Olympics 2016

Have to say - I haven't been following the Olympics too closely, but I was pleased to see that Katherine Grainger is the first British woman to win five Olympic medals after scooping silver in Rio.


Rower Katherine Grainger has become Team GB's most decorated female Olympian, after claiming a silver in the women's double sculls.

She told Sky News it was the medal she was most proud of after taking two years out of the sport following her victory in London 2012.

Read more here
http://news.sky.com/story/grainger-becomes-gbs-top-female-olympian-10532023

I do hope Usain Bolt does well in these Olympics, as I believe it will be the last time he will compete at these competitions ...

Has anyone else be watching - or got a favourite event in mind ?

All the best Jan

Loving the Olympics. I've recently had a "nose job" so off work and been watching it all day. Looking forward to the athletics and seeing Bolt, Farah etc. GB doing really well but still confused why dressage is in the Olympics. Dancing horses ?

mo1905 wrote:Loving the Olympics. I've recently had a "nose job" so off work and been watching it all day. Looking forward to the athletics and seeing Bolt, Farah etc. GB doing really well but still confused why dressage is in the Olympics. Dancing horses ?

Hi Mo Like you can't wait for the athletics to start for me that's when the games begin

Rugby 7's final was a little embarrassing ! Still, nice to see Fiji win gold. Their first ever medal in any event.

Hi Mo ... Hi Graham ... Hi Everyone  

Rowers did fantastic earlier today- some more gold's and Jessica Ennis Hill has started well too.

Still say one of the highlights will be seeing Bolt!

All the best Jan

PS Mo - hope you're recovering well

Simone Biles in the gymnastics was ASTONISHING

So was the tiny Ethiopian girl who blew everyone away in the 10 000 metres. Reminded me of a previous Olympics (can't remember which one) where an unknown Ethiopian or Kenyan was given the job of setting the pace. She stayed in front of the field, and then when she was supposed to drop out to let the "experts"do their thing she just carried on running and won Gold.

Justin Rose wins Gold in the golf. A thoroughly nice bloke and great golfer.

I was so pleased that Justin Rose got gold ... Andy Murray was another gold, but the medals have been coming in thick and fast as the saying goes  

Most recent (I think) is Charlotte Dujardin winning gold in the dressage

Keep going Team GB  

All the best Jan

Well, what did you think of the dive from Shaunae Miller to win the 400m gold?

"When you imagine soaring across the finish line, you probably envision a scene from "Chariots of Fire" - pure elegance. Whilst Shaunae Miller from the Bahamas still managed to bag the gold in last night's 400m final, grace isn't exactly what comes to mind.

Instead, Miller took a huge penalty-seeking footballer-style dive across the finish line, beating the American world champion Allyson Felix by just 0.07 seconds."

I'd be interested to know how many of them are on low carb/ketogenic diets which seem to have taken off in many sports in many countries.

Billy Conolly at a previous Olympics

"I saw this really tall guy, so I asked him 'are you a pole vaulter?'"

"No, I am German, and how did you know my name?"

Just been watching Laura Trott win another gold 

... I know Graham watched Laura get her gold !

Rio 2016: GB's golden couple Kenny and Trott seek return to 'normality'


Jason Kenny says he and Laura Trott will celebrate their golden success at Rio 2016 by returning to "a bit of normality" and taking their dogs for a walk.

The engaged couple have led Team GB's success in track cycling this year, Trott becoming Great Britain's most-decorated female Olympian by earning her third and fourth gold medals, while Kenny has drawn level with track legend Chris Hoy with a sixth gold, sealed in Tuesday's keirin.

Their places in Olympic history secured, Kenny is now looking forward to returning home and getting out of the glare that comes with the Games.
"It would be nice to get back to a bit of normality, if that's possible," he said.

"Obviously I'd love her to bits even if she was rubbish, but she's not. She gets a bit stressed to be fair. She worries enough for both of us so I can stay relaxed. She loves a good cry as well.

"[We will] probably take the dogs for a walk. We live in the middle of nowhere so it suits me down to the ground.

"I can walk for miles and not see a soul. I'm home as soon as possible. I love the Olympics and being in the village, but after your events are over it feels a bit confined, like a prison.

"I like my life. It used to frustrate me a little bit with the guys around me getting cars and bits and pieces like that, but I like to flounder around doing what I like. It's not like I'm starving to death. We're really well funded so we can do what we love."

Words and picture from here
http://www.aol.co.uk/sport/2016/08/17/rio-2016-gbs-golden-couple-kenny-and-trott-seek-return-to-normality/

Go Team GB ... you are all doing so well

All the best Jan

I'm always amazed that we do so well, even if some of it is dancing horses and pedalling around behind a motorbike, and other weird stuff.

After 2012 there was a parade through London. This year it was suggested that the parade be elsewhere. Hmmm, marching from Jarrow? marching to Aldermaston . . .

Just  been catching up with the Brownlee brothers in the triathlon Gold and Silver brilliant 

Usain Bolt wins 200m gold, his eighth Olympic gold

Well as expected Usain Bolt won gold in the 200m in style ... but I feel so sorry for Team GB's Adam Gemili who clocked the same time as Lemaitre, but was denied his first Olympic (bronze) medal in a photo finish.

See more here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/36690965

All the best Jan

Wow, Wow and Wow !!!

It's getting hard to keep up with the medal success Team GB are having

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/rio-2016

But well done to all

For me special mention to Nick Skelton who I remember watching for many years at various Horse Shows and also to the women's hockey team ... as my niece was and still is such a keen hockey player, and she was over the moon

I think Mo Farrah runs later ?

Now I couldn't sign off without mentioning Usain Bolt's brilliant achievement - his 9th gold Wow

All the best Jan

Mr Bolt the runner, sounds like a character from Happy Families. The Jamaicans are always very elegant runners, their coaches are superb. All his energy goes into forward motion, no rocking back and forth or limbs pumping in all directions.

chris c wrote:Mr Bolt the runner, sounds like a character from Happy Families. The Jamaicans are always very elegant runners, their coaches are superb. All his energy goes into forward motion, no rocking back and forth or limbs pumping in all directions.

Yes, when you use the term Mr.Bolt ... happy families does come to mind ... used to enjoy playing that card game!

Looking back these Olympics have been so good for Team GB, I applaud them, their coaches, their families - competing like this they get support from so many

I didn't stay up to watch the closing ceremony - just read about it, this article has some pictures from it too
http://www.aol.co.uk/sport/2016/08/22/heres-what-you-missed-overnight-from-the-rio-olympics-closing-ceremony-in-pictures/

Wishing all of Team GB well in the up-coming paralympics ... and looking even further ahead - here's to Tokyo in 2020

All the best Jan

>>>

Onto the Paralympics.
Have you been watching?

" Jonnie Peacock and Jody Cundy were among the seven Great Britain gold medal winners on Friday at the XV Paralympic Games in Rio. There were three silvers and six bronze in a day two haul of 16 medals as ParalympicsGB's total climbed to 27, second only to China. Britain now have 12 golds. "

It was good to see young swimmer Ellie Robinson get a gold in the S6 50m butterfly. Robinson, like Ellie Simmonds, has achondroplasia, and she has been inspired by Simmonds.
Her family were there cheering her own - great to see.  

You can read more here
http://www.aol.co.uk/sport/2016/09/10/jonnie-peacock-bags-another-gold-and-everything-else-you-missed-overnight-at-the-paralympics/

All the best Jan

... and the good news continues, below are details from the BBC, but have you been looking into Channel 4's coverage?


" Britain have won four gold medals on day eight at the Rio Paralympics with Natasha Baker's dressage title following a trio of canoe successes.

Baker, 26, and her mount Cabral defended the Class II crown which they won at London four years earlier.

Jeanette Chippington, who won 12 swimming medals between 1988 and 2004, clinched the KL1 canoe title on her return to the Paralympics.

Team-mates Emma Wiggs (KL2) and Anne Dickins (KL3) also took gold at Lagoa.

Ian Marsden (KL1) and Nick Beighton (KL2) picked up bronze medals to mark a successful conclusion to the Rio regatta.

However six-time Paralympic champion David Weir confirmed that he intends to retire from the track after the Paralympics and from the sport entirely after April's London Marathon."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37374493

All the best Jan

Perhaps I should re-title this thread to 2108 and the Winter Olympics???

I was sorry to read that Bruce Tasker the British Bobsledder will miss the Winter Olympics 2018 after suffering a minor stroke... at just 30yrs of age ...
The prognosis is good though he is expected to make a full recovery.

I wish him well

All the best Jan

More here
https://www.aol.co.uk/sport/2018/01/11/bobsledder-to-miss-olympics-after-stroke/