Nope.
The point is to enjoy the moment and live in the present.
Pouring scorn on achievement is a very poor motivator.
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Thank goodness no one’s doing it then.
Blimey, closing ceremony SQ even worse than opening ceremony, and that was up and down on a river!
Says you.
BTW I just looked up the total medal wins for the USA in 1996 they got 4 more golds than 2024 but 25 fewer total medals. You will need to find another reason to predict doom and gloom for GB in 2028 .
I don’t have dual nationality so the USA’s historical performance is of no particular interest - they probably underachieve using population / medals won. China certainly do. Think you’d be shocked if you saw a medal table based on population / medals won.
So a solid performance from GB with many enjoyable moments. Pidcock being the pinnacle given his puncture and the booing/poor sportsmanship of the French crowd. And no time for complacency if we want more golds. They’re covering just this issue on BBC news.
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I’m so proud of how New Zealand did at these games. 10 gold medals to lie 11th overall with a population of just 5 million. I note overall from 1896 to 2020 we were were 7th in gold medalsper capita. Australia just 14th. Having said that it must be wonderful being in a larger country with such a great depth of talent such as the UK, USA,China and Australia as you seem to have great talent in practically any sport you can name, so it is always interesting to watch.
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Yes, we certainly had a great games, and it’s nice seeing the worlds best at games we often don’t get to see.
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@Mike_S Yes it is good to see the best of the best. This certainly applies to the athletics, swimming, gymnastics, weight lifting and rowing amongst others. For these sports the olympics are the ultimate expression of the sport. It does not apply to soccer, tennis, golf and occasionally basketball where the best professionals often do not come, and the Olympics are more often than not an afterthought for those professional athletes. I do not think the golf and tennis and soccer should be Olympic sports as it is not the ultimate showcase for them.
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I hope Pete is well. Normally he should have posted since.
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Listening to Radio 4 this morning, I understand that Boxing at the next LA games is is a lot of doubt unless Boxing’s governing body can get it’s act together. The IOC will not be wanting to do it again, apparently. Funny that!!!
“The IOC is in charge of holding the boxing tournament in Paris after stripping recognition of the International Boxing Association last year following failure to implement governance and finance reforms.” Reuters
Best performances for meme potential: pistol man and Raygun.
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You were the one who brought up the 1996 games, not me.
Our respective positions on this are clear enough. Best to move on now, especially as football is back 
Looking at the overall rankings, what strikes me is that India, the world’s most populous country (1.417 billion in 2022, slightly higher than China with 1.412 billion, which is ranked 2nd), is only at place 71, with 1 silver medal (track and field, javelin) and 5 bronze medals (3x shooting, 1x field hockey and 1x free style wrestling). Any thoughts on why this might be the case?
This makes sense as the new international boxing body to replace the discredited former body has been certified by the IOC. It just wasn’t certified in time for this 2024 Olympic games.
I think the Games are still very much a Western event. EU nations, taken together, have almost 100 gold medals.
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They’ll likely win gold in LA when cricket (another sport which should be nowhere near the Olympics) makes an entrance.
I don’t know the answer but I’d speculate there’s little investment in sport outside cricket - Kabaddi which seems really popular probably costs nothing to play for instance.
Would be good to know the answer cos it’s something Mrs twofifty and I have often wondered about.
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I think France deserves a lot of credit for Paris 2024. I wasn’t keen on the opening ceremony, but enjoyed last night’s closing spectacle.
Highlights for me were:-
- Tom Pidcock’s audacious overtake of the French rider to grab gold after a puncture.
- Leon Marchand’s performances in the pool, and the crowd reaction.
- China’s clean sweep of gold in the diving; they’re at a completely different level to everyone else.
- Bryony Page’s gold medal in trampolining.
- Armand Duplantis world record in the pole vault.
- Keely Hodgkinson delivering GB’s only athletic gold.
- Matt Hudson Smith running the fifth fastest 400m of all time.
- GB rowing gold in quadruple sculls, after being behind the whole race until the very last pull.
- Alex Yee’s burst of energy to overtake in final 200 metres to win triathlon gold.
- Siffan Hassan winning the women’s marathon, days after bronze medals in 10k and 5k.
Being so close to home, it was great that event timings were ideal for viewing. Now that it’s all over for another 4 years, I need to find something else to watch.
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Yep, LA and then Brisbane. Not expecting to see much of the next two!