The AH Tokyo 2020 Olympics/Paralympics Thread in 2021

At least he looked okay at the end and didn't collapse over the line.

I didn't intend to watch it all, but I just could not turn it off!

Back up at 6.30 for the sailing 😱😫

The rugby sevens match is a fab one - end to end action.

Geez is right.

It's you who appears to associate black people with bananas, think about that.

A bunch of bananas is also known as a hand of bananas.

That's the ref talking to the video umpires.

Ireland have done really well to keep the score at 1-0.....hopefully more of the same in the second half.

All the news outlets are saying she is "only the second Irish swimmer to reach an Olympic final".

Interestingly none of them giving the name of the first. She who will not be named....... you know. The one who went dutch..... Who didn't actually lose her 3 gold medals and one bronze for doing drugs....... Unlike the horsey guy. Who actually did lose his gold medal for doping. But he got to come back and win a bronze. And may even go better this time. But he's a posh lad, in a posh sport, not like she who will not be named.

Irish rugby sevens team about 5 seconds behind the play - although the USA look bright.

Looking forward to Nguyen in the badminton - one of those niche sports that can be fascinating.

Irish Times name Smith

Also I don't know much about Smith except for the fact she is from South Dublin but I wouldn't exactly call Olympic swimming a sport of the working classes

Athletics is not being funded in Ireland. 14 years in Irish state education and I never saw a swimming pool or a running track.

Pretty sure the lack of funding for olympic style sports is why we tend not to compete at that level. I know that the Netherlands have their own olympic village style center where athletes can live and have all the training facilities they need complete with canteen that helps them control their diet, full training facilities etc. I am guessing most 1st world countries have similar for a large range of sports.

On Smith vs Cian. If Smith came back and competed clean and won something she would be named for those achievements. However she knew damn well she was never going to go anywhere in a fair race on the world stage.

I stand corrected!

Good luck to the lad!

Comparing Smith to Cian O'Connor is ridiculous. Smith systematically doped and was found out in the end, albeit she kept her Olympic medals. O'Connor's situation was a balls up rather than intentional cheating and he paid a heavy price for it, but redeemed himself eight years later with a medal winning performance.

In terms of performances generally only 80 to 90 countries win medals each Olympics and we are not even one of the 100 most populous countries in the world. So, arguably, any Olympics where we win even a single medal represents over performance.

For comparison, Scottish, Welsh and NI athletes competing for the Brits, despite access to facilities, funding and everything else, as well as the ability to compete in stronger teams alongside English athletes, have so far won a combined total of 0 medals this games.

Swimming is a niche sport rather than being a posh or working class sport. There are swim clubs all over Ireland and in every part of Dublin. Although it can get very expensive as you move up the ranks as coaching costs and pool costs mount, not to mention the cost of gear (€300 plus swimming togs anyone?).

It’s not really a mainstream for a a few reasons.

We don’t have enough pools in Ireland and so access to pools can be a challenge and so a lot of training is done very early in the morning before pools open. My kids when they swam at a reasonable level were doing 3 x 5-7am sessions a week before school, plus their evening and weekend sessions and dry land training.

And that’s the other thing.......the time you need to put in to swimming to get to a high level is nuts. I know every sport requires dedication but to be any way competitive in swimming you need to put a lot of time in. My son when he was swimming was in the pool for 12hrs minimum per week plus land training of at least a couple of hours. Now he’s able to keep fit and enjoy his GAA off less than half that.

The other thing that swimming also struggles with is that it’s a very lonely sport. Even when training in a group there’s no craic or banter, there’s not enough time or energy between sets. It’s only after training or at galas that swimmers get to have a bit of interaction.

As a sport its great for teaching discipline and it does wonders for your physique, but I have to say I wasn’t disappointed when my kids pulled back from competing swimming.

Mona reaching a swim final is an exceptional result for a very talented swimmer.

It's a sport that can be played in to the late thirties so one of those ones where experience counts. Nat's twenty one.

I'm loving the ref's call of "service ova" 🤣

That was thoroughly enjoyable - the speed of thinking and reaction is something else.

It isn't just about asking them to try it out. We would also need coaching staff to develop them Medals tend to follow the money. Korea has an extensive archery program and has 3/3 gold medals so far. The UK decided to do well at indoor cycling and has done well. Certainly those athletes are talented and have put in a crazy amount of work but when it is talented and hard working vs talented and hard working and money then money gets you that gold.

Swimming is a rough one. One talented swimmer can pick a mountain of medals alone but you are competing with the funding the US, Australia and China put in which won't happen. We focused on boxing and will likely get medals from that although it is a rough one to guarantee medals in and we lost most of our talent after what happened in Rio. Unsure how well the rowers are supported.