That is impressive. I'm actually surprised that Britain does so well, aren't you more of a cold country than a warm one? (Making winter the better events?)Originally Posted by RandBlade
That is impressive. I'm actually surprised that Britain does so well, aren't you more of a cold country than a warm one? (Making winter the better events?)
It's never cold in Britain (well, minus some small parts of Scotland).
Hope is the denial of reality
Huge cash has been poured into top-level competitive sports in this country. Primarily funds from the National Lottery.
In Atlanta 1996, GB won 1 gold medal.
The following year saw the first huge injection of cash from the Lottery fund. Sydney 2000 saw 11 golds for GB. The returns on the cash investment were obvious.
Athens 2004 saw similar results to Sydney.
The IOC awarded the games to London for 2012 not long after that, and funding skyrocketed again as 2008 approached. Nearly three and half times as much was spent on the build-up to Beijing as Sydney - £235m as opposed to £70m. Again the returns were obvious. 19 golds and 47 medals total from Beijing.
This continued into London 2012 where GB was the host nation. Funding was up again, to £264m. Around 60% of that pot came from Lottery funding, the remaining 40% from the UK Government. By this time, elite sporting academies were well-established in the UK, and churning out gold-winning competitors. It's no surprise that most of Britain's golds come from those sports which receive the most funding; athletics, cycling, rowing, sailing, swimming.
So the fact that this little island is hovering around 2nd place in the medals table on the world's biggest sporting stage is mainly down to cold, hard, cash.
You're the only one misusing statistics, 2008 total is of course at the end of the Olympics whereas the current one still has a week to go. At the end of Day 9 of the Beijing Olympics we had 11 golds, the remaining 8 happened in Days 10 onwards. With one more guaranteed gold yet to come to add to our 15 so far we only need a few more to overtake the Beijing total. Barring a miserable final week that should be possible.
As for the winter games, I never pretended to claim for those or brought them up. We're not a skiing winter nation.
Britain's cold and winter olympics cold are two completely different things. We are more of a damp nation than anything else.
Dancing Horses! Not normally my thing but the dressage gold today was very entertaining.
Medal counts are pretty useless as a stat anyway. The problem is that the amount of medals are really uneven between different sports - if, say, Phelps was great at a sport with only one available medal he couldn't possibly have won as many. If you want many medals, focus on things like swimming and athletics.
Keep on keepin' the beat alive!
Oh and Cavendish should have been disqualified for causing a crash, but instead threatens journalists who ask him about it.
Keep on keepin' the beat alive!
Yep my other half had the same reaction; "WTF did he just do? He should be banned!"
He did seem to look back and across on his inside, then cut right across the nose of the Korean rider.
I initially thought it was entirely an accident - these Omnium cyclists are constantly making sudden shifts up and down across the track. But on replays, there seems little chance he didn't see the Korean rider there, and if he did he certainly wouldn't have swerved as severely if he didn't intend to. Seems a very dangerous if not intentional move.
The result? Three riders down and a hospitalised Korean.
~
As an aside though - isn't the Omnium an incredible race? 250 laps with 16 sprints - each sprint for points. Extra points if you can break away from the pack and lap fast enough to rejoin the back of the pack. Total points wins.
Such tactics at play throughout - each rider constantly watching for the moves of the others. One of my new favourite Olympic sports - what a fantastic thing to watch.
He is a bit known for actions like this so I very much doubt it was an accident.
And yeah, it is pretty cool!
Keep on keepin' the beat alive!
I don't understand the Ominium at all, it's like Mornington Crescent.
When the sky above us fell
We descended into hell
Into kingdom come
Olympic divers on the toilet. https://imgur.com/gallery/wFfUv
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/201...lawyer-n633241
Perhaps it is time we stop having 3rd world countries host the Olympics? Between water turning green, hotels with exposed wiring, robberies, questionable finances and now this... yeah I'm thinking that would be a great idea to restrict it to countries that can actually put it together. Thankfully Japan will be hosting the next summer Olympics, they'll get it right.
Its beginning to look more and more like the swimmers lied to hide a night of whoring. US would act in the same manner. Come on Lewk I thought you were all for extreme punishment for false reports?
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"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
That's right, restrict Olympics to countries without prostitution or something.
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
I am certain North Korea would put up a mint show.
Congratulations America
This has been the worst summer Olympics I can remember. I used to think the Games in Greece were bad, because it meant a struggling national economy was hoping it could be turned around with an international sports event....but this is just as bad. They evicted poor people, then used poor people to build the stadiums/venues.
In a broader sense, from the consumer perspective....I think the Olympic Games has lost a certain luster. We know that US medal winners train in the US, but come from other nations. It's basically a sports racket, where the athletes are competing for endorsements.
Sport has become more political than we like to admit....
What a bunch of fucking morons. Way to represent America you idiots. Ryan Lochte is a massive douche, screw him. Hopefully he actually gets banned from further sporting events for his shitty behavior.
But you know that product endorsers are trying to figure out the opposite, right?
That's overly simplistic. Getting second in the Olympics is quite an achievement by Team GB and the athletes (and coaches etc) have done incredibly well and the lottery funding has no doubt helped, which isn't tax payer money which is a good thing.
However other nations have spent as much or more on their athletes without the same return of medals so that is not the whole picture. I believe Germany spent more than we did and the Aussies spent about the same and they each got a fraction of the medals.
Compared to the nineties when I was growing up in Australia, where they were all crazy about sport and the Olympics/Commonwealth Games and we just were not considered a sporty nation at all ... it is an unbelievable turnaround in just two decades.
This Olympic has been particularly enjoyable for the hilariously sexist and tone-deaf commentary
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
Curious why people think the Olympics are still about peace, fair play, and happiness. It has never been about that. It's nationalism without the guns.
Hope is the denial of reality
To be fair, isn't that peace? Never heard of it being about happiness though fair play makes sense. People love rooting for a team/group/country - its a good effective means of channeling it positively. Also sports and more generally competition are what makes civilization and society tick and this is another positive way to express it.
I.e. Nationalism without the guns.
And no, there's more to peace than not killing each other (unless you define peace in such a narrow sense that it stops being something people actually aspire to). We're at peace with Canada; with Iran, no so much.
Last edited by Loki; 08-23-2016 at 02:18 AM.
Hope is the denial of reality
Canada has lulled us into a false sense of security.
Brevior saltare cum deformibus viris est vita
It's pretty clear that sports are the least entertaining aspect of the olympics
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
Nationalism without guns is peace or do you view nationalism as a dirty word in itself?
Fair play ... no drugs (supposedly).
Happiness I've never heard the Olympics being meant to be about that but the fun of enjoying it is happiness.
Well Iran sponsors terrorists so weather it is official or not we are at war with them. Proxy wars are still wars.I.e. Nationalism without the guns.
And no, there's more to peace than not killing each other (unless you define peace in such a narrow sense that it stops being something people actually aspire to). We're at peace with Canada; with Iran, no so much.
EDIT: Also are you seriously suggesting that all national pride is bad? You can only be proud of something (realistically speaking) if it is comparatively better than something else. You're essentially bashing love of country you liberal hippy.
There are positive aspects to nationalism, particularly in countries where it's hard to rally everyone around a common (expensive) course. So in the abstract, sure, there are some benefits. Do I care for a bunch of people who know nothing about the sports they're watching booing real human beings to tears because of the latter's flag? Or claiming conspiracies against their country by the evil refs? Or blasting their own athletes for not showing sufficient dedication to the flag? No, not really.
Hope is the denial of reality
Or taking pride in their compatriots successes?
Feeling pride and sympathy for their compatriots failures?
Taking pride in their own flag?
Why so negative nelly about it all? Sport can bring the best out of nationalism as well as the worst. Given most people by and large are good, overall the nationalism is good and not bad.
I agree mostly with the post but I actually don't think most people are good. Most people are lazy and selfish. It is only through incentives and deterrents that people behave themselves. Take away a deterrent and see how people act on-line (being anonymous takes away the deterrent effect). See what happens when law and order break down (massive looting during natural disasters and not just for necessary supplies but for TVs and shit).
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