Page 1 of 8 12345678 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 188
  1. #1
    RIP
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    16,939

    Thumbs up Rio Olympics 2016

    Anybody else getting excited about this event?

    Looking forward to Team GB's success in the cycling events..

    Great Britain is sending “the best prepared and arguably strongest team” in the country’s Olympic Games history to Rio, according to the British Athletics’ performance director, Neil Black. The bold claim came after an 80-strong track and field squad, including Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford and Jo Pavey, was announced.

    There are no major surprises,with Pavey arguably the standout name, given the 42-year-old mother of two is set to become the first British track athlete to compete at five Olympics. A combination of illness and injury looked to have wrecked the 10,000m runner’s hopes of travelling to Brazil but recent improvements in form, culminating in her producing a time of 31min 34.61sec at the European Championships in Amsterdam last week – inside the Olympic qualifying standard – sealed her place.

    With selectors having given Pavey the nod over her younger rival for the 10,000m spot, Kate Avery, Black lauded the veteran as proof there are “no limitations” when it comes to running at a later stage in life. “Jo shows that you can have a family and still be involved at the highest level,” he said. “She also shows that it’s possible to keep on running purely for health and fitness. That’s a message her selection should send to everyone.”

    Team GB won six athletics medals at London 2012, four golds, one silver and one bronze, and all the athletes responsible for that haul – Farah, Ennis-Hill, Rutherford, Christine Ohuruogu and Robbie Grabarz are included in the squad. It is their presence allied to that of exciting prospects such as Chris Baker, Elliot Giles, Dina Asher-Smith and Jazmin Sawyers, that is fuelling Black’s belief that Britain will shine once the athletics commence at Rio’s Olympic Stadium on 12 August.

    “I’m very excited by this group of athletes and what I think they can achieve in Rio. There’s a real blend of experience and exciting new talent,” Black said. “All the previous global medallists are on target to perform at their best at the Games, or we understand what is needed for them to be on target, and then there is a group of athletes who have been more competitive this year than in the past. And then there are the relay teams – we feel more and more confident that they are genuine medal contenders.

    “You could see in Amsterdam that there is still work to do but we truly feel we have put together a team capable of winning a large number of medals.”

    UK Sport will announce on Thursday how many medals it expects Team GB as a whole to win in Rio, with the target expected to between 47 and 79, an increase from the 40 to 70 target that was set before London 2012, when Britain went on to win 65 medals – 29 golds, 17 silver and 19 bronze. British Athletics has refused to outline how many medals it is targeting in Rio but Black feels sure, at the very least, the six secured on home soil four years ago can be matched. “The Olympics is the pinnacle of sport, so it will be tough but we’re going to compete and we expect to win medals,” he said.

    “We don’t talk about our target but we expect to make a strong contribution to Team GB’s overall target. We certainly don’t expect to do worse than in London.”

    Among those expected to challenge for a medal is Ennis-Hill, who along with Farah and Rutherford won gold on “Super Saturday” four summers ago and has gone on to also secure gold at last year’s world championships in Beijing.

    “Everything’s coming together now and I’m feeling good,” she said. “Training over the past few weeks has been going really well and there’s still some time left before Rio to put some work in as well.

    “London was an incredible experience and the two journeys to London and Rio have been completely different. If I was able to defend my title in Rio it will certainly be one of my greatest achievements.”

    Black has described some of the squad selections as “tough decisions”, most notably picking Ohuruogu over Anyika Onuora for the final individual 400m spot. The latter beat the former to a bronze medal at the European Championships and overall has been performing better in 2016. The selectors decided Ohuruogu’s pedigree counted for more. “Christine was really anxious and it was brilliant to see a global multi-medallist being so delighted at being selected,” Black said.

    Many of Britain’s athletes will go to a holding camp in Belo Horizonte and one issue management may have to deal with during the team’s stay in Brazil is the long-standing tension between Farah and his fellow 10,000m runner Andy Vernon. Black is adamant there will be no problems between the pair.

    “They’re fine,” he said. “They’ve put their challenges behind them and have been a pleasure to work with over the past year or so. Both guys are focusing on Rio, focusing on competing and I don’t envisage any problems.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...m-olympics-rio


  2. #2
    splendid and tremendous
    somtamslap's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Last Online
    27-11-2023 @ 11:59 PM
    Location
    Down on the farm
    Posts
    13,805
    Quote Originally Posted by Chittychangchang
    Looking forward to Team GB's success in the cycling events
    We're currently kicking arse (not ass) in the Tour de France. Mont Ventoux on the morrow and a time trial on Friday should put Chris Froome in an unassailable position.

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat
    Humbert's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Last Online
    08-01-2024 @ 01:10 AM
    Location
    Bangkok
    Posts
    12,572
    It's hard to drum up much enthusiasm for this living in Thailand because there is practically no TV coverage unless it's a weight lifting event with a Thai female participant.

  4. #4
    RIP
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    16,939
    Or ping pong

  5. #5
    RIP
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    16,939
    Quote Originally Posted by somtamslap View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chittychangchang
    Looking forward to Team GB's success in the cycling events
    We're currently kicking arse (not ass) in the Tour de France. Mont Ventoux on the morrow and a time trial on Friday should put Chris Froome in an unassailable position.
    Watched some of the tour the other night and Froome and his team look very strong.

  6. #6
    Member

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Last Online
    31-07-2017 @ 06:12 AM
    Posts
    376
    Don't forget an Aussie won a stage in the TDF...

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Last Online
    25-03-2021 @ 08:47 AM
    Posts
    36,437
    Track and field is where it's at...

  8. #8
    RIP
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    16,939
    The tour needs to sort out crowd control.
    Froome could have been injured today, thankfully he got awarded his lost time back and keeps the yellow jersey.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat
    reddog's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Last Online
    Today @ 03:18 PM
    Posts
    1,424
    ^
    Same thoughts here,the are some real dills wanting their 10 seconds of fame.
    The coppers should have a truck with rubber outriggers in front of the riders so they can bitch slap the dickheads,would be great to watch also.
    Was watching it last night and was hoping Fromme was not penalized,good to see common sense prevailed,now back to the olympics.

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat VocalNeal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Last Online
    Today @ 10:05 AM
    Location
    The Kingdom of Lanna
    Posts
    12,993
    Quote Originally Posted by Humbert
    It's hard to drum up much enthusiasm
    Not really

    Last edited by VocalNeal; 15-07-2016 at 04:38 PM.

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat
    Takeovers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Last Online
    Today @ 05:48 PM
    Location
    Berlin Germany
    Posts
    7,058
    That tour story reminds me of something that happened several decades ago. In the final race Great Britain against Germany for gold in a cycling team event the british were declared winner. But they rejected the gold medal and declared they had clearly lost the race when a referee stepped into the way of the german team and brought them down. Then the panel reconsidered and Gold was awarded to the german team. Silver to the british team.
    "don't attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence"

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Last Online
    25-03-2021 @ 08:47 AM
    Posts
    36,437
    ^ Great stuff...Hadn't heard that one...

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat VocalNeal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Last Online
    Today @ 10:05 AM
    Location
    The Kingdom of Lanna
    Posts
    12,993


    Its a hockey joke!

  14. #14
    RIP
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    16,939
    Russia state-sponsored doping across majority of Olympic sports, claims report..

    Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme for four years across the "vast majority" of summer and winter Olympic sports, claims a new report.

    It was "planned and operated" from late 2011 - including the build-up to London 2012 - and continued through the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics until August 2015.

    An investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) says Russia's sports ministry "directed, controlled and oversaw" manipulation of urine samples provided by its athletes.

    It says Russian athletes benefited from what the report called the "Disappearing Positive Methodology", whereby positive doping samples would go missing.

    International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach described the commission's findings as a "shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games" and pledged to enforce the "toughest sanctions available" against those implicated.

    The IOC will decide on Tuesday about any "provisional measures and sanctions" for the Rio Olympics, which start on 5 August.

    A mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government that goes right to the field of play.

    The commission, led by Canadian law professor and sports lawyer Dr Richard McLaren, looked into allegations made by the former head of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory.

    Grigory Rodchenkov claimed he doped dozens of athletes before the 2014 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sochi, Russia.

    Rodchenkov - described by the Kremlin as a "scandalous" former official - also alleged he had been helped by the Russian secret service, the FSB.

    He claimed they had worked out how to open and reseal supposedly tamper-proof bottles that were used for storing urine samples so the contents could be replaced with "clean" urine.

    McLaren sent a random amount of stored samples from "protected Russian athletes" at Sochi 2014 to an anti-doping laboratory in London to see if they had scratch marks around the necks of the bottles that would indicate they had been manipulated.

    McLaren said "100% of the bottles had been scratched" but added that would "not have been visible to the untrained eye".

    He said he had "unwavering confidence" in all of his findings.

    Russia state-sponsored doping across majority of Olympic sports, claims report - BBC Sport

    The damning report does not make any recommendations, but will fuel calls for a complete ban on Russia from the 2016 Summer Olympics.

    Wada has recommended the IOC "decline entries, for Rio 2016, of all athletes" submitted by the Russian Olympic Committee and the Russian Paralympic Committee. Russian government officials should also be banned from this summer's Games, it said.

    Wada president Sir Craig Reedie called the "scope and scale" of the findings a "real horror story", adding he was "encouraged" the "correct decision" would be take by the IOC.

    "I'm not sure that the system is broken," Reedie told BBC Radio 5 live. "But if you are determined to cheat, you can get round the system. We can't sit back on the situation; we have to work with Russian officials to change the culture in that country."

    How did Russia react?

    President Vladimir Putin made the Sochi Games a showcase event and spent more than $50bn (£37.7bn) staging them.

    On Monday, Putin said officials named in the McLaren report would be suspended, pending a thorough investigation.

    But a statement released by the Kremlin criticised the report as "accusations against Russian athletes" based on the the testimony of "a person with a scandalous reputation".

    It also warned of a "dangerous recurrence of interference of politics in sport".

    Putin has asked Wada to provide "more complete, objective, evidence-based information" to Russian investigators.

    Analysis

    BBC Radio 5 live sports news correspondent Richard Conway:

    "It's a lot worse than people were expecting. I've read through some of the report and 580 positive tests were covered up across 30 different sports. We are into the world of James Bond-style espionage."

    The claims

    Russia decided to cheat following the "very abysmal" medal count of 15 at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
    It began making positive drug tests disappear from its anti-doping laboratories in late 2011
    Before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia created a storage bank of clean, frozen urine
    Russia's security service, the FSB, worked in a building next to the Sochi laboratory, swapping positive urine samples for clean negative ones through a "mouse hole", adding table salt to make them weigh the same
    A key FSB agent had access to the Sochi anti-doping laboratory, disguised as a sewage and plumbing contractor
    But, in swapping urine samples, the FSB agents left miniscule tool marks on the bottles - later found by McLaren's investigators using a microscope
    The Moscow laboratory destroyed 8,000 samples it held dated prior to 10 September 2014
    Reaction

    United States Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart:

    "The McLaren Report has concluded, beyond a reasonable doubt, a mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government that goes right to the field of play… and most importantly, our hearts go out to athletes from all over the world who were robbed of their Olympic dreams."

    British Olympic 400m silver medallist Roger Black on BBC Radio 5 live:

    "It's about as bad as it could possibly be. I'm not naive, I know certain people will take drugs, but I've always said this is a minority of people. The problem now, when you're looking at a Russian athlete, is you won't be thinking that."

    Britain's marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe on BBC Radio 5 live:

    "I think that a level of institutionalised doping, of institutionalised cheating and fraud to sport, which has done such damage to every sport globally has to be punished strongly.

    "Unfortunately there will be some innocent athletes from Russia that will suffer from that ban, but because of the scale of it, and because of the fact we don't know who is clean in Russia, because it's so bad there and we don't know who we can trust, then I think it has to be that strong."

    British European 10,000m champion Jo Pavey on BBC Radio 5 live:

    "It's just awful. You feel sorry for any clean athletes in Russia who have put their hearts and souls into qualifying for the Olympics. At the same time, so many are in this system that a strong message needs to be sent out."

    Lord Coe, president of the IAAF, athletics' world governing body:

    "The institutionalised and systematic doping in Russian athletics is the reason the IAAF suspended, and then upheld the suspension of, Russia Athletics Federation's membership and consequently the exclusion of their athletes from international competition."

    UK Anti-Doping chief executive Nicole Sapstead:

    "Now is the time for the entire sporting community to come together to find a way forward and ensure the right processes, legislation and safeguards are in place to protect the rights of all athletes to clean, fair and honest competition."

    International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven:

    "We are truly shocked, appalled and deeply saddened at the extent of the state-sponsored doping programme implemented in Russia ahead of Sochi 2014. The findings of the McLaren Report mark a very dark day for sport.

    "After an initial review of the report, we note the 35 "disappearing" positive samples from Paralympic sport between 2012 and 2015 and have sent a letter to Wada and the report's author Richard McLaren seeking further information on these samples."

    UK sports minister Tracey Crouch:

    "Professor McLaren's report has exposed the extreme lengths some will go to in order to cheat. This shocking report is a wake-up call to the sporting world."

    Bill Sweeney, British Olympic Association chief, and Ben Hawes, chair of the BOA Athletes' Commission (joint statement):

    "This report realises the worst fears of clean athletes everywhere."

    Gary Anderson, coach of the British bobsleigh team, told BBC Radio 4's PM:

    "At Sochi, we were beaten to a medal by two Russian sleds. The revelations are greater than we anticipated so there's a lot more questions to be asked."


  15. #15
    Thailand Expat
    reddog's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Last Online
    Today @ 03:18 PM
    Posts
    1,424
    The OZ current affairs tv show,4 CORNERS on the ABC had a program last night about this.
    Not only looked at the Russian doping but where athletes could buy dope from and the cost ,worth paying $50000 if you win because you get it back in sponsorship backing.
    Some countries like Jamacia just did not do urine testing for 5 years.
    Interviewed some Russian athletes who moved abroad for their own safety after they spilled the beans on state sponsored doping and ways to fool the testing.
    There was suspicion that some cheats from different countries had enough drugs to
    permanently alter their bodies performance so they did not have to use dope any more
    so were testing clean.

  16. #16
    Thailand Expat
    bobo746's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Last Online
    24-01-2019 @ 09:21 AM
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    14,320
    These games will be a shit fight.

    New Zealand Olympian Jason Lee ‘kidnapped by police’ in Rio de Janeiro

    A NEW ZEALAND athlete says he was kidnapped and forced to withdraw cash from ATMs by men dressed in police uniforms in Rio de Janeiro.

    Jiu-Jitsu athlete Jason Lee took to social media to confirm the news.
    “What did you guys get up to yesterday? I got kidnapped. Go Olympics! #Rio2016,” he tweeted.
    In a more detailed post on his Facebook page, Lee claims the men threatened to apprehend him if he did not meet his demands for “a large sum of money.
    “I’m not sure what’s more depressing, the fact this stuff is happening to foreigners so close to the Olympic Games or the fact that Brazilians have to live in a society that enables this absolute bullshit on a daily basis,” he wrote.


    Jason Lee kidnapped in Rio: New Zealand athlete

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat
    bobo746's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Last Online
    24-01-2019 @ 09:21 AM
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    14,320
    Rio Olympics 2016: Athletes' village 'unliveable', Kitty Chiller reveals 'stress test' failure

    The troubled Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games have arrived at their first major crisis, less than two weeks before the opening ceremony.
    The Australian Olympic Committee confirmed on Sunday evening that the athletes' village has been deemed uninhabitable in the short term due to significant plumbing and electrical concerns.
    It is unclear if and when competitors will be able to move in, with the International Olympic Committee is set to undertake "stress tests" to deal with serious issues with plumbing and fire safety.
    AOC chef de mission Kitty Chiller confirmed late on Sunday night (AEST) that Australian athletes would not be moving into the village, having hoped to do so on Sunday.


    Rio Olympics 2016: Athletes' village 'unliveable', Kitty Chiller reveals 'stress test' failure

  18. #18
    Thailand Expat
    bobo746's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Last Online
    24-01-2019 @ 09:21 AM
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    14,320
    Rio 2016: Swimming & rowing ban 10 Russians from Rio after IOC report

    Seven Russian swimmers and three rowers have been banned from competing at the Rio Olympic Games by their sports' governing bodies.
    Swimming's Fina and rowing's Fisa took action after the International Olympic Committee let sports federations decide if athletes should miss the Games.
    That was in response to a report on state-sponsored doping in Russia.
    Anti-doping groups had called for a blanket ban on Russian athletes for next month's Rio Games.
    Last week's McLaren Report - commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency - said figures in Russia's ministry of sport and its secret service were complicit in covering up doping across the "vast majority" of summer and winter Olympic sports.
    Sunday's emergency meeting of the IOC opted to let governing bodies for Olympic sports decide if they should ban athletes from Rio - though it did say any Russian athlete previously sanctioned for doping should not go to Brazil.
    That led Fina to take action against seven swimmers, and it will re-test all the samples collected from Russian competitors at last year's World Championships in Kazan.
    London 2012 bronze medallist Yulia Efimova, Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Natalia Lovtcova and Anastasia Krapivina - all of whom have previously been sanctioned for banned substances - were withdrawn by the Russian Olympic Committee.


    Rio 2016: Swimming & rowing ban 10 Russians from Rio after IOC report - BBC Sport

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat AntRobertson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    41,562
    The IOC decision was a cop-out on a massive scale, pack of useless fockers.

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat
    bobo746's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Last Online
    24-01-2019 @ 09:21 AM
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    14,320
    ^ Should have banned the whole team.

  21. #21
    Member
    TheDukeofNewcastle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Last Online
    22-10-2016 @ 01:42 PM
    Posts
    554
    The Athens Olympics had similar structural issues. They were resolved with the help of the IOC to save their flagship event.
    London had serious security concerns resolved by bringing in service personnel late on.
    The IOC will sort most structural issues to save face, but security would be a prime concern for me. They should have a handle on it after the world cup, but domestic and global threats are much higher now.
    Doping has been kicked into the long grass for too long. Needs greater rigour to protect honest athletes.

  22. #22
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    96,565
    Quote Originally Posted by Humbert View Post
    It's hard to drum up much enthusiasm for this living in Thailand because there is practically no TV coverage unless it's a weight lifting event with a Thai female participant.
    Hard to drum up any enthusiasm when they're all a bunch of fucking cheats.

    I'll have more fun counting Zika infections.

  23. #23
    Thailand Expat
    reddog's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Last Online
    Today @ 03:18 PM
    Posts
    1,424
    Breaking news...
    The IOC President Herr Thomas Bach has been awarded the first Rio gold medal for
    lack of spine and debasement of principles.
    Blatter must of been his coach.

  24. #24
    Thailand Expat
    bobo746's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Last Online
    24-01-2019 @ 09:21 AM
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    14,320
    Tall, tan, young, thugly - boy from Ipanema uses handbag to mug Nine cameraman

    It appears the state of the Olympic Village is not the only thing Australians need to worry about when it comes to the 2016 Olympics, after a suspected crossdresser tried to mug a Channel Nine cameraman soon after he landed in Rio.
    The cameraman and a Channel Nine journalist landed in Rio last Thursday night and were on their way to film a piece to camera on Copacabana beach when the attempted mugging occurred.
    A suspected crossdresser tried to steal the cameraman's equipment, which was hidden in a bag.
    When a security guard accompanying the Channel Nine team intervened, he was struck on the head with a handbag, containing a "heavy" object.
    Channel Nine reporter Christine Ahern said it all happened "really fast".
    "One went straight for my cameraman trying to get the camera," she said.
    "Our security guard intervened straight away.
    "He got hit on the head with a handbag which obviously had something heavy like a brick in it. He is ex-British special forces, so he is totally fine."
    Ahern says security quickly escorted herself and the cameraman into a hotel lobby.
    They were later able to finish the piece to camera in front of the Olympic Rings.



    Tall, tan, young, thugly - boy from Ipanema uses handbag to mug Nine cameraman

  25. #25
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Last Online
    25-03-2021 @ 08:47 AM
    Posts
    36,437
    Quote Originally Posted by bobo746
    He is ex-British special forces, so he is totally fine.
    Back to Pattaya for him...

Page 1 of 8 12345678 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •