Sport 2020(/1) Tokyo Olympics

[DaGaffer]

Modern Pentathlon is cool as fuck, why haven't I heard of it before?

Sword fighting, horse riding (with surprise horses!) shooting, what's not to like?!

Really? My Dad did it in the army 50 odd years ago. Its not really "modern".

 

[Embattle]

Really? My Dad did it in the army 50 odd years ago. Its not really "modern".

From wiki:

The name derives from the Greek péntathlon "contest of five events". The addition of modern to the name distinguishes it from the original pentathlon of the ancient Olympic Games, which consisted of the stadion foot race, wrestling, long jump, javelin, and discus. As the events of the ancient pentathlon were modeled after the skills of the ideal soldier to defend a fortification of that time, Coubertin created the contest to simulate the experience of a 19th-century cavalry soldier behind enemy lines: he must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight enemies with pistol and sword, swim, and run to return to his own soldiers. In the 1912 Games as only officers competed, the competitors were permitted to use their own horses. Up to the 1952 Olympics the ordinary cavalry soldier was considered a professional athlete, as he was riding and training horses for a living, while the officer was the amateur. As long as there was no official international federation for Modern Pentathlon an IOC committee was set up for the sport making use of the expertise of IOC members.

Jason Kenny did great in keirin, so Price.

 

[Raven]

Well, it's more modern than the original format. It's called modern because it was designed for the modern Olympics.

 

[DaGaffer]

Well, it's more modern than the original format. It's called modern because it was designed for the modern Olympics.

It was more the fact that you hadn't heard of it before.

My Dad never got to the Olympics or anything (he hated the running bit) but back in the day it was quite common for army regiments to compete against each other and I think that's where most of the Olympic competitors came from. My Dad was still doing fencing and shooting in his sixties.

 

[Gwadien]

It's so cool that we're 4th in the world in the Olympics.

Proper source of national pride.

I'd just like to see a review of where money is spent so we're not throwing money at upper class people to do their upper class sports whilst leaving the sports people are actually interested in to be funded by themselves.

 

[Embattle]

The money tap is quite brutal for UK sport, no matter the sport but ultimately it works.

Current vs Paris - https://www.uksport.gov.uk/-/media/files/investment/paris-investment---website.ashx

Guardian article on it:

'Posh sports' face funding cuts in buildup to Paris 2024 Olympics

UK Sport is to cut funding for the next Olympic cycle from more established sports and those played predominantly by competitors from public schools

www.theguardian.com

 

[Hawkwind]

It's so cool that we're 4th in the world in the Olympics.

Proper source of national pride.

I'd just like to see a review of where money is spent so we're not throwing money at upper class people to do their upper class sports whilst leaving the sports people are actually interested in to be funded by themselves.

That's automatic. It is based on performance only, nothing to do with class.

 

[DaGaffer]

It's so cool that we're 4th in the world in the Olympics.

Proper source of national pride.

I'd just like to see a review of where money is spent so we're not throwing money at upper class people to do their upper class sports whilst leaving the sports people are actually interested in to be funded by themselves.

Define "upper class sports"? Some sports, like say, sailing or equestrianism, are going to expensive by their nature, and are "posh" sports, but Britain is a country with a horse riding and sailing tradition so it doesn't seem unreasonable to support them. Besides, most of the money comes from the lottery anyway.

Anyhoo, if you want a "who gets what" summary, its here:

Page not found

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www.uksport.gov.uk

 

[Moriath]

Define "upper class sports"? Some sports, like say, sailing or equestrianism, are going to expensive by their nature, and are "posh" sports, but Britain is a country with a horse riding and sailing tradition so it doesn't seem unreasonable to support them. Besides, most of the money comes from the lottery anyway.

Anyhoo, if you want a "who gets what" summary, its here:

Page not found

404

www.uksport.gov.uk

I find that the national lottery is funding a lot of these people to be quite unfair.

a lot of the people who play it are from the poorer parts of society. Hoping to win to get out of their poverty trap.

instead of that money being used to improve poor lives (i know some of it is but much more could be) its sent to people who want to run around a track faster.

it seems strange to put money into people who without it could provide for themselves, albeit not running so fast, and instead give it to the poor and destitute.

i see the national pride in a small country getting lots of medals. But theres still people living on the street and a lot of others that could use the money before it should be given to a national vanity project.

 

[DaGaffer]

I find that the national lottery is funding a lot of these people to be quite unfair.

a lot of the people who play it are from the poorer parts of society. Hoping to win to get out of their poverty trap.

instead of that money being used to improve poor lives (i know some of it is but much more could be) its sent to people who want to run around a track faster.

it seems strange to put money into people who without it could provide for themselves, albeit not running so fast, and instead give it to the poor and destitute.

i see the national pride in a small country getting lots of medals. But theres still people living on the street and a lot of others that could use the money before it should be given to a national vanity project.

National Lottery creates more money for charity every week than Comic Relief does in a year. The Olympics is the chosen sport for lottery funding but its a fraction of the total money and they create plenty for other causes.

But frankly, poverty is for government to fix, not charities.

 

[Gwadien]

That's the thing though, we've created an elite sports country whilst continuing to ignore the grass roots so people without means can access them.

 

[Embattle]

Tokyo Olympics: A look at how Team GB fared sport-by-sport compared to their funding.

How Great Britain fared sport-by-sport at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games relative to their funding.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Moriath]

National Lottery creates more money for charity every week than Comic Relief does in a year. The Olympics is the chosen sport for lottery funding but its a fraction of the total money and they create plenty for other causes.

But frankly, poverty is for government to fix, not charities.

Of course, government should solve it. So arguably the money from sport england could be better spent.

i enjoyed watching some of the olympics and all i just think its very expensive to allow people who are good at their sport to do just that. They talk about the huge sacrifices they make to be good. But its their choice and they are paid to do it.

 

[DaGaffer]

Of course, government should solve it. So arguably the money from sport england could be better spent.

i enjoyed watching some of the olympics and all i just think its very expensive to allow people who are good at their sport to do just that. They talk about the huge sacrifices they make to be good. But its their choice and they are paid to do it.

Lottery money isn't government money.

 

[Raven]

Of course, government should solve it. So arguably the money from sport england could be better spent.

i enjoyed watching some of the olympics and all i just think its very expensive to allow people who are good at their sport to do just that. They talk about the huge sacrifices they make to be good. But its their choice and they are paid to do it.

As a parish council, we got 120k out of Sports England to go towards a sports pavilion. They give money to all sorts.

 

[DaGaffer]

That's the thing though, we've created an elite sports country whilst continuing to ignore the grass roots so people without means can access them.

I don't think that's true at all. The UK has invested enormously in grass roots development particularly facilities, going back to before London 2012; athletes don't just appear from a vacuum and then you throw money at them. When they did the post 2012 analysis grass roots sports take up wasn't where they wanted it to be, but it wasn't for lack of trying (Britain is, at bottom a nation of fat lazy bastards), and it has created a wider pool of potential than the UK had in the decades when I was growing up. The lesson was also learned by the FA which is why we now have two top quality players in every position for the first time ever, but they came from youth development.

 

[Embattle]

I guess it'll be -1 medal:

CJ Ujah: British Olympic silver medallist suspended after positive test for banned substance

British sprinter CJ Ujah is suspended from competition after a positive test for a banned substance.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Raven]

Cunt. Sad for the rest of the team.