C'wealth Commonwealth Games - Glasgow 2014

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imadodgyumpire said:
I've recognised most of that (to myself at least). But I haven't seen anything specific, like an offensive act or statement. Something which an outsider like me can say "Ha, that's it."

The key word you use is "apparently", which is open ended. The press release contradicts this. As mentioned earlier, Michael Johnson was interviewed about this at length on the couch. While he recognised there may be some issues with EH, he didn't blame him for anything. Since then, I've seen pieces from C10 which selectively use some of his interview, which makes it look like he's canning him.

My impression is that there's more issues with Athletics, than what's been led on. EH is just an easy target. It's like with Pim Verbeek and Holger Osieck with the soccer team. There are deep rooted issues with soccer here, that those two cannot overcome. But they got blamed for all the problems.
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There's been complaints about Hollingsworth for ages. Problems been is that AA is such a boys club the athlete has actually got punished for it. It was a real boys clubs organisation. It's been a huge problem. That's exactly what Dave Culbert was saying today on SEN.
I take that before I take anything from an uninformed poster, who doesn't want to be seen he was wrong.
 

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Amazing Bombers said:
Was a good games even though there were too many ads in the coverage. Enjoyed seeing some up and coming stars including Latisha Scanlon ,Jarrod Geddes and Emma Mckeown to name a few.
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Yep, I enjoyed it. I think if you respect the Comm Games for what they are then is an enjoyable week and a half. I think over the past few Comm Games I have been to negative towards the concept and not enjoyed it.
 
The Games were OK - 10 had too many ads, could have used thier One HD channel to show other sports live. The encore stuff during the day was pretty good but it was an ad-athon.

Only saw parts of the closing ceremony but the Gold Coast bit was really cringeworthy in many parts...........
 
Highlights for me:

Women's 4 x 100 Freestyle World Record.
Emma McKeon in general.
Netball gold - dominant final
Koobaburras and Hockeyroos
Women's field gold, discus, pole vault, high jump, javelin
Pearson overcoming immense pressure and Jenneke finishing a strong 5th
Jeff Risely getting 5th in the 1500m final after telling it like it was after the hip and shoulder he got in the semi and getting a reprieve.
Cycling overall
Craig Burns having a great 3rd leg in the 4 x 400m at the track impressed me

But individually Shelley Watts winning gold in boxing did it for me as I watched a few of her fights. Impressive.
 
Redline said:
Yep, I enjoyed it. I think if you respect the Comm Games for what they are then is an enjoyable week and a half. I think over the past few Comm Games I have been to negative towards the concept and not enjoyed it.
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Yes, it's important not to try and compare it with other events. I find all the bitterness about it kind of odd. God knows, the Scots have had a ball and you don't see them happy very often, that's a good enough reason to have had it.
 
Too much gets made about 'elite' sports. If we only watch the Olympics and WCs - well, you won't watch a lot. There are hundreds of tennis tournaments around the world that are NOT grand slams, there are thousands of soccer matches every week that are NOT World Cup matches, there are hundreds of bike races that are NOT the TDF. Whenever an Aussie wins a Golf tournament, they get praised, do all the TV/radio interviews (rightly so), and no one pops in with the snide 'Well, it wasn't the British Open, was it?'.

So the Comm Games aren't the Olympics. Yep, and your point is?

I'll still watch the events I like. Maybe lawn bowls and diving ain't my thing - but then, neither is soccer, for example. Can we stop all soccer matches around the world because I don't like them?

I wrote a post after Delhi asking if they would bother putting the Comm Games on again - Delhi was a perfect example of how NOT to do it, no one turned up and it was miserable. Fortunately, Glasgow has got the show back on track and everyone enjoyed them for what they were. Trashing them because they aren't the Olympics kind of misses the point.
 
I was very keen to watch the progress of Scotland on the medal tally. The athletes must be rapt to win medals for Scotland rather than the "United Kingdom".
 
Scotland increased their Gold medal tally from 9 to 19 - primarily because they chose to add Judo as an event. Guess who's far and away the best Commonwealth country at Judo? Guess who won all the 6 Gold medals for Judo at Glasgow?

That's why the 'Medal Tables' are a load of rubbish. The only people who really care about them are John Coates and the Australian Olympic Commission - because their Government funding and their jobs are dependent on it.

If we really want to top the medal tally in the Gold Coast in 2014, we should introduce Surfing and Surf Life-saving - there's probably 15+ gold medals in those categories.
 

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Wallaby said:
Scotland increased their Gold medal tally from 9 to 19 - primarily because they chose to add Judo as an event. Guess who's far and away the best Commonwealth country at Judo? Guess who won all the 6 Gold medals for Judo at Glasgow?
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Could you even try to be remotely accurate? Scotland, who came 2nd in the Judo medal tally, are "far and away the best Commonwealth country at Judo"? Scotland won all 6 gold medals? By "all", you clearly mean all except the other 6 that England won.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judo_at_the_2014_Commonwealth_Games#Medal_summary

Not sure why you're having such a bitch. Maybe you're English. How about this compromise so that Australia and Scotland don't have any unnecessary advantage in 2018 (you got that wrong too). No judo and no swimming. Will that make you happier?
 
red+black said:
Could you even try to be remotely accurate? Scotland, who came 2nd in the Judo medal tally, are "far and away the best Commonwealth country at Judo"? Scotland won all 6 gold medals? By "all", you clearly mean all except the other 6 that England won.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judo_at_the_2014_Commonwealth_Games#Medal_summary

Not sure why you're having such a bitch. Maybe you're English. How about this compromise so that Australia and Scotland don't have any unnecessary advantage in 2018 (you got that wrong too). No judo and no swimming. Will that make you happier?
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Fair enough. I got the information from The Guardian - http://www.theguardian.com/sport/bl...-glasgow-2014-commonwealth-games-best-moments
I may have misunderstood the use of 'all' in the comment about Judo.

My point still stands. What events are contested at Olympics or Commonwealth Games are the result of history, local preferences, TV preferences. So when people get all excited or worried about 'losing on the Medal Table' it's meaningless. Scotland and England are good at Judo - they get 6 gold medals. We're good at netball - we get one. We're good at swimming, lots of medals - South Africa have the bets rugby players here - one medal.

I remember one Olympics (maybe 1992?) where our media said 'Haven't we improved since 1976 - we've won 9 gold medals'. I think 4 or 5 of those were in events that weren't contested in 1976.
 
Not sure why that article would even mention tennis. Tennis was first included in 2010, something that should have NEVER EVER happened. You only have to look at who won the medals (and who didn't compete: Murray, Hewitt, Stosur, etc) to see that Tennis at the CG was a bad joke that should never be repeated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_at_the_2010_Commonwealth_Games#Medallists

But I agree it's a shame that medal tallies are valued too highly, especially with relation to funding. Is Phelps a better Olympian than Bolt based on number of medals won? Unfortunately Bolt is not able to compete in 100m side-skipping and 100m backwards-running events.

Judo is an OG sport, and has been a CG sport in 1990 and 2002. I would wish that there was a proper process to include or exclude sports from the OG and CG. Sports should not be added then removed then added again. Sports like judo, triathlon, wrestling, mountain biking, either they're in or they're out. Each of those have been in and out of the CG in recent years.
 
Just on the in-and-out sports, still can't believe basketball is the Gold Coast's choice for 2018. A sport that everyone associates with America is at the Comm games ahead of cricket or something actually representative of Britain's influence. Basketball Australia must have lined a few pockets for that one.
 
There are 10 core sports which must be included (hence why Lawn Bowls gets a gig). Then the other 7 sports are up to the Organising Committee and the Commonwealth Games Committee. In those 7 you'll get the odd sport that will drop in and out such as Judo and Basketball, while Rugby 7's and Netball are seen as near as a core sport now.

No major drama if each city/county wants to have a sport they want to get the locals excited over and no doubt pad their Gold tallies.
 
Even though I saw a complaint about it earlier I would recommend the ten play app for those complaining about the coverage on the channel itself (myself included). There were six channels up lastnight when I was watching and it streamed at a decent quality without any dropouts. Watched Aus vs Wales in the hockey on it and was quite happy.
I remember trying the app for the winter olympics and it was hopeless, never worked and it always seemed to play the same thing even if you selected the live channel. All my issues then seem to be fixed now
 
Quick look...http://www.thecgf.com/sports/

There are 10 'compulsory' sports and upto 7 optional.

Optional sports at Glasgow were...Cycling, Gymnastics, Judo, Shooting, Table tennis, Triathlon & Wrestling.

Depending on how much we wanted to win, we could swap some of them for the likes of...Beach Volleyball, Canoeing, Rowing, Sailing & Softball all of which we do pretty well at (at least, better than we do at sports like Gymnastics, Judo & Wrestling).

Of course, sport selection is probably also as much a political thing as it is a "we'll win at this" thing.
 
You'd think they'd do cycling and shooting because we are good at them. Triathlon will there because it will showcase the coast and we usually have decent athletes coming through. Gymnastics always seems like one of those lobbied choices and has a good following. After that ... sailing again because it is a water culture, beach volleyball and they can go their hardest foe the last.
 
Maybe we should select some sports that are played around the world that have NEVER been in an OG or Comm games - give those guys a bit of a reward.

What about the calisthenics/aerobics? Lots of young kids play that.

Why not snooker, billiards or Pool?

What about Darts?

What about Rock Climbing? Rogaining (Orienteering)? World's strongest Man (and Woman)?

I'm dead serious. These are no sillier than synchronized diving or backstroke. They are sports - lots of people do them - why not? They have BMX in the Olympics FFS.
 
The Old Dark Navy's said:
Let's not over complicate this. Pearson has said she was one of his few remaining allies before their first blow up this year. Lewis has fairly smashed him. Forget Athletics Australia political issues, if you believe Hollingsworth is being targeted, then you have to be placing the blame on Pearson in this instance. Do you have more reason to query Pearson than you do Hollingsworth?
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Now that you put it that way, yes I do. All of this seems to have erupted since Pearson has changed her tune. He's supposedly been a massive douche to so many people, but had been allowed to continue because Pearson was ok with him? Pearson seems to have a large amount of power. Someone could've got into her ear about how EH conducts himself, and his presence isn't in the best interests of all Australian athletes. Would Pearson have given a s**t, unless it negatively affected her? You'd never hear lightweight Dave Culbert say "EH is s**t. But only continues his job, because Sally Pearson thinks he's ok. Sally should be more considerate for what best for all Australian athletes". It's much easier to make a villain out of the no name, no one cares about.
 
imadodgyumpire said:
Now that you put it that way, yes I do. All of this seems to have erupted since Pearson has changed her tune. He's supposedly been a massive douche to so many people, but had been allowed to continue because Pearson was ok with him? Pearson seems to have a large amount of power. Someone could've got into her ear about how EH conducts himself, and his presence isn't in the best interests of all Australian athletes. Would Pearson have given a s**t, unless it negatively affected her? You'd never hear lightweight Dave Culbert say "EH is s**t. But only continues his job, because Sally Pearson thinks he's ok. Sally should be more considerate for what best for all Australian athletes". It's much easier to make a villain out of the no name, no one cares about.
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I'm confused on two fronts here. So Pearson has changed her tune after being one of his last remaining allies and this makes her more culpable than him? Maybe he was fine with her, maybe she didn't have the negative exposure that others had. Then he started changing his attitude and she reacted and didn't like him anymore. Are you suggesting that everybody should turn against him at the same time for it to be credible?

I'm also not sure why you suggest he only stayed in the job because of Pearson's power? She can only control her environment and respond to people as she finds them. She hasn't been the leader of the team the whole time. She isn't their counsellor. She isn't obligated to mediate and demand changes based on another athlete's experience. I note that Pearson had enough of the guy back in March but he was under contract so she had no say in his role back then as he stayed on.
 
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