Olympic 2020(1) Thread

In 1984, the women's javelin would have had strong representation from the Eastern Bloc. The sprints too would have been strongly contested particularly by the GDR. Kathy Cooke won bronze in the 400 m.

 

Coe and Ovett could only be beaten by one another at this time they were so dominant. Daley Thompson was unbeatable for most of the 80s unless he crapped out of one of the jumps/vaults which he did in the 1978 European Championships in Prague. His only Silver in the late 70's/early-mid 80s when he completely dominated the scene.

His very anti-establishment attitude at the time, turning down carrying the flag in the opening ceremony, whistling through the national anthem, set him against the stuffed shirts that ran UK Athletics at the time and probably froze him out of greater involvement in the sports setup. He and Steve Ovett, another non-conformist, now ply their trade with Australian media/coaching setup after being frozen out in the UK. Their cold-shouldering is a national disgrace.

 

What a great win in the boxing semi-final from Galal Yafai. Put absolutely everything into it against an opponent who just didn't stop coming at him throwing punches. A brilliant fight. Guaranteed silver.

Compare his effort with that of Ben Whittaker who seemed to be more concerned with posing than fighting - real chalk and cheese.

 

What Sky Brown has achieved is pretty mental, imagine winning an Olympic medal at 13 years old.

Having said that her mum is Japanese, she lives in Japan, her dad is British but seemingly never lived here and lived in the US most of his life before moving to Japan, so her link to the U.K. is fairly tenuous, not that that detracts from anything, but her American accent peaked my interest to find out the back story. Turns out she decided to compete for GB as she thought she’d be under less pressure than competing for Japan:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.scotsman.com/sport/other-sport/sky-brown-who-is-the-team-gb-skateboarder-where-is-sky-brown-from-and-why-is-she-competing-for-great-britain-3333745?amp

 

Has anyone else noticed that on being interviewed, inspirational 13 year old British skateboarding hero Sky Brown, turns out to sound more than a little bit Yankee doodle dandy?

Insa-a-a-ne!!!

 

Interesting back-story behind the Triple Jump Gold medal winner, Pedro Pichardo, for Portugal.

He was born in Cuba, some of his family fought alongside Che Guavara. In his early days his family had little food so couldn't afford training shoes so he trained in barefoot. Eventually he became disillusioned with the system in Cuba and when the authorities insisted that he be trained by a state coach rather than his father, he escaped from the Cuban national athletics team in Germany defecting to freedom in Portugal in 2017 who have supported him ever since. Incredible that people have to "defect" in this day and age.

He says that Portugal has supported him more in a year than Cuba did for 20 years, and was pleased to repay them with a gold medal.

A real inspirational rags to (relative) riches story.

 

Our cyclists are making a habit of being crashed into at this Olympics. Thomas in the road race (albeit by another Brit) and then twice in 3 days in the velodrome.

 

A Flyweight boxer competing in a cycling track final would be interesting to see. He would certainly sort out gobby bike-crashing Danes.

 

Pretty embarrassing of the BBC commentators just now not to realise the track sprint QFs are best of 3.

 

Not quite as 'mental' as the Japanese silver medallist being a 12 y.o. though!

 

Gold in the Men's Omnium.

 

I assume she learned her English at home in Japan. Born in Tokyo, Japanese Mum, English Dad.

 

He won it by a country mile, very impressive!

 

He won the Euro's impressively. He has had very little build up by the BBC. Obviously, he has not ticked enough boxes.

 

Loads more handwringing in the BBC athletics studio over the screeching scouse lady's "You don't know what I've been through, I've had it tough" Twitter statement. Well over these last 18 months alot of people have had it even tougher. Suck it up and move on girl.

 

Yer, Coconut.

 

Most of the people in the Far East speak English with an American twang. Probably something to do with a glut of American English language learning tapes that are available. We as a nation have missed a trick as we could have flooded the market with how to speak Posh tapes. The Septics would lap that up.

 

Yep… but her dad is American and she apparently spends a lot of her time in the US as she’s also massively into surfing… so it’s probably more that.

 

"The World's Second Greatest Athlete" as Daley Thompson used to refer to him.

 

Well only 3 years to the next one. Let's hope the general situation will be better then.

 

The Belarusian female athlete smiling into the camera before her 4 x 100 m relay heat knowing that the wrong facial expression will be interpreted as criticism of the leadership regime and she'll be frog-marched to the airport en route to a life in captivity.

 

Belarusian team finishes last in its heat. The Gulag awaits.

 

Now, in the Pole Vault, a monotone masterclass by Backley. Oh yes, errrrr, and she's there.

 

A worthy bronze in the women's Pole Vault. The BBC studio will be cracking open the champagne and arranging a ticker-tape parade.

 

The tall blonde American woman has won the Pole Vault. I hope Clive doesn't spontaneously combust

 

Ha, in fairness apparently it's our first ever Olympic medal in the pole vault so she deserves some kudos.

 

"The biggest stage of all". Ping. Cliche-o-meter advances by 1.

 

If the commentary irritates you this much, why not turn the sound off?

Problem solved.

 

She's one of our own, she's one of our own, Sky Brown, she's one of our own

 

"You don't want to end your career without taking home any precious metal". Well Gabby, bronze is not a precious metal. It's an alloy of copper and tin.

 

I'm working at the same time so need the warbling to find out when to look up. Yes, I also derive perverse pleasure from pouring scorn on our handsomely paid deliberators. I'm also a potential Olympic champion in tutting.

 

A hard fought event, even if restricted solely to members of ths forum. But you're certainly capable of medalling.

 

Are you part of the Upper GT Synchronised Tutting team?