Olympinonsense

[french frank]

The Americans could have a point, but its not a particularly good one.

The Wall Street Journal has also kindly pointed out that TGB came 'top' of the 'medals of shame' list - those who came in the bottom three places most times.

Also not 'statistically significant' - "because they are the host of the Olympics, Great Britain gets automatic bids into every event, regardless of whether the team is any good. " - so the unique position of GB as host accounts here for its unique position at the bottom of the table. No fair comparison.

A gold, silver and bronze for the Americans/WSJ if they can come up with a third reason for downgrading TGB's performance!

[Lateralthinking1]

The Wall Street Journal has also kindly pointed out that TGB came 'top' of the 'medals of shame' list - those who came in the bottom three places most times.

Also not 'statistically significant' - "because they are the host of the Olympics, Great Britain gets automatic bids into every event, regardless of whether the team is any good. " - so the unique position of GB as host accounts here for its unique position at the bottom of the table. No fair comparison.

A gold, silver and bronze for the Americans/WSJ if they can come up with a third reason for downgrading TGB's performance!

How did Team GB do among those, say, with more than five medals in total, in respect of gold medals as a percentage of medals won? Pretty well I would think.

This suggests to me that at the very top - gold, silver and bronze - we have shown an ability to maximise achievement where there are very small margins.

Home advantage, luck, a penchant for grabbing any exceptional individual of mixed background and calling him or her British...........there are many possible reasons.

Any American table that took golds out of the equation and focussed purely on silver and bronze, a sort of indication of strength in depth rather than strength as an ultimate, would place us in a less flattering position.

[JohnSkelton]

Apparently there was a technical error which involved a "failure of compliance' with IOC competition pre-race, event etc. conditions. Something to do with the delay between announcing an event and it beginning, announcing a race and the start.

So they're going to have to do it all over again. Maybe Team GB will get even more medals this time around?

[Northender]

How one misses the Good Old Days, when GB would simply have declared itself Top Dog and dispatched a gunboat to deal with any country that dared to differ.

[Richard Tarleton]

a penchant for grabbing any exceptional individual of mixed background and call him or her British....

Lat surely rather a lot of the US team, or any of the West Indian team, or just about any team, are of mixed background. I don't think this is a peculiarly British trait...Admittedly we do take it a bit far sometimes

[Richard Tarleton]

Anyway Baroness Sue Campbell was on the radio this morning indicating (I paraphrase) that sports at which we were rubbish, i.e. not likely to "medal", are likely to find their funding withdrawn. This was to the chagrin of the head of UK Volleyball (I think he was) who came on just after. It's a case of throw good money after bad, or just chop 'em down.

[Lateralthinking1]

Lat surely rather a lot of the US team, or any of the West Indian team, or just about any team, are of mixed background. I don't think this is a peculiarly British trait...Admittedly we do take it a bit far sometimes

Hah! A great example, Richard Tarleton. There's nothing new in life.

You might be right about the Americans. Not sure but - Laura Robson; Australian rowing coaches etc - I'm sensing it is a Commonwealth thing.

[Northender]

I'm sure Sue Campbell has been doing a wonderful job for UK sportspersons, but I would have loved the opportunity to interfere in her interview on today's 'Today' when she was explaining how difficult it is to anticipate which Olympic sports are 'going to medal' and which aren't. Less annoying, perhaps, was the young Scottish footballer who spoke of the talented squad of players that the national coach had at his dispersal.

[scottycelt]

How did Team GB do among those, say, with more than five medals in total, in respect of gold medals as a percentage of medals won? Pretty well I would think.

This suggests to me that at the very top - gold, silver and bronze - we have shown an ability to maximise achievement where there are very small margins.

Home advantage, luck, a penchant for grabbing any exceptional individual of mixed background and call him or her British...........there are many possible reasons.

Any American table that took golds out of the equation and focussed purely on silver and bronze, a sort of indication of strength in depth rather than strength as an ultimate, would place us in a less flattering position.

That's a very 'British' way of looking at things, I feel.

'We' won so many gold medals it cannot possibly be that 'we' were better than the others, it must be down to luck, home advantage, any other reason 'we' can possibly imagine.

Don't other countries have athletes of mixed race and isn't winning gold more a sign of higher 'strength' (however temporary and fleeting) than gaining silver or bronze? The UK is now second/third/fourth generation multicultural and can no longer be viewed solely from an old 'indigenous' perspective. Indeed, judging by interviews, the athletes of comparatively recent immigrant stock often appear to be even more excitedly proud to represent their country than some of the others!

TGB won so many golds (remember 'we' started the ball rolling four years ago in Beijing) that it can only be down to fine athletes and the very finest training which of course means loadsamoney.

Take a bow 'loadsamoney' and the National Lottery!

[Lateralthinking1]

That's a very 'British' way of looking at things, I feel.

'We' won so many gold medals it cannot possibly be that 'we' were better than the others, it must be down to luck, home advantage, any other reason 'we' can possibly imagine.

Don't other countries have athletes of mixed race and isn't winning gold more a sign of higher 'strength' (however temporary and fleeting) than gaining silver or bronze? The UK is now second/third/fourth generation multicultural and can no longer be viewed solely from an old 'indigenous' perspective. Indeed, judging by interviews, the athletes of comparatively recent immigrant stock often appear to be even more excitedly proud to represent their country than some of the others!

TGB won so many golds (remember 'we' started the ball rolling four years ago in Beijing) that it can only be down to fine athletes and the very finest training which of course means loadsamoney.

Take a bow 'loadsamoney' and the National Lottery!

But I'm not referring to, say, second and third generations of British Jamaicans.

I'm talking about people like "our" silver medallist Laura Robson who was born in 1994 in Melbourne, Australia to Australian parents Andrew, an oil executive with Royal Dutch Shell, and Kathy Robson, a sports coach and former professional basketball player, arriving in Britain in 2000 after several years in Singapore.

Plus coaches who have systematically been poached from Australia and might as well be described as visitors.

As for Mo Farah, he is British although born in Mogadishu. His father was born in Hounslow. But if you are asking me to subscribe to the view that the best runners in certain categories are not generally of East African descent, just because of a label, I can't. It might suit Coe for various reasons. In truth, as a trend, people of East African descent have superior talent in that regard.

[Anna]

I'm talking about people like "our" silver medallist Laura Robson who was born in 1994 in Melbourne, Australia to Australian parents Andrew, an oil executive with Royal Dutch Shell, and Kathy Robson, a sports coach and former professional basketball player, arriving in Britain in 2000 after several years in Singapore.

Plus coaches who have systematically been poached from Australia and might as well be described as visitors.

As to Laura Robson, she and her family moved from Melbourne to Singapore when she was eighteen months old, and then to the UK when she was six. Hence she qualifies having held British residency for 5 years (do her parents also have British residency - I don't know) Therefore she is as British as Mo Farah who arrived in the UK aged 8. When he was asked if he wouldn't prefer to run for Somalia he replied No, because this is my country now.

As to foreign coaches, does it matter where they come from? Farah trains in US now with Salazar who originally told him he was OK but he ran like a girl and has now trained him not to do so! We have in our family dual nationalities, Sweden and Australia, either of those youngsters could elect to run/swim/jump for either country, it's their choice.

[Lateralthinking1]

As to Laura Robson, she and her family moved from Melbourne to Singapore when she was eighteen months old, and then to the UK when she was six. Hence she qualifies having held British residency for 5 years (do her parents also have British residency - I don't know) Therefore she is as British as Mo Farah who arrived in the UK aged 8. When he was asked if he wouldn't prefer to run for Somalia he replied No, because this is my country now.

As to foreign coaches, does it matter where they come from? Farah trains in US now with Salazar who originally told him he was OK but he ran like a girl and has now trained him not to do so! We have in our family dual nationalities, Sweden and Australia, either of those youngsters could elect to run/swim/jump for either country, it's their choice.

So, Anna, if politicians were on the ball, a large number of excellent sports people would have been collected from across the globe last year and positioned in Edinburgh or Elmers End to enable us to do even better in Rio in 2016.

It probably happened!

[french frank]

So they're going to have to do it all over again.

Oh, crikey! And it looks as if we've had the best of the summer weather!

[Anna]

So, Anna, if politicians were on the ball, a large number of excellent sports people would have been collected from across the globe last year and positioned in Edinburgh or Elmers End to enable us to do even better in Rio in 2016.

It probably happened!

Lat, to clarify my position. If someone has been brought up in this country, their adopted country, then I don't think anyone has a problem with them being British. My problem has been with certain "imported" athletes such as (can't remember her name) the triple jumper who has competed for Cuba and somewhere else (sorry to be so vague!) who merely changed nationality in order to compete and Olga Wossername, the *wrestler, although she was brought over to train the GB wrestling team and has lived here for 5 years. Both of them might as well not have bothered as they were useless. *Actually, it might be judo!!

[Lateralthinking1]

Lat, to clarify my position. If someone has been brought up in this country, their adopted country, then I don't think anyone has a problem with them being British. My problem has been with certain "imported" athletes such as (can't remember her name) the triple jumper who has competed for Cuba and somewhere else (sorry to be so vague!) who merely changed nationality in order to compete and Olga Wossername, the *wrestler, although she was brought over to train the GB wrestling team and has lived here for 5 years. Both of them might as well not have bothered as they were useless. *Actually, it might be judo!!

Yes, I respect that, Anna, and am not trying to be overly difficult. But what distinction should we agree on then?

That if they were 11 in 2007, a Team GB place in 2012 was fine, if they were 16 in 2007 it wasn't fine? And then what if they were 15 in 2007 and brought up for one year in Grimsby before becoming an adult?

I feel a bit sorry for Australia actually. Robson's view should be respected but there is external influence too and it feels just a little like Empire. Arguably Kiprotich could move from Uganda this year and be in Team GB in 2020, only narrowly missing out on British qualification for Rio.