Nickyc707

The 1st Test match between South Africa and England from Centurion followed by some domestic rugby.

Tough question. The greatest Olympic moment of the decade - David Rudisha winning the 800m in a new WR with two NRs and four PBs from the athletes who followed him home. Greatest British Olympic moment - We have been fortunate to have a lot of those but for me Nick Skelton winning the equestrian jumping gold medal at the age of 58 at his seventh Olympics after being told he would never ride again after breaking his back was very emotional. Greatest Paralympic moment - The enthusiasm of the capacity crowds for the 2012 Games which took the Paralympics to a whole new level. Then four years later attendances at the Paralympics surpassing those at the Olympics. General international sport - 2012 Ryder Cup or "Miracle in Medinah" when Europe's golfers went into the last day trailing the USA 10-6 and came back in the face of hostile crowds to win 14.5-13.5. Domestic sport - I'm not a football fan but even I got caught up in my home town club Leicester City winning the English Premier League at odds of 5,000/1 in the 2015/16 season.

A true Olympic great. He won the 800m in Rome in 1960 and then completed the 800/1500m double in Tokyo four years later. He is one of only five male athletes to complete the double and the only one since 1920. The others were Edwin Flack in 1896, James Lightbody in 1904, Mel Sheppard in 1908, and Albert Hill in 1920.

When people do stuff like that I always think back to Mekhissi-Benabbad's disqualification from the 3k steeplechase at the 2014 European Championships after taking his shirt off to celebrate winning before he crossed the line. Athletes work incredibly hard to achieve success and then inexplicably some choose to put it at risk because of their egos.

Five of the six individual winners were retaining titles they won last year which is pretty unusual. I do wonder whether we need an U23 age group race. It spreads the talent pretty thinly between that race and the senior race, particularly in the women's events where the fields were a bit sparse. Surely U20 and senior races are sufficient together with the mixed relay.

Race walkers are a durable bunch. Don Thompson the 1960 Olympic champion in the 50 km walk wore his country's vest for the last time at the age of 58 in 1991.

Sadly, I was slightly premature and there was one further death on 30/11/19. Petr Malek, 58 - Shooting

Deaths of Olympians in November Elio Locatelli, 76 - Speed skating Alain Porthault, 90 - Athletics Bengt-Erik Grahn, 78 - Alpine skiing Zoltan Domotov, 84 - Water polo Mireille Cayre, 72 - Gymnastics Bridget Adams, 91 - Figure skating Sandrine Daudet, 47 - Short track speed skating Fiorella Negro, 81 - Figure skating Irina Cermakovic, 80 - Field hockey Maximilian Raub, 93 - Canoe sprint Irma Cordero, 77 - Volleyball Fabrizio Nassi, 68 - Volleyball Uwe Rathjen, 76 - Handball Vaclav Pavkovic, 83 - Rowing George Breen, 84 - Swimming Tsvyatko Pashkulov, 74 - Wrestling Bohumel Tomasek, 83 - Basketball Michael Fray, 72 - Athletics Jacques Dupont, 91 - Cycling Eli Pasquale, 59 - Basketball Gerry Carr, 83 - Athletics Sigvard Ericsson, 89 - Speed skating Dimitri Vasilenko, 43 - Gymnastics Stuart Fitzsimmons, 62 - Alpine skiing Istvan Szivos, 71 - Water polo Luciano De Genova, 88 - Weightlifting In addition, two deaths from this summer of medallists from the Tokyo games in 1964. Ken Matthews, 84 - Gold medallist in the 20 km walk Basil Heatley, 85 - Silver medallist in the marathon

Do you know if the Frenchman who qualified today is related to the one who qualified at the WC?

Are you sure this is correct? I may have misunderstood but I believe these spots are reserved for the two highest placed representatives of countries that do not qualify via the Olympic rankings. The rankings will be determined on 12/5/2020 and only then will the two World Championship qualifiers be determined. Ultimately only the Chilean is likely to qualify via this route.

I think the flags are the wrong way round for the gold and silver medallists in the -67kg category.

Wales have won the last four meetings between the two sides so I think you can be reasonably optimistic.

My apologies I misunderstood your meaning. I thought you meant that France and Georgia were southern nations whom you could not support. My reply was driven by the unpleasant and offensive tone of your own hence my reference to Trump.

I understand the feeling. I always support the US's opponents in any sporting contest. Like Donald Trump your knowledge of other countries is impressive. I had no idea France and Georgia were in the "south".

Our friend from Argentina has a short memory. For years the other rugby countries in the south - in particular NZ - could hardly be bothered to play the Pumas let alone let them play in the Rugby Championship. It was the European countries who actually gave them much more support in terms of reciprocal tours to keep the sport alive and growing in Argentina. He also decries wealthy European clubs but it was their money that allowed Argentina's best players to become professionals in the modern era and undoubtedly improve their fitness and skill standards. Once the Argentinian rugby authorities dropped their ban on players based in Europe we saw a rise in the level of the Pumas' performances in test rugby.

Yes, the southern hemisphere rugby countries tend to think they are the only ones who can play the game properly and often belittle the game as played in the northern hemisphere. An all northern hemisphere final will be a real shock to the system for the southern hemisphere countries and lead to a lot of soul searching.

Given how badly the Pumas played I'm not surprised you feel this way.

I have a sneaking suspicion this Welsh side will do it. It would be great to have the first ever northern hemisphere final and a real boost for the Six Nations.

SA v Wales should be another great semi-final.

New Zealanders must be sick of the sight of England after this and their knife edge defeat in the final of the Cricket World Cup earlier this year.

10-0 to England at halftime and the first time for 28 years that the All Blacks haven't scored in the first half of a test match.

I prefer Scotland the Brave which is really jaunty (and plenty of bagpipes). I particularly like it when it is linked to the Black Bear. I find Flower of Scotland a bit of a tedious dirge, but then we all have different tastes.

This is the first time since 1993 that neither China or Japan managed to win a gold medal. Very surprising so close to Tokyo.

I didn't know that they could use a replacement. Is that a new rule? In the past they were not able to do so.

I meant they are not replaceable during the event unlike say a bicycle during the road race or time trial. I just wonder if we'll all be saying it is entirely fair if a nation gets through the cross country phase with three clear rounds and is comfortably leading the competition but is then forced to withdraw following the intervention of the veterinarians. As I say I'm just playing devil's advocate as I don't believe it is directly comparable with other sports. In any event there are are other events where an individual can perform poorly and still get a medal and I'm thinking particularly of all the other team sports.