mpjmcevoy

I've been trying to work out which big hitters we (GBR we) may (or may not) be about to lose to a well earned retirement before LA 28. Thoughts, additions, welcome.. Bryony Page - intends to join the circus (And I am here for that, friends!) Tom Daley - announced retirement, some vague mutterings he might be persuaded to one more go for LA (I kinda hope not) Jack Laugher - hinted at retirement on health grounds Andy Murray - rode into the sunset on a horse with no hip. Several of the tennis team will probably not be around Jimmy Guy - adamant he's gonna keep going, excellent Ben Proud - hinted he may have one more Games in him, which was a pleasant surprise

England (for which read GB, obviously) are ranked 6th in the world in Men's Lacross and 3rd in the world in Women's. They are the top European side in both, and their closest European rivals are, Italy aside, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The 6th place ranking also includes the Haudenosaunee who I hope are included as USA 2, but not convinced. Which is a long winded way of saying I'm pretty confident GBR can qualify for both men's and women's across, and will be at least competitive for a medal. Cricket speaks for itself, obviously, and the only issue is how small the field is (6 teams). Clearly the host will want in, India and Australia are certain, that only leaves three spots on men's side. I'm imagining short regional tournaments for the last three places - possibly West (Americas, Africa, Europe) and East (Asia-Pacific), with one winner from each qualifying, and possibly next two in each going to a final IOC qualifier - So England, South Africa, Jamaica, Guyana, Ireland, Zimbabwe, and possibly two 'qualifiers' in West, and Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UAE, Afghanistan, New Zealand + 2 in the East. You might end up with South Africa and Pakistan Qualifying, and a final Qualifier tournament of England, Jamaica, New Zealand and Afghanistan... 6 teams is REALLY too small for cricket, eight would have worked better In flag football (dear sweet jesus) GB are the number 4 ranked women's team, and top European behind three North American teams. That looks a good bet. In the men's however, they only lie 15th. Finally in baseball/softball, both GB sides are actually pretty decent, but might struggle to qualify in a small field. And in squash, obviously, while not the dominant power, British players are well represented in the rankings of both men's and women's I am managing my grief on an hour-to-hour basis about breaking. I may have watched the clips of 'B-Girl Raygun' attempting to clean the floor with her head while crying with laughter more often than is entirely healthy.

Domestic moments I : 1. Daniel Wiffen in the 800 outFinking Fink. 2.Rhys McCleneghan - perfection 3. Women's 4 x 400. The right kind of heartbreak - they took SEVEN seconds off the national record in 12 months, THREE seconds in one race. And they weren't plucky and pleased, they were gutted, despite running a time that would always previously have medalled. They're in the great game now. Domestic moments II: 1.Tom Pidcock - utterly fearless, utterly mental 2. The Alex Yee finish "from the depths of hell" will be on repeat for years to come 3. Keely Hodgkinson becomes the queen at last. International moments: (5) 1. Teddy Riner. The weight of the whole world on his back, the greatest defeated time itself. 2. The men's 1500 metre final - for the absolute ages, and probably the last 'true run' 1500 we'll see now for a while. 3. The roar for Marchand. 4. Sifan Hassan in the Marathon 5. The men's sevens final - the atmosphere, sensational

I get the impression the Government have twigged somewhat that the benefits of funding elite Olympic sport go beyond simple performance. In GB, it is no exaggeration to say it was the only good news story for several weeks, and at least on some level had a unifying effect to help counter the mob. Ireland is having a 'moment' at the moment - the visuals often spoke of a better Ireland than the one we can feel we're in. Sport has the capacity to be a rather unifying experience, especially when we have plenty of impressive Irish athletes. It's no panacea, and there are, arguably, more urgent uses for major public funds, but elite olympic sports funding is never going to be more than a drop in the overall ocean even if it's generous, and we get unifying national moments from it money can barely buy.

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.

If you ignore the Americans, that race for silver and bronze between the three European teams was one for the ages. So well matches, so many brilliant young athletes in each team. heartbreaking, but it'll come, I'm sure of it. PS I think you are right about Amber, a suddenly very, very serious contender at Euro and global level going forward - I imagine Rhasidat, Amber and Femke will come to see a lot of each other over the next years!

Matt has smashed the European record repeatedly to smithereens. It took a near miracle to beat him by 4 hundredths. There is no shame here whatsoever. And he still, hopefully, has a 4 x 400 coming up that with Dobson and Reardon looks very, very interesting. Josh is already gathering his thoughts for a crack at LA, having, it seems broken, Jakob mentally. He will now have to think about finishing speed - he's very good. He's better than Jakob or Nguse. He's not Hocker. Molly and her coach didn't read the room in terms of a difficult qualification, but these mistakes will happen - she's till, lets be clear, very young, and should, with Keely, be around for donkey's years. KJT starts tomorrow, the main relays are yet to start. I'm pretty sure Australia - who are having an astonishing Games will pip GB on the medal table, though top 4 or 5 is absolutely still on offer. Some sports will, I fear, need a serious review...but that's not a bad thing either - recall just how dreadful Tokyo was for the rowers, and they've come storming back in Paris. The Cyclists are down a smidge on Tokyo, but not half as down as I would have predicted - if Katy Archibald was fit, we might have seen something ridiculous. The Key problem children: IMHO Archery - two really nice runs in the individual covered up a bit of a shambles. We did well to qualify but can't help feeling this is a sport that the UK Sport 'controllables' model is built brilliantly for - note how we've done pretty well in Shotgun shooting over the last few Olympiads - and yet, we seem to be drifting backwards at pace. Boxing - one bronze is better than nothing, but it's been a rough cycle - that said, GB Boxing probably have enough credit in the bank to not demolish and start again, but there needs to be some reflection. Badminton: poor, really. And with Squash arriving in 28, I feel both Badminton and table tennis may become rather unloved children Basketball: Where do you start? not here. cf Rugby 7s Canoe sprint: Slalom is in excellent shape, with several strong paddlers behind the Paris 4. But sprint has collapsed, and I just don't understand it. Fencing: Do we even do that now? Gymnastics : we could do with looking into the tendency to suffer injuries, but the future looks ok for a few Games Hockey: Not as bad as sevens or basketball, would like to work out how to bridge the gap to the top Judo : My next big problem child - disastrous cycle, seem to have fallen miles behind, especially on men's side. Current system is not working. Sailing : seem to be having a pretty poor games, have not adjusted well to mixed boats and new events. Lots of credit in the back, but this has been a poor, poor regatta Triathlon : Really decent results in context,,with GTB coming back from injury, Brownlee seemingly a spent force and no other men really coming through - Max Stepney looks a useful addition going forward, happy with Waugh coming through to keep the women's side of the game rolling nicely. Swimming : We have not been succeeding at juniors in the way we were a few years back, and I worry a bit about what happens when the greatest generation ages out.

That's why the Paralympics exist, my friend - Olympic methadone.

The one system that worked reasonably well was the 2012 system, where you simply totted up strikes like taekwondo - unlike taekwondo however, they didn't work out a points system to reward combinations or more impactful strikes. But the 10 must system was pretty brought back to ALLOW a bit of corruption - and its one of the issues World Boxing is going to have to look into when it takes the reins... and don't kid yourself, World Boxing is going to get the reins, if only pour encourager les autres i.e. to warn other feds what happens if they disobey the IOC. Losing your sport from the Olympics is one thing. Losing control of the sport to someone else while it stays in the Olympics is something else.

There's a brilliant poem by Patrick Kavanagh called 'Epic' about local land squabbles during 1938 - he expresses despair at how parochial and lame these neighbourhood fights are compared to truly global events like the betrayal of Czechoslovakia ("That was the year of the Munich bother"), but then mentions that Homer whispers in his ear - perhaps the same one who winks at us with Kipling... "I made the Illiad from such a local row. Gods make their own importance." That's sport. All sport is trivial, all sport is farcical, stripped down to its mere actions. There's nothing noble about running around in circles, or pedalling contraptions, are kicking a pig bladder, or pushing your way around an inflatable buoy... Except the wanting makes it noble. Novak's hand trembling makes it noble. Alcaraz being consoled by his family make it noble. Scottie Scheffler crying when winning Majors didn't bring a tear make it noble. eEmco Evenepoel in utter panic at a hole in his tyre a minute from the line made it noble, and yes, a World champion canoeist screaming with delight at winning bronze in a novelty race makes it noble. That's the secret of all sport. Gods make their own importance.

Delighted to see how happy Joe was with silver (and how delighted the german was with bronze) - Kayak X on debut was an absolute stonewall hit, and wonderful to have a new event that's NOT a judged event. Presentation was almost perfect - just enough chaos to entertain, just enough skill to feel like sport. Other sports should take note - THIS is how you create/introduce a new event. Hoping the Coastal Rowing in LA will be similarly harem scarem, and how long before Canoe dabbles its foot in some coastal ocean outrigger action. Could hardly ask more to the triathlon team, who I fully expected to struggle to get a medal and who instead almost pulled off a coup. Georgia Taylor Brown completes the set, as does Al ex Yee who becomes the first man on four medals. and Keely, what can you say...

Carlin is clearly exceptionally fast, even if the team as a whole can't live with the dutch. Finucane and Capewell were able to cover for Marchant's weakness as man 1, which is fabulous for Marchant who is better as an individual sprinter than most man 1 types and will be a genuine threat in Keirin. But really, this looks like a Finucane coming out party - her final speed is simply outrageous.

Perhaps a sign that the relay could end up as a bit of a lottery - goodness knows whose unwell but saying little, especially among the favourites. I'm not convinced Yee and Wilde's odd racing patterns did not have a little Seine issue involved...

As I understand it Yee and Wilde came through juniors together, were housemates, and are basically damn close to best friends on the circuit. Still impressively good natured of wilde in the circumstances

GBR tend to have a lot of interesting emerging juniors - there's at least three in the men's breaststroke, though Morgan is the pick, along with Bilbao and Nowicki. The issue is pulling them through - so many of the James guy era made it, and several from the Scott-Greenbank-Anderson era, but recently they don't seem to be ...I still think we need a review of how the system is working, especially at Bath. 2016 last time a woman won an individual medal, or indeed, any medal without a fella in the race.

Predicted this weeks ago!

Not gonna lie, the Dutch getting diddly squat, and both the brits and the danes not winning, but getting something from the dressage, feels pretty bang on.

Glued to the Games themselves, I'm afraid!!

Rhys obviously has had a bit of crossover already with his wins, but the Olympics is a different beast, even in Ireland. There is a core of pretty decent European standard gymnasts in the fold, so we may be coming to the next phase when one superstar starts creating a bit of a wave for the sport more generally. boxing is going to be in an absolute global shambles post Games so who the hell knows where that goes, but as we see with rowing, one small ember can quickly become a useful program if it catches alight. In swimming McSharry has served her country proud; if she goes, she goes with our blessings and thanks. tom Fannon looks very useful going forward, Wiffen ain't gong no-where, and I have a sneaky feeling we may pick up some more after Dan and Mona (and Ellen and Tom's) heroics.

Had a 'Fabulous Friday' quality to it, right enough - incredibly happy with my Irish hat to be sitting essentially on five medals already, even with our boxing woes, and still Rhasidat, Rhys and a bit more Daniel to come. With my British hat, sad for Beth, but better it happens when you've a gold in the box, and Bryony just made my day - GBs first individual female olympic gymnastics champion (and not Jess Gadirova, as I thought it might be). to be at this point with a Men's eight to come tomorrow, not a velodrome pedal turned in anger, several gymnastics finals, a couple of kayak X and the athletics only started...not to mention MP, sailing, the triathlon relay... Good times! Just hope Kye gets well soon.

Happy for you all - a happy host is a happy games; it's been a wonderful party, unsurprisingly sharing many of the traits that made London so much fun (The Brits invented codification of many sports, France invented international sporting organisation (and the Greeks invented the actual Games, but sshhh)) - even if there was a touch of Rio about the water quality issues!

She may suffer a touch from what i'd call Emily Pidgeon syndrome (Jodie Williams is another victim) where you are 'discovered' early, and quickly get top level support, equipment, process, coaching (especially if dad is a pro coach). You then quickly get seen as a prodigy at junior level, with the expectation that once you turn adult pro, you join the elite quickly... Sometime you do, but quite often what has happened is that you have had access to all the good stuff your peers have not, so you run miles ahead of them, but as time goes on, some of those peers start getting that support and progress to catch, and even pass you, while you plateau because you have no further marginal gains to call on. Quite a few superstar juniors in GB have had that problem. someone like a Harry Areetey-Aikines is a slightly different issue, in that he simply physically matured much much sooner than his peers, and so seemed to be better than them...once they caught up in maturity, they passed him.

Athletics: Does the RELAY team make the final? Yes (predict Sam Reardon, Amber, Lavaia and a.n. other, with a.n. other dropping out for Charlie dobson if final reached) Canoe Slalom: Is a Brit first in either event? YES Cycling BMX Racing: Does SHRIEVER win gold? No, Silver Diving: Do they get a medal? YES Equestrian: Do GB get a medal? YES Golf: Does FLEETWOOD end the day in the top ten? YES Hockey: Do we win? NO Rowing: Do we get at least one gold today? YES LW2x is a lock Sailing: Does WILSON win gold? Yes Swimming: Does PROUD win gold? No Trampoline Gymnastics: How many Brits make the final in total? 2

What is frustrating is he looked SO good.

The Big three acknowledge his place among them. That's probably good enough. for me he is something else, something maybe less grand, but more noble. He was the one mortal who bridged the gap to the three gods, even if only for a while. Twice he made 'the catch' - in 2013 when he won 2 of four slams and the Olympics in one year, and the miracle end of 2016 with another grand slam/olympic double along with ATP finals and World number one, and a deep run in the Davis Cup - on both occasions he was unquestionably in a 'big four' - and on both occasions injury intervened to curtail his run, the second time permanently - he was brave post 2019, but never the same player - that's what happens when mortals challenge gods - ask Odysseus, or Prometheus. But by the gods, he loved trying, and no story of the reign of the Big Three in years to come will be possible to tell without him. And in the end, he left on his own terms, as himself. Raging against the dying of the light, manufacturing little miracles out of sheer will, and loving being THE olympic legend in the men's side of the sport. Rafa owns the clay, Djok the Australian, and with Fed, Wimbledon. But The Olympics, that odd little add on, belongs to Murray. He was Olympian, and that's good enough.