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'They're adults. They're allowed to have fun whenever they want. We're kids, we're meant to be working.'
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The Games of the XXX Olympiad are just around the corner, and there is a familiar buzz in the air. There's a sense of…
I like it CG26. Maybe we can call it the ‘Money Games’. It can run before or after the Olympics (or maybe the same time) and people can just watch on TV…
As for Rugby Sevens, they still have the world sevens tour, which is a great even that includes the Hong Kong Sevens. It would be a shame if this had to be scrapped in order for the sport to compete in the Games – so the alternative of not including it in the Games seems better to me!
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
I love a good rant WoobliesFan.
I am sure you’re not alone in your cynicism. As I said above, if we allow doping then what’s the point of sport? It crosses the line in my opinion, and we should never stop trying to purge it from sport. There is some evidence now that this is happening – but hopefully it doesn’t come out in a decade that everyone is now doping.
The IOC is an absurd bureaucracy that is too big for its own boots. Jacques Rogge is the current president (Juan Antonio Samaranch stepped down after Athens I believe) but things haven’t really changed. This is a problem with all big international sports organisations: FIFA, UEFA, IRB etc. People in the highest echelons of sports administrations seem to be more interested in golden handshakes and money under the table than anything else…
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
Morning Tom!
That remark about whether or not GB will win more medals was just an introductory one. I would have said it about the hosts no matter which country was hosting. So thanks for your psychoanalysis but I think you jumped the gun a little.
The article was about something else entirely, and in fact didn’t mention Australia’s sporting prowess at all! GB had an awesome Beijing Games, especially in the velodrome. Their cycling team will be expected to do brilliantly again, among plenty of others.
Having said that, your post shows why Aussies enjoy beating England (not so much the other Home Nations) so much, and here’s hoping we finish above them on the medal tally!
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
I am a rugby fan first and foremost, and I can confirm that the Brazilian Government and big business are pouring funds into the sport because they want to do well at their home Games in 2016 (rugby is bigger in Brazil than many would realise – in Sao Paulo there is a two division league featuring 16 teams).
And while the IRB would be loving the exposure that rugby being included in the Games, does it really deserve to be there? On a selfish level I am happy it is, because I love the sport, but it doesn’t meet my criteria above.
Certainly it is very debatable whether it is popular enough in enough countries, and while the Gold medal would be nice for the players, it’s not what their main focus is. Can’t we do better than that as a spectacle?
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
If we legalise doping though, what’s the point? Where does it stop? Which drugs are allowed and which aren’t? When can robots compete? (Now that would be an event!)
I was watching the Tour de France today and the commentators were noting the lack of pace in the stage. They said this was a throw back to the old days of cycling, before doping, where the riders simply couldn’t go all out every single day of le Tour.
Perhaps a return to the slow pace on some stages is evidence the sport is cleaning up? We can only hope.
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
Yep I acknowledge attendance figures from Sydney above. I still think that the Games should be about sports reaching their pinnacle, and when you have a Mickey Mouse U23’s tournament it devalues the medal and the Olympics as a whole.
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
Thanks for your in depth and well thought out comment Sheek, you raise some very good points.
The Games has certainly become a corporate juggernaut, and I think the event is worse off for it. The IOC (along with the other big sporting organisations like FIFA and to a lesser extent the IRB) are far from being transparent decision makers – except it is clear they are all about making money.
While I would like to be an idealist, the reality is money needs to be made to make the event a success. I would argue that the event in itself is incredibly popular, and the ‘Olympic’ brand would continue to make money even if some of the bigger sports, like soccer, were excluded.
As for doping, it is a constant battle for all sports, one that required constant vigilance. I think we are in a better place at the moment than we were in the 80s, 90s and early 00s, but people thought that back in Sydney and look what happened with Marion Jones. That Usain Bolt and Donovan Bailey are the only men’s 100m champs in 30 years to not have their name tainted by drugs is evident of just how large the problem was.
I don’t know what the answer is, except to continue pouring funds into R & D so testing continues to improve and help that sportsmanship still means something – which it clearly does to some in the Tour de France, as evidenced by the excellent behavior of race leader Bradley Wiggins in the ‘tack stage’.
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
Fair enough – thanks for pointing that out.
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
I thought long and hard about cycling – it is certainly a border line one. I think track cycling (in the velodrome) would stay in, but road cycling could be under threat. The element that saved it for me was that in the Olympics you are riding for your country, where as at the world champs/Tour de France etc you are riding for yourself or for a privately owned team like BMC, Sky or Orica GreenEdge.
Does soccer really draw the crowds? I think it would depend where it was. Perhaps in London and Europe it would, and certainly in Brazil it will. I don’t recall the crowds being all the big in Sydney.
Agree with what you say about the essence of the Games being athletics, rowing, swimming and cycling – those events which most people only watch every four years!
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
Good point – but do people really watch or attend the Olympic games for sports like rugby and soccer? I would argue they don’t, and are more likely to go for things like swimming and athletics, that don’t have their own competitions which are larger than the Olympics.
The Olympics is great, but could be much better
Consistency is definitely the issue here. How can anyone predict with any confidence what the SANZAR judiciary will do?
As a Reds fan I am happy with one week, because it could have been a lot more. I don’t think it deserved more, but SANZAR have shown over the last few seasons that there is no consistency when it comes to suspensions (e.g. Horne getting one week and Ioane getting five weeks for a similar tackle).
As for the tackle itself, I think it was dangerous and arguably deserved a week, but certainly nothing more. The first contact was with the chest and his arm slid up as Barnes stepped inside and down. It didn’t think it was a swinging arm, as some people have been saying on here. It was more of a ball and all style tackle that was misjudged and made worse by Barnes’ body position.
The Reds will be right. They arguably looked their best all year with Lucas at 10 against the Chiefs, and McKenzie has shown over the years that he is a great game by game tactician. They will know what has to be done to beat the Sharks, and hopefully they can do it and QC is back on board for a trip to Hamilton!
Quade Cooper banned for one week
This is a stroke of luck for the Reds, and might just cancel out Quade’s suspension and the fact Kaplan has been appointed referee!
Sharks hit by Lambie loss for Super final
It’s a good point, one I have heard before. I understand freestyle, breathstroke and backstroke are all unique strokes that require different skill. E.g., breathstroke is more aerobic than freestyle, which is mostly aerobic. Breahstroke is a survival stroke, freestyle is getting from one point to the other. Breathstroke is to swimming what hurdles is to running….maybe.
But butterfly should be ditched. It serves no purpose. It is a variation on freestyle that looks stupid. We could improve the IM by having it bookended with freestyle so it goes freestyle-backstroke-breathstroke-freestyle. Same for the relays.
The Olympics is great, but could be much better