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1/ Why doesn't it? We're talking fractions of a second, not country miles.
eg: handwashing. If an athlete spends a week a year ill because of avoidable colds, that disrupts their training program by 2%. Doesn't mean they're automatically 2% slower, but if that can be avoided simply by avoiding shaking hands and by using hand sanitisers, why wouldn't you? Just because no-one thought of it first doesn't mean it's not valid.
2/ To use your Sherlock Holmes analogy. After all other possible explanations have been exhausted, whatever remains, however unbelievable / unpalatable must be the truth. You seem to be suggesting that selecting the best athletes, giving them the best equipment and best training techniques, ekeing out every tiny possible improvement and adding them all together, and then planning the whole 4 years around being the very best you possibly can be for a week in August - none of these things explain why we are unbeatable (* which we aren't; Vogel / Ligtlee / Viviani all beat us, plenty others were bloody close) while for the other 47.5 months we're ordinary (* we aren't; plenty of World class performances / titles in the interim too). So all that leaves is......
Is that what you think?
So all that leaves is......
Elementary my dear Watson
Gains are not bobbins, but to assume somehow that coaches do not move teams and share all the techniques etc is just naive. So the marketing by BC that somehow the secret sauce stays in the GB camp over time is just that - marketing.
There was an interview on the bbc web site with a new GB coach who just moved from russia to france to GB. He basically said there is little difference and the knowledge whether it be technical or sports coaching is pretty much identical. He said what does matter is how much money is spent on logn term programmes, and this does change per team. Much like in business.
So copa a quick question for you. How many people are actually involved in this doping and have been involved since it began would you say?
If team GB acknowledges that it only matters once every 4 years
the continued funding/amount of funding is based on Gold medals count isn't it? If so it does only matter every 4 years, no point spending time and effort wining the world championships and other races as nobody cares who wins those
Oh I also hear Vogel thinks the British performances are suspicious. I find her performance suspicious then.
She was saying that before the event, not afterwards. Did you see her on the start line against both British girls - staring hard from behind mirrored shades ?
Clearly she was doing all she could to unsettle them and undermine them - can you blame her ? And maybe it made the difference. Not that she was lacking in skill, ability and experience, but she had also had that killer instinct
I said last night - she definitely out-noused Katy Marchant. And then I'm not convinced Becky James isn't actually that fast over the longer drawn out sprints - she has an amazing turn of speed over a short distance, for example in the Kierin but only from a point where it wasn't quite enough to close the gaps completely; and Vogel just went early enough to draw the sting. Beaten by tactics, but they all count.
Careful Boardman. There'll be letters
A minor twitter spat did ensue, a female journo got upset, ignored those who suggested she'd misinterpreted the remarks, including Mrs Boardman, who pointed out that "What's for tea" doesn't mean "What are you making for tea" and her husband is very much a feminist himself !
It also turns out that Kenny does most of the cooking, wheras Trott has been known to set the kitchen on fire trying to cook a baked potato. Can't be brilliant at everything I suppose!
Bmx seeding runs are on now.
Nasty face plant off the first jump...
Bmx seeding runs on now
Well informed commentator that seems stuck on aero' and why don't they wear skinsuits.
Didn't Rob Warner do the London Olympics commentary.
D post, doh!
It appears the bmx qualifiers are on!
Is the track a bit slow? Seen quite a few cased jumps
Fun to watch the BMX, great skill and must be hard work. Just looks wrong though - no disrespect to the riders (and I wish I could jump and pump like that) but still looks like dads riding their kids bikes!!
Would be fun to try that track though
9th for Phillips
[b]A minor twitter spat did ensue, a female journo got upset,[/b] ignored those who suggested she'd misinterpreted the remarks, including Mrs Boardman, who pointed out that "What's for tea" doesn't mean "What are you making for tea" and her husband is very much a feminist himself !
So the fella in the velodrome wasn't the only one who was quick on the draw.
[quote=teamhurtmore ]Just looks wrong though - no disrespect to the riders (and I wish I could jump and pump like that) but still looks like dads riding their kids bikes!!
As mentioned earlier, Jess Varnish nailed this one: https://twitter.com/JessVarnish/status/765663169817763842
Did I miss the BMX quali-s, damn who knew ? 😉
Political Correctness gone totally mad re: Boardman's remark.
cloudnine - Member
Is the track a bit slow? Seen quite a few cased jumps
Sure looks it. Not sure it's going to be the best spectacle when there's 8 guys or girls on the track, 1/2 of them are casing the jumps even at flat out on their own speed. Think it may be a bit ambitious. Too many riders having to do that annoying "I'm only going to clear this if I wiggle the bike in the air" style of jumping. The one that has no style.
Oh and what IS Liam Phillips wearing? Looks gash.
Joris Daudet all the way for me - just so smooth and double quick
Jamba, qualifying is tomorrow, time trails for seeding for the qualis tonight. Not convinced by the track especially the 'road gap' at the end of the third. Will wait to see what bar to bar racing brings.
[quote=cloudnine ]Is the track a bit slow? Seen quite a few cased jumps
There've been questions raised about the track already, I thought they'd remodelled it?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/35959905
Hmm, watched a couple of runs (inc Daudet & Phillips) then turned the telly off. Really don't find it exciting or even interesting, maybe if they had their mums chasing them telling them to get home as it's time for tea and they have homework to do it would be better 😛
Sorry if it's your thing but it's not for me. I'm oot!
LOL at all the BMX hating from a load of middle aged men who also ride bikes for fun (actually I'm with you!) It should get more interesting when they start racing against each other though.
Where's the hate? I said I wasn't interested - big difference.
Or perhaps wait until they start racing!
[quote=whitestone ]Where's the hate? I said I wasn't interested - big difference.
I think the line about mums calling them home for tea - though it's a fairly gentle sort of hating and I'm laughing along with you rather than at you!
It's not *any* form of hating, it's called poking fun.
Let's be honest; as a grown up riding any sort of bikes whether it be around the block, around the woods, over jumps, down hills - it's all daft. In fact all sport's daft. I'd ban it all, apart from the fact that it's bloody brilliant and is a major contributor to the fact that we don't all get morbidly depressed and kill ourselves.
Pretty much everything in life needs to have some sort of fun extracted from it.
Thinking back to my day - the race would start not with the 'Watch the Gate' call, rather my mum screeching 'JONNY! TEATIME!' from 3 miles away; and as well as the usual berms and jumps, would include some dogshit to weave around and also being shouted at by the farmer for taking a short cut through his yard rather than around the footpath.
I'd also like to see 'negotiating the rhythm section' to be replaced by 'negotiating with the rhythm section' in which racers have to broker a settlement in Morrissey and Marr vs Joyce and Rourke before moving on to the final big set of doubles.
Looks like they are struggling to find enough able bodied riders to make up a moto after the first round.
Not really racing. First out the gate wins, everyone else just trying to get to the finish line.
Snapped bikes and massive stacks all good so far!
Commentator said, the Dutch rider broke his "FRONT FORKS" ! Lucky he didn't snap his rear forks eh ?
I missed the crash because the BMX was on the BBC Olympic channel that said 'boxing'. Great stuff BBC. As if it's not hard enough to flick between BBC 1 and 2 every 30 seconds !!!
Ah well, Sagan in the mountain bike race in a few days and not forgetting the Vuelta starts on Saturday.
There was a good interview with Mark Cavendish this morning, on BBC breakfast.
He wasn't ruling out Tokyo in the way he seemed to be a couple of days ago...
In his heart of hearts he wants a gold- but knew silver was a good outcome given his lack of pure track focus- but he also wants more TdF stage wins
Lets see what happens
I suspect that in four years he wont win many more sprints as the fast twitch muscles dont quite hold off the younger guys any more .Lets hope he wins 5 more TDF stages to have the record
My money says if he gets the TdF stage record in the next two years he'll spend the remaining two trying for a Tokyo gold - I mean why not, what else could he get that he doesn't have?
If it takes three or four years to get that stages record (or he doesn't get it) then maybe not Tokyo.
I was thinking he may plan the end of his career that way as well
I said this on another thread yesterday while watching the triathlon...
There's something about triathletes on a bike that just looks wrong. Can't quite put my finger on it. Suspect it's a few things. Dodgy kit, wonky helmets put on in a hurry, position compromised by need to swim/run, the way they pedal, their shape... dunno.
And today from the halfords website...
[img] 
[/img]
I rest my case 🙂
(Great effort bringing home the medals though. Alistair ability to maintain his running pace while his form looks on the verge of collapse is impressive.)
They do look a bit [i]special[/i] in that photo.
It's true of most triathletes. I don't know how they manage it 🙂
Women's bmx on
Loving the BMX...
Mad peddling over big bumps on kiddy bikes by grown men/women....
It's like something out of Benny Hill!
Pahon for the women
Willoughby/Dean/Fields for the men
is the final just one race, like last time?
If so, I think the 3 runs is a better way to decide it, although perhaps less exciting/daft.
Looking a lot better than yesterday now the wind has dropped a bit.
Nicely done from Pahon....
Great move from Gorkom to take 2nd...
Didn't go well for the Aussies. Quite unexpected.
Loving the BMX...
Exactly the opposite I'm afraid.
Mainly due to some excitable tit having little to say then screaming his head off when anyone goes down, not really the racing.
Did anybody else catch the interview Liam Philips gave to Vicky P (not sure if it was a radio only thing - no football on, so they were actually covering the Olympics). He was pretty scathing about the atmosphere in the track squad.
Interesting aracer, what program was that on?
5live, about 6:20 if you want to try and find it on iplayer. Just a one line throwaway comment when asked if he might try for a medal on the track in Tokyo, and not the main reason he gave, but it was a bit of a "wow" moment
Travel over the last week means I've had to miss out on watching quite a lot of the track, and almost all of the BMX.
The track is an astonishing achievement. Every team member winning a medal is superb!
And for all the French whining, surely if they're upset about investment in sport, they can give up all the money that's going in to their rugby!
And for all the French whining, surely if they're upset about investment in sport, they can give up all the money that's going in to their rugby!
That's strange - I thought money bought success?
Being Jess Varnish's partner probably gives him a very different viewpoint on the track team than others who have never been dropped.
Wasn't quite the impression you got from people who were inside the track team.
Those inside the track team don't want to rock the boat - or at least that's the suggestion I've seen from those who have left the track team.
Hadn't realised he was Varnish's partner - that does explain and put a slightly different perspective on his comment (doesn't mean it is wrong though).
Maybe.
It's without doubt the most successful program in British sport. Possibly world sport, the dominance we have displayed these Olympics. It has its ways, and if you want to be part of it and give yourself a fantastic chance of winning gold medals then you have to accept those ways*. If you can't accept them then have no doubt you'll be shipped out. Make a choice.
* as long as those ways aren't illegal, eg: drugs or possibly some of the allegations of sexist/bullying cultures - but what some see as bullying others may see as "extremely robust discussions"
Right, shall we move on to the MTB now?
I'll pick Absalon as my winner this time round. Nino to lose by putting in some steez on a cheeky jump and crashing.
Aracer - french club rugby is hugely rich and outspends all the rest of the clubs. Its to the detriment of the national team tho as they buy in allblacks so french players don't get a game - very simplistically.
Not quite sure how Nic Long lost it... must have cased the first jump on the third straight?
Woohoo! Gold for GB in the hockey!!
That hockey was tense stuff, enjoyed that. And.... GOLD!!!!
Do GB get 16 golds for that then? 😉
Agree, but there's a proper discussion in the Olympics thread where you'll get better answers; this is the Olympic cycling one.
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/the-olympics-2
Women's MTB just starting. Course looks brutal!
Where to get the MTB? red button channels not active here, and not showing on BBC sport app yet 🙁
Edit, scratch that, on the app now
Commentary is annoying.
'such a strong rider'
Can you really not come up with anything better than that?! Of course she's a strong rider, she's [b]leading the ****ing Olympic race[/b].
There's some good racing going on, it's pretty close but that course looks even tougher than London.
The course looks like fun.
Course looks ace. Come on Neff!
Some good skills on display considering they've not got droppers.
Commentator discussing wheel size!
Won't somebody think of the kittens!
have they said brings the trails alive yet?
The commentary is dire......Nice course...Emily batty too far behind in the pack......neff to win
I don't think he knows what a gap jump is.
Some interesting comments on droppers and women not using in the race,......seems to be women may not be able to use them as too much to focus on...but enduro riders can.......??????
neff dropped
Neff could bin the bronze!
Good race,