Olympics 2021 (nee 2020)
Excellent as per usual Gazuty.gazuty wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:43 amIt's a game of population, money and focus.
The bigger the population the more likely you'll find humans within that population closer to the end of the bell curve that can excel in a particular sport.
Then its money which comes out these ways:
1. you need to live in a society where there is reasonable amount of social harmony etc (you don't see many of the war torn nations at the top of the medal table). Those humans you do find need to live in a society that allows them to devote almost all their time to sport. Bascially, a society with an advanced economy = money at a whole nation level.
2. you need a society with some liesure and social type activities focussed on olymic sports - for Australia a great example is swimming, which provides the bulk of our medals and also is a wildly popular in north of Melbourne (that's not to say Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart don't produce swimmers, just that the weather and sheer number of olympic swimming pools in the northern states attracts a bigger pool of kids). NZ focus almost all their sport energy on Rugby (of course NZ have also had swimmers, sailors and other olympic medals). Again, this requires money at a whole nation level.
3. you need money to spot talent, capture talent in a programme, train the talent and send the talent to the games - again for Australia that is swimming, rowing, cycling etc This is the focussed money directed at actually developing talent over a long period to produce olypic medals.
Finally, it's focus. A country can't excel in everything (unless it's the USA or China). Focus on the sports popular in the nation with a wide enough pool of athletes etc to produce outlier performers.
It does build national pride and cohesiveness in Australian society (not saying that Olympic performance would matter in other societies but it does matter down under).
Over here in GB. It seems sporting excellence is now dependent on the lottery. The govt are standing back and saying ' if the public are really interested in this then they'll foot the bill". And by all accounts failure is not an option for an individual, which may dovetail with the sudden mental health issues across athletics.
Nonetheless, Oz and NZ punch above GB with half the population. It's not that surprising I guess. Dreary, wet and windy Tuesday in Chesterfield or a sun-kissed Ozzy beach. Personally, I'd take soggy Chesterfield every time.
But I can't handle heat above 25C. I'd collapse in sustained 30C+ temps.
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Alternative medal table is an interesting read even though it doesn't take into account how much each country allocates to Olympic funding.
https://ig.ft.com/tokyo-olympics-altern ... dal-table/
https://ig.ft.com/tokyo-olympics-altern ... dal-table/
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This will probably be the headline I remember from Tokyo 20/21
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Dublin_Flyer wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 12:20 amThis will probably be the headline I remember from Tokyo 20/21
When I first saw that headline today I thought it was something like Roberto Duran!
Not that bad thankfully but the poor horse looked terrified. Don't understand the logic of being drawn a horse. Apart from the horses being spooked, the outcome of an elite sport should have as little to do with luck as possible.
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Good point Pat - a suspicous lull for Kai co-incided perfectly with the olympicsTrader Pat wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:04 amMaybe he's there competing!
If meming was an Olympic event he'd have a solid chance of a medal
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my under 2.5 goals is red, (negative)......................my over 2.5 goals is red (negative)
If two negatives = a positive, how do I green up from here?
Have a nice day!
If two negatives = a positive, how do I green up from here?
Have a nice day!