Let's go Australia, Olympics thread

[adelaidecrows]

I agree - I used to love it - but its really a race to the bottom these days - and who has the best 'sports scientists' - can't help but wonder who has taken what when you're watching a medal ceremony - so I won't bother either.

That argument can be made for any sport can't it? Why follow any sport at all. AFL is proven that it can't have the moral high ground on this issue. EPL, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB all have their major drug problems. Professional sport will always have its cheats because the lure of fame and fortune is too great.

 

[adelaidecrows]

I couldn't be less excited. Years gone by, I watched every moment I could.. and taped others. I loved the Opening and Closing ceremonies, religiously watched the swimming and diving and as many track events as I could. Then I woke up to the reality that it's best pharmacist against best pharmacist. Completely turned me off. It used to be about athlete v athlete, or at least in my mind it was. Just can't get enthused any more.

Thats not true. More money in professional sport, thats where the pharmacists are more likely to be. Olympic athletes pretty much make nothing and even have to pay their own way. Drugs don't come cheap. I think you are being very naive and very unfair to 99% of the athletes who are clean. Olympic athletes not only have rigorous testing done before, during and after the olympics they also have to have blood taken and stored so future testing technology can test them as well. When has this resulted in medals taken away? (other then the russian athletes). So either these chemists as you claim are decades in front or WADA simply has no idea. I am backing WADA on this one over a blackmarket chemist. It might take 2 years to weed out the drug cheats from this olympics but they will get caught. If they drug tested the AFL players like Olympians I think we would be shocked. So why follow any sport?

 

[jaytex]

Watching the walking race is mesmerising, those people just about displace their hips with every step.

And that time that Aussie chick - Jane someone I think - was about to win gold but then got red carded at the last turn for walking wrong... apparently that's a thing... so devo!

 

[GreyCrow]

Watching the walking race is mesmerising, those people just about displace their hips with every step.

And that time that Aussie chick - Jane someone I think - was about to win gold but then got red carded at the last turn for walking wrong... apparently that's a thing... so devo!

Jane Savill.

In fairness , from memory , she was so far ahead she could have pushed a pram at a slow pace and still won.

 

[Tex200]

That argument can be made for any sport can't it? Why follow any sport at all. AFL is proven that it can't have the moral high ground on this issue. EPL, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB all have their major drug problems. Professional sport will always have its cheats because the lure of fame and fortune is too great.

That's very true. If we're going to become self righteous sports fans, then we need to apply it across the board and stop watching sport altogether.

The thing that has driven me away from the Olympics a bit is the plethora of sports now included. And they really lost me adding golf and tennis.


No doubt that when the whips are cracking in the traditional sports eg swimming and athletics I will be sneaking a peek

 

[jenny61_99]

Thats not true. More money in professional sport, thats where the pharmacists are more likely to be. Olympic athletes pretty much make nothing and even have to pay their own way. Drugs don't come cheap. I think you are being very naive and very unfair to 99% of the athletes who are clean. Olympic athletes not only have rigorous testing done before, during and after the olympics they also have to have blood taken and stored so future testing technology can test them as well. When has this resulted in medals taken away? (other then the russian athletes). So either these chemists as you claim are decades in front or WADA simply has no idea. I am backing WADA on this one over a blackmarket chemist. It might take 2 years to weed out the drug cheats from this olympics but they will get caught. If they drug tested the AFL players like Olympians I think we would be shocked. So why follow any sport?

You are calling ME naive? May I point you to the Russian team? The chemists ARE in front of WADA. They are using off label and experimental drugs (see Essendon). I would hazard a guess that of the blue ribbon events, you won't find many clean athletes (please see Ben Johnson, Karl Lewis, Jacky Joyner Kersey, Asafa Powell, et al. Cycling, weightlifting, boxing, swimming, track... all events that have multiple athletes banned from PED use. I agree - they will eventually catch them, but they are constantly playing catch up. The games we see will not be clean, no matter how much you wish.

 

[Tex200]

You are calling ME naive? May I point you to the Russian team? The chemists ARE in front of WADA. They are using off label and experimental drugs (see Essendon). I would hazard a guess that of the blue ribbon events, you won't find many clean athletes (please see Ben Johnson, Karl Lewis, Jacky Joyner Kersey, Asafa Powell, et al. Cycling, weightlifting, boxing, swimming, track... all events that have multiple athletes banned from PED use. I agree - they will eventually catch them, but they are constantly playing catch up. The games we see will not be clean, no matter how much you wish.

But you continue to watch AFL?

 

[GreyCrow]

The games we see will not be clean, no matter how much you wish.

I am as jaded as you. But I never expect the Games to be clean. I just expect them to be competed. I also think they are bloated.

I will watch them for the Eric the Eel stories. For the little person to triumph over the drug culture. I will watch them for the Darryl Eastlake moments. I will watch them , because for 2 weeks my country will be on the world map. And that warms the insignificant self esteem cockles in my heart

 

[jenny61_99]

That argument can be made for any sport can't it? Why follow any sport at all. AFL is proven that it can't have the moral high ground on this issue. EPL, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB all have their major drug problems. Professional sport will always have its cheats because the lure of fame and fortune is too great.

I don't follow the NBA NFL, EPL, NHL or MLB (used to follow Hockey and Baseball but both are rife with PEDS). My love for AFL has certainly lessened since the Essendon saga broke.

Amateur sport is just as competitive - with possibility of endorsements and sponsorship for gold medalists. Don't underestimate the lure.

 

[jenny61_99]

But you continue to watch AFL?

Prior to the Essendon saga, I watched probably 4 or 5 matches every weekend. We used to go down to Melbourne for both Preliminary Finals and Grand Final week every year - haven't done that since 2013. Now, I watch my team and that's just about it. I'm angry at the AFL machine that tried so hard to cover the doping up. I'm angry that AFL endorsed press haven't asked the right questions of the right people - they are complicit in the cover-up. I'm angry that ANYONE would risk the long term health and safety of players in the quest for a piece of bloody silver. If I found out our boys were systematically doping... I'd be gone.

 

[Pdub]

I'm looking forward to finding out if the dancing hurdles girl can actually do the hurdles part, apparently she runs on the 17th

 

[jaytex]

Jane Savill.

In fairness , from memory , she was so far ahead she could have pushed a pram at a slow pace and still won.

I know, right!
That's the bit that got to me the most, I remember yelling at the TV cursing that she could have slow danced her way over the line if she'd wanted

 

[hey shorty]

The Matildas get underway tomorrow morning, IMO they are a HUGE chance at a medal.

 

[fabs33]

Watching the walking race is mesmerising, those people just about displace their hips with every step.

And that time that Aussie chick - Jane someone I think - was about to win gold but then got red carded at the last turn for walking wrong... apparently that's a thing... so devo!

If you have both feet in the air at the same time then you're considered to be running, and I think you don't get knocked out of the competition unless you get caught doing this above a certain number of times. In her case she probably got caught up in the excitement as she approached the entrance of the stadium and lost her concentration causing her to go over the limit, rather sad really when you consider the years of work put into preparing for the event only to see your dreams crushed just when they were coming true.

 

[adelaidecrows]

If you have both feet in the air at the same time then you're considered to be running, and I think you don't get knocked out of the competition unless you get caught doing this above a certain number of times. In her case she probably got caught up in the excitement as she approached the entrance of the stadium and lost her concentration causing her to go over the limit, rather sad really when you consider the years of work put into preparing for the event only to see your dreams crushed just when they were coming true.

It is one of the few Olympic sports were you can get disqualified by just one person who may or may not have seen what they saw correctly. I know there is no other way. Replays don't catch the steps at the point of controversy so their is no way to dispute it either. Apparently the judge who showed her the disqualification card wasn't the one who ruled either. It was from another point in the course.

 

[little graham]

Which country will have the first Drug Positive?

I nominate Greece.

Technically if someone tested positive in qualifying events, like national titles. Then theres already been, plenty.Most likely a greek.

 

[little graham]

If I found out our boys were systematically doping... I'd be gone.

Cycling is notorious for systematic doping. Always has been. If i knew of a sports scientist involved in a successful cycling team, during dopings hey day, I'd look at what other sports they took their science to.

I've always read that in dopings hey dey, winning in cycling was not something achieved very often by someone clean.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Cycling is notorious for systematic doping. Always has been. If i knew of a sports scientist involved in a successful cycling team, during dopings hey day, I'd look at what other sports they took their science to.

I've always read that in dopings hey dey, winning in cycling was not something achieved very often by someone clean.

I would be staggered if anyone was clean in cycling for 40 years leading up to the mid to late 2000s.

 

[hey shorty]

Matildaa lost their opener vs Canada after conceeding the fastest goal in Olympic history AND after Canada were down to 10 for most of the game.

Maybe the girls believed their hype, will need to win every game to progress now.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Matildaa lost their opener vs Canada after conceeding the fastest goal in Olympic history AND after Canada were down to 10 for most of the game.

Maybe the girls believed their hype, will need to win every game to progress now.

Very sloppy defence. It's staggering how both players weren't marked just 15 seconds into the game. Did the defence just blindly go for a run. They need the media to put the blow torch on them really. That was bad.

 

[jenny61_99]

Cycling is notorious for systematic doping. Always has been. If i knew of a sports scientist involved in a successful cycling team, during dopings hey day, I'd look at what other sports they took their science to.

I've always read that in dopings hey dey, winning in cycling was not something achieved very often by someone clean.

Im assuming you are making reference to Neil Craig, yeah? He was definitely cutting edge, but I believe (perhaps naively) that he did so above board. I understand we used colostrum (a natural product) during 97 and 98. It was not, and is not, a banned substance, however WADA (who didn't exist back then) do now issue a warning that it could raise IGF-1 levels in the body (IGF-1 IS banned).

 

[adelaidecrows]

Just 24 hours to go......

Although I am not really a fan of the opening ceremony but Saturday night after the footy should be some fantastic tv

 

[GreyCrow]

Going to have to stagger my sleep times now.

Gotta love holidays

 

[hey shorty]

Im working arvos, 3-11. No sleep for me.

 

[Tadpole]

Just 24 hours to go......

Although I am not really a fan of the opening ceremony but Saturday night after the footy should be some fantastic tv

I'm not much into the ceremonies either, but I can't wait for the sports themselves to get underway. Thankfully, as a casual, I've been left off the roster at work entirely for the next couple of weeks because of a slowdown in sales; so I could be in for a few sleepless sports-filled nights.