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Germany. Seriously! Apparently there were some Irish horses who won medals in the team events though, which seems strange...Quote:
Originally Posted by strangeirish
Great stuff though. Kurten was close (in a way...) to making it a double. We've not entered the showjumping too often for some reason, and it's a big sport in Ireland, so this bodes well for the future at least!
obviously the government isnt spending enough on sports and sports infastructure. If we seriously want to compete as a nation internationally were going to have to take a leaf out of the aussie's book in terms of getting every percentage out of our athlethes.
From RTE's website:
So I guess Michelle Smith's golds in 1996 are no longer counted by RTE?Quote:
O'Connor's triumph, Irelands first Olympic gold since Michael Carruth won one in boxing in 1992, came after his team-mate Jessica Kuerten, who had jumped a clear first round to hold the joint lead with Britain's Nick Skelton, produced a disastrous final round.
I don't see why not to be honest. She was drugs tested at the time and passed it, so the Golds should stand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Metrostars
The U.S. still count Carl Lewis' ffs :rolleyes:
Her medals were never taken off her,were they?
I reckon Michelle was guilty as sin though and the rte heads probably feel the same so they choose to 'forget' about her. :(
Another classic example of FF speak.Quote:
Originally Posted by Conor74
Use plenty of words, but say nothing.
Conor, I find it rich that you accuse anyone of avoiding answering questions, as you are the absolute master of evasion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Conor74
In the post above you quite clearly make a point linking economics with horse racing and then go on to say that you cannot see any "practical" return from sailing and athletics. This is a fairly clear statement on the connection between economics and sport, and how some sports, in your opinion, add nothing to the economy. Thus you are implying/alluding to/suggesting/insinuating or whatever word you like, that a sport that gives us a monetary return is more deserving of 50% of all taxpayers money that goes to sport, rather than others which do nothing "practical" for the economy.
Whatever way you want to dress it up, that is reducing everything down to the bottom line only.
By the way, how "practical" is the centre up in Punchestown?
Will it be giving a return on all that taxpayers money that it recieved in highly dodgy circumstances outside all accepted and required procedures?
If FF want to put money into the horse industry then maybe they should include with IDA grants for INDUSTRY or something as unfair to suggest its sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by Conor74
Showjumping doesn't need any "investment". Cian O'Connor had his new €110K Audi A8 car with 3k in cash stolen (since found/returned) the week before the Olympics. FFs for the goal medal 'n all & also good to se ehe signing the National Anthem so no West Brit accusations ;)
Sorry to resurrect a zombie thread, but I think sailing has probably earned its keep in Galway over the last few years with the Volvo.
I wonder how justified dissapointment is with failures in certain sports? I have no idea if athletes/Ireland could have done more/should be doing more in sports like Swimming, Badminton etc. Seems like so much attention gets thrown at boxing, and now, sailing.
We don't have the population, interest, tradition and probably not the infrastructure to be successful at more than a handful of sports. For us to focus on track/field and a couple of specialty sports is probably smart and represents our best chance at some medals.
According to my great friend, Laughing Bill O'Herlihy, badmington is apparently a "Protestant sport".Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...321156033.html
Must be a lot of them in China so...Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Great bunch of lads...Quote:
Originally Posted by bennocelt
Well, there's more to sport than Olympic medals. Doing well at the Games is brilliant, but sports for me are about the general health and wellbeing of the population.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
But on a topic more relevant to your post, I've just watched the 10,000 metres, and watched Fionnuala Britton get blown away by the Africans. I'm still proud though. The girl finished 15th in the world. It's a one-in-a-million girl like Sonia who'll ever beat those guys, but Fionnuala did better than anyone from France, anyone from Germany, Australia, Brazil, China, India. I don't think that that's a failure just because it's not a medal.
If we want to win gold medals, we should sink our resources into a very small amount of sports. Sailing is an ideal choice. I used to compete against Annalise Murphy back when we were kids. She's had a very supportive family who have given up a lot to make sure she can put in the hours, go to the international events, have the coaches, to get her to where she is now. If we did that with the Sports Council's purse for athletes in a small number of skill-based sports, your archery, sailing, shooting, kayaking. Forget about athletics, forget about badminton, you'd pick up 6 or 7 medals per Games, probably.
I'd prefer to see the money spent on developing community sports facilities for the good of the entire country. And your one-in-a-million talent like Sonia, or your family-supported Annalise, or the occasional combination, like Katie Taylor, will come along every now and again and make us all proud.
I know it will probably seem churlish, but I'm glad the irish athletes go and give it a wallop, and do their best. It does inspire kids to do something with their own lives. What kills much of the element of investment in sport, I believe, comes down to the complete and utter hypocrisy surrounding performance enhancing drugs. Not for a second do I believe or buy that the Jamaicans are all clean, nor do I believe that the Chinese are doing it naturally (history has shown this just simply isn't the case) and for that matter I do not believe the Yanks are clean. I remember the US media turning on Michelle DeBruin, I remember the exact point and I remember the Canuck media joining in - why? Because Janet Evans missed out on her "fairytale" comeback and a golden girl from Canada (who adorned cereal boxes) missed out on the final. No matter how fast Michelle DeBruin did, she still was way off the times posted by.....Janet Evans. So certain sports - weightlifting and athletics (speed and power events) will be cautiously avoided by the government and sponsors.
Boxing is suffering because of long term class association (despite the best efforts of the IABA) as well as the horrific officiating that is the norm in international amateur boxing (get rid of computers and cheating will be quickly found out). For most sports we have to export our best athletes to train elsewhere, and why not, it will cost less long term with possibly better results. It's as cheap to house and train rowers in Zagreb as to construct a rowing lake in Ireland. Same with canoeing and kayaking, but the money needs to be put in to send them abroad. The problem is - we don't have the money.
I believe our boxers are doing well, our sailors and paddlers the same, our athletes will do their best and our horsepeople will always be world class. I don't want us to turn a generation of kids from recreational drug users into performance enhancing drug users just for a few bits of metal.
Thats ridiculous - he said nothing of the sort - the journalist who asked that question is obviously a clown, looking for something to print. What is it with the Irish media and this sort of rubbish?Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
He insinuated more than said it. Something along the lines of "It's always been seen as a protestant sport". Not a direct quote, but it was something along those lines. I got slightly taken aback myself from it, but then I just realised he's old and pretty much useless at this stage.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
He said something to the effect that "back in my day Badminton was seen as a protestant sport". His day might have been the 40s/50s. Is he wrong?
FFS!Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
No, no he didn't.
What he said was (and I'm paraphrasing, but only slightly)
"When I was growing up - back in the late 1940's and 1950's, the perception was out there was that badminton was a protestant sport"
That’s a hell of a long way from saying that badminton has always been a protestant sport or that badminton is a protestant sport.
Bill was at the time engaged in a conversation with a former badminton player about the popularity of the game and how it has grown as a sport since the 40's and 50's when its perception may not have been popular (as he thought rightly or wrongly that the sport had protestant and thus elitist connotations) and how lots of sports halls up and down the country now have courts and equipment.
Those sort of articles really sicken my h**e. It’s like a journo was watching on TV and dropped his chips with the excitement that the word protestant was mentioned.
Thats just a stupid comment.Quote:
but then I just realised he's old and pretty much useless at this stage.