London 2012 Megathread [Part 1]

pc7 · 04-08-2012 10:31PM

I'm sure bill nearly fell asleep doing that swimming intro

bwatson · 04-08-2012 10:31PM

fionnsda wrote: »

out you go brits Ha

As a British supporter from Northern Ireland, I say good. They were never going to get past the Brazilians anyway.

And now, we don't have to see those overpaid, overhyped, and generally not very nice footballers wearing the same colours as the likes of the girls who blitzed the pursuit earlier, the rowers who gave it their absolute all and then gave it some more to win golds and silvers, Jess Ennis who has shown them how to live up to pressure and prevail, and Mo Farah who showed grit beyond belief to get his gold.

If the Olympics does anything, I hope it opens up the eyes of many people to the fact that sporting heroes exist far beyond the white lines of a soccer pitch.

johnmcdnl · 04-08-2012 10:31PM

telekon wrote: »

namloc1980 wrote: »

Even madder...that East German's record is over 2 metres farther than the men's record!

I think the women's discus is lighter though....

Its 2kg for men and 1kg for women so yeah its lighter lol

My name is URL · 04-08-2012 10:31PM

Lineker just said that Britain come out on top if you take into account the medal to population ratio. Is that true? =/

Guy:Incognito · 04-08-2012 10:33PM

telekon wrote: »

namloc1980 wrote: »

Even madder...that East German's record is over 2 metres farther than the men's record!

I think the women's discus is lighter though....

So are the women :-)

Namlub · 04-08-2012 10:34PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Lineker just said that Britain come out on top if you take into account the medal to population ratio. Is that true? =/

Wouldn't surprise me, their population is small compared to the likes of USA and China...

Guy:Incognito · 04-08-2012 10:34PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Lineker just said that Britain come out on top if you take into account the medal to population ratio. Is that true? =/

I doubt he's lieing

johnmcdnl · 04-08-2012 10:34PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Lineker just said that Britain come out on top if you take into account the medal to population ratio. Is that true? =/

Denmark 5 medals 5 million odd population beats them in my book.. Albeit only 1 gold... thats just at a glance

Edit new zealand 3 gold 7 total 4.5 million population has to be top surely

paulgeog · 04-08-2012 10:34PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Lineker just said that Britain come out on top if you take into account the medal to population ratio. Is that true? =/

No it's New Zealand atm. Same population as Ireland, an example we need to follow.

namloc1980 · 04-08-2012 10:35PM

telekon wrote: »

I think the women's discus is lighter though....

So is the hammer and shot put but those records are more in proportion with the men's being much further. According to wiki the top 10 women's discus throws of all time all happened between 1984-1988 and all by eastern bloc athletes (6 East Germany, 1 Czech, 1 Romanian, 1 Bulgarian and a Soviet)......what a joke!!

mick987 · 04-08-2012 10:35PM

bwatson wrote: »

As a British supporter from Northern Ireland, I say good. They were never going to get past the Brazilians anyway.

And now, we don't have to see those overpaid, overhyped, and generally not very nice footballers wearing the same colours as the likes of the girls who blitzed the pursuit earlier, the rowers who gave it their absolute all and then gave it some more to win golds and silvers, Jess Ennis who has shown them how to live up to pressure and prevail, and Mo Farah who showed grit beyond belief to get his gold.

If the Olympics does anything, I hope it opens up the eyes of many people to the fact that sporting heroes exist far beyond the white lines of a soccer pitch.

As a Brit I total agree with the above comment.

mike65 · 04-08-2012 10:35PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Lineker just said that Britain come out on top if you take into account the medal to population ratio. Is that true? =/

I'd say New Zealand run away with that award. But they are doing about 4 times better per capita than the USA! USA! USA!

Jamaica will win the gold per person award by next Sunday.

Pherekydes · 04-08-2012 10:36PM

Mountainlad wrote: »

It's importatn they get their dues.

Anyone know what the deal is with Victor Costello on RTE? Is he a sports editor of a national paper, or what was the reasoning behind him being on to talk about the athletics?

keith16 wrote: »

It's RTE so it doesn't have to make sense. They probably needed an expert for the discus and rang him going, "ah shure Victor, you must have thrown a frisbee once or twice in your time"

Haha, you're hilarious.

Do you know he's a former national shot putt record holder, represented Ireland in Barcelona and is still our all-time number 2?

westendgirlie · 04-08-2012 10:37PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Lineker just said that Britain come out on top if you take into account the medal to population ratio. Is that true? =/

No idea. I don't buy into that medal to population stuff.

It is one competitor against another competitor. If you win a medal, you deserved on your own merits (doped competitors not included)

Ulysses Gaze · 04-08-2012 10:37PM

paulgeog wrote: »

No it's New Zealand atm. Same population as Ireland, an example we need to follow.

Yeah, we need to do what the British have done in the Cycling.

Pick a niche sport and develop 5/8 athletes of genuine class to at least give us a shot at medals (beyond boxing).

paulgeog · 04-08-2012 10:37PM

mike65 wrote: »

I'd say New Zealand run away with that award. But they are doing about 4 times better per capita than the USA! USA! USA!

Jamaica will be tops at the end!

Richard Hillman · 04-08-2012 10:39PM

In the opening ceremony they said NZ had the most gold Per Capita of all time

paulgeog · 04-08-2012 10:39PM

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Yeah, we need to do what the British have done in the Cycling.

Pick a niche sport and develop 5/8 athletes of genuine class to at least give us a shot at medals (beyond boxing).

Olympic handball. An indoor teamsport. Gaelic football is mainly hand passing these days. GAA players could take it up. Conor Mortimer is playing it isn't he?

mike65 · 04-08-2012 10:39PM

edit the UK are twice as good as the USA, half the medals and quarter the population.

Pherekydes · 04-08-2012 10:39PM

namloc1980 wrote: »

So is the hammer and shot put but those records are more in proportion with the men's being much further. According to wiki the top 10 women's discus throws of all time all happened between 1984-1988 and all by eastern bloc athletes (6 East Germany, 1 Czech, 1 Romanian and 1 Bulgarian)......what a joke!!

The solution to this is simple. Change the specification for the events. They did it with the Javelin in 1999, and it created a whole new list of performances. The old marks were wiped away.

blueser · 04-08-2012 10:41PM

I think Gary might have got a bit carried away with that comment. Understandable after the day/evening Great Britain has had.

telekon · 04-08-2012 10:43PM

Pherekydes wrote: »

The solution to this is simple. Change the specification for the events. They did it with the Javelin in 1999, and it created a whole new list of performances. The old marks were wiped away.

Yeah, I was thinking the same. They changed the men's javelin weight after some drug fuelled German nearly threw it onto the track (think it was somewhere around 98m from memory, not wiki)

So adjust the weights of all the equipment and start afresh. Its the only way to make them more interesting for spectators again.

Nothing like a good world record.

Edit: it was 104m!! :eek:

Pherekydes · 04-08-2012 10:44PM

Richard Hillman wrote: »

In the opening ceremony they said NZ had the most gold Per Capita of all time

Finland are top. They have 101 golds to NZ's 39, with broadly similar populations.

Hungary and Sweden are 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

keith16 · 04-08-2012 10:45PM

blueser wrote: »

I think Gary might have got a bit carried away with that comment. Understandable after the day/evening Great Britain has had.

Nice piece of trivia...

Which country has won the most medals, but never hosted the Olympics?

dxhound2005 · 04-08-2012 10:46PM

Pherekydes wrote: »

The solution to this is simple. Change the specification for the events. They did it with the Javelin in 1999, and it created a whole new list of performances. The old marks were wiped away.

That won't work for the Women's 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres records, all set in the 1980's.

Pherekydes · 04-08-2012 10:46PM

keith16 wrote: »

Nice piece of trivia...

Which country has won the most medals, but never hosted the Olympics?

Hungary!

Guy:Incognito · 04-08-2012 10:47PM

Pherekydes wrote: »

namloc1980 wrote: »

So is the hammer and shot put but those records are more in proportion with the men's being much further. According to wiki the top 10 women's discus throws of all time all happened between 1984-1988 and all by eastern bloc athletes (6 East Germany, 1 Czech, 1 Romanian and 1 Bulgarian)......what a joke!!

The solution to this is simple. Change the specification for the events. They did it with the Javelin in 1999, and it created a whole new list of performances. The old marks were wiped away.

Was that not cos it looked like Jan zelezney was going to spear someone at the far end of the stadium in the crowd his t throws were getting that long?

keith16 · 04-08-2012 10:48PM

Pherekydes wrote: »

Hungary!

Correct

WumBuster · 04-08-2012 10:48PM

bnt wrote: »

I haven't been keeping up with Ireland's progress ... not a single medal so far? Ouch. Pull your socks up, people!

If you just cover over the ''Great Britain and N.'' it looks pretty fantastic

Tox56 · 04-08-2012 10:48PM

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

paulgeog wrote: »

No it's New Zealand atm. Same population as Ireland, an example we need to follow.

Yeah, we need to do what the British have done in the Cycling.

Pick a niche sport and develop 5/8 athletes of genuine class to at least give us a shot at medals (beyond boxing).

But how do you do that? You can't just 'develop' the likes of Wiggins, Cavendish and Hoy, especially in a country the size of Ireland.

London 2012 Megathread [Part 1]

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