Olympics 2020

[Anag Ram]

1 hour ago, angieram said:

Loving the swimming finals - it's our best performance in the pool for about a hundred years.

DarkFruitsRam's games report

More than holds his own in the pool. 

[StockholmRam]

Enjoying most of it so far. On a months vacation so it doesnt matter if Im up all night.

Mainly following the swimming and boxing and blown away by how good our gymnasts are. When i was a kid it was all Olga Korbet and East Europeans. 

The welsh boxing lass has played international football for Wales ( quite a few caps too), junior world kickboxing champ and now going for olympic gold at boxing. Pretty impressive. 

Doing well team GB. Any table where we are ahead of Ze Germans makes me happy.

[TigerTedd]

1 hour ago, David said:

I’ve been watching a bit of the Olympics, but I am somewhat confused, skateboarding, surfing and what’s with getting these horses to hop trot like they are in the queue for the toilet?

Can’t be good for the horses travelling from UK to Tokyo either unless they are in a lasagne.

They even had baseball on the other night, isn’t that only really played by one country? 

Rugby 7’s was entertaining with the GB v US scoreline and the Argentinians ending up with 5 as they won, but it’s a bit like 5 a side football.

Feel like we’ll have gardening in the Olympics in a few years, anything gets in these days.

Anything that classes as a competitive sport could be eligible. I think it’s a great festival of all things sport. Dressage might not be your thing, but for those that love it the olympics most be so important to give it an international forum. Baseball isn’t really played in Britain, but it is a thing in a lot of other countries. I was reading about a semi finals recently that involved Japan, Cuba and a couple of other countries, and USA were no where to be seen. 

what I don’t get is the the difference between amateur and professional. USA have always cleaned up in basketball, cos they are allowed to field the absolute best of the best players, and it’s the only real chance they get to shine on an international stage, as they have no World Cup for basketball. But the football tournament is basically an under 23 tournament. The golfing and tennis is full of well known players who win tournaments left right and centre. For people like that I don’t get why they need the olympics, it can’t be that high on their list of priorities compared to winning Wimbledon or a one of the majors, can it? They should do some sort of amateur / up and coming competition for those sorts.

Like boxing, there’s rules against AJ just strolling back in and reclaiming his gold. 

maybe it shouldn’t be like that. It would be quite a spectacle to see AJ fight it out with Fury for Olympic gold.  

[CBRammette]

1 hour ago, angieram said:

Loving the swimming finals - it's our best performance in the pool for about a hundred years.

And they train so much

[BucksRam]

1 hour ago, TigerTedd said:

Anything that classes as a competitive sport could be eligible. I think it’s a great festival of all things sport. Dressage might not be your thing, but for those that love it the olympics most be so important to give it an international forum. Baseball isn’t really played in Britain, but it is a thing in a lot of other countries. I was reading about a semi finals recently that involved Japan, Cuba and a couple of other countries, and USA were no where to be seen. 

what I don’t get is the the difference between amateur and professional. USA have always cleaned up in basketball, cos they are allowed to field the absolute best of the best players, and it’s the only real chance they get to shine on an international stage, as they have no World Cup for basketball. But the football tournament is basically an under 23 tournament. The golfing and tennis is full of well known players who win tournaments left right and centre. For people like that I don’t get why they need the olympics, it can’t be that high on their list of priorities compared to winning Wimbledon or a one of the majors, can it? They should do some sort of amateur / up and coming competition for those sorts.

Like boxing, there’s rules against AJ just strolling back in and reclaiming his gold. 

maybe it shouldn’t be like that. It would be quite a spectacle to see AJ fight it out with Fury for Olympic gold.  

May be wrong but far as I know, professionals can now qualify and enter the Olympics, including boxing so AJ could in theory fight Fury for the gold.  Most pros however choose not too.  For a start there's no $million cheque involved. They risk injury and the rules are different to pro boxing so they'd have to learn a new way of boxing and they'd run a very real risk of losing against "lesser" opponents as a result.  I can relate to that: In a previous life I practiced martial arts.  Our club trained and fought a certain way, aimed mainly at defending ourselves in the real world.  Rightly or wrongly, a few of us decided to take up competition fighting.  To a man we were all disqualified for either illegal moves or not fighting in the spirit of the competition despite the fact we were the ones still standing.  Happened twice to me.  I gave up competitions as a result as I wasn't prepared to change what I'd learned over nearly 20 years. Pro boxers would be the same I suspect.  

[Jubbs]

13 minutes ago, BucksRam said:

May be wrong but far as I know, professionals can now qualify and enter the Olympics, including boxing so AJ could in theory fight Fury for the gold.  Most pros however choose not too.  For a start there's no $million cheque involved. They risk injury and the rules are different to pro boxing so they'd have to learn a new way of boxing and they'd run a very real risk of losing against "lesser" opponents as a result.

I'm pretty sure AJ and Lomachenko have both said before that they value their gold medals above any world titles they've won and that they were the most difficult to win.

[BucksRam]

3 minutes ago, Jubbs said:

I'm pretty sure AJ and Lomachenko have both said before that they value their gold medals above any world titles they've won and that they were the most difficult to win.

Yeah, you're right.  Andy Murray said similar if I recall when he won gold in 2012 which he then of course followed up on in 2016. 

[StockholmRam]

Anyone know owt about Rugby 7s ? Ive enjoyed watching it and been wondering how they pick the squads. Anyone know? 

Are these just specialist 7s players? Ive not recognised any from XV a side union!

I also wondered if you can pick players from both codes union and league. Some of these big powerful impressive players from Fiji look more suitable for league given the size and offloading skills they have. 

Be grateful if we have any 7s experts on this board. 

[BucksRam]

24 minutes ago, StockholmRam said:

Anyone know owt about Rugby 7s ? Ive enjoyed watching it and been wondering how they pick the squads. Anyone know? 

Are these just specialist 7s players? Ive not recognised any from XV a side union!

I also wondered if you can pick players from both codes union and league. Some of these big powerful impressive players from Fiji look more suitable for league given the size and offloading skills they have. 

Be grateful if we have any 7s experts on this board. 

Nowhere near an expert but basically the English (and Welsh now I think) Premier Union run a 7s competition every year, from which you'll see the likes of Norton and Bibby picked from.  It is therefore based on union rules rather than league. 

7s however is now seen as a specialty as the play is so different from 15-a-side union.  Many of the players therefore become specialists and play far less for their respective 15s teams.  7s players tend to be fitter, leaner (including the props as scrums aren't really contested similar to that in Rugby League), faster and are also generally more skillful as things like offloads and quick hands are needed more in 7s.   

7s has become more detached from 15s in recent years and I think is now seen as a separate sport entirely from 15s. Many rugby clubs now run 7s teams from junior level alongside their main team.  

Hope that helps.

[TigerTedd]

3 hours ago, BucksRam said:

May be wrong but far as I know, professionals can now qualify and enter the Olympics, including boxing so AJ could in theory fight Fury for the gold.  Most pros however choose not too.  For a start there's no $million cheque involved. They risk injury and the rules are different to pro boxing so they'd have to learn a new way of boxing and they'd run a very real risk of losing against "lesser" opponents as a result.  I can relate to that: In a previous life I practiced martial arts.  Our club trained and fought a certain way, aimed mainly at defending ourselves in the real world.  Rightly or wrongly, a few of us decided to take up competition fighting.  To a man we were all disqualified for either illegal moves or not fighting in the spirit of the competition despite the fact we were the ones still standing.  Happened twice to me.  I gave up competitions as a result as I wasn't prepared to change what I'd learned over nearly 20 years. Pro boxers would be the same I suspect.  

I did wonder, watching the tar Leo do, how much damage would one of those kicks round the back the head, where they’ve just grabbed them and then got their foot up high enough fir the sensors to touch the helmet, would I actually do in a real fight. Definitely seems like there’s a way to play the system in a competition. 

[BucksRam]

38 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

I did wonder, watching the tar Leo do, how much damage would one of those kicks round the back the head, where they’ve just grabbed them and then got their foot up high enough fir the sensors to touch the helmet, would I actually do in a real fight. Definitely seems like there’s a way to play the system in a competition. 

Ha, you're not wrong.  We practised high kicks for suppleness only but never in a fight, always mid to low. Tae Kwondo is more a sport these days.  Don't get me wrong.  Without the padding they will do damage but it's more about speed and scoring points.  

[StockholmRam]

2 hours ago, BucksRam said:

Nowhere near an expert but basically the English (and Welsh now I think) Premier Union run a 7s competition every year, from which you'll see the likes of Norton and Bibby picked from.  It is therefore based on union rules rather than league. 

7s however is now seen as a specialty as the play is so different from 15-a-side union.  Many of the players therefore become specialists and play far less for their respective 15s teams.  7s players tend to be fitter, leaner (including the props as scrums aren't really contested similar to that in Rugby League), faster and are also generally more skillful as things like offloads and quick hands are needed more in 7s.   

7s has become more detached from 15s in recent years and I think is now seen as a separate sport entirely from 15s. Many rugby clubs now run 7s teams from junior level alongside their main team.  

Hope that helps.

Awesome. Thanks Bucks.

I watch both codes eagerly but never seen too much 7s. 

Asked the same question earlier elsewhere and have been told that years ago in the yearly Middlesex 7s competition, Wigan RLFC entered a team ( Edwards, Offiah, Radlinski era) and totally walked it. Makes sense really as from what I see its far more suited for League players. 

[BucksRam]

4 hours ago, StockholmRam said:

Awesome. Thanks Bucks.

I watch both codes eagerly but never seen too much 7s. 

Asked the same question earlier elsewhere and have been told that years ago in the yearly Middlesex 7s competition, Wigan RLFC entered a team ( Edwards, Offiah, Radlinski era) and totally walked it. Makes sense really as from what I see its far more suited for League players. 

Yeah you're right.  Although it follows union rules the play is more akin to Rugby League. I too followed Wigan during their golden era of Edwards, Offiah, Radlinski, Betts, Conolly, Farrell & Billy Wizz.

[StockholmRam]

1 minute ago, BucksRam said:

Yeah you're right.  Although it follows union rules the play is more akin to Rugby League. I too followed Wigan during their golden era of Edwards, Offiah, Radlinski, Betts, Conolly, Farrell & Billy Wizz.

We have much in common on the sporting front then. Ive followed Wigan since late 70s and continue to do so. 

Favourite player ever is Joe Lydon and best player I have seen in either code is Andy Farrell with Jason Robinson close 2nd.

Problem solved for next Olympics then. We just pick Bateman, Gildart, Ryan Hall, Makinson, Ratchford, Bibby, Powell. Job done. 

[David]

Basketball on now, but it’s not even a full court, looks like a quarter court with one hoop. I don’t think I’ll ever truly appreciate the summer Olympics. 

[TigerTedd]

7 hours ago, David said:

Basketball on now, but it’s not even a full court, looks like a quarter court with one hoop. I don’t think I’ll ever truly appreciate the summer Olympics. 

That’s a sport known as 3x3 basketball. It’s the rugby sevens of the basketball world. They do normal basketball too. Just lots of sports out there you never knew existed. 

what they don’t do is netball, which is a bit weird, as it’s in the commonwealth games, and quite a popular sport as far as I can tell. Girls always play it in school. 

Edited July 29, 2021 by TigerTedd

[Srg]

18 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

That’s a sport known as 3x3 basketball. It’s the rugby sevens of the basketball world. They do normal basketball too. Just lots of sports out there you never knew existed. 

what they don’t do is netball, which is a bit weird, as it’s in the commonwealth games, and quite a popular sport as far as I can tell. Girls always play it in school. 

Don't get that 3v3 Basketball. The real deal is in there, there's no real leagues for 3v3 basketball, it's like a game you play on the park. Doesn't seem a point to it. They may as well put 5 a side football in there if they're doing this, or single cuppies, it's basically the equivalent.

[BucksRam]

26 minutes ago, Srg said:

Don't get that 3v3 Basketball. The real deal is in there, there's no real leagues for 3v3 basketball, it's like a game you play on the park. Doesn't seem a point to it. They may as well put 5 a side football in there if they're doing this, or single cuppies, it's basically the equivalent.

Yeah clearly talented players but it's a weird format which I don't get either although apparently 3x3 is gaining popularity.  It's maybe a Rugby Sevens in the making. 

[BucksRam]

1 hour ago, TigerTedd said:

That’s a sport known as 3x3 basketball. It’s the rugby sevens of the basketball world. They do normal basketball too. Just lots of sports out there you never knew existed. 

what they don’t do is netball, which is a bit weird, as it’s in the commonwealth games, and quite a popular sport as far as I can tell. Girls always play it in school. 

Netball is a funny one.  They did apply for it to be part of this Olympics but it was rejected.  Part of the reason, and it's a sexist one I think is that it's because it's seen as a women only sport although male equivalents are growing in popularity, especially down under.  Another reason I think is that it's not very popular in the US, Russia or China, all three of whom hold a lot of sway when it comes to the Olympics.   I've watched international level netball and it's a pretty fast and competitive sport - I for one think it should be included.  I would be surprised if it's not included if not the next one, then soon after.  

[David]

3x3 Basketball looked like they were using a beach volleyball ball, can’t they just just a standard ball, that would make me slightly happier.