Oh man oh man, will I ever miss Usain Bolt, what a legend! The way he beats the Yanks all the time at a game they think, or thought, as their own, really makes my day! No one else could ever beat them on such a regular basis over, what is it, 12-years? A Champion of Champions.
Oh lord, Mike Colman of the Queensland "Courier Mail" really having a go here at the Australian Olympic officials/system and whatnot. He's so right, years ago GB certainly did languish down the table with the likes of South Korea (was it that bad?), Hungary, et al. But then came the National Lottery in the '90s and its government-backed funding of promising athletes of all codes. Hell of a turnaround: http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...s/news-story/3acd66f9bee3dfac46003d3c3fe302d2 Above clip includes a classic quote: "We’ve got four TVs covering four different sports at once in our office and it seems like at least one of them is playing God Save the Queen at any given time."
Anyone watching the footy final? Heading for penalties as it stands. At least the Brazil side are not being too embarrassed by the German side this time...still any defeat will ring sour being the host nation.
Well played Brazil..long time since any side from there showed any flair. Germany defended magnificently at times but lacked any width and were hanging on from min 75 in normal time. Very satisfactory result...style prevails over staid.
The final of the men's 1500m might have been the slowest since Luigi Baccali's win in the 1932 Los Angles games, but it turned out to be one hell of a race. The pushing and shoving as desperate men fought for track position in running was brilliant. A lot of the leading contenders shot themselves in the foot. They didn't have their best race heads on and paid a serious price for it. The race was served up on a platter to Matthew Centrowitz who was allowed to set an appalling pace up front. All credit to the American though, he controlled the tempo to suit himself, and if others didn't have the grit to take him on, then they deserved what the got. It was a great piece of front running, but the 3:50.00 is a shocker.
"Rio Olympics 2016: Did the IOC's gamble pay off or did Brazil fail to deliver?" (Chris McLaughlin - BBC Sport, in Rio): I guess this is a bit "After the Lord Mayor's show comes the dust-cart", but the writer raises a few good points: http://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/37152612
I don't think the games should be left to the major countries of the world, that's pretty elitist. The IOC's thought on sharing the games is, I think, quite a valid one. Sport does not just belong to the well off. As for the failure to fill the stands, it had to be expected. If I was on the bones of my arse, would I spend half of my weekly wage to watch a sporting event? Hell no, my families' welfare comes first. Chris McLaughlin points to the exclusion of the Russian athletes as a reason to sink the boot, but did he bother mentioning Russia and the USA playing tit for tat in boycotting the 1980 and 1984 games? Have crimes and indiscretions been committed by athletes in the past? You bet. Sure people have been robbed at these games, but how do these compare to the tragedy of the Munich massacre? Did Mr. McLaughlin bother pointing any of this out? Hell no. We can't let reason get in the way of a half arsed reason for writing a column can we? The Rio games has been a celebration of sport at it's very best, and deserves more that to be treated as a vehicle of ridicule. If there is any justice in this world, the Brazilian games should be remembered for the soul stirring efforts put in by those who competed. Until the day I die, I'll remember the heroic endeavour of those who competed in the 50k walk. They tore themselves apart and in some cases, fell exhausted before and after the line. And what of those thousands of helpers who freely gave of themselves, all for the sake of the games? Can the reasons behind their services be considered a failure? I don't think so. People with a superior understanding of humanity than mine, will be better able to explain the need of some to choose a negative over a positive, which is what we see in Mr. McLaughlin's article. My memories are filled with the track cycling, rowing, swimming, track and field etc, and not the shortcomings, which paled into insignificance alongside the majesty of an Olympic Games. Onya Rio!
Fair enough, he still makes a few good points though. I am sure he expected some blasts of criticism. The half-empty stands at so many venues, the obvious fact that most Brazilians could not afford to attend any event - which means only the comfortably well-off could go plus the visitors, the extremely bad behaviour of a few athletes, etc., leaves a slightly sour taste. Of course I am being cynical, mainly because I am biased. Living in Germany and watching its two main TV channels (which shared coverage on a rotation basis) one wondered if GB were competing sometimes. The same can be said of course for a German living in the UK, must have wondered whether his or her country had actually made the trip? The excessive blah-blah-blah (already mentioned above by Cyc) was annoying and frustrating. People want to watch the sporting events, not listen to yak-yak that is so often complete crap. We have to watch these jokers throughout the year, let alone the Olympics. I did manage to watch BBC1 and BBC2 a bit on Cricfree, but it frequently 'froze' (Filmon totally blocked-out the BBC channels showing the Olympics). However, must admit that's nothing to do with Rio itself, but it does go towards forming an opinion. Onya Rio? Hmm, I dunno. Oh yes, the sporting events themselves? Bloody brilliant, some incredible performances. Clean forgot, sorry.
Nicely put Cyc totally agree with the sentiment. Surely though it's not beyond the wit of the organisers to let locals have access to tickets for next to nothing or even free. They must have known that stands would lay virtually empty based on pre sales. This sort of thing has happened before. The last time the Windies held the cricket World Cup the stands were quite bare on occasions with barely a brown face in evidence. Turned out they'd been largely priced out of the market too.
"Great Britain's record-breaking Olympics team arrived back from Rio to jubilant scenes when they landed in London on Tuesday." Well done lads and lasses, all of you did your country proud, you were truly 'majestic'.
