London 2012

[TRF_heineken]

Dear London, you are are such a poes. Regards, Earth and Middle Earth

Forging 5 Rings = Bad News!!

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Cavendish and Team GB slightly choked in the the road race. Media Hype and Pressure got to them I think.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

john Joe Nevin (Spelling is probably completely wrong) looked very good in the boxing today winning 21-6 against admittedly quite lackluster Danish opposition. Nevin was working his body shots really well and landing headshots very effectively when the opportunity came.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Two boxers through to their last 16's today. A good start.

 

[LittleGuy]

Cavendish and Team GB slightly choked in the the road race. Media Hype and Pressure got to them I think.

I feared this would happen, it was almost like Gold was being guarenteed by some in the press.

 

[SelimNiai]

I feared this would happen, it was almost like Gold was being guarenteed by some in the press.

I watched a fair bit of the race and the commentators were saying things like "here's the lead group but they're going to be beaten by GB here" and that was within the first hour.

 

[big ginger 8]

john Joe Nevin (Spelling is probably completely wrong) looked very good in the boxing today winning 21-6 against admittedly quite lackluster Danish opposition. Nevin was working his body shots really well and landing headshots very effectively when the opportunity came.

Nah it's right.

Liked the comment from the pundit beforehand "he's a good thinker...with a h".

 

[TRF_Cymro]

I watched a fair bit of the race and the commentators were saying things like "here's the lead group but they're going to be beaten by GB here" and that was within the first hour.

I dunno, quite early on they were also concerned that the lead group had opened up a bigger gap that Team GB wanted to see.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

I'm more surprised that Jack Bauer only came 10th, tbh. And that he represents New Zealand.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Lead group leaving so early definitely hurt Team GB. Rest of the peloton was more than happy to leave them at the front controlling thr pace/killing themselves as they knew they realistically weren't going to place.
Hindsight is a marvelous thing though, when the breakaway happened everyone thought it was way too early, and it was right for GB to hang back. Not now, though, obviously.

Just have to make up for it in the TT and the track.
Hopefully Wiggins and Froome didn't kill themselves too much today!

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Lead group leaving so early definitely hurt Team GB. Rest of the peloton was more than happy to leave them at the front controlling thr pace/killing themselves as they knew they realistically weren't going to place.
Hindsight is a marvelous thing though, when the breakaway happened everyone thought it was way too early, and it was right for GB to hang back. Not now, though, obviously.

Just have to make up for it in the TT and the track.
Hopefully Wiggins and Froome didn't kill themselves too much today!

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2

Nicolas Roche on the Irish team said the complete opposite saying rather than leaving it to GB to lose they thought GB would bring them into it and hope to get in with a sneaky placing. The winners manoeuvre at the end to take the lead was very impressive, it reminded me of a Clement Poitrenaud try a few years back where he weaved one way with the defender running the same direction he made as if he was going to weave the other way waited for the defender to turn his head and took off in the same direction as the defender turned his head.

Did anyone watch the swimming? Lochte and Yehwan (I think that's her name, the 16 year old Chinese girl) were class. Disappointing for Phelps and the Scottish medley swimmer on team GB though.

 

[donmcdazzle]

I love watching random sports. Table tennis is an awesome spectator sport, not sure how they even get it back to each other with how hard they hit it.

Saw some under 48kg women's weightlifting, the Chinese bird clean and jerked 115kg, way over double body weight which is insane.

Also the NZ rowers had better step up and win some gold. They are our only hope to get a decent amount of medals.

What surprises me with Phelps is that he is supposedly washed up and burnt out, but Lochte is older than him so I can't work that out.

 

[William18]

I love watching random sports. Table tennis is an awesome spectator sport, not sure how they even get it back to each other with how hard they hit it.

Saw some under 48kg women's weightlifting, the Chinese bird clean and jerked 115kg, way over double body weight which is insane.

Also the NZ rowers had better step up and win some gold. They are our only hope to get a decent amount of medals.

What surprises me with Phelps is that he is supposedly washed up and burnt out, but Lochte is older than him so I can't work that out.

I think it just means more to Lochte than Phelps.

 

[dudeabides]

I wish rugby was already in the olympics, can't wait til next time. They should have both 15s and 7s though, oh well. Having a few rugby matches to watch on the ol' laptop while the volleyball and swimming and what have you go on in the same room's tv screen helps I tell you. Watched Connacht v Harlequins, USA v Georgia and last night's big one.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Mark Cavendish: I'm a little *****

 

[LittleGuy]

Mark Cavendish: I'm a little *****

Brits blaming Aussies!!!! This MUST be a first!!!

 

[Twebby]

In regards to the opening ceremony, I sat down to watch it with a fairly cynical hat on, yet came away feeling very patriotic and actually moved in places. Wasn't thrilled to hear Danny Boyle was in charge after he blooted his CV with Slumdog Millionaire, but I persoanlly think he did a really good job.

There are probably very few countries who could manage to credibly both honour their fallen soldiers and lightheartedly take the **** out of themselves in the same ceremony. But then that's what we do best - not take outselves too seriously all the time.

Particularly enjoyed the section devoted to childrens' literary villains and heroes, and thought the eventual lighting of the cauldron was brilliantly done. Nobody more deserving of bringing the torch to the stadium than Sit Steve, but to have the next generation having the final say was superb. Almost a shame to have to sit through the parade of teams to get to that point, but not really much that could be done to make that more exciting sadly.

I'm sure people can find plenty to moan about, but I for one was happy to just leave my cynicism at the door and celebrate the event for what it was - a reminder of everything Britain has experienced, achieved and a lot of what makes up our culture.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Cav has a point though, considering the size of the peloton how many teams took their turn at the front?
Millar/Froome/Stannard/Wiggins would gesture for others to take the lead but they all hung back willing to let them run themselves in to the ground.
Only other rider I saw have a proper turn of it was the Austrian Bernie Eisel, who just happens to be a Team Sky rider and Cav's best friend.
The other teams/countries/riders knew exactly what they were doing, and that having 4 leaders for 250km wasn't going to put them in a position to sprint for a medal.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I don't agree with that at all. Team GB got there tactics wrong they expected other teams to do work for them and when it didn't happen they didn't know what to do and I don't agree that anyone would give up there chance at an Olympic medal just so Cavendish wouldn't win.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

It's exactly what happened though.
Article says it perfectly when it asks why Germany weren't interested in getting Greipel to the front: They knew he wouldn't win in a sprint with Cav so didn't want to take their turn at the front to get to a sprint finish.

Maybe I'm wording it wrong in saying that they did it because they didn't want him to win, it's more that they knew they wouldn't win in a one on one with him so why bother trying.