2016 Rio Olympics

[Macca 17,034]

And an excellent bronze medal for the men's medley relay with Kyle Chalmers outstanding again in the final freestyle leg. 

Again, we weren't favoured to win this event by any stretch so the bronze is a terrific achievement.  That's the way it should be viewed anyway.   

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Game set and match Bawden/Clancy! 15-21, 21-16, 15-11. Great game of beach volleyball!

And as touched on above, well done to the medly relay teams for their silver & bronze medals

The women with Seebohm & Campbell out of form, Emma McKeon out of form with her butterfly & Taylor McKewan  not a natural 100m swimmer in the breastroke.

While with the men, both Packard & Morgan didn't even make the final out their strokes.

So to win medals in both is a brilliant effort!

[Macca 17,034]

5 minutes ago, AngryAtCasey said:

Game set and match Bawden/Clancy! 15-21, 21-16, 15-11. Great game of beach volleyball!

And as touched on above, well done to the medly relay teams for their silver & bronze medals

The women with Seebohm & Campbell out of form, Emma McKeon out of form with her butterfly & Taylor McKewan  not a natural 100m swimmer in the breastroke.

While with the men, both Packard & Morgan didn't even make the final out their strokes.

So to win medals in both is a brilliant effort!

So can Bawden & Clancy go much further TD?  In other words, can we win gold!!!!

We're going to need an unexpected gold or 2 to get to the targets that you and I have set so here's hoping that Bawden & Clancy can come through with the goods.

We're tracking reasonably well or quite well with the other team events

[Macca 17,034]

Well our medal hopes are still alive across a variety of sports in the 2nd week ... there's sailing, equestrian, cycling & canoeing still to come as well as all the team events, track & field (esp Jared Tallent in the 50k walk), triathlon and maybe even in diving.

I reckon we could get at least another 15 medals to match the London tally but our gold medal tally is harder to predict.  Again, as much as the gold medals are the focus, we shouldn't be necessarily disappointed with silver & bronze medals.  There's always the possibility of other medals in other sports to consider.

Many of the team events go into quarter final mode as of tonight onwards but our water polo men need to win their last preliminary game against Greece to have a chance of advancing to the Q/F's whilst the Boomers need to defeat Venezuela to finish 2nd in our group (that's if we assume the USA defeat France in the other game in the group)

The Kookaburras have a vital Q/F match against the Netherlands in the morning (7.00am) whilst Bawden & Clancy go up against the USA in a beach volleyball Q/F (1.00pm tomorrow)

Daily schedule from NBC.com

Chronological summary, results & scheduling of each day of the 2016 Rio Olympics (Wiki)

                      

                      Sunday August 14th (evening)

7,00pm    Highlights program ............ In Rio Today (7hd/7)

10.30pm  Track & Field * * * ............ Women's marathon final - Milly Clark

                                                                                                      Jessica Trengove

                                                                                                      Lisa Jane Weightman

11.55pm   Boxing ............................... Preliminary bouts

                                                             Men's light flyweight gold medal match  * * *

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Monday August 15th (morning)

1.50am    Men's Water polo ............... Sharks vs Greece

2.00am    Sailing (final races) ............ Men's RS:X (Windsurfer)  * * *

                                                             Women's RS:X (Windsurfer) * * *

3.00am    Gymnastics finals................ Men's floor * * *

                                                             Women's vault * * *

                                                              Men's pommel horse * * *

                                                              Women's uneven bars * * *

5.00am   Tennis .................................. Men's singles gold medal match  * * *

5.00am    Diving .................................. Women's 3m springboard final - Esther Qin, Maddison Keeney * * *

5.00am    Cycling (track) ..................... Men's sprint finals (6.04am) * * *

7.00am    Men's Hockey ..................... Kookaburras vs Netherlands (quarter final) 

8.00am    Men's Basketball ................. Boomers vs Venezuela

9.00am    Track & Field ....................... Women's triple jump: final (9.55am) * * *

                                                              Men's 400m: final (11.00am) * * *

                                                              Men's 100m: final (11.25am) * * *

1.00pm  Beach Volleyball (W) ............ Australia (Clancy & Bawden) vs USA

                          Monday August 15th (evening)

10.00pm  Swimming ........................... Women's open water 10k final * * *

10.30pm  Track & Field ...................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries

                                                             Women's hammer: final (11.40pm) * * *    

                                                             Women's 3000m steeplechase (12.15am) * * *

11.00pm   Women's Hockey ............ Hockeyroos vs New Zealand (quarter final)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Tuesday August 16th (morning)

2.00am  Sailing (final races) ............... Men's Laser * * *

                                                              Women's Laser Radial * * *

3.00am  Gymnastics finals................... Men's rings * * *

                                                              Women's balance beam * * *

                                                              Men's vault * * *                                                                

4.30am  Women's Waterpolo ............. Stingers vs Hungary (quarter final) 

5.00am  Cycling (track) ...................... Men's omnium points race (final race) (6.23am) * * *

6.00am  Boxing .................................. Preliminary bouts, Q/F's & S/F's 

                                                             Men's heavyweight gold medal match * * *

9.00am  Track & Field ........................ Men's pole vault: final (9.35am) * * *

                                                             Mens 800m: final (11.25am) * * *

                                                             Women's 400m: final (11.45am) * * *

Edited August 15, 2016 by Macca

[Macca 17,034]

In the sailing we're currently in 1st place in the men's 'Mixed Nacra 17',  2nd in the men's 'Laser',  2nd in the men's '470',  3rd in the men's 'Finn' and not far off 3rd in the men's '49ers'.  Gold medal races start tonight but our chances are in the 8 other disciplines over the 4 subsequent days.

We're also in with a big show in the K2 & K4 in the canoe sprint events which will be held from Thursday evening onwards (AEST) ... and there are still at least 3 more medal chances in the track cycling including Anna Meares in the women's sprint.

There's the men's golf & women's BMX as well.  Other chances including Brooke Stratton in the women's long jump.

 

Edited August 14, 2016 by Macca

[MadAsHell 4,215]

3 hours ago, Macca said:

So can Bawden & Clancy go much further TD?  In other words, can we win gold!!!!

We're going to need an unexpected gold or 2 to get to the targets that you and I have set so here's hoping that Bawden & Clancy can come through with the goods.

We're tracking reasonably well or quite well with the other team events

Probably not Macca, having said that they're certainly on a roll.

On the world beach volleyball tour they're ranked number 32 in the world, and in their last two games they've knocked off the dutch pair ranked 14, and the polish pair today ranked 19 in the world.

Their next assignment is against the USA pair who are ranked world number 3. If, and it's a big if they can knock off the US, then they're as good a chance as any to claim gold.

Of the 8 remaining pairs left in the beach volleyball, Bawsen & Clancy are the only ranked outside the top 25. Three of the world's top 6 teams are still in the draw along with the world numbers 11, 16, 20 & 23. So the girls are up against it, but beat the US and anythings possible.

As for our other teams, despite their indifferent form, i think the Hockeyroos are reallly well placed. They've drawn New Zealand for their quarter final and if they win that then it'll be either Great Britain or Spain. All of which the Hockeyroos are ranked higher then and have good records against. Meanwhile on the other side of the draw are world number 1 & 2 Netherlands and Argentina along with Germany & USA, both of whom the Hockeyroos have had struggles with. If one of those three can knock off Netherlands in the quarter or semi final, then the Hockeyroos areva real chance for gold.

Kookaburras have a bit harder a draw, but having said that, as World number 1, they know they're capable of beating anyone. Gold remains a chance in the hockey on both fronts.

Basketball is tracking well on both fronts, however as far as gold goes, i rate the boomers a slightly better chance then Opals, and i don't rate the boomers much of a chance for gold. I still se USA womens team as close to unbeatable and the Opals aren't playing well enough to cause a boil over for me. Silver medal at best. In the mens, the world is catching up to USA. They're still superior on talent, but are vulnerable to a really cohesive team. This is the Boomers best chance to medal since Sydney 2000 as they're playing very well, however they're still capable of being beaten by any of the other quarter finalists. Think they'll likely get Croartia in their quarter final.

Waterpolo i reckon our women remain a gold medal hope. The sharks not so much though. I think the quarter finals is about as far as they can go. So from those team events, if we could possibly manage two gold medals, we'd be doing very well.

As for other gold medal hopes,  i don't think there's to many left. Marcus Fraser currently 3rd going into the final round of the golf. Ken Wallace in the kayak, Caroline Buchanan in the BMX and Tallent 50km walk as you mentioned. Not sure what other chances we have at the veledrome? And of course hopefully we'l, have a few chances in the sailing.

So yeah i see 10-12 gold max being what we end up with. And i still think questions will be asked in the swimming. Yes we did improve on London with 3 gold compared to, however our total medals was still only 10, where as at Bejing we won 20. I just ghink to many of our stars swam outside their best for questions not to be asked.

[Macca 17,034]

1 hour ago, AngryAtCasey said:

Probably not Macca, having said that they're certainly on a roll.

On the world beach volleyball tour they're ranked number 32 in the world, and in their last two games they've knocked off the dutch pair ranked 14, and the polish pair today ranked 19 in the world.

Their next assignment is against the USA pair who are ranked world number 3. If, and it's a big if they can knock off the US, then they're as good a chance as any to claim gold.

Of the 8 remaining pairs left in the beach volleyball, Bawsen & Clancy are the only ranked outside the top 25. Three of the world's top 6 teams are still in the draw along with the world numbers 11, 16, 20 & 23. So the girls are up against it, but beat the US and anythings possible.

As for our other teams, despite their indifferent form, i think the Hockeyroos are reallly well placed. They've drawn New Zealand for their quarter final and if they win that then it'll be either Great Britain or Spain. All of which the Hockeyroos are ranked higher then and have good records against. Meanwhile on the other side of the draw are world number 1 & 2 Netherlands and Argentina along with Germany & USA, both of whom the Hockeyroos have had struggles with. If one of those three can knock off Netherlands in the quarter or semi final, then the Hockeyroos areva real chance for gold.

Kookaburras have a bit harder a draw, but having said that, as World number 1, they know they're capable of beating anyone. Gold remains a chance in the hockey on both fronts.

Basketball is tracking well on both fronts, however as far as gold goes, i rate the boomers a slightly better chance then Opals, and i don't rate the boomers much of a chance for gold. I still se USA womens team as close to unbeatable and the Opals aren't playing well enough to cause a boil over for me. Silver medal at best. In the mens, the world is catching up to USA. They're still superior on talent, but are vulnerable to a really cohesive team. This is the Boomers best chance to medal since Sydney 2000 as they're playing very well, however they're still capable of being beaten by any of the other quarter finalists. Think they'll likely get Croartia in their quarter final.

Waterpolo i reckon our women remain a gold medal hope. The sharks not so much though. I think the quarter finals is about as far as they can go. So from those team events, if we could possibly manage two gold medals, we'd be doing very well.

As for other gold medal hopes,  i don't think there's to many left. Marcus Fraser currently 3rd going into the final round of the golf. Ken Wallace in the kayak, Caroline Buchanan in the BMX and Tallent 50km walk as you mentioned. Not sure what other chances we have at the veledrome? And of course hopefully we'l, have a few chances in the sailing.

So yeah i see 10-12 gold max being what we end up with. And i still think questions will be asked in the swimming. Yes we did improve on London with 3 gold compared to, however our total medals was still only 10, where as at Bejing we won 20. I just ghink to many of our stars swam outside their best for questions not to be asked.

About 5, maybe 6 golds in the swimming was a realistic goal but we fell short of course.  I'm not as big on the world championships form as many are and the Americans definitely don't treat the 'worlds' like we do.  That's not to say they don't take world championships seriously, it's more so they have different dynamics at play.  They also have greater depth so their own national championships would be full-on.

But their focus is firmly on the Olympics in terms of peaking and that's we're we can probably learn a lesson.  It looks to me that we peaked too early (months ago and in some cases, 12 months ago)

Anyway, our sailors are right in the mix in 5 events as I've pointed out in the post above (#155) and that's a bit of a surprise ... 4 - 5 medals in the sailing would be a terrific result and if we can possibly snag 2 golds that would be great.  But as we know, getting our hopes up is fraught with danger.  We are demon supporters after all!

Excellent summary though TD.

 

Edited August 14, 2016 by Macca

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Hoping Jess Trengove can run a PB tonight. Believe it's 2:27:45. Although a still 31 degree day wont help her cause it must be said.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Well done to the Aussie girls.

Milly Clarke 18th in only her 3rd marathon and Jess Trengove in 22nd position after having missed a large portion of training. Improved on her 38th from London despite a huge field of 141! In fact her PB would of had her in 8th position.

Well done to Lisa Weightman also on a great run.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Kookaburra's forgettable Olympic campaign doesn't seem to be improving.  Down 0-2 against Netherlands at half time in their quarter final. 

Going to need a very big 2nd half.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Olympics over for the Kookaburra's with a shocking 0-4 loss to the Netherlands. 

Been an Olympics to forget for World number 1's who fail to medal for the first time since Barcelona 1992.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Boomers 25 point winners over Venezuela to finish their pool games 4-1 and secure 2nd spot in their group.

Opponent for the quarter final to be determined over the next 24 hours. I suspect it will likely to Spain, but a bit to play out.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

Bawden & Clancy knocked out in the quarter finals of the womens beach volleyball 21-14, 21-16 by what I suspect will be the gold medal winning USA team.

Great Olympic tournament by the Aussie girls who exceeded expectations by knocking off two higher rated teams on their way to the quarters.  Just missed a few opportunities they had mid way through the 2nd set which could have seen them take the initiative. 

I expect to see them push for gold when Beach Volleyball makes it's debut at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018.

Edited August 15, 2016 by AngryAtCasey
Spelling

[Macca 17,034]

5 hours ago, AngryAtCasey said:

Olympics over for the Kookaburra's with a shocking 0-4 loss to the Netherlands. 

Been an Olympics to forget for World number 1's who fail to medal for the first time since Barcelona 1992.

I'm with you on this one TD ... we've had a poor tournament and not only are there no excuses, there's no reasoning to be found either.  We haven't impressed all the way through and losing 0-4 in the quarter finals just about summed up the campaign.  A poor result.

We're down to 4 teams now and whilst a medal could be expected in any of the 4 (women's hockey, women's water polo, women's basketball & men's basketball) there's no guarantee that that will happen.  Fingers crossed we reach a couple of finals to at least have a shot at gold.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

25 minutes ago, Macca said:

I'm with you on this one TD ... we've had a poor tournament and not only are there no excuses, there's no reasoning to be found either.  We haven't impressed all the way through and losing 0-4 in the quarter finals just about summed up the campaign.  A poor result.

We're down to 4 teams now and whilst a medal could be expected in any of the 4 (women's hockey, women's water polo, women's basketball & men's basketball) there's no guarantee that that will happen.  Fingers crossed we reach a couple of finals to at least have a shot at gold.

If I had to pick one of those teams to win a gold, I'd go with the Hockeyroos. Even though their form hasn't been brilliant either, I think the draw has fallen favorably for them. Touch wood they can take advantage. After that I'd say the stingers in the water polo.

[Macca 17,034]

We've got a couple of medal chances tonight & tomorrow morning with Tom Burton in the men's laser (sailing) & Glen O'Shea in the men's omnium (cycling) ... as well as that, we've got 2 vital quarter finals coming up in the women's hockey & the women's water polo.

Edit: The sailing was postponed.

Daily schedule from NBC.com

Chronological summary, results & scheduling of each day of the 2016 Rio Olympics (Wiki)

                        Monday August 15th (evening)

10.00pm  Swimming ........................... Women's open water 10k final - Chelsea Gubecka * * *

10.30pm  Track & Field ....................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries

                                                              Women's hammer: final (11.40pm) * * *    

                                                              Women's 3000m steeplechase: final (12.15am) * * *

                                                              - Genevieve LaCaze (12.15am) * * *

                                                              - Madeline Hills (12.15am) * * *

11.00pm   Women's Hockey ............. Hockeyroos vs New Zealand (quarter final)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Tuesday August 16th (morning)

2.00am  Sailing (final races) ............... Postponed

3.00am  Gymnastics finals................... Men's rings * * *

                                                              Women's balance beam * * *

                                                              Men's vault * * *                                                                

4.30am  Women's Waterpolo .............. Stingers vs Hungary (quarter final) 

5.00am  Cycling (track) * * * .............. Men's omnium points race (final race) (6.23am) * * *

                                                              - Glenn O'Shea (currently 7th) (6.23am) * * *

6.00am  Boxing ................................... Preliminary bouts, Q/F's & S/F's 

                                                              Men's heavyweight gold medal match * * *

9.00am  Track & Field ......................... Men's pole vault: final (9.35am) * * *

                                                              Mens 800m: final (11.25am) * * *

                                                              Women's 400m: final (11.45am) * * *

Tuesday August 16th (evening)

10.00pm  Swimming ........................... Men's open water 10k final * * *

10.00pm  Canoe/Kayak (finals) ........ Men's canoe single 1000m * * *

                                                              Women's kayak double 500m * * *

                                                              Women's kayak single 200m * * *

                                                              Men's kayak single 1000m * * *

10.30pm  Track & Field ....................... Heats, qualifying & preliminaries

                                                              Men's triple jump: final (10.50pm) * * *

                                                              Women's discus: final (12.20am) * * *

11.00pm  Cycling (track) ..................... Qualifying & repechages

11.55pm   Boxing ................................ Q/F's & S/F's 

11.55pm   Women's Basketball ....... Opals vs Serbia (quarter final)    

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Wednesday August 17th (morning)

2.00am  Sailing (final races) ............... Men's Laser - Tom Burton (currently 2nd)  * * *

                                                              Women's Laser Radial - Ashley Stoddart (currently 9th)

2.00am    Sailing (final races) ............. Men's finn * * *

                                                              Mixed nacra 17 * * *

3.00am    Gymnastics finals................. Men's parallel bars * * *

                                                              Women's floor * * *

                                                              Men's high bar * * *

5.00am    Cycling (track) ..................... Women's omnium points race final race (6.23am) * * *

                                                              Women's sprint finals (6.44am) * * *

                                                              Men's keiren finals (7.20am) * * *

5.00am   Diving ................................... Men's 3m springboard final  * * *

6.00am   Boxing .................................. Q/F's & S/F's 

                                                              Men's lightweight gold medal match * * *

9.00am  Track & Field ......................... Men's high jump: final (9.30am) * * *

                                                              Women's 1500m: final (11.30am) * * *

                                                              Men's 110m hurdles: final (11.45am) * * * 

Edited August 15, 2016 by Macca

[MadAsHell 4,215]

And another Australian team eliminated from the Olympics with the Hockeyroos loosing 2-4 to New Zealand. Just turned the ball over far to much.

So our men & womens teams both fail to win medals for the first time since Los Angeles 1984.

I know i said our swimming team will require a review after these games. Think our Hockey teams could do with one also.

[Macca 17,034]

The women's water polo team are out too with the loss to Hungary overnight (11-13)

That leaves us with 2 teams left ... both the women's & men's basketball teams.  And hoping for more than a minor medal in both events is wishful thinking.  The USA should win gold in both events. 

That's not to say we don't have more chances for medals in a number of other sports ... getting hold of gold is a much harder task though.  We're a chance for gold in about 6-7 more events but I doubt we'll get close to that number. 

Canoe sprint x 2, sailing x 3, women's bmx, the men's 50k walk and maybe the women's omnium (cycling) remain our best chances although we could medal in a few more events like the women's long jump and equestrian.

It's just as well the rugby 7's were made Olympic events.

[Macca 17,034]

Interesting finish in the women's 400m final ... it will be talked about for years.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

3 hours ago, Macca said:

The women's water polo team are out too with the loss to Hungary overnight (11-13)

That leaves us with 2 teams left ... both the women's & men's basketball teams.  And hoping for more than a minor medal in both events is wishful thinking.  The USA should win gold in both events. 

That's not to say we don't have more chances for medals in a number of other sports ... getting hold of gold is a much harder task though.  We're a chance for gold in about 6-7 more events but I doubt we'll get close to that number. 

Canoe sprint x 2, sailing x 3, women's bmx, the men's 50k walk and maybe the women's omnium (cycling) remain our best chances although we could medal in a few more events like the women's long jump and equestrian.

It's just as well the rugby 7's were made Olympic events.

What makes the Water Polo's team even harder is the fact that they let a 5-1 lead slip.

I remember last Olympics, by the 2nd week when it became apparent that we weren't going to leave London with a swag of medals, I was just hoping we could at least equal what we achieved in Barcelona in 92' (first Olympics I remember watching) of 7 gold medals, as that was the least amount I'd ever seen us win. By the end of the 16 days we had managed to get that 7 gold (increased to 8 when Talent was upgraded from Silver this year) and won a total of 35 medals as compared to 27 in Barcelona. 

Now this Olympics we've obviously gone in with high hopes and were off to a great start with 4 gold medals in the first 3 days, however we've now only won 2 in the last 7 days with a total of 22 medals. So in order for it to look like we're not going even further backwards,  I'd like to see us try and equal what we did at London with 2 more gold and another 13 medals in total (unlikely), or try and secure 3 more gold to get us to 9, however we'd then still be below our total medal haul from Atlanta 96'.

The goal should for us to get back to what we were producing at Sydney 00', Athens 04' & Bejing 08'.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

4 minutes ago, Macca said:

Interesting finish in the women's 400m final ... it will be talked about for years.

Haven't been able to get to a TV the last few hours Macca. What happened? 

[Macca 17,034]

5 hours ago, AngryAtCasey said:

Haven't been able to get to a TV the last few hours Macca. What happened? 

Miller won after possibly diving at the line ... you need to see it to make a judgement TD. 

 

Edit: after watching the replay a number of times it seems apparent to me that Miller would have won the race if she had have stayed upright.  Close, but I reckon she wins. 

Felix made a great run but lost a bit of momentum in the last 5 metres.  Still, I've never seen that before if it was a deliberate dive. 

 

Edited August 16, 2016 by Macca

[Macca 17,034]

11 minutes ago, AngryAtCasey said:

What makes the Water Polo's team even harder is the fact that they let a 5-1 lead slip.

I remember last Olympics, by the 2nd week when it became apparent that we weren't going to leave London with a swag of medals, I was just hoping we could at least equal what we achieved in Barcelona in 92' (first Olympics I remember watching) of 7 gold medals, as that was the least amount I'd ever seen us win. By the end of the 16 days we had managed to get that 7 gold (increased to 8 when Talent was upgraded from Silver this year) and won a total of 35 medals as compared to 27 in Barcelona. 

Now this Olympics we've obviously gone in with high hopes and were off to a great start with 4 gold medals in the first 3 days, however we've now only won 2 in the last 7 days with a total of 22 medals. So in order for it to look like we're not going even further backwards,  I'd like to see us try and equal what we did at London with 2 more gold and another 13 medals in total (unlikely), or try and secure 3 more gold to get us to 9, however we'd then still be below our total medal haul from Atlanta 96'.

The goal should for us to get back to what we were producing at Sydney 00', Athens 04' & Bejing 08'.

We'll need to get much greater funding to get back to those levels TD ... that ship has sailed by the looks of it. 

The real concern is slipping back to the bleak times of 1976 through to 1988 where we won a TOTAL of 9 gold medals. 

I witnessed and lived through those Olympics and that's why winning 8 or 9 gold medals at an Olympics these days is not so bad in my eyes. 

But we all view things differently and your view is perfectly understandable. 

[MadAsHell 4,215]

25 minutes ago, Macca said:

We'll need to get much greater funding to get back to those levels TD ... that ship has sailed by the looks of it. 

The real concern is slipping back to the bleak times of 1976 through to 1988 where we won a TOTAL of 9 gold medals. 

I witnessed and lived through those Olympics and that's why winning 8 or 9 gold medals at an Olympics these days is not so bad in my eyes. 

But we all view things differently and your view is perfectly understandable. 

Probably right about the funding Macca, and it's probably why the success of our swimmers is so important to us given they get the Lions share of our Olympic funding. It's probably no coincidence that our swimmers win 20 medals in Bejing and we claim a total of 46, they win 10 in London and we win a total of 35.

Yes I have heard of our struggles from 76 - 88. We went from top 6 in the medal tally at Munich in 72' to failing to win gold at Montreal in 76'. This is what prompted Fraser to start the AIS as the rest of the world had gone professional and we were left lagging behind.

76 & 80 were before my time and although I was alive for 84 & 88, I was to young to have any memory of them. Obviously our low medal count at 1980 can be explained by the partial boycott.  However I'm not to sure why the AIS didn't bare much fruit for 84 or 88? We've been a stable top 10 in the medal tally since 92 however, so I guess I know no other way.

[Macca 17,034]

3 hours ago, AngryAtCasey said:

Probably right about the funding Macca, and it's probably why the success of our swimmers is so important to us given they get the Lions share of our Olympic funding. It's probably no coincidence that our swimmers win 20 medals in Bejing and we claim a total of 46, they win 10 in London and we win a total of 35.

Yes I have heard of our struggles from 76 - 88. We went from top 6 in the medal tally at Munich in 72' to failing to win gold at Montreal in 76'. This is what prompted Fraser to start the AIS as the rest of the world had gone professional and we were left lagging behind.

76 & 80 were before my time and although I was alive for 84 & 88, I was to young to have any memory of them. Obviously our low medal count at 1980 can be explained by the partial boycott.  However I'm not to sure why the AIS didn't bare much fruit for 84 or 88? We've been a stable top 10 in the medal tally since 92 however, so I guess I know no other way.

We could put greater focus and funds on the sports where we've done well traditionally ... swimming, sailing, rowing, track cycling, hockey etc and make sure we give our athletes every opportunity of winning.  The AOC may feel that they're already doing that but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

The UK are leading the way in that regard and we could learn a lot from how they're doing it but ... the funding is vastly different in comparison though.  The Americans & Chinese have huge numerical advantages so the UK model is the closest model that could suit our country.

It has to be noted that the UK won only 1 gold medal in Atlanta and within the space of 16 years they boosted that gold tally to 29 ... and they're currently 2nd in Rio with 16 gold.  However, their levels of funding due to their 'National lottery' is one that can't be matched unless we do something similar.

Peaking at the right time needs to be high on the agenda too ... especially with our swimmers.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Macca