OlympicIRL

And sadly we are coming back . Let's see how low we can set the bar in 2018

And yet you are still 70 penalties less than Ireland..... just shows how dreadful we are becoming now in cross country in the last 2 years (more if I'm honest).

May the force be with you

Thanks in advance for the incoming jinx

Great, finally something to cheer about But is she a team member?

Well looks like this confirms it, cross-country has now become our biggest weakness..... small improvements on dressage but massive failures now in cross-country which was the area we traditionally gained a tonne of ground on the rest of the teams.

Judy Reynolds withdrew due to a small injury for JP (Vancouver K) during training. Oh well

Celtic through for sure now

Yes our team is really not the kind of one I'd have hoped we would have but we can only do the best with what we have available. We always have a lot of depth with dozens of combinations able to slot into a national team, but there simply is just not enough top quality combinations in our ranks. I don't think this is a huge chasm to breach this gap but it requires planning and ambition nonetheless. And while it is a fantastic news story that Jonty gets to keep Art, that situation of selling on the best Irish horses continues to hamper our chances or making progress. There should be a high performance fund available with a long-term strategy of keeping some of our best horses in Irish "hands". This is recommended time and time again by bodies doing post-mortems and analysis of our sports (such as the post-Olympic reviews) but it seems like these suggestions are simply thrown into the dustbin and re-drawn up again and again each cycle (not just talking about equestrian now)

Probably for the best because it was impossible to prepare for this high level competition with all the focus these last few months being on trying to secure the funding. My aim is top 4. It won't be easy but if we are ever to progress in this sport at all then we need to start showing it and stop drifting from one Olympic cycle to the next with no ambition.

Woohoo, we got 1 point to get on the placings table at least

Not another clan of brothers .......and just when I thought it was safe after the Ingebrigtsen hype was dying down! The Borlées.... who the hell are they?

Lucky you

Oh don't worry, we've heard about him about 10 times during this final already

Damn, this Ingebrigtsen hype on Eurosport which was already incredibly annoying is going to become unbearable now..... as shown already by the British commentators practically going on and on about him and not giving a sh*t about anyone else including the winner

Great result for Syria

The Irish federations like to do a lot of talking and planning but in the end usually nothing comes from it. How hard can it be to field a team or to organise some kind of plan to get up to that standard? Sometimes I wonder why we have Chef d'Equipes or head coaches in many sports at all for all they contribute.

Shange has the best technique as far as my naked eye can see

His technique looks great as well!

So do South Africa have yet another star?

Shange has rockets on his boots right now.... he is motoring!!

Bonfim got a red card warning.

Yeah he really struggles with his technique which is why I don't see him as a serious medal threat yet in a global championship.

It's sad that our dressage scene is as bad as ever..... if you remove Judy from the picture then there is nothing.

6 months to go! And so the first piece of the jigsaw is filled in as we passed the 6-months to go milestone this week (on August 9th) Key: a1 6 months to go a2 3 months to go a3 1 month to go b1 150 days to go b2 100 days to go b3 75 days to go c1 Four Hills Tournament begins c2 Hahnenkamm Race begins c3 Winter X Games begin d1 tickets go on sale d2 2018 Olympic year arrives (Jan 1st) d3 2018 Olympic Prediction Contests Open on Totallympics e1 lighting of Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece e2 Olympic flame arrives in Incheon e3 Olympic flame arrives in Gangwon province x Olympic cauldron is lit e1 b1 e2 c1 30 b2 e3 c2 30 b3 x c3 30 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 a3 d3 a2 d2 17 12 30 d1 16 11 15 10 14 9 13 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PyeongChang 2018 ------------------50--------------------------------------25--------------------------------------02----- --------49-----------------48------------------27-----------------24-------------------04----------------01- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --47----------------------------46-------29-----------------------------22-------06----------------------------03 --------------------------------------36--------------------------------------16------------------------------- --45-----------------------38--43-------30--33-------------------16--21-------08--13------------------------05 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------44-----------40---41------------------28--31-------20--23-------------------10--11-----------07--- ------------------42--------------------------------------26--------------------------------------09------------- ----------------------39-----------------------------32-------19----------------------------12----------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------37-----------------34-------------------17----------------14------------- --------------------------------------35--------------------------------------15---------------