The Official Olympic Thread

[Chazza]

Thanks for the detailed analysis

Whats the format then do they go individually or per country?

[Neil Young]

Individually.

Here's the start list for the men:

14:15:00 - 37 - Mouhcine Lahsaini (Morocco)
14:16:30 - 36 - Tomas Gil Martinez (Venezuela)
14:18:00 - 35 - Alireza Haghi (Iran)
14:19:30 - 34 - Ahmet Akdilek (Turkey)
14:21:00 - 33 - Magno Nazaret (Brazil)
14:22:30 - 32 - Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)
14:24:00 - 31 - Assan Bazayev (Kazakhstan)
14:25:30 - 30 - David McCann (Ireland)
14:27:00 - 29 - Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)
14:28:30 - 28 - Michael Albasini (Switzerland)
14:30:00 - 27 - Fabio Duarte (Colombia)
14:31:30 - 26 - Lars Boom (Netherlands)
14:33:00 - 25 - Jack Bauer (New Zealand)
14:34:30 - 24 - Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia)
14:36:00 - 23 - Maciej Bodnar (Poland)
14:37:30 - 22 - Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
14:39:00 - 21 - Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan)
14:40:30 - 20 - Ryder Hesjedal (Canada)
14:42:00 - 19 - Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain)
14:43:30 - 18 - Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark)
14:45:00 - 17 - Nelson Oliviera (Portugal)
14:46:30 - 16 - Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
14:48:00 - 15 - Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania)
14:49:30 - 14 - Denis Menchov (Russia)
14:51:00 - 13 - Lieuwe Westra (Netherlands)
14:52:30 - 12 - Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus)
14:54:00 - 11 - Gustav Larsson (Sweden)
14:55:30 - 10 - Michael Rogers (Australia)
14:57:00 - 9 - Bert Grabsch (Germany)
14:58:30 - 8 - Sylvain Chavanel (France)
15:00:00 - 7 - Chris Froome (Great Britain)
15:01:30 - 6 - Marco Pinotti (Italy)
15:03:00 - 5 - Juils Leon Sanchez (Spain)
15:04:30 - 4 - Taylor Phinney (USA)
15:06:00 - 3 - Tony Martin (Germany)
15:07:30 - 2 - Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain)
15:09:00 - 1 - Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)

And for the women:

12:30:00 - 24 - Clemilda Fernandes (Brazil)
12:31:30 - 23 - Pia Sundstedt (Finland)
12:33:00 - 22 - Liesbet De Vocht (Belgium)
12:34:30 - 21 - Ashleigh Moolman (RSA)
12:36:00 - 20 - Audrey Cordon (France)
12:37:30 - 19 - Tatiana Antoshina (Russia)
12:39:00 - 18 - Elena Tchalykh (Azerbaijan)
12:40:30 - 17 - Tatiana Guderzo (Italy)
12:42:00 - 16 - Denise Ramsden (Canada)
12:43:30 - 15 - Olga Zabelinskaya (Russia)
12:45:00 - 14 - Emilia Fahlin (Sweden)
12:46:30 - 13 - Trixi Worrack (Germany)
12:48:00 - 12 - Noemi Cantele (Italy)
12:49:30 - 11 - Shara Gillow (Australia)
12:51:00 - 10 - Ellen Van Dijk (Netherlands)
12:52:30 - 9 - Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain)
12:54:00 - 8 - Emma Johansson (Sweden)
12:55:30 - 7 - Amber Neben (USA)
12:57:00 - 6 - Emma Pooley (Great Britain)
12:58:30 - 5 - Clara Hughes (Canada)
13:00:00 - 4 - Linda Villumsen (New Zealand)
13:01:30 - 3 - Marianne Vos (Netherlands)
13:03:00 - 2 - Judith Arndt (Germany)
13:04:30 - 1 - Kristin Armstrong (USA)

[Neil Young]

By the way, it's not much of a spectacle really. It is if you're into the sport, and know who's good and who isn't, but otherwise it's just a succession of people in skinsuits riding space age bikes and not moving about much as they pedal. The drama comes in the split times.

So let's hope the OBS and Locog don't f*ck up the on screen timings this time.

By the way, as you'll have noticed, the favourites start at the end, to keep the drama. It can help them too since they can get updates on how they're doing compared to others.

But someone with Wiggins' experience knows they have to go flat out all the way anyway, and it's just a question of managing and maintaining their effort. If it's good enough, he wins; if it isn't then knowing someone else is doing better doesn't change anything.

[Chazza]

Thanks

So out on your own for 44km

It looks a pretty flat course (from my knowledge of the area)

[ChesterDave]

18 Best 2012 Olympics Porn Names

http://bustedcoverage.com/2012/07/28/18-best-porn-names-at-2012-london-olympics/

Its basically a series of Asian athletes and those from the Western / English speaking world with the word cock in their name.

Although...

Bin Dong looks a bit iffy

[Chazza]

Just saw this on the news

They had about 5 points in a row where serves went straight into the net

Olympics badminton: Four pairs charged with not trying

The Badminton World Federation has charged eight Olympic doubles players with "not using one's best efforts to win a match".

Four pairs of players - two from South Korea, one from China and one from Indonesia - could be disciplined.

Constant errors, including players serving into the net, took place.

All four pairs had already qualified for the last eight, and they have been accused of wanting to lose in an attempt to manipulate the draw.

At Wembley Arena on Tuesday night, fans jeered the women's doubles match between China's Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli and South Koreans Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na .

The longest rally in the first game lasted four shots, with match referee Thorsten Berg coming onto court at one point to warn the players.

South Korea won the Group A match, which lasted 23 minutes 21-14 21-11.

Both pairs were already through to the quarter-finals with the winners to face China's Tian Quing and Zhao Yunlei. The two Chinese pairings can now only meet in the final.

Korea's coach Sung Han-kook said said: "The Chinese started this. They did it first. It's a complicated thing with the draws. They didn't want to meet each other in the semi-final, they don't want that to happen.

"They (BWF) should do something about that."

But Yu said the Chinese decided to preserve energy ahead of the knockout stages.

She said: "Actually these opponents really were strong. This is the first time we've played them and tomorrow it's the knockout rounds, so we've already qualified and we wanted to have more energy for the knockout rounds."

A later match between South Korean third seeds Ha Jung-Eun and Kim Min-Jung and Indonesian pair Meiliana Juahari and Greysia Polii was played out in a similar atmosphere.

Referee Berg returned to court and brandished the black card, signalling disqualification, but it was rescinded and the match resumed when the Indonesians protested.

Both pairs had also already qualified for the knockout stages, with the winner of Group C to play Yu and Wang and the Korean pairs to face each other if Ha and Kim lost.

The Koreans won 18-21 21-14 21-12 and did not comment before leaving the court, but Polii told reporters: "I don't know what happened. If that's the game, we have to accept all the things.

"Either they want to trust us - we play bad or we play good. Our control is only to play as good as we can."

Gail Emms, a Badminton Olympic silver medallist for Great Britain in 2004, who was at the event for BBC Sport, said: "I'm furious. It is very embarrassing for our sport.

"This is the Olympic Games. If Badminton wants to save face they should disqualify the two pairs and reinstate the pairs that came third in the group. This is something that is not acceptable. The crowd paid good money to watch two matches."

The International Olympic Committee said it had "every confidence" in the badminton federation to "deal with the issue appropriately and take any necessary measures".

Analysis
Gordon Farquhar
BBC sports news correspondent The Badminton World Federation will meet this morning to decide what to do. Their lacklustre efforts drew boos and chanting from the crowd, and irate intervention from match officials, as a series of tame shots were played. Two teams were disqualified then reinstated and confusion reigned. The Chinese state media say separate proceedings have begun against their players, publishing an editorial saying the spirit of fair play was more important than a gold medal

[Alex]

Thats pretty awful. You have to fear for the Danish pair who won the group too.

[Shaggy]

Looking forward to Wiggo today

[red g]

surely the gold rush starts for GB Today?

[Trippendicular]

I must say there's a certain sense of schadenfreude in the British results so far. For once, the great expectations were justified, due to the home ground advantage and the talent/ability of your athletes, so as an Australian it's nice to see the British stay true to form. Especially after the sour grapes of the road race, as if it's 1788 and we owe something to our colonial masters.

[Alex]

Dont worry mate, we will ramp it up soon and start showing you lot how to win things

[Shaggy]

I don't see Australia anywhere on the medals table either

[Alex]

Zara Phillips is miserable as ****. She was just moping on the BBC with her Posho team.

[Neil Young]

I don't see Australia anywhere on the medals table either

I think they must have won the road race. Why else would an Australian take pleasure in the result?

[Trippendicular]

I don't see Australia anywhere on the medals table either

I expected as much coming in, and now that we're delivering a lack of success I have turned some of my attention to Britain's similarly poor results. Take pleasure where you can find it.

I think they must have won the road race. Why else would an Australian take pleasure in the result?

My pleasure comes from the British fallout to the result (and other subsequent failings), not the result itself, as we are similarly disappointed in how our countrymen fared.