London 2012 Olympic News

Dan man

Just 25 days to go until the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games. Time we had a thread to see us right through the Olympics where we can discuss all sorts of Olympic related news items. Here we can post news articles, discuss breaking stories and have a discussion on all things Olympics.

To get us started I'll post an article on 2 legends of the last edition of the Games. Firstly, the one and only Michael Phelps. He can't replicate the 8 golds in Beijing after dropping the 200m freestyle but repeating his success of Beijing 4 years ago was never on the cards. Still though he is attempting to win a whopping 7 golds this time. He's coming into form nicely but I still think Ryan Lochte might deny him gold in one or two races. I can see him winning all 7 medals though and many of them gold.


http://www.newsday.com/sports/olympics/michael-phelps-drops-200-free-bid-for-8-golds-1.3818231


Secondly, Usain Bolt who is aiming to win 4 golds in London (100m, 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m) has been beaten in both individual sprints at the Jamaican trials. Arch-rival and training partner Yohan Blake took both race victories and has set up what could be an epic showdown in London. Blake is world champion at 100m and was marginally behind Bolt's 200m world record last season. Bolt will have his hands full retaining his 100m and 200m Olympic titles but he is such a superstar and who would ever dare write him off? One thing is for sure is that Jamaica are red-hot favourites to win the sprint relay but I don't think Bolt will be enjoying much success in the Jamaican 4x400m event. Jamaica aren't really gold medal contenders in that event but they should be up there with some of the leading teams.

http://wcfcourier.com/sports/olympics/blake-wins-jamaican-goes--for--against-bolt/article_ef95c66c-c3f0-11e1-bcc1-0019bb2963f4.html

Corruptedmorals

I'm kind of gutted Phelps is on track to smash Latynina's record though he is of course a phenomenal athlete. Fun fact- Larisa Latynina, former artistic gymnast for the Soviet Union, competed in the 1958 World Championships and won 5 out of 6 events...while pregnant!

The USA artistic gymnastic teams have been named after Trials at the weekend. Definitely one of the most popular spectator sports, USA's teams are especially interesting because they are so strong and have such depth of talent. The women's team have higher hopes of gold than the men, who will be challenged fiercely by Japan in particular. The WAG team are on track for gold, barring major catastrophe. Crucially they have 4 gymnasts competing an extremely difficult and valuable vault, (3 up, 3 count in team finals) China has one, Russia currently have none but likely to throw two messy ones, Romania unknown. They also have a huge chance of their two all-around competitors medalling due to their enormous difficulty, and are definite to take a gold in one apparatus- vault. The other three apparatus are much less certain, but another medal or two is certainly possible there.

Trials were not without drama, returning Olympian Alicia Sacramone failed to even make alternate as she only competed two events, ones on which USA needed no help although she had really good routines with no mistakes. Nastia Liukin, the 2008 AA champion, also failed but that was not suprising as she has been falling and having huge errors on bars all year, her 'ticket to London'. Bridget Sloan, another returnee was injured in warm-ups on the first day and did not compete. Chellsie Memmel did not advance to Trials or even Nationals, extremely controversially as Liukin did after abysmal performances. Unlike Liukin, Memmel and Sacramone have had extremely dissapointing previous Olympic experiences.The gymnast who finished fourth all-around, Elizabeth Price, did not make the team as other gymnasts who finished lower than her add more tenths than her on her events in a team situation. Rebecca Bross, a lock for this team in 2010, fell three times on bars and had huge errors. She blew her kneecap last year and had a difficult recovery but was consistently nailing her bars. Scoring was all over the place, top name gymnasts were gifted scores well above what they can expect in London. This year the team has been cut to 5, which is a disaster for USA as they are so deep, but not so much for other countries. This is the second cut in recent quads, it was 7 in 1996- hence the Mag 7. Numerous injuries this year, the open-ended scoring system places huge pressure to increase difficulty, at the cost of ACL's and other serious injuries. Russia are down one, China one, France and Canada two and Belgium one. And there is still nearly a month left, including a very intensive training camp for the USA teams which traditionally sees more than one injury. McKayla Maroney, the vault EF gold certainty, has already beaten the odds, she suffered concussion less than three weeks ago and lost a whole week of training.

The women's team is: Jordyn Wieber, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and McKayla Maroney. Alt: Anna Li, Sarah Finnegan, Elizabeth Price.
The men's team is: Danell Lleyva, John Orozco, Sam Mikulak, Jake Dalton and Jonathan Horton. Alt: Chris Brooks, Steven Legendre and Alex Naddour.

In a sport where returning Olympians are still quite uncommon to find, and those who have competed/will compete in 3 Olympics are even rarer and can be counted on one hand (5), Oksana Chusovitina of Germany will compete in her SIXTH Olympics. At the age of 37 she still shows great power and form and won another medal on the world stage last year, and a Europeans medal this year, both on the vault- the most wearing apparatus by far. She began competing as a senior elite in 1988, eight years before most of the girls she is up against were even born. She competed for the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan after the break-up and now Germany, where she moved to in order to access better treatment for her son who had cancer but is now fully recovered. She has said she wants to return to coaching the Uzbek team after this Olympics and therefore formally retire, but she said that after Beijing too! Beth tweddle, a lock for the British team who will be named tomorrow, will compete in her third Olympics. The others were Svetlana Khorkina of Russia- who is among the very few to be known outside of the gymnastics world, (1996, 2000 and 2004) Dominique Dawes of USA (1992, 1996 and 2000), Daiane Dos Santos of Brazil (2004, 2008 and 2012) and Svetlana Boguinskaya of Soviet Union/Belarus (1988, 1992 and 1996). All of whom noticeably deteriorated by the time of their third Olympics. This is what makes Chuso so remarkable- we won't see the likes of her again! Tweddle only competes two out of four events so it's easier for her, but it is worth noting her bars routine is more difficult EVERY year and has one of the highest start values we will see in London. Daiane still competes extremely high difficulty on floor, but her form has suffered too- she's 29!

Truman Burbank

Interesting selection choice for Team GB in the Women's 800m, sending a B-standard athlete (whom they expect to peak), when they have 4 with an A-standard (who they clearly think have had their peak). See Steve Cram's analysis on your left. Surely Patsy and Co. will be taking note..........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18685730

Dan man

Truman Burbank wrote: »

Interesting selection choice for Team GB in the Women's 800m, sending a B-standard athlete (whom they expect to peak), when they have 4 with an A-standard (who they clearly think have had their peak). See Steve Cram's analysis on your left. Surely Patsy and Co. will be taking note..........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18685730

Very interesting selection indeed but a very fair selection...although it is very unfortunate for those with the A-standard not to be chosen. But it was a bizarre situation the G.B. selectors were left with and how could you say to Lynsey Sharp, "you beat all those girls fair and square at the British trials and again at the Euros en route to claiming a silver medal but we've decided to choose 3 other British 800m runners ahead of you for London".
That's the situation that was presented to the selectors and fair play to them for taking the courage to select Sharp despite the expected backlash that will follow. She is the best of the British at this moment in time and she proved herself again at the Euros with silver so on that form she deserves her place at the Olympics.

Truman Burbank

Dan man wrote: »

Very interesting selection indeed but a very fair selection...although it is very unfortunate for those with the A-standard not to be chosen. But it was a bizarre situation the G.B. selectors were left with and how could you say to Lynsey Sharp, "you beat all those girls fair and square at the British trials and again at the Euros en route to claiming a silver medal but we've decided to choose 3 other British 800m runners ahead of you for London".
That's the situation that was presented to the selectors and fair play to them for taking the courage to select Sharp despite the expected backlash that will follow. She is the best of the British at this moment in time and she proved herself again at the Euros with silver so on that form she deserves her place at the Olympics.

True. If she had had the A (hair-splittingly close), or if The Unchosen Few all had the B, they would probably (in my selectors mind) have opted for her, Meadows and Okoro. Why not? There's nothing to lose (per se), and it's in the spirit of The Olympics to have qualified athletes compete. It wasn't all about 'The Bottom Line' in 776BC!
More than a Game
The prideful Greeks started the Olympics because of their belief in the glory of competition and to honor the gods with their ability. The Olympics were much more than a game, they gave competitors a chance at immortality. Competitors were seen as heroes who, in their victories, received something greater than money or prizes -- honor. The Ancient Greek Olympics merged two things that the Greeks held sacred, religion and the desire for greatness.

Dan man

Oscar Pistorious the South African double amputee 400m runner (also known as Blade Runner) is set to make history by becoming the first athlete to compete at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the same year. He has been named in the South African 4x400m relay squad for London:

http://news.sky.com/story/956036/blade-runner-selected-for-london-olympics

Ireland's own Jason Smyth who is double Paralympic champion over 100m and 200m from Beijing also has his eyes set on the same record. He has the B-standard for 100m and will defend his Paralympic titles in London. If the OCI decide to send him to the Olympics with the B-standard then he too will go into the record books as the first to compete in both sporting events in the same year.

Dan man

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/04/london-olympics-2012-team-gb-medals?newsfeed=true

Team G.B. have targeted 48 medals and 4th place in the medals table for London 2012. I think the 48 medal aim will be achieved with ease....somewhere near the 60+ medals mark is definitely attainable and with in excess of 20+ golds they should finish at least 4th in the table, and at a stretch they could surpass Russia. Now G.B. would need to have an outstanding Games and Russia have a bad return by their standards for this to happen but a few golds either way could decide it. U.S.A. and China will likely do battle for top spot.

Skid

Interesting interview with Katie Taylor on the NBC website (it's a few weeks only, I just read it)

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-blogs/boxing/katie-taylor-set-to-become-a-household-name.html

The title of the article says it all - She really could be one of the faces of London 2012. NBC will certainly be watching her (and Queen Underwood's) progress.

Skid

This looks like an interesting series starting on Monday (tomorrow) on BBC2

BBC2 Monday 7pm

Faster, Higher, Stronger
Season 1 Episode 1 of 4
Stories of the Olympic Games - 100 metres New series. The history of the Olympic Games, focusing on different events and the athletes who have pushed performance to the limit in their pursuit of gold. The first of four programmes being shown on consecutive nights examines the 100m final, and features Jim Hines, the first to run the race in less than 10 seconds in 1968, Carl Lewis, the best finisher of them all, and Usain Bolt, whose massive stride allows him to virtually eat up the track. Britain's Alan Wells also recalls the dip at the line that won him gold at Moscow in 1980, while archive footage, period reconstruction and special filming techniques provide an insight into the event

http://www.tvnow.ie/detail.asp?id=128196548

feargale

How is this intended to differ from the Countdown thread?

Corruptedmorals

Skid wrote: »

This looks like an interesting series starting on Monday (tomorrow) on BBC2

BBC2 Monday 7pm

Faster, Higher, Stronger
Season 1 Episode 1 of 4
Stories of the Olympic Games - 100 metres New series. The history of the Olympic Games, focusing on different events and the athletes who have pushed performance to the limit in their pursuit of gold. The first of four programmes being shown on consecutive nights examines the 100m final, and features Jim Hines, the first to run the race in less than 10 seconds in 1968, Carl Lewis, the best finisher of them all, and Usain Bolt, whose massive stride allows him to virtually eat up the track. Britain's Alan Wells also recalls the dip at the line that won him gold at Moscow in 1980, while archive footage, period reconstruction and special filming techniques provide an insight into the event

http://www.tvnow.ie/detail.asp?id=128196548

The second one was about gymnastics. It was great, and featured such high quality footage, and interviews with loads of big names. It did skip several decades though- could do with it itself being a series, ending was very rushed.

_Bella_

Could anyone explain to me the controversy over the Aaron Cook elections. Why wasn't he selected if he is currently ranked no.1 in the world?

Dan man

feargale wrote: »

How is this intended to differ from the Countdown thread?

This thread can be used to discuss all sorts of Olympic news, positive and negative. The countdown thread is a light-hearted thread and should be kept as such, getting us geared up for London in a positive mood.

Truman Burbank

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18806505

See swimming! Looking forward to seeing Missy Franklin also, great performance in the recent US Trials.

Corruptedmorals

Hmm, can anyone find other inaccurate sports on that list? China are the nation to beat in gymnastics apparently..when the reality is, they are expected not to even medal in the team final. The nation to beat is the USA, China will come away with 1 medal- they came away with 5 and the team gold last time, they haven't a chance of repeating.

Truman Burbank

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18840448

Truman Burbank

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Hmm, can anyone find other inaccurate sports on that list? China are the nation to beat in gymnastics apparently..when the reality is, they are expected not to even medal in the team final. The nation to beat is the USA, China will come away with 1 medal- they came away with 5 and the team gold last time, they haven't a chance of repeating.

I agree there's high hopes for the US Team and Gabby Douglas in particular, following her performance at the US Trials. Would like to see Team GB's Beth Tweedle do well. Russia has some fine athletes, particular individual medal hopes, and Germany's Phillip Boy is one to watch.

Corruptedmorals

Truman Burbank wrote: »

I agree there's high hopes for the US Team and Gabby Douglas in particular, following her performance at the US Trials. Would like to see Team GB's Beth Tweedle do well. Russia has some fine athletes, particular individual medal hopes, and Germany's Phillip Boy is one to watch.

If gabby hits certainly, but she's a bit of a headcase, jordyn could overtake her. Yes Beth tweddle deserves the bars gold but unfortunately she's up against two Russians with the same difficulty score as her, and they are cleaner. He kexin has the highest score, she won in Beijing but she's more inconsistent now. Viktoria komova of russia and Larisa iordache of Romania are huge threats for the aa. Russia now have 3 amanars so the gap USA have is way smaller.

Truman Burbank

"I've been handed a piece of paper that if it's right will be the most dramatic story of these Olympics or any others." Finest Lynam moment? @BBCSport_Ollie 6 minutes ago

Dan man

Truman Burbank wrote: »

"I've been handed a piece of paper that if it's right will be the most dramatic story of these Olympics or any others." Finest Lynam moment? @BBCSport_Ollie 6 minutes ago

That was the moment in Seoul 1988 when the Ben Johnson drug scandal began to unfold. Great line that by Des Lynam....legend of sports presenting.

Truman Burbank

Dan man wrote: »

That was the moment in Seoul 1988 when the Ben Johnson drug scandal began to unfold. Great line that by Des Lynam....legend of sports presenting.

That only clicked with me :eek:

KevIRL

Has Michelle Jenneke qualifed? More of this sort of thing at the games please

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMgmYutL9W0

feargale

KevIRL wrote: »

Has Michelle Jenneke qualifed? More of this sort of thing at the games please

Sorry, KevIrl, you'll have to wait until 2016, if you're not too old to care by then. However, if you cant wait, her club,Cherrybrook Athletics Club in NSW is open for online registration from early August. As well as 100 hurdles < PB 13.39 > she does lots of other events including long, high and triple jump and discus and shot put. I wonder what her warm-up routine for the shot put is. Does she use two of them? No wonder John Charles McQuaid was against women in athletics!

Skid

Anyone who has a Freesat box might find this useful. You can tune in additional channels to access more of the BBC's extra Olympic streams during The Games

http://www.tvtrade.ie/blog/how-to-tune-in-the-bbc-london-olympic-2012-streams-on-a-free-to-air-receiver/

The settings for the BBC Streams for the 2012 Olympics are shown below.
High Definition BBC Olympic Streams Frequencies
(Frequency, Polarity, Symbol Rate)
11914 H 29500
12129 V 29500
12304 H 29500
12402 v 29497
12422 H 29500
12441 V 29500
Standard Definition BBC Olympic Streams Frequencies
(Frequency, Polarity, Symbol Rate)
11469 H 27500
10876 V 22000
10921 H 22000

There are more details about how to tune in the Channels on that page, and on this Youtube link ...

rebel girl 15

Was looking for this!!

24 channels of BBC olympic coverage = happy rebel girl

rebel girl 15

Katie Taylor will be the flag bearer at the opening ceremony - delighted for her tbh

rebel girl 15

useful page for keeping track of the Irish athlete's schedule!

http://www.olympicsport.ie/news/5802-irish-athletes-schedule-part-1.html

Dan man

Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papahristou has been thrown out of the Greek Olympic team after posting a racist comment on twitter:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/sports/olympics/twitter-comment-costs-greek-athlete-spot-in-olympics.html?_r=1

Elsewhere, Moroccan middle-distance runner and fastest 1,500m runner in the world this year Mariam Selsouli has failed a doping test meaning that not only is she expelled from competing at the Olympics but will likely receive a life-time ban as it is her second offence. Good news I say!

http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=selsouli&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CA8QqQIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fsport%2F0%2Folympics%2F18985217&ei=aFcQUPmlHY2KhQfRt4HwCw&usg=AFQjCNESWbzdzZUqAZhmr8sw0MsZ-Exjzw

rebel girl 15

meanwhile in Glasgow, the first major screw up of the games happened in the North Korea v Columbia womens soccer game. The flag of South Korea was mistakenly shown on the big screen alongside the N Korean team pictures, which resulted in the team walking off the pitch and the game being delayed by over an hour - game is now on

feargale

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

meanwhile in Glasgow, the first major screw up... The flag of South Korea
I thought they had good schools in Scotland. North and South Korea meet next Wednesday. Is it a fair bet that the North's flag has been programmed in to match the South Korean players?

buyer95

Skid wrote: »

Anyone who has a Freesat box might find this useful. You can tune in additional channels to access more of the BBC's extra Olympic streams during The Games

http://www.tvtrade.ie/blog/how-to-tune-in-the-bbc-london-olympic-2012-streams-on-a-free-to-air-receiver/



There are more details about how to tune in the Channels on that page, and on this Youtube link ...

Will this work too with the skybox, through other channels, like how I watch ITV and Five?

buyer95

Does anyone know anything about Andrzej Jezierski? He is competing for Ireland in the canoe sprint, who in 2005 apparently won a gold medal at the worlds, I see there are still tickets available for the canoe sprint final, I might take the chance!

Skid

buyer95 wrote: »

Will this work too with the skybox, through other channels, like how I watch ITV and Five?

According to this thread, it will, although not for the HD channels.

They should also be available on the Red Button.

Zaph

Dan man wrote: »

That was the moment in Seoul 1988 when the Ben Johnson drug scandal began to unfold. Great line that by Des Lynam....legend of sports presenting.

I watched that final in a bar in Toronto with my cousin. The whole country went crazy when he won, and rightly so, it was a phenomenal performance, or would have been had he been clean. Two days later when the news broke it was if every grandmother in Canada had just died. I have never seen anything like the look of utter despondency on the face of just about every single person I saw. The general mood was along the lines of "how could he have done this to us?". As an outsider it was fascinating to experience the country going from complete elation to the depths of despair in such a short space of time. I suppose we would have been the same had Michelle Smith or Michael Carruth been stripped of their gold medals two days after winning them.

Dan man

Greek high jumper Dimitris Chondrokoukis is thrown out of the Olympics after a failed drugs test....he was one of the medal favourites too.
Good to see the weeds being removed before the competition starts.
There is a serious problem in Greek athletics...too many of their athletes have failed drugs tests over the last number of years.

Silvio.Dante

Another Greek Athlete sent home but not for doping...:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/26/london-2012-greek-upset-racism-ban?newsfeed=true

Cardinal Richelieu

Dan man wrote: »

Greek high jumper Dimitris Chondrokoukis is thrown out of the Olympics after a failed drugs test....he was one of the medal favourites too.
Good to see the weeds being removed before the competition starts.
There is a serious problem in Greek athletics...too many of their athletes have failed drugs tests over the last number of years.

Seems to be doping programs ran by the actually sporting federations. UEFA suspended North Korean Womens team until 2015(Olympics not included) perhaps the IOC should ban the Greeks from Rio but can't see that happening because its Greece.

http://www.grreporter.info/en/greece_copied_negative_experience_east_germany_sports/7077

Dan man

Usain Bolt to carry Jamaican flag at the Opening Ceremony tomorrow evening!! Looking forward to see what antics he gets up to

Cardinal Richelieu

Chinese Farmer Chen Guanming, 57, arrived in London on a Rickshaw that he cycled all the way from China over the last two years. The Tour de France lads have nothing on him, he spent 7 years cycling around China for 2008 and plans to cycle through the Americas for Rio 2016.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/26/london-2012-farmer-cycles-from-china-rickshaw

Cardinal Richelieu

Dan man wrote: »

Usain Bolt to carry Jamaican flag at the Opening Ceremony tomorrow evening!! Looking forward to see what antics he gets up to

Maria Sharapova for Russia:D


South Africa seems to be making a public point by selecting Caster Semenya to carry the RSA flag.

Wiki has a flag bearer page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics_national_flag_bearers

Silvio.Dante

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Chinese Farmer Chen Guanming, 57, arrived in London on a Rickshaw that he cycled all the way from China over the last two years. The Tour de France lads have nothing on him, he spent 7 years cycling around China for 2008 and plans to cycle through the Americas for Rio 2016.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/26/london-2012-farmer-cycles-from-china-rickshaw

Great story...:)

Truman Burbank

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

If gabby hits certainly, but she's a bit of a headcase, jordyn could overtake her. Yes Beth tweddle deserves the bars gold but unfortunately she's up against two Russians with the same difficulty score as her, and they are cleaner. He kexin has the highest score, she won in Beijing but she's more inconsistent now. Viktoria komova of russia and Larisa iordache of Romania are huge threats for the aa. Russia now have 3 amanars so the gap USA have is way smaller.

Wondering if you have time, if you'd give a few more names in the individual events to watch out for please? Men? What are your thoughts on Kieran Behan and what technical difficulty, compared to others, will his floor routine be?

Truman Burbank

_Bella_ wrote: »

Could anyone explain to me the controversy over the Aaron Cook elections. Why wasn't he selected if he is currently ranked no.1 in the world?

Have been following this story with The Telegraph. See the reader comments also. It's complicated, and almost certainly has political undertones, but there were selection criteria in place that allowed selector discretion (not uncommon in Team GB), and the World #1 not be chosen. It doesn't make sense to me, however from other debacles we've seen, if the selection criteria were followed appeals seem fruitless. Apart from Cooke, I really feel for the British triathletes. Theirs was a terrible travesty. I'm not against selector discretion per se, especially when there's an injured athlete who can't participate at a trial event let's say, but overall these appeals show that athletes sign up to selection criteria that may not suit them (probably no choice) and selectors are humans (and humans do make mistakes).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/taekwondo/

Skid

Im Dong-hyun has broken his own World Record in the Archery ranking preliminaries. Depsite being registered as legally blind, he already has multiple Olympic and World medals

South Korea claimed the first world records of London 2012 on Friday morning with a stunning display in the men's archery ranking round.

Im Dong-hyun, who is registered as blind, broke his own 72-arrow mark of 696 by three points and was also part of a record in the team shoot.

Alongside Kim Bubmin and Oh Jin-hyek he helped register a 216-arrow total of 2,087 – smashing the world record by 18 points.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/27/im-dong-hyun-london-olympics-record


Interesting interview with him here

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/legally-blind-south-korean-archer-im-dong-hyun-070437648.html

What's remarkable is how Im has found a way to cope with being unable to clearly see the 122-centimetre archery target from the 70 metres he has to shoot from, and it doesn't involve glasses or corrective surgery. In fact, he says his attempts to shoot with glasses have been less successful. For him, it's not about seeing the specific details of the target, but rather interpreting the way the colours run together to figure out where the bullseye is.

"With my vision, when I look at the target, it looks as if different colour paints have been dropped in water," he continued. "The boundaries are not that clear and the lines between the colours are very blurred. ... When I look down the range at the target all I can do is try to distinguish between the different colours. If I couldn't see the colours, now that would be a problem."

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

GB Olympic tennis team told they're not allowed attend the opening ceremony as the tennis starts tomorrow. The GB swim team have already said they're not attending for the same reason and the GB athletic team is in Portugal until next week....

How **** would it be to not be able to go to the Olympic Opening ceremony especially when it's in your own flipping country.

At this rate it will be Chris Hoy on his own with the flag.

exiledelbows

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

GB Olympic tennis team told they're not allowed attend the opening ceremony as the tennis starts tomorrow. The GB swim team have already said they're not attending for the same reason and the GB athletic team is in Portugal until next week....

How **** would it be to not be able to go to the Olympic Opening ceremony especially when it's in your own flipping country.

At this rate it will be Chris Hoy on his own with the flag.

Most of the tennis team are on court pretty early tomorrow afternoon. I'd take performing to the best of my ability in my event over standing around in a stadium open to the elements until 1am the night before any day of the week.

Skid

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

GB Olympic tennis team told they're not allowed attend the opening ceremony as the tennis starts tomorrow. The GB swim team have already said they're not attending for the same reason and the GB athletic team is in Portugal until next week....

How **** would it be to not be able to go to the Olympic Opening ceremony especially when it's in your own flipping country.

At this rate it will be Chris Hoy on his own with the flag.

Not all athletes attend the Opening Ceremony. If it doesn't suit your timetable you are better off giving it a miss. It happens at every Olympics, this is nothing new.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

exiledelbows wrote: »

Most of the tennis team are on court pretty early tomorrow afternoon. I'd take performing to the best of my ability in my event over standing around in a stadium open to the elements until 1am the night before any day of the week.

True, but chances are they're all going to sit up and watch it anyway, or the nerves/excitement would stop them from getting a lot of sleep anyway. I feel especially bad for the tennis team as they're all going to miss the closing ceremony too.

On a different note, are we under I for Ireland, or R for Rep. of Ireland? And how does it work as regards to NI. I'm sure it used to always be team GB&NI, but I haven't heard that this time around. Is it dependent on your sport, whether it's organised on an all Ireland basis, or is it individual choice as to who you represent?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Skid wrote: »

Not all athletes attend the Opening Ceremony. If it doesn't suit your timetable you are better off giving it a miss. It happens at every Olympics, this is nothing new.

Yes, but it's not always your home Olympics is it. I know it's probably common sense but it seems a shame for the GB guys. To be realistic, bar Murray and maybe Watson, the tennis players don't have much of a chance anyway. Anne K. is playing Wozniacki. She could sleep for a week beforehand and still lose. I suppose the team leaders need to be able to say that all effort was made to ensure they were all 100% ready, but still, it seems a shame.

Skid

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

On a different note, are we under I for Ireland, or R for Rep. of Ireland? And how does it work as regards to NI. I'm sure it used to always be team GB&NI, but I haven't heard that this time around. Is it dependent on your sport, whether it's organised on an all Ireland basis, or is it individual choice as to who you represent?

I for Ireland. We are after Iran and Iraq and before Israel. I think the IOC are pleased to have us there, keeping Iraq and Israel apart

Northern Ireland athletes sometimes compete for Ireland (For example, Boxing), Sometimes for GB&NI (Football) and sometimes have a choice (Athletics). So Northern Ireland are included in both Ireland and the GB&NI teams

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Skid wrote: »

I for Ireland. We are after Iran and Iraq and before Israel. I think the IOC are pleased to have us there, keeping Iraq and Israel apart

Northern Ireland athletes sometimes compete for Ireland (For example, Boxing), Sometimes for GB&NI (Football) and sometimes have a choice (Athletics). So Northern Ireland are included in both Ireland and the GB&NI teams

That explains the blue helmets that are part of our uniforms. We're on a peace keeping mission.