The Famous Homecoming

Sea Filly

jack presley wrote: »

How is Usain Bolt an amateur? Have you seen what he charges for appearing at race meets? Then there's the prize money

Good for him. You do know that Katie will make a lot of money now from sponsorship, yes? Usain Bolt will undoubtedly make a lot more, but that's because he is the highest profile athlete in the world.

krudler

and this is why I don't pay a tv licence

kfallon

krudler wrote: »

and this is why I don't pay a tv licence

That's lies, TV3 on it's own is the reason you don't pay it :pac:

krudler

kfallon wrote: »

That's lies, TV3 on it's own is the reason you don't pay it :pac:

that too, and this country's inability to not make these things look embarassing.

jack presley

Sea Filly wrote: »

jack presley wrote: »

How is Usain Bolt an amateur? Have you seen what he charges for appearing at race meets? Then there's the prize money

Good for him. You do know that Katie will make a lot of money now from sponsorship, yes? Usain Bolt will undoubtedly make a lot more, but that's because he is the highest profile athlete in the world.

So you agree he's not an amateur then?

I'm not talking about sponsorship though. I'm talking about getting paid to run or paid for winning races which makes him and a lot of other athletes in the Olympics professionals

gobnaitolunacy

At least it a homecoming where sports people actually got SOMETHING.

Nothing worse than a homecoming where they're all coming back with the tail between the legs.

Example: The Kerry footballers one year (they lost) on the back of a curtainsider with 'Simply The Best' blasting out. FFS.
The ties at half mast and a bit wavery on the pins from attempts at drowning their sorrows.

Jimoslimos

Cienciano wrote: »

You sure you're not thinking of 2002? Here's a good article about it. If you thought Des Cahill was bad today, Joe Duffy in 2002 was on a different planet of cringeness:

The rest here:
http://www.dangerhere.com/issues/worldcup/infamy.htm

Oh that's beyond cringeworthy!

He decided to change tack, nabbing Damien Duff for a bit of one-on-one. "Your mother was very concerned that you had your picture of Padre Pio, Damien! Have you got it there?"
Duff was suitably unimpressed: "It's not with me right now," he said.

:eek: 2002!

No wonder the players didn't qualify for another major tournament for 10 years

fullstop

Cassidy28 wrote: »

Go on Katie

What did she do/say?

Sea Filly wrote: »

It's all amateur. And define "proper".

Oh, I didn't realise Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and the rest of the US basketball team were amateur :rolleyes:

Valetta

hotmail.com wrote: »

He'd still lose by a mile IMO. Amateur boxers wear a head shield as well.

It's an unpopular opinion and people don't want to hear it, but it's the truth. Olympic medals in boxing are not as valuable as the other sports in the olympics. And Ireland performed dreadfully in them

This part is moronic.

How do you value an Olympic medal? By it's weight in metal? if so, all medals are of equal value.

The only other meaningful way to value a medal is to ask the winner what value they put on it. I think you will find that boxing medals are just as valuable as any others won at the olympics.

fishy fishy

does anyone know when the "leaving cert results" festival starts?

pathway33

BettePorter wrote: »

What's his obsession about making people 'wave up the street ' !!!!!!! ?????

that's where the 20,000 are

Cienciano

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Oh that's beyond cringeworthy!

:eek: 2002!

No wonder the players didn't qualify for another major tournament for 10 years

I think Joe employs someone full time to make sure it never gets on youtube.

Sea Filly

jack presley wrote: »

So you agree he's not an amateur then?

I'm not talking about sponsorship though. I'm talking about getting paid to run or paid for winning races which makes him and a lot of other athletes in the Olympics professionals

No, I don't. He can charge that because he's the most high-profile athlete in the world, because he competes in the most high profile athletic event. Gold medallists in other athletic events couldn't even do that.

Sea Filly

fullstop wrote: »

Oh, I didn't realise Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and the rest of the US basketball team were amateur :rolleyes:

Yep, I'm confused as to why they are allowed to compete. They shouldn't be.

bijapos

Skid wrote: »

The people with the Golf Umbrellas blocking the view of the kids behind them are pure ignorant.

People with Golf umbrellas tend to be always ignorant.


Anyway a quote from RTE's website:

Thousands braved the weather and welcomed home the Irish Olympic Team, including the five Olympic medallists.

And for those who missed it it's up on the player. Cahill is a crap moderator alright.

http://www.rte.ie/tvplayer/ie/show/10043416/

summerskin

Sea Filly wrote: »

No, I don't. He can charge that because he's the most high-profile athlete in the world, because he competes in the most high profile athletic event. Gold medallists in other athletic events couldn't even do that.

Your post makes no sense, Usain Bolt is a professional athlete. he gets paid money to appear in races, he wins prize money in those races, he gets taxed on that income(hence the reason he doesn't race in the UK much), he's professional.

Or do you not understand the difference between amateur and professional?

jack presley

Sea Filly wrote: »

fullstop wrote: »

Oh, I didn't realise Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and the rest of the US basketball team were amateur :rolleyes:

Yep, I'm confused as to why they are allowed to compete. They shouldn't be.

Thats because the rule banning professionals from the Olympics was lifted years ago. Some sports, like boxing chose to keep it amateur though and I'm sure there are others on Boards who can give you a reason why

Sea Filly

summerskin wrote: »

Your post makes no sense, Usain Bolt is a professional athlete. he gets paid money to appear in races, he wins prize money in those races, he gets taxed on that income(hence the reason he doesn't race in the UK much), he's professional.

Or do you not understand the difference between amateur and professional?

I know that to compete in the Olympics, you should be amateur. I don't know why professional footballers,tennis players etc. are allowed to.

Sea Filly

jack presley wrote: »

Thats because the rule banning professionals from the Olympics was lifted years ago. Some sports, like boxing chose to keep it amateur though and I'm sure there are others on Boards who can give you a reason why

Well then it's great that they have kept it, and is even more reason for people not to bitch at boxing medals being "lesser". If anything, professional athletes being allowed cheapens the whole thing.

jack presley

Sea Filly wrote: »

summerskin wrote: »

Your post makes no sense, Usain Bolt is a professional athlete. he gets paid money to appear in races, he wins prize money in those races, he gets taxed on that income(hence the reason he doesn't race in the UK much), he's professional.

Or do you not understand the difference between amateur and professional?

I know that to compete in the Olyimpics, you should be amateur. I don't know why professional footballers,tennis players etc. are allowed to.

You should also be drug free but that doesn't always happen either. Times have changed. People want to see the best athletes competing. Would you rather watch Bolt run 9.63 or some amateur run 12 seconds?

fishy fishy

back to the famous "homecoming"

I am hearing that the media went from saying they were expecting 20,000 to adjusting this to the "hundreds"

I am also hearing that the coverage was supposed to last until 2.30 but was adjusted (through boredom) for 2.05 pm.

:D:D

summerskin

Sea Filly wrote: »

I know that to compete in the Olyimpics, you should be amateur. I don't know why professional footballers,tennis players etc. are allowed to.

because the IOC changed the criteria decades ago(1986 to be exact). It's now mostly up to the governing body of each individual sport(IAAF, FIFA etc) to decide on what the eligibility criteria is, but the Olympic charter is to allow "all the world's great male and female athletes to participate.".

fishy fishy

jack presley wrote: »

You should also be drug free but that doesn't always happen either. Times have changed. People want to see the best athletes competing. Would you rather watch Bolt run 9.63 or some amateur run 12 seconds?

cian o connor wasn't the best was he - or his horse
he got in the back door through default.

Turnstyle

why was he not wearing the same outfit as everyone else... is he special or something?

fishy fishy

Turnstyle wrote: »

why was he not wearing the same outfit as everyone else... is he special or something?

who, the horse?

Turnstyle

fishy fishy wrote: »

who, the horse?

obviously the horse..

Higher

Were such a cringe worthy little country. The clowns of Europe.

Valetta

Higher wrote: »

Were such a cringe worthy little country. The clowns of Europe.

Does that mean we're not now?

hypersquirrel

Turnstyle wrote: »

why was he not wearing the same outfit as everyone else... is he special or something?

He was competing in the Fáilte Ireland Stakes which only finished at half twelve so he didn't have time. He was supposed to compete in the Speed Stakes at 12:50 but had to miss it to go to the homecoming.

Sala

Just watched it on rte now. That was really poor. To go from Bray to that:(, it should have been done when they came home.

delta_bravo

Rte Six o clock news reported 5000 people were in attendance but the images showed no more than 500

steelcityblues

delta_bravo wrote: »

Rte Six o clock news reported 5000 people were in attendance but the images showed no more than 500

Irish Times reported 2,000, so somebody's talking crap on this.

steelcityblues

Anyway, today's nonsense was only for the benefit of clowns like Michael Ring and Des Cahill. The athletes clearly weren't too fussed about it.

DEFTLEFTHAND

From the pictures I saw there looked to be no more than a couple of hundred people. It's hard to tell without being there though. RTE seem to be taking the Nuremberg Rally approach in calculating their figures.

dukedalton

This looked completely cringeworthy, and to be honest, bad weather or good, it was always going to be like this. The athletes that won medals deserve recognition for their achievements- and it was right and proper that they got this in the receptions they recieved in their respective hometowns on Monday. But a reception in Dublin for all 66 athletes had disaster written all over it. I am not demeaning the achievements of the 60 non medal winners, but honestly, would they themselves have wanted to be paraded on stage? For them, competing in the Olympics was a huge personal achievement, and one of which they should be proud, but is it really worthy of a "homecoming reception"? I think not.

Christ the Redeemer

All that was in attendance was myself, the vicar and a tin of spaghetti.

Corruptedmorals

hotmail.com wrote: »

It was only amateur boxing. We didn't win any medals in any of the proper olympic events like athletics, swimming or gymnastics.

Lol gymnastics, the republic has only one world class gym. No funding, no world class coaches. We have never ever fielded one female gymnast. Kieran began trains in England. Winning a medal in it would take a huge amount of funding, its not going to happen anytime soon.

Augmerson

el diablo wrote: »

We won more medals than the likes of India, Argentina, Austria, Thailand, Egypt, Belgium, Finland, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Portugal, Greece and Morocco.

**** YOU THAILAND, **** YOU!!!

Ah no, they are alright really. **** the Belgians. No Waffles in the place.

Firegaurd

says it all when more people attend a rally for a family that owe the state billions than people who actually done the country proud

Vizzy

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Ok but that's only 6 athletes who were decent the rest were crap. Absolutely no need for an official homecoming.

Agree 100%
Of the 60 or so that went to London only 31 turned up today.Were the rest of them too busy to go?
Our medal winners (and a few more) were brilliant but the majority of the rest just did not perform.
I know that we will probably never have a sprinter like Bolt or a swimmer like Phelps but you would think that after training for 4+ years and gearing themselves purely towards the Olympics that the athletes would at least come close to a personal best or an Irish record.
And our media didn't do them any favours either e.g. Grainne Murphy in the 400m freestyle.
"Well lads how will Grainne go in this heat of the 400m ?"
"She will have no problem in this but she might have a bit of a tougher battle in the semi"

She promptly finished last,about 10 seconds behind the winner of the heat.
Also our marathon woman finished an hour(yes an hour) behind the winner.A good club runner would have done better.

Miss Lockhart

As far as I can see, we came 22nd overall in the medals per capita table. GB came 23rd and USA came 49th.

Yes New Zealand did amazingly but that doesn't mean we did crap. People are just looking for something to moan about tbh.

Congrats to the athletes but it's a pity the event wasn't held on Monday.

jack presley

Any lighthouses we could name after Katie?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/14/trinidad-tobago-lighthouse-keshorn-walcott

It'll make up for putting her through that this afternoon.

mickydoomsux

I sort of feel bad for the athletes that their 15 minutes are up already.

asherbassad

hotmail.com wrote: »

Yeah but a professional boxer in the same weight category would beat let's say Paddy Barnes? If the answer is yes, then amateur boxing medals aren't worth as much as medals won in swimming or athletics.

Stupid argument.

You blab on about professionals going twelve rounds but show me a professional who could co 24 rounds in a week?

The cnut would be shattered. The amateurs in the Olympics go 4 round one day then 4 the next and so on. That shows stamina too, you know.
A fcukin pro might fight 4 times a year. The Olympians might fight 4 times in 5 days so your point is rubbish.

el diablo

krudler wrote: »

and this is why I don't pay a tv licence

REPORTED.

sunflower27

Diapason wrote: »

Is this over now? I need to go to the Passport Office, but I don't want to be mistaken as an audience member.

:D:D:D:D

yop

Vizzy wrote: »

Also our marathon woman finished an hour(yes an hour) behind the winner.A good club runner would have done better.

Do you honestly have a clue what you are talking about..... :rolleyes:

Go off and find us the facts and then come back to us with what really happened to the 3 women (yes 3 women not 'woman') who competed for Ireland.

who the fug

D1stant wrote: »

No doubt Charlie Haughey will make an appearasnce

In a brown envelope hopefully

cena

What a waste of tv time it was. I hate to say it but the team was a waste of time beside the ones that won. I had never heard of any of them before this

gara

cena wrote: »

What a waste of tv time it was. I hate to say it but the team was a waste of time beside the ones that won. I had never heard of any of them before this

I'm sure our elite Olympic athletes will lose sleep over an anonymous keyboard warrior on Boards not having heard of them. These people are at peak fitness and competing amongst the best sportspeople in the world while your whinging about daytime tv -I'd like to see you tell our non-winning boxers to their face what a 'waste of time' they are!