Great Britain mullered by Australia in the women’s Rugby Sevens. I haven’t worked out how they cheated yet, guess we will have to wait until the press conference to see who cries…. …nah, they were different class and I look forward to the opportunity to lose to them again later in the competition.
Andy Murray and Dan Evans back from the dead in the doubles match tie break trailing 4-9 saved 5 match points winning 7 in a row to win 11-9. There's life in the old dog yet...
In the build up to Adam Peaty's final, the BBC decide that it would be a good idea to show a video of his family telling him how much they love him. For ****'s sake!
It's OK, it was filmed 7 months ago lol. It's more likely that Balding's inane comments and voice distract him !
It’s the sort of thing some people watching like. The sort of people who coo over Tim Henman at Wimbledon and watch posh Americans race boats for Oxford and Cambridge but people nonetheless.
Apparently he’s found God as well as Gordon Ramsey’s daughter, so if he loses he will probably also be on the way to Hell. I’ve just walked the dog in the hope of missing the build up, at least there are actual swimming races going on now. Great Britain has had a remarkable run at the Olympics, especially the last three. Can’t see it lasting this time, much less cash been spent on these sports recently. The Aussies have, apparently, learnt from our example and spent a lot more, so they are due a good Games, and have rocketed out of the blocks. Good for them (please ignore sound of teeth being gritted) Oh dear God has deserted him.
Why is a convicted child rapist at the Olympics? No answer is sufficient Barry Svrluga July 29, 2024 • 09:10am Share please log in to view this image Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands at the Paris Olympics. LOUISE DELMOTTE / AP Let’s get to the most important part first. Somewhere in Milton Keynes, England - or maybe in some remote corner of the globe, should she be seeking an escape - there is a woman in her early 20s who has lived for a decade with a vile, unspeakable crime against her. She was 12 years old. She met a Dutch man online. He flew to meet her. And he raped her. No amount of punishment to her assailant - not the four years he was sentenced to, and certainly not the 13 months he served - can change that. What thoughts must she wake with every day? Let’s hope they’re serene, happy, forward-looking. But who’s to say? The focus at the Paris Olympics is on the rapist. He is Steven van de Velde, and he is here representing the Netherlands in beach volleyball - in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, in a stunning setting that blends the thumping bass of modern sport with the sky-scraping ode to the French Revolution - because Dutch Olympic officials made a choice. He had done his time, they said. He was remorseful, they said. He earned the spot, they said. please log in to view this image Play Video Dutch beach volleyballer convicted of rape in 2016 Asked about the optics of appearing to be protecting a child rapist, John van Vliet, a spokesman for the Dutch team, said, “We are protecting a convicted child rapist to do his sport as best as possible, and for a tournament which he qualified for.” Read those words again, if you can. “We are protecting a convicted child rapist to do his sport as best as possible.” Sunday morning, under the first blue sky of these Games, van de Velde and his playing partner, Matthew Immers, took to the sandy court with the tower as its backdrop. The stands were nearly full. When the public address announcer introduced him - “At a ginormous 6-foot-6, making his Olympic debut, Mr. … Steven … van de Velde!” - a smattering of boos rippled through a venue that, every four years, is typically among the Games’ most buoyant. “I didn’t hear it,” Immers said. “I think the crowd is also far away. So you hear a lot of cheering.” In the first set, van de Velde, now 29, and Immers were on the cusp of winning, when their Italian counterparts … Come on. None of this matters. This guy should not be here. The review of the facts, and we’ll try to be brief: In 2014, when he was 19, van de Velde met an English girl on Facebook. He flew to her town northwest of London, raped her, and then advised her to get a morning-after pill. When she tried, the clinic alerted authorities. Because she was 12. The judge in the case, upon sentencing van de Velde to four years, told him this was “plainly a career end.” He served a year of his sentence in England before being transferred to the Netherlands. There he served another month. From there … Take it away, Dutch Olympic officials. “Van de Velde has fully engaged with all the requirements and has met all the stringent risk assessment thresholds, checks and due diligence,” the Dutch Olympic Committee wrote in a statement before the competition. “Experts have stated that there is no risk of recidivism. Van de Velde has consistently remained transparent about the case which he refers to as the most significant misstep of his life.” “He deeply regrets the consequences of his actions for those involved. He has been open about the personal transformation he has undergone as a result.” Yes, it’s possible to have second chances and to reform. Van de Velde has a wife and a child. He is free and living his life. Isn’t that enough? “I think Steven is a really good example from how he is right now,” Immers said in English after their opening match. “I am enjoying it very much to play with him. What is in the past is in the past. He had his …” and he fumbled for a word here, before van Vliet, standing by his side, said, “punishment.” “Punishment,” Immers picked up, “and now he’s really, really kind. For me, that’s a big example that you grew.” Everyone is for growth. Should that include the right to seek gold, too? Back to the survivor. “The lifelong consequences are for the child he raped,” the Brave Movement, a global organization that aims to end child sexual violence, wrote in an open letter about van de Velde’s case. “Perpetrators move on. Those they abuse are left searching for healing and justice. We need a world centred around survivors, not perpetrators.” The International Olympic Committee said before the Games began that the decision to allow van de Velde to compete was up to the Dutch. Dutch officials clearly knew this would be an issue, because they arranged for van de Velde to stay outside the Olympic Village, and they do not require van de Velde to walk through the “mixed zone,” the area at each venue where athletes can be approached by the media. He has not spoken publicly. “We are here to create an environment for all our athletes in which they can perform well,” van Vliet said. “We were aware that this was going to be a special situation, so we made our own measurements to make them play the best as they can in the environment which is best for them.” The Netherlands has made others choices about whom it wants representing its country and whom it doesn’t. Joost Luiten, a 38-year-old veteran of the DP World Tour, met the qualifications to play in the Olympic men’s golf tournament. He wrote on social media that the Dutch federation wouldn’t send him because, he said, they didn’t feel he had a good chance of a high finish He went to court and won - but by that point International Golf Federation officials had given his spot to another player. We know whom the Dutch committee will make special arrangements for and who they won’t. On Sunday, van de Velde and Immers lost to two Italians. They next play a team from Chile on Wednesday. The focus will return. But if that match crosses the television screen, forget the competition. Think of that girl, not the then-19-year-old who preyed on her. Think of the survivors of similar atrocities who could be triggered just by hearing his story and watching him perform. For them, the Olympics aren’t to be celebrated. They’re a reminder of their own suffering. - The Washington Post
Triathlon practice cancelled in river Seine after Paris rain lifts pollution levels……. Wow, that’s really got to give people the ****s!
More than that Taff. Absolutely STELLAR Starting in the field. Gets back to front Puncture. Gets back to front.. Overtaken Then that Absolutely wonderful overtake. He was amazing
I don’t know anything about gymnastics, a lot of it seems physically impossible to me, but the men’s team final is great entertainment. Japan nick it from China on the last piece of equipment, mainly because a Chinese gymnast, with a big points buffer, fell off the high bar. Twice. A trip to the far west of China and a bit of re-education beckons. British just out of the medals.
And now back to the pool where they are still going on about Peaty, almost saying he didn’t lose, because the time difference doesn’t count and he was ill. Of all the commentary/pundit teams this is the most tediously partisan, egged on by Claire Balding. You would be forgiven for thinking only British swimmers were in the pool based on this discussion. The people actually describing the racing are better. I notice the disgraceful performance of the women’s hockey team is being quietly ignored by the BBC. 200m men’s freestyle was a great race, Brit from lane 1 only lost by two hundredths, and of course Claire will never let it lie. Well done Richards. Apparently it’s ’absolutely fundamental’ to make a hard contact with the wall at the finish, which is the only reason we don’t have at least two more golds, according to Claire. But Richards gave a great post race interview, good bloke.
Remember this for when we get beat by West Brom 1-0 first game of season ...it's only one goal, so doesn't really count so we actually won, even though we were ****.. probably
Balding and Cotter are the worst, most tedious twats I've ever listened to . Diabolical presenters and commentators !
