Official Paris Olympics 2024 thread

[laurent]

Personally I think overall number of medalists is a great metric for Olympic success, obviously only counting team sports winners once.

The more people going home with a shiny thing around their neck, the merrier. I would prioritise that over who won the most events.

Yeah France team sport general focus is not paying up.

[TedMaul]

Well we also learned that Snoop Dog is shit at swimming
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/vi ... ynv97qg5ro

[Sandstorm]

GB with 14 gold, 22 silver, 29 bronze, provoking a slight ‘hmmm’ from some people. But ask them to compare that to Atlanta 92 (1-8-6). A large number of young medalists in there as well who’ll be back in LA.

One of only three countries to take 60+ in four consecutive Olympics.

Budget cuts across UK might affect Team GB next time.

[Slick]

Found it hard to get into these Olympics with the curtailed coverage that the BBC had. One of the best bits about it is getting into sports you only see every 4 years but there was very limited chances and the scheduling was pretty haphazard.

Not necessarily blaming the BBC who dealt with what they got but disappointing all the same

[Biffer]

Found it hard to get into these Olympics with the curtailed coverage that the BBC had. One of the best bits about it is getting into sports you only see every 4 years but there was very limited chances and the scheduling was pretty haphazard.

Not necessarily blaming the BBC who dealt with what they got but disappointing all the same

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

[Guy Smiley]

Found it hard to get into these Olympics with the curtailed coverage that the BBC had. One of the best bits about it is getting into sports you only see every 4 years but there was very limited chances and the scheduling was pretty haphazard.

Not necessarily blaming the BBC who dealt with what they got but disappointing all the same

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

I feel for you.

Deeply.

Try living in the opposite timezone.

[Enzedder]

Found it hard to get into these Olympics with the curtailed coverage that the BBC had. One of the best bits about it is getting into sports you only see every 4 years but there was very limited chances and the scheduling was pretty haphazard.

Not necessarily blaming the BBC who dealt with what they got but disappointing all the same

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

I feel for you.

Deeply.

Try living in the opposite timezone.

It was good when I was waking at silly o'clock. I could get in 6 hours of live Olympics before breakfast.

[Enzedder]

Aaaaand... for the most important stat of the games:

we woz pipped

Paris Olympics gold medals per capita
1. Dominica
Gold medals: 1. Population per gold medal: 67,408.

2. Saint Lucia
Gold medals: 1. Population per gold medal: 184,100.

3. New Zealand
Gold medals: 10. Population per gold medal: 533,890.

4. Bahrain
Gold medals: 2. Population per gold medal: 850,787.

5. Slovenia
Gold medals: 2. Population per gold medal: 1,061,974.

[Slick]

Found it hard to get into these Olympics with the curtailed coverage that the BBC had. One of the best bits about it is getting into sports you only see every 4 years but there was very limited chances and the scheduling was pretty haphazard.

Not necessarily blaming the BBC who dealt with what they got but disappointing all the same

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

Yeah, get that. Still, more money for an already minted organisation.

[Slick]

Found it hard to get into these Olympics with the curtailed coverage that the BBC had. One of the best bits about it is getting into sports you only see every 4 years but there was very limited chances and the scheduling was pretty haphazard.

Not necessarily blaming the BBC who dealt with what they got but disappointing all the same

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

I feel for you.

Deeply.

Try living in the opposite timezone.

We will, for the Lions tour, Rugby WC and next Olympics!

[S/Lt_Phillips]

And as expected, the Dutch guy in the office is being a smug prick this morning. Team NL did have a great games, and I'd like to be pleased for them, but this guys is just so unlikeable (all the time, to be clear, not just when he's got something to crow about). He's an orange Deepsouth, basically.

60+ medals is a pretty good return for team GB, but I think there'll be a few searching questions about the reduction in golds. Cycling & sailing are well down on where they've historically been, and they are among the sports that get the most funding.

[S/Lt_Phillips]

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

I feel for you.

Deeply.

Try living in the opposite timezone.

We will, for the Lions tour, Rugby WC and next Olympics!

Tokyo and Beijing weren't great for that either

[Guy Smiley]

And as expected, the Dutch guy in the office is being a smug prick this morning. Team NL did have a great games, and I'd like to be pleased for them, but this guys is just so unlikeable (all the time, to be clear, not just when he's got something to crow about). He's an orange Deepsouth, basically.

Shit, a Marmalade Raygun.

[Big D]

GB with 14 gold, 22 silver, 29 bronze, provoking a slight ‘hmmm’ from some people. But ask them to compare that to Atlanta 92 (1-8-6). A large number of young medalists in there as well who’ll be back in LA.

One of only three countries to take 60+ in four consecutive Olympics.

Budget cuts across UK might affect Team GB next time.

Team GB is regressing to where the natural spot will be. London saw a massive boost to investment etc and Rio and Tokyo had the benefit from that. I think between 40 and 60 is probably where it will settle out.

Losing genuine stars; the likes of Hoy, then the Kenny's and effectively Peaty who isn't the phenom he was will take a toll on gold medal tallies. There is no Marchand or Levreyson who can pick up 2+ golds. Finucane has that potential but isn't there yet. Katie Archibald might have had a decent shot at a couple of golds but her injury 6 weeks before the comp really hurt the cycling team.

I have mixed views on how to gauge this Olympics. Yes the lack of golds was disappointing but many of the performances were actually very good within that. Sometimes other people are just simply better.

I have seen a lot of criticism of the GB cycling team but Levreyson is a phenom on the track, the NZ gold winning sprinter made history, and Evenopoel is incredible on the road.

I saw one walloper criticise Matt Hudson Smith for slowing down. He ran the 5th fastest time ever over the distance FFS.

[Biffer]

And as expected, the Dutch guy in the office is being a smug prick this morning. Team NL did have a great games, and I'd like to be pleased for them, but this guys is just so unlikeable (all the time, to be clear, not just when he's got something to crow about). He's an orange Deepsouth, basically.

60+ medals is a pretty good return for team GB, but I think there'll be a few searching questions about the reduction in golds. Cycling & sailing are well down on where they've historically been, and they are among the sports that get the most funding.

Ask him if he thinks they’ll get to their 100th gold medal before the UK gets it’s 300th

[inactionman]

Remind him of the headbutt.

If he's forgotten it; demonstrate it to him.

[Big D]

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

I feel for you.

Deeply.

Try living in the opposite timezone.

We will, for the Lions tour, Rugby WC and next Olympics!

Next two Olympics. 2032 is in Melbourne. Some of the 2036 bid cities aren't great for time zones either.

[Sandstorm]

Try living in the opposite timezone.

Brisbane 2032
LA 2028
Paris 2024
Tokyo 2020
Rio 2016
London 2012

It balances out for everyone over time.

[TedMaul]

The Aussie HW boxer was quite something, he could definitely cause a stir in the pro ranks (if he can avoid that little turd DSouth trying to suck him off)

[Biffer]

I think Megan Keith is set up to be an amazing story when she storms home in four years time. Injury in the run up, hasn't been able to run competitively much over the last twelve months, comes home a couple of minutes behind everyone else (although third European) with Eilish McColgan waiting for her, tears, etc, cheered home by the entire stadium. It's the kind of story sport brings you, despair to triumph.

https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/eilish-megan/

[salanya]

And as expected, the Dutch guy in the office is being a smug prick this morning. Team NL did have a great games, and I'd like to be pleased for them, but this guys is just so unlikeable (all the time, to be clear, not just when he's got something to crow about). He's an orange Deepsouth, basically.

60+ medals is a pretty good return for team GB, but I think there'll be a few searching questions about the reduction in golds. Cycling & sailing are well down on where they've historically been, and they are among the sports that get the most funding.

Ask him if he thinks they’ll get to their 100th gold medal before the UK gets it’s 300th

Miaow - get those claws out.

I'm very proud of the Dutch team, punching above our weight in terms of population, and great to see us involved in so many sports. Orange does brighten things up

But this medal competition between countries is a bit pathetic, and some turn quite nasty around it.
In the Olympic spirit we should just enjoy the sports and appreciate all athletes. We saw some subhuman achievements this Olympics, whether that was Mondo, Lavreysen, Toby the British climber or Leon Marchand.
And the Turkish shooter with his silver is already a legend!

[Sandstorm]

subhuman achievements

I think you mean superhuman

[salanya]

subhuman achievements

I think you mean superhuman

I did, but I'm enjoying the typo

[Torquemada 1420]

Worst coverage of an Olympics I can recall.
- Far too much time in studio or extracting "value" from competition side pundits.
- Chopping up events. Most notably too me in the 7s where we missed whole games but also in rowing where we often only got to see the last stretch.
- Too much fringe crap. Just because a GB competitor is in an event, doesn't mean we want to see it to the exclusion of something more important.

[Sandstorm]

- Too much fringe crap. Just because a GB competitor is in an event, doesn't mean we want to see it to the exclusion of something more important.

I suspect that Discovery bought all the good stuff and the BBC were left with the scraps like skateboarding, wall climbing and break-fucking-dancing!

The BBC interviewed a tired-looking Katarina Johnson-Thompson for 30 minutes over her breakfast on Saturday, while the final of the men's volleyball was going on and it was a cracker of a final! (I found it on Eurosport)

[Big D]

- Too much fringe crap. Just because a GB competitor is in an event, doesn't mean we want to see it to the exclusion of something more important.

I suspect that Discovery bought all the good stuff and the BBC were left with the scraps like skateboarding, wall climbing and break-fucking-dancing!

The BBC interviewed a tired-looking Katarina Johnson-Thompson for 30 minutes over her breakfast on Saturday, while the final of the men's volleyball was going on and it was a cracker of a final! (I found it on Eurosport)

BBC put up articles, presenters tweeted on X, and mentioned on radio (not sure about TV) that there were limits to the number of hours that they could show and number of sports they could show at the same time on TV.

It is entirely understandable that the national broadcaster would show GB competitors.

Discovery+ had the full rights and was excellent but it is a shame the full Olympic offering is on a subscription service. I quite enjoyed it.

[Biffer]

- Too much fringe crap. Just because a GB competitor is in an event, doesn't mean we want to see it to the exclusion of something more important.

I suspect that Discovery bought all the good stuff and the BBC were left with the scraps like skateboarding, wall climbing and break-fucking-dancing!

The BBC interviewed a tired-looking Katarina Johnson-Thompson for 30 minutes over her breakfast on Saturday, while the final of the men's volleyball was going on and it was a cracker of a final! (I found it on Eurosport)

BBC put up articles, presenters tweeted on X, and mentioned on radio (not sure about TV) that there were limits to the number of hours that they could show and number of sports they could show at the same time on TV.

It is entirely understandable that the national broadcaster would show GB competitors.

Discovery+ had the full rights and was excellent but it is a shame the full Olympic offering is on a subscription service. I quite enjoyed it.

I would have thought about getting eurosport for the month, but but I knew I was going to be away for a week with work. Love having the full multistream available, like the BBC did in London.

[Big D]

I suspect that Discovery bought all the good stuff and the BBC were left with the scraps like skateboarding, wall climbing and break-fucking-dancing!

The BBC interviewed a tired-looking Katarina Johnson-Thompson for 30 minutes over her breakfast on Saturday, while the final of the men's volleyball was going on and it was a cracker of a final! (I found it on Eurosport)

BBC put up articles, presenters tweeted on X, and mentioned on radio (not sure about TV) that there were limits to the number of hours that they could show and number of sports they could show at the same time on TV.

It is entirely understandable that the national broadcaster would show GB competitors.

Discovery+ had the full rights and was excellent but it is a shame the full Olympic offering is on a subscription service. I quite enjoyed it.

I would have thought about getting eurosport for the month, but but I knew I was going to be away for a week with work. Love having the full multistream available, like the BBC did in London.

The app also highlighted when "gold medal moments" were coming up so you could switch for the start of a race etc. I get it "free" with my phone including BT Sport but think it was £3.99 for D+. Good value really.

[Biffer]

[Biffer]

Honestly hadn't out it together that the basketball player held by the Russians for ten months won a gold medal on Sunday

https://sports.yahoo.com/brittney-grine ... 05316.html

[Sandstorm]

Someone said something nice about someone else. The world is going to end, people!!!

[Blackmac]

Personally I think overall number of medalists is a great metric for Olympic success, obviously only counting team sports winners once.

The more people going home with a shiny thing around their neck, the merrier. I would prioritise that over who won the most events.

Yeah France team sport general focus is not paying up.

I must admit I would love to see GB competing at the sharp end of the team events like France.

[Blackmac]

Honestly hadn't out it together that the basketball player held by the Russians for ten months won a gold medal on Sunday

https://sports.yahoo.com/brittney-grine ... 05316.html

She barely contributed. I don't think she even got a minute in the final. Lots of controversy that the US took the old guard on the basis that the youngsters tearing up the league were too inexperienced.

[Biffer]

Personally I think overall number of medalists is a great metric for Olympic success, obviously only counting team sports winners once.

The more people going home with a shiny thing around their neck, the merrier. I would prioritise that over who won the most events.

Yeah France team sport general focus is not paying up.

I must admit I would love to see GB competing at the sharp end of the team events like France.

Well, we ain't doing the football, we've fucked all our rugby sevens in a massively misguided attempt to focus on this, we don't really do basketball or handball or volleyball. But the team cycling and equestrian and triathlon do well although that's not what you meant I reckon.

Wait for the cricket in four years.

[weegie01]

Quite a good article about the Team GB medal tally.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... r-AA1oFnJe

[Biffer]

Quite a good article about the Team GB medal tally.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... r-AA1oFnJe

Except the link wants me to install a Microsoft app to read it.

[Blackmac]

How exactly can the yanks introduce Flag football. Does any other country in the world play it or even know what it is.

[weegie01]

Quite a good article about the Team GB medal tally.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... r-AA1oFnJe

Except the link wants me to install a Microsoft app to read it.

PARIS — Was the Paris Olympics a success for Team GB?

That is the £250m question that every athlete, sports administrator, coach and physio will play some part in answering over the next weeks and months.

It will start with the medals table, the only really objective measure of these things, but even that comes with caveats: it is sorted by gold medals, unless you are in the USA, where they conveniently choose number of medals to suit their own strengths, but officially, silvers and bronzes are merely tie-breakers. Champions are all that count.

That is why, on the face of it, these Games have not been great for Britain. Their tally of 14 gold medals is less than they achieved in Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, London and Beijing. It puts them seventh in the medal table, beaten by France, Japan, the Netherlands and Australia. China and US at the top are virtually untouchable but finishing behind the other four smarts.

But looking at it another way, they have beaten the overall medal tally from Tokyo (by one) and equalled the number won in London, which was a post-war high-water mark that included 29 golds.

Team GB won 65 medals across 18 sports, a breadth few other countries can boast. There are 131 athletes coming home with silverware, 40 per cent of those who went out, and Britain won a medal on every single day of the Games, a feat they have never achieved before.

Team GB were given two targets by the funding body UK Sport: first to achieve a minimum of 50 medals and then to finish top-five in the medals table.

They achieved the first by day 12 but the second fell through their fingers in the second week.

Where did it go wrong?

Some of it can be explained away, and UK Sport chief Katherine Grainger, a former rower, did her best to do so. France are the home country, she pointed out, Japan are still enjoying an uptick three years on from the same, and Australia are due to host in eight years’ time (although exactly how much difference that makes anyone’s guess). There were situational challenges too.

“A lot of Olympians coming here had only ever experienced Tokyo before that,” Grainger said. “It’s a very different experience having the crowds back.”

The general consensus though is the return of crowds, and the proximity to London, has largely benefitted British athletes, many of whom have competed at the Games in front of friends and family for the very first time.

Then there were a few accidents of fate. Katie Archibald, one of the best track cyclists in the world, tripped over in the garden a month before the Games and broke her ankle. Adam Peaty had Covid. Kate French pulled out of the modern pentathlon the morning of the event with a gastric issue. All were heavily fancied to win gold.

Of course there were close run things too: Amber Rutter might have won shooting gold but for the sport’s lack of video review; runners Matthew Hudson-Smith and Josh Kerr both missed out by milliseconds, swimmers Duncan Scott and Matt Richards by even less.

And what about the Dutch? Everywhere there was a Team GB medal hope, there also seemed to be an orange jersey lurking to take advantage of any slip-up. Femke Bol twice streaked past a British relay team on the final lap of the track, the Dutch four denied Helen Glover a piece of history by two tenths of a second and the Netherlands even outperformed Britain’s sailors, who remain the all-time leaders in terms of medals at sea.

But where it really hit Britain hardest was at the velodrome, where the balance of power has clearly swung way from them. For three Olympic cycles – 2008, 2012 and 2016 – GB had a significant technological advantage. It was like starting 10 metres ahead, as Ed Clancy told i before the Games. That appears to have evaporated and if anything, Britain has gone backwards on the track.

Team GB won just one gold medal in the velodrome, and seven minor medals, while in the men’s events the Dutch won three golds in the sprints and Australia won the team pursuit for the first time in two decades. Short or long, Britain has been overtaken in track cycling and while it still produced eight medals for them, the colours were not as they hoped.

Essentially, in GB’s traditional areas of strength – even in rowing, one of their success stories from the Games – they have found their closest rivals in the medal table also to be their closest rivals in competition, and more often their conquerors.

Does it really matter?

Yes and no. The goals set by UK Sport are designed to ensure the British taxpayer is getting enough bang for their buck, so when Team GB fails to achieve them, that suggests they are not getting a good deal from the £245m spent on sports funding. But often the story behind a bronze or a silver medal can be just as compelling as a gold, and the difference that medal can make back home is sometimes no lesser for the colour of it.

“[Athletes] have an impact when they go back home and into their communities to all parts of the country,” Grainger said.

“They have ongoing impact as well, and that is recognised, and the value of sport is enhanced the longer it goes on and the impact it has.

“So when the Government is looking to invest, part of the work we have to do is say ‘It’s actually really good value for money, what you get from sport is quite extraordinary and different from anything else’.”

The “Changemakers” programme will start that process, with the likes of Emily Campbell and Max Whitlock all returning to their roots to work with young children even this week, hoping to inspire another generation of Olympians.

What next for Team GB?

Team GB’s official response is full of the usual corporate platitudes about “celebrating achievements” before “learning lessons”.

“What we see is we normally see about a 30 per cent conversion of the medals into gold, and we haven’t seen that here,” Grainger said.

British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Anson said: “As UK Sport, the national governing bodies, ourselves, we’ve got to sit back and get home and just say, ’Was there something? Is it sport by sport? Individual issues? Was something more systematic?’

“Let’s look across the whole scenario, but in a controlled way, when we’ve all calmed down.”

There is no question that the goal for Los Angeles in four years’ time will be to post an improved share of medals, however much the team are keen to celebrate the wins in Paris.

The wheels are already in motion for 2028 too. The operations team will be out in California next month looking for more parts of the “performance footprint” and Team GB have already signed a deal with Stanford University to use that as their base.

“We wanted to be the first out there,” Anson, who used to work at Manchester United, said.

“We’ve got the best university facility, certainly on the west coast of America, but maybe in the whole of America, it’s incredible. It could have hosted an Olympic Games on its own.

“We’ve also got similar facilities for the sport that are based down on the Long Beach on the water, so rowing, marathon swimming, that kind of thing.”

In the longer term, UK Sport is keen to use the wide-ranging success of the 2024 Olympic Games to win more funding from the new Labour Government.

“No one starts off as a high-performance athlete. We need investment into local facilities,” Grainger said.

“We need to make sure that the opportunities are there for anyone, and not just for the potential to then come to the very top level and be part of these amazing teams, but for anyone who wants sport in their life.”

At the elite level though, revenge is on their minds.

“I can’t wait for LA because I think it’s going to become even bigger,” Anson said.

“Bring on LA because we’re going to get back at the Aussies and get back up that medal table.”

[Jethro]

Found it hard to get into these Olympics with the curtailed coverage that the BBC had. One of the best bits about it is getting into sports you only see every 4 years but there was very limited chances and the scheduling was pretty haphazard.

Not necessarily blaming the BBC who dealt with what they got but disappointing all the same

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

And the sudden experts on sports hardly anyone has heard of

Well done NZ Olympic team btw.

[Slick]

Found it hard to get into these Olympics with the curtailed coverage that the BBC had. One of the best bits about it is getting into sports you only see every 4 years but there was very limited chances and the scheduling was pretty haphazard.

Not necessarily blaming the BBC who dealt with what they got but disappointing all the same

Yeah, Olympics organisation sold it all to Eurosport so BBC is now restricted to two live streams.

And the sudden experts on sports hardly anyone has heard of

Well done NZ Olympic team btw.

That’s the fun of it though. One of the best experiences I’ve ever had was being in a pub when the GB women’s curling team won a gold at the Winter Olympics a few years back, absolute mayhem