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A Medal in World Athletics same as a Major! Please!

  • 20-12-2009 10:19pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭


    One of Irelands "world class" (sic) athletics persons came out with this the RTÉ Sports Awards.

    Is she soft? How many medals/events are there in Athletics? How could you compare that to a major????

    (She'd better ring Balko, those drugs are making her think funny :P)


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,207 ✭✭✭durkadurka


    ah come off it, dont begrudge her her moment. The golfers get their rewards.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭efb


    her comment stank of BS of the highest order!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,207 ✭✭✭durkadurka


    Maybe so , i just think they see golfers making squillions for similar effort and commitment, and they get supervalu ads if they're lucky....


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭efb


    Thats society ranking both fairly imho.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,207 ✭✭✭durkadurka


    Nope, i reckon it's to do with the fact that golf is big in the high spending middle class, middle aged male demographic.
    If you want to analyse it, you can say there are 4 majors a year, that golf draws from a limited pool of countries and sometimes social classes. Athletics gets one major meet a year and all sorts get to compete.

    I think golfers and soccer players are ludicrously over rewarded at the top end. Its down to the market appeal of the product imho.

    Anyway yer wan doesn't get too many days in the limelight. Good luck to her i say.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭efb


    She's blocking my view of the Golfers and the Rugby Players... pffff


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭jimjo


    Athletics Calendar

    The big one Olympic every 4 years
    The World Championships every 2 years (The first year after the Olympics and the year before)
    The European Championships (Every 4 years)
    Indoor World & European Championship also but the big stars may not always participate, leaving the way for Irish athletes to get good results.

    Olive Loughnane did extremely well in an unfashionable walking event. Due to its unfashionable nature she didn’t really get all that much attention. In Ireland's history we have had 4 World Championship medallist, Coghlan, Sonia & Gillian O’Sullivan, and of course Loughnane.

    What Derval O’Rourke was trying to do was to be kind of controversial, when comparing events. Although she wants the general public to get an idea of the importance of the world championships I felt comparing it to golf was a poor example.

    Loughnane fantastic achievement, O’Rourke poor/silly comparison


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,186 ✭✭✭G1032


    Who won the sports star of the year? Was it Lowry?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭jimjo


    Brian O'Driscoll


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,335 ✭✭✭conno16


    Who won the sports star of the year? Was it Lowry?

    it'll only take him another year i'd imagine


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,029 ✭✭✭Pisco Sour


    efb wrote: »

    (She'd better ring Balko, those drugs are making her think funny :P)

    You should be ashamed of yourself to be making such outrageous accusations. And as far as I'm aware unfounded allegations of drug use are against the rules of the boards.ie (maybe thats just for some sections of the site though).

    Derval made a good point. There are 16 majors in a 4 year cycle. If an Irish golfer wins just ONE of these he becomes a hero (which no doubt he should be). However an Athlete gets just 1 chance in 4 years to reach the pinnacle of their sport, and if you include the World Championships then 3 chances in 4 years.

    So when you hear muppets saying "Padraig is so far ahead of Sonia. He has won the pinnacle on his sport 3 times while Sonia hasnt even done so once", I get very annoyed! Padraig gets 16 chances in 4 years to win the ultimate (a major) while Sonia gets 1 chance in 4 years to win the ultimate (Olympic Gold).

    Not to mention the fact that Golfers have MUCH longer careers giving them more chances to achieve the ultimate. Seriously if you are in anywhere close to top class you should really be winning at least one major in a 20+ year career. An athlete on the otherhand will have a 10 year career if lucky, consisting of 2, maybe 3 Olympic games!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,207 ✭✭✭durkadurka


    I'm with you o multi numbered one.... Respect to any athlete who gives everything for little reward. Golfers get far too much respect and reward, relative to most other sportsmen.

    I think what sonia did easily matches anything harrington did. I think harrington might agree.

    When you look at stats, its almost absurd that the likes of clarke and westy and monty have no major, if they've had about 50 or 60 attempts at it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭jimjo


    04072511 wrote: »
    You should be ashamed of yourself to be making such outrageous accusations. And as far as I'm aware unfounded allegations of drug use are against the rules of the boards.ie (maybe thats just for some sections of the site though).

    Derval made a good point. There are 16 majors in a 4 year cycle. If an Irish golfer wins just ONE of these he becomes a hero (which no doubt he should be). However an Athlete gets just 1 chance in 4 years to reach the pinnacle of their sport, and if you include the World Championships then 3 chances in 4 years.

    So when you hear muppets saying "Padraig is so far ahead of Sonia. He has won the pinnacle on his sport 3 times while Sonia hasnt even done so once", I get very annoyed! Padraig gets 16 chances in 4 years to win the ultimate (a major) while Sonia gets 1 chance in 4 years to win the ultimate (Olympic Gold).

    Not to mention the fact that Golfers have MUCH longer careers giving them more chances to achieve the ultimate. Seriously if you are in anywhere close to top class you should really be winning at least one major in a 20+ year career. An athlete on the otherhand will have a 10 year career if lucky, consisting of 2, maybe 3 Olympic games!

    No I still think Derval made a poor example. You simply can’t compare a walking event to a golf major, completely different….

    In my eyes Padraig Harrington is Ireland’s best ever sportsperson and I wont be altering from this stance. So please forgive if I’m annoying you, which I don’t mean in an arrogant way. Harrington has consistently been in the top 10 (2006 aside) of golf for the guts of the last 7 years. He won 3 majors, although I know there’s four a year but by god that is that some achievement. He works and works on his game and players on tour often speak how he and Singh are the hardest workers on tour. To top things off he is a perfect role model, as both a sports competitor and person. This is in no way in any disrespect to Sonia, I’m just highlighting the brilliance of Harrington. Sonia was an absolutely wonderful athlete, we’ll probably not see the likes of her from this country for some time. In my opinion my favourite moment of her career was in 1998 when she won 2 golds in the Europeans, with the 96 Olympics a disaster (the media getting on her back) than her 1997 season not going to plan, the strength to come out and win 2 gold medals was just phenomenal.

    I’m in full admiration of Loughane’s achievement, I was absolutely over the moon when she won the medal, and gutted when Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin found the going tough in Berlin also with Robbie Heffernan finishing 15th in the men’s when he would have hoped to have done a bit better. Mary Cullen, unlucky in last weeks cross country, injuries this year taking their toll, she too deserves more recognition and she a great athlete. Anyway Irish walking (which should get more attention in this country) is in good nick at the moment and long may it last.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭efb


    They can win how Many medals? How Many events? All golfers do the full 72 (that make the cut) not just 4 holes over hurdles!

    Golfers are more recognised for a reason! 60m indoors? Big woop!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭efb


    It's amazing that the Athletics heads ranked sports when it comes to putting Spar girl ahead of Katie Taylor, but throw their spikes out of the pram when a similar analysis is done on them...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    efb wrote: »
    They can win how Many medals? How Many events? All golfers do the full 72 (that make the cut) not just 4 holes over hurdles!

    Golfers are more recognised for a reason! 60m indoors? Big woop!

    I think if we look at statistics i reckon the the achievements are collosal granted events are segregated but here some interesting facts which need to be taken into account.

    Over 3.65 Billion people take part in some aspect of athletics

    2007 Golf Memberships in Ireland were 209,000
    2008 Athletics Association of Ireland had 26,000 registered members

    on them the low ratio of athletes in terms of world wide participation makes these medals all the more impressive and shouldnt be disregarded so freely


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    efb wrote: »
    It's amazing that the Athletics heads ranked sports when it comes to putting Spar girl ahead of Katie Taylor, but throw their spikes out of the pram when a similar analysis is done on them...

    Katie Taylor Is dominant in a new sport which is why her merit looked at. Same done in athletics with respect to Yelena Isinbayeva who has set 27 world records in Pole Vault


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,029 ✭✭✭Pisco Sour


    efb wrote: »
    It's amazing that the Athletics heads ranked sports when it comes to putting Spar girl ahead of Katie Taylor, but throw their spikes out of the pram when a similar analysis is done on them...

    This chancer has been given a 4 day ban for trolling over on the Athletics forum.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 35,514 ✭✭✭✭efb


    I don't appreciate being called a 'chancer'

    The money speaks for itself, Athletics without Bolt would be dead.

    More people play golf than those that are members.

    How many members of athletics clubs are there in Ireland?

    There are 3 golf clubs in the vacinty of Tullamore, one athletics club


  • Subscribers Posts: 16,617 ✭✭✭✭copacetic


    thread closed, trolling on one forum, getting banned and trying to continue the trolling to another is not acceptable.


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