London 2012 Olympics Thread

[Platypus]

Fingers crossed for a good day. In the hunt for medals in the men's sprint at the velodrome, men's trap shooting, show jumping, maaaaaaybe women   s pole vault, and particularly the sailing, plus a few still in the hunt on the track.

[Platypus]

At the sailing, the commentators for the BBC are also providing the feed in to Australia. First experience of the bbc commentary.

It's disgusting.

[Platypus]

4th, actually, a pom came 5th, and between them they got 90% of the overly emotional, strained-voice commentating. The commentary is just as bad in the men's laser, but the result is looking good... C'mon Tom, go for Gold! ....and if not Gold, Silver!

[Platypus]

Gold!

[Platypus]

Gold no. 2! With one race still to come to confirm it, but an unbeatable lead over the kiwis.

I now love sailing. Especially after the disappointment of Michael Diamond.

[Platypus]

Valerie Adams wins 24 shotputs in a row, at the top level, and...gets beaten by a relative unknown Belarussian. Which is sad for the kiwis but excellent for Australia

[Platypus]

The administration at the athletics is disgusting. The women's pole vault has been decided by officials in turquoise piped jackets. The number of delays, along with order errors, is insane. Even the greeks got their running sheets right.

Less of an issue, but still disappointing, is this practice of not introducing half the athletes, even in finals.

[Platypus]

I must be sleep deprived... I just sent a pointless email to LOCOG. Complaining. I'm turning in to one of those people. Eek.

"To whom it may concern,

I'm loving these games, and a lot of work and care has clearly been shown. Truly, they are shaping up to be unforgettable in the history of the modern Olympics. There are some problems, but one stands above the others.

The administration at the stadium has been appalling. The women's pole vault was determined in equal parts by the weather, the talented athletes, and the bozos in charge of the stadium running order. Many, many delays, often announced to the athletes very shortly before their vaults; apparent vaulting order mixups, and hideously slow decisions. I have rarely seen such poor management at sports at any level, let alone the Olympic final. Congratulations to the medallists, and all the athletes, for surviving the debacle. The practice of not introducing all the athletes for track events, even in finals, is also highly disappointing, but at least it  doesn't actively affect the results.

Overall, the games are going well, but please tidy up the administration of the athletics, it's really not looking good at present.

Sincerely,

Hugh Bartlett
Australia"


THAT'LL TEACH EM.

[Platypus]

Brownlee's go 1/3 in the triathlon, as Britain marches on.

[Platypus]

Women's water polo semi between Australia and the US coming down to the wire. US lead 9-8 with 100 seconds to go...

Edit: GOAL!

[Platypus]

After four quarters of awful referreeing, Australia finally get lucky and with 1 second left get a penalty... Southern scores... Here comes what should be some insane 6 minutes ahead.

Edit: poo.

[Platypus]

Chief commisaire at the velodrome at risk of death after (correctly) relegating Victoria Pendleton from a 1/1000s win in the first heat of the sprint final for coming out of her line.

Heat two soonish, hopefully it'll be clean and Anna Meares wins, as she would have in the first heat if not obstructed. Shane Perkins also a medal chance.

The Opals look like they'll beat China, but it was tight for the first three quarters.

Good sailing day, extending our lead over the poms heading in to the medal race, both boats gauranteed of a silver in the 470s but Australia in prime position for gold.

Honourable loss in the water polo, looking good for bronze.

[Platypus]

Go Anna! Gold for Anna Meares! Gold! GOLD at the velodrome! Go Anna!

[Platypus]

We're up to 71 medalling countries, by the way. 80 should happen, 86/87 difficult.

The Felix/Richards-Ross/Fraser-Price/Campbell-Jones 200m final showdown will be interesting.

Looking forward to the 100m hurdles final. I don't particularly like overconfidence, but unlike James Magnussen, Pearson not only has the results to back her up, but hasn't been a media whore. She's confident, businesslike, maybe a dash too stony..but she's a champion, and she does what she needs to do to win. Which doesn't include bullying the letter T.

[Platypus]

The rain comes down, and Sally Pearson wins gold by 0.02s. Phew! Go Sally

[Platypus]

Some people are saying some pretty disgusting things about Anna Meares on twitter.

[Platypus]

Nice bit of trade unionism going on at the men's pole vault, looks like the qualification may stop at 5.50, with 16 going through to the final, instead of twelve. Being led by reigning champ, Australia's Steve Hooker, who would qualify anyway in 8th position.

All very positive, all in agreement. Victory to the workers!

Although the Spaniard looks like he may break ranks...

[Platypus]

And they're jumping again

Bureaucrats win. Due to two of the athletes being scabs.

[Platypus]

Union wins, 14 in to the final. Tonnes of camaraderie (spelling?) Between the athletes, and a dash of logic from the officials.

[Platypus]

It really was great to watch. Americans hugging Russians, Koreans massaging Germans, Frenchmen moping, and a curly ranga solidarity leader in bright yellow.

[Platypus]

Australia take Gold, kiwis silver, Danes bronze in the sailing. Kiwis carrying the flag of NZ and the silver fern unity flag, nice. I'm really looking forward to them changing their flag, might convince us to do the same at last.

[Platypus]

Rhe bmx is happenning, we've got reasonable hopes of three medals, hopefully including at least one gold, fingers crossed.

[Platypus]

Great semi between the kiwis and the Dutch in the women's hockey, Dutch went through after a shootout, but kiwis did quite well to hold the Netherlands to a tie.

[Platypus]

I fully expect we'll be wiped off the floor in the men's game, but I think the Opals might just give you a run for your money, especially if Jackson and Cambage play as well as they are able - they're both at least in the top 5 players in the world, and we have a reasonable support crew around them. That said, Jackson hasn't been at her best so far at the games, so she'll need to lift.

[Platypus]

Australia take Gold, kiwis silver, Danes bronze in the sailing. Kiwis carrying the flag of NZ and the silver fern unity flag, nice. I'm really looking forward to them changing their flag, might convince us to do the same at last.

Which silver fern flag was it?

closest to the first, but more like this:

, but saying Aotearoa instead of New Zealand.