Epic Failure

I'm sure that I'll think of others down the line but right now the ones that come to mind are the general enthusiasm that the skateboarders (amongst others) have for each other's performances, the women especially. It just seems a sport filled with positivity.
 
And in a similar note to the marathon, Megan Keith persevering in finishing the women's 10000m the other night, despite being well off her best form. It would have been easier to DNF, especially as she started the final lap after everyone else had finished. Glad the crowd got behind her. A reminder for us all that these are people trying their best. And sometimes their best on the day is just completing the race.

I'm sure that I'll think of others down the line but right now the ones that come to mind are the general enthusiasm that the skateboarders (amongst others) have for each other's performances, the women especially. It just seems a sport filled with positivity.
 
And in a similar note to the marathon, Megan Keith persevering in finishing the women's 10000m the other night, despite being well off her best form. It would have been easier to DNF, especially as she started the final lap after everyone else had finished. Glad the crowd got behind her. A reminder for us all that these are people trying their best. And sometimes their best on the day is just completing the race.

I'm sure that I'll think of others down the line but right now the ones that come to mind are the general enthusiasm that the skateboarders (amongst others) have for each other's performances, the women especially. It just seems a sport filled with positivity.
 
And in a similar note to the marathon, Megan Keith persevering in finishing the women's 10000m the other night, despite being well off her best form. It would have been easier to DNF, especially as she started the final lap after everyone else had finished. Glad the crowd got behind her. A reminder for us all that these are people trying their best. And sometimes their best on the day is just completing the race.

Any sport worth its salt will have tough questions for itself. That's how you keep competing. I'm sure rowing asked itself some taxing things after Tokyo.
 
But the "plucky top 10" finishes are important. Because that shows a sport in good health, not a sport that needs a complete reset or should lose funding. For some of the smaller sports, getting that plucky top 10 might be the difference between them being funded and not.
 
Track cycling will come home with, at worst, matching the total medal haul from Tokyo. Again, it should ask tough questions because that's healthy. But it should also be acknowledged that it still delivered hardware.
 

But yet massively overshot the 50 medal target
 
i don’t this narrative of the games not being a success for GB will hold whatsoever. Lots of nearly moments of bronze and silvers turning into gold, sure, but overall (& Epic can confirm this with his top 8 tally) the Games has been very successful for the team 

The good news is that I’m thinking his funding might also be cut so there will be less chat about funding come LA

Yep! It's sort of the anti-London. 29 Golds from 65 medals in 2012 was a ridiculous ratio, even accounting for the fact it was a home Games. To drop down to 14-15 from what looks like it'll end up being 65+ total medals is not far off equally ridiculous in the other direction. Them's the breaks sometimes, I guess! 

Damn, how did we as a nation get so hung up on the GSB arrangement of the medals table?  It is perfectly obvious that the total number of medals is the only true measure of sporting excellence.  

I wonder how this will affect their funding

Clearly something special about all people named Georgia. We’re a good bunch!

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is a 5000m specialist in denial xD

Also it’s only the SIXTH gold medal EVER for Portugal, so you have to understand how huge this is!!!
 
I hope this guys get the f*cking president receiving him at the airport with all the honors they deserve!

what a brilliant Madison - fair play to Portugal who utterly smashed it in those last 50 laps, great race.

First ever gold outside of athletics and one of only 6 ever! Great work 

Do you know that they had no intention of going for a medal, rather than just being outclassed? Are you privy to their tactics?
 
Incidentally, we saw the Austrians attack early. They even won both a lap and a sprint. How did that work out for them?

I mean that's just objectively not true.
 
Ignoring the impact that losing Hayter might have had to the team's plans, this field is stacked.
 
And even it we think that it is a bad showing, it still doesn't make it 'shameful'.

Yes Caden!
 
Taekwondo really should have more weight classes at the games. It's one of the most well run events in my opinion. Quick and well regulated. Give the boxing classes to it instead.

You could even say... a drowner on events... (I'll see myself out) 

Round 3 muhammad drops this discovery+ mic and hops the barrier with a steel chair! 

On total medals, I think we can pretty much count on 3 more from the Cycling (between Finucane/Caldwell, Men's Keirin, Men's Madison, Women's Omnium), plus the two Athletics relays. That's 62.
 
Think it's fair to project that between the two Modern Pentathlon women, two Taekwondo fighters, Muir, and Artistic Swimming, we might get another two. That's 64.
 
Anything beyond that (Emily Campbell, McNeice, Noah Williams, Burgin, or additional medals from the cyclists/pentathletes/Taekwondo fighters) would be a nice bonus, and take us past Tokyo. 

We could finish as low as 10th on golds for sure, if everything goes sideways.
 
Does it really matter? Only if we let it matter. 
 
If we were in 10th with 30 medals, sure it would need a *very* thorough investigation.
 
But being 10th with around 60 medals shows a system that basically works but just didn't have the results on the day. That's sport.
 
If nothing else changes in terms of funding, I would be more confident that our performance would be repeatable than some other countries.
 
 

We could finish as low as 10th on golds for sure, if everything goes sideways.
 
Does it really matter? Only if we let it matter. 
 
If we were in 10th with 30 medals, sure it would need a *very* thorough investigation.
 
But being 10th with around 60 medals shows a system that basically works but just didn't have the results on the day. That's sport.
 
If nothing else changes in terms of funding, I would be more confident that our performance would be repeatable than some other countries.
 
 

Sad to see Megan so obviously off form in the 10k, but well done to her for keeping going when the easier thing would have been to just DNF. And fair play to Eilish for comforting her.

By tomorrow some of the predictions will probably decree GBR will be lucky to finish in the top 10

Pretty exciting flurry of medals right there! Madison and W4x100 *could've* got Gold, but ultimately did brilliant work to secure Silver, and that's fine by me. The margins are so fine here - literally hundredths of a second - and in both cases 2nd feels like a perfectly good result.