The Official Olympics Thread (with the consent of the Chinese Gov.)

[Billys Boots]

Paddy is a moron. Spud thick Mick.

C'mon passedit, you know as well as I do that 'White Noise' was SLF taking the piss out of British stereotypes of us.

[Hardy]

Boxing has had an elite programme in place since 2003, working with about 40 top prospects. Eight of  them, including our three medallists, are full time, living and working at a training camp in Dublin five days a week. It seems to work. The British are doing something similar in cycling.

Whether it's sport or business, when you do it full time and get paid for it, is another debate, but it's what you have to do to succeed in international competition.

[GaillimhIarthair]

Bolt wins the 200m by a country mile in a new world record time of 19.30

[Hardy]

Betting on the boxing gold medals (Betfair):

Light Fly:
Zou Shiming (China)  1.35
Yampier Hernandez (Cuba) 3.8
Purevdori Serdamba (Mongolia) 10
Patrick Barnes (Ireland) 10.5

Middle:
Emilio Correa (Cuba) 2
Darren Sutherland (Ireland) 2.92
James DeGale (GB) 4
Vijender Kumar (India) 5

Light Heavy:
Kenneth Egan (Ireland) 2.38
Yerkebuian Shynaliyev (Kazakh) 2.86
Zhang Xiaoping (China) 6
Tony Jeffries (GB) 6.6

[passedit]

Paddy is a moron. Spud thick Mick.

C'mon passedit, you know as well as I do that 'White Noise' was SLF taking the piss out of British stereotypes of us.

As was I William, however it would be interesting to know the percentage of boxing medals compared to the total over the last hundred years.

Looking forward to the Sutherland Degale fight.

[Hound]

......however it would be interesting to know the percentage of boxing medals compared to the total over the last hundred years.

The 3 lads bring it to 12 out of 23. Hopefully Denis Lynch will make it an even 50% by the end of the day.
(23 includes Michelle Smith's 4 but does not include Cian O'Connor's 1 (as he was stripped))

[Rossie11]

Did I hear Lynch (and his horse) are out of the showjumping today?

[Billys Boots]

As was I William

Sorry passedit, I thought you were warming up for your annual tirade against the Kingdom. 

[ludermor]

Did I hear Lynch (and his horse) are out of the showjumping today?

http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics2008/2008/0821/lynchd.html

seems so Rossie, seems very strange.

[Dinny Breen]

I think they are putting their horses health and safety above any prospect of a medal, admiirable if that is the case...

[Off The Fence]

Unofficial reports have stated that Ireland's Denis Lynch has withdrawn from competition in the Equestrian Individual Jumping Competition on Thursday along with three other competitors.

At this point it is unknown why Lynch has withdrawn with no official statement having been made by the IOC or Ireland's Equestrian team.

In the build up to the event, there had been worries about driving rain and organisers insist that the finals of the event will take place despite the impending arrival of Typhoon Nuri.

The Hong Kong Observatory has raised their threat warning to level three which predicts gusts of up to 110 kilometres an hour.

Lynch was considered to be a real contender for a medal; he and his mount Latinus having qualified with just six faults from their qualifying rounds.

More to follow...

________________________________________________________________________

Seems very very strange!! Athens repeated perhaps!! Ah we will no all soon enough.  No point jumping to conclusions!

[ludermor]

I think they are putting their horses health and safety above any prospect of a medal, admiirable if that is the case...

That makes a lot of other countries/riders not very admirable!

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Thrown out not pulled out. Drugs. Werent that worried bout the horses.

[peterquaife]

from rte.ie

Four horses have been banned from competing in Thursday's Olympic jumping competition for doping, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) announced on Thursday. Denis Lynch's mount Latinus is one of those banned.

The horses - representing Brazil, Germany, Ireland and Norway - had been suspended after testing positive for a prohibited substance, the FEI, which controls the sport, said in a statement.

Lynch was considered to be a real contender for a medal; he and his mount Latinus having qualified with just six faults from their qualifying rounds.

[ludermor]

FFS!
This horse was ranked the best in the world!