Grassmarket

Unfortunately it is the same with every big Olympic country now. The Dutch NOC have calculated they have more medal chances with their nationally-ranked 12th speed skater than with their No 1 skier or bobsledder or biathlete.

And try calculating how many days a year we have to work just to pay our taxes before we start earning any money for ourselves. I will guarantee you that in every country in the western world it is sometime between May & June.

Sure, you can easily work less, which lots of people want. You just need to be willing to accept less money. Which very few people want.

Just look for the fights.

Uh oh video judging…..

Got some work to do on interview techniques.

Replays are here. As you see, not a very convenient format! Home (eurovisionsports.tv)

Oh, yeah, happens all the time on BBC! Not with football or rugby of course, but with athletics, swimming....

I’m guessing will be claiming him.

Learning Latin dances can help people my age improve our watchamacallit thing. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10935081/Learning-Latin-dances-like-salsa-samba-merengue-help-improve-memory-study-finds.html

FINA grateful for the visit of His Majesty The 1976 Fencing Gold Medallist. https://www.fina.org/news/2650312/fina-president-thanks-ioc-president-thomas-bach-for-visit-to-budapest

Not often that anything Seb Coe says is worth listening to, but this is. Also interesting is that the FINA document has language in it that also seems to rule out mixed-sex competitors, but I’m not up enough on the science to do anything other than stare blankly at the screen. World Athletics president Lord Coe has hinted the sport could follow swimming in banning transgender women from elite female competitions, insisting "fairness is non-negotiable". https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/61865789

Less so now: you just take the preproduced feed & slap a commentator in his bedroom on it.

Yeah, hold a special out-of-year Olympics, like Equestrian in Stockholm 1956!

Think this is it. https://resources.fina.org/fina/document/2022/06/19/525de003-51f4-47d3-8d5a-716dac5f77c7/FINA-INCLUSION-POLICY-AND-APPENDICES-FINAL-.pdf

It should come from the IOC: only they have the clout to stand up.

The worrying thing now is that the trans lobby are going to spend millions on lawyers & effectively bankrupt FINA by tying them up in court for years to come,

FINA is normally one of the world’s most hopeless governing bodies, but they’ve done the right thing here. Other sports should take note. Fina, swimming's world governing body, has voted to stop transgender athletes from competing in women's elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/swimming/61853450

There is one good thing about it - no stupid Small Final to work out positions 5-8. Also - we are good at it - it’s all the rugby we play.

Was a bit controversial. Robert definitely barged between two athletes to win, would not have been legal in a championship, but in a home DL....

The one day in the DL season so far when you have perfect conditions for the Vault & Duplantis ain’t there.

Justyna Swiety no longer ‘s top 400m runner, but I doubt that anyone in Poland or indeed Europe has a better sun tan.

There’s a young phenom coming out of the US College circuit…. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10654003/On-winners-podium-Lia-Thomas-6ft-1in-trans-swimmer-went-male-puberty.html

Made their money in coal-mining?

Yeah, I believe at the Olympics IOC members get first choice of which events where they can hand out medals, so they always pick one where a national hero is favoutite.