Just how good will the Olympics be?

[claypole]

It's clearly not great, but if you read into the detail it's not as bad as it looks.

[Tal]

Absolutely. Two sides and all that.

Fair play to the guy for winning under enormous pressure.

World number 1 not at the party is a farce, whichever way you look at it tho.

[claypole]

Sorry BBC reporter = cock. Ask him about controversy at end of day, it wasn't his decision. What a clown that interviewer was

[kinboshi]

Sorry BBC reporter = cock. Ask him about controversy at end of day, it wasn't his decision. What a clown that interviewer was

Agreed.  A head-kick might have been the appropriate response...

[kinboshi]

Keri-Anne Payne is a "lover not a fighter" according to psychological profiling:

 

[Tonji]

Good luck to Dan Fogg in the 10K open water. It'll be a tough ask, but you never know.

[Doobs]

Absolutely. Two sides and all that.

Fair play to the guy for winning under enormous pressure.

World number 1 not at the party is a farce, whichever way you look at it tho.

It really isn't a farce.  Just read Wikipedia for a more balanced view. 

If you want a proper farce it is probably better to look at the women's 800 m selection.

[TightEnd]

This was as at yesterday, Daily Telegraph


Success

Athletics
UK Sport Funding (2009-2013) £25,148,000, UK Sport medal target 5-8, Achieved 5 medals, Days of competition left 4: Mo Farah remains a hope but even if the total falls short of eight, Super Saturday will never be forgotten

Boxing
Funding £9,551,400, Medal target 3-5, Achieved 5 fighters guaranteed at least bronze already, Days of competition left 4: Boxing has already hit its target with guaranteed bronzes, and the deepest squad to travel to a Games has power to add silver and gold

Canoeing
Funding £16,176,700, Medal target 3-4, Achieved 2, Days of competition left 3: Disappointment in the singles was redeemed by gold and silver in the white-water K2 class, with power to add on the flat at Eton Dorney

Cycling
Funding £26,032,000, Medal target 6-10, Achieved 12, Days of competition left 4: The stand-out team in British Olympic sport exceeded its superb display in Beijing

Equestrian
Funding £13,395,000, Medal target 3-4, Achieved 3, Days of competition left 1: The horses have come to the party, with breakthrough gold in dressage and usual medals in eventing

Fencing
Funding £2,529,335, Medal target 0-1, Performance target 1 x 6-12 individual, 1 x 4-8 team, Achieved Missed individual goals but men’s team met target, Days of competition left: 0: After contentious selections the targets were missed

Gymnastics
Funding £10,770,600, Medal target 1-2, Achieved 4, Days of competition left 4: One of the stand-out triumphs of the Games, with the men’s team led by Louis Smith and Beth Tweddle delivered beyond their expectations

Judo
Funding £7,498,000, Medal target 0-1, Performance target 3 x 3rd – 8th, Achieved 2, Days of competition left 0: Despite Euan Burton crashing out, his girlfriend Gemma Gibbons delivered a star turn with silver and Karina Bryant got a bronze

Rowing
Funding £27,287,600, Medal target 6, Achieved 9, Days of competition left 0: David Tanner the only performance director to set a single target rather than a range and his talented squad exceeded it. By 50 per cent

Sailing
Funding £22,942,700, Medal target 3-5, Achieved 3, Days of competition left 3: The sailors have not had things all their own way but have fought for every place, with Ainslie’s fourth consecutive gold the stand-out

Shooting
Funding £2,461,866, Medal target 0-1, Performance target 1 x 4th-6th, Achieved 1, Days of competition left 0: Peter Wilson’s gold medal delivered

Table Tennis
Funding £1,213,848, Medal target 0, Performance target 1 x 32nd – 64th men; 1 x 64th – qual rd women, Achieved: No medals but targets met by men and women, Days of competition left 0: Creditable if unspectacular display

Tennis
Funding £0, Medal target 0-2 (1 x semi, 1 x quarter), Achieved 2, Days of competition left 0, Andy Murray won gold and silver (the latter with Laura Robson), a first for British tennis

Triathlon
Funding £5,291,300, Medal target 1-2, Achieved 2, Days left 0: The Brownlee brothers delivered one of the stories of the Games with gold and bronze in a growing sport


MISSING THE MARK

Archery
Funding £4,408,000, Medal target: 0-1, Performance target 2 x 4th – 8th, individual & team, Achieved No medals and performance targets missed, Days of competition left 0: Enjoyed a Hollywood setting at Lord’s but put in a B-movie performance, with both teams out in 1st round and best individual, Larry Godfrey, defeated in quarter-finals

Badminton
Funding £7,434,900, Medal target 0-1, Performance target 1 x 4th-8th, Achieved No medals and missed competition target. Days left 0: Failed to hit their limited target

Handball
Funding £2,924,721, Medal target: 0, Performance target 1 x 5th - 8th, Achieved: No medals and performance targets missed, men and women finished 11th, Days of competition left 4: Missed their targets but everyone had a very good time watching them, which may be a bigger benefit

Weightlifting
Funding £1,365,157, Medal target 0, Performance target 1 x 4th-8th, Achieved No medals, Days of competition left 0: Zoe Smith was a worthy competitor in 58kg category but fell short of the top-eight finish

THE JURY'S OUT

Diving
Funding £6,535,700, Medal target 1-3, Achieved 0, Days of competition left 3: Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield failed to deliver a medal when well-set in the synchro, leaving Daley and women’s individuals as only chance of redemption

Hockey
Funding £15,013,000, Medal target 1-2, Achieved Men and women both in medal contention, Days of competition left 3: Hockey’s targets will be decided by semi-finals in the coming days but they have performed with élan and brought excitement to the Riverside Arena

Synchronised swimming
Funding £3,398,300, UK Sport Target 0, Achieved 0, on target so far, Days of competition left 2, Success so far, with duet finishing 9th, and team event to come

Volleyball
Funding £3,536,077, Medal target: 0, Performance target: one team to win one match, beach maximum top 10 finish, indoor maximum top eight, Achieved: 0, women met performance target, men did not

Modern Pentathlon
Funding £6,288,800, Medal target 1-2, Achieved No competition yet, Days of competition left 2: Competition yet to begin

Swimming
Funding £25,144,600, Medal target 5-7, Achieved 3, Days of competition left 2: Biggest disappointment among the major sports. May yet hit its minimum target with the open-water races to come but too many athletes have performed below their best

Water Polo
Funding £2,928,039, Medal target 0, Days of competition left 3: Men missed target, women can hit it in seventh-place play-off on Thursday

Wrestling
Funding £1,435,210, Medal target 0, Performance target 1 x 4th-8th Days of competition left 4: Competition starts on Thursday
 

[Jon MW]

Absolutely. Two sides and all that.

Fair play to the guy for winning under enormous pressure.

World number 1 not at the party is a farce, whichever way you look at it tho.

It really isn't a farce.  Just read Wikipedia for a more balanced view. 

If you want a proper farce it is probably better to look at the women's 800 m selection.

They may word it in different ways but effectively what the selectors have said basically boils down to they just picked the taller one because of head hit points.

Whilst it is true that the first round here was decided on the head hits - it's a bit of a one dimensional strategy, and that's very similar to the criticism of GB Taekwando by Aaron Cook when he went out of the European championships in the first round after he followed their tactics for that.


Wasn't the womens 800m selection down to that none of those who had hit the A standard had done so this season, so they picked someone who had hit the B standard this season? i.e. they went for the person in the best form rather than those who had historically faster times? (there's a few selection issues around - I'm not ruling out that I'm thinking of another sport entirely )

[TightEnd]

The Olympic rule is if you pick someone of B standard (time ) you can't pick anyone of A standard

They chose Sharp at B who won the trials and left 3 A standards at home as a result, the A standards like Meadows hadn't performed well in 2012 or had been injured

Very controversial, but clearly a very tough decision to have to make

[Doobs]

Absolutely. Two sides and all that.

Fair play to the guy for winning under enormous pressure.

World number 1 not at the party is a farce, whichever way you look at it tho.

It really isn't a farce.  Just read Wikipedia for a more balanced view. 

If you want a proper farce it is probably better to look at the women's 800 m selection.

They may word it in different ways but effectively what the selectors have said basically boils down to they just picked the taller one because of head hit points.

Whilst it is true that the first round here was decided on the head hits - it's a bit of a one dimensional strategy, and that's very similar to the criticism of GB Taekwando by Aaron Cook when he went out of the European championships in the first round after he followed their tactics for that.


Wasn't the womens 800m selection down to that none of those who had hit the A standard had done so this season, so they picked someone who had hit the B standard this season? i.e. they went for the person in the best form rather than those who had historically faster times? (there's a few selection issues around - I'm not ruling out that I'm thinking of another sport entirely )

The orignial story, as presented by the press/cook's PR, was pretty unfair.  A brief synopsis of how it was presented in the press is Muhammed is only 57th in the World and Aaron Cook was number 1.

The reality is that Muhammed won the European Championship at the -87kg class that doesn't appear in the olympics.  I am not au fait enough with Taekwondo to know the relative skills of the two of them, but there doesn't appear to be as big a gulf in class as that originally presented to us.

I hope he wins.

[Tal]

I just can't compare the two tbh. It's not like picking the world number 55 over the number 25 because of rule changes or tactics of the draw. This is dropping the world number 1 in favour of a much lower ranked guy.

Cook might not have started as favourite but he's still better than the expectations of the replacement.

I'm not saying Mohammed doesn't deserve his place in the team; just that the case for Cook getting a place is stronger.

Our 800m selection is much more debatable. It was a genuinely tough decision on paper because of injury and form.

[Doobs]

He is ranked so low because this isn't  his normal weight.  It isn't because he is genuinely 56 places lower than Cook.  

Edit.  He is ranked 7 at his normal weight. 

[The Camel]

This was as at yesterday, Daily Telegraph


Success

Athletics
UK Sport Funding (2009-2013) £25,148,000, UK Sport medal target 5-8, Achieved 5 medals, Days of competition left 4: Mo Farah remains a hope but even if the total falls short of eight, Super Saturday will never be forgotten

Boxing
Funding £9,551,400, Medal target 3-5, Achieved 5 fighters guaranteed at least bronze already, Days of competition left 4: Boxing has already hit its target with guaranteed bronzes, and the deepest squad to travel to a Games has power to add silver and gold

Canoeing
Funding £16,176,700, Medal target 3-4, Achieved 2, Days of competition left 3: Disappointment in the singles was redeemed by gold and silver in the white-water K2 class, with power to add on the flat at Eton Dorney

Cycling
Funding £26,032,000, Medal target 6-10, Achieved 12, Days of competition left 4: The stand-out team in British Olympic sport exceeded its superb display in Beijing

Equestrian
Funding £13,395,000, Medal target 3-4, Achieved 3, Days of competition left 1: The horses have come to the party, with breakthrough gold in dressage and usual medals in eventing

Fencing
Funding £2,529,335, Medal target 0-1, Performance target 1 x 6-12 individual, 1 x 4-8 team, Achieved Missed individual goals but men’s team met target, Days of competition left: 0: After contentious selections the targets were missed

Gymnastics
Funding £10,770,600, Medal target 1-2, Achieved 4, Days of competition left 4: One of the stand-out triumphs of the Games, with the men’s team led by Louis Smith and Beth Tweddle delivered beyond their expectations

Judo
Funding £7,498,000, Medal target 0-1, Performance target 3 x 3rd – 8th, Achieved 2, Days of competition left 0: Despite Euan Burton crashing out, his girlfriend Gemma Gibbons delivered a star turn with silver and Karina Bryant got a bronze

Rowing
Funding £27,287,600, Medal target 6, Achieved 9, Days of competition left 0: David Tanner the only performance director to set a single target rather than a range and his talented squad exceeded it. By 50 per cent

Sailing
Funding £22,942,700, Medal target 3-5, Achieved 3, Days of competition left 3: The sailors have not had things all their own way but have fought for every place, with Ainslie’s fourth consecutive gold the stand-out

Shooting
Funding £2,461,866, Medal target 0-1, Performance target 1 x 4th-6th, Achieved 1, Days of competition left 0: Peter Wilson’s gold medal delivered

Table Tennis
Funding £1,213,848, Medal target 0, Performance target 1 x 32nd – 64th men; 1 x 64th – qual rd women, Achieved: No medals but targets met by men and women, Days of competition left 0: Creditable if unspectacular display

Tennis
Funding £0, Medal target 0-2 (1 x semi, 1 x quarter), Achieved 2, Days of competition left 0, Andy Murray won gold and silver (the latter with Laura Robson), a first for British tennis

Triathlon
Funding £5,291,300, Medal target 1-2, Achieved 2, Days left 0: The Brownlee brothers delivered one of the stories of the Games with gold and bronze in a growing sport


MISSING THE MARK

Archery
Funding £4,408,000, Medal target: 0-1, Performance target 2 x 4th – 8th, individual & team, Achieved No medals and performance targets missed, Days of competition left 0: Enjoyed a Hollywood setting at Lord’s but put in a B-movie performance, with both teams out in 1st round and best individual, Larry Godfrey, defeated in quarter-finals

Badminton
Funding £7,434,900, Medal target 0-1, Performance target 1 x 4th-8th, Achieved No medals and missed competition target. Days left 0: Failed to hit their limited target

Handball
Funding £2,924,721, Medal target: 0, Performance target 1 x 5th - 8th, Achieved: No medals and performance targets missed, men and women finished 11th, Days of competition left 4: Missed their targets but everyone had a very good time watching them, which may be a bigger benefit

Weightlifting
Funding £1,365,157, Medal target 0, Performance target 1 x 4th-8th, Achieved No medals, Days of competition left 0: Zoe Smith was a worthy competitor in 58kg category but fell short of the top-eight finish

THE JURY'S OUT

Diving
Funding £6,535,700, Medal target 1-3, Achieved 0, Days of competition left 3: Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield failed to deliver a medal when well-set in the synchro, leaving Daley and women’s individuals as only chance of redemption

Hockey
Funding £15,013,000, Medal target 1-2, Achieved Men and women both in medal contention, Days of competition left 3: Hockey’s targets will be decided by semi-finals in the coming days but they have performed with élan and brought excitement to the Riverside Arena

Synchronised swimming
Funding £3,398,300, UK Sport Target 0, Achieved 0, on target so far, Days of competition left 2, Success so far, with duet finishing 9th, and team event to come

Volleyball
Funding £3,536,077, Medal target: 0, Performance target: one team to win one match, beach maximum top 10 finish, indoor maximum top eight, Achieved: 0, women met performance target, men did not

Modern Pentathlon
Funding £6,288,800, Medal target 1-2, Achieved No competition yet, Days of competition left 2: Competition yet to begin

Swimming
Funding £25,144,600, Medal target 5-7, Achieved 3, Days of competition left 2: Biggest disappointment among the major sports. May yet hit its minimum target with the open-water races to come but too many athletes have performed below their best

Water Polo
Funding £2,928,039, Medal target 0, Days of competition left 3: Men missed target, women can hit it in seventh-place play-off on Thursday

Wrestling
Funding £1,435,210, Medal target 0, Performance target 1 x 4th-8th Days of competition left 4: Competition starts on Thursday
 

I think the GB Athletics performance has been disappointing.

Ennis was a juimp round to win job. Farah is not really part of Team GB structure I believe. Only Rutherford has got a gold apart from those two.

Lots of disappointing efforts: Greene, Bleasedale, Idowo, Tomlinson, Shakes-Drayton off the top of my head were all single figure odds to win gold and finished medal less.

[Jon MW]

I haven't just read what Cook has said. Other commentators have pointed out that Cook has beaten all the leading contenders for gold and Mohammed hasn't, and Mohammed has fought at this weight level so it's not just down to opportunity - he's just not as good at this level.

Infostrada the sports statistics company did a little preview with the Times (so obviously they're all about the stats) - they said,
"Why pick the world No 57 ahead of the world No1? That was the question. It still is the question. Our stats ask the same question - we do not rank Muhamad anywhere near the medals."

After Cook left the governing bodies training schedule his form was consistently positive and he's had no injuries - there's always the chance that they're right and that he's just got better PR but the only arguments they've given seem to come down to he's not as tall and being ranked number 1 doesn't mean you're the best. I think one journalist got it right - Mohammad could win the whole thing - but it still wouldn't prove it was a good choice, it would probably just show that Cook would have won it more easily. (I'd add - but he probably won't )