Aussies Best & Worst of the Olympics/Likes & Dislikes

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Demosthenes said:
To be fair it wasn't just a running event. I gather that keeping one's heart rate slow is fairly critical. Certainly, no amount of extra speed could have made up for the shooting misses by the Polish girl this morning.

Of course they are not going to be as good as specialist middle distance runners, but then the decathletes aren't very good 100m sprinters either. I don't think that necessarily makes them bad athletes - certainly, in track and field circles, decathletes are generally highly respected for their prowess.
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They're actually pretty good 100m sprinters, it's the 1500 and the throwing events that they're usually s**t at (well, s**t compared to the world class guys).

But IRT modern pentathlon, if it was that bloody easy why isn't everyone doing it and winning gold medals? I can tell you i'd take a gold medal in that in a heartbeat.

And I can't believe buzz from brazil hasn't made it into the worst list. Deadset most horrible piece of cringeworthy television in history. Especially when Roy & HG are rotting away on radio.
 
Highlights:
1. The performance by Chloe Esposito to win the Modern Pentathlon from the position she was in at the start of the final event. Starting 45 sec behind the leader and catching her on the last shooting stop and then powering away to win comfortably. She came from the clouds and won easily. If you haven't watched the final event do yourself a favour and find a replay, it's worth the time to do so.
2. The performance by the Boomers up until the Semi Final. To think we were only 5 points down with less than 30 sec to go against the USA and were leading by 5 points at half time on top of smashing France, Lithuania and Serbia (the first time). Was an extremely good achievement.
3. Kyle Chamers winning the 100 metres freestyle coming from 7th at the turn.

Lowlights:
Multiple chokes across many sports but main ones being the Opals, hockey teams, quite a few swimmers and finally, despite mentioning them above in the highlights, the performance by the Boomers in their Semi Final against Serbia. Quite possibly the worst performance by an Australian basketball team, scoring only 14 points in the first half which is probably an Olympic record low for points scored. They choked at the worst possibly time shooting something like 4 out 31 from 3 point range. It was embarrassing and that's taking nothing away from Serbia who played very well, particularly on defence.
 

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serial_thrilla said:
The modern pentathlon victory for Australia should be considered the greatest highlight. None of the exposure or funding that swimming, rowing, cycling or team sports gets, but an incredible come from behind gold nonetheless.
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The pentathlon performance was amazing, but I think that's coming from an Australian fan perspective. As has been mentioned, the difficulty of being good enough in five very different disciplines rules out most of the competition, thus the pool of challengers is quite small. I rate Keiran Perkins '96 Atlanta swim above the others primarily due to the mental challenge that needed to be overcome. When I speak of exposure, I'm not speaking in a funding sense, but in the amount of fame/recognition Perkins had, which no doubt increased the pressure on him immensely. The very fact that he had been so good in the past and achieved so much, created a huge burden to carry on his shoulders. In addition to that, he was out of form and only just scarped through the heats to make the final in last spot (lane 8). He had no right being in that final, let alone winning it and smashing his competition in the process.
 
How about the argument that we should all be proud of our olympians regardless of their success? For me, there is two main viewpoints that one can hold.

Viewpoint A:
All of the athletes work tirelessly for years and years to have the opportunity to compete in their chosen event once every four years. All of their training and dedication is focussed into one brief chance at producing their best performance at the right moment, thus a failure to do so is punishment enough for them personally without having to endure criticsm from the armchair fans and the media who don't have to sacrifice anything in comparison.

Viewpoint B:
All of the athletes are funded by the taxpayer, thus are obliged to deliver the outcome expected of them. In effect they are working for the people and when they don't produce they need to be held accountable. Carrying on about how many hardships they faced and how much they've sacrificed in the lead up is of no interest to the taxpayer. They need to win, or face the consequences.

For mine, it's arguable whether we should be funding athletes anyway, even if it does produce gold medals. Is the cost really worth the reward? That aside, I understand that the disappointment an athlete feels when they underachieve far outweighs our disappointment as fans, but I'm not interested in hearing that argument being raised as a justification for wasting taxpayer funds. Ultimately, the media is largely to blame for this mentality as they consistently build up the Aussies as world beaters prior to their events, then shirk responsibility when they fail to live up to those unrealistic expectations. As for the athletes, as long as they can produce somewhere near the PB when it matters, that's all I can ask.
 
I did like the fact 7s digital channels meant you didn't have to just watch wall to wall swimming which essentially is how australian media cover the Games.

Second week is what its all about. Bolts history making runs and the 400m WR in the mens were the highlights. Both womens and mens pole vault were great viewing supported by great commentary too.

Honourable mention also to Matildas v Brazil football quarter final. That was tense , memorable and emotional stuff
 
year of the cat said:
A C-grade athlete competing against other C-grade athletes. It was embarrassing watching the replay of that last event and seeing how poor they were as runners. Shouldn't be an event at the games.
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Yep sure. They are crap just like Ashton Eaton in the Decathlon. I've run a faster 1500 meters than he has so he's clearly C-grade too.

Seriously you have no idea. I don't really know about Modern Pentathlon training but she probably trades off her running endurance fitness to benefit her other disciplines.

Suggest you try running 4 x 800m intervals and in the 40sec recovery between repeats, thread a bit of cotton through the eye of a needle and see how you go.
 
Sydney Kicker said:
Yep sure. They are crap just like Ashton Eaton in the Decathlon. I've run a faster 1500 meters than he has so he's clearly C-grade too.

Seriously you have no idea. I don't really know about Modern Pentathlon training but she probably trades off her running endurance fitness to benefit her other disciplines.

Suggest you try running 4 x 800m intervals and in the 40sec recovery between repeats, thread a bit of cotton through the eye of a needle and see how you go.
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Never compared them to Decathletes. Big difference in the numbers and quality of those that participate.

Congrats on mentioning your own achievements though in the post.
 
year of the cat said:
Never compared them to Decathletes. Big difference in the numbers and quality of those that participate.

Congrats on mentioning your own achievements though in the post.
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Decathlon isn't exactly an easy sport/discipline to get into either. Nor does it have massive numbers of competitors. But yes the top end quality is better. Eaton is so good he would be a shot to win the long jump and 100 meters outright at the Australian titles in those competitions so I'm certainly not having a dig at him.

However that is no excuse for your original post suggesting Modern Pentathletes are C class athletes. I'd rate her a much superior athlete to many Australian competitors in other olympic sports - for example I reckon our 7's team that won gold aren't in the same class as athletes (except Caslick and maybe 1 or 2 others). Ditto our Hockey girls who are also amongst the best in the world in their discipline. Being an athlete is not just about running 3k.
 

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Sydney Kicker said:
Decathlon isn't exactly an easy sport/discipline to get into either. Nor does it have massive numbers of competitors. But yes the top end quality is better. Eaton is so good he would be a shot to win the long jump and 100 meters outright at the Australian titles in those competitions so I'm certainly not having a dig at him.

However that is no excuse for your original post suggesting Modern Pentathletes are C class athletes. I'd rate her a much superior athlete to many Australian competitors in other olympic sports - for example I reckon our 7's team that won gold aren't in the same class as athletes (except Caslick and maybe 1 or 2 others). Ditto our Hockey girls who are also amongst the best in the world in their discipline. Being an athlete is not just about running 3k.
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Fair enough. I get your point and its a fair one. I just don't agree with it :)
 
Highlights

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I didnt enjoy these olympics as much as others i have to say found it hard to follow with coverage/app/timeslot

Enjoyed bolt, phelps and the walk from the aussie

Chalmers swim


Disliked

They over the top hype of our swim team
 
Highlights

-Phelps and Bolt performing at their last games. Been a pleasure.
-Unexpected peromances overall, Kazistan in the pool winning
- Kyle Chalmers winning the 100m freestyle

Lowlights

- Awful swim team in general
- Diving, as boring as ever with the Chinese just getting every medal basically.
- Golf, never again please.
- Basil....well let's just say he's woeful!
-Kitty Chiller, go home and retire please we were better before you were appointed
 
Highlights are Ellia Green's biceps, Kyle Charmers 100m freestyle, Chloe Esposito modern pentathlon, Patty Mills draining three's with a sick hair cut and the Aussie athletes getting in trouble for partying.
 
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