The Olympic Thread

[jd2010]

That's not the reason surely.

Has to do with amateur nature the olympics used to have too I think

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

They have the World Cup already and that's the only thing that can rival and beat the Olympics for interest and money. World Cups or World Championships in other Olympic sports are events not everyone really cares about.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

They have the World Cup already and that's the only thing that can rival and beat the Olympics for interest and money. World Cups or World Championships in other Olympic sports are events not everyone really cares about.

Athletics may be the exception to that

 

[Jatz]

Michael Phelps is an absolute freak.

Just picked up gold number 20. 20 gold medals.

And he's not done yet.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

How old is he? Seems like he has been around forever. Genuine freak but, a fish in the pool.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Yesterday on the ABC Grandstand coverage Gerard Whately said if Phelps was a county on his own he would still be ranked 19th or something ahead of countries like Brazil on medals won. We are watching history at these games and when him and Bolt are gone there will be a massive hole.

 

[Jatz]

How old is he? Seems like he has been around forever. Genuine freak but, a fish in the pool.

31.

Only the 2nd ever swimmer over 30 to win a gold medal in an individual event. The other guy was 30 years, 5 days old when he won his.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Just looked. He has won more Gold Medals than Argentina and Austria have won as countries over the history of the games.

 

[jd2010]

Yesterday on the ABC Grandstand coverage Gerard Whately said if Phelps was a county on his own he would still be ranked 19th or something ahead of countries like Brazil on medals won. We are watching history at these games and when him and Bolt are gone there will be a massive hole.

Really? How far up the list are Australia then? We normally get 12-15 per games. Would have thought Brazil would get 6-10 per games

 

[Jatz]

Make that 21 gold medals...

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

I was think it was Argentina and not Brazil but it won't be long. Phelps now has 21.

 

[jd2010]

Mammoth effort by Hungary in the water. Hopefully it's all above board

 

[Fryer Tuck]

Darn, 21 gold, that's fantastic, although it also shows that if one dominates swimming, then one can get a lot of gold easily. After all, that's where most of ours came from.

 

[jod23]

Half of those are relay golds though aswell. America have little competition in relays. The odd country here or there can have one outstanding swimmer like Hosszu or Kitajima or Sjostrom etc but getting 4 swimmers to be good enough to win a relay is almost impossible for small countries.

Even we cant get them in relays and we are a traditional swimming country but a country of just 23 million compared to 350 million.

So the relays add hugely to his tally.

Even without those he is still a freak though.

 

[jod23]

Has to do with amateur nature the olympics used to have too I think

And I understand that but now professionals are competing. The Dream Team knocked that door down in 1992. So not sure why footballers cant compete.

Isnt it he only competition at the games that has an age requirement. It's weird.

If you're gonna let LeBron James compete then surely Messi should be allowed to.

 

[BluesMan]

Basketball as u23 would be pretty good. But I guess their world champs isn't as big a deal as the World Cup is. So the gold still means a lot for their sport

Not really, it'd still be basically the same rankings, and no one getting close to the US

 

[jod23]

Not really, it'd still be basically the same rankings, and no one getting close to the US

Yep, looking at some guys that are U23. Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony-Towns, Mudiay, D'Angelo Russell, Devin Booker, Elfrid Payton, Jabari Parker, Nerlens Noel, Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Beal, Drummond...

Plus you'd take almost all the best players away from the other countries and you'd be left with bare bones. Im not sure anyone is U23 in the Boomers squad, Spain lose the Gasol brothers, Rubio etc France lose Gobert, Parker, Diaw, Brazil lose Barbosa, Nene....

It would be a whitewash.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

Mammoth effort by Hungary in the water. Hopefully it's all above board

Sort of come from nowhere hasn't it. Landlocked country too - should be shit swimmers

 

[jod23]

Shame for that 20 year old aussie blokes ranked number one in the world in his shooting division but finishes 5th. Couldnt even medal.

 

[jod23]

Also shame for the Aussie bloke in the men time trial. Was looking good for a medal and probably would have gotten Bronze but his bike handles snapped and he had to stop and change bikes. Finished 5th about 6 or 7 seconds from the bronze medal but the change of bikes mid race probably cost him 10-12 seconds.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

Aussies hanging with the US in the men's basketball. Surely not...

 

[Magma]

get your aussie cliche book ready fellas. what an effort.

 

[Gosha]

get your aussie cliche book ready fellas. what an effort.

So brave

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Sort of come from nowhere hasn't it. Landlocked country too - should be shit swimmers

A big **** off river in the Danube though.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Smashed at the boards in the second half. Patty Mills' radar was off in the final quarter too. Will hopefully get another crack.

'Golden Generation' is the term that will no doubt be bandied about too.

EDIT-Bogut on ABC radio interview isn't giving it gave it our best and other clichés. Sounds pissed off they lost and didn't want to sugar coat it. Good.