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There could have been a bit more breeze on the right, or a more favourable wind angle, or it could just have been that Annalise was in other peoples' wind shadow by going left, as everybody going right would have sailed between her and the wind. If there was an advantage to going right, he mum will kill her when she gets back on shore for not noticing it three times in succession!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
That was a great fight. Pure class from Katie. It felt like Dublin came to a standstill outside the Old Stand with everyone peaking in the window.
The Olympics is a nutshell there over the past few hours - from despair to ecstasy.
Fair play to them both - Katie will get all the coverage and deservedly so - but what an effort from Murphy over the past week.
I'm wrecked!
Thank **** for Irish boxing.
Great performances by Nevin and Taylor. The atmosphere sounded unreal this afternoon.
Osarusan, both were NUI Maynooth girls, they fought on a pretty major bill and you probably remember the crowd that night, absolutely packed. The boxing club were the biggest draw for the Pull-Pit and Olivia (her family name escapes me) also known as Giggles (gigs) put on a great show. The UCD girl was London-Irish, and I just cannot remember her name, Italian last name, who was battered by one of ours. The Maynooth women were phenoms, Helen was a far better mover than Katie Taylor, and a massive hitter. You'll remember her sparring with a guy from Mayo (Gerry) in the gym and catching him over and over.Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
Sad thing was, the IABA tried their best to bury it, and only when the Universities forced their hand (through hammering Jim McDaid - who may well have been hammered), was it put in place to allow women to box. Of course Katie Taylor was chosen as the poster girl, but this was face saving from the old guard of the IABA.
Today has been great for Irish sport, and I'm looking forward to the Tajiki fight, half of the menial workers in Moscow will be out for my blood if she loses!
Just got a chance to watch Taylor's bout. What a fighter! Great power, speed and agility. Fantastic to watch. Atmosphere was terrific inside the arena. Might as well have been in Dublin.
Loudest recorded noise at the Olympics so far 113.7 decibels. Maybe I got this wrong, but a jet engine is 140 decibels.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
Disappointing showing from the Irish fans there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spudulika
I know nothing about sailing but i thought Annalise just should have gone the same way as the chinese girl, who looked the class of the field.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Very simplistic I know!
That's what I thought too!
And yet the national stadium on the SCR was only a quarter full 3 weeks ago. The apathy and hypocricy of these fans...:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Going downwind, that's actually not too bad of an idea. You sit between the people ahead of you and the wind, and that slows them down. However, if you go the same way as someone else, it's very hard to overtake them, you'll always be in the same sort of wind. Perhaps Annalise wasn't happy to settle for silver, took the risk to try and get past Xu, and was punished for it.Quote:
Originally Posted by paudie
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19144983
I thought the above article was interesting - how lottery funding transformed GB sport and how they identified that sports such as cycling and swimming are never won by poorer countries. Nothing surprising on the surface but it shows how money well targeted and well spent can reap rewards.
Of course during the early part of this new lottery-funded period UK sport was governed on a very shambolic basis. There was one famous example in Sport England(?) when an auditor found £20mm in a bank account that they had forgotten they had! This prompted a review into lottery funding and governance by a QC called Dutton I think, and state / lottery funding would only be dished out to anyone whose organisation was fit for purpose.
As governance standards improved, strategic decisions improved and GB is now enjoying the benefits.
Stuttgart88, thanks for posting that. London still lumps money into certain sports, tennis in particular, for minimal returns overall. Sure players do okay at the lower ranks, but they haven't the ability to move up. Instead the LTA tries to poach young talent from abroad (Donna Vekic a case in point) and turn them British. Meanwhile players get salaries, access to coaching and facilities and trips paid for, with really poor results. I've always been of the opinion that if Tennis Ireland had a fraction of the budget of them across the water we'd have at least 2-3 players in the top 200 (male and female).
Of course, while money helps, vision, strategy and execution are all critical too. I know I posted on the FAI thread that governance is a bit of a dull topic but actually it's really important. In some respects (but there are critical differences) sports NGBs are like corporations. They compete with each other for resources and customers and they are judged on the quality of their output. Well managed companies tend to do better than poorly managed companies, and this is what governance is all about.
It's important not to get all hung up about extreme elite performance but talented athletes should have a pathway to fulfilling their talent should that be their choice and elite performance can inspire others to become active. I'm considered left wing by my peers - which I refute, I consider myself "enlightened"! - but GDP is a wholly flawed measure of economic well-being and the pressures placed on ordinary working people due to globalisation and the economic inequality that unfettered free markets induce makes life quite tough for many people. Sport (and other recreational activities) and the happiness they can bring are an economic asset - even if people living longer is one of the biggest threats to the world economy in the coming generation (the IMF warned about this recently). The feelgood factor at the O2 yesterday can never be captured by a dry economic statistic like GDP / GNP. It's worth investing in. Free markets don't provide an economic incentive for private funding of sport which is why the state has a crucial role to play (Mary Harney's economic ethos was that the state should just eff off out of the way, the same as George Osbourne over here…).
Wrt tennis, I suspect you're right. I think there's probably a bit of Matthew Syed's "10,000 hours" involved. I was a talented enough player as a kid but I also wanted to play badminton, soccer, golf and just hanging about getting up to mischief too. Tennis strikes me as requiring an extreme amount of personal investment, like swimming too, to get to elite level.
I'm not sure why we can produce golfers to a world standard but not tennis - perhaps it's because although hand-eye coordination is a common requirement, technique can be taught and facilities are largely in place in both games, golf doesn't require the extra ingredient of athleticism that tennis requires? Looking at Padraig Harrington's duck footed walking style, I think I'd fancy beating him in a run over any distance.
Bear in mind, as I posted above, we do have an ITF top ten ranked tennis player, born and bred in Dublin. He is in the over-85 age category though!
Gavin Noble going well so far in triathlon event. He's in the lead bike pack which is crucial and is impressive after what was a very fast swim. He crashed badly on the test event here last year so herte's hoping he can stay up!
Run pace proving too fast for Noble but he's still heading for his best placing ever among a field of this quality.
Edit: finished 23rd - sounds like not much, but absolutely outstanding effort.
Great women's volleyball q-final on right now between Japan and China if anybody's interested.
Ok, I didn't give people much notice. Japan survived two match points in the deciding set to win 19-17. No set was decided by more than the minimum 2-point margin, and 2 went into sudden death, including the last set.
The Maynooth Boxing match I was there, it would of been Olivia Walsh from Ballinasole. I lived with Helen and Willie Fitz who were involved in the boxing club. Some great nights in the Union bar, wonder are the Meerkats still going ?