NZ at the Olympics

Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, August 14th, 2016 - 9 comments
Categories: sport - Tags: ,

Congratulations to all the athletes representing NZ at the Olympics. There have been surprises and upsets, and the usual gutsy performances. Women dominate our medal tally so far (well done Valerie Adams!). And of course Pacific greetings and congratulations to the Fiji Sevens! May the remaining days of the games go smoothly, and safe travels home…

9 comments on “NZ at the Olympics ”

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  1. dv 1
    14 August 2016 at 9:40 am

    Re the drug cheats.
    How about is an athlete has at ANY time a positive drug test,then tested clean and they win a medal. The result is marked with and asterisk.

  2. ianmac 2
    14 August 2016 at 11:51 am

    Great for medal winners. But I also greatly admire the others who are so dedicated and train so hard to get selected. They are very much not-the-losers but represent the top 1% of athletes. Congratulations to the non-medals as well.

  3. D'Esterre 3
    14 August 2016 at 3:17 pm

    dv: “How about is an athlete has at ANY time a positive drug test,then tested clean and they win a medal. The result is marked with and asterisk.”

    There’d be quite a few of them, then. And they won’t be Russian; they haven’t been allowed to compete at all if they’ve ever tested positive, even if they’re now clean and have served a time of suspension. And then of course there’s that pole vaulter – Yelena Isinbaeva – who’s been banned, despite her having never doped, and therefore never having tested positive. Unlike other athletes, notably those from the US. And Jamaica. And Kenya… And lots of other countries as well, no doubt about it.

    I wonder if you’ve read the McLaren report, along with critiques of it? I have: it’s an eye-opener. Is it something about Canadian lawyers? remembering Justice Binnie’s crappy report of David Bain…. As for the allegations of state sponsoring of doping, McLaren himself admits that he couldn’t find any evidence of it, but, you know, Russia’s a vast country and Putin, so it must be happening. Really… Has he said that about the almost as vast USA and Obama? Seems not.

    What’s been done to the Russian athletes on the basis of the McLaren report is egregious discrimination. Utterly shameful….. As has been their treatment at the Olympics.

    If people don’t have time to read the full report, at least read this. It’ll be illuminating:

    http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/new-cold-war-at-the-olympics/

  5. Philj 5
    15 August 2016 at 7:24 am

    D’Esterre
    Interesting link. The problem is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the truth these days. Our MSM is in a poor state with more dross originating from the US and UK. The public have lost trust.

  6. D'Esterre 6
    15 August 2016 at 11:24 am

    Philj: ” Our MSM is in a poor state with more dross originating from the US and UK. The public have lost trust.”

    I couldn’t agree more! It’s hard for us to know what to believe, isn’t it? But for those of us old enough, the current anti-Russian drumbeat has a familiar ring to it: just replace “Putin” with “Soviet”, and it sounds the same. Of course it was propaganda then, as it is now.

    Mark Chapman, who wrote that piece, is one seriously angry Canadian. There’s another Canadian – Wolland, I think his name is – who has commented on Consortiumnews.

    The only way to circumvent the propaganda is to go to the blogosphere and alternative news sites such as Fortruss. The Vineyard of the Saker is also good.

  7. ropata 7
    15 August 2016 at 12:44 pm

    It’s a shame that prime TV coverage is so crap, and they seem to be focused on showing golf rather than gymnastics. All the decent stuff is on Sky, so 80% of kiwis won’t see it live.

    I totally admire the effort and individual achievements of the athletes.

    But I don’t really dig
    the nationalism and flag-waving (but that may be a kiwi thing).
    the dominance of corporate messaging
    the cost imposed on Brazil’s taxpayers

  8. joe90 8
    15 August 2016 at 1:29 pm

    London, Beijing, Rio – please please Mr Bolt, in the years to come don’t be shown to be a cheat.

  9. D'Esterre 9
    15 August 2016 at 4:26 pm

    Joe90: ” please please Mr Bolt, in the years to come don’t be shown to be a cheat.”

    Indeed. Once he’s retired, I fully expect that there’ll be revelations about doping, indignantly denied at first, then admitted to further down the track. Ditto that Phelps fellow. He already uses cannabis and abuses alcohol: not much of a step further to doping.

    And speaking of doping, note that Justin Gatlin was in that final. Another drug cheat: how come he was allowed to compete, while similarly-placed Russian athletes were not? Hypocrisy…