The Official Olympic Thread

[Imy]

Neil looking good in The Jessop House old people's home Olympic video.

found the video:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uhxRVyGW-o"]The jessop house games - YouTube[/ame]

[Imy]

Yep. So long as it's not windy and rainy. Fast track and six absolute bullets in the field.

I don't think Bolt is right and I fear he'll get beaten.

Yeah Bolt is coming with poor form (well in comparison to 4 years ago), the Start is the key, he always starts slow - if he's not blown away then I can see him coming through.

[Shaggy]

Welled up watching this FFS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19134764?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[Phoenix07]

Denise Lewis looked like she was bouncing on an invisible exercise ball there.

[Neil Young]

Thanks.

Okay, I get why they do it. The slipstream stuff. But what I don't get is why it's necessary to have those laps. It's too long for a sprint - so why not have one or two laps of racing from the off, a flat out sprint instead of pissing around?

Also...during the prowling cat stage, sometimes one cyclist pedals up to the top of the track, right by the crowd. The other fella follows him. Why? Why doesn't he just shoot off and leave the other one for dead?

I don't know why it's three laps - probably just convention. But there used to be a (long) sprint of 1km with riders timed against each other. That was Hoy's event, and he won gold in Athens in it. But then the international body dropped it from the Olympics so he switched to the other sprint events which still carried gold medals. As Michael Johnson said the other night, that's another reason Hoy's achievement is so impressive.

The reason they go up to the crowd is so they can get the benefit of the height of the track to help acceleration, either to catch the rider if he goes past or to get a gap on them if they lead out.

It used to be a fairly regular occurrence for the riders to stop and balance on their bikes, in an effort to get the rider behind to go past. Now they aren't allowed to stop completely and they can only go at less than walking pace for thirty seconds maximum. But in the last they'd actually stop and balance on their bikes with no time limit. The longest "track stand" on record was over forty minutes.

A couple of other things:

Riders are drawn for starting position - the rider starting on the inside has to lead off. The other rider though can come past at any time they want.

The riders aren't allowed to go below walking pace for the whole of the first lap. That's why they usually amble around for a lap and then slow down once they're on the back straight for the second time.

[Vermilion]

Have to say, the majority of our main medal hopes have performed brilliantly on the day, some fantastic sporting moments.

[Shaggy]

I don't know why it's three laps - probably just convention. But there used to be a (long) sprint of 1km with riders timed against each other. That was Hoy's event, and he won gold in Athens in it. But then the international body dropped it from the Olympics so he switched to the other sprint events which still carried gold medals. As Michael Johnson said the other night, that's another reason Hoy's achievement is so impressive.

The reason they go up to the crowd is so they can get the benefit of the height of the track to help acceleration, either to catch the rider if he goes past or to get a gap on them if they lead out.

It used to be a fairly regular occurrence for the riders to stop and balance on their bikes, in an effort to get the rider behind to go past. Now they aren't allowed to stop completely and they can only go at less than walking pace for thirty seconds maximum. But in the last they'd actually stop and balance on their bikes with no time limit. The longest "track stand" on record was over forty minutes.

A couple of other things:

Riders are drawn for starting position - the rider starting on the inside has to lead off. The other rider though can come past at any time they want.

The riders aren't allowed to go below walking pace for the whole of the first lap. That's why they usually amble around for a lap and then slow down once they're on the back straight for the second time.

Thanks.

I'm genuinely interested, it's a pretty exciting sport.

[Vermilion]

I don't know why it's three laps - probably just convention. But there used to be a (long) sprint of 1km with riders timed against each other. That was Hoy's event, and he won gold in Athens in it. But then the international body dropped it from the Olympics so he switched to the other sprint events which still carried gold medals. As Michael Johnson said the other night, that's another reason Hoy's achievement is so impressive.

The reason they go up to the crowd is so they can get the benefit of the height of the track to help acceleration, either to catch the rider if he goes past or to get a gap on them if they lead out.

It used to be a fairly regular occurrence for the riders to stop and balance on their bikes, in an effort to get the rider behind to go past. Now they aren't allowed to stop completely and they can only go at less than walking pace for thirty seconds maximum. But in the last they'd actually stop and balance on their bikes with no time limit. The longest "track stand" on record was over forty minutes.

A couple of other things:

Riders are drawn for starting position - the rider starting on the inside has to lead off. The other rider though can come past at any time they want.

The riders aren't allowed to go below walking pace for the whole of the first lap. That's why they usually amble around for a lap and then slow down once they're on the back straight for the second time.

Was thinking about exactly that yesterday, wondering why i had'nt seen it, it's one of the things i remember clearly from watching the olympics as a kid, i loved it for some reason, seeing them stopping the bikes and balancing, then all of a sudden whoosh and the pedals are going like ****..there seemed to be a lot more of the going high on the track as i remember too, with riders swooshing up and down the track ready to pounce.

This was pre bmx obviously, when 'cowhorns' were all the rage.

[Neil Young]

Thanks.

I'm genuinely interested, it's a pretty exciting sport.

A couple of days ago or so I wasn't sure you weren't taking the piss though.

Was thinking about exactly that yesterday, wondering why i had'nt seen it, it's one of the things i remember clearly from watching the olympics as a kid, i loved it for some reason, seeing them stopping the bikes and balancing, then all of a sudden whoosh and the pedals are going like ****..there seemed to be a lot more of the going high on the track as i remember too, with riders swooshing up and down the track ready to pounce.

This was pre bmx obviously.

Yes, it did used to make it even stranger and it could be even more exciting. But obviously it didn't exactly make for riveting television for the casual viewer and could completely f*ck up the racing schedule.

[Chazza]

Hope this rain stops before tonight

[Shaggy]

Hope this rain stops before tonight

Glorious weather up north

[Neil Young]

World record for Pendleton in the sprint qualifying.

[Reece]

Pendleton breaks the WR in the sprint

[Neil Young]

Thanks Bender.

Meares second, Guo Shang third, Vogel fourth.

[Leyton388]

Pendleton breaks the WR in the sprint