So they are nearly here, anyone else getting slightly excited?
The Brownlees have lost their main opposition with Go es announcing he is skipping the olympics with a broken elbow.
Jo Pavey is in the team
Golfers are proving they are just rich spoils brats, by pulling out left, right, and centre.
Only just over three weeks to go.
Comments
I'm excited by the Olympic triathlon but would have preferred to have seen a proper season of the world series.
Doesn't seem to be much hype about them or buildup.....will it all be ready and sorted
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/36768248
It possibly got a it lost with Brexit, new PM etc... I guess.
Doesn't seem to be any interest other than the media, what's the point, a lot of medals will be won then confiscated later for drug offences
Glad the golfers are pulling out - big respect to Rory Mac for saying that Golf shouldn't be there, which is entirely correct. Boot it out and get Squash back in perhaps.
but he did try to blame the virus at first for not going instead of being staright up.....It was the golfers who petitioned to have golf included
Someone once said that an Olympic medal should be the pinnacle of achievement, over shadowing world champioonships.
So on that basis , athletics, swimming, rowing, (track) cycling, canoeing, sailing, gymnastics, fencing etc. should all stay.
No place for golf, tennis, football arguably basketball, and do we still have baseball?
Squash should be included and on my criteria , darts and snooker would be ruled out too.
I love the Olympics - mainly track and field but also do love watching the swimming, rowing, cycling and gymnastics as well as judo and stuff like that. I only watched the tennis properly last time because of Andy Murray. Football is just a weird one at the Olympics. I seem to remember that Mexico beat Brazil in the final (was that the last one?). They came out and scored really early.
But yeah - excited. Hoping to watch Farah do the double double. Really excited that Jo Pavey has made the team again and there are a lot of good Scottish runners which will always get my attention. I'd love to see Laura Muir get a medal!
And of course - can Bolt produce the goods again? He nearly didn't get in due to injury or something and he'll be below par going in probably but then he'll blow everyone away in the final. Remember the worlds where he nearly fell on his face in his heat?? Then he destroyed Gatlin in the final. Awesome stuff.
I have a friend who reckons that if you shower beforehand it's a game, and if you shower afterwards it's a sport.
Cougie -
I think Olympic events need to be about athletic endeavour. Anything which doesn't involve physical exertion is out.
What if you shower before AND after?
In my mind the Olympics is about individual athletic performance in a particular task like running or jumping or lifting or swimming or something like that. Nothing that uses any kind of tool like a bat or raquet or club. No team sports except things like rowing where all members are doing the same thing in rhythm.
In my mind the spirit of it is pitting one athlete against themself in a task where they cannot be limited or defeated by their opponents counteractions. They can only be limited by the nature of themself and the environment on the day.
I see where you're getting at Logic, but surely that rules out races on the track (you have to go around runners in front of you), throwing events (they use javelins etc), the lifting you talk about (can't lift nothing), not to mention cycling (a bike is a tool).
Perhaps if you've lost the racing line and not got to the inside first that leaves you battling yourself and the environment still. Having opponents in a race where you can only really beat yourself should only ever push you to a better performance and never be the reason you lost. I don't think that's the same as teams or individuals facing off face to face in combat competition styles.
Throwing and lifting count.
Yep on reflection again, cycling, sailing, rowing don't seem in the spirit of Olympics as a celebration of the feats of the human body.
It probably would be over in a week I suppose.
having said that, I do like a chance to see all these other sports and whatever is there is there and shouldn't be removed now that it is.
It's almost more dump the events where the players earn multi millions per year, as seriously they don't really take the olympics as seriously. So screw em
Don't know where I got my romantic notion of what an olympic sport should be. 5 sports that have been contested in every games since the first in 1896 are Athletics, Cycling, Fencing, Gymnastics and Swimming. Two of which don't fit in with my notion but have been there for ever.
The total list for this year is apparently:
Aquatics (including swimming, diving and synchronized swimming, water polo)
Archery
Badminton
Basketball
Boxing
Canoe / Kayak
Cycling - including Track, Road, Mountain Bike and BMX
Equestrian
Fencing
Football (soccer)
Golf
Gymnastics (Artistic, Rhythmic and Trampolining)
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rowing
Rugby 7s
Sailing
Shooting
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Track & Field
Triathlon
Volleyball - indoor and beach volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling (Greco-Roman and Freestyle)
Running, jumping, chucking (perhaps in a more technical fashion) and fighting. No more.
Running, jumping, chucking and fighting. That did make me laugh .
I guess we'd never be able to get back to only amateurs competing would we.
I agree the Olympics should be the pinnacle.
so from logics list above I would only exclude football (World Cup) tennis (grand slam), basketball (nba) and golf (Opens) unless like boxing they went for amateurs Only.
Boxing has voted to allow pros in
Can't get excited about it at the moment - I think it could be a bit pants compared with London 2012.
I also have in the back of my mind that it could be the last time we compete as Team GB given Brexit.
I expect I'll perk up once it actually starts.
I think we should return to the original Greek games and base it on military skill, to be performed IN. THE. NEWD.
Running (lots of different distances), throwing round things & pointy things, fighting - wrestling & boxing (and a mixture of the two - can't remember what it was called), sword fighting, swimming, pentathlon, chariot racing, that sort of thing.
Lots of exposed wobbly bits & risk of injury. That would get me watching.
The only thing is that someone always wins and to the Unknowledgeable temporary sports fan it will look great.
I am always amused by the stories at the start of how athletes are appalled by the conditions they are expected to live in for a month, when they are in what would seem like an absolute life of luxury to the average local.
Still at least We have our own doping test dodging cyclist to take the heat off the Russians.