893 posts
|
Post by vdcni on Aug 5, 2021 13:35:20 GMT
Posted thus in the bad behaviour thread by mistake as the screen keeps jumping which we all know about. Anyway I'll try again..... Must say I am finding it hard to watch the Olympics thus year due to the rights issue and the BBC not being able to broadcast everything. Everytime I turn on the TV its usually sports I have no interest in like Rugby, Football, weight lifting, boxing etc. But am I right in thinking that we are very poor this time around with regard to athletics? We don't seem to be winning very much at all in this. Yeah the athletics team isn't doing well, though things have picked up in terms of performances over the last few days. Obviously we've been hit hard by both our reigning world champions having injury issues and having to pull out, KJT entirely and Dina from the 200m and not being able to put on a real showing in the 100m. This is also the first post Farah/Ennis Olympics so we were always likely to have a bit of a let down, they won roughly half of our medals in the last two games. A fit KJT and Dina could have taken 3 medals, though going by the results only KJT would have been in the mix for gold. Athletics is probably the toughest sport to do well in, there's a huge strength of depth and poorer countries don't have the same barrier to entry that they do in other sports where technology and team set up's play a bigger part. So yes it's not been great but I think some of the initial gloom has lifted, the sprints were a disaster but the middle distance has been pretty strong and there's been a few more encouraging results in the field in the last day or so. We still have chances in both 1500m's. Muir for the women and one of the three men. Maybe in the relay though only the women's 4x100m looks likely.
|
|
|
Post by sfsusan on Aug 5, 2021 15:54:31 GMT
I've had a personal Olympics thrill... a friend's niece won gold for the US in the women's kayak sprint 200 meters!! It wasn't being broadcast on the BBC that I could find (I looked for some of the qualifying heats at 2 am, with no luck), but has been covered in the US press. She's getting lots of publicity as a wunderkind (and not only won gold but set an Olympic best).
|
|
4,799 posts
|
Post by The Matthew on Aug 5, 2021 16:24:30 GMT
I'm rather disappointed with the BBC's coverage. You'd think that with only two channels available they'd at least try to show as great a variety of sports as possible, but they keep showing the same things over and over again. A couple of days ago you'd have been forgiven for believing the only sports that existed were weightlifting and hockey. And I swear I've seen the same boxing match five times now.
And then there's this whole thing about "Now we'll interrupt this event and force you to to switch over to BBC2 for 45 minutes before we interrupt it again and make you come back to BBC1, because apparently having all the Olympics programmes on one channel and the non-Olympics on another is impossible for reasons".
|
|
2,389 posts
|
Post by peggs on Aug 5, 2021 16:47:41 GMT
I tend to not dare watch big finals that we have a stake in as I fear I'll jinx them.
A few years ago someone I worked with whose son worked for the bbc covering sport told me rumours passed on by her son about a successful british athlete and how the bbc thought they'd won medals on drugs and that was apparently why they didn't commentate for the bbc. I've never heard anything remotely suspicious about this athlete elsewhere and lets face it there are loads of reason why ex successful athletes don't commentate, don't want to, don't have the right skills etc. But I never forget it when they're name comes up and while I have no reason to think there was anything in it I'm still pissed off I was told this unsubstantiated rumour as I can't unhear it.
|
|
5,585 posts
|
Post by lynette on Aug 5, 2021 17:17:18 GMT
I'm rather disappointed with the BBC's coverage. You'd think that with only two channels available they'd at least try to show as great a variety of sports as possible, but they keep showing the same things over and over again. A couple of days ago you'd have been forgiven for believing the only sports that existed were weightlifting and hockey. And I swear I've seen the same boxing match five times now. And then there's this whole thing about "Now we'll interrupt this event and force you to to switch over to BBC2 for 45 minutes before we interrupt it again and make you come back to BBC1, because apparently having all the Olympics programmes on one channel and the non-Olympics on another is impossible for reasons". I’ve just about mastered the iplayer. All the events are there but you have to search for them. Tbh they are doing their best with the restrictions they face. I think the lack of spectators is spoiling it a bit. It’s a bit low key. The climbing and the skateboarding are a revelation, aren’t they?
|
|
4,038 posts
|
Post by kathryn on Aug 5, 2021 19:43:01 GMT
Everyone worldwide is complaining about Olympics coverage this year, it seems. It looks like the company who won the rights put such restrictions on what can be shown by free-to-air broadcasters that no-one anywhere has been able to hit the sweet-spot combination of national interest coverage, niche sports people only watch at the Olympics, and the blue-ribbon athletics finals that everyone will want to air.
|
|
4,038 posts
|
Post by kathryn on Aug 5, 2021 19:49:09 GMT
I tend to not dare watch big finals that we have a stake in as I fear I'll jinx them. A few years ago someone I worked with whose son worked for the bbc covering sport told me rumours passed on by her son about a successful british athlete and how the bbc thought they'd won medals on drugs and that was apparently why they didn't commentate for the bbc. I've never heard anything remotely suspicious about this athlete elsewhere and lets face it there are loads of reason why ex successful athletes don't commentate, don't want to, don't have the right skills etc. But I never forget it when they're name comes up and while I have no reason to think there was anything in it I'm still pissed off I was told this unsubstantiated rumour as I can't unhear it. I remember a documentary a few years ago about doping in sports. Scientist has recently developed a new test for some banned substances and was testing historic samples from Olympic medal winners - which are frozen and stored - as part of the process. He found so many had the banned substance show up in the test that in the end he decided to just stop doing it because it was too depressing - he just didn’t want to know any more. And of course it’s years too late to really do anything about it, given that they don’t keep the samples from the non-winners to check that they weren’t doing too.
|
|
2,389 posts
|
Post by peggs on Aug 5, 2021 20:51:52 GMT
Yeah, I think I'd rather not know.
|
|
4,799 posts
|
Post by The Matthew on Aug 6, 2021 2:24:28 GMT
The rhythmic gymnastics was being very slow with the scores at the start, though they seem to have sped it up now.
Getting a little bored with the occasionally slightly inane commentary on Eurosport. It's not necessary to fill every silence. Although to be fair, it's great that they're showing the entirety of every event. The BBC did its best to pretend rhythmic gymnastics didn't exist.
|
|
4,799 posts
|
Post by The Matthew on Aug 6, 2021 5:05:30 GMT
It's a shame the FIG have decided to drop rope from the rhythmic gymnastics apparatus list. I like rope, even though in small venues it wins the award for being the apparatus most likely to get stuck on a lighting fixture. I believe the FIG's justification is that rope is difficult to see on TV and doesn't offer sufficient variety, though according to some gymnasts the reason is that the FIG is batf—k insane. (If you're going to drop an apparatus for being boring, drop clubs. How many mills do we need to see? Or better yet, leave things alone.) There's been a lot of criticism of the FIG for caring too much about TV regardless of the effect on the sport. The artistic gymnasts have been complaining about the difficulty of performing without proper warm-ups because the FIG has been under pressure from broadcasters to keep the action going. My feeling is that the sport should be done the way it needs to be done and if broadcasters have a problem with that then that's why editing is a thing that exists. If that's not enough then the broadcasters can go — themselves with a cactus. Oh, but the judging is slow today. They're only using one set of judges, which is a strange decision considering that they have to get through 26 competitors performing four routines each. Often they'll use two sets of judges and alternate the apparatus so one group of judges can complete their deliberations while the other is watching the next routine on the other apparatus, which speeds things up a lot. (It also makes it a nightmare when you're sitting in the audience with your scoring sheets trying to watch a performance while simultaneously trying to make sure you don't miss the score from the previous gymnast. It ends up with a lot of looking over other people's shoulders like everyone's cheating at exams.)
|
|
2,206 posts
|
Post by theglenbucklaird on Aug 6, 2021 9:05:38 GMT
Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald are impressive. Big achievement for Laura
|
|
603 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by jaqs on Aug 6, 2021 11:37:50 GMT
I hope Kate French ends up the breakout star, modern pentathlon is a bonkers competition and I’m in total awe of the diversity of the events they have to master to win.
|
|
2,206 posts
|
Post by theglenbucklaird on Aug 6, 2021 11:54:12 GMT
I hope Kate French ends up the breakout star, modern pentathlon is a bonkers competition and I’m in total awe of the diversity of the events they have to master to win. Glad I saw this post, was wondering why we were celebrating a French win
|
|
2,206 posts
|
Post by theglenbucklaird on Aug 6, 2021 12:03:49 GMT
I hope Kate French ends up the breakout star, modern pentathlon is a bonkers competition and I’m in total awe of the diversity of the events they have to master to win. Talking of pentathlete's, I went down a youtube rabbit hole the other day. Ended up watching Superstars from late 70's early 80's. Danny Nightingale and Jim Fox in the past masters both acquitting themselves well. But an epic battle between Brian Jacks and Daley Thompson in 1981. Thompson couldn't get near him. Battles in canoeing, cycling, gym won by Jacks. Thompson won a great weightlifting and was pretty decent at basketball. Really surprised me the difference. Thompson did mid forties for the dips to Jacks mid eighties.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2021 12:07:03 GMT
I'd watch a 24-hour channel of Tom Daley knitting.
|
|
2,206 posts
|
Post by theglenbucklaird on Aug 6, 2021 12:57:27 GMT
Well done Laura, my superstar
|
|
4,557 posts
|
Post by Mark on Aug 6, 2021 13:02:18 GMT
Well done Laura, my superstar Wasn't she great! Silver medal! Not bad when the gold medal winner sent a new olympic record.
|
|
893 posts
|
Post by vdcni on Aug 6, 2021 13:03:25 GMT
Great to see Muir join Bradshaw with a global outdoor medal at last.
British record and beat Hassan, fantastic performance.
|
|
2,206 posts
|
Post by theglenbucklaird on Aug 6, 2021 13:08:39 GMT
Amazing moment on BBC Sport. Laura Muir running 1500m final and on TMS Michael Holding speaking with Aggers at lunch about his life and black lives matter. Holding spoke so well and so eloquently. Had to watch/listen to both at the same time. Both worth catching up folks. Great broadcasting
|
|
2,389 posts
|
Post by peggs on Aug 6, 2021 14:09:36 GMT
Oh that's painfully close, prob the one to win with some of the big hitting teams out.
|
|
4,557 posts
|
Post by Mark on Aug 7, 2021 6:40:17 GMT
Diving Final! Heart is in my mouth here. Tom Daley in first position and we are halfway there.
Edit: Bronze for Tom! Great achievement, those Chinese divers really stepped up for those final three dives.
|
|
2,206 posts
|
Post by theglenbucklaird on Aug 7, 2021 9:00:07 GMT
Diving Final! Heart is in my mouth here. Tom Daley in first position and we are halfway there. Edit: Bronze for Tom! Great achievement, those Chinese divers really stepped up for those final three dives. Really good final, those Chinese divers were sensational
|
|
4,799 posts
|
Post by The Matthew on Aug 7, 2021 10:09:27 GMT
Expectations against reality: I don't think I've ever seen anyone more devastated at getting silver instead of gold than Dina Averina in the rhythmic gymnastics final, or anyone so ecstatically delighted at getting bronze as Alina Harnasko after ranking fourth in the first three rotations.
|
|
6,306 posts
|
Post by Jon on Aug 7, 2021 18:20:09 GMT
Looking at the medal table, in terms of population capita, Australia has done exceptionally well this time round.
Japan has really done themselves proud as well and I don't think it's just a home advantage either.
|
|
4,799 posts
|
Post by The Matthew on Aug 7, 2021 18:53:10 GMT
Ooh, the Russians are unhappy at the rhythmic gymnastics results. They're claiming the results were fixed because winner Linoy Ashram (Israel) dropped her ribbon during the final rotation and so it's apparently not possible that she could have beaten Russian Dina Averina. (Never mind that Averina herself dropped her ribbon in a competition in 2018 and still came first.) They're being terribly poor losers, and the Russian fans are posting insanely xenophobic comments all over social media. It's almost like they think that because Dina Averina has dominated RG for the past few years she has a right to gold just by turning up.
It's all rubbish, of course. The current code of points has no real limit on the difficulty score: it can go as high as the number of points you can cram into 90 seconds so with enough difficulty a gymnast can easily (well, not easily: it's called a difficulty score, after all) offset minor errors by performing a more difficult routine. And that's what Ashram did: her difficulty scores were higher than Averina's right across the board so the 1.7 deduction she got on the ribbon wasn't enough to wipe out her lead.
After the exemplary behaviour of the artistic gymnasts supporting and congratulating each other, and the behaviour of the other rhythmic gymnasts doing the same, it's disappointing to see how the Russians are throwing their toys out of their pram. Terrible sportsgymnastship.
|
|
6,306 posts
|
Post by Jon on Aug 7, 2021 18:55:52 GMT
Terrible sportsgymnastship. That's a great wordsmash!
|
|
4,799 posts
|
Post by The Matthew on Aug 8, 2021 8:43:53 GMT
And the Russians came second in the rhythmic gymnastics group competition as well. Head coach Irina Viner has a reputation for being somewhat uncompromising — brutally abusive, some would say, and one commentator once said she could give lessons to Tony Soprano — so I expect the Russian gymnasts are in for a miserable few days for not coming home with gold.
(I like Russians as people, but the state's constant desperation to show that they're winners makes me think of an overweight middle-aged man with an expensive sports car and a fierce dog.)
|
|
|
Post by jojo on Aug 8, 2021 9:09:07 GMT
Expectations against reality: I don't think I've ever seen anyone more devastated at getting silver instead of gold than Dina Averina in the rhythmic gymnastics final, or anyone so ecstatically delighted at getting bronze as Alina Harnasko after ranking fourth in the first three rotations. I've seen it said a few times that the bronze medallist often seems happier than the silver medallist, because they are thinking about how they avoided 4th place and got onto the podium, whereas the silver medallist is thinking about how they almost got gold. That effect is even more pronounced when there's a gold medal match and bronze medal match. I do worry about the reactions from coaches with unrealistic expectations of perfection, but the pressure of keeping or losing funding is also massive.
|
|
7,500 posts
|
Post by alece10 on Aug 8, 2021 9:12:48 GMT
How bizarre is the syncro swimming. Very skilled but also makes me laugh when they walk to the pool with their nose clips on. It's like watching the North Korean army marching in swimsuits.
|
|
2,206 posts
|
Post by theglenbucklaird on Aug 8, 2021 10:27:04 GMT
Going to be some interesting discussion around funding. Rowing currently gets £27.4m, BMX gets £1.50.
Will be some smashing skateboard and BMX parks around the country
|
|