G-ann

Speaking of pub sports. What would constitute the events in a British pub Olympics? 
 

A boat race obviously, maybe skittles? Then queuing politely yet passive aggressively at a busy bar.. 

1 hour ago, Timezone said:

GB biggest issue is that don't dominate a sport we can rely 4-5 golds per cycle. USA have athletics and swimming, China table tennis, Japan wrestling 

Australia swimming. Should have one sport offers plenty of medals concentrate on. 

I think we’ve giving that approach a decent go in rowing:

Paris: 3G 2S 3B

Toyko (oops): 1S 1B

Rio: 3G 2S

London: 4G 2S 3B

Same could be said for previous games of track cycling (this games obviously less good), pictured below : 

Which supports @KingKuntas view that having a few things we’re solid at can help mitigate a wobbly performance in others. 
 

With my “I play sport hat” on, I’d rather we continue to support the many talented athletes we have and invest in a variety of sports, which in turn inspires and benefits our general population. Not everyone is going to be an amazing cyclist but they could have a passion for climbing and having the facilities to do that and stay active is key for our wellbeing across the board. 
 

This in turn both inspires a greater proportion of the population to stay active 

One last mention although I might have to renounce my turbo nerd title. The American commentator (name unknown) eurosport got for the hockey was spectacularly irritating because of the use of what I presume was American terminology. Never before have I heard the term scoring sector and I do not wish to hear again for at least 4 years. 

Kit wise. Ban Ben Sherman from ever having input on anything. Conceptually I got it. But my gosh did the closing ceremony shirts look so painfully tacky and dated. 
 

Would have been better with an off white background instead of navy to show the design. 

2 hours ago, Olympicsnell said:

Things i will add, 

Discovery also has bonjour paris in the morning, presented by Orla which was great for setting the day up. 

The few times i watched bbc the swapping channels was dreadful, mens triathlon for example swapping from red button to BBC1 on THE LAST LAP. 

I bearly watched BBC, the only occasions i did is when i KNEW they would be showing a live event (keely, triathlon) or because they had a commentary team i enjoyed. I would have watched a lot more athletics and swimming on BBC but there were occasions i knew there was an event on and we had to sit through an interview with adam peatys pet cat. 

The one thing i feel i missed out on with discovery is, as you said, a studio feel that gelled the show together, i do occasionally like skit's about the athletes village for example.
 

The other bad thing with discovery was the distinct lack of charlton kirby covering the cycling 

Please share the interview with the pet cat. I need this. 
 

I was mostly frustrated by BBCs delayed showing of the hockey, and became reliant on Eurosport. The first GB women’s match was 15 minutes behind on the BBC and it was infuriating. It just doesn’t work for a live match! 

For flag football, I’ve got a hen do in October. The maid of honour is one of the fringe players for the GB squad - will see what insights I can gain for the greater good of the forum. 

2 minutes ago, Olympicsnell said:

At least you have a shot at the Excel World Championships, top work!

I have actually looked at the practice questions before and it’s something I’m genuinely considering… need the actual excel job to stabilise but I’ve got my sights on the 2025 qualifiers. 

9 minutes ago, Grassmarket said:

Yeah, but do you think Jeremiah Azu feels better about his solo 100m performance than one of the other Olympians who came fourth?  I don’t really buy into this whole “elite sport as a self-esteem” exercise.  There are far cheaper & less public ways to feeling good about yourself.

Just don't get caught buying it a la Aussie Hockey players? 

Anyway, finally have a mostly complete heatmap (my age rabbithole continues...)

There is a pleasing trend towards older athletes getting medals and then plenty of younger ones on the way! (It also confirms I am now past any hope of Olympic glory...) 

Full dashboard here: https://lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/04df8548-3fcf-43e0-884e-3724f9bc0ce1

3 minutes ago, George_D said:

GB team had the most medals in total after USA and China. This is the most important. Some times diferrence between a gold and a silver is too small. In next Olympics we might see 60-65 medals and 20+ golds for example

I’d personally agree. Though there’s quite a few that use golds as the only success metric, so here’s to the paralympics and LA where we can celebrate more amazing people while I smash a few wines and some crisps 

I’d like to thank whoever made this visual representation of the medal related strife: Instagram Reel

But also a neat little graphic from the BBC showing where the Team GB medals came from, not sure if this is based on current location or birthplace… 

Personal schedule: 

First round 

1140 go to refresh forum out of habit

1141 remember Olympics is over 

1142 sadness 

repeat hourly until paralympics 

5 minutes ago, Mkbw50 said:

Yes you came 4th by two points

A classic Team GB finish! Get in!!

Will be spending the next four years training and consuming all the sports knowledge to make the top 3, unless my funding is cut. 

On 8/11/2024 at 12:06 AM, Mkbw50 said:

 

Welcome to Team GB Daily, the Daily thread for Team GB in Paris on Totallympics! Catch the whole Team GB schedule in UK time, and discuss the day's events.

 

SCHEDULE

 

0700 ATHLETICS WOMEN'S MARATHON: Clara Evans, Rose Harvey, Calli Hauger-Thackery Evans 46th in 2:33:01 SB, Harvey 78th in 2:51:03, Hauger-Thackeray DNF

1000 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S OMNIUM Scratch Race 1/4: Neah Evans 22nd and one point

1000 MODERN PENTATHLON WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL Final Riding Show Jumping: Kerenza Bryson, Kate French French isn't here anymore. 15th with 286 points, onto the next one

1022 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S SPRINT Semifinals Race 1: Emma Finucane Second by 0.096s, onto the next race

1029 CYCLING TRACK MEN'S KEIRIN Quarterfinals: Jack Carlin, Hamish Turnbull Carlin won Heat 1, Turnbull second in Heat 2 by 0.089, both into the semis today

1030 WEIGHTLIFTING WOMEN'S +81KG: Emily Campbell BRONZE! 288

1040 MODERN PENTATHLON WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL Final Fencing Bonus Round: Kerenza Bryson, Kate French No Bonus points for Bryson, 4th in Fencing with 200, onto the Swimming

1050 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S SPRINT Semifinals Race 2: Emma Finucane 2nd by 0.050 and into the Bronze Race

1057 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S OMNIUM Tempo Race 2/4: Neah Evans 18th with 0 points, so six to the onium

1110 MODERN PENTATHLON WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL Final Swimming 200m Freestyle: Kerenza Bryson, Kate French 15th for Bryson  in 2:21.77, 267 points, to laser run

1125 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S SPRINT Final 5-8: Sophie Capewell Victory, so Capewell finishes 5th

1129 CYCLING TRACK MEN'S KEIRIN Semifinals: Jack Carlin, Hamish Turnbull Victory for Carlin in Heat 1 so to the Gold race, Turnbull DNF in Heat 2 so to the 7-12 race

1140 MODERN PENTATHLON WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL Final Laser Run: Kerenza Bryson, Kate French 10th in 11:19.12 and 621 points, 9th overall on 1404 points

1145 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S SPRINT Finals Race 1: Emma Finucane Victory for Finucane in Bronze race, onto Heat 2

1153 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S OMNIUM Elimination Race 3/4: Neah Evans 17th and eight points, onto the points race

1215 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S SPRINT Finals Race 2: Emma Finucane BRONZE! Victory

1223 CYCLING TRACK MEN'S KEIRIN Final for Places 7-12: Hamish Turnbull DNS

1232 CYCLING TRACK MEN'S KEIRIN Gold Final: Jack Carlin DNF

1256 CYCLING TRACK WOMEN'S OMNIUM Points Race 4/4: Neah Evans 5th with 37 points, finished 15th overall with 52

2000 CEREMONIES CLOSING CEREMONY It happened

 

Question of the Day

 

Athletics: Any Brits in the top twenty? No

Ceremonies: Who is/are the flagbearer(s)? Alex Yee and Byrony Page

Cycling Track: Any golds? No

Modern Pentathlon: Gold? No

Weightlifting: Does Campbell get a medal? Yes

 

Leaderboard

 

112 - @cjsavory

108 - @Olympicsnell

98 - @Mkbw50

90 - @adolphin @G-ann

73 - @Jon

 

Medal count

14/22/27

@Mkbw50 have the final totals been tallied? 
 

Curious to see if I am the epitome of the games with a solid performance, a glimmer of hope and finishing in a resounding 4th place to a strong set of competitors! 

I will say, it seems our prediction was only partially accurate - 10 28 year olds placed bronze, so perhaps less hope for LA. I'll do Gold and Silver ages after some food

Right, well that was one helluva blackhole but I am back:

https://lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/04df8548-3fcf-43e0-884e-3724f9bc0ce1

Enjoy! Any ages you want adding let me know, do not tell me about any bugs - I need to actually have dinner... 

42 minutes ago, Epic Failure said:

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.

 

 

Don't worry I'm on it.... Scope will be anyone who made quarters or top 10 in a final I'll actually look up ages! See you in 2-3 hours. 

(Yes I am extracting it from Wikipedia and not manually typing in everyone) 

Just now, Olympicsnell said:

Yeah this is something im interested in, the keeleys, the finucane's and yee's who will be at their peak in 28

And this is how I justify binning off all the actual work I need to do today… what a shame… 

1 hour ago, Epic Failure said:

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.

I’m tempted to also work out the ages of both medalists and those who came in real close. Just as I have a feeling that some of the near misses were athletes competing for the first time or are on the younger side of things. Appreciate it’s not always a measure of likely success but hopefully an indication of things to come. But I want the data first before throwing a wild theory round! 

As it says in the title, top 3 highlights from the games that’ll stick with you until LA 2028. Doesn’t have to be gold medal related, but does need to be Team GB!

I’ll kick off with mine: 

1. Toby Roberts realising he won Gold

2. Fred Sirieix consoling Andrea (Insta Reel)

“It wasn’t meant to be today” has me in bits every time

3. GB women’s hockey getting a goal in against the Dutch in the QFs. Because wow did it silence a very smug orange crowd…! 

Gutted for Carlin, definitely too far for a gold/silver but a shame. Glad he seems as ok as you can be!

(perhaps this is why my step dad never took me to any track cycling as a little one…) 

Bronze from Finucane! 
 

We shall not be medal-less today!

6 minutes ago, Jon said:

Kate French withdraws from the Pentathlon. She sat 3rd overall and was the defending Olympic Champion.

 

As Hassan wins Gold for the Netherlands in the Marathon, makes it a trickier path to hold 6th on the table.

Oh no! Any intel on why? Hope she’s ok!

7 hours ago, mpjmcevoy said:

It is always good to ask questions. But:

 

UK Sport work on medals, not golds, and do that for a reason. The number of paper-thin 2nd places this time has been rather astonishing, 2 in the pool, three in the athletics, arguably one on the cycle track. Similarly a lot of hard luck fourths, perhaps most notably Lichfield who swam a blinder. In addition, as sometimes happens some other countries found the superman de jour - Harry Levreysen, Leon Marchand, etc. GB had that previously with Hoy or Kenny, but the table for multiple medalists this time is remarkably short for GB - therein lies your first issue.

 

Building on the last point, a big drop in golds, but no drop in medals suggests underlying relative health. We snigger at the US system of listing nations by number of medals rather than gold first - and its good to mock it - but under their system, GBR are third. More medals than the host, more than Australia. I'd rather be third on our list, but there's no way that's a disaster.

 

One of the biggest failures of the last games, rowing, has come Roaring back after just one cycle. Those sports that have underperformed this time don't need 'punished', they need a decent review, a bit of honesty and some critical thinking.

 

Sport by sport:

 

Archery: Havers and Hall rather took the bad look of the tournament with decent little runs in the individual. but generally, it was a shambles. Healey and Pitman are clearly both talented, but  that's not really cutting it here. I'm not suggesting we copy the South Koreans, because they are, frankly, loopy on this sport. Pure loopy. But there is no reason GB - the GB of robin hood and agincourt should not be looking at how the GB divers have made themselves the significant force beneth all conquering china and saying, we could do that.

 

Artistic swimming: We live in the age of miracles - what those two girls have done is nothing short. I admit, I don't understand the sport, and I'm not entirely certain I want to, but to even have one pair of this talent is the stuff of fantasy. GB Aquatics must be in pieces at this luck.

 

Athletics: As always with a sport this big, a curates egg. I heartily disagree with UKA attitude to selection, and I think the unfancied Fincham-Dukes wonderful 5th place bears that out. The non-medal result for the team for me was this morning Emile Cairess, 4th in the Olympic marathon - in a sense carrying on the good work of Callum Hawkins. This games has been a watershed, probably heavily linked with doping scandals, but the supernatural African dominance of distance events is clearly over - they will continue to be very strong, but they won't be unbeatable.

 

as for the rest, 5 relays medals is both good and bad - Women's 4x1 had gold at their mercy, the rest were brave bronzes. GB has Keely, Josh and Possibly Matthew all able to stretch to LA, it has Phoebe and Amber and Louie coming through, but this feels like a slightly aging team - Georgia Bell is not going to be Laura Muir's successor, sadly, though her medal was magnificent. KJT is unlikely to make it to LA. There is a lot of young talent concertinaed into certain events/areas - notably middle distance, but e need to start envigourating field events and decathlon - Jade's respectable debut suggest heptathlon will be all right long term.

 

UK athletics will be delighted to have justified its funding with 10 medals and a few near misses, and one or two chokes that might fix themselves. But the underlying problems remain. A stay of execution - but when your on death row, and stay is welcome.

 

Badminton, Table tennis: Very poor. just not at the races in these sports.

 

Swimming: Frustrating games, but not at all an actually bad one. Most of the big hitters got something, targets will have been safely met. but like athletics this is an aging team. We have a legendary generation likely to fade out at roughly the same time. And the female side remains frustratingly weak, which is my key takeaway. I have more faith in GB Aquatics than in UK Athletics, but the jr side also seems to be going downhill. Still, their cash should be very safe.

 

Diving - no golds for first time since 2012, but 5 medals, all the synchro, possibly dropped a couple more chances in Jack and Andrea, but the depth is excellent, the youth is coming through, Tom and Jack can now go off, their labours complete.

 

Equestrian : Excellent team work, some disappointments on the individuals. The post Games debrief on Dujardin may be brutal - the question will be do they try and rehabilitate her, given she remains a major talent, or do they throw the book at her for the good of the sport. Hester will be a significant player in that game. Other than that, obviously they are in good shape

 

Climbing : Absolutely excellent, topped off with gold from a prodigy. Could not have asked for more, and can see this going on to be a huge thing for GB

 

Canoe Slalom - slightly disappointed not to get a gold somewhere, but all in all a very, very creditable performance with only Mallory missing out, and she held the fort last time; we seem to have good reserves on men's side, not so sure on the women's. But the system obviously works. For slalom. 

 

Cycling - still one important day to go so caveats, but a bit of a malaise seems to have fallen on almost the entire UK cycling scene. Given the pretty dreadful madison today - and, really Netherlands, headbutts? - I'm not convinced there's not some illness in the camp. Pleasantly surprised at the men's sprint under the direction of that stout yeoman Jack Carlin (4 medals in two games - he may not be Hoy or Kenny, but in historic context, that's excellent). not to cross about Beth or Kye, that shit happens, tom did Tom things but the men's road squad disappointed. The problem for cycling is they get a LOT of money as the medal factory, and other sports are possible entitled to say, hold on, they aren't the factory any more. By the same token cycling still produces umpteen medals. rather than lose funds, I suspect there may be some coaching turnover - though CArlins success probably means a bigger role for Jason Kenny who passed his first test.

 

Gymnastics - one of those sports with a lot of near misses. The  women's team nearly produced a team miracle, and if the Gadirovas and Achompng return fit, there's a squad there. Notwithstanding disappointments, the boys side actually look in good shape going forward, as do the trampolinists who will come to the fore now Bethany Page is probably done

 

Golf, not really an issue, great medal for Tommy.

 

Hockey, Rugby 7s...I think GB need a root and branch review of how team sports outside football operate, from grass roots to would be elite. Obviously the current UK sport model doesn't work with that kind of sport, and we should stop trying to make it fit that paradigm, it's pointless.

 

Judo, Boxing...It's been a pretty brutal cycle all round for these two combat sports. Sometimes, the talent is not there...but neither should the sports be waiting around for talent to magically appear. Judo, in particular, concerns me

 

Modern pentathlon - girls doing absolute fine, but boys...disastrous fencing rounds from Joe Choong and Charlie brown killed any challenge - Choong, frankly, looks like he's sick of the whole thing, perhaps understandably. I predict he quits the sport before the obstacle race gets added - indeed, they all might; it's hard to underestimate how important equestrianism is domestically to populate this sport - some countries come  to it through a fencing culture; GB always came through a pony club culture.

 

Rowing - The big winner in my view, they really got their mojo back, A+

 

Sailing - begorrah, but Eli Aldridge saved your bacon this week - very, very mediocre regatta otherwise, and a few questions to ask

 

Shooting - at the other extreme, the shooters have done well. Seoniad was a bit of a disappointment, but what should have been two golds is an excellent return on limited investment

 

Skateboarding - in women's park there seems to be a good clutch of girls to come through. But it's not our natural milieu

 

Tennis: Issues go beyond Olympics as with golf, but it was a fun ride all the same. Thanks, Andy

 

triathlon - excellent returns on investment.  some issues on male side but Sam Dickinson did trojan work, and I see reasons for hope heading to LA

 

taekwondo - 1 medal seems a low return, but it's not really, in context, the arcane qualification rules, and Bradly's unfortunate injury have to be taken into account. Somewhat relieved Jones did not medal in context. Time to move on I think from that generation.

 

Weightlifting - pretty sure injury has removed any realistic chance of a medal tomorrow, but lets see.

 

 

I’ll only comment on the hockey as that’s the sport I actually have in-depth knowledge on and insight into some of the inner workings. 
 

In short yes, agree. Alex Danson has a lot to do in the next 4 years as new president of EH and whilst I’m aware of some general governance challenges I’m optimistic she can bring that lived winning experience and make it a reality for the top tiers of my sport. It’ll be interesting as Danny Kerry (aka Medal winning wonder coach) has stepped out of taking up performance director, but that may be for the best. So perhaps the tides are turning already and the much needed change is on its way. 

I’m also hoping that the bid for the Men’s Eurohockey tournament in 2027 is successful and brings in some purpose, drive and inspires the next generation.  
 

Either way until I get to the point I can run the sport (apols this gal has a mortgage and I ought to stay in my current line of work to actually pay it), I’ll be listening intently to the hockey grapevine and keep you all posted. 
 

Here’s to a more successful 2028 where I don’t have to make silly claims that the Dutch will win it all!

(Or we do a China and find someone with a lot of £££ to poach and pay for Alyson Annan…)