Rich

Not really sure that there's much hope for better things for 7s in this country, even with Scotland pushing it a bit. There are enough potential professional 15s contracts for half decent British players which means they are all unavailable and those that are left aren't good enough or would rather do something else. Maybe they should just pick the U20s and sell it to the clubs and players as a development thing? I guess that might be why Scotland added it to their 'pathway' but that's a small pool to pick from.

What an embarrassment.

Yeah, he's got an interesting range.

And he did it again. I remember a young British sprinter bursting onto the scene about twenty one years ago. What ever happened to him?!?! Apologies Brennan for the comparison but he'll have to get used to it if he keeps going like this.

I just read this on the BBC and looked him up. He has some truly fantastic results for someone so young.

And a bronze in the bobsleigh. It's been a very encouraging winter for the British team.

Surprised by that women's kierin. Was that expected?

Not quite sure why hockey has been given an extra million but will let it go on the basis that we need to encourage team sports.

Fair enough, both. But it just seems a bit strange to fund so many with such limited Olympic outcome over a long period. I'd be delighted to see something meaningful come out of it but, on a surface level, other sports have not been shown as much patience.

That looks like a lot of very mediocre (on an international level) athletes getting support. I assume the funding is extremely minimal? Only Giles' world ranking suggests an athlete in the right ballpark to do something significant and even then, I don't get the impression that Judo is a sport where the world number 8 is likely to win an Olympic medal (if the Olympics were tomorrow)?

Reeves clearly spent too much time watching Keely etc and not enough time watching hockey and other relative disappointments.

It's quiet around here Funding for the next cycle has been announced and, in a pleasant surprise to me, there's been a 10% uplift. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/articles/cy87xr28jj7o

It's terribly sad and, at the same time, his attitude is inspiring. Fingers crossed he gets as much time as possible.

A very good performance! Interesting that there are no Dutch medals on the list and conversely a strong performance by Germany.

The UK won't be building new pools sadly. It would be nice if local government, underfunded by central government in massive debt, stopped closing them. This is an article from 2023: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/mar/12/england-has-lost-almost-400-swimming-pools-since-2010