Neymar crying is rather nauseatingā¦ I know I am cynical, but its hardly āredemptionā as (the BBC seem to be obsessing about)ā¦ to win an u23 tournamentā¦
I was quite chuffed for him and Brazil, but then I came to realise it was all about him. No thanking of the keeper or acknowledgement of the previous pen takers. A better approach would have been to shake the Germans by the hand, pull a mooner and than have a naked Savate party with his team mates.
1.30am is Mo Farah Time
Coffee time
Mo Time
The Ethiopians have a plan, not looking good at halfway
On the BBC website but getting Australian commentary
Last lap
What a legend
Me and you here Ted
Go Mo Gold
Welcome to our Worldā¦
(ps BBC took 400+ people on a Junket to Rio at your expense yet used Olympic Broadcasting Service Feed for your Web viewing (probably 'coz they were all in the Pub/watching/couldnāt be assedto get up)
Stayed awake until about five minutes before Mo time, then nodded off - but fortunately woke up with the race still going, and about four laps to go.
Fucking brilliant. Awesome display.
And the GB team has now taken more medals than in any previous games, beating the total from four years ago. Thatās pretty astounding.
In true forum spirit Iād like to ignore the fantastic medal haul and just have a moan - hereās my top ten annoyances of Rio 2016 - in no particular order.
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The BBC changing channels every half hour.
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The ridiculous moped used in the Velodrome - a gay circus is missing a stunt bike.
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GB athletes being media-trained to reference the National Lottery in post-event interviews.
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Horse disco.
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Russian dopers being present.
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Several men being allowed to compete in the womenās athletics.
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Divers showering erotically together.
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Mr Balding shouting at us with too much enthusiasm.
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The arrogance of US swimmers.
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Paula Ratcliffe sitting silently in the corner like a little shitting mouse as Denise Lewis points out the blatantly obvious.
Umm, point of order sub under butler sir, and please donāt move me from my room next to the boilers for pointing this out, I find their clanging noise at night strangely soothing, but since 1908 when we won 146 medals
- The boxing judges.
No way did that guy just take three rounds off Joyce - the bloke hardly threw a punch.
Thanks for that snippet. That stopped the self-congratulatory smugness from the resident couch potato Olympic experts in the Cobham Saint household (Mrs C_S and Teenage Mutant #1)ā¦for as long as it took them to check and reluctantly agreeā¦
Only another 4 years until the next Olympicsā¦ho humā¦
Not quite the same. Nowhere near as many nations taking partā¦
But it shut up 50% of the Cobham Saint household, for about a minute. I take any victory, no matter how small or for how short a time. Donāt try to take it away from meā¦
Grouch alertā¦
ā¦ but back in 1996 at AtlantaGames, we were like 36th or something in the medal table. At that time and in in previous years we moaned about the Russians and eastern Europeanswho dominated the medal tables were in effect āstate sponsoredā propoganda machines and that it was unfair that the good old fair play British amateur, had no chance in most sportsā¦ Since John Major decided to spend big and also with the lottery funding, we have in effect done the same thing.
We have hundreds of foreign coaches in many sports as we pay better. Our atheltes are in effect all full time professionals - gone are the days of 4am swimming sessions before work.
Our medals cost 4mil each in effectā¦
Its great that these talented sportsmen and women have the opportunity to reach their full potential through getting the best funding and facilities - and also good to see that they have taken that opportiunity and delivered with graft etcā¦ BUt do we really need all the jingoistic nationalistic crap that goes with it? The BBC and Clare balding wetting herself, the āWe beat China to 2nd spotā bollocks? Is the medal table not at best just a reflection of who spends more?
One could also suggest that Britain is now doing what the Eastern Bloc used to do- try and use sporting success as a symbol of superiority and propoganda when when everything else is shite - Is 4mil a medal an ethical investment when we have poverty in our cities?
The fact that sports that have not hit medal targets will see funding DECREASED in the next cycle suggests this is more about the message, than the desire to see facilities and opportunities for all in all sportsā¦
NB. This is NOT a critique of individual atheletes performance who have siezed the opportunity and delivered amzing results, just that they would have been able to deliver those results whatever flag they were carrying had the funding been the sameā¦so to see all the nationistic triumphalism is OTT imho.
I like your post Ferret But surely sports that didnt hit the targets need there funding increased to ensure maximum exposure and that the most talented players get sponsored / enabled to attend.