2014 Commonwealth Games

[MadAsHell 4,209]

5 days remaining:

Australia 34 Gold, 31 Silver, 36 Bronze

England 33 Gold, 33 Silver, 27 Bronze

So we're 8 in total up, but given England have more Silver and are only 1 behind in Gold, if they get the next they'll leap frog us. Total for whole UK is:

50 Gold, 55 Silver & 54 Bronze which means for every gold UK win we're at .68%, silver .56%, Bronze .67% & .64% for every medal won

If you compare to London where we were .24% for Gold, .94% for Silver, .63% for Bronze & .54% for every medal won.

So although there's still 5 days of competition remaining, it appears that we've already made up ground on the debacle that was our last Olympic campaign compared to what the UK produced.

[gsmith12 491]

Reckon we are in a spot of bother now the swimming has finished nevertheless we have been outstanding in the pool.

Pretty pleased with the shooters too.

[Macca 16,611]

Before the games, the bookies had the Aussies at $1.02 to win the gold medal count and ... the Australian "line" was over/under 79.5 gold medals ... here's a more in depth explanation

I can't see us getting anywhere near 80 gold medals but I reckon we might hold off England. Hope so anyway.

[gsmith12 491]

Can't see where they are coming from Macca, what am I missing ?

[Macca 16,611]

Can't see where they are coming from Macca, what am I missing ?

I agree, Smithy. Before the games began, I though England would push us.

We picked up a lot of gold in the Gymnastics at the last games in New Delhi so ... with 10 individual events in the Gymnastic "artistic" to come, we may need to do well in those events again.

Other than that, we may well pick up 1 or 2 gold medals in a variety of sports (T&F, Hockey, Netball, Boxing, Diving)

Edited July 30, 2014 by Macca

[gsmith12 491]

Things are looking up for the English, they are on top of India and have headed us, reckon they are there to stay.

Must say I'm enthusiastic about some of our younger athletes coming through, not sure about Rio but when the CG hit the Gold Coast we are bound to more competitive for medals particularly in some of the distance events.

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Things are looking up for the English, they are on top of India and have headed us, reckon they are there to stay.

Must say I'm enthusiastic about some of our younger athletes coming through, not sure about Rio but when the CG hit the Gold Coast we are bound to more competitive for medals particularly in some of the distance events.

Spot on gsmith.

I expect England to now stay ahead of us for these games and GB will probably towel us up in Rio given they fundings high from London 2012 will still be paying off. Commonwealth Games 2018 on the Gold Coast and onwards in when we should be aiming to take over from them again and once more be aiming for top 4 medal tally at Olympics like we managed at Sydney and Athens and pushed at Bejing, For Rio we should be aiming for top 10 with an improvement on our 7 Gold from London (35 total). We won 7 at Barcelona 92' (27 total) and then backed that up with 9 at Atlanta 96' (41), so maybe 9 should be the minimum Gold set for Rio with 40+ medals in total.

As for the remainder of these games. As mentioned, mens and women's hockey, netball, Melissa Wu, Matthew Mitcham in the 10m platform, Sally Peason and a cameo from Michelle Jeneke!

So look forward to see if we can get to say 50 Gold and make sure we keep the English honest.

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Only 2 Gold in the last 2 days since Swimming & Shooting finished up.

Now trailing England in both Gold and overall, down 8 in Gold and 10 overall. Also even Canada's closing in. Although 48 in total behind us, they're only 9 Gold down.

Three days remaining so I guess the aim should be to at least equal what we managed to get at the 86' Comm Games, last time we failed to top the medal table. On that occasion we finished with 40 Gold, 46 Silver & 35 Bronze, we're currently at 36, 36 & 41. So we're 4 down in Gold, 10 in Silver & 6 ahead in bronze already. So if we can manage 4 Gold & 10 Silver over the next three days we've at least improved on 86.

Sally Pearson fastest qualifier for the 100m hurdles final, Jenneke also qualified as did the third Australian runner, so good news there. Fingers crossed we can run out these last three days better then we've done the last 2.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Tall Defence

[Macca 16,611]

Only 2 Gold in the last 2 days since Swimming & Shooting finished up.

Now trailing England in both Gold and overall, down 8 in Gold and 10 overall. Also even Canada's closing in. Although 48 in total behind us, they're only 9 Gold down.

Three days remaining so I guess the aim should be to at least equal what we managed to get at the 86' Comm Games, last time we failed to top the medal table. On that occasion we finished with 40 Gold, 46 Silver & 35 Bronze, we're currently at 36, 36 & 41. So we're 4 down in Gold, 10 in Silver & 6 ahead in bronze already. So if we can manage 4 Gold & 10 Silver over the next three days we've at least improved on 86.

Sally Pearson fastest qualifier for the 100m hurdles final, Jenneke also qualified as did the third Australian runner, so good news there. Fingers crossed we can run out these last three days better then we've done the last 2.

I wonder if our funding might increase on the back of England (and the UK in general) doing so well at these games and at the London Olympics. If ever there was living proof that lots of funding = lots of medals, it's been with the remarkable turnaround that we've seen from the UK.

Here's a website that explains it better ... UK - Investment in Olympic Sports (Rio) Within that site, you can click on 'Historical Funding Figures' to see the vast differences in total spend by the UK from the Sydney Olympics onwards.

Of course, the money needs to be spent wisely but it seems that they're doing that quite well. Fairly sure the Australian institute of sport was set up soon after the Montreal* Olympics and by world standards, our current level of overall funding isn't shabby but ... the system in the UK looks like it delivers a lot more dollars.

*At the Montreal Olympics, Australia's medal tally was 0 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze (that tally makes the London Olympics medal haul look positively magnificent) Of course, it was the steroid era and it's safe to assume we weren't dabbling.

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Great research there Macca, makes for some interesting reading.

Great Britain's version of our Montreal 76' came at Atlanta 96' I remember where they went 1 Gold, 8 Silver & 6 Bronze I think it was, which for a country their size is pretty horrible. They've been on the upward trend ever since!

With the Comm Games coming to Gold Coast in 2018 and both Melbourne and Brisbane making noises about bidding for the Olympics in either 2024 or 2028 (2028 would be the sensible one I would have thought, surely it's due to go back to the USA by 2024) then you'd hope our funding is sure to improve on what is already decent funding (to our medal prospect sports as I understand it) and we can once again climb the ladder.

In further Commonwealth Games news though (it is old news mind you), it's sad to see T20 cricket won't be making an appearance at Gold Coast 2018. http://www.cricket.com.au/news-list/2014/7/23/no-commonwealth-games-cricket-gold-for-gold-coast

Sad really, I think Commonwealth Games is the perfect platform in which to stage cricket for countries like Canada and Singapore to take a bit more interest.

[Macca 16,611]

We're in 3 of the boxing finals and we're in with big chances in a number of other sports over the next 2 days. 50 gold medals is still achievable and I'm hoping we can actually exceed that total.

England almost certainly have us covered but we may look back in future years and not be at all surprised with their achievements in these games. As it stands, they were always going to do well when we consider how well they did at the London Olympics. Look for the UK to do very well at the Rio Olympics.

Where we've not achieved gold medals is in the gymnastics but that probably has more to do with England and Canada catching up to us rather than our gymnasts suddenly becoming way less proficient at their disciplines. Anyway ...

... Australia’s golden girls glitter in night to remember

Edited August 2, 2014 by Macca

[MadAsHell 4,209]

We're in 3 of the boxing finals and we're in with big chances in a number of other sports over the next 2 days. 50 gold medals is still achievable and I'm hoping we can actually exceed that total.

England almost certainly have us covered but we may look back in future years and not be at all surprised with their achievements in these games. As it stands, they were always going to do well when we consider how well they did at the London Olympics. Look for the UK to do very well at the Rio Olympics.

Where we've not achieved gold medals is in the gymnastics but that probably has more to do with England and Canada catching up to us rather than our gymnasts suddenly becoming way less proficient at their disciplines. Anyway ...

... Australia’s golden girls glitter in night to remember

The Kookuburras knocked England out in the semi's earlier tonight which helps and England's netball team also lost their semi final to New Zealand earlier by a goal.

At about 5:15am The Hockeyroos take on England in the Gold medal match in womens hockey, so if we pick up 3 Gold there, it's at least some late revenge for them overtaking us.

Canada's also had a significant improvement these games up to 30 Gold. If they can snare two more before the end of the games it'll be their best performance since their last home games in 94, also a great year for the mighty Dees!

[Macca 16,611]

The Kookuburras knocked England out in the semi's earlier tonight which helps and England's netball team also lost their semi final to New Zealand earlier by a goal.

At about 5:15am The Hockeyroos take on England in the Gold medal match in womens hockey, so if we pick up 3 Gold there, it's at least some late revenge for them overtaking us.

Canada's also had a significant improvement these games up to 30 Gold. If they can snare two more before the end of the games it'll be their best performance since their last home games in 94, also a great year for the mighty Dees!

Yeah TD, watched the Kookaburra's match ... it was fairly tense for quite a while there. England are just strong everywhere it seems - they're represented in 6 gold medal bouts in the boxing I believe.

Rather than be annoyed about it, I say hats off to them. Them doing so well effectively makes us sit up, take notice and ... try and do something about it. However, without banging on about it too much, unless we come up with a way of matching their funding, we may continue to lag behind them.

I wouldn't be against a similar "lotto" style funding idea for our Olympic athletes but I have my doubts on whether that could happen anytime soon. The UK model and how they distribute their funds is excellent though.

As you indicated in an earlier post, that medal haul (including only 1 gold) that the UK derived from the Atlanta games seems to have been the catalyst for drastic change.

Still, the games have been terrific to watch and I'm eagerly looking forward to the last day on the track tonight. I'll be tuning in to the hockeyroos as well and the boxing is always a must see for me (there's just something about amateur boxing that appeals)

[gsmith12 491]

Gold in Hockey, Diving, Boxing and Pole Vault cause for celebration.

I concede Poms too good but I'm proud of our team and have really enjoyed the viewing.

[Macca 16,611]

The Diamonds and the Kookaburras bring home the gold - dominant performances and well done to both teams! Still 3 chances for gold - the Mens cycling road race and 2 chances in the squash ... we're up to 47 gold as of right now.

Interesting that we went from winning 12 gold in Delhi in the gymnastics to 0 gold in these games whilst England went from 4 gold to 9 gold in the gymnastics (from Delhi to Glasgow) That reversal in gold medal performances was another major factor in England heading the gold medal count.

... Silver lining for Australian gymnasts after worst return in 36 years

[MadAsHell 4,209]

So you weren't far off the money in the end Macca, 49 Gold, only 1 short of the 50 and only 9 short of England when it lookd liek they were going to run away with it at one point.

Day 7 & 8 are where we cam unstuck, but our last three days were very impressive and both our hockey teams and the Diamonds were well deserved winners, even if the Hockeyroos did get out of jail with a goal with 14 seconds remaining to level the match.

To close out the games if we're trying to get a look on where we stood compared to team GB form London (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Isla of Man, Guernsey etc) it was Australia 49 Gold, 42 Silver, 46 Bronze & 137 Total

Team GB 84 Gold, 89 Silver, 103 Bronze & 276 Total.

So that means for every gold GB won we were at .58%, silver .47%, Bronze .45% & .50% (all rounded) for every medal won to .24% for Gold, .94% for Silver, .63% for Bronze & .54% for every medal won at London. Bearing in mind at London there were only 2-3 members in each sport for team GB, while at Glasgow it was anywhere from 12-18 given all the countries GB is made up of.

So all in all you'd have to say a very succesful Comm Games for Australia. We should hopefully see them close the gap somewhat at Rio on the other countires who finished top 10 in medals and by Gold Coasy 2018 hopefully order will be restored.

[gsmith12 491]

Wonderful viewing throughout the games from my perspective, the Aussie team did very well with the disappointment being the gymnasts.

Plenty of young talent coming through particularly in the athletics and the experience gained immeasurable.

[daisycutter 29,331]

wonder how the medals tally women vs men smithie?

seems the girls are setting the trends

[MadAsHell 4,209]

wonder how the medals tally women vs men smithie?

seems the girls are setting the trends

Pretty even in the end. Women 4 more Gold & 4 more Bronze to the men 4 more Silver.

Detailed medal tally here: http://results.glasgow2014.com/medals.html