Which is why China cannot top the predicted medal table in any US media outlet.

(Edit: To Reed's post above)

Damned right! We won a gold medal this afternoon in some event that could only be described as "subjugating horses to dance to our will". We used to win gold medals in that for subjugating entire nations (eat our dust, Belgium and Italy) but if horses are all we have left, let's have it!

Hoy delivers.

Couldn't have two straight British cycling heros end their careers on a disappointment, now could we.

Chris Hoy. That was exciting.

How can they judge the bronze there? Someones wheel is in between the Dutch and New Zealand guys, obscuring any photo.

Janik wrote:


Although the funny (?) thing is that compared to the Cold War-era Olympics pitting the U.S against the commies (according to U.S. media, I mean), China and the U.S. are heavily intertwined economically and you could even make a somewhat convincing argument that our "ways of life" are becoming more similar: crony-capitalist surveillance-state governments with vast wealth inequalities.

Rogin the Kitten Minder wrote:


The day after we won a gold in "buying the most talented horses at jumping over things and claiming their achievements as ours". Turns out 3 of the 4 horses the British used to beat the Dutch were bred in the Netherlands...

I think they've awarded it as a tie.

One thing I didn't realise until yesterday is that until 1984, China had only competed in one Olympics (1952 in Helsinki).

So Britain's track cycling final total from ten events; 7 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze. Only event without a medal is one where the British competitors were (rightly) disqualified for a technical infringment which didn't confer a significant advantage, when their time, if it had stood, would have seen them into the gold/silver match.
All that achieved with only 1 entry per event, which the UCI hoped would spread things around more. One can see why the French are a bit irritated by it all.

Hoy did so well not to get swamped when the German came half a length past him in the back straight. If the German had got all far enough forward to cut in front of Hoy, he may not have got any kind of medal, certainly wouldn't have got gold.

Looking at the medal table, a number of traditional powers have so many more silvers than golds. Russia 8-17-19, Germany 5-14-7, Australia 3-12-9 (another gold is actually confirmed in the sailing, but it's not on the table as that competition hasn't concluded), Japan 2-13-14. They must be really frustrated by it all.

And our sports are more and more intertwined as the NBA makes a big push in China and coaches from one country come to the other and back again.

Centre-pass in the Men's hockey match between Britain and Spain is in ten minutes. That is going to be a nervy game.

Janik wrote:


Conversely, Kazakhstan have been ruthless, 7 medals, 6 of which are gold. which puts them at 8th, one place above Germany who have 19 more medals than them but one less gold.

Oh, and in terms of British gold chances, there are two more in the sailing, Men's and Women's 470s. The Men's is a pretty outside bet, 2nd place by 4 points behind with one race to go. The Women have a better shot, also 2nd by 4 points but with three races left.
If my understanding of the event is right, the Men's team need to finish Thursdays medal race three places in front of the current leaders, Australia, to claim the gold. If they don't get that, they will pick up silver as the gap to thrid place is massive.

38 different countries currently have at least one gold medal compared to 54 in Beijing, it'd be nice if that total was beaten.

VTTBoscombe wrote:


OK, conversation has moved on from this, but I forgot to answer it earlier. Some of the races are called Canoe, some called Kayak. One is done sitting down (and possibly with double ended paddles), the other kneeling. There may be other differences in the shape of the boats. Just don't ask me which one is which! The two golds Sports Illustrated predict for Britain are in Kayak catergories.
N.B. having both canoe and kayak catergories is true for the flatwater and the whitewater stuff.

My understanding, from when I was in the Scouts, is that what most people think of a "canoe" (where you sit, enclosed, with a two ended paddle) is actually a "kayak" and a "canoe" is actually where you sit in an open vessel with a single ended paddle (the sort of thing you saw "Red Indians" using in cowboy films).

Ashley Jackson puts GB 1-0 up in the hockey late in the first half.

I'm now heading offline, so you'll have to stay in suspense on the result for a while.