Leaving medals aside, I shall be very happy if this is seen as one of the great Olympics by all the contestants. So far, the venues look great, organization going well, and no sign of massive travel problems.
That has changed. Smoke on the Central line. In an unrelated note, anybody else slightly disappointed with the performance of our swimmers? Yes a lot of finals, but not many are swimming PB's. Target of six medals looks highly unlikely at the moment.
I think that's a bit harsh. You're forgetting just how good the other countries are. The Americans have some incredible talents in their team.
I know swimming is hard, and we've made big leaps forward, but very few of our swimmers are swimming PB's so far (before this morning anyway). And it's not me expecting 6 medals, it's sports England, and they should know. So far only Becky Adlingtonm has really stepped up and pulled out a big swim in the final to grab an unexpected medal.
I'm a bit disappointed at the performance of everyone, to be honest. Zara will get the job done. She's got a winning attitude.
Another two medal prospects flop today, Richard Kruse in the fencing and David Florence in the C1 canoeing. Thank God for the posh people in this country, without the horse people today and the prospects of rowing medals to come we might be looking at a very bleak two weeks. (although that is balanced nicely by the continued implosion of any boats displaying a union flag in the sailing) (Harsh I know, but what do you expect, far too much hype for British medal prospects this year, and like a sucker I believe it. Still, my bet of less than 47 medals is looking better by the day...)
Our medal haul at Beijing was outstanding, because we had lots of contestants at their peak and got a few unexpected ones (something we are not good at). There was no way we were going to exceed that this time. Still I'm expecting a few golds that will push us up the table. Good silver in the 3 day eventing. Very tense at the end as I have never trusted horses. Look at Zara Philips horse having a poo just before the first jump...I'm sorry, but that's just not concentrating...no wonder he knocked it down.
I trust horses a lot more than any england penalty takers. Actually perhaps thats what they need to do, have a poo before taking a penalty.
The players don't. I actually think the reason i'm worried about us and am being harsh is because i'm stuck at work not watching it. If i'm watching I tend to be less harsh because I can see how hard what they are doing is. I think being an olympian in most sports is a lot harder than being a footballer for a lot less reward.
We're bound to get something from the Athletics too. We've also got the Men's Time Trial tomorrow with Bradley Wiggins in as favourite. Tom Daley surely has a chance of a medal in the Individual 10m Diving, and Pete Waterfield too. Watching this women's football though, I wouldn't be surprised to see us fighting for a medal there. They're playing some great stuff.
we can beat the bejing total if we win the mens and womane football. 23 players each squad - that makes 46 golds!
Went to Archery today which was good fun. You know in cricket when they play a clip from a song every time someone hits a 6 or gets a wicket? It was a bit like that, except after each end (three arrows per archer) and at the end of a match. The played some awesome tunes. Afterwards went to the BT Live Zone or whatever it's called. Have to say, if you don't have Olympic tickets you should definitely get there. Really good atmosphere, there's four big screens, plus two stages and on the main stage they have well known acts. Saw Rebecca Ferguson which was pretty good (even though she was on the X-Factor, she has a really good voice) and there's loads different nationalities represented, fans from Poland, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc. It's just good to be watching events together with fans from other countries, a kind of shared experience.
