Olympics daily thread

HeidiHeidi

The twittermeister will be online tomorrow

YEEAAAS! An exceptionally kind person has pulled some strings and myself and Annalise's training partner Sara will both be able to stay for the race tomorrow! Frantic evening but it's all sorted! BACK TO THE TASK! Will keep you updated from the beach and for all the Irish in Rio would be great to see you there tomorrow! Come on Annalise!!! ‪#‎COYGIG‬ ‪#‎TeamIreland ‬

Strazdas

The medal race is set for 1pm (5pm Irish time) once again.

Strazdas

Torrential rain inside the Olympic stadium.....that's a rare enough sight at any Games

And the competition has actually been suspended as it's so heavy

Strazdas

Incredible gold medal for Brazil in the men's pole vault! The young lad da Silva just produced the jump of his life against all the odds to set a new Olympic record (and the home crowd are going berserk)

walshb

I didn't get to see the HW gold medal bout. It was 3-0, no? Anyone post the link for it?

walshb

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Absolute farce and an Irish judge in the middle of it. Shameful.

Has it been confirmed what judges decisions were recorded for the verdict? I don't believe that is made public.

daithi7

Ososlo wrote: »

Not really cool to be booing the Russian. Not his fault if the scoring system is ****ed up.

Who said they were booing the Russian?!?

I think the crowd, who paid good money to see top class fighting with top class and above all,absolutely fair, adjudicating on display were expressing their dismay that the judges and /or the marking system were cack. And it was obvious to the crowd that the judges & system delivered a hookey result. Are they not entitled to express their disapproval of incorrect outcomes to fair eyes?!

Fwiw, I think the new marking system the Olympic judges are now using is crap, it seems to encourage inaccurate, pushy, pully, fouling boxing, and seems a total disimprovement from the previous scoring system used. Pity.

Joeface

I see diving has entered the Track and Field events

One gets a Gold in the 400m for women and 110m Hurdler advances to the Semi Finals with a dive

The_Kew_Tour

Is that unfair that diving?

Stheno

Is it 505 again for the lasers?

Edit it is

HeidiHeidi

Stheno wrote: »

Is it 505 again for the lasers?

Yep.

Think I might head out to the club tonight for it, I'd say there was some atmosphere there yesterday!

Stheno

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Yep.

Think I might head out to the club tonight for it, I'd say there was some atmosphere there yesterday!

Sounds like it going by twitter

Tombo2001

is there no Scott Evans thread, after his amazing exploits? I don't see one.

Last 13 in the world......last 4 Europeans.....for a guy coming from Ireland, with the facilities we have historically had, compared to others.....this is incredible.

Joeface

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Is that unfair that diving?

400m final , not really more of a fall.

Watch heat three of mens 110 hurdles . That is a Dive . BBC have it that he broke his ribs doing in China before .

The_Kew_Tour

Honest question and more one for boxing experts

Was Katie really robbed yesterday? I thought it was close but not sure if she was robbed

Joe_ Public

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Honest question and more one for boxing experts

Was Katie really robbed yesterday? I thought it was close but not sure if she was robbed

If it was very close, as most people seem to agree, then how could it in any way be considered robbery?

Strazdas

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Honest question and more one for boxing experts

Was Katie really robbed yesterday? I thought it was close but not sure if she was robbed

I'm no boxing expert but I can see why the decision went against her. She seemed well below par and was not boxing at all well.

Your one on Rte is always loooking for the negative or controversial angle, boxing a few times, showjumping today and im sure there are a few im forgetting. It annoys me thats the angle most people seem to take these days.

HeidiHeidi

Anyone know what the story is with her Dad???

He's normally with her at competitions, if not at the ringside - but this morning I heard a reference to him being at Dublin Airport flying somewhere sunny (not Rio), and an indo article says he isn't coaching her any more.

Was there some sort of falling-out?

walshb

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Honest question and more one for boxing experts

Was Katie really robbed yesterday? I thought it was close but not sure if she was robbed

Not robbed, but for me she deserved the verdict based off clean and effective punches landed. Robbed is quite a strong word, and a word I hate to hear when discussing competitive fights. It's real sour grapes. All we need to know is that the opponent was world class, and that Taylor had no automatic entitlement to beat her. Taylor has had many similar close fights where she has gotten the nod. I don't think people realise this.

Tombo2001

Deleted User wrote: »

Your one on Rte is always loooking for the negative or controversial angle, boxing a few times, showjumping today and im sure there are a few im forgetting. It annoys me thats the angle most people seem to take these days.

I think that comes from ignorance to be honest.

A lot Irish people know a fair bit about soccer. So they know that Ireland beating Italy is a big result; and they know that getting to the second round, and getting knocked out by France is a great performance by the Irish team. In other words, getting to the last 16 in a competition that's Europe only - well done lads, lets have an open top bus. And I'm not knocking it, it was a great performance, I'm just saying that expectations are aligned.

They don't know much about Badminton; so they don't know that Scott Evans beating the German champion is a really top result.....or that Mark English making the Olympic semi final is a really good result.....or ditto for a lot of the competitions. And RTE are a bit that way themselves, simply again because I think they don't know the sports well enough themselves, and also because their viewing public don't know the sports well enough.

The guy interviewing Fionnuala McCormack......she was delighted with herself coming 20th in the marathon, 6th European. Did really well. The RTE Interviewer on the other hand seemed to think it was very humdrum.....

Against that - I do think RTE has done a really good job overall with the Olympics. I know I've learnt an awful lot of from the panellists they've had in across the huge range of sports. Really for me the best thing about the Olympics is seeing sports you never normally see - badminton being a prime example.....and seeing Irish sports people who you never normally see.

Strazdas

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Anyone know what the story is with her Dad???

He's normally with her at competitions, if not at the ringside - but this morning I heard a reference to him being at Dublin Airport flying somewhere sunny (not Rio), and an indo article says he isn't coaching her any more.

Was there some sort of falling-out?

Pretty much, yes. Unfortunate but these things happen in life.

daithi7

walshb wrote: »

Not robbed, but for me she deserved the verdict based off clean and effective punches landed. Robbed is quite a strong word, and a word I hate to hear when discussing competitive fights. It's real sour grapes. All we need to know is that the opponent was world class, and that Taylor had no automatic entitlement to beat her. Taylor has had many similar close fights where she has gotten the nod. I don't think people realise this.

I don't know much about boxing but Michael Carruth was interviewed on newstalk this am and he felt she was robbed. He said he was livid after the result. He reckoned that Katie clearly won the 1St, 3Rd &4th rounds.

Even as it was, it turned out to be a total split decision with one judge giving it to Katie by 1, another against by 1 and the last evens at 28-28. Apparently in that scenario the drawn judge decides the bout on the margin with a subsequent decision. My query for boxing experts is if you've already marked a round 28 all, how do you then decide that actually one boxer was slightly better than the other when pushed?!?

Seems more than a bit arbitrary to me anyway....

Joe_ Public

daithi7 wrote: »

I don't know much about boxing but Michael Carruth was interviewed on newstalk this am and he felt she was robbed. He said he was livid after the result. He reckoned that Katie clearly won the 1St, 3Rd &4th rounds.

Even as it was, it turned out to be a total split decision with one judge giving it to Katie by 1, another against by 1 and the last evens at 28-28. Apparently in that scenario the drawn judge decides the bout on the margin with a subsequent decision. My query for boxing experts is if you've already marked a round 28 all, how do you then decide that actually one boxer was slightly better than the other when pushed?!?

Seems more than a bit arbitrary to me anyway....

Michael Carruth is as entitled to his opinion as anybody else. But to balance it out Mick Dowling, Kelly Harrington and Eric O'Donovan had no complaints on RTE afterwards and accepted that Potkonen had won the fight. Bernard Dunne, I think, was edging slightly towards an unfair verdict, but only slightly.

The judging system is the way it is. Can never be perfect. A certain percentage of fights are always going to be horribly tight to call, virtual toss of a coin affairs, and they have to be settled one way or the other.

Owryan

I listened to the fight on radio 1, the analyst, Adam Nolan, thought it could've gone either way but mentioned that the judges were looking for aggression and in his opinion Potkonen's aggression is what swung it her way.

daithi7

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Michael Carruth is as entitled to his opinion as anybody else. But to balance it out Mick Dowling, Kelly Harrington and Eric O'Donovan had no complaints on RTE afterwards and accepted that Potkonen had won the fight. Bernard Dunne, I think, was edging slightly towards an unfair verdict, but only slightly.

The judging system is the way it is. Can never be perfect. A certain percentage of fights are always going to be horribly tight to call, virtual toss of a coin affairs, and they have to be settled one way or the other.

Didn't Mick Dowling also wonder how the judges didn't give the 1St, 3Rd &4th to Katie Taylor!?!

Also, surely for drawn bouts as per the 3 judges marks, then there should be a 4th judge who has to give a definitive decision in the event of a tie. Either that type of system, or else, in the event of a tie on points, maybe getting all the judges to watch the bout on video again and remarking it on that basis would surely be a fairer and more transparent system than the current one ,.... which is proving to be pure cack.

ahlookit

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Michael Carruth is as entitled to his opinion as anybody else. But to balance it out Mick Dowling, Kelly Harrington and Eric O'Donovan had no complaints on RTE afterwards and accepted that Potkonen had won the fight. Bernard Dunne, I think, was edging slightly towards an unfair verdict, but only slightly.

The judging system is the way it is. Can never be perfect. A certain percentage of fights are always going to be horribly tight to call, virtual toss of a coin affairs, and they have to be settled one way or the other.

This may go some way to explaining why Michael Carruth holds certain views. He won't criticise IABA:

http://www.balls.ie/boxing/who-is-fergal-carruth-the-iaba-chief-at-the-centre-of-the-billy-walsh-saga/313292

(I'm not saying he should criticise them, but he's hardly going to be an impartial observer)

walshb

daithi7 wrote: »

I don't know much about boxing but Michael Carruth was interviewed on newstalk this am and he felt she was robbed. He said he was livid after the result. He reckoned that Katie clearly won the 1St, 3Rd &4th rounds.

Even as it was, it turned out to be a total split decision with one judge giving it to Katie by 1, another against by 1 and the last evens at 28-28. Apparently in that scenario the drawn judge decides the bout on the margin with a subsequent decision. My query for boxing experts is if you've already marked a round 28 all, how do you then decide that actually one boxer was slightly better than the other when pushed?!?

Seems more than a bit arbitrary to me anyway....

Carruth is wrong to be on air using words like robbed. He's just wrong. Firstly because she wasn't robbed, and secondly because even if he really felt it he shouldn't be bringing the sport into disrepute. His words are damaging, and like Paddy Barnes yet again spouting on twitter (this time about bad officiating for Katie's fight) they are doing us no favours, and could possibly be harming our remaining boxer, Michael Conlon.

honeybear

Good round from Greg Broderick

ahlookit

daithi7 wrote: »

Also, surely for drawn bouts as per the 3 judges marks then there should be a 4th judge who has to give a definitive decision.

There are 5 judges at each bout, 3 scorecards are selected at random. I don't know why others scorecards aren't taken into account in event of tie... but the rules were obviously set and aren't going to change mid competition...

http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics/2016/0807/807551-olympic-boxings-new-scoring-system-explained/