The London 2012 Olympics: Sports discussion

[gazzae]

Originally Posted by martyh

I think it's more the way she did it winning a race so convincingly and breaking records by so much is bound to raise a few eyebrows especially when she has been no where near before .I do hope that she turns out to be a outstanding swimmer rather than a cheat though

True, but she did set her PB when she was 14.

Plus in the race where she set her PB, the second placed woman finished 4 seconds behind her, so you could assume she didn't go all out at the end.

[danielf]

Originally Posted by gazzae

True, but she did set her PB when she was 14.

Plus in the race where she set her PB, the second placed woman finished 4 seconds behind her, so you could assume she didn't go all out at the end.

Is it not a little surprising then that (for such a young girl) she's not improved her PB over what's likely to be around 1.5 years, and then smashes it with a world record on the biggest stage of all?

Surely, you'd expect her to at least show some gradual improvement?

---------- Post added at 22:01 ---------- Previous post was at 21:53 ----------

Meanwhile, in other news: Bradley Wiggins has his knickers stolen.

[gazzae]

Originally Posted by danielf

Is it not a little surprising then that (for such a young girl) she's not improved her PB over what's likely to be around 1.5 years, and then smashes it with a world record on the biggest stage of all?

Surely, you'd expect her to at least show some gradual improvement?

It happens. I'm not a swimming expert by any means but it's not unknown for swimmers to smash their personal bests. Stepanie Rice took something like 5 seconds off her PB in the same event at the last olympics.
Phelps has taken over 7 seconds off the world record in this event over 6 years.

People talk about how she was faster than Lochte, yes but only for one length - he was 20 odd seconds faster overal.

Originally Posted by gazzae

It happens. I'm not a swimming expert by any means but it's not unknown for swimmers to smash their personal bests. Stepanie Rice took something like 5 seconds off her PB in the same event at the last olympics.
Phelps has taken over 7 seconds off the world record in this event over 6 years.

People talk about how she was faster than Lochte, yes but only for one length - he was 20 odd seconds faster overal.

But those examples are over many years. We're talking about a massive improvement in one race all of a sudden. It's going to raise questions, it would in any sport when an athlete posts such a sudden and unexpected improvement in performance.

[Shadow Demon UK]

How great was Chad Le Clos. It really was what the olympics is all about. The interview with his Dad was great as well, you could see how very proud he was of his son.

[gazzae]

Originally Posted by Damien

But those examples are over many years. We're talking about a massive improvement in one race all of a sudden. It's going to raise questions, it would in any sport when an athlete posts such a sudden and unexpected improvement in performance.

Rice's was in one race. She was labelled a wonderkid rather than a cheat.

[danielf]

Yes, I'm no swimming expert either. I've also just seen Ian Thorpe saying it is possible at that young an age. Sadly, following the cycling a bit has made me into a cynic. They will try all sorts to mask doping. Riders are taken out of competition not because of traces of banned substances, but because of deviations around values in their biological passport. Presumably, that's because the masking of banned substances is so successful. Then there's the can of worms of blood doping. It all becomes a matter of probabilities, which makes you wonder if a passed test means a clean athlete.

As you say, it's a sad state of affairs, but I'm afraid it's reality.

Originally Posted by Shadow Demon UK

How great was Chad Le Clos. It really was what the olympics is all about. The interview with his Dad was great as well, you could see how very proud he was of his son.

Yep i saw that ,a wonderful Olympic moment .Couldn't have been closer though 0.05 secs faster than phelps

[danielf]

Le Clos senior was great (as was junior)

---------- Post added at 23:20 ---------- Previous post was at 22:27 ----------

Hats off to John McEnroe for mentioning the best Olympian ever...

Eric Heiden

Heiden took 5 individual Golds in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, winning all distances in the Speed Skating: 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m and 10000m. A bit like winning all running events in track athletics.

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by danielf

No it isn't.

I know. I forgot the "only kidding" smiley

[danielf]

Originally Posted by carlwaring

I know. I forgot the "only kidding" smiley

Yeah, and yesterday you got your figures wrong claiming that CDs have an effective bitrate of 110Kbps. A word of advice: Engage brain before posting

[denphone]

Olympics badminton: Four pairs charged with not trying.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19072677

Lets hope they all get thrown out.

Is Phelps the greatest ever? I dislike measuring it in terms of medals since swimming has a absurd amount of different events which differ from each other only slightly (in comparison in Athletics where people have sprinting, hurdles, high jump and so on). Even having the chance to win 8 gold medal during a single Olympics is crazy.

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by danielf

Yeah, and yesterday you got your figures wrong claiming that CDs have an effective bitrate of 110Kbps.

I was not entirely wrong; though I knew that Like I said. Not sure how the 128k fitted in though.

No more discussion about the bitrate of CDs before I lose my mind. The topic is Olympic Sports.