The Road to London....... Build up to World Championships mod notes #342 and #653

average_runner

Testosterscone wrote: »

Had a bit of time but I thought might be interesting to draw comparisons across sports rankings vs finishing positions in World Championships. Interesting to see that while depth of different sports might be debated, financial reward is something which can't be ignored.


*Fairly arbitrary but we are often quick to dismiss none final/medal performances

Athletics|Golf|Tennis|Football
Brian Gregan|Daniel Berger|John Isner|Iceland
Mick Clohisey|Thomas Pierters|Gael Monfils|Northern Ireland
Thomas Barr|Tyrrell Hatton|Nick Kyrgios|Egypt
Mark English|Jason Dufner|Ivo Karlovic|Tunisia
Sean Hehir|Ian Poulter|Nikoloz Basilashvili|Albania

Women
Athletics|Golf|Tennis|
Claire McCarthy|Jiyai Shin|Magdalena Rybarikova
Ciara Mageean|Moriya Jutanugarn|Lauren Davis

First of all Gregan performance was brilliant.

But the table thing is not a good idea, for example Gregan will never win a big meet if anyone in the top 10 are in it, but Isner has won tournaments when top 5 players were in it. The same for golf.

Football comparison i would more agree with it, except football rankings are compiled in a stupid way. But its a better comparison.

average_runner

Chivito550 wrote: »

To be a top snooker player takes huge levels of talent and dedication. Doesn't change the fact it is essentially played in 2 countries.

Jaysus you don't follow snooker much!

walshb

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I agree with this. Don't see the need for these comparisons anyway. Sport at elite level takes a savage amount of commitment and talent across the board, no matter of what variety. We've had 2 olympic gold medals in boxing, none at world championship, that tells you how competitive that sport is. You have to beat the best to be the best, that principle can be universally applied.

MC won a world gold in 2015 at 56 kgs

Katie won 5 of them between 2006 and 2014...

Both had stiff competition and both had the world looking to beat them....

Joe_ Public

walshb wrote: »

MC won a world gold in 2015 at 56 kgs

Katie won 5 of them between 2006 and 2014...

Both had stiff competition and both had the world looking to beat them....

I was obviously counting Taylor as just one individual boxer and utterly criminal of me forgetting Conlan. Sorry Mick!

Chivito550

average_runner wrote: »

Chivito550 wrote: »

To be a top snooker player takes huge levels of talent and dedication. Doesn't change the fact it is essentially played in 2 countries.

Jaysus you don't follow snooker much!

Follow it since I was a kid.

Look where all the World Champions have come from. Most from the UK. Only Doherty, Thorburn and Robertson have won from outside since it moved to Cruicible.

Nobody in Australia gives a toss about snooker so Robertson's victory had zero impact.

The sport is big in the UK and China. That is it. Even here in Ireland we produce next to no top players anymore.

Joe_ Public

Chivito550 wrote: »

Follow it since I was a kid.

Look where all the World Champions have come from. Most from the UK. Only Doherty, Thorburn and Robertson have won from outside since it moved to Cruicible.

Nobody in Australia gives a toss about snooker so Robertson's victory had zero impact.

The sport is big in the UK and China. That is it. Even here in Ireland we produce next to no top players anymore.

Snooker is growing massively in Europe and in the Far East outside of China. One of the young players to keep an eye on is Hossein Vafaei who is from Iran and actually based on Ireland for a good few years.

Sure, it has struggled as a sport for several reasons, predominantly because it never recovered from the banning of tobacco sponsorship in the 90s, but its global appeal is spreading and that will reflect itself in the rankings within a few years.

S.L.F.

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Snooker is growing massively in Europe and in the Far East outside of China. One of the young players to keep an eye on is Hossein Vafaei who is from Iran and actually based on Ireland for a good few years.

Sure, it has struggled as a sport for several reasons, predominantly because it never recovered from the banning of tobacco sponsorship in the 90s, but its global appeal is spreading and that will reflect itself in the rankings within a few years.

I thought one of the reasons Ronnie didnt want to be involved in Snooker anymore was because of the touring around the world to promote the game introduced by Barry Hearn.

It is mainly a British sport so you would expect the main portion of the game to be played in England alright.

But looking at the calendar here its pretty well spread http://www.worldsnooker.com/full-calendar/

Joe_ Public

S.L.F. wrote: »

I thought one of the reasons Ronnie didnt want to be involved in Snooker anymore was because of the touring around the world to promote the game introduced by Barry Hearn.

It is mainly a British sport so you would expect the main portion of the game to be played in England alright.

But looking at the calendar here its pretty well spread http://www.worldsnooker.com/full-calendar/

Yeah, dont like Hearn very much myself, and dont trust him not to sell the World Champs out to the Chinese, but cant deny his global vision isn't a source of good for the sport. Outside of the world champs, the German Masters is actually the best attended event, generally selling out for the entire week it's on. Conversely, some of the Chinese events seem lacklustre and lacking in atmosphere, not altogether sure why that should be so.

Chivito550

Joe_ Public wrote: »

S.L.F. wrote: »

I thought one of the reasons Ronnie didnt want to be involved in Snooker anymore was because of the touring around the world to promote the game introduced by Barry Hearn.

It is mainly a British sport so you would expect the main portion of the game to be played in England alright.

But looking at the calendar here its pretty well spread http://www.worldsnooker.com/full-calendar/

Yeah, dont like Hearn very much myself, and dont trust him not to sell the World Champs out to the Chinese, but cant deny his global vision isn't a source of good for the sport. Outside of the world champs, the German Masters is actually the best attended event, generally selling out for the entire week it's on. Conversely, some of the Chinese events seem lacklustre and lacking in atmosphere, not altogether sure why that should be so.

Actually bumped into Ronnie at the athletics the other night. Talk to him about running and he's sound out (avoid snooker talk, I'd say he is sick of talking about it). A 34 min 10k runner at his best. Says he's crocked now though.

S.L.F.

Chivito550 wrote: »

Actually bumped into Ronnie at the athletics the other night. Talk to him about running and he's sound out (avoid snooker talk, I'd say he is sick of talking about it). A 34 min 10k runner at his best. Says he's crocked now though.

Its probably the best sport for him to turn to for his moods. Imagine how good he might have been if he focused at running as a youngster.

average_runner

Chivito550 wrote: »

Follow it since I was a kid.

Look where all the World Champions have come from. Most from the UK. Only Doherty, Thorburn and Robertson have won from outside since it moved to Cruicible.

Nobody in Australia gives a toss about snooker so Robertson's victory had zero impact.

The sport is big in the UK and China. That is it. Even here in Ireland we produce next to no top players anymore.

Look at the rankings though, more than one or two countries. Its getting big in Germany and Belgium and Asia is massive.

With that attitude you could say men's athletics is not big in Europe, as very few Europeans have won a gold medal in track events or the last 20 years. Only for Mo it be way lower.

Joe_ Public

Chivito550 wrote: »

Actually bumped into Ronnie at the athletics the other night. Talk to him about running and he's sound out (avoid snooker talk, I'd say he is sick of talking about it). A 34 min 10k runner at his best. Says he's crocked now though.

Ronnie will always love snooker, I think, he's quite a good commentator and has a decent show on eurosport, but the problem is people only want to talk about the world championships, hendry, will he win the 6th, when will he retire etc. So that probably just irritates him after a while. The new book, which talks a lot about running, is supposed to be quite good too, but haven't got round to it yet.

average_runner

Chivito550 wrote: »

Actually bumped into Ronnie at the athletics the other night. Talk to him about running and he's sound out (avoid snooker talk, I'd say he is sick of talking about it). A 34 min 10k runner at his best. Says he's crocked now though.

Ronnie is a good guy. Met him once before.

gordongekko

Did I click on the snooker forum?

walshb

gordongekko wrote: »

Did I click on the snooker forum?

Did you?

average_runner

walshb wrote: »

Did you?

Foul!

Erik Shin

Isaac Makwala being made an example of because he's from Botswana...if he was American or English....this would be a different story I believe

Royal Legend

Maybe Barr brought over the Winter Vomiting bug from WRH :rolleyes:

IvoryTower

Erik Shin wrote: »

Isaac Makwala being made an example of because he's from Botswana...if he was American or English....this would be a different story I believe

What happened? Last I heard he was sick. It said on some news site that he puked in the call room!

IvoryTower

Saw the interview there. Strange

Skid X

https://twitter.com/dsj_itv/status/894992727397601281

TheRiverman

That BBC presentation area should be more sound proofed,very hard to hear the discussion about Makwala with all the stadium noise.

adrian522

if this was Bolt or Farah or WVN would it be different? If 30 athletes are affected are those other 29 also being barred from competing?

This is a f**k up worthy of the GAA.

munsterlegend

adrian522 wrote: »

if this was Bolt or Farah or WVN would it be different? If 30 athletes are affected are those other 29 also being barred from competing?

This is a f**k up worthy of the GAA.

The Gaa? The best run organisation in this country? You have the wrong sport. Maybe soccer or rugby who had no where to go only the gaa in their hour of need.

Yes it would be different if he wasnt from Botswana.

Faugheen

adrian522 wrote: »

if this was Bolt or Farah or WVN would it be different? If 30 athletes are affected are those other 29 also being barred from competing?

This is a f**k up worthy of the GAA.

Yep, I can see where the IAAF are coming from in a 'by the book' point-of-view but common sense should prevail here.

wildgreen

Very confusing. Botswana medical team representative says he got sick once and has a normal temperature. IAAF said he has been quarantined and that three members of the Botswana medical team were notified. Hard to understand how both sides could have such different views.

Strange steeplechase, two Kenyans just went backwards in second half of the race, wouldn't be surprised if they are sick also.

YFlyer

BBC showed Michael Johnson double from 1995. He was awesome in the second half of 400m race.

walshb

YFlyer wrote: »

BBC showed Michael Johnson double from 1995. He was awesome in the second half of 400m race.

His upward fluid style was just beautiful to watch. Much nicer to watch him over 400 than 200...

RuMan

walshb wrote: »

This line is trotted out a lot.

Athletics is like 20 or so disciplines....

Boxing and golf and rugby etc are very much as competitive....

There are millions of people all over the world training hard in many sports to be the best. To come out with that type of blanket statement is wrong.

In case you didn't know, boxing is a global sport, as are Golf and Rugby.

Rugbys not, you could say 10 nations but that's being generous.

Golf is too expensive for most poor nations to play.

Boxing maybe

walshb

Super 800..

French lad like a train over the last 200

Langford went from 8th to 4th in the last 100 or so.

800 the best track race to watch. Always exciting..