Thought it was about time we had a thread for this subject given it's been going on for a while now. I've been watching all sorts or sports and have to say some of them are a bit of a mystery. Everytime I turn over to watch one of ours go for a medal they seem to cock it up at the death and come 4th. Was beginning to think I was a Jonah and should refrain from watching until today. I watched 3 Bronze medal wins for GB. Hoodoo over with luck now. Been a good day all around for us. Old Tom Daley will have to take a back seat now given our Syncro pairs gold this evening. Didn't the boys do well. Some of it I can't quite get into though. I just don't get the scoring in Gymnastics if I'm honest. Some bloke comes out and does a 10 twist with tuck over a vaulting horse bouncing off his eyebrows and landing perfectly on two feet and gets 12 points. It looks perfect to me. Then the next one comes out and does an identical jump and gets 15. The 12 comes from Outer Mongolia and the 15 is from the USA. Politics perhaps?
You have to multiply the jump score by how many people live in that country and divide it by how many of them are illegal immigrants. In the case of the USA you don't count how many Mexicans have sneaked across the border....because they keep sneaking back for a siesta. In Mongolia' s case there are no immigrants to count because the border guards shoot them dead anyway. I haven't yet worked out how they do the scoring in the Dressage (that's the geegees) and wonder instead why they want to do such a crazy thing anyway. PS......did you notice the row that came about regarding the high board syncro diving.....all about Tom Daley....as if he did it by himself....his partner (swimming partner in this case) hardly got a mention.....only a picture of Tom on the front of the Daily Telegraph.....no sign of his diving partner.
Briefly heard about the Daley thing but it's not his fault is it. He didn't print the stuff. The Dressage is all about killing ants. That's why they lift their feet up that way and prance about. You get a tenth of a point for everyone you kill and you lose points if you just injure one. Now I understand the other scoring methods it will make the rest of the Olympics much clearer and enjoyable.
Now I saw an historical documentary the other day and dresage has its roots in military horsemanship. Originally, in the days of heavy armour, a knight was invulnerable and therefore just charged at the enemy at top speed, a bit like cross country. When crossbows and later firearms came onto the scene, armour became progressively redundant and the ability to manoeuvre a horse very accurately became more important. This became heavily stylised into dressage as kings and nobility demonstrated their horse control to imply their military superiority. Then came the machine gun...... It was more interesting than it sounds. PS further details that have come to mind in the shower. I think the series was Lucy Worsley's programmes on the rise & fall of the Russian tsars and specifically whym when half the population was starving, so much was spent on grand equestrian facilities at the royal palaces. The type of dressage was somewhat different then, including various controlled leaps by the horse, more like the lipizanner horses at the Spanish School in Vienna.
Another decent day so far with the medal count. Been watching the cycling this evening which doesn't take much understanding. Basically pedal like feck and keep doing it. We certainly can ride bikes can't we. Just watched a gold medal win by the team sprint boys. Think we might get a few more before the week is out. Most impressed with that boxer whose name I can't remember right now. Two KOs out of two so far. He can't half bang. Am sat here waiting for the Rugby seven final. Was surprised to hear earlier that it's actually Fiji who are defending champions and they have won it for the last two competitions. I'd guess that's world champions. Apparently sevens is THE game over there. We might be up against it but even a silver ain't bad.
Well might be up against it was a bit mild in the Rugby. Fiji are awesome and took GB apart. Result never in doubt from the moment the game started. Hats off to them. Still think GB did really well to get into the final so no shame in silver.
Been a decent day so far aint it. Just watched the bike riding team pursuit final. Wow!!!! Talk about edge of seat stuff. Well done the Brits and the old golds are mounting now. Good old Wiggie and the lads.
Yep, exciting stuff. Big day today as we could get a few more gold.. Atmosphere is disappointing, i thought it would be a great atmosphere when brazil got the games.. Less than a 1000 people at the athletics in a 60k Plus stadium. The people who award these games must look at what they are doing.. i suppose it was Blatter brother on the committee..
The problem is the cost of a ticket to various things. Locals can't afford that kind of cash and it's a long way to travel for a lot of countries. When you look at the poverty in Rio and the slum areas that abound there then it's not that surprising. Great day again for GB. Another couple of golds and silvers. Murray into the final. Still in with a chance of a couple in the cycling. Mo the mighty to come later along with Ennis who could also take the gold. Not looking bad. Watched the rowing on the big screen in town today and there was a decent audience in there. Big cheer when they crossed the line. Some of the effort in some of them sports is phenominal. True British grit. Makes you proud don't it.
Well that's sorted out another gold and silver for tomorrow then. Thought Kenny had blown it but what grit those cyclists have. Have to say that cycling on the track is probably the most exciting thing so far in the Olympics. I'm quite curious to know what that "thing" is that the medalists are given. It's always been the mascot of the particular games before or flowers but I can't quite spot what this one is. Nearly all the medalists have sort of looked at it and then sort of ignored it. Think it might be something that ends up in your attic or garage and you find in 20 years time and wonder where the feck it came from and you still don't know what it is.
Yes a good day, i stayed up to watch Mo, but unfortunately the other pair got medals but not Gold.. Its a wooden sculpture of the rio 2016 logo symbol for the games.. instead of flowers and made up of 30% recycled materials.. so in fact its junk..
Couldn't believe what I was seeing........Katarine Johnson-Thompson...chance of a medal in the Heptathlon .....couldn't throw a javelin much further than thirty odd feet....spent ages practising with a water bottle........compare her with the effort put in by the cyclist and rowers and all I can say is get a grip woman.
Yes i watched that also.. She has not thrown much better all year apparently? so why was she having a tantrum?
She's only young and was probably upset that things were not going as she would like. Nowhere to hide in the Olympics is there and she would pee all over us in competition so I'm not going to criticise. When the team is doing well we kind of put too much emphasis on winning everything which of course we can't do. Anyway. so much for super Saturday. It has turned out to be super Sunday this time around. Not sure what happened in the Gym because we never ever win anything there and suddenly we have 3 medals in a day. Not sure about Golf being an Olympic sport but we won it so it has to count now. We already knew we had a gold and silver in the cycling but still great when you see the medal table and us move up it. Murray on course and we will have another gold in the sailing eventually when they have done the final. Good old Mo Farah never lets us down either. It's exciting stuff aint it.
Normally I'm not a tennis fan of any description but I had to stay up to see if Murray could do the business once more. Good old Andy, I've always liked him.(herumph!!!) I thought all you true Brits would have been on here shouting the team on. Bleddy lightweights. He of the Brexit vote is nowhere to be seen when Johnny Foreigner is getting a bloodied nose..................shocking.
Not too shabby again today was it. Some of those cycling races are a bit hard to fathom out. That Laura Trott is some competitor and she is engaged to Jason Kenny. What kind of kids are they going to have for christ sake. Any bets the first one will come out on a BMX at least.
This brexit voter put it on record...... and watched the last two sets at a more civilized hour. When I went to bed he had just been blitzed out of the second set and Del Potro looked on a winning roll. All those Argy supporters who had spilled over the border to see their man give a Brit his comeuppance must of been thinking gold medal first than the Falklands next..
