Ireland @ Paris 2024 Olympics

[Ruckedtobits]

On non Irish OLympics content, have to say that the most thrilling event for me were the two boxing matches last night with Cuba v France (think it was light weight) and the Ukranian lad v Kazakstan. Two wonderful bouts.

My highlight was the Heavyweights with the (young) baldy, round Frenchman trying to lay gloves on the tall, statuesque Spaniard and the crowd baying for the Spaniard's blood.

Great theatre, lousy boxing, but a great contest

[hugonaut]

On non Irish OLympics content, have to say that the most thrilling event for me were the two boxing matches last night with Cuba v France (think it was light weight) and the Ukranian lad v Kazakstan. Two wonderful bouts.

They were great fights alright. Really enjoyed them. It's a pity that Olympic boxing [and boxing in general] keeps on shooting itself in the foot. The fighters deserve better.

[the spoofer]

On non Irish OLympics content, have to say that the most thrilling event for me were the two boxing matches last night with Cuba v France (think it was light weight) and the Ukranian lad v Kazakstan. Two wonderful bouts.

They were great fights alright. Really enjoyed them. It's a pity that Olympic boxing [and boxing in general] keeps on shooting itself in the foot. The fighters deserve better.

Another good bout last night with the very impressive Uzbek beating the French lad. Two very different fighters in the same wight class, the Uzbek is 5'1''.

[cormac]

The dreaded 4th place for Rhasidat. Only 21 though. Fantastic achievement to be where she already is at that age. Just needs to add some stamina to her undoubted pace.

[Xanthippe]

The dreaded 4th place for Rhasidat. Only 21 though. Fantastic achievement to be where she already is at that age. Just needs to add some stamina to her undoubted pace.

And to be fair to her even if she’d matched her personal best it still wouldn’t have been enough. I wonder if she’s carrying a niggle - the fact the she pulled out of the mixed 4 x 400 and hasn’t looked her best - especially in the semi final.

[cormac]

The dreaded 4th place for Rhasidat. Only 21 though. Fantastic achievement to be where she already is at that age. Just needs to add some stamina to her undoubted pace.

And to be fair to her even if she’d matched her personal best it still wouldn’t have been enough. I wonder if she’s carrying a niggle - the fact the she pulled out of the mixed 4 x 400 and hasn’t looked her best - especially in the semi final.

She was never going to run in the heats of the mixed 4x400, none of the medal contenders ran in the heats, so wouldn’t read anything into that.

[Ruckedtobits]

For this viewer, the IOC got the scheduling for tonight's athletics wrong by not ending with the 4 X 100 Relays to close out the night. For both TV viewers & the Stadium fans, the Relays always guarantees excitement & spectacle. Ending with Triple Jump & 400 Hurdles (to say nothing about 29 mins of boredom in the Female 10k) was anticlimax.

Watching the Yanks / Russians / Brits screw up their changes has always excited me towards the end of the Athletics coverage.

[Ruckedtobits]

What a bittersweet performance! Outstanding running from all four of our women, it was brilliant, but to be beaten by the Brits. Aaghh

[cormac]

National record by nearly three seconds. Incredible run but 4th is so tough especially when it was so agonisingly close.

[Ruckedtobits]

Now, let the politicians do something with this National wave of support for Sports.

What about introducing a Voucher system for €250 per annum for anybody joining a Sports Club and being certified as an active participant by the Club to enable each following year's membership. Really no different than tax-relief on Health Insurance premiums, but the Voucher goes directly to the Sports Club.

Yes, more administration and work for the Clubs, but that's what the senior and less active members can do.

Population-wide support for Sports will contribute to a healthier population which will, ultimately, lead to a reduction in health care costs, which must be a good thing. Come on Government, let's think laterally and long-term and leave a real legacy from this Olympics.

[Laighin Break]

Now, let the politicians do something with this National wave of support for Sports.

What about introducing a Voucher system for €250 per annum for anybody joining a Sports Club and being certified as an active participant by the Club to enable each following year's membership. Really no different than tax-relief on Health Insurance premiums, but the Voucher goes directly to the Sports Club.

Yes, more administration and work for the Clubs, but that's what the senior and less active members can do.

Population-wide support for Sports will contribute to a healthier population which will, ultimately, lead to a reduction in health care costs, which must be a good thing. Come on Government, let's think laterally and long-term and leave a real legacy from this Olympics.

Where I live we have something along those lines where you can get ~€100-500 (depending on the employer) towards sports/activity costs. Send the receipts in to your employer and you get it back in the next payslip.

[paddyor]

Listening to RTE this afternoon and they were taliking to i think it was the chef de mission about what was different. Made repeated references to Rio and how things had changed dramatically since then. Athletes were stressing about tickets for family members and friends. Reading between the lines he was talking about getting shot of Pat Hickey. Wonder did the call to the cops come from inside the house.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/2024/0 ... ance-mode/

[hugonaut]

Listening to RTE this afternoon and they were taliking to i think it was the chef de mission about what was different. Made repeated references to Rio and how things had changed dramatically since then. Athletes were stressing about tickets for family members and friends. Reading between the lines he was talking about getting shot of Pat Hickey. Wonder did the call to the cops come from inside the house.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/2024/0 ... ance-mode/

I think you are absolutely right. The staggering thing is that John Delaney was being lined up to take over from Pat Hickey. You couldn't make it up.

[ronk]

I've peeked behind the curtain and would have a few stories I don't want to share. Not about people mentioned here.

The success never happened under those chancers and never would have.

[IanD]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ryone-else

Interesting take on spending in the UK.

[Ruckedtobits]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ryone-else

Interesting take on spending in the UK.

But very logical. That's why the shorthand political promises of "additional Sports spending" usually coupled with reference to "a record number of medals" is a total 'con job'. There is no correlation between the two, once you get past the minimal factor of getting the athletes of all sports to international qualifying competitions.

[Dave Cahill]

There is no correlation between the two, once you get past the minimal factor of getting the athletes of all sports to international qualifying competitions.

There is a significant correlation to the two though if you don't care about getting the athletes of all sports to international qualifying competitions.

If you spend lots of money on 'expensive' sports where money is more important than natural talent, then you can weigh your medals instead of counting them. The UK made a conscious decision after Athens to only spend significant money on sports with a high barrier to entry in terms of infrastructure and equipment costs. Poor countries can't afford a network of 50m pool complexes, velodromes or £55,000 bicycles (the socks the UK cycling team wore cost £300 a pair). The British Basketball Federation (the second most popular team sport in the UK in terms of participation) can't afford a single full time employee. Team GB won't win a medal at basketball, therefore they won't get any money.

[IanD]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/artic ... paris-2024

Other side of the coin from the UK.

[hugonaut]

There is no correlation between the two, once you get past the minimal factor of getting the athletes of all sports to international qualifying competitions.

There is a significant correlation to the two though if you don't care about getting the athletes of all sports to international qualifying competitions.

If you spend lots of money on 'expensive' sports where money is more important than natural talent, then you can weigh your medals instead of counting them. The UK made a conscious decision after Athens to only spend significant money on sports with a high barrier to entry in terms of infrastructure and equipment costs. Poor countries can't afford a network of 50m pool complexes, velodromes or £55,000 bicycles (the socks the UK cycling team wore cost £300 a pair). The British Basketball Federation (the second most popular team sport in the UK in terms of participation) can't afford a single full time employee. Team GB won't win a medal at basketball, therefore they won't get any money.

I kind of admire their pragmatism on this count. At least somebody in their government back then was thinking and willing to make a decision. I can absolutely see the argument against it, but there is an argument for it as well. Those medals are there to be won, it's a smaller field and less competitive, Britain have advantages they can bring to bear. There's a rationale behind it.

Cycling - 2 golds, 5 silver, 4 bronze [11 medals]
Rowing - 3 golds, 2 silver, 3 bronze [8 medals]
Horse sports - 2 golds, 3 bronze [5 medals]

The cycling one in particular is admirable, because they didn't really have a strong cycling culture. For example there was a 30+ year gap between Brits getting the yellow jersey between Tom Simpson [1962] and Chris Boardman [1994]. They had [infamously] won 'one Olympic gold in 76 years and not much else to show' before they started righting the ship in 1997 after the Atlanta Olympics. Now they are an absolute powerhouse and have built both a track and road cycling culture essentially from scratch.