GB Taekwondo - petty politics and disgraceful behaviour?

First topic message reminder :

European Champion Aaron Cook has confirmed he is requesting that the British Olympic Association (BOA) review GB Taekwondo's decision not to nominate him for London 2012 selection.

The fighter will become world number one in next month's rankings, but Lutalo Muhammad, world number 93, is "GB Taekwondo's" preferred -80kg candidate.

Four-time Olympic champion rower Sir Matthew Pinsent, who acted as a mentor to Cook ahead of the Beijing Olympics, said on Twitter ; "There seems to be no doubt that Aaron Cook has fallen victim to small-time sports politics - come off it, Team GB demands better."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18233018

TopHat24/7 wrote:

Super D Boon wrote:

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Looking at how everyone performed Cook must be sat there thinking he's been robbed of gold, would have been the massive favourite going in and GB TKD will point to the bronze medal which is good enough for Muhammad but wouldn't have been for Cook.

Why can't we just see the best competing, forget all these stupid quotas, a four time olympic champion and multiple time world champion in Hoy was left out of the sprint competition because of it. Also cut the swimming program dramatically, get rid of the medleys altogether and have less relays. Phelps is a great olympian but in the grand scheme of things falls well short of Redgrave and is on an even footing with the likes of Hoy and Ainslie but they have far less opportunities to win gold.

um.........are you sure about that? One has 14 golds the other has 5. Swimming is a very popular sport where millions compete and rowing is primarily for a certain class in society. Phelps is millenia ahead of Steve Redgrave who I wouldn't even regard as the best Brit Olympian

If rowing included rowing left handed only, rowing right handed only, rowing with your eyes shut, then I'm sure Redgrave would have more than 5 golds.

Even without it, there's still a fair argument that a 20 yr Olympic career of consecutive golds is better than 12.

There's no argument at all. One has won golds in a minority sport that few countires can afford to compete in and care about, the other is head and shoulders above the rest of the world in a sport that has huge numbers of athletes involved. Even accounting for the large number of swimming medals available most would take 5 swimming golds over 5 rowing golds even though the number is 14 to 5. Add to this Redgrave never won on his own and was always part of a team so never had to deal with the pressure alone, never had to rely on his own abilities and always had someone else there with him.

I'd say Hoy, Thompson and Ainslie are above Redgrave however that's debateable. To say redgrave is above Phelps though is not a debate it's just silly.

I forgot it's Weird Wednsday where people come out with the most outlandish claims for a day! Hopefully normal service will resume tomorrow.

Sorry, genuinely don't find Phelps' achievements as impressive as you. None of the other major Olympic sports have slower versions where you can pick up medals. You're the fastest swimmer in the same way you're the fastest runner. Fastest between A and B or A and C or A and D.

Bolt doesn't get to pick up medals for hopping the 100m or 200m egg n spoon but Phelps gets to pick them up for slower versions of freestyle.

Strip out slower stokes, medleys and relays and Phelps' accomplishments aren't as stunning.

TopHat24/7 wrote:Sorry, genuinely don't find Phelps' achievements as impressive as you. None of the other major Olympic sports have slower versions where you can pick up medals. You're the fastest swimmer in the same way you're the fastest runner. Fastest between A and B or A and C or A and D.

Bolt doesn't get to pick up medals for hopping the 100m or 200m egg n spoon but Phelps gets to pick them up for slower versions of freestyle.

Strip out slower stokes, medleys and relays and Phelps' accomplishments aren't as stunning.

That's daft, it's like saying strip out the rowing events with only two in a boat because 8 or 4 in a boat go much faster or row with two oars rather than one oar because you'll go faster.

Swimming is probably second only in competitiveness and popularity to athletics as far as Olympics are concerned and even if Phelps had gained just 5 golds they'd be above Redgrave's five especially as the latter never had to prove himself alone. Redgrave is lauded for longevity and the fact he made five olympics that's the only big deal with him in global terms. Saying if he'd only made 4 Olympics he'd be largely forgotten in the grand scheme of things.

Come on TopHat, I know we have our disagreements but you're better than that!

It's not really the same as you can only really compete in one rowing event during the Olympics.

The bad thing about swimming is that a lot of the events are so physiologically similar that winning multiple medals is pretty normal, compared to the vast majority of the events where one medal (and perhaps a team event) is perhaps the max. For example, doing a 400, 800 double in athletics is an amazing achievement, the same in swimming is often expected.

That said, I'd still certainly go with Phelps as greater than Redgrave, but he certainly wouldn't be number one in the overall scheme of things.

Super D Boon wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:Sorry, genuinely don't find Phelps' achievements as impressive as you. None of the other major Olympic sports have slower versions where you can pick up medals. You're the fastest swimmer in the same way you're the fastest runner. Fastest between A and B or A and C or A and D.

Bolt doesn't get to pick up medals for hopping the 100m or 200m egg n spoon but Phelps gets to pick them up for slower versions of freestyle.

Strip out slower stokes, medleys and relays and Phelps' accomplishments aren't as stunning.

That's daft, it's like saying strip out the rowing events with only two in a boat because 8 or 4 in a boat go much faster or row with two oars rather than one oar because you'll go faster.

Swimming is probably second only in competitiveness and popularity to athletics as far as Olympics are concerned and even if Phelps had gained just 5 golds they'd be above Redgrave's five especially as the latter never had to prove himself alone. Redgrave is lauded for longevity and the fact he made five olympics that's the only big deal with him in global terms. Saying if he'd only made 4 Olympics he'd be largely forgotten in the grand scheme of things.

Come on TopHat, I know we have our disagreements but you're better than that!

Lol ok, maybe I'm pushing my argument to unrealistic extremes a little. But it is a concentrated version of my genuine opinion. Swimming is way way way over-represented at the Olympics, because USA are so successful in the pool, unlike the cycling track where they're barely competitive let alone dominant and funnily enough a load of events were cut out and stupid rules like only 1 athlete per country were brought in. Can you imagine the 100m with Jamaica only allowed to enter Bolt and no Powell or Blake??!

I genuinely think medley, as a minimum, shouldn't be in there. Take out medley and Phelps has 10 golds (still v impressive) of which 7 are individual, not relay.

There are 34 golds available in swimming compared to 47 in the ENTIRE track and field programme. I don't have stats for how many just running golds are available but I'd wager it's below 34. Phelps has been able to accrue this super-Olympian medal tally as much because his sport is over-represented as because he is amazing.

Well I agree with ya on there are too many medals in the swimming. But that's the unfairness of the Olympics generally. In terms of athletics take Usain Bolt, he gets to have a real go at winning three golds yet a marathon runner can only realistically go for one.

I think the divers probably get the biggest raw deal given that they've got to nail 6 superb dives to get gold, one iffy dive means bronze or 4th place, then you take the Long Jump, one decent jump is all you need and you can foul all five other jumps yet still take gold. The Olympics is full of these anomalies unfortunately.