posted Aug 23, 2008

I have often wondered whether our wretched climate can be in any way responsible. Its patently obvious that being black is a great advantage. Just watch the line ups for the 100m and 200m semis and finals. Rarely is there a whitey amongst them.

In athletics, the competitors who do best are from the warmer countries and in so many countries are black.

Our black athletes do us proud but then they have our dreary climate to contend with

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posted Aug 23, 2008

Frustrating is probably a good word to describe our performances in T and F but it was no means a disaster..we do seem, however, to lack some real depth in some of our events. London 2012 is key and there I would like to see improvement but we've no divine right to do well. In fact, 9th is alright and with regard to the European countries not bad at all (only behind Russia to be expected and Belarus) where did Italy finish? 14th France? 30th Germany? 38th and Spain weren't in the top 42...yes we want and need to do better but looking at the stats above, we look well-placed to move on in 2012

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posted Aug 23, 2008

I don't consider any of the four medallists (Ohurughu, Idowu - he lost to the world champion, for pity's sake! - Danvers, and the long jump bloke) to be under-achievers. The rest of them either could have done a lot better or are too young to really tell yet like Martyn Rooney. It was definitely disappointing, but not as disappointing as it might have been.

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posted Aug 23, 2008

When Greg Rutherford, Lisa Dobriesky, Martin Rooney look back, they'll never be a better opportunity to get olympic gold or silver in those events. So who cares if they are 21, 22 etc. The times ran, distances achieved etc were easily obtainable for them. They blew it.

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posted Aug 24, 2008

Why does athletics have a mindset that makes it only be succesful against European countries.The Olympics includes the rest of the world.
Its a totally negative and unwanted attitude-just check Brailsford and the cyclists!
He and they most definitely do not think like that!!

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posted Aug 24, 2008

Sweden

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posted Aug 24, 2008

"When Greg Rutherford, Lisa Dobriesky, Martin Rooney look back, they'll never be a better opportunity to get olympic gold or silver in those events. So who cares if they are 21, 22 etc. The times ran, distances achieved etc were easily obtainable for them. They blew it."

I absolutely agree - it's not like the medals weren't achieveable this time.

What I couldn't understand was how flippant Lisa Dobriskey came across after her final - "never mind, there's always London, I've gained lots of experience" ad nauseum.

Sorry, Lisa - Beijing was JUST as important as London and a medal was yours for the taking after the top Russian contenders pulled out.

She'll probably never get as good a chance again as she'll have to work harder next time to win.

When are our athletes going to realise that every Olympic chance is their last chance? I felt for Phillips Idowu because he obviously realised that for him this may be true, and cheered for Tasha Danvers because she also realised it and rose to the occasion as a result. The flippant "never mind" attitude, however, is irritating in the extreme.

If Greg Rutherford had jumped the same length as in the UK trials, he would have got bronze!

I don't want to wish ill of anyone but what if injury derails the careers of Rutherford, Dobriskey, Rooney, Baddeley et al - just as it did to Jon Ridgeon and David Grindley - in the run-up to 2012? What if others surpass them in the next four years, to the point that they end up not making the team?

If they'd medalled in Beijing they could at least have had the satisfaction of looking back and knowing that they'd grabbed their chance when it was there.

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posted Aug 24, 2008

Colin Jackson has got involved with athletes (Tim Benjamin and Rhys Williams) both who got injured and went back to their old coaches - so I'd rather he stayed commentating thanks! Steve Cram has offered Baddeley advice on tactics - but he chose to ignore them, and paid the price. Lisa also needs to be taught tactics!

As for the 400m, Andrew Steele ran under 45s for the first time - a great achievement, but needs to be consistent there

As for Laura Turner and Christian Malcolm - why on earth would you get Turner on the 4x4? She is a mediocre 100m/200m runner at best, with no experience of 400m. Are you confusing her with Emily Freeman (who may well be very good over 400m in a few years time). Malcolm is too old to be considering moving up a distance. He's getting back to his best, so should stick with the 200m. I can see the logic of him running a leg of the 4x400m, but then the three legs he could possibly have run (2-4) were all 44-mid or better - and as he was very unlikely to run better than that, I think the best 4 guys were on the team

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posted Aug 25, 2008

Yes, I confused Laura Turner with Emily Freeman sorry.

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posted Aug 25, 2008

tonytorra - Freeman is definitely a possibility for the 400m for the future, but tbh I doubt she would have run a sub-51 leg in Beijing. The best bet would probably have been Tasha Danvers for Maz Okoro

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