Olympics 2024

How excited is everyone?
Who do we like in break dancing?

I've never been less aware an Olympics is on. The only things I've heard relating to it are the drama over the alleged Last Supper parody, the motivation behind that high speed rail disruption, and the mayor swimming in the Seine to prove that it's not polluted enough to stop things. It is, however, too polluted to practice in.

Anything of interest happen so far in the actual sport?

Um...the Canadian womens soccer team was docked 6 points and fined for spying with a drone on the New Zealand training camp. They're on zero points after 2 wins, including a 12th minute of injury time winner against France last night. Does that count?

Chance of a medal for us tonight in the swimming with Mona McSharry. Outside chance of two in the swimming tonight actually. Wiffen goes tomorrow night. Canoeist in the final of the slalom with 2nd best run in the semis. Boxers had a crap start.

Pfft - 12th minute of injury time? Hold my beer...

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Argentina thought they had escaped from the Group B match in Saint-Etienne with a 2-2 draw when Cristian Medina scored in the 16th minute of added time.

But as their players celebrated, projectiles including bottles and plastic cups rained down from the stands and several spectators entered the pitch, with the referee promptly blowing the whistle.

The teams left the playing area, but the referee had not blown for fulltime and the outcome of the match was completely unclear until the sides finally reappeared two hours later to play out three more minutes in a stadium that was by now emptied of spectators.

Medina's goal was eventually disallowed for offside following a VAR review, and Morocco held on to claim all three points.

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Seems to be a French shambles so far anyway.

Thought I'd bring over a post I put in another thread with my thoughts on our medal hopefuls. Terrific medal for Mona McSharry, touching a fingernail ahead of fourth AND fifth. Wiffen in Swimming and McClenaghan on the Pommel Horse looking good. Poor start for the boxers (did Aidan Walsh even throw five punches?) but Marley and Harrington have steadied the ship. Rowers have started well. Men's rugby sevens team went out in very Irish rugby style - just when you start to believe they might beat NZ and Fiji, they miss an opportunity to seal it and give up a couple of quick scores. I didn't mention sailing because i have no idea of our chances, but our Skiff boat is in second halfway through (although that can change with a couple of bad races - fingers crossed, though). With McScharry's medal, six-ten is definitely on

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Originally Posted by samhaydenjr

Well, things definitely look much brighter than they did when you posted in 2004, Ramondo - for starters, as of now, we have 122 qualified athletes, compared to 46 in '04. And there are more medal hopefuls - so many, in fact, that it will be somewhat disappointing if we don't top our haul from 2012. I've grouped them into three rough categories: serious medal contenders, who would be disappointed not to win a medal in a given event; those with a fair chance, where a medal is a distinct possibility but you couldn't quite say it's expected; outside chances, where we could get a medal if the relevant athlete/team plays out of their skins and/or some of their competitors underperform. So here is that list, as I see it:

Serious medal candidates:
1. Daniel Wiffenx2 - Swimming - 800m and 1500m freestyle - World Champion in both, World Record holder over 800m short-course, triple European Champion in short-course. Caveat for Wiffen - in the 2023 Worlds, he came fourth behind three swimmers who are about his age - two of them did not compete against him in 2024.
2. Rhasidat Adeleke - Athletics - 400m - her rise to the top has been stunning - she is already a superstar, with three European medals under her belt aged 21. Her PB of 49.07 would have won a medal at pretty much any Worlds, Olympics or Europeans. Caveat - Natalia Kaczmarek's stunning run to beat Rhasidat in the Euros means there's now four women in the field who have run sub-49 seconds
3. Rhys McClenaghan - Gymnastics - Pommel Horse - double World Champion, triple European Champion - undoubtedly the man to beat in his discipline. Caveat - underperformed in two major championships, including the last Olympics
4. Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan - Rowing - Lightweight Double Sculls - as a pair, Olympic Champions, double World Champions, Triple World Champions - made the German boat look like plucky underdogs happy to win silver in Tokyo.
5. Kellie Harrington - Boxing - Women's Lightweight - World, Olympic and European Champion - I thought she fought better in her final than Katie Taylor in 2012

Fair Chance at a medal:
1. Mixed 4x400m relay - Athletics - European Champions, bronze at the World Relays - an amazing few months has put them really in the mix - I'm almost tempted to upgrade them to Serious contenders. Caveat - if Rhasidat's coach decides she should focus on the individual 400m (had she broken 11 seconds in the 100 at the National CHampionships today, that would have created a scheduling clash)
2. Ciara Mageean - Athletics - 1500m - European Gold in 2024, silver in 2022, fourth in Tokyo. Also close to being a serious contender, but with Faith Kipyegon almost a lock for the gold, that leaves her competing with a number of other talented runners for the minor medals
3. The Golfers - any of the four could win a medal, but given the nature of golf, I wouldn't expect a medal from any of them, not even Rory. He does have as good a chance as anyone else in the field and a better chance than most.
4. Men's Rugby Sevens - third in the 2022 Sevens World Cup, second in the 2023-24 Sevens Series, coming second or third in four of the seven tournaments. However, they didn't win any and never seemed to top their group
5. Rowing - we've been picking up medals in rowing at Worlds, Europeans and Olympics, even when Paul O'Donovan isn't in the boat, so there's definitely a fair chance of a second medal in rowing.
6. Boxing x 2 - Apart from Harrington, six of our boxers have won medals at major championships

Outside Chance:
1. Women's 4x400m relay - Athletics - European Silver Medalists but with the Americans and Jamaicans also to compete, they may have to go up another level to claim hardware
2. Sarah Healy - Athletics - 1500m - stellar underage, hasn't quite translated it into senior success yet, but has started reaching major finals - you never know
3. Boxing x 2 more - if they have a really great meet
4. Rowing - a third medal if they have a really great regatta
5. Lara Gillespie - Track Cycling - Omnium/Madison - multiple medals at underage championships. Came fourth in the Omnium and sixth in the Madison at this year's senior Europeans, competing against much more experienced riders. This year may be too soon but you never know.
6. Equestrian - have disappointed on a number of occasions but capable of winning medals if they can keep the horses off drugs and get them to dance better (but why is Bertram Allen omitted again?)
7. Women's Rugby Sevens - seventh in the World Series, but did win one tournament - would need to produce at least two upsets to medal, but that's possible
8. Mona MacSharry - Swimming - Olympic finalist, multiple medal winner at major short-course and underage Championships - would need to up her game but not impossible
9. Ellen Walshe - Swimming - similar to MacSharry, but not as many medals and not yet an Olympic finalist
10. Jack Woolley - desparately unlucky to be beaten by a semi-finalist in 2021 - has since won two European medals
11. A second golfing medal - Rory plus one of the others

So, in total, I make that six medals where we have a serious contender, seven where he have a fair chance, and twelve where there's an outside chance. So if everything went our way, we could be looking at 25 medals, although 6-10 is a more realistic goal, which would still be fantastic.

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We get to claim Charlie Haughey's grand-niece's bronze medal in the race straight after McSharry, yeah?

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Originally Posted by samhaydenjr

Thought I'd bring over a post I put in another thread with my thoughts on our medal hopefuls. Terrific medal for Mona McSharry, touching a fingernail ahead of fourth AND fifth. Wiffen in Swimming and McClenaghan on the Pommel Horse looking good. Poor start for the boxers (did Aidan Walsh even throw five punches?) but Marley and Harrington have steadied the ship. Rowers have started well. Men's rugby sevens team went out in very Irish rugby style - just when you start to believe they might beat NZ and Fiji, they miss an opportunity to seal it and give up a couple of quick scores. I didn't mention sailing because i have no idea of our chances, but our Skiff boat is in second halfway through (although that can change with a couple of bad races - fingers crossed, though). With McScharry's medal, six-ten is definitely on

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Great post. Sailing skiffs - might be another outside bet given how Dickson and Waddilove are doing so far. Would be another +1 on your range.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Great post. Sailing skiffs - might be another outside bet given how Dickson and Waddilove are doing so far. Would be another +1 on your range.

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Yeah they're still holding in second, even though the third day wasn't as good. Would have been significantly clear of third and fourth if they hadn't been disqualified from the sixth race after a protest from the Spanish. Need a good day to keep them in a good position in advance of the medal race..

Meanwhile... Daniel Wiffen!!! What a performance!!! I raised a caveat about those who beat him in the 2023 Worlds and he raised his game, leaving them all trailing in his wake. I think we can say he is officially the best 800m swimmer in the world right now.

What a turnaround for Irish swimming - I remember watching as a kid and the Irish swimmers would come second-last in the slowest heat but still smash the national record as it would be their second time competing in a 50m pool. Now we have two medal winners (placing us sixth in the medal table for now), a third finalist and a fourth semi-finalist

Yeah, have high hopes for the sailors. Watched the Rte olympics blog tonight and Annalise Murphy gave some great insights. A couple of other outside chances of medals in other sailing events with Finn Lynch and Eve McMahon who she’s tipping to be a superstar though this Olympics might be a little early for her.

Regarding Wiffen, I didn’t watch it live but that was - I think - one of the most assured and confident performances that I have ever seen from an Irish sportsperson at an elite level. Incredible swim and, in my opinion, never looked in doubt.

I can't remember the last time an Irish athlete set an Olympic record. Any takers on that one?

Even Michelle Smith was a good way off as I recall

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

I can't remember the last time an Irish athlete set an Olympic record. Any takers on that one?

Even Michelle Smith was a good way off as I recall

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Rowers? Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan set a record there last olympics, if I remember correctly?

Another medal won today, colour not yet decided though with Harrington making the semis.

I see that Kellie Harrington has said that she will Not fight a biological male if she comes up against one at the Olympics.

Kellie Harrington = = Great Woman.

There is No way that biological males should be allowed to fight Women.

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Originally Posted by seanfhear

There is No way that biological males should be allowed to fight Women.

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Yes. Absolutely Bat Sh**.

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Originally Posted by Crosby87

Yes. Absolutely Bat Sh**.

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I assume nearly everyone on this site has played sport ~ ~ There is no way a Woman can compete against Men in physical sports.

Biology and Science.

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Originally Posted by seanfhear

I see that Kellie Harrington has said that she will Not fight a biological male if she comes up against one at the Olympics.

Kellie Harrington = = Great Woman.

There is No way that biological males should be allowed to fight Women.

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Originally Posted by Crosby87

Yes. Absolutely Bat Sh**.

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Originally Posted by seanfhear

I assume nearly everyone on this site has played sport ~ ~ There is no way a Woman can compete against Men in physical sports.

Biology and Science.

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I'm sorry, has there been a major push to include transgender competitors in women's boxing that I've missed? If not, then this is just a strawman argument and I'm disappointed in Kellie Harrington that she would say that without any vaguely realistic prospect if it happening (second time TBH, after her retweet of the National Front a while back). Still hope she wins because on so many other levels, she is an inspiration.

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Originally Posted by samhaydenjr

I'm sorry, has there been a major push to include transgender competitors in women's boxing that I've missed? If not, then this is just a strawman argument and I'm disappointed in Kellie Harrington that she would say that without any vaguely realistic prospect if it happening (second time TBH, after her retweet of the National Front a while back). Still hope she wins because on so many other levels, she is an inspiration.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-...ity-rcna164257

The information is out there ~ People just need to keep themselves informed.

How is this sort of travesty allowed ~ Crazy.

https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/statu...64008071778621

It's a grey area, they aren't biological men, they are born women, but have had raised testosterone levels, which saw them disqualified before, which was clarified after initial reports said "gender testing".