Athletics must fight to keep No.1 status
ASK people to list their favourite Olympic memories and the vast majority will inevitably include athletics. Daley Thompson, Kelly Holmes, Bob Beamon, Cathy Freeman, Coe and Ovett – track and field moments dominate the proceedings.
For how much longer, though? Athletics has always been the No.1 Olympic sport, but in the eyes of the British sporting public the traditional hierarchy could be turned on its head if the GB athletics team fail to deliver in Beijing.
Britons in other sports have come out firing on all cylinders during the first few days of the Games. As I write this, Nicole Cooke has become Britain’s first “gold pedallist” of 2008 and her team-mates in the GB cycling squad are expected to continue the medal rush this weekend when the action in the velodrome begins.
Elsewhere, in the pool earlier this week Rebecca Adlington became Britain’s first Olympic women’s swimming champion for almost half a century. British cyclists, swimmers, rowers, sailors, triathletes and boxers will only be stronger in 2012, too.
So the message is clear to British track and field athletes this coming week. You’d better get winning, or athletics’ status as the premier Olympic sport will be under serious jeopardy.
Showing posts with label Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olympics. Show all posts
Sunday, August 17, 2008
And he's dome it!
Michael Phelps wins another gold today to bring his total to 8!
Greatest swimmer ever!
Greatest Olympian ever!
Greatest athlete ever?
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Cooke caters for British appetite!
Cooke serves up British gold
Welsh cyclist becomes 200th Brit to top the podium at Olympics
Last Updated 10th August 2008
Cooke: First British gold in Beijing
Also see
Results
Schedule
Medal Table
Team GB News
Betting
Nicole Cooke claimed Great Britain's first gold medal in Beijing with an impressive victory in the women's cycling road race.
The 25-year-old from Glamorgan came home first in a sprint finish involving five competitors following a 126km ride.
Cooke's victory makes up for her disappointing fifth-placed finish in Athens four years ago and means she is the 200th Brit to win Olympic gold.
Sweden's Emma Johansson won the silver and Tatiana Guderzo of Italy finished third to claim the bronze.
Welsh cyclist becomes 200th Brit to top the podium at Olympics
Last Updated 10th August 2008
Cooke: First British gold in Beijing
Also see
Results
Schedule
Medal Table
Team GB News
Betting
Nicole Cooke claimed Great Britain's first gold medal in Beijing with an impressive victory in the women's cycling road race.
The 25-year-old from Glamorgan came home first in a sprint finish involving five competitors following a 126km ride.
Cooke's victory makes up for her disappointing fifth-placed finish in Athens four years ago and means she is the 200th Brit to win Olympic gold.
Sweden's Emma Johansson won the silver and Tatiana Guderzo of Italy finished third to claim the bronze.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Something wrong here ~ Gavin case raises serious issues & questions
Gavin withdrawal under scrutiny
Gavin has now flown home from Team GB's training camp in Macau.
UK Sport is to launch an investigation after Great Britain medal hopeful Frankie Gavin had to pull out of the Olympics at the last minute.
The lightweight world amateur boxing champion was one of Britain's brightest medal hopes in China but he withdrew after failing to make his weight.
The 22-year-old had benefited from Lottery funding worth £70,000 a year in the run-up to the Olympics.
UK Sport said it was the boxer's responsibility to make the weight.
Gavin's Lottery funding included a £25,000 annual payment with the rest going on support services such as coaching, sports medical expertise and dietician's advice.
"We will review the sport post-Games as a matter of course, and not about just one individual," said the UK Sport spokesman.
"Clearly, this will be an issue for the boxing review.
"We do think he has trained incredibly hard and always had the right support but ultimately only he has responsibility for the weight that he is."
GB boxing coach Terry Edwards refuses to apportion blame.
Britain's boxing head coach Terry Edwards defended his decision to withdraw Gavin after the fighter was 3lb (1.36kg) over his 60kg mark.
"I felt if I pushed it any further there would have been a serious health risk," he said. "It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in boxing."
But nutritionist Kerry Kayes, who had worked with Gavin in the build-up to Beijing, said team officials should be blamed for his early exit.
"It's simply criminal that he's not going to the Olympics," Kayes, who has also worked with Ricky Hatton, told The Guardian. "I can only guess that some real errors have been made and that Frankie has been let down."
"What happened has cost Frankie Gavin a million pounds. That's how much they were saying an Olympic gold medal would have been worth to him if he turned pro straight after the Games. And it's just been ruined now."
BBC OLYMPICS BLOG
All that is certain is a young man will be flying home now with a bag full of regrets rather than the gold medal many thought was his for the taking
BBC Sport's Matt SlaterKayes said he had been denied the chance to work with Gavin in Macau by British amateur boxing officials and was sure he could have helped the fighter reach his weight.
"I guarantee that I would have got Frankie Gavin to make the weight," he added.
"I'm the guy who starts working with Ricky Hatton when he rolls into the gym, weighing 185 pounds, and I get him to shift 45 pounds in time to make the weight every time before every fight."
Amateur Boxing Association chief executive Paul King said: "ABAE will launch an internal investigation into the circumstances leading up to [Gavin's] withdrawal, which is a massive blow to our gold medal hopes, and to our essential UK Sport and lottery funding."
Gavin has now flown home from Team GB's training camp in Macau.
UK Sport is to launch an investigation after Great Britain medal hopeful Frankie Gavin had to pull out of the Olympics at the last minute.
The lightweight world amateur boxing champion was one of Britain's brightest medal hopes in China but he withdrew after failing to make his weight.
The 22-year-old had benefited from Lottery funding worth £70,000 a year in the run-up to the Olympics.
UK Sport said it was the boxer's responsibility to make the weight.
Gavin's Lottery funding included a £25,000 annual payment with the rest going on support services such as coaching, sports medical expertise and dietician's advice.
"We will review the sport post-Games as a matter of course, and not about just one individual," said the UK Sport spokesman.
"Clearly, this will be an issue for the boxing review.
"We do think he has trained incredibly hard and always had the right support but ultimately only he has responsibility for the weight that he is."
GB boxing coach Terry Edwards refuses to apportion blame.
Britain's boxing head coach Terry Edwards defended his decision to withdraw Gavin after the fighter was 3lb (1.36kg) over his 60kg mark.
"I felt if I pushed it any further there would have been a serious health risk," he said. "It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in boxing."
But nutritionist Kerry Kayes, who had worked with Gavin in the build-up to Beijing, said team officials should be blamed for his early exit.
"It's simply criminal that he's not going to the Olympics," Kayes, who has also worked with Ricky Hatton, told The Guardian. "I can only guess that some real errors have been made and that Frankie has been let down."
"What happened has cost Frankie Gavin a million pounds. That's how much they were saying an Olympic gold medal would have been worth to him if he turned pro straight after the Games. And it's just been ruined now."
BBC OLYMPICS BLOG
All that is certain is a young man will be flying home now with a bag full of regrets rather than the gold medal many thought was his for the taking
BBC Sport's Matt SlaterKayes said he had been denied the chance to work with Gavin in Macau by British amateur boxing officials and was sure he could have helped the fighter reach his weight.
"I guarantee that I would have got Frankie Gavin to make the weight," he added.
"I'm the guy who starts working with Ricky Hatton when he rolls into the gym, weighing 185 pounds, and I get him to shift 45 pounds in time to make the weight every time before every fight."
Amateur Boxing Association chief executive Paul King said: "ABAE will launch an internal investigation into the circumstances leading up to [Gavin's] withdrawal, which is a massive blow to our gold medal hopes, and to our essential UK Sport and lottery funding."
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Frankie Gavin leaves the Olympics
Even before the competition starts, our most promising of young hopefuls Frankie Gavin is leaving the Olympics. This superb boxer with a quality of performance which made him a certainty for a medal ~ probably a gold ~ has received a knock-down punch without even getting in the ring.And the problem is not drugs, nor fitness but the simplest of things ~ getting his weight right for the competition.
He has weighed in too heavy for the division!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I ask you.....can you believe this? We send an athlete, a brilliant boxer to the Games and the coaching staff can't even enter him for the appropriate weight devision and/or can't prepare him to fight at that weight.
The mind boggles!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Looking forward to the Olympics
I'm really looking forward to the Olympics ~ after all I've been waiting 4 years since the last one!
I'm sure China will put on a great games ~ their preparation has been meticulous. I have been a China-Observer now for about 10 years and I have watched a nation in the painful process of change and development ~ and so much has changed for the better.
Good Luck China in your Games!!!!!!
I'm sure China will put on a great games ~ their preparation has been meticulous. I have been a China-Observer now for about 10 years and I have watched a nation in the painful process of change and development ~ and so much has changed for the better.
Good Luck China in your Games!!!!!!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Paula ~ The best about sport
Radcliffe bronze still 'awesome'
Yelling and Radcliffe are friends and share the same coaches
An Olympic bronze for Paula Radcliffe would be an "awesome achievement," says British marathon team-mate Liz Yelling.
Radcliffe, 34, was favourite to win Olympic marathon gold in Beijing but now faces a fight to be fit after suffering a stress fracture to her leg.
"She wants to win the gold," said Yelling. "But it would still be an awesome achievement if she came away with the bronze medal.
"People shouldn't give up on her and ask her to throw in the towel."
Radcliffe's plans for a fourth Olympic Games suffered a major setback when she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her left thigh last week.
Despite medical experts saying the injury could take six to eight weeks to heal, the marathon world record holder plans to start running again in a fortnight.
If she says she will be fit enough to go to the Olympics then so be it - let her go
Radcliffe insists she is "90-100%" likely to run in Beijing and has returned to her French training base in Font Romeu to continue her preparations.
And Yelling says her former training partner must be allowed to make her own decision about whether she could compete in China.
"I think everyone should just give her room to make her own decision," said Yelling, who will be making a second successive Olympic marathon appearance.
"She needs a chance to prove her fitness and that she can get there.
"She'll know next month where she stands and only Paula can answer that question."
Radcliffe is determined to make up for her Athens heartache, when she was forced to pull out of the Olympic marathon at the 23-mile mark.
However, if she is not fit enough to compete in Beijing, Scotland's Hayley Haining has been nominated as a reserve to join Yelling and Mara Yamauchi in Britain's female marathon squad.
The women's Olympic marathon in Beijing is on 17 August and starts from Tianamen Square to the finish point in the National Stadium.
Yelling and Radcliffe are friends and share the same coaches
An Olympic bronze for Paula Radcliffe would be an "awesome achievement," says British marathon team-mate Liz Yelling.
Radcliffe, 34, was favourite to win Olympic marathon gold in Beijing but now faces a fight to be fit after suffering a stress fracture to her leg.
"She wants to win the gold," said Yelling. "But it would still be an awesome achievement if she came away with the bronze medal.
"People shouldn't give up on her and ask her to throw in the towel."
Radcliffe's plans for a fourth Olympic Games suffered a major setback when she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her left thigh last week.
Despite medical experts saying the injury could take six to eight weeks to heal, the marathon world record holder plans to start running again in a fortnight.
If she says she will be fit enough to go to the Olympics then so be it - let her go
Radcliffe insists she is "90-100%" likely to run in Beijing and has returned to her French training base in Font Romeu to continue her preparations.
And Yelling says her former training partner must be allowed to make her own decision about whether she could compete in China.
"I think everyone should just give her room to make her own decision," said Yelling, who will be making a second successive Olympic marathon appearance.
"She needs a chance to prove her fitness and that she can get there.
"She'll know next month where she stands and only Paula can answer that question."
Radcliffe is determined to make up for her Athens heartache, when she was forced to pull out of the Olympic marathon at the 23-mile mark.
However, if she is not fit enough to compete in Beijing, Scotland's Hayley Haining has been nominated as a reserve to join Yelling and Mara Yamauchi in Britain's female marathon squad.
The women's Olympic marathon in Beijing is on 17 August and starts from Tianamen Square to the finish point in the National Stadium.
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