mpjmcevoy

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.

Lot of irritating fourths, would like that habit to stop, but reasonably content. Diving looks likely to deliver no golds but several medals, the Rowers look very on point which could claw back a lot lost elsewhere. Wilby, Morgan and Anghared looked good for medley purposes (which with Peaty's covid may prove important), but they're gonna have to stick Joe Litchfield in a heat, and they really couldn't make their absolute lack of belief in him any more obvious. Jimmy Guy however seems to be on a tear, which is good. The shooting gold is a big bonus given the swimming frustrations (they really are not doing badly by historic standards, just losing out by bits). The horse people are doing pretty good, not least as Dressage in Tokyo was a bit meh compared to Rio and London. Archers have been, lets be unkind, shite. The Rugby teams not much better but there are structural problems there. Canoe is looking very good - we may not get a gold, but we seem to be on for some more medals with luck. Worthington's heart is clearly not in this at the moment, perhaps time to step away. Reilly however looks like a beast. The racing cyclists are also looking good so far..gold, silver, hugely unlucky 4th, impressive 5th, impressive 8th, and not a track pedal turned in anger yet. Gymnastics is amazingly lopsided. The guys are really showing well, the girls are nowhere, slaughtered by the injury curse. I will actually be disappointed if one of the GB boys doesn't get a top step at some point. judo and boxing have been shambolic but have not been big medal getters this cycle - but they'll need a serious debrief post games Badminton disappointing, tennis disappointing, but had low expectation of both. sailing - wilson looks strong, women's skiff looks poor, wait to see on the rest shooting, already above expectations, and perhaps sineoid or Amber can pick up something finally, am furious about the triathlon nonsense, could see it coming YEAR ago, utter, utter hubris by organisers putting aesthetic above the sport and now reaping what they sewed. this despite the fact that, frankly, a duathlon could play into GBR shoes, especially in the men's event.

Weak opening, strong finish. The Seine didn't work in that weather (and what does that downpour mean for Triathlon and OW swimming), the use of Paris in the dark did - perhaps they should have started later. The light show was fabulous, the music was largely great, if badly mimed - someone should have worked out the limits of close ups in an outdoor set. More Daft Punk required. The menage a trois segment I found a little ridiculous, indeed quite a lot of the show seemed, frankly, rather preoccupied with sex and sexuality which given the universalist family nature of the event overall was, in my opinion,a miscue - as was the drag last supper which seemed gratuitous and, worse, utterly random. A simple public display of gay affection in a 'city of love' context would have been very welcome, but it simply was too much 'sex' and not enough 'love' for the kind of show it was supposed to be. The cauldern ceremony was wonderful, and probably left the show feeling like it was better than on average it was - it finished strong. Very happy Riner got to share the 'Perec' return moment because iconic as she is, riner is a greater legend of sport in the round and he would have been my pick. The node to Rafa was well made, and the use of Zizou was very on point. Unlike London, while the multiculturalism of France was rightly celebrated, there didn't seem much reflection on where that multiculturalism came from and what the price of it was; London seemed to grapple with 'questions' better - at a push I'd say the French certainly upheld their motto, and recognised diversity, and that's great, but I preferred London (and Rio's) explicit acknowledgement that some of that diversity has threads back to a dark past, and that in a sense, it's not just celebrated, but a form of atonement. In other words, Paris was cool (in places) but London was smart. At what point will we finally be rid of Bach, the Rodrigo Borgia of IOC presidents?

Artistic Gymnastics: Which Brit gets the most total points (all-around)? Jarman : Jake, Jo and Luke appear to be going for AA Badminton: Do Lane and Vendy win at least one game? Yes Boxing: Does Davison advance? Yes Canoe Slalom: Do they both get through the heats? No. Woods does. Cycling Road: Do we get a medal? Yes. Men's bronze. Diving: Medal today, yes or no? No, 5th Equestrian: Are the team in a medal position by the end of the day? Yes Hockey: Do we win our opener? No Rowing: Is it a clean sweep of advancing to the next round? Yes Shooting: Do the mixed relay team get to the final stage (top four)? No Swimming: How many RELAY medals do we get today? One, Men's 4 x 200 free bronze Tennis: How many of the four Brits win our games? Three

It may be one of the others is ill/off form and they therefore cannot spare Hayter in the heats of the TP. It does seem bizarre that GB went to the trouble of qualifying two entries for both TTs and then don't bother using the second one in each.

In all honesty, two of the best four teams are gone. Fiji Ireland was a stone cold classic - as was NZL South Africa. Still, this tournament has been a great advertisement for the format, most 'casuals' i've spoken to have absolutely loved it, and a number have mentioned that it serves as almost a perfect lead in to the Olympics. I still don't agree with teams being already out before the Opening Ceremony, but the idea of using the Athletics Stadium in Week one for Sevens seems to work very well. Now if we could only get some of the energy- and the crowds - into the SVNS

In ye olden days the finals of 7s were often 10 minute a side

They needed a blatant knock on try to do it. They'll win it now though.

Wow. Fiji winning try a blatant knock on...but yet again, eventually, the brain fade, this time from McNulty taking a quick tap when Ireland had been marching downfield in lumps by line outs. Jesus, we had them. Jesus, that stung.

"We're in 10 of the 13 draws in the boxing, so surely they can't all turn out unfavourably for us..." Are ye Irish at all? There's a reason it's called Murphy's law and not 'Noviski's law'.

It was a complete brain fade all round, although I was having great difficulty understanding what the Ref's problem was. That said, it was interesting in the first half to see a ref actually call the blatant tackle and ruck infringements by the Kiwis that we've seen them do forever in both forms of the game...and then mysteriously stop doing so when they were clearly still 'at it', including the last turnover. But it still shouldn't have mattered, but for that brain fade. Ireland are a team that play smart to overcome the better strength and instincts of other teams. It's unforgivable they were so dumb in that one moment. Seems to my eyes that three of the best four teams have ended up in one group, and the reward for escaping as second place team is to face the best team, while the other two teams have to face each other again. It's all dreadfully similar to RWC 2023 - meanwhile, the winner of USA - Australia is going to get two shots at a medal! I expect Fiji to win and win handily, but there's no shame in that, we played very well in the group, beaten the Boks, scared the Blacks. Top 8 finish and a punchers chance of a miracle after a strong but frustrating group stage...not the worst Irish olympic performance.

Of course the most likely route at this stage is Los GER, back to the village.

I think the 'triple crown' probably goes back to the Giro-Tour-WC season of Merckx, and perhaps a fanciful hat tip to horse racing v riding the 'iron horse' - the WC is a funny race in that it's not really any more prestigious than say Paris-Roubaix or L-B-L, indeed I think Pogacars achievement in Giro-Tour-LBL is arguably better, but because Mercks did it and others did not, it became a thing, and then Roche managed it by various larcenies. For a long while even the era of Giro-Tour doubles seemed to be over. Personally I thinking holding all three Grand Tours at the same time, even though not in one season, has a better claim to such a title - there is something interesting of the visual of the one rider with the three big jerseys, but I honestly prefer the recent tendancy to highlight 'range', as in multiple terrains. I'm a huge fan of Strade Bianche and the idea of it as a kind of alternative to both tarmac and pave as a test. And I like how many of the current batch of superstars are multi-discipline. Variety is the spice of life...

In this sport, for whatever reason, 10 and 11 are kind of the seeding sweet spot - you avoid Korea till the final, and most of the big guns until the semi or quarter - there is a route to bronze in this set up that doesn't require beating one of the big two asian giants, albeit a very very long shot Bt GER bt MEX lose CHN Bt IND

75...

They've won medals in the last three Games, the only team to Stop the Netherlands in close to two decades. They've done their share; a certain changing of the guard/rebuild is usual.

And once again the vaguaries of a rugby draw has put Ireland to the wheel. The three best teams here seem to be, on this evidence, Fiji, NZL, Ireland...yet the loser of NZL-Irl tomorrow is going to be stuck with a QF against Fiji. Meanwhile, South Africa, beaten by both, could yet sneak out a quarter against a relatively nervous looking Argentina... That said, if we somehow beat the Blacks, we could be staring into a USA, Samoa path to the final....

You were saying?

Crowd loathed that ending, but you have to say that was probably very wise from the USA. In terms of QF qualification, they've just got advantage over every other possible 3rd place team.