Macca

Aussie team involvements tonight... 6.00pm . Men's Basketball . Australia / Russia (we've already qualified for the QF's . We can't move from 4th due to the 'Head to head' results) Here are the standings... http://www.london201.../men/index.html 6.30pm . Men's Volleyball . Australia / Poland (we need to win and hope that GB defeat Argentina by sufficient margin for us to advance to the QF's or placings may be decided on 'head to head' ??) Standings... http://www.london201.../men/index.html 8.20pm . Men's Water Polo . Australia / Greece (Win and we advance to the QF's) Standings ... http://www.london201.../men/index.html 6.15am . Women's Hockey . Australia / Argentina (Win and we're through to the Semi's otherwise we'll need other results to go our way) Standings ... http://www.london201...omen/index.html We're represented in medal events in Sailing (11.00pm) , Shooting (1.00am) , Cycling (from 1.00am) and also in the Track & Field (from 4.00am) . For everything else... http://www.london201...scomptoday.html Oh , and Usain Bolt was rather impressive last night

Opals win and finish 2nd in their group . We'll play either Turkey or China in the QF's . The Boomers are through to the QF's . It's just a matter of what place we finish in our group . In our final group game we are matched up against Russia - game time 6pm tonight (AEST)... http://www.london201...ball/event/men/ Edit : In Women's Water Polo , the 'Stingers' win in a penalty shoot-out . The Chinese played a great game but we're through to the Semi-finals . That was one tense game ! Fabulous contest . Goal for goal .

Here's a track by the 'United Future Organization' Jazz with some French/Spanish/Japanese influence . Macca 4.1

Thanks for that JJ . France defeated Russia tonight (65 - 54) to win the group . I'm continuing my policy of 'No predictions' so you guys and gals can figure out the rest of it Just a reminder that the Opals vs Canada match is on from 11.20pm tonight .

Ha ha ! Tonight's team involvements for the Aussies... Sun 5th 11.30pm . Women's Basketball . Australia / Canada Mon 6th 1.00am . Women's Water Polo . QF . Australia / China Mon 6th 4.00am . Men's Hockey . Australia / Great Britain For all other 'Aussies in Action' tonight ... http://www.london201...scomptoday.html

Hey TD , do you know how they decide the winner of the group if Russia , France and Australia all end up with the same W/L ratio ?

Not altogether surprised with how things have gone in the pool . We need to get used to not doing as well ( save for the odd freak swimmer - Thorpe , Gould etc ) . Many other Countries have caught up with us and it's often 'Funding' related . Though Susie O'Neill did say that our swimmers don't train hard enough . We may do well to hold our ground . Ditto for Cycling and Rowing . We just can't expect to stand out in those sports again . (or any sport really) . Unless of course we throw truckloads more money into funding . Our best chance might be to try and 'Medal' in as many sports as possible . Which is what we've started doing (since Atlanta?) The 'Gold' isn't happening this time around but we could end up with close to 35 - 40 medals . Funding might be increased but it won't be a quantum leap unless we do something similar to what Great Britain have done and bring in a 'Lottery' type system . Interestingly , the Brits brought in their 'Lottery' based funding in January of 1997 . There are reasons and excuses why we're not getting Gold but in terms of 'Total' medals we're still doing very well . Many nations now have excellent funding and it's a lot more competitive . China will only continue to get better and better . By the way , the Russians are sitting at 3 - 15 - 10 , Japan 2 - 10 - 12 , Canada 1 - 3 - 6 and Spain 0 - 2 - 1 so we're not alone . Those pesky Kazakhstani's are sitting on 5 - 0 - 0 ! Many in the Aussie media will 'Go to town' on the team but these types won't look at the big picture . They rarely do . Some in the media are reactionaries trying to 'Sell' news . Perhaps we should be sitting on 4 or 5 Gold but our Athletes have tried their best . 'Lashing out' is going to happen but in a lot of cases it will be shortsighted . We'll get more 'Gold' at these Olympics but I'm a born 'Mozz' so I won't specify which events they will happen in We should have more Gold but .......our current level of funding may be inadequate (on the World stage). Having 20 medals (at this stage) is not to be sneezed at - and there's still a ways to go . China's future is interesting . They are excelling at so many sports . A juggernaut that shows no sign of slowing down . They won 5 Gold medals in Seoul and 20 years later won 51 Gold in Beijing !

Silver Australia , SILVER ! No , seriously , we need some GOLD ! Any sort of gold will suffice - Trampolining , Greco-Roman Wrestling , anything Team events tonight ... Sat 4th 5.30pm . Women's Hockey . Australia / South Africa Sat 4th 8.20pm . Men's Water Polo . Australia / Croatia Sat 4th 11.45pm . Men's Volleyball . Australia / Italy Sun 5th 5.00am . Men's Basketball . Australia / Great Britain We're in Rowing , Womens Triathlon , Track and Field , Cycling and Swimming finals tonight . For all other 'Aussie' participation ... http://www.london201...scomptoday.html

'Redlight King' (Fronted by Canadian , Mark Kasprzyk) Macca 9.6

The Kookaburra's drew with Argentina (2 - 2) . I'm such a mozz that even 'Liking' H_T's post # 68 has brought bad luck ! That's it - nothing from me prediction wise - Nothing ! Fri 3rd 5.30pm . Men's Hockey . Australia / Argentina Fri 3rd 8.15pm . Women's Basketball . Australia / Russia Sat 4th 12.30am . Women's Water Polo . Australia / Russia For all other 'Aussies in Action' tonight ... http://www.london201...scomptoday.html

Silver for Jessica Fox in the Womens K1 Canoe Slalom . Fantastic effort for an 18yo . Exciting competition as well .

Boomers had an impressive win over China . Keeps that QF spot open . We may end up facing the Americans though . That will be fun ! Checked the sailing standings tonight . We're leading 2 classes (Mens 49er and the Womens Elliot 6m) and we're currently 2nd in the Mens Laser and 3rd in the Mens 470 .

Had a look at the table and the 'Sharks' have still got an outside chance of getting through to the QF's . We play Croatia and then Greece . Though we'd have to beat Greece and possibly Croatia as well to advance . I'd forgotten we'd beaten Kazakhstan so have adjusted my earlier post . http://en.wikipedia....rnament#Group_B The Hockeyroos go to 2nd place in their group after a 1 - 0 win over the USA tonight . Well done girls . http://en.wikipedia....39;s_tournament

On closer examination .01 of a second converts to about 2 centimetres . Less than an inch !! That's based on the swim covering 2 metres per second over 100 metre's (roughly). .04 is about 8 centimetres . I must say , I thought he'd lost it (to the naked eye) . But I'm wondering how my eyes are so good that I can pick up a 2 centimetre margin Anyway , here's the Aussie team events tonight . Need wins in each of these events to stay alive or consolidate ... Thurs 2nd 7.00pm . Men's Water Polo . Australia / Spain Thurs 2nd 7.45pm . Women's Hockey . Australia / USA Thurs 2nd 8.15pm . Men's Basketball . Australia / China Thurs 2nd 8.30pm . Men's Volleyball . Australia / Bulgaria We're in 2 rowing finals , 3 swimming finals and the cycling at the velodrome starts after midnight . For a more detailed Aussie program tonight ... http://www.london201...scomptoday.html

The girls were great . Re the 100 metre final - I think .01 converts to about 4 centimetres . Sullivan lost by .11 in Beijing . We're getting closer We've got lots more chances in the Rowing as well . Finals are on for the next 3 nights (I think) As ya said , great effort from the girls to come from 4th to grab Silver .

Well , my take on it is the Pies possibly/probably tanked . Yet we hear very little about it . Back then tanking was going on but nobody seemed too concerned about it . 9 teams received priority picks between 2003 and 2005 . Then they changed the rules . That round 22 game in 2007 changed everything . I was at the game and it was a joke . Blues fans singing 'It's a Grand old Flag' remains a vivid memory . And they were singing it before the game . In terms of fairness , this whole fiasco is laughable . I can't see it coming to anything . Huge can of worms otherwise . Libba and Terry have blown the whistle to an extent . More would come out of the woodwork . Especially those involved who may have been 'Moved on' and are no longer involved at club level .

Gardner's comments are disgusting and potentially damaging . A past President and all . He should be ashamed of himself with this unnecessary act of disloyalty . Is he bitter ? We beat GC this Sunday and the story hopefully dies . Won't want to lose though . It's interesting that this story emerges (again) just before a 16th vs 17th encounter . In normal circumstances , we might be excused for losing this match (given our terrible form and long injury list) . We just have to win this game for obvious reasons . It will be fascinating to note the comments from other clubs on this whole tanking issue . Many clubs have benefited from priority picks and they may not want to draw attention to themselves . Maybe Eddie and Jeff will come out with the 'No comment' line . EE's in London but he would normally find a way to stick his bib in . The Pies last 8 games of 2005 might come into question in all this . They sat on 5 wins from round 14 that year . Thomas and Pendlebury came with the prized picks that followed . Who says tanking doesn't pay off ? The AFL changed the priority pick 'Rules' after that year's National Draft . Yet , at the same time , trotted out the old 'There's no such thing as tanking' line . Why change the rules then ?

Aussie teams in action today Wed 1st 5.30pm . Men's Hockey . Australia / Spain Wed 1st 11.30pm . Women's Basketball . Australia / Brazil Thurs 2nd 4.40am . Women's Water Polo . Australia / Great Britain Rowing semi's and finals from 6.30pm - we're represented in 6 races tonight (including 3 finals) . Swimming heats from 7.00pm and the Cycling time trials (Mens and Womens) get away at 9.30pm . We're also in 3 Swimming finals from 4.30am . Brenton Rickard in the 200 Breaststroke final (4.30am) , James Magnussen in the 100 Freestyle final (5.20am) and the girls are in the 4 x 200 Freestyle relay final (6.04am) For all other 'Aussies in Action today' you can go to this link ... http://www.london201...scomptoday.html

Always have to factor in the Athlete from another nation going gangbusters . Sally will need to be at her best and hope that nobody has the race of their life (which happens more than people think) Interesting that Magnussen came out and said he didn't sleep for 2 days before the relay . I hate excuses and I would rather have not heard that . It does give us an idea of the pressure these athlete's are under though . He looked a bit sluggish in his heat tonight and goes again in the Semi's (in about 5 hours) . Got a feeling he'll have a big race in the medley relay (unless Roberts replaces him) . Though Roberts struggled a bit tonight as well .

Ha ha ! Who knows ? That's the Olympics for ya though . Swings and roundabouts . Unexpected Gold and unexplained losses . It would be rather boring if all the favourites won . Memories of Seiben and Armstrong are still vivid . Jon was an unknown and Duncan wasn't really on the radar . Favourites ? Meh .......These guys and gals often get just 1 shot at it . That's it . In most other sports you get multiple chances . I give 'em a bit of grace because of the circumstances . Our media have become vultures and it's rubbing off on the general public . We over-achieve as a Nation at the Olympics . 4th overall at Sydney and Athens with only China , Russia and the USA in front of us . That is phenomenal when you think about it .

Our rowers have done well . We've made 5 of 6 finals so far . Had a look at the 4 x 100 mens freestle relay again . Magnussen got us to 2nd (.15 behind the Americans) and we were in front of the French by .10 (The eventual winner) . Interestingly we were 1.7 seconds behind the French at the finish . So either the French swam out of their skins or the rest of Magnussen's teammates weren't up to it (or more likely , a combination of both) . James didn't swim well , but none of teammates did either . Especially the anchor leg . But let's not spoil a good story with the truth hey ? Everyone loves a scapegoat . Here's the official result , click on the + in the top right hand corner for the splits ... http://www.london201...1100/index.html

All of the stages , all at once . It's like there's this massive fight going on between the 5 . Occasionally 1 will gain the upper hand only to be attacked by the other 4 . Extreme pessimism is trying to gain control as well . Oddly , this bit comforts me . This club takes way too much of your emotional energy . 'land and 'ology makes things better and worse . There's no escape .

Team events tonight ... Tues 31st 7.30pm . Equestrian Team Jumping final . Tues 31st 8.15pm . Men's Basketball . Australia / Spain . Tues 31st 11.10pm . Men's Water Polo . Australia / Kazakhstan . Wed 1st 1.30am Women's Gymnastics team final . Wed 1st 5.00am . Men's Volleyball . Australia / Great Britain . Wed 1st 6.15 . Women's Hockey . Australia / Germany Swimming and Rowing continues and you can go to this link for all other Aussie involvements... http://www.london201...scomptoday.html

Magnussen didn't swim well but the other 3 were no better. Possibly worse .

Well the French are ranked 8th and we're 3rd . If you took a line through the Mens side , Argentina are 3 and Serbia are 8 . Serbia can beat Argentina and if they did it wouldn't be that much of a shock . You pointed the finger at Magnussen as well , but what about the other 3 swimmers ? No mention at all . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_World_Rankings