Olympic 2020(1) Thread

According to the Modern Pentathlon expert the German horse trouble was all rider error. Stressed rider transferring these feelings to the horse who wasn't confident in the rider.

 

Got to disagree. Not with the expert opinion but otherwise. It's hardly fair to be paired with a maverick mustang, who has already spooked out with a previous rider as compared to getting paired with an ultra-cool, equine Jason Kenny. That's a lottery. And unfair as much as I like to stuff the Krauts.

I've seen another 'expert opinion' suggest that either you take the horse thing out of the event, or you let them bring their own horses or they get a whole lot more than 20 mins with the animal beforehand. I might add that only one rider is allowed to ride each horse precluding a previous rider compromising your effort when, necessarily, you'll be going last as race leader.

I'd like to see other equestrians try their events on a horse they've only recently made a brief, nodding aquantaince with. The whole point about all of those is that they've established a rapport with their animal usually over a number of years. Why should the modern pentathlon be different?

 

I think we could do a lot worse than to add some of our 800m women and perhaps Laura Muir as well to the 4x400 relay team, I reckon they would improve it.

 

Thought we were going to get gold in the mens 4x100. Great effort to be in that position though.

Was a good day for medals.

Also felt sorry for the german rider in the modern pentathlon- seemed a bit strange that they couldn't be given another horse.

 

Yet again I have watched fabulous Olympic sport I wonder why do the uk terrestrial TV not show velodrome cycling, hockey, etc regularly? Even for a 60 year old the skateboarding and bmx has been great.

Inspiring individuals and team performances. But insights into sport, endeavour, team and individual dedication. The emotion. Excellent stuff

The punditry across the board has been excellent. From the regulars like Michael Johnson to the insights from former women medalists in hockey, modern penthaletes.

I have nothing against the boy, but when compare this sporting endeavour with professional football that can see £100 million transfer fees for a good but not world top 11 player, it’s so different.

 

Apparently you can opt to change your nominated horse for a reserve. The horse the German was allocated had eliminated another competitor. But apparently you weigh that up with why would a horse be only a reserve? You could end up with Steptoes Hercules.

 

In the last 3 Olympics BBC had multiple channels on Virgin (I assume on Sky boxes too) however European rights went to Eurosport, who have been showing other sports.

 

Great gold for Lafai in the boxing.

First knockdown I've seen in this competition. All the way through he has just been so positive in his fights, and shows real skill and guile.

Hopefully, Lauren Price can win her final later. I think she can, she is equally positive and a real battler. I listened to Lauren in a long interview last week. She is so knowledgeable, so bright and so determined. She even played football regularly at international level for Wales.

 

I totally agree, she was shouting, crying, and physically aggressive with the horse from the start which is, as far as I know, is completely the opposite of what a rider has to do to calm down an agitated horse. She was having a temper tantrum like a spoilt child.

No sympathy for her, whatsoever.

 

The Chinese are at a different level, I think they train at Dean Court; so it was an exceptional performance for Daley to get the synchronised gold.

 

Wasn’t the point of the post that these sports should be shown more regularly outside the Olympics?

 

Well, I suppose that many of these sports would be cheaper to broadcast than the usual suspects. I can’t imagine the rights to BMX would be very expensive, for example.

 

At a wild guess I’d imagine it’s something someone like Eurosport would buy blanket coverage for at a greater cost than someone like the BBC would be willing to pay.

You probably need some better long term thinking from the powers that be in any given sport for them to actively want to get it on terrestrial TV, to get better engagement especially from younger people.

I think it was forzawatford on here who explained that was the logic behind the 100 competition in cricket, to get it on the BBC somehow and that was the only way they’d take a cricket competition.

 

Well, yes - but there are only so many sports Eurosport (or whoever) can show at any one time.

If the Olympics demonstrate that there is a public appetite for a wide range of sports then that gives terrestrial TV more of a chance to compete.

 

Good finish

 

One point, damn it.

Good silver, but feel it could have been gold had they gone a few laps earlier (easy to say sat on my sofa).

 

Cracking bit of swearing on live TV there

 

Unfortunately I think the British public are quite happy to get interested in minority sports each time they pop up in the Olympics, but not on a regular basis. It’s a bit like tennis where loads of people get into Wimbledon each year but then forget about it for the next eleven and a half months. I suspect viewing figures would end up being quite low if these sports were on the BBC all the time.

 

That might well be true but they wouldn’t know unless they tried.

Still, probably safer to show reruns of Escape to the Country.

 

They often do on the RED button Freeview 601 channel when there are the Euros or Worlds on, and sometimes when it's a big game. It's often not widely advertised but it's there, so keep your eyes peeled.

 

The women's 4x400 is in pretty good shape. It's the men's that needs alot of work.