The 2008 Olympics Thread

SUNDAY'S IRISH COMPETITORS

12.12am Patricia Ryan 3 day eventing Dressage

2.00-5.00am Derek Burnett Shooting Mens Trap Qualification Rounds 4 & 5

2.27 Niall Griffin 3 day eventing dressage

3.10am Chloe Magee v Jaeyoun Jun (South Korea) Badminton Round of 32

7.00am-12.00pm David Goodbody Sailing Finn class Races 3 & 4

7.30am John Joe Joyce v Gyula Kate (Hungary) Boxing Light Welter (64kg) Rd of 32

8.00-8.45am Derek Burnett (if he qualifies) Shooting Men's Trap Final

9.20am Ireland (Griffin, Archiblad, Moynihan, Towey) Rowing Lightweight Mens Four Heat 3

10.33 Aisling Cooney Swimming 100m backstroke Heat 4

In the 3 day event dressage is it the best 4 of 5 riders score for the team?

Chloe just lost 21-12, 21-14.

Didn't see it as I, I must assume, am mentally retarded and forgot to watch it but looks like she was behind throughout really. Still, far from a disgraceful result against a decent player who's won a few good tournaments. And at least she's young and has yesterday's win to fondly remember.

Hard luck Chloe but, as you say kingdom hoop, she is still young and has a fantastic day yesterday to look back on fondly. London four year time is her stage to shine I think...


JOhn Joe Joyce just beat the Hungarian - superb display from John Joe. Excellent start from the boxers so far!

Is it just me or are referees in amateur boxing matches overly fussy? They seem to stop the boxing every 5 seconds to admonish one of the boxers for some minor infraction instead of letting them get on with it. :mad:

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

Is it just me or are referees in amateur boxing matches overly fussy? They seem to stop the boxing every 5 seconds to admonish one of the boxers for some minor infraction instead of letting them get on with it. :mad:

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Depends on the ref, and the fighters really. Joyce's fight was stop tart, I@ve watched others with a better flow.

Fabulous result for Joyce. Still a tough route for him to medal though.

Lightweight 4 rowers disappoint with 4th in heat. Thy must go through reperchage

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Depends on the ref, and the fighters really. Joyce's fight was stop tart, I@ve watched others with a better flow.

Fabulous result for Joyce. Still a tough route for him to medal though.

Lightweight 4 rowers disappoint with 4th in heat. Thy must go through reperchage

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Worst performance of the morning from Myles Dungan who completley wrote off the Poles at the start of the race, saying they would be tailed off.

Considering Ireland only took one of the last 2 qualifying places and the Poles presumably qualified from last years World Championships ahead of us it sounded a bit silly.

Jeannie Longo is in the women's cycling road race at the age of 49!! At the front near the end as well.

Nicole Cooke from Wales won the cycling women's road race.

First GB medal?

Best entertainment so far was Scott Evans in the badminton even though he lost.

3 Day Eventing team 10th after Dressage. I am sure they will improve but have to wonder why we bother sending them as only 11 teams in the competition.

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Originally Posted by pete

3 Day Eventing team 10th after Dressage. I am they will improve but have to wonder why we bother sending them as only 11 teams in the competition.

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Yep, but loads of teams want to qualify. As it hapens, we didn't qualify a team, we qualified 5 individual riders so they were allowed form a team.

MONDAY'S IRISH IN ACTION - (All times are Irish times)

01.18 Austin O'Connor 3 Day eventing Cross Country RUn

02.00 Geoff Curran 3 Day eventing Cross Country RUn

02.45 Louise Lyons 3 Day eventing Cross Country RUn

03.30 Patricia Ryan 3 Day eventing Cross Country RUn

04.15 Niall Griffin 3 Day eventing Cross Country RUn

09.22 Eoin Rheinisch Canoe/Kayaking Mens K1 Slalom - Run 1

11.14 Eoin Rheinisch Canoe/Kayaking Mens K1 Slalom - Run 2

I'd have a look at sports that I wouldn't have a look at in a blue moon.
I'm glad RTE assume almost total ignorance and usually have an explanation for dummies segment.

The Boxing looks quality stuff.
When Ken Egan got knocked down, his opponent did not score a point for that punch. What more evidence would the Judges need :confused:
Amateur Boxing use to be the (only?) sport that you didn't actually know what the score was as the bout progressed.

3 Day Event team up to 8th place after cross country. RTE reporting have a chance of a medal although don't see how those numbers add up as about 90 points behind 3rd place.

Eoin Rheinisch 18th of 21 after first run. Needs a big improvement to make the top 15 cut after 2nd run.

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Originally Posted by pete

3 Day Event team up to 8th place after cross country. RTE reporting have a chance of a medal although don't see how those numbers add up as about 90 points behind 3rd place.

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Unless horses have to pull out from about 6 teams we won't medal. 5 points for a fence down in the showjumping part so we'd need 3 clear rounds and hope that the rest have about 20 fences down (per team)

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Eoin Rheinisch 18th of 21 after first run. Needs a big improvement to make the top 15 cut after 2nd run.

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He's made the top 15 for tomorrow's semi. He was ranked 12th in the 2nd run 9an that was with 2 penalties. He'd have been 13th overall without them.

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Unless horses have to pull out from about 6 teams we won't medal. 5 points for a fence down in the showjumping part so we'd need 3 clear rounds and hope that the rest have about 20 fences down (per team)



There's 29 competitiors, and he's made the top 15 for tomorrow's semi

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Only 21, unless your counting the gates:D

Eoin did well to get through after having the 2 second penalty, but was lucky that the American received a 50 point penalty. It is a good sport to watch I must say and the kind of sport that nearly everyone in the field can medal, although I'd say Eoin would need a bit of luck to get in the top 3.

Melanie Nocher finished 7th in her heat after stopping to adjust her goggles in the middle of the pool:confused: but it wasn't her main event. The commentator said he had never seen that happen before in a major comp.

Ger Owens and Phil Lawton won the second of their ten races in the 470 sailing class. They were well down the field in the first one but can discard their worst score at the end of the competition.

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Originally Posted by paudie

Jeannie Longo is in the women's cycling road race at the age of 49!! At the front near the end as well.

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Radio says she was given wrong sized swimming cap and her googles filled with water. I have questions about support team and also rules on discarding equipment during race.

Georgia and Russia shared an Olympic podium today. In the 10metre Pistol Shooting. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008...g.olympics2008
"Nino Salukvadze took bronze for Georgia in the women's 10m air pistol, with Russia's Natalia Paderina collecting silver. After the medal ceremony the two posed together for photographers, their arms on each others' shoulders, and Paderina gave Salukvadze a kiss on the cheek."

Regarding the Three-Day-Eventing....stuff happens to change places..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olym...an/3578698.stm
(2004 Athens Olympics)

There are medals for each disciple in both Team and Individual so there is still a chance for the five in the showjumping
http://en.beijing2008.cn/sports/eque...14435080.shtml

This page the FEI website links to PDF docs for the dressage and Cross country results (hopefully will have showjumping results)
Ind. placing after Dressage and Cross-country (Clue 35th,36th,39th,41st and 47th horsey-types do hang around in groups)
http://www.fei.org/olympics/results/...ND-11Aug08.PDF


Overall team at the moment FEI website
http://www.fei.org/olympics/results/...AM-11Aug08.PDF

Tuesdays Irish in Action

6am-12pm Ciara Peelo - sailing - Laser races 1 & 2

6am-12pm Owens/Lawton - sailing - 470 races 3 & 4

8.40am Eoin Rheinisch - Kayaking Slalom - Semi final

10am Ireland - Rowing - Lightweight four Repechage (First 3 qualify for Semi)

10.20am Eoin Rheinisch - Kayaking Slalom - FINAL (if qualified)

12.15-2.45pm Ireland (and individuals) - 3 Day Eventing - Showjumping (Final)

12.36 Andrew Bree - Swimming - 200m Breastroke Heat 4

2.15pm John-Joe Nevin v Abdelhalim Ourradi (Algeria) - Boxing - Bantaweight Rd of 32

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Originally Posted by HarpoJoyce

Radio says she was given wrong sized swimming cap and her googles filled with water. I have questions about support team and also rules on discarding equipment during race.

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You can excuse some things to inexperience but wearing wrong size goggles must be like footballer wearing incorrect sized boots. I am sure the swimmer is disappointed but hard to excuse that.

Good that sailors won a race as maybe shows they can win again.

Boxers & female badminton seem to be the only performers so far as the remainder of the results have been poor (taking rankings etc... into consideration) so far...

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Originally Posted by pete

Boxers & female badminton seem to be the only performers so far as the remainder of the results have been poor (taking rankings etc... into consideration) so far...

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Bit harsh.

Canoeist is ranked top 15. He's made the top 15.
Cycling; performed as expected (and neither oof our lads would be top 100 in the world)
3 Day eventing; Team was ranked 11th coming in. Currently 8th. None of our riders ranked inside world top 40

Fencing; Lowesr ranked in her section. Lost to a woman who went on to beat 3rd seed by similar score

Rowing; Heavyweight four performed exceptionally well. 5th best time for a team ranked 10th in the world. Even the Lightweight 4s had the 5th best time overall (ahead of the British crew who win their race). Remember that they gained the 13th and last spot in the Olympics

Shooting; Performed better than he has in last two world championships. Was obviously far worse than last Olympics.

Swimming; Bree set a new IR in his 2nd event. None of the others have raced their best event yet.

Sailors; performing to the rankings

My nut-job sons have switched themselves to Chinese time so that they can watch all the action live. Got a phone call bout an hour ago from them telling me to be quiet when I get home from work as they were heading to bed! Loonies. Wont see much of them over the next while and gets me out of cooking duties!

Eoin Rheinisch finished 4th in the kayak Slalom.

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Eoin Rheinisch finished 4th in the kayak Slalom.

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Great effort. Very unlucky.

Am I going mad or did I read that yet another Irish sporting organisation has screwed up getting the right gear to the competition on time ?

http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics2008...11/nocher.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...477341674.html

This girl apparently normally wears her goggles inside her swimming hat. It appears as if moments before the race they identified that her hat was not compliant because of a logo issue and she then had to scab one from some other bloke.

But this blokes hat does not allow for goggles to be worn inside, hence she wore them outside - result being she is totally flustered and her goggles leak.

"There was a bit of confusion," acknowledged Swim Ireland head coach Keith Bewley last night. "The Irish logo was fine but we had two Speedo logos on the hat and you are supposed to have one. We have used these hats at meets before and there has been no problem but the Olympic rules are a bit different."

Bewley said that he expected the newly-ordered hats with the Irish shamrock logo to have arrived in Beijing tomorrow and added that if necessary, they could blacken one of the illegal logos prior to the next Irish race - Andrew Bree goes in the 200 metres breast stroke this evening.

Just read this from Swim Ireland - we have used these before and they were OK - aka we did not read the rules or do anything like the kind of preparation you need to compete.

He is now contemplating blacking out the offending hat - what is this ? Black tape ? A Black felt tip pen ?

The line I love is "There was some confusion" - no, there was just the usual level of amateurish preparation.

I am sure Genesys are standing by licking lips for a hefty contract !!

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Originally Posted by Angus

The line I love is "There was some confusion" - no, there was just the usual level of amateurish preparation.

I am sure Genesys are standing by licking lips for a hefty contract !!

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Seems to me like footballer wearing incorrect boots. Credit when it is due but criticism when due also.

Great result by canoeist even if he sneaked past each cut off. I did not see the final but RTE pundit did not think he was performing well this morning in the semi final. Due canoeist take drugs? Any chance of a positive sample getting him a bronze? :D

RTE pundit seemed to be talking up Bree a lot saying he is better than his PBs. I don't think as Irish we like guys getting talked up so much ;)

Watching the rowing repechage this morning & couldn't help feel the GAA back door system inspired by rowing. :D
You have 3 heats, throw all the losers into the back door repechage & then put of those 4 into the semi final - 12 out of 13 make the semi final.

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Originally Posted by pete

Seems to me like footballer wearing incorrect boots. Credit when it is due but criticism when due also.

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Agree but what is the point of having anybody from Swim Ireland there if it is the swimmers responsibility ?

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Originally Posted by Angus

Agree but what is the point of having anybody from Swim Ireland there if it is the swimmers responsibility ?

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Don't know whose fault it is but a woeful mistake whatever way you look it.

AFAIK the thing about the swimming caps was discovered with the first Irish swimmer.

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Eoin Rheinisch finished 4th in the kayak Slalom.

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Was still in the lead with 5 rowers to go, then third with the last rower to go, and the Togan went and did the third best time for the bronze - Togo's first ever Olympic medal.

Unlucky in some ways, but had he won a medal you could say it would have been one of the luckiest ever, considering how he got to the final.

Disheartening though, to sit there and watch what may have been our best chance of a medal slip away... but there was a dreadful inevitability about it.

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"There was a bit of confusion," acknowledged Swim Ireland head coach Keith Bewley last night. "The Irish logo was fine but we had two Speedo logos on the hat and you are supposed to have one. We have used these hats at meets before and there has been no problem but the Olympic rules are a bit different."

Bewley said that he expected the newly-ordered hats with the Irish shamrock logo to have arrived in Beijing tomorrow and added that if necessary, they could blacken one of the illegal logos prior to the next Irish race - Andrew Bree goes in the 200 metres breast stroke this evening.

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Aah, that's more like it.

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Originally Posted by ramondo

...the Togan went and did the third best time for the bronze - Togo's first ever Olympic medal..

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If I had to guess Togos first Olympic medal I would not have picked canoeing. I see he is French born but picked country of his parents so maybe less of a surprise.

Jokeshop about the hats, but then its being blown way out of proportion too.

Rheinisch didn't actually perform better in his secind run to his first, its just that the lads below him all messed up. He'd have needed the Togo guy to hit two gates to geta bromze. That was asking too much. His ranking from round to round went 18-15-10-4. Fabulous sport to watch. Got hooked by it with ian Wiley doing well in previous Olympics.

Bree will probably shatter his irish record today but he's till only ranked about 25th in the field, with 16 to make semis.

Oh, and on the rowers. The repechage system works well in other events (World Cups etc) with laods of boats in there. As there is a limited field, it’s a bit much. BTW the Irish were ranked 5th fastest the other day. They just happened to have 3 of the faster boats in their heat.

Bree wins 200m Breaststroke Heat

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Eoin Rheinisch finished 4th in the kayak Slalom.

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Pity, but to be fair 4th was about right, the Togo guy was awesome, man did he attack in the semi's
At least Eoin R will be back for another Olympics

Bree just after smashing the irish record, wow he looks half decent

Anyone see the Brits in the mixed badimton there now?

Phenomenal game.

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Originally Posted by joe_barry80

Bree wins 200m Breaststroke Heat

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Maybe the hype is justified. I make him 12th fastest into the semi final. Genuine chance of a final place I presume...?

Finally get to see some Irish Olympians in action on TV. The two Irish riders in the Showjumping each racked up 12 faults and probably will be down the field.

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Originally Posted by pete

Maybe the hype is justified. I make him 12th fastest into the semi final. Genuine chance of a final place I presume...?

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He was about a second off the 8th ranked.

The semi is at 3.40 in the mornign if you're interested

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Originally Posted by Maribor

Anyone see the Brits in the mixed badimton there now?

Phenomenal game.

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Yeah I thought they were dead and buried but they just sneaked it!

John Joe Nevin through:)