The 2016 Olympic Games

rowan · Post by **rowan** » Thu Aug 04, 2016 9:05 am

Match highlights:

Post by **Sandydragon** » Thu Aug 04, 2016 10:26 am

Lizard wrote:
Sandydragon wrote:
Eugene Wrayburn wrote:Can't mention these Olympics without also the almighty mess that the OIC have made of the Russian issue. I have difficulty understanding why, with evidence of a state doping programme and a recommendation to do so by the (independent) WADA, they didn't simply ban the lot of them with the ability to apply to get in.
A shocking lack of moral fibre. There should have been a blanket ban unless individual sports were happy that testing regimes were sufficient; I seem to recall that tennis authorities were content thatrussian players spent so much time it side of Russia that they were happy with the integrity of test results. Otherwise, a complete fail to show leadership.
Erm, like Sharapova?

Fair point. I can only assume that the tennis authorities were more content that the regime was honest, perhaps hence why she was caught?

Post by **Eugene Wrayburn** » Thu Aug 04, 2016 8:37 pm

Sandydragon wrote:
Lizard wrote:
Sandydragon wrote: A shocking lack of moral fibre. There should have been a blanket ban unless individual sports were happy that testing regimes were sufficient; I seem to recall that tennis authorities were content thatrussian players spent so much time it side of Russia that they were happy with the integrity of test results. Otherwise, a complete fail to show leadership.
Erm, like Sharapova?
Fair point. I can only assume that the tennis authorities were more content that the regime was honest, perhaps hence why she was caught?

I don't think she's lived in Russia since she was about 11. Being resident in the US it will be USADA who will be primarily responsible for her out of competition testing.

twitchy · Post by **twitchy** » Fri Aug 05, 2016 6:51 am

Russians have taken an early lead in the shooting.

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Fri Aug 05, 2016 3:44 pm

On a semi related note, one of the best memories of last time was dear old Bert Le Clos. Sadly he is battling cancer. I hope his son gives him something to cheer about.

canta_brian · Post by **canta_brian** » Fri Aug 05, 2016 9:40 pm

Eugene Wrayburn wrote:
Sandydragon wrote:
Lizard wrote: Erm, like Sharapova?
Fair point. I can only assume that the tennis authorities were more content that the regime was honest, perhaps hence why she was caught?
I don't think she's lived in Russia since she was about 11. Being resident in the US it will be USADA who will be primarily responsible for her out of competition testing.

And yet her local doctor in Russia who supplied her prescription.

Post by **Eugene Wrayburn** » Fri Aug 05, 2016 9:50 pm

canta_brian wrote:
Eugene Wrayburn wrote:
Sandydragon wrote:
Fair point. I can only assume that the tennis authorities were more content that the regime was honest, perhaps hence why she was caught?
I don't think she's lived in Russia since she was about 11. Being resident in the US it will be USADA who will be primarily responsible for her out of competition testing.
And yet her local doctor in Russia who supplied her prescription.

Well quite.

Lizard · Post by **Lizard** » Sat Aug 06, 2016 1:03 pm

Drysdale kills his single scull heat, as expected.

canta_brian · Post by **canta_brian** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 8:19 am

Anyone see the French gymnast? That was pretty horrible to watch. And the road race was carnage.

At least the horse dancing went smoothly.

Post by **Sandydragon** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 9:26 am

Big D wrote:On a semi related note, one of the best memories of last time was dear old Bert Le Clos. Sadly he is battling cancer. I hope his son gives him something to cheer about.

Seconded.

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 10:05 am

The road race was excellent. Pity about the crashes as we could have 6 or 7 contesting at the end.

Post by **Eugene Wrayburn** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 10:27 am

Brilliant world record by Peaty in the pool.

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 8:20 pm

Cycling course has taken some scalps.

Nibali - Collarbone broken
Porte - shoulder fractured
Henao - pelvis fractured.

Hopefully the Dutch womans cyclist isn't too badly hurt. Looked brutal.

Post by **Sandydragon** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 8:57 pm

That looked terrible. Hope she is ok, it looked t me like she wasn't moving following th crash.

Gutted for the American woman who was in the lead until the last fifty meters.

Lizard · Post by **Lizard** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 9:47 pm

Lizard wrote:
Eugene Wrayburn wrote:
Lizard wrote:The Games are only a few days away. We might as well set up that all-important "Per Capita" medal table now.
so we'd need roughly 15 times the medals of you lot.

Valerie Adams is hitting form again. Last I saw your track cyclists were going well. Apart from the rugby teams any other obvious sources of medals?
We are so desperate for (relative) Olympic success that our official Government statisticians are tasked with the per capita calculations. In 2012 we were fourth on gold medals (behind Grenada, Bahamas and Jamaica - GB was 10th) and also fourth on all medals (behind Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago).

http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_sta ... mpics.aspx

As well as Valerie and the 7s (men's and women's), we're good sitting down, especially on the water:

Rowing
Men's pair: Hamish Bond and Eric Murray are better than the All Blacks. Defending Olympic champions, six-time world champs. I believe they haven't ever lost as a pair with 61 straight victories at Olympic, world championship and World Cup level.

Also watch for:
Men's single scull Mahe Drysdale
Women's 8
Lightweight women's double scull
Lightweight men's 4
Women's double scull
Women's single scull Emma Twigg
Women's pair

Kayaking
Lisa Carrington (K1 200 and K1 500)

Sailing
Men's 49er: Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have 26 straight wins in this class. Silver in 2012 was a disappointment.

Also watch for our men's and women's 470 duos.

cycling
Men's sprint : World Champions Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins should have won the 2015 world title but were disqualified on a technicality.

Dawkins is also a chance in the individual sprint.

Men's team pursuit is also a chance, as is Linda Villumson (Road race and time trial)

Non-sitting sports:
Lydia Ko (women's golf) - world no. 1.
Lauren Boyle (swimming 400m, 800m freestyle)
Tom Walsh (Shot put)

New Zealand has its first medal - silver in women's trap shooting. That's not one I saw coming, which is great. It's not even a sitting down sport (although it is a standing still sport).

I think that might *shoot* us straight to the top of the per capita table...

Galfon · Post by **Galfon** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 11:03 pm

24 countries have medalled thus far..zippo for GB to date- Peaty should get his gold later and get us up with Kosovo, Thailand and Vietnam.

Lizard · Post by **Lizard** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 11:07 pm

Galfon wrote:24 countries have medalled thus far..zippo for GB to date- Peaty should get his gold later and get us up with Kosovo, Thailand and Vietnam.

Bah! Kosovo surely has fewer people than NZ so that Judo gold will see them overtake us. Maybe we could register a protest on the basis that Kosovo isn't a real country? I'm sure Serbia would have our back on that one.

Also, "medal" is not a verb. Please don't use it as one. It causes me pain.

Lizard · Post by **Lizard** » Sun Aug 07, 2016 11:21 pm

So I was a googling for a per capita medal table and the first hit was www.medalspercapita.com which fits the bill (covering golds/capita, medals/capita, GDP weighted tables etc). Turns out it was set up by a Kiwi. Of course.

Galfon · Post by **Galfon** » Mon Aug 08, 2016 1:01 am

Lizard wrote: Also, "medal" is not a verb. Please don't use it as one. It causes me pain.

.
you're wrong on that one !..oed has it as a noun & verb apparently, but it's use as the latter can irriritate some..
It makes sense to use it as a concise report of such achievements in busy medal-fest jamborees like the 'Lympics...besides, the beauty of language is that it is ever evolving with new wordles being accepted as kosher every single year!
Phew, at least this is only a semi-obscure rugby forum rather than something high-brew but in the interest of international sport and if it causes you genuine pain Lizzo, I will try to use summut
different for this purpose

Lizard · Post by **Lizard** » Mon Aug 08, 2016 2:30 am

Thanks, mate.

The OED is of course a descriptive, rather than prescriptive, dictionary so it will pick up any sufficiently widespread mangling of the English language. I also suspect that the OED's acceptance will be of the transitive rather than intransitive form (I don't have access to a copy right now to check). The intransitive is certainly contrary to some journalist style guides (Reuters and NY Times at least).

"To medal" is perhaps less painful than "to podium", which I have seen. People could at least try to make a verb form from these nouns eg "to medalise" or "to podiate."

Although I sympathise with your efforts to be concise, the description "have won medals" is hardly sesquipedalian compared to "have medaled," being only two letters longer.

I can only hope that those who "done good" with a "stand out" performance in rugby can resist the temptation to say they cupped at the RWC or trophied in Super Rugby. If this disease spreads beyond sport and is applied to the acquisition of any tangible item, then no doubt we will hear of those who went out and dogged at the pet store.

Post by **Eugene Wrayburn** » Mon Aug 08, 2016 3:29 am

Couple of medals in the pool. Jazz Carlin only beten by a freak. Adam Peaty is a freak and drops his new world record by another 0.4s, making a drop of the best part of a second in a couple of days.

Lizard, in terms of medal tables, are you of the All medals, scaled medals or gold medals school?

Lizard · Post by **Lizard** » Mon Aug 08, 2016 6:29 am

Eugene Wrayburn wrote:
Lizard, in terms of medal tables, are you of the All medals, scaled medals or gold medals school?

Depends what makes NZ look best...

Seriously, I have traditionally been a gold medals, second-place-is-the-first-loser kind of guy. How can a bronze possibly be given equal credit to a gold (especially given the bullshit that goes on in boxing where they don'e even have a 3/4 play-off and hand out two bronzes willy-nilly)? However, the scale method "points table" does have some merit. The main problem is deciding on a proper weighting.

You?

Post by **Eugene Wrayburn** » Mon Aug 08, 2016 8:19 am

Lizard wrote:
Eugene Wrayburn wrote:
Lizard, in terms of medal tables, are you of the All medals, scaled medals or gold medals school?
Depends what makes NZ look best...

Seriously, I have traditionally been a gold medals, second-place-is-the-first-loser kind of guy. How can a bronze possibly be given equal credit to a gold (especially given the bullshit that goes on in boxing where they don'e even have a 3/4 play-off and hand out two bronzes willy-nilly)? However, the scale method "points table" does have some merit. The main problem is deciding on a proper weighting.

You?

Whatever makes UK look best, and failing that points table. I'd even accept the basic 3, 2, 1 weighting. I think 8, 5, 2 is probably about right.

Post by **Eugene Wrayburn** » Mon Aug 08, 2016 8:22 am

Phelps clocks up another gold. The BBC are reporting that if he were a country he'd be 33rd on the all time list, which if true is bloody impressive.

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Mon Aug 08, 2016 8:27 am

Big D wrote:Cycling course has taken some scalps.

Nibali - Collarbone broken
Porte - shoulder fractured
Henao - pelvis fractured.

Hopefully the Dutch womans cyclist isn't too badly hurt. Looked brutal.

Looks like Van Vleuten has a triple fracture of her back. Is in intensive care (according to Sky) but says she is ok.

We've won our 1st gold on day 2, so we are already up on London

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