http://www.outsideonline.com/199476...know-about-nike-oregon-project-doping-scandal I think its all still rumours but you can see why Mo wanted away from both the coach and Rupp.
Interesting piece from Martin Samuel. Thoughts? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-3740509/Why-t-FA-gold-ambitions-BOA.html down the bottom about Ayana the Ethiopian and the French on our cycling team. Skinner had never finished a race and now is doing pretty much the best times in the competition!!
It the exact same reason Brian Clough never got the England job. As he would have gone through them like a dose of salts. To many managers and coaches in the England set up that set low water marks because it's easier than aiming to be the best. It ties in with one of my pet peeves. The UK press and media are sometimes far to keen to happily accept failure, a classic was when Sue barker was interviewing Phillips Idowu. Barker was saying that winning silver was a great achievement but Idowu was rightly gutted he didn't win gold. Barker then spent the next 30 seconds trying to convince Idowu that he was wrong and he should have been chuffed to come second when he wasn't happy about it.
I think thats an outsiders perspective based on results and not representative of reality. Of course they want to be the best but they also have to be realistic and realise they don't have the worlds best talent to work with. If our cyclists didn't win a single medal in the world championships do you think the BOA would still target as many golds come the olympics? Of course not, in the same way the FA won't expect England to win a World Cup after a dismal display in the Euros.
Look at the last cycling world championships we didn't win anything on the track in 2015 IIRC. Yet here we are in 2016 being the best in the world again. That's is what happens with a winning attitude is instilled in athletes. When the big one comes around the guys that want and know how to win do just that.
Since 2012 we've won more golds at the track world championships than other country bar Germany who have won one more, we've topped the medal table twice in that time. Its fair to say that despite one bad year in there we've still dominated the sport, there are no comparisons with the England football team.
I know it isn't as winners want to win English footballers are happy to just be there. Look at Wayne Rooney throwing a strop at the WC in South Africa because the English fans dared to show their displeasure in how crap we had been.
Don't think I got an answer on this, still curious. How could you sometimes compete as "GBR" & sometimes it's divided with England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland?
Actually GB doesn't include Northern Ireland, that is the UK. We compete as Great Britain and Northern Ireland run by the British Olympic Association.
Northern Irish athletes are free to pick whether they represent Ireland or Great Britain, hence why it is 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland' rather than 'United Kingdom'.
True, though being Ireland it isn't that simple. Some sports, like rugby,are all Ireland affairs, some have separate governing bodies in Northern Ireland and the Republic. There was a bit of a hoo haa about using Northern Ireland in connection with GB when we bid for the Olympics. I think Blair agreed to remove it from correspondence in order not to prejudice our bid. Presumably it is back in use now.
Interesting conversations on the radio this morning both Five Live and Talk Sport about where the funding for school sports is coming from. They had PE teachers and heads on saying that this has gone or had been cut back from their budget or similar. Are the government happy for children to be world champions at Pokemon or for them get off there backsides and enjoy sport. I've no idea how this funding cycle works, just another ill thought call by central government perhaps.
