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London 2012 Olympic News

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    #32
    buyer95
    Registered Users Posts: 3,343 ✭✭✭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!


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    #33
    Skid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,873 ✭✭✭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.


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    #34
    Zaph
    Registered Users, Subscribers Posts: 47,283 ✭✭✭✭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.


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    #35
    Dan man
    Registered Users Posts: 3,076 Mod ✭✭✭✭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.


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    #36
    Silvio.Dante
    Site Banned Posts: 4,066 ✭✭✭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


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    #37
    Cardinal Richelieu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,407 ✭✭✭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


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    #38
    Dan man
    Registered Users Posts: 3,076 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dan man


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


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    #39
    Cardinal Richelieu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,407 ✭✭✭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


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    #40
    Cardinal Richelieu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,407 ✭✭✭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 :D

    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


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    #41
    Silvio.Dante
    Site Banned Posts: 4,066 ✭✭✭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...:)


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    #42
    Truman Burbank
    Registered Users Posts: 543 ✭✭✭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?


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    #43
    Truman Burbank
    Registered Users Posts: 543 ✭✭✭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/


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    #44
    Skid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,873 ✭✭✭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."


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    #45
    TICKLE_ME_ELMO
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,929 Mod ✭✭✭✭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.


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    #46
    exiledelbows
    Registered Users Posts: 657 ✭✭✭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.


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    #47
    Skid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,873 ✭✭✭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.


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    #48
    TICKLE_ME_ELMO
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,929 Mod ✭✭✭✭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?


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    #49
    TICKLE_ME_ELMO
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,929 Mod ✭✭✭✭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.


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    #50
    Skid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,873 ✭✭✭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


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    #51
    TICKLE_ME_ELMO
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,929 Mod ✭✭✭✭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.


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    #52
    Corruptedmorals
    Registered Users Posts: 4,194 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    Truman Burbank wrote: »
    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?


    PM sent. I have lots of time!


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    #53
    Truman Burbank
    Registered Users Posts: 543 ✭✭✭Truman Burbank


    Corruptedmorals wrote: »
    PM sent. I have lots of time!

    Thanks, please tell us all!


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    #54
    Cardinal Richelieu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,407 ✭✭✭Cardinal Richelieu


    TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »
    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.

    Wozniacki is over rated. Ashia Hansen the ex-British Triple Jumper was on the BBC yesterday explaining that in her two Olympics she never attended the opening ceremony for fear of dehydration or aggravating an injury even do her event was in the second week.


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    #55
    TICKLE_ME_ELMO
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,929 Mod ✭✭✭✭TICKLE_ME_ELMO


    Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »
    Wozniacki is over rated. Ashia Hansen the ex-British Triple Jumper was on the BBC yesterday explaining that in her two Olympics she never attended the opening ceremony for fear of dehydration or aggravating an injury even do her event was in the second week.

    She's not over rated. She's rated just about where she should always have been rated now. But that's beside the point.
    I just think it should be up to the individual to decide. I think all the tennis players, bar the 7/8 carrying their countries flags are skipping the ceremony, but the GB players seem to have had this decision made for them, which to me seems a bit unfair. But like I said, the athletics team and the swim team are missing it too, so it's not like their the only ones.


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    #56
    Truman Burbank
    Registered Users Posts: 543 ✭✭✭Truman Burbank


    TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »
    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.

    Side note - both Mary Peters and Steve Redgrave, in their respective documentaries last week, said neither slept the night before their gold medal wins and that the exhaustion made them more focused on the day.


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