The Official Rio Olympics 2016 thread
Discussion
Don't understand the timezone questions - you do know where Brazil is don't you? (remember the Brazilian Grand Prix is on when you're eating your tea (if you're a northerner anyway!)
The scare stories about pollution are nothing new. Remember the Beijing smog?
Bradley Wiggins was magnanimous about not carrying the flag in the opening ceremony as he wanted a female athlete to carry it - so they've given the honour to Mr Charisma Andy Murray!
Michael Johnson has a voice like no other and could make grass growing sound sexy but he is possibly a bit blinkered when it comes to PEDs.
The scare stories about pollution are nothing new. Remember the Beijing smog?
Bradley Wiggins was magnanimous about not carrying the flag in the opening ceremony as he wanted a female athlete to carry it - so they've given the honour to Mr Charisma Andy Murray!
Michael Johnson has a voice like no other and could make grass growing sound sexy but he is possibly a bit blinkered when it comes to PEDs.
2fast748 said:
Don't understand the timezone questions - you do know where Brazil is don't you? (remember the Brazilian Grand Prix is on when you're eating your tea (if you're a northerner anyway!)
The scare stories about pollution are nothing new. Remember the Beijing smog?
Bradley Wiggins was magnanimous about not carrying the flag in the opening ceremony as he wanted a female athlete to carry it - so they've given the honour to Mr Charisma Andy Murray!
Michael Johnson has a voice like no other and could make grass growing sound sexy but he is possibly a bit blinkered when it comes to PEDs.
Its not just timezones. Brazil is only 4 hours behind but things have been scheduled to run later to hit prime time in the US which pushes it further into our nighttime.The scare stories about pollution are nothing new. Remember the Beijing smog?
Bradley Wiggins was magnanimous about not carrying the flag in the opening ceremony as he wanted a female athlete to carry it - so they've given the honour to Mr Charisma Andy Murray!
Michael Johnson has a voice like no other and could make grass growing sound sexy but he is possibly a bit blinkered when it comes to PEDs.
There is an article on SwimmingScience about how the finals have been scheduled past 22:00 which is rare and how this might impact the results.
They did the a similar thing in Beijing when the scheduled the finals for early morning.
Annoyingly in our winter Rio is only 2 hours behind.
2fast748 said:
Don't understand the timezone questions - you do know where Brazil is don't you? (remember the Brazilian Grand Prix is on when you're eating your tea (if you're a northerner anyway!)
The scare stories about pollution are nothing new. Remember the Beijing smog?
But a Grand Prix only lasts for just over an hour and a half. I think a single days worth of Olympic events lasts a little bit longer than that The scare stories about pollution are nothing new. Remember the Beijing smog?
And they aren't scare stories about pollution, they are scare facts. Would you like an unplanned mouthwash with that detritus...?
- Groan* I find this thread hoping it to be filled with interesting discussion and debate about the games, but instead find that in typical PH fashion, it's full of whinging and moaning.
Anyone got any thoughts or insight on the big events, y'know, stuff that's actually interesting to talk about? To get it started:
I think Mo is being hugely over-estimated this year, I don't think he'll have it all his own way in the 5k. Gebremeskel has beaten him before and is finally back (and in decent form) this year. If you re-watch the 2012 final you'll see he lost loads of ground for some reason just before the last lap and had to put in a huge surge just to get back in touching distance with the guys at the front. By that point he'd expended too much energy but still took home the silver. Muktar Edris also looks a real threat and all three of them have run 12.59 this year - should be a great race. Don't think Mo'll have any problems in the 10k though.
Anyone think Froomey can do the double? Cav for the Omnium? Both in top form.
I'm also thinking we'll see a passing of the guard in the Heptathlon. KJT seems to getting closer to her peak, and Jess seems to have passed hers.
Bolt definitely seems to be in the worst form we've seen him, you can just see the increased effort level on his face trying to stay ahead of the guys he used to jog past in the last 30m. Even so I can't see him being beaten in the 200m. The 100m could be a different story, Gatlin could take it. He'd be world champion if he hadn't messed up his last few strides last year. However, he's also not quite in the form he was either so who knows. Blake's gone from being the second fastest of all time to a non-entity following getting caught, but perhaps he's just being "cautious"and if so, we could see him "peak" at the games. Would mix it up a bit.
Fraser-Price seems out of the running in the women's 100m as she continues to struggle with injury, so looks like it's going to be Schippers vs Thompson. Managed to get 8/1 on Thompson the morning after her 10.7 in the Jamaican trials, then the odds very quickly came in to 5/2!!
Men's 400m is another talent filled event with Van Niekerk vs Merritt vs James. I thin Merritt could surprise everyone - he's third favorite but in the form of his life and probably the only one capable of beating Van Niekerk.
Finally I reckon Almaz Ayana will be a big star of these games. She's nailed on in the 5k but I can see her doing the double and taking the 10k too. She hasn't really competed in the 10k much but beat Dibaba in her debut which is incredible really.
Going to be interesting, can't wait.
Pretty sure Froomey won't manage it but it's not beyond belief that Yates or - oh, please to the sports sky fairies - even Cummings might do it. Cummings is too unpredictable to be an energy-efficient man for rivals to mark (unlike Froome, albeit the Froome of 2015 was a lot more predictable than the 2016 model!) so there's a chance he might steal a march on everyone and I'd bloody love it if he did.
What about the women - Armitstead and Vos showdown?
What about the women - Armitstead and Vos showdown?
944fan said:
It is a joke. Athletes being robbed at gun point. The aussises refused to take the accommodation because it was a s
t pit, then relented, then all had to evacuate as it caught fire
Some made the point that you are more likely to lose a medal for naming a sponsor than for dopping. The Rule 40 is a joke. They are not allowed to use the terms "2016" or "Summer" in any social media remarks!!!
US Basketball team have the right idea.... They've holed up with the Cisco IT lot on the SilverSeas luxury cruise ship. And they had them install 7ft beds.t pit, then relented, then all had to evacuate as it caught fireSome made the point that you are more likely to lose a medal for naming a sponsor than for dopping. The Rule 40 is a joke. They are not allowed to use the terms "2016" or "Summer" in any social media remarks!!!
NatAsp said:
*Groan* I find this thread hoping it to be filled with interesting discussion and debate about the games, but instead find that in typical PH fashion, it's full of whinging and moaning.
If it was in the lounge there wouldn't be as much moaning! I am joking, please dont kill me.I think what seperates the great people from the rest is the mental fortitude to hold it together. KJT is arguably in better form that Jess but look what happened at the Worlds last year. Jess just couldn't cock it up like that. Same with Bolt vs Gatlin. Plus Bolt has the whole world almost wanting him to win and the same number of people who want to see Gatlin fall over.
I'm not sure about froome or cav winning I'm afraid. I'd love to see cav win gold and complete his collection of titles, but I just think too many of the others in their events will focus on making sure cav/froome don't win, than contesting for the race themselves.
I think bolt will win the double 100/200m, maybe not on great form in the run up to the Olympics, but its the main event for the year for him. he'll def be keeping the PB's under wraps for the big stage.
I'd love David Florence to get gold in the C1 mens canoe slalom competition. he got silver in Beijing, then didn't make the final in London. also got silver in C2 in London after being beaten to gold by GB team mates.
I think bolt will win the double 100/200m, maybe not on great form in the run up to the Olympics, but its the main event for the year for him. he'll def be keeping the PB's under wraps for the big stage.
I'd love David Florence to get gold in the C1 mens canoe slalom competition. he got silver in Beijing, then didn't make the final in London. also got silver in C2 in London after being beaten to gold by GB team mates.
greygoose said:
I am quite pleased Murray got to carry the flag, he is a true top level sportsman who has won far more than most. So what if he isn't the greatest salesman, neither is KImi in F1 and he has plenty of fans, I would rather have someone who was himself rather than a media clone.
completely agree!! he doesn't 'sell' himself as a celebrity, he doesn't want that in his life. he does what he has too, to keep sponsors happy. he just goes about his tennis with his team and has had an amazing career to date, with more to come. truly deserves to be carrying the flag this year. I used to train in the same gym (Scottish institute of sport training slots, not just a random gym) as him at the same time when he was younger and back in Scotland training. always said hello to people, but just went about his stuff. his personality is very much down to him living away from home at a young age, where as his brother is much more sociable and chatted away. both murrays still come back and train in that gym, in the same time slots as lots of other athletes and happily chat away to other younger athletes and andy even stops to take photos with people after his sessions. I know some of the younger athletes I still train with are hugely inspired that a grand slam winning sporting superstar still comes back to the same gym as them and gets stuck in to training sessions.
malks222 said:
I'm not sure about froome or cav winning I'm afraid. I'd love to see cav win gold and complete his collection of titles, but I just think too many of the others in their events will focus on making sure cav/froome don't win, than contesting for the race themselves.
Post-Armstrong, road cycling will forever be tainted for me. This whole Armitstead thing just reinforces it. There is no smoke without fire, it is seen by many as the most crooked "sport" going. I really want to get excited about Rio (I worked on London 2012 delivery), but I think it's going to be a huge anti-climax. Their adjusting the times so that the USA get prime-time coverage, rather than a little bit of compromise for Europe, means very few people will watch anything live. Even the opening ceremony starts after midnight here, and we are an hour BEHIND a lot of Europe.
LiamB said:
If this thread is still going in 2016.. I will give you all a cookie.
My cookie has failed to arrive, please could you check with your courier to see where it has got to 
(Holy thread resurrection Batman, I was surprised to see my name come up as the OP, unsurprisingly I'd forgotten I started it 4 years ago!)
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