Another sailing gold for Australia - nice one and nice silver for us. Just reading through this and I am absolutely loving Ron's Victor Meldrew type ranting about the dressage commentators
Thanks Jana. I've recently read a short piece on the Australian sailing coach Victor Kovalenko, a man they call the "medal maker." The Ukranian-born, naturalised Australian has been chased by a host of nations to lead their nation's sailing stocks. Among them was China, who offered him a small fortune to take charge of things there. Thankfully he's stuck with us. It does go to show how keen China are to cement their place in the Olympic pantheon.
Intersting stuff - very good move by Australia and it's nice to know that contrary to popular global opinion we're not the only ones looking fro good coaches regardless of where they may have been born. To read the press you would assume that every other team in the world has competitors who can trace their ancestry back 43 generations! In terms of chosing between China and Australia, whilst there's the financial consideration of course I know where I'd rather be training.
They're absolute bloody loonies. People go on about how brave racing drivers are and taht's probably true but jockies and cyclists are the ones that get my admiration - when you fall you really, really know about it.
This Taekwondo is extremely weird. How they score points is known only to them, I will never know (not that I'm too bothered). That Spanish guy spent a lot of the time on the floor yet won handsomely please log in to view this image . BMX is dangerous, as you say!
Well done the girl from Colombia, great ride in the BMX Final. Was one of those guys commenting Simon Holt? Sounded a dead ringer? please log in to view this image
I don't understand any of the rules in martial arts to be honest! Bring darts in as I can fully get that.................
Quite right, Dan! I mean, 130 to win...and so...triple 19, triple 17, double 11, s'easy, and it's all over before those other silly buggers know what's hit them. Bring on darts!.......Medals for the asking! ...... please log in to view this image
Lutalo Mohammed lost his fight against Spains Nicolas Garcia in the 80kg Taekwondo quarterfinal match earlier today... An unlucky loser maybe, but the biggest loser was the GB Olympic Selection committee for picking this lad in front of the number 1 ranked fighter in the World, Aaron Cook... Lutalo should nave have been put in such a position but it has obviously affected him and he fell way short in trying to gain a medal from these Olympics. The selection committee will no doubt come out with some political garbage about picking Lutalo in front of Aaron, but questions have to asked why the Worlds Number 1 fighter was not considered good enough for these Olympics. Lutalo was at the time ranked outside the top 50 in this fighting division so its hardly surprising that he struggled to get through to the semi-finals... The GB Selection committee should be applauded for there efforts when they get it right, and they have for the majority, but they got this one horribly wrong...
Yep - lad's a victim of politics - and Lutalo was put in a really difficult position and now he's going to get slaughtered. Awful stuff. I have to say though that Cook's team did him no favours - when you start bringing out the heavy guns like Pinsent and Holmes the committee is always going to be come more and more entrenched and ignore logic.
Have to feel a bit sorry for those two British girls in the 5000 - they've thrashed anyone who isn't from Kenya or Ethiopia so they must now know they'll never win medals. Fantastic performances though.
Also feel sorry for the German hammer thrower - she threw very close to the gold medal mark and they ****ed up the measurement so it doesn't count. She gets a free throw but that was the one throw where everything came together for her and it doesn't count because the officials screwed up - not on
My step-cousin sailed for Australia in the 1984 Olympics and his brother is one of the best sail makers in the world (he has been in the winning Sydney Hobart yacht crew several times)
Not long back from my latest shift during which I was given a ticket for the men's volleyball final on Sunday (and not one of the cheap seats either!) What is it with GB relay teams - they are nearly as bad as England footballers taking penalty shoot outs
Very humbling to see the young Ethiopian lass getting her gold medal for the 5000m ......................... crying her eyes out. Very moving.
Justice prevails .................. they reviewed the TV pictures, found the divot and measured it with the good old tape ................ looks like a silver medal
