The Olympic Games

[AngrySeahorse]

Yes, AS, Ken has been in good form lately, recording fast times in training. Looking forward to his K2 1000 final tomorrow evening @ 7:16 AEST (as Hugh mentioned earlier).
K4 1000 Mens just had a good win in their heat!

Sadly, my LRJs didn't assist Michael Diamond in the Trap Shooting!

Plenty of drama at mens' diving and mens' 110m hurdles!!

I've been watching the hurdles! Horrible stuff there for the Chinese runner. Similar happened in the women's hurdles the other night with a Jamaican runner, 34 yrs old I believe - this was her last Olympics, she was just or almost in front then clipped a hurdle - ruined all her momentum. Sad story, 4yrs hard training & all gone in one heat.

LRJ's should be mandatory kit a part of the Olympic uniform. Hell I even have women's underwear styled as men's jocks (was wearing them before it became fashionable).

The Sailors are doing alright have to say, expecting more gold there soon.

 

[Mr Doug]

I've been watching the hurdles! Horrible stuff there for the Chinese runner. Similar happened in the women's hurdles the other night with a Jamaican runner, 34 yrs old I believe - this was her last Olympics, she was just or almost in front then clipped a hurdle - ruined all her momentum. Sad story, 4yrs hard training & all gone in one heat.

LRJ's should be mandatory kit a part of the Olympic uniform. Hell I even have women's underwear styled as men's jocks (was wearing them before it became fashionable).

The Sailors are doing alright have to say, expecting more gold there soon.

Plus 'Team GB' hurdler tore a hammie, bloke from Madagascar false-started, bloke in duck-egg blue outfit hit hurdle with his head then summersalted! In mens' diving, one bloke landed flat on his back, whilst another had knee problems and went in feet-first!! The Olympic Games always leaves us with 'special memories'! Check the colour of the water in the swin leg of the Mens' Tri!

 

[Hugh Jarse]

?...snip...

LRJ's should be mandatory kit a part of the Olympic uniform. Hell I even have women's underwear styled as men's jocks (was wearing them before it became fashionable).
.

That must be the kind the La Jarse has.

I apologize for not channeling the LRJ for Diamond last night. At 125/125, and gold in sight, tragically the LRJ were channelled to the Sailing before bed time and fatigue took over.

Mr Doug, There may not be any Gold for us tonight as the LRJ are being rested in preparation for the K2 tomorrow.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Plus 'Team GB' hurdler tore a hammie, bloke from Madagascar false-started, bloke in duck-egg blue outfit hit hurdle with his head then summersalted! In mens' diving, one bloke landed flat on his back, whilst another had knee problems and went in feet-first!! The Olympic Games always leaves us with 'special memories'! Check the colour of the water in the swin leg of the Mens' Tri!

Did not see that what was with the water?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

The Kookaburra's got back on track after they thumped Pakistan 7-0. That's more like it fellas.

 

[matty_k]

And some of the goals were spectacular.

They now face Germany in the first semi.
It is the Dutch and GB in the other.

Both games will be tough. By guess will be Kookaburras and The Dutch for gold medal.
However GB are playing well and could ride the crowd's support and upset the Dutch.
Spain are generally the Kookaburras bogie team but the Germans have beaten them in clutch games before. The most notable being two world cups ago after being down 3 - nil they came back and won 4 - 3.

 

[Scotty]

Congratulations to Sally Pearson. She was amazing at carrying all that pressure.

 

[mark_s]

Congratulations to Sally Pearson. She was amazing at carrying all that pressure.

And to Anna Meares who was under similar pressure, both were great to see.

 

[Scotty]

It was surprising how easily Meares won that second race.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

So it is our Ladies = 3 Golds, Our Sailors = 1 (+1 to come) Gold.

Where should the future funding be going?

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Probably to the sports our women do best in. A lot of our best male athletes are playing in the professional football codes or cricket, to be honest. I could think of a few guys running around in the AFL or other sports who would be pretty handy in others sports. For instance, when I was in high school, I ran against three guys in the State Championships who ended up being very good Aussie Rules players, two of whom will be hall of famers easily for their club. They could have be at that same standard if they'd stayed with athletics.

 

[mark_s]

Well to rugby of course, especially given its a new event in 2016.

But seriously, I think these games have been a bit of a reality check for us after we overachieved in Athens and Beijing. Its easy to forget or not understand how hard it is to win gold medals at the Olympics, just ask Magnussan. Also gold shouldn't be the only measure of success, Solomon's performance in the 400m was also a joy to watch - how many times does an Aussie come last in a race and yet we are all still happy with the result? Similar the volleyball win over Poland was also terrific even though we didn't proceed through to the qtrs.

 

[Scotty]

The measure of performance should be in achieving personal bests or close to. This is where our swimmers have been below standard and why they have not lived up to expectation. It isn't that the didn't win gold it is that they didn't perform to the best of their abilities. I'm sure they will agree with this assessment.

 

[Scotty]

Probably to the sports our women do best in. A lot of our best male athletes are playing in the professional football codes or cricket, to be honest. I could think of a few guys running around in the AFL or other sports who would be pretty handy in others sports. For instance, when I was in high school, I ran against three guys in the State Championships who ended up being very good Aussie Rules players, two of whom will be hall of famers easily for their club. They could have be at that same standard if they'd stayed with athletics.

I think also that womens sports are less competitive as participation rates in many countries are lower than ours. This is a generalisation of course.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

The measure of performance should be in achieving personal bests or close to. This is where our swimmers have been below standard and why they have not lived up to expectation. It isn't that the didn't win gold it is that they didn't perform to the best of their abilities. I'm sure they will agree with this assessment.

Yep. As I said to a mate on Facebook about this subject, I know our athletes work hard and you can't win them all. I only have three issues with what we've seen so far:

1, People big-noting themselves before they've achieved anything. Stay quiet until you've won for mine.
2, Not getting anywhere near their PB in a major championship. I can live with someone not getting a medal if they've wrung everything out of themselves and done a best time/distance etc. That's what sport is all about. Steve Solomon in the 400m is a good case in point. That bloke has run out of his skin and smashed his PB twice in the same comp. You can't really ask for a lot more than that.
3, Bawling after things not going your way.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

If it is simply about winning on the medal table then fund the bejusus out of ladies sports, particularly individual sports where there is a chance of multiple gold medals very closely related rather than team sports with only one medal for a weeks efforts ie track cycling sprints can get multiple medals, whereas road racing at best will get road race and time trial only.

If it is about pure athletic performance, then I agree with Scotty's observation above where the KPI is how many PB's did we achieve. The word of caution here is that we are in danger of creating a Focker's Wall of Fame celebrating all the 5ths, 7ths and 9th ribbons, and certificates of participation.

Politicians like basking in the reflected glory of Gold Medals, and are prepared to fund these activities. Not much glory for the pollies and other snouts in the photo op, or sound bite with the 4th place getter in the B grade Hungarian Bog Snorkling final, even though it was a PB.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

So happy for Sal Pearson! & also happy for Anna Meares to beat Victoria - even sweeter that it was one-on-one. Her name alludes me but another Aussie girl won Bronze in the cycling. Sailing did it again & we well may get another at least.

Watched a bit of Sync Swimming. It may not be my cup of tea but I can still admire the skill & fitness they need to do their routines. I loved the Gold medal pair from Russia, they played Italian progressive band Goblin's "Suspiria" track. Goblin provided sound tracks for horror/scare theme movies back in the 70s/80s. The biggest of note was Phenomena (I believe this was the lovely Jennifer Connelly's first movie).

Anyhow, I said a Sports Psych is the only good investment but on reflection here is how I would direct funding:

1) Promotion for sports that have a fitness component to it, competes at an international level (Olympic or/& non-Olympic), & has both male & female participation. In addition sports that we traditionally we do well in, eg. Equestrian. High participation sports & those with potential quick growth.

NRL & AFL do not really fall into this category, don't tick enough boxes & have loads of their own money. I did say it was wrong Archery got more funds than Cricket but on second thoughts wouldn't Cricket also be in this category of being financially in pretty good nick?

2) Recruitment of high quality coaches for the above point & a world class Sports Psychologist.

3) Facilities, I am a big fan of "bare bones" facilities that do the job but are not flashy & don't cost heaps - if we already have a facility available that is old but safe & still does the job then I'm not in favour of wasting money knocking it down just to build one more "pretty looking". Basically only build if there is a need to.

That's all I can think of on the funding side of things for now.

An article on sports funding below

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/na...ttles-for-the-basics/2645531.aspx?storypage=0

 

[Torn Hammy]

There is just no money to emulate other countries.

Given that the Waratahs have a yearly budget of $15m, you can understand how hard it is to manage all the track and field athletes in Australia on a budget of $8m (it will reduce to $7m next year).

World class coaches? Pearson's and Samuel's coaches have to pay for their own travel and accommodation. Solomon's charges nothing. Most coaches are part time and have serious jobs or businesses.

NSWIS scholarships are about $35K and to get one you need to be rated in the top 8 in the world. There are presently 7 with scholarships in NSW.

Here are the ASC numbers:

http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/441160/2011-12_NSO_NSOD_Funding.pdf

 

[It is what it is]

There is just no money to emulate other countries.

Given that the Waratahs have a yearly budget of $15m, you can understand how hard it is to manage all the track and field athletes in Australia on a budget of $8m (it will reduce to $7m next year).

World class coaches? Pearson's and Samuel's coaches have to pay for their own travel and accommodation. Solomon's charges nothing. Most coaches are part time and have serious jobs or businesses.

NSWIS scholarships are about $35K and to get one you need to be rated in the top 8 in the world. There are presently 7 with scholarships in NSW.

Here are the ASC numbers:

http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/441160/2011-12_NSO_NSOD_Funding.pdf

Thanks for that info TH, it sure puts the challenges our guys face into perspective.

 

[Mr Doug]

Did not see that what was with the water?

River Thames plus turbidity plus all the stuff you can't see!

Go Kenny Wallace (and Dave Smith) in 6 minutes!!