Olympic Games Paris 2024

[LlynTegid]

Starting a thread as it is only weeks away.

The Welsh cyclist who I saw win a medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the raising of the Welsh flag will be there- Emma Finucaine, one of the fastest women in the world on a cycle.

SPOTY is always so difficult in an Olympic year. I also really wish they split it male and female rather than just having the one overall as women very rarely win it outright.

Yes there should be one for both. They don't compete against each other so there should be separate awards too.

@Arconialiving @Sarah2891 I fundamentally agree! Over the past 12 months KJT has done enough to warrant deserving the SPOTY title. Hard to see who else it could possibly be apart from Keely?

SPOTY this year should really be Mark Cavendish rather than an Olympian IMO. Yes, we've had some great performances at the Olympics but he has broken a record that stood for nearly 50 years against almost overwhelming odds. I hope he gets some kind of lifetime achievement award if he doesn't actually win SPOTY.
And of course we have the paralympics to come still, who knows what might happen there?

@MrsAvocet i think lifetime achievement award sounds good for cavendish, unlike wiggins (sorry to bring him up here) he seems to have gone slightly under the radar this year for his achievements. I absolutely cannot wait for the paras. Love them just as much as the Olympics! Will be amazing to see my local hero Sarah Storey competing again, just done a bit of digging to see Jody Cundy will also compete again at the age of 45! Most people said ‘who’ when he participated during strictly but he was huge at London and I felt sorry for him then! Lots went against him!

Hopefully will be an active participant of the paras thread!!

Beatrice Chebet is amazing too. She's going to do the marathon on Sunday after winning the 10000m just now and the 5000m the other day.

@GrouchyKiwi i heard that the other day! Amazing! Also great to see that the women’s marathon gets top billing on the last day of the games!!

I love para sport too @Supergirl1958 My DS and I volunteered at the Paracycling Worlds last year and it was absolutely amazing. So many inspirational people, we loved it.

I love the Paralympics just as much as the Olympics. Can't wait until it starts 😀

I've missed two whole pages of chat because of work, only benefit is that I have it all on catch up. Recon I can watch all the catch up between now and the paras. Love them as well

@AndNobbyDancing well, Olympics finished in two days and the paras starts on the 28th! 17 days to do it.

The women's hockey final was a tense affair. I feel a bit sorry for the Chinese team to be honest. Given how dominant the Dutch generally are I think everyone thought it was a foregone conclusion but China defended really well. It seems cruel that they lost on penalties after leading for so long. Great entertainment for neutral viewers though!

Should be fine then 😁 football is back though

First catch up is climbing, I've loved the little I've seen.

Take it all back, I'm watching the breakdancing first

I'm not sure how I feel about breakdancing as a competitive sport.....although arguably it's more interesting than the wrestling

Time for the womens welterweight final!!!! Controversial.

How can they include breakdancing but not have Acro Gymnastics hmmm we do have a Worlds for Acro Gym but it’s only streamed online next held in Portugal in September.

No breakdancing in LA. I think it is competitive, in the same realm as artistic gymnastics.

I think we should have different sports, I'd certainly watch Acro Gymnastics.

I'd cut football if they need to make space for new sports. Football has avenues that most Olympic sports could only dream of. I guess I'd also cull golf and tennis as both have such high earning competitions.

I love the fact that the Olympics are full of people that do a day job, that they are giants that work amongst us.

I agree @AndNobbyDancing

Toby Roberts was so eloquent
also the two cyclists had such a lot to say! all good

I can't understand how they can have break dancing but not netball 🤷‍♀️

Had this discussion with dc yesterday who informed me that to be an Olympic sport, it has to fulfil various criteria. Ie. Be played by enough countries etc.

Apparently netball isn’t played by enough countries (mainly Commonwealth countries?), and is generally a woman’s sport.,

Netball and Squash are sports that always seem to miss out on being added.

I'd love them to add acro gym and double mini trampoline. Should replace rhythmic with those two.

Football is a cheap way for host countries to generate ticket revenue and I think it really helped grow the women's game. I'd happily bin off the golf though.

Lisa Carrington has just won her third gold medal of this Games in the Canoe Sprint (Kayak). Her eighth gold medal overall.

I love her.

Been for a walk along Hythe beach today and saw a plaid dedicated to Don Thompson, the only man to win a gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics, in road walking.