Come on England (Olympics - NOT football)

A silver for Ahmed Khan.

22 points to 30 though, I feel he did his very best, and a few years of practice will see Ahmed scale greater heights.

The Cuban won fairly thoroughly though.
 
What a great w/e for 'TGB' (copyright $KY :rolleyes).

While the double woman's track golds and the boxing medals were excellent, I have to say that the 4x100m gold medals , for me, the highlight. It's always nice to see the US stranglehold be pushed aside (even if it was by the smallest of margins :D ).
 
Hi GrahamN,

You are not the only one who saw that the USA team had abad change over. This is what lost them the gold medal. It was very close, an extra metre and it would have been silver for Team GB.

BUT one of the most important areas of the relay is the changeover. It is very important a team does this well. A slower running team can win with excellent changeovers. Team GB had excellent changeovers. They applied the skills well. The USA team didn't. They also had problems in the womens relay. If you don't compete, you don't win. The margin was very small but it was enough.

Kelly Holmes has done everyone proud. A mighty fine performance which is one of the best of the games and one of the best in the history of UK athletics. She is only 7th women to win gold on the track or field. She is the first British women to win double gold. She is only the 3rd women to do the 800m/1500m double. Well done.

As for under achievement, it will happen all the time. Not just to UK athletes but to anyone that competes in these or any games. Yes it's good to see people like Kelly Sotherton doing very well & picking up a medal against the odds & get a personal best. There were quite a number of personal bests in these games.

You do have to put thing into perspective, we never win a load of medals in athletics. This is the most golds since 1980 (4) and it matches that total of 1984 (3). In 1964 we had 4 golds & 3 in 1924. You have to go back to 1920 to have more golds (5). There were 8 golds in 1908 but this was on home soil. The number of medals from athletics has not been as good as some years. Only a total of 4 ( 3 golds & 1 bronze). In 2000 there were a total of 6 medals (2 gold, 2 silver & 2 bronze), 1998 there were 6 meadals.(4 silver & 2 bronze). We are down on the number but have won more golds.

In most events we didn't expect to win. Every so often someone comes along who has the potential of winning but dosen't always win. The trouble is GB only has a few of these people capable of winning. There were, on the brightside, a number of 4ths & strong finishes. A good number of these will get better and, maybe, we will see them win next time. Every games will have a capable winners failing. It will always be hard to win medals in the athletics.

To get people in athletics (or any sport) to get better, alot of thing still need to change. First you need better sport facillities in schools. Better trained people to spot real talent and the money & knowhow to develop this talent. For far to long sports people have had to suffer to much just to get half decent. Things like training around their day jobs, lack of money and time all can put back sports people being the best.

Overall it has been a very good games with 30 medals. The most since 1984 (37). Well done to everyone who took part. Good boxing & well done to Amir Khan.

SCIDB
 
It was a great boxing match, Khan redeemed himself in the last round or so, but was clearly showing the experience defecit compared to the very clever cuban, still I am already looking forward to beijing in 4 yrs, for lots of events, its been truly compulsive watching.

I thouroughly enjoyed Michael Johnson as a pundit, he has been really great, tho' he did pee Darren for excacerbating the effect of his injury, so I am not sure what that was about. I found him very unbiased and sporting in every way and a great ambassador.

Maurice Greene is not who you wan't breathing down your ass.

Bernard can't remember his surname williams?? the sprinter/part time comic has a proper shit eating grin :D

I was a bit dusturbed tho' last nite by the rap music, ending on the note that they should gun the suckers down with sub-machine guns(eminem?), that really has no place being broadcast, and certainly not by the institution that is supposedly the BBC, I was quite disgusted and am seriously considering complaining for all the good that will do for the toothless yes men.

anyway, great games, superb in fact.roll on...
 
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The big boys came first, second and third in the medal table, as one would expect, but little Oz (population 20 million) came in fourth. Good on yer, mates!
 
2004 saw one of the greatest ever incidents of spectator involvement in sport - jimmy jump at the Euro 2004 final - but marathon man, ex-Father Horan, was one of the worst.

Overall, a very enjoyable Olympics but I still can't fathom out why basketball is such a popular sport in many parts of the world - it's really not very good.
 
Gosh, and here was I inking that in the Bahamas all you did was count your money (or someone else's, perhaps synonomous) and drink Bacardi. Was the Bahamas medal won in synchronised money laundering?
 
Ah...was wondering whether such a table existed. The best thing about it is country number 34! I'm also surprised that the Ozzies didn't order it by total medals per head - because then they would have come 2nd.

Bahamian Women's sprinting has been rather good for a few years now. Was actually quite surprised that they only came 4th in the 4x100 with a season's best, as they are current Commonwealth champions. Tonique Williams-Darling won the women's 400m and Debbie Ferguson got bronze in the 200m.

I was also quite interested to see that China and Japan now appear to be making some headway in sprinting - the Chinese guy equalling Colin Jackson's world record in the 110m hurdles, and the Japanese team making the final of the 4x100. We've been used to see the Japanese dominating the marathon for the last 10 years or so, but they've not done anything in sprinting until now. Watch out in Beijing!

A friend pointed out the other week that the sports we seem strongest in are those that involve fairly serious equipment - rowing, sailing, horses - rather than simple personal strength. (NB - noone need reply that rowers are supremely strong and fit). Rich man's games?

What do people think about the sports that are included? I was well impressed by the endurance shown in the triathlon and mountain-biking - they would seem to my untutored eyes to be at least on the same level as the marathon. There seem to be moves to get rid of modern pentathlon, and put in golf. Can't get rid of Mod. Pent. - that's one of the few sports we're rather good at! I see no justification for having football in there - they've already got a hugely high profile international competition, and this is basically an under-23 competition, so it's not the best teams of players in the world. The tennis competition also seems a bit of a joke, and has a very high profile international circuit of its own, so I'd get rid of that - and there's no way golf should go in either.

And what is the point of Beach Volleyball? Comparing it to real volleyball the skill level is pathetic, and whatever reasons there are for watching it they are not sport-related! The real game was actually quite rivetting, and they really seemed have to work hard to get the ball on the ground. The other "joke" event from the last couple of games was "Rhythmic Gymnastics". I actually watched the final round of this, and was actually really impressed by the skill levels shown. It may be more dance than anything else, but the accuracy with which they threw the balls and hoops around the place was quite breathtaking (one particular move from the Italians sticks in my mind where she simultaneously flicked three hoops from her foot in three different directions to be caught at the other side of the mat by three team-mates - looked impossible to me). So I'd keep that in.

In the closing ceremony, did anyone else notice a marked similarity between the Chinese song/pipa troupe and Robert Palmer's famous guitarrists?

(BTW tones, since this is a music related board, the Oz Youth Orchestra gave a pretty spectacular performance of Shostakovich Symphony No 1 at the Proms this afternoon)
 
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