Olympics Day 1!

First topic message reminder :

Rowing just kicked off on BBC One, we've been live for an hour. Watching the judo at the minute. Come on Cav!

I am with you Hibbz i dont get this sport..

cant believe they fcked that, up oh well its a silly sport anyway

Also why were there people in the group that made up maybe finishing positions 20-50 sprinting for the line?

Surely that effort would have been better spent riding more quickly several miles previously?

Because he made a mistake

Hibbz wrote:I've never watched cycling before so I couldn't be less of an expert so please could someone explain to me why the dude that finished second spent more time looking behind than just riding his bike as fast as he could when he was that close to the finish?

he's not exactly an experienced finisher and hesitated for too long ... he was worried of starting the sprint 1st and also wanted to make sure the riders behind him were not cacthing up.

So he was watching to see if someone else would sprint first..

If you go too early, it uses less effort to go in a group so the group would catch you and breaking away would be for nothing

I suppose very similar to long distance running then. but obviously alot more team work in cycling as well. It seems very tactical

Hesitated too long? Why hesitate at all? Just ride your bike man. And even if they were catching he had like 200m left if he just concentrates on riding as fast as he can surely that is the way to maximise your chances of success?

mystiroakey wrote:I am with you Hibbz i dont get this sport..

Its a bit like car racing in that its less effort if you are sat behind someone using the hole they make in the air.
So if theres a small group looking for a sprint finish they will want to be behind leading up to the end to conserve energy and be best placed to kick for the line. Also if you area the very front its easy to get caught napping and not have time to get up to speed and through the gears to react when someone goes for it. The problem is when you have, in this case 2 people, both wanting to be behind each other they have to be aware that theres dozens of people just behind them desperately racing to catch them up while they muck about playing chess. Often its a game of brinkmanship...can you force the other one to do the work because hes scared the group will catch you?

Yeah he shouldn't have looked back. Hence he did not win

Hibbz wrote:Hesitated too long? Why hesitate at all? Just ride your bike man. And even if they were catching he had like 200m left if he just concentrates on riding as fast as he can surely that is the way to maximise your chances of success?

Because sitting on someones wheel takes far less effort than being in front. The faster they're going the bigger the differential. If he'd just ridden flat out, his chance of winning would have been even less.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:I am with you Hibbz i dont get this sport..

Its a bit like car racing in that its less effort if you are sat behind someone using the hole they make in the air.
So if theres a small group looking for a sprint finish they will want to be behind leading up to the end to conserve energy and be best placed to kick for the line. Also if you area the very front its easy to get caught napping and not have time to get up to speed and through the gears to react when someone goes for it. The problem is when you have, in this case 2 people, both wanting to be behind each other they have to be aware that theres dozens of people just behind them desperately racing to catch them up while they muck about playing chess. Often its a game of brinkmanship...can you force the other one to do the work because hes scared the group will catch you?

right. got ya

The long and short of that finish was that Uran couldn't have beaten Vino however he played it. Vino was just too fast and Uran was clearly very tired.

You can criticise his mistake, but all that did was make things more conclusive.

ermm they put tennis on- I am all tennised out after wimbledon(i can only take that once a year)- On to the red button and judo for me

Yeah I can grasp that concept with a couple of miles left but about 200metres why wouldn't you both just go flat out?

Oh and obviously I accept that they've been doing it this way for years so they must be right it just seems very odd to an outsider.

Change of tack (is that allowed..?)

Federer vs Falla in the tennis and they are wearing coloured clothing on centre court..!!

The Establishment is shaken to the foundations. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the first time a major tennis tournament at Wimbledon has ever allowed coloured clothing.


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djlovesyou wrote:The long and short of that finish was that Uran couldn't have beaten Vino however he played it. Vino was just too fast and Uran was clearly very tired.

You can criticise his mistake, but all that did was make things more conclusive.

Seems very defeatist to me but like I say I'm a no nothing so I'll bow to your knowledge.

I only really watched it to recognise the places as I'm a local hero.

Hibbz a local hero- ermm who is he? sweeny todd, james bond, billie mitchell?

Hibbz wrote:Yeah I can grasp that concept with a couple of miles left but about 200metres why wouldn't you both just go flat out?

Oh and obviously I accept that they've been doing it this way for years so they must be right it just seems very odd to an outsider.

What Uran was trying to do was essentially goad Vino into sprinting first, and then tacking on to his wheel, and then diving past on the line. If he'd gone flat out himself, Vino could have just sat on him comfortably and then nipped out at the end.

mystiroakey wrote:Hibbz a local hero- ermm who is he? sweeny todd, james bond, billie mitchell?

Tom Good.

Just as a personal opinion, if it were me in that situation, I'd back myself against the other competitor and go for it.

I reckon if I go first, I would probably give myself a couple of metres advantage and then just use raw energy and determination to fight off a challenge. I'd have the lead and it would be up to them to get past me.... and I would have an "over my dead body" attitude...!!

In a race race that has five and three quarter hours of tactical cycling. A bit of eyeballs-out racing in the last 200 metres might just take everybody by surprise.


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djlovesyou wrote:

Hibbz wrote:Yeah I can grasp that concept with a couple of miles left but about 200metres why wouldn't you both just go flat out?

Oh and obviously I accept that they've been doing it this way for years so they must be right it just seems very odd to an outsider.

What Uran was trying to do was essentially goad Vino into sprinting first, and then tacking on to his wheel, and then diving past on the line. If he'd gone flat out himself, Vino could have just sat on him comfortably and then nipped out at the end.

What you seem to be saying even though I know you're not is that whoever goes for the sprint first is likely to lose. It didn't happen like that though. The one who went first won comfortably.

Thank you for taking the time to try to explain it to a philistine though.

Jennifer1984 wrote:Just as a personal opinion, if it were me in that situation, I'd back myself against the other competitor and go for it.

I reckon if I go first, I would probably give myself a couple of metres advantage and then just use raw energy and determination to fight off a challenge. I'd have the lead and it would be up to them to get past me.... and I would have an "over my dead body" attitude...!!

In a race race that has five and three quarter hours of tactical cycling. A bit of eyeballs-out racing in the last 200 metres might just take everybody by surprise.


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My feelings exactly but I'm happy to accept that experience has made them wise.

Not really, Vino was just faster. Generally the guy who is faster and fresher is the one who wins.

I think Uran was just cooked and was hoping Vino made a mistake, went to early, and was equally tired. He wasn't.

The slip stream seems to be of more importance in cycling than f1- in f1 we even have drs as well. which isnt even helping overtaking that much either.

I remember when boardman won alot. They said alot of that was to do with the bike he used as well- Is that true?

Very disappointing that Cav couldn't win the Gold for Britain. At least it's looking good in other events. GB Women are 2-0 up against Cameroon, the Murray brothers have taken the first set in their first-round game, Baltacha has won in her first round game, Parker has won in the first round of the table tennis and Ogogo has won his fight today. Plenty of positives for Britain.

Pretty annoyed how everyone in the peloton seemed to assume the GB cyclists would get Cav into position by the end & so just sat behind them & let them do the work (apart from half-hearted efforts by Martin & another German). Ended up being 4 riders trying to haul in about 30 riders, was never going to happen. Not like the TDF with teams 20 odd teams of 9 & radio contact. A bit of an irony in that the GB cyclists being so good is what counted against them, everyone assumed they'd do it on their own & hoped they could hijack them.

loving the archery- Come on italy!!

Oakey, I think it's because in F1 the air resistance only slows you, in cycling it slows you and it tires you because of the extra energy expended in keeping your speed up against it.

The problem and main downfall which led to the events which unfolded today was Mark Cavendish's own reputation. End of. That reputation and going into the race a pre-favourite was always going to lead to Team GB having to do almost all the work at the front of the peloton and when you only have four guys, it's an almost impossible job. Why would the majority of teams, aid and support GB, when they know that at the sprint finish they would get beaten by Cavendish. The only team that should of supported were Germany, as Greipal has shown he can easily compete with Cavendish at a sprint, now that Mark has lost that top end speed.

It was pretty obvious Cavendish was going to be a marked man and that it was going to end unfortunately in disappointment.

@ mystiroakey - Archery was brilliant, the Olympics always chuck up a few sports to become a 2-week expert up, wouldn't have thought a day or two ago I'd be clenching my @r$e cheeks hoping Italy beat USA with bows & arrows.

Italy win the archery 219-218 in the men's team event over USA.

GB women are going through to the last eight with a game to spare, they're now 3-0 up against Cameroon.

PRIME TIME!

Loved the archery final. then boring tennis!! Anyway looks like we have some action coming in the water!

I just really hope we can get a few golds intbe athletics. In the end, other than the final gold and medal count, I feel that's what the team gets judged on

Murray brothers have lost in the tennis. Ah well, there's always the singles.

Swimming coming up shortly, chance for Britain to get their first medals!

We aren't going to get tennis medals, maybe a bronze for Murray.

mystiroakey wrote:Loved the archery final. then boring tennis!! Anyway looks like we have some action coming in the water!

You can't press the red button? You get to choose what you want from anything.

djlovesyou wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Loved the archery final. then boring tennis!! Anyway looks like we have some action coming in the water!

You can't press the red button? You get to choose what you want from anything.

You can't on just normal freeview.

What a fantastic way to introduce the swimmers in the finals.

Top quality London

Come on my sexy Svensk Sarah

Can't believe Phelps didn't get a medal.

Sarah is into the final

Love the swimming. Phelps will win medals elsewhere...

Did Thorpe not qualify at all then?

Why Clare Balding for the swimming? Surely with Englands rich history of swimming champions they could have brought in someone with more experience than that blockhead of a woman?

eirebilly wrote:Why Clare Balding for the swimming? Surely with Englands rich history of swimming champions they could have brought in someone with more experience than that blockhead of a woman?

Don't knock the Balding. She's a really good presenter. The main anchor of the sport doesn't have to be an expert, she gets most of the stick for how she looks, which is unfair.