multiple boost for the squad going forward. Glave's very strong international debut cannot be overshadowed by the relay debacle. Thackery, Bell and Mills were fantastic, Sember, Mitchem-Duke, Scott Lincoln, Ali Chalmers all good progress, very encouraging work from the Neilsens, Jade O'Dowda, Anna Purchase.
 
The genuine disappointments/concerns are relatively few, albeit they are real and bad - KJT, Eilish, Men's relay, Jessie Knight, Maybe Jemma Reekie in terms of kick. I'm not sure 1, 2 and 4 are fixable, I'm sure 3 is, I'm sure 5 isn't, but not certain that matters.
 
and of course Dina, and hopefully Keely
 
It's been a development event for GBR, but I think it's served its purpose well, and a home non-Olympic event in Birmingham in 2026 looks more interesting from a medalling perspective.
 
As for Paris, I think GBR were maybe a little spoilt during the golden years from Ohoruogu in 2008 to Dina/KJT in 2019. Let's keep it realistic, enjoy ANY medals and strong performances, and for god sake practice the men's relay.

I suspect Megan will be pretty happy with her bronze to be honest.
 

Tamberi is a nutter. Bless him.

The only way Reekie misses is if Keely doesn't run, and mishaps occur in the trials final. Phoebe Gill is a phenomanal talent, but she's still green, and her kick hasn't been tested (her raw speed is obviously astonishing). Frankly, if Keely got injured, Reekie would become a major favourite to medal behind Mu and Moraa. she won't be left at home unless they have to to accommodate Keely.

Whatever ranking she ends up with, you can probably bump it up by one. As I doubt UKA will take Anna Purchase unless she goes a couple of metres further before the window closes than she has this season.

As much as I love Dina, she will have done well if she finals in the Olympics. Aside from Eugene in 2022 she hasn't really been a factor in global finals since Doha in 2019. I think if we're expecting individual medals from her that's putting unreasonable pressure on her at this stage in her career.
 
Jemma was leading because nobody else wanted to. She kept leaving the gap but nobody wanted to take the option up.
 
The more I think about it, the more we should credit Mageean more than anything. She is the class of the field in terms of pure 1500m running - her PB is 3 seconds quicker over 1500m than Jemma, and she's been working on her 800m this year (set a NR last month). She got her tactics spot on. It wasn't ever slow enough to be a complete 800m kickers race. And class won out.

As I said before, I'm not convinced there was much to the push. I think Reekie was going backwards.
 
I think she was hoping that she could steal a gold here by having too much of a kick for Ciara in the home straight in a relatively slow race (turned out the exact opposite!)
 
I doubt she's thinking of 1500m in Paris - thus far in her career she's not shown that she has the stamina to stay with the very best over that distance. 800m she's still the best of the rest behind the Big 3 for me.

Don't think the push was much to be honest, Reekie was losing momentum already by that point. Poor run from her, in a race that should have worked to her advantage.
 
All credit to Mageean (and Bell). Ran their own races and reaped the rewards.

aye, if she can put the first 40 of the SF and the last 60 of the final into one race, there's a good time there.

Well, there's that as well. But even still, he and Reekie had the same problem - no kick to call on in the home straight.
 
That steeple DSQ is very, very harsh, especially with the leniency being shown in the sprints.

The placing table all week has had 49 events listed, which would include the team events. I was surprised at that as well, given the history. But I'm not complaining, given the ability to bump our total.