Olympics 2012

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Originally Posted by Graeme78

As someone who is a little ignorant of the nuances of track cycling could you expand on that, and explain how you get a dodgy wheel?
What does it relate to structure, spoke alignment?
I know the French have started complaining about our performance, I suspect because we're beating them, the French cycling chief has said something along the lines of it 'seems that we're missing something'
Please bear in mind I read that in the metro, so I would question the reliability of the source.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...els-gb-cycling

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Originally Posted by The General

Going off on a tangent a little...

Look, I love 'our Jess' and all that and am not belittling her performance but there is a lot of country bias here and a huge amount of media hype.

At the end of the day, she won an event that ten year's ago most on here would see as an Olympic's sideshow for those athletes who are good at a range of sports but not the best in any single sport. "What's that? The Hep what? Give me a shout when the real sport starts."

Now it is a test of the world's 'best all round athletes'.

Kind of like decathlon - everyone in the UK cared when Daley was winning, but now most would be hard pressed to name a single decathlete.

I think the same logic applies to cycling. if the UK was not winning by using dodgy wheels :w00t: , it would be seen in the same way many see table tennis. ie. not a real sport.

Mo Farah though I think is the real deal.

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Ha, ha, you’re either a genuine certified lunatic or a very good troll. I can't make my mind up about youGeneral.

Incidentally previous heptathlon champions like Jackie Joyner and Carolina Kluft have been seen as stars of the Games.

General - as for your comments on Jess Ennis, I am 47. But I remember Mary Peters winning the Pentathlon, then Daley's double. I also remember Dean Macey, Denise Lewis, Kelly Sotherton.
That's because I'm an athletics fan and I've always loved watching the fantastic athletes, not just GB ones either as my first real "hero" was Borzov.
Yes I could also name the 3 GB heptathletes taking part at this Olympics this year as well and I was particularly keen to see Katarina Thompson. I've seen her develop from an U13 Girl at Liverpool Harriers. At that time she used to "fill in" at shot alongside my daughter.
She's still a very grounded club athlete and very much one of the girls, last year turning out in National Junior League competition against us, which is very rare for athletes at her level.
This year she's even found time to compete in UKWL for them in addition to winning the world junior title at Long Jump.

Athletes will tell you that just to get to the Olympics is a fantastic achievement. It means you are already competing at a high level. Ennis could have competed at Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump and 200m and probably have made the final in at least 2 of them and on her hurdles performance, maybe medalled.

That represents a superb all-round athlete to me.

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Originally Posted by Danbert Nocurry

Ha, ha, you’re either a genuine certified lunatic or a very good troll. I can't make my mind up about youGeneral.

Incidentally previous heptathlon champions like Jackie Joyner and Carolina Kluft have been seen as stars of the Games.

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A genuine, certified, lunatic troll.
:w00t:

The great Colin Jackson shouting 'Come on big man' in the commentators box during the 100 metres was class, I can't stop laughing at it.

After 6 heats this morning Ennis is still the fastest 100m hurdler at the Olympics (and stadium record holder)!

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Originally Posted by Mike T

Without slow motion of appropriate definition it can be hard to work out which bit of their feet people land on - the pictures were very clear today. We had two of the Rwandan runners at our local track recently - to the naked eye it looked like they were forefoot striking but photos showed they weren't.

Interesting that most of the African girls hold their arms up near their chests, and together with this they rotate their upper torsos more.

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none of the twenty or so leading runners seemed to be forefoot striking to me - maybe one or two midfoot.

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Originally Posted by ZootHornRollo

none of the twenty or so leading runners seemed to be forefoot striking to me - maybe one or two midfoot.

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The Russian girl who came third was clearly forefoot striking on the HD slo-mo; I found this surprising in such a long event and it may be she was only doing it some of the time.

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Originally Posted by Vegan Runner

The involvement of the sixth place woman, Azarova, in the fall cannot be confirmed.
Attachment 6291

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Brilliant! Wish I'd noticed that.:D

I'd put good money on that women's shot putt winner being a bloke. No doubt about it. It looks like Eric Bristow :w00t: