Olympics

[john e]

 ;

That Greg Rutherfords from Milton Keynes, Brilliant

How many medals you Brummies won ? (genuine question)

I think it's great that he's allowed to compete with the able bodied athletes, let alone beat them.

And a carrot top 

[UK Redsox]

One of the great sports/pop-culture writers if the internet age, Bill Simmons (aka "The Sports Guy") of Grantland.com is attending his first Summer Olympics.

Here are his first two columns.............

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8204984/10th-checkpoint

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8213663/handball-handball-handball

[pauliewalnuts]

Of course there's a close correlation between medal success and financial background.

I went to a private day school, and we had two swimming pools (one outdoor, one in), several tennis courts, four or five rugby pitches, squash courts, a shooting range, a full size athletics track,  a cricket pitch, and a multi purpose sports centre. Most of my mates went to the local comp where they had nothing by comparison. There is a huge disparity in facilities between state and private schools.

You need talent in the first place, of course, but anyone one thinks access to facilities (then theres having parents financially able to fund you as a teenager) doesn't make a huge difference is kidding themselves.

[Monty]

Paulie, you've described what we agree on: that the kids who get to the top in certain sports in this country get there in no small way thanks to having superior facilities, which in turn is mostly thanks to a better financial background. However, once you get there, you still have to be better than everyone else around the world - a world which doesn't care about class in the same way we do.

[Nev]

If Colin Moynihan is concerned about the dominance of privately educated sports men and women achieving success then there surely has to be an issue.

One idea I heard on the radio was for the private system to make their facilities available to the local community to justify their charitable status which seems reasonable enough.

We live in a hugely unfair society, as has been demonstrated starkly over the last few years and any attempt, in any area, to redress the balance can only be a good thing. However, the great thing about sport is that while this may take place in the background we can still cheer our athletes to success, regardless of their background.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

One of the great sports/pop-culture writers if the internet age, Bill Simmons (aka "The Sports Guy") of Grantland.com is attending his first Summer Olympics.

Here are his first two columns.............

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8204984/10th-checkpoint

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8213663/handball-handball-handball

I'm probably alone here, but I think he comes over as a bit of a prat. Maybe I don't get his sense of humour.

[UK Redsox]

One of the great sports/pop-culture writers if the internet age, Bill Simmons (aka "The Sports Guy") of Grantland.com is attending his first Summer Olympics.

Here are his first two columns.............

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8204984/10th-checkpoint

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8213663/handball-handball-handball

I'm probably alone here, but I think he comes over as a bit of a prat. Maybe I don't get his sense of humour.

You're not alone Nick. There have been other articles in the past that I've posted by writers who are stars Stateside (one was even a Pulitzer prize-winner) but were deemed no good by my H&V peers.

[Dave Cooper please]

Britain 14 Australia 1. Ho ho ho.

Can I steal that for my Facebook status?

[cdbearsfan]

Britain 14 Australia 1. Ho ho ho.

Can I steal that for my Facebook status?

I don't see why not.

[PeterWithesShin]

Silver in the yachting. Sounds like they should have got a Gold but well done fellas.

[paul_e]

Silver in the yachting. Sounds like they should have got a Gold but well done fellas.

yeah, they'll be disappointed, they had a good lead, needed to finish 6th to win and went from 5th to 7th in the last hundred metres.  Have to feel very sorry for them.

[cdbearsfan]

Gold for Ainsley. GB 15 Australia 1.

[PeterWithesShin]

Gold for Ainsley. Well done fella.

[cdbearsfan]

Murray takes the first set.

[olaftab]

Firstly, Mo, Jess et al are the best advocates of a multicultural country.

And don't forget the ginger guy ,apparently, from Milton Keynes. He belongs to the most under privileged group in the Country!