Olympics, Day 7

First topic message reminder :

Getting this up early as I'm off soon.

A great day for us yesterday as we won three golds, taking our score to 5. We now sit 5th in the medal table and with any luck could sit in 3rd by the day is out.

The main event starts today as well, with the athletics kicking off at 10 with Jess Ennis.

AND COME ON ALAN CAMPBELL!

Thomond wrote:Yeah neither do I, it's individual choice like.

We can also choose South Africa, under the Ulster exchange scheme.

I think it is more a force of old habit which is where the confusion is coming from. In Olympics past we were always refereed to as GB & NI. This is because as a colony we are known as 'United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland'..

The whole point of changing the name to 'Team GB' was to do away with this seperate '& NI' and refer to everyone as representatives of just Great Britain..obviously at times this hasn't been the case sadly..

However you have to realise it can be a little difficult to know how to refer to us given the fact that sometimes we wish to be referred to as individual countries i.e. England, Scotland, Wales etc...other times we portray ourselves as being British...others i.e. Politically we are often referred to as the United Kingdom....

I mean even I have difficulty knowing who we are sometimes lol!..

But yes to answer your question...the team is and should be referred to as TEAM GB ...not Great Britain or GBR or GBR & NI...pure and simple TEAM GB...but as I said due to the fact we have very often been shown as GB & NI creates a force of habit when people/commentators refer to us.

Also another point to note is that it was actually Northern Irish sports people who first wished to create the NI on the end of GBR to ensure that people understood which Ireland they were representing because people outside & even within the UK assumed that Ireland was just all of Ireland.

Hope that all makes sense and answers your question folks!

Olympic Dave wrote:

Thomond wrote:Yeah neither do I, it's individual choice like.

We can also choose South Africa, under the Ulster exchange scheme.

yeah anyone thats good enough!!

Olympic Dave wrote:

Thomond wrote:Yeah neither do I, it's individual choice like.

We can also choose South Africa, under the Ulster exchange scheme.

I think it's part of some massive Gb/Irish conspiracy. We lure them over here with some insane cash given by Rory McIllroy, we get them to have their children here (Pienaar had a kid here), those qualifying to compete for us in rugby or the Games. Given their genes they will more than likely be good at some sport and after that we use them for the good of Ireland if it's rugby or GB/Ire if it's Olympics sports. Genius stuff.

Musnter are doing it with Kiwis like Howlett so we might see results.

No investigation into the "crash"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19107973

I think Hindes was just trying to say that there was an issue with the bike, so he crashed on purpose for a restart. Instead, he replaced the bike issue part with "bad start". Definitely deserve the gold!

Good day so far for GB. An expected, but still fantastic Gold medal for Grainger and Watkins in the Rowing.

That's been backed up by 2 more Bronze medals in the Rowing.

We're up to fourth in the Medals Table.

Jessica Ennis has made a fantastic start to the Heptathlon, breaking a World Record in the 100m hurdles and jumping 1.83M in the High jump. Also, Karina Bryant is into the semi-final in judo.

Plenty more to come as well, with Cycling and Swimming giving us more Medal hopes. Andy Murray is in his Semi-Final later. Come on GB!

I think Hindes was just trying to say that there was an issue with the bike, so he crashed on purpose for a restart.

I think that's what he meant as well. I think his steering wasn't quite right so he just crashed it so that he could sort the problem out and restart.

If we can get 1 or 2 more today we could be up to 3rd!! good times

I think it goes against the spirit of the Olmypics kind of using or abusing the system. Nowhere near as bad as the Badminon guys but similar I think.


GB off to a flying start today, best of luck lads. Our Laser Sailing girl is on later and we have a few athletes who can get top 10 or so finishes but highly unlikely medallists.

South Korea will surely get one in the archery - so 2 should do it. Judo semi final as well!

Another judo semi-final, that's great.

6-6-6 so far in the medal count for team GB. Not a bad haul, congrats. Did you strike a deal with the Devil though?

lol you beat me to it

I have nothing but respect for the lads that do the steeplechase, it looks aweful.

I used to mess around with the steeple when I was a kid, but then I lost my bottle on the barriers.

I was never supple enough to hurdle the barriers properly anyway, so it always turned into a real slog.

2 failures now for Ennis at 1.86. She really needs to be clearing that one.

Thats second attempt for Ennis was cruel though.

YES!

Ennis the biggest talented British track athlete. Bradley Wiggins of the heptathlon

Nice jump
Decent points.

What an odd run from the Kenyan.

What I find incredible about Jess is that has actually had to change her whole approach to the heptathlon...

After suffering a number of injuries to her right foot she was told that if she continued she could end up suffering a career ending injury, so she has changed her lead off foot in the events such as Hurdles,Long Jump & High Jump!! Such a hard hard thing to do...

Just think how good she would be if she could have used her natural lead foot...I have no doubt the World Record would have been under serious threat.

She is a phenominal athlete thats for sure.

JJK's WR is out of this world, given that it's only really the LJ that was affected by the foot injury, it would be a very tough ask. (Her lead leg is the same for the hurdles).

1.86 is a solid performance but could have perhaps done with a one more to cement an advantage over Fountain, who looks dangerous.

KJT is super cute, yep?

djlovesyou wrote:

KJT is super cute, yep?

Jennifer1984 is going to slap you on the wrist for that comment

Haha, not sure I'm particularly bothered what some guy thinks about my innocent (but completely accurate) comment/question.

Ennis usually hammers Fountain in the Shot and she is a top class 200 metre runner. Here's hoping for a nice cheeky lead before the end of tonight.

Bit of judo perhaps now?

Would have liked to see 1.89 from Jess but after that amazing 100h she will be pretty well placed...you would expect a very fast 200 from her later on , judging from the way she ran the hurdles , so as long as she gets the shot out to a good distance she will be OK for day one...
Long way to go . Still expect the long jump tomorrow to be the key event.

I think that Ennis has every chance of having the lead tonight

She will have the lead, it's about how far her lead is really.

Fountain is a world class long-jumper and capable of a good javelin, so level with her is not good enough. She's nicely in front of Dobby and Chernova, and although Dobby is a great Shot Putter, she'll beat them both well in the 200.

Ennis has been performing very well, she was always in with a medal shot but she is putting herself in a decent position for gold.

Agreed DJ...KTJ is super hot. Always had a thing for Jess aswell..Bleacher Report no doubt would show you some kind of 'sexiest female athletes at 2012 games' slideshow....I haven't looked but im sure they do

Yeh to be honest JJK WR is probably out of reach for anyone....she has definitely changed her approach for the High Jump aswell...and whilst she leads of the same leg as she always has in the Hurdles again she has changed the approach slightly in that she is more aggressive going into the hurldle, this is done to change the weight on the foot when coming off the hurdle.

Couldn't give you the exact science behind it as im not a sports physio or anything but I did do an interview with her going into the World's last year and she spoke of the changes she had to make when she was diagnosed with the problems in that right foot.

Big well done to my former club-mate Alex Smith. Still trains down our track though, despite moving to a big club. Big throw in a very tough event.

Anyone watching the sailing?

Ainslie just had a good start, yep?

eirebilly....afraid not today pal. Usually i'm in Weymouth for it but today I took the invitation to do reporting in the aquatic centre this morning and the Olympic stadium this afternoon/evening

I know maegesmafia (something like that) will no doubt keep the sailing thread ticking over with updates throughout the day though.

mystiroakey wrote:100% yes. because we pay the benefits and child support and education and councils and nhs etc etc etc etc

I think you'll find that they have a government/councils in Northern Ireland and that they do raise some income themselves!!.................

And any NI citizen is allowed choose whether they are Irish or British as per Good Friday Agreement.................that's why the NI Football are having a hard time holding on to certain players........

A quick look at a Map and i think it's easily seen what country it originally belonged to

Ainslee is in second the Danish chap 6th currently in todays race

eirebilly wrote:Anyone watching the sailing?

On the Irish side of things Annalise is leading over in the Laser category and second in race 7 today. Not sure about others.

He's well in the lead now, but the Dane is up to 4th.

Looking good though, but it'll be great if he can boats can finish between him and the Dane so he's in a position where simply beating the Dane in the medal race will give him the gold. I think the current situation is ok.

Anailise currenty 2nd for Ireland in the Sailing.............PLEASE STAY RIGHT THERE!!

Come on Anailise

Defeat in the Judo Semi-Final for Bryant but she can still win Bronze for GB. Good to see Ennis is still leading the Heptathlon after 2 of the 7 events. Ainslie's also doing well. Good day this for GB!

Its been quite interesting today

And GB have just set an Olympic Record in the Dressage.

Duty281 wrote:And GB have just set an Olympic Record in the Dressage.

Best dressed horse?

Duty281 wrote:And GB have just set an Olympic Record in the Dressage.

Gold medal?

Dressage is really hard, tried it when i was a nipper.

That was fascinating stuff in the sailing. Ainslie had a massive lead, but then slowed down so he could block the wind of the Dane and hope other people came past him.

It seemed to work as the Dutch sailor came through.

The dressage medals are decided on Sunday I believe. Nothing awarded yet.

From Dressage to sheep shagging. You've come a long way. That Silver spoon rust or something

Never tried it but I did get assigned it to report on during the Olympics..I'm their on Tuesday so glad to hear we have started well.

Funnily enough I was livid when I found out it was one of my sports which I had to cover along with the Eventing but I have thoroughly enjoyed it and it has been interesting to get to learn about the sport.

Today has been the best day by far though...Olympic Stadium..able to watch Ennis & Co & im their for the evening session.

Then tomorrow and Sunday I am in Weymouth for the medal races in the sailing! Hopefully im a good omen for our surge for more Gold Medals!!

Crimey wrote:

Duty281 wrote:And GB have just set an Olympic Record in the Dressage.

Gold medal?

Don't really understand the sport myself but according to the BBC:

"There are two dressage gold medals up for grabs - a team title and an individual one - split into two parts for the team event and three for the individual. Today is the first phase of both, so Dujardin's score counts towards each of them.

After this, the same riders all compete again on Tuesday, 7 August in phase two, and the combined scores of each three-rider team will decide the team medals. Then, the top riders go through to a third individual performance on Thursday, 9 August.

So the medals are some way off yet but, with British riders in first, third and fourth with only a handful of major rivals left to go - including Dutch star Adelinde Cornelissen - things are looking good for GB."