The Medal Count: Digging for Gold in Rio

[Trey]

13 minutes ago, Daisy said:

And Canada also wins a bronze today in diving. (which is basically gold if you're not China - so that brings Canada's medal count to 14.  5 medals to go to hit the COC's hope for Rio). 

Actually, we're at 15 medals now.  And one of our wrestlers is in the gold medal bout tonight so we'll have another medal, gold or silver. 

And no telling what Andre De Grasse might bring us.  Damien Warner is currently standing 3rd in Decathlon with two events to go tonight - I hope he pulls himself back up again to at least 2nd place - a gold would be nice too but I am not sure he can outdo Eaton with only 2 events left.

I am so sorry I didn't see our diver, Meaghan Benfeito, do her stuff.  She was 9th at the end of semi-finals so must have done really well.

[Daisy]

Just now, Trey said:

Actually, we're at 15 medals now.  And one of our wrestlers is in the gold medal bout tonight so we'll have another medal, gold or silver. 

And no telling what Andre De Grasse might bring us.  Damien Warner is currently standing 3rd in Decathlon with two events to go tonight - I hope he pulls himself back up again to at least 2nd place - a gold would be nice too but I am not sure he can outdo Eaton with only 2 events left.

I am so sorry I didn't see our diver, Meaghan Benfeito, do her stuff.  She was 9th at the end of semi-finals so must have done really well.

I can't count. LOL 

this is true. so we're guaranteed 16. (woo). 
for Warner to get silver he'll need to have a Javelin throw of his life and have Mayer miss out. (and then do well int he 1500). 

Meaghan benefito was clutch. it was her 4th dive (the one she kept missing on in semi's etc) - that won her the medal. Roseline Fillion missed her 4th dive regrettably and that's why she was 6th (but in Diving the best that either one of them had Rosie hit, would have been 4th, because no one was touching China today). 

[Daisy]

Gold medal Canada! :D yaaaaaayyy!

16 medals now. 
COC wanted 19. 
My secret hope is that we hit 22 - that would equal our best Fully Attended Olympics ever. 

[Trey]

Way to go Erica Wiebe!!!

Are there enough events left for us to get six more medals?  That would be great, if our athletes can accomplish it.

[Daisy]

5 minutes ago, Trey said:

Way to go Erica Wiebe!!!

Are there enough events left for us to get six more medals?  That would be great, if our athletes can accomplish it.

We could potentially medal in Golf, 
Hopefully win 3 medals (200, 4x100m relays (men/women)
Women's 800m
BMX
Mountain Biking 
Kayak/Canoe 

there are other events i'm obviously missing but that's off the top of my head. 

[Trey]

I know we've got two men in the 10m diving platform tomorrow but I don't know how likely they are to medal.

And, of course, the possibility of a medal in decathlon later tonight.  Maybe.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed:)

[HighHopes]

Our soccer team is playing for bronze tomorrow too, so there's another chance! 

[Daisy]

This is a banner day
1 gold (Wiebe)
1 Silver (De Grasse)
2 Bronze (Warner + Benefito)

:) yay Canada!

[galaxygirl76]

We just got our 16th medal,  a bronze in men's  beach volleyball. Which is our first ever in that sport. Guaranteed a medal in women's boxing and women's hockey as well but no colors yet. I don't think we will make our Sydney total but I'm happy considering our rough start. 

[Daisy]

Yay Netherlands!

[Daisy]

Canada hits medal #19! (We Matched Beijing!) 
(in the vein of being consistent. this medal came due to interference by a Japanese race walker on Canada, and he got DQed. I haven't seen this, but I do think this is unfair. I said this in re: to USA vs. China. so i don't want it to be seen as if i am inconsistent. but thems the apples, said that yesterday, and today too) :)

[walnutqueen]

56 minutes ago, Daisy said:

Canada hits medal #19! (We Matched Beijing!) 
(in the vein of being consistent. this medal came due to interference by a Japanese race walker on Canada, and he got DQed. I haven't seen this, but I do think this is unfair. I said this in re: to USA vs. China. so i don't want it to be seen as if i am inconsistent. but thems the apples, said that yesterday, and today too) :)

I saw it and thought the DQ was warranted - it almost looked deliberate to my eye.  Although the Canadian did seem like he was on his last legs after the contact.

I'm now watching Canada vs Brazil soccer - on the edge of my seat hoping for another Canadian Bronze. 

[mtlchick]

Bronze in the soccer.  Bronze with the horsies!  (Eric Lamaze had the gold in reach!...and then his horse nicked the last jump that resulted in a penalty. )

 

Is this our best output in a non boycotted games?

[Daisy]

16 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

Bronze in the soccer.  Bronze with the horsies!  (Eric Lamaze had the gold in reach!...and then his horse nicked the last jump that resulted in a penalty. )

 

Is this our best output in a non boycotted games?

Nope. 22 (Atlanta) is. 
If Canada can get. 3 more gold - we tie our winningest. (Barcelona). 
 

[mtlchick]

Ah.  My mind was going blank.  All I know ever since Sydney it's been "Eh...that could have gone better."  I think I was Beijing we had a high level of 4th place finishes.

[legaleagle53]

13 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

Ah.  My mind was going blank.  All I know ever since Sydney it's been "Eh...that could have gone better."  I think I was Beijing we had a high level of 4th place finishes.

I shudder to think what would have happend if Own the Podium had bombed in 2010.  Canada would have needed to be put on a suicide watch.

[SeanC]

There are a few people who could get Canada that 22nd medal yet, I think.

[Daisy]

(sigh). so we lost a Medal. IAAF gave it back to Japan. I won't say anything (sigh)

 

1 hour ago, mtlchick said:

Ah.  My mind was going blank.  All I know ever since Sydney it's been "Eh...that could have gone better."  I think I was Beijing we had a high level of 4th place finishes.

Sydney and Athens were especially horrendous. (Athens we only took 12 medals). I think that was roughly when Own the Podium/Road to Excellence got instituted because of the Winter Games. but I don't know when the summer athletes started getting funding but I do remember it wasn't equal right away. 
 

52 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

I shudder to think what would have happend if Own the Podium had bombed in 2010.  Canada would have needed to be put on a suicide watch.

pft. no. we would have been on suicide watch if we didn't win Double Hockey gold, and at least 1 curling medal. that happened so we'd all be fine /CanadianSterotype ;)

Canada in the winter had steadily and statistically been improving in every Olympics since Calgary, so I think it was safe to say even without OTP/RTE, Canada would have been just fine. I think funding was just a way to start putting in quasi-state funding (which isn't nearly enough) and to ensure that Canada won at least 1 gold on home soil. But no one who won really truly was off the mark (Maybe Jasey Jay Andersen but because of how old he was). the Main disappointments for the two funding programmes is Ski Canada + Rowing Canada. they get so much money pumped into their systems, and they aren't doing well at. all. 

[Trey]

Now we need two more medals again to get to 22 since the Japanese contested the Canadian race walking appeal and won. The judges should have considered it properly the first time and not changed their minds again.

I am hoping for a medal in the men's relay tonight, preferrably gold.

I haven't checked yet to see how the men are doing in diving.

[Bill1978]

Well after our BMX riders didn't 'achieve' like the Australan media told me they should, it looks like its gonna be tough for Australia to get that elusive 8th Gold to tie London (thanks Jarrad for trying in the 50km Walk). Unless our Kayak sprinters can pull off a miracle tomorrow Brazil time. Actually that miracle could occur in the women's Modern Pentathlon where our competitor goes into the final round ranked 4th (we have never ever medalled in this event). Sorry if I've now just jinxed you Chloe.

I have kinda given up watching Australia's placing on the table I am now focussing on wanting Great Britain to be 2nd by the end.

Edited August 19, 2016 by Bill1978

[Nidratime]

The U.S. is now tied with their 2012 haul of total summer Olympic medals (103) ... although the breakdown was more favorable four years ago. Still have another day or so to go, so probably will go passed that mark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics_medal_table

[legaleagle53]

1 minute ago, Nidratime said:

The U.S. is now tied with their 2012 haul of total summer Olympic medals (103) ... although the breakdown was more favorable four years ago. Still have another day or so to go, so probably will go passed that mark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics_medal_table

And nobody can even really touch us either in terms of gold medals or overall medals won.  Was it this much of a blowout in London?  I don't remember.

[Danny Franks]

Probably was. The US wins so many swimming medals that even the Jamaicans and other unheralded nations winning more of the track and field medals than ever in London wouldn't have dented your totals much.

[mehtotheworld]

I think one of the biggest differences is China's medal performance, which is way down from London.

Edited August 19, 2016 by mehtotheworld

[Nidratime]

28 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

And nobody can even really touch us either in terms of gold medals or overall medals won.  Was it this much of a blowout in London?  I don't remember.

The link I posted has everyone's medal count from 2012. 

[kittykat]

Top 5 in London

1.  USA - 103 (46, 28, 29)

2. China - 88 (38, 29, 21)

3. Russia - 70 (22, 25, 32)

4. Great Britain - 65 (29, 17, 19)

5. Germany - 44 (11, 19, 14)

Top 5 in Rio (so far)

1. USA - 104 (37, 34, 33)

2. China - 62 (22, 18, 22)

3. Great Britain - 57 (23, 21, 13)

4. Russia - 45 (13, 15, 17))

5. Japan - 39 (12, 7, 20)

 

US has more medals overall but the gap between them and China is crazy.  China did not have a great year in gymnastics (only two team medals, where they normally take a few event medals).  Don't know where else they suffered but that's a big drop.  GB not as large as London but still holding strong.  Russia's dip is expected with the bans.  Japan has had a great olympics in golds (up from 7 in London).

So in conclusion, yeah it's a blowout.

Just checked 2008 and it was US: 110, China: 100 but China won way more Golds.

Edited August 19, 2016 by kittykat

[Gulftastic]

Whenever the medal chart is shown here in the UK, gold medals trump all. You could have no gold and 20 silvers, but if a country has one gold and nothing else, it will be above you.

 

Of course, this happily puts Team GB second! 

[SeanC]

3 minutes ago, Gulftastic said:

Whenever the medal chart is shown here in the UK, gold medals trump all. You could have no gold and 20 silvers, but if a country has one gold and nothing else, it will be above you.

Of course, this happily puts Team GB second! 

That's one of the ways to count them.  Countries tend to use whichever method puts their team higher up.

Both approaches have their merits.  Gold is certainly the one people want most, but, for instance, in the current medals table that ranks gold/silver bronze, Canada is #19, behind Kenya at #18.  Both countries have four gold medals; Kenya is ahead because it has four silver to Canada's three, even though Canada also has thirteen bronze medals.  If you asked the Kenyan Olympic Committee, I expect that, if offered, they would trade that one silver medal for thirteen bronze medals.

[galaxygirl76]

Adding two more silvers today. One was happy(in bmx) one flat out sucker because the women hockey team was better but failed to win and sometimes that's just the way it goes. 

[Nidratime]

Quote

1. USA - 104 (37, 34, 33)

I think the U.S. is still at 103 for now.

[SeanC]

Canada now back at 21.  We have a few athletes competing in the finals tomorrow.  It seems like Mark de Jonge in the 200m single kayak is the best chance for one more medal; he struggled in the semi-final, but he won the World Championship in 2014 and 2015, so he may just have had an off moment there.

[NUguy514]

The US is up to 105 (38, 35, 32) total medals.  It seems assured that we'll surpass our record of 110 total medals from a fully attended Games (Beijing), but I don't think we'll quite match our record for golds in a fully attended Games (46 in London).  I don't think we were expected to do quite this well, so...[tinyvoice]woo-hoo[/tinyvoice]. :-D

[Trey]

Woohoo!! I thought our medal hopes were over but we just won bronze in mountain bike.  The two Canadian women came in 3rd and 4th. So we had insurance in case one fell:)

I see we have two men in tomorrow's mountain bike final - maybe there will be another medal to come.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Trey

[Daisy]

1 minute ago, Trey said:

Woohoo!! I thought our medal hopes were over but we just won bronze in mountain bike.  The two Canadian women came in 3rd and 4th. So we had insurance in case one fell:)

yah! that was one Gutsy ride by Catherine Pendrel. She was world champion in London and literally just choked herself off the podium, so to get a bronze now is great. and it really seems this is a sport that isn't really "age dependent" so she easily could go to Tokyo, same with Emily Batty. 

[Daisy]

AND! Canada has now tied Atlanta for Best Olympics EVER!! yaaaaaayyyyy. 
(woulda been historical had rowing canada not been such a disaster). 

[walnutqueen]

26 minutes ago, Daisy said:

AND! Canada has now tied Atlanta for Best Olympics EVER!! yaaaaaayyyyy. 
(woulda been historical had rowing canada not been such a disaster). 

GO, Canada!

[Daisy]

Okay - so I am going to assume that Canada's Olympics are done - as I don't think we're medal contenders in men's wrestling (any weight class) marathon, or mountain bike. 

so. 

2016 Rio Olympics, 32nd Olympiad.

Canada: 
4 Gold 3 Silver 15 Bronze 
Total: Twenty Two Olympic Medals. 
best result since Atlanta 1996, in a fully attended Olympics. 
second winningest amount since Barcelona 1992 (with 4 gold)

Canada's COC's hopes: 19 medals, top 12 in medal rankings: Success (this is going by total medals. if it was just for gold, top 12 would never ever be touched). 

Canada per capita medal haul: 26th.. which is pretty... good i guess? i don't know. :) 

Conversion Rates: 

• 15 Bronze Medals to 10 4th place finishes - positive!
• A staggering amount (check out my analysis, eh?), of top 8 finishes in sports that they were expected to - positive!
• Majority of medals won by women - positive! (apparently, Canada was pumping a lot of money into that)
• Several world champions/world cup winners found their way onto the podium - good job. 
• amount of repeat medalists: - 4. [Soccer, Trampoline, Team Pursuit, 10m Syncro Diving]

Historical Context:

• This is the first Olympics games where the women athletes brought home more medals than the men. {by a large margin} generally speaking Canada is very split down the line in terms of medal hauls (usually, dead even, or 2 or more on either side - most memorable was 2010, where the medals were literally split down the line, and people teased what did Tessa/Scott's = and everyone said .5). ... and apparently that wasn't by accident. Own the Podium did research and focused on sports where they could get more medals, and they realised it was more in female dominated sports. Go figure. 

 

• Penny Oleksiak is Canada's youngest medal winner at the age of 16 (and was the 2nd..? 1st? ) person born in the year 2000 to win gold. (She was the 1st athlete born in the year 2000 to win a medal at the Olympics). She also broke the 4 medal record (most in Canadian history. De Grasse equaled a 3 medal feat mostly held by swimmers.)
   
• Canada continues it's medalling streak of earning a medal in debut sports with Rugby Sevens. (and is the 2nd consecutive Olympics where an official team sport has medaled since the 30s. Soccer was the first in 2012). 
   
• Soccer Canada repeated as bronze medalists (rare feat) as well as they now own the record for fastest goal scored in women's soccer in the Olympics. (vs. Germany. woo). 
   
• Canada winning 6 medals in the pool. This hasn't been done... in a long time (oh that's historic). and the first time the women have done all the medal winning - especially since it was a while since Canadian women have won in the pool (1996!). 
   
• Elsabeth (Ellie) Black becomes the first gymnast to finish in the top five for Women's gymnastic (including 1984). massive achievement.
   
• Canada broke a record of earning a medal a day (#medal a day) by earning a minimum of 1 medal the first 9 days of competition. 

Proud to be Canadian Moments
there are always so many during the games, but the one that really tugged at my heart was Evan Dunfee explaining why he chose not to push the petition to potentially earn himself a medal. And then saying he wants to go to Tokyo because his grandmother is trying to stay alive to see him race and win an olympic medal. Tears. 

Catherine Pendrel overcoming a massive crash to win a bronze medal, and then finding out that she gave all her Road to Excellence money and will give her bronze medal winning money to those developing in cycling because they need it more than her. Tears. 

(obviously everytime we just did well, medal or not medal)

Massive Success
Canadian swimming. Like. honestly if you look up my MASSIVE rant about "Why the heck Canadians can't swim." I think the entire country was prepared to just become honourary Americans (or Aussies) and win medals that way. We generally get 2-3 medals if we're lucky. Along comes 16 year olds Penny and Taylor and showing us a glimpse of what Tokyo might be. They might be hit by the puberty stick, who knows if they even continue but our swimming programme is finally in the right hands.

Canadian Track + Field (athletics) This was the first time in a long time (96) that Canada was able to send in a deep track and field/athletics team, and they all did relatively well. Thesian-Eaton + Warner admittedly had bad days in some events, but managed to clutch it out for medals. Shawn Barber was the only one predicted to win a medal, who didn't. (he was totally overwhelemed and the conditions of the day didn't help). My Olympic Boyfriend, Derek Drouin was amazing (naturally), and 3 sprinting medals from Andre De Grasse. (tied an Canadian first as well as first sprinting medals won since ... 96).

Canadian Soccer: I think they were gunning for a silver/gold, but having back to back bronze medal wins isn't so bad. the guard is changing (Sinclair is more than likely played her last Olympics). so we'll see what goes on from then. 

Major Misses
ROWING. CANADA. Holy crap. that was a massive egg they laid in Brazil. For rowing, they sent 7 boats, only 2 made the A final, and 1 won silver. (and that one team pretty much told RCA to kick rocks). poor showings in the b finals. Canoe/Kayak out of all their boats, the best finish was 6th. (the gold medalist favourite finished seventh). This is a massive, massive kick in the gut for the heaviest funded programme in Canadian sports (outside of Hockey Canada for obvious reasons). 17 million dollars, and only 1 medal to show for it, and horrendous results. no one set personal bests or anything. They are already expecting changes from the HP-CEO (High Performance). and they already admitted in several news articles, that their funding is going to be obviously cut. due to two dismal Olympic regattas - but they already warned that it's also very hard to turn a programme around in four years so Tokyo might see some of the same results. 

As a huge rowing fan, I really hope they get their crap together. it was so sad. 

Overall Impressions
Per usual, I am very very proud of Canada. (I always am). The fact that this is the best Olympics ever (well tied) is great. The fact that a good chunk of the medal haul came from athletes under the age of 27 means that there is a very good chance for turnover and repeat medalists as well as the first time Olympians.  (so we shouldn't have medal hauls like 14 - Sydney, and 12 - Athens) in the near further, and in fact, could start to target Canada's best ever Olympics record of 44 (but that was not at a Fully Attended Olympics). 

Phew. That was a lot. 

Next stop: South Korea. Winter is coming and Canada will be ready to kick some major winter behind, y'all. 
 

[Nidratime]

Wow U.S.A., you won a nice wad of medals while I was out this evening.

2016: United States 43 gold 37 silver 36 bronze 116 total

2012: United States 46 gold 28 silver 29 bronze 103 total

[galaxygirl76]

No medals today, but two fourth places today by two young teams(women's handball and volleyball) that will learn from this experience and continue to grow towards Tokyo.

We will likely win one more medal tomorrow, in boxing so at least a silver, I doubt there will be others. Which will leave the Netherlands with 19 medals, which is one less medal than in London but more gold medals. Five behind our crazy total from Sochi(all but one came from speed skating...), more medals than Beijing, less than Athens(but way more gold though). Sydney remains our most winning-est Olympics, both in amount of medals as in golds(one more medal than Sochi, I mean what in the actual hell happened in Sochi!!).

[katisha]

This has not been Australia's best Olympics by a long shot and to rub salt into the wound, apparently every medal we won cost taxpayers $20 million. Clearly, throwing money at the cause doesn't guarantee anything in terms of returns.

[Bill1978]

5 minutes ago, katisha said:

This has not been Australia's best Olympics by a long shot and to rub salt into the wound, apparently every medal we won cost taxpayers $20 million. Clearly, throwing money at the cause doesn't guarantee anything in terms of returns.

The team achieved the goal I set them, get the same amount of gold as London as a minimum LOL. If I was the AOC I would be looking at improving our chances of medalling in the second week. It seems their view was the team sports will help us and didn't that backfire big time. I'm hoping the number of athletes that made track & field finals is a promising sign for Tokyo, and might encourage them to shift a bit of the swimming money towards athletics.

I also wonder why more money isn't thrown at those sports that while technically we aren't strong in - eg synchro swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, modern pentathlon - based upon the current way qualifications are done we are pretty much guaranteed reps at the Olympics due to the Oceania quota. I mean no matter what you think of the sport the fact that Synchro only got $200 000 for 4 years, is amazing. That is a lot of fundraising those girls need to do for costumes, participating in competitions, paying coaches, licensing of music etc. Who knows with a bit more money they just might become challengers to a minor medal eventually.

[SnideAsides]

I would put money on Channel Seven sneakily funding the synchro team in future to avoid another moment like having their constant, constant advertising for that baking show (which is premiering against the latest local attempt at Survivor) undercut by the swimmers using the Survivor: The Australian Outback theme for their routine.

Short answer on the lopsidedness of the medal tally: Most of Russia's medal hopes were banned (in particular, field athletes and weightlifters), the athletes who got the most help from Australia's and China's versions of Own the Podium are either retired or past their best (and the UK seemed to focus on the sports that would be affected to double down on the misery; see their Dutch-speed-skaters level of support for track cycling), and there have been a bunch of surprising results all over the place, mostly in events the US normally doesn't win (Brazil finally winning the soccer, the Belgium/Argentina hockey final, Kosovo winning a judo gold). It's a perfect storm, pretty much.

[SeanC]

2 hours ago, Daisy said:

Canadian swimming. Like. honestly if you look up my MASSIVE rant about "Why the heck Canadians can't swim." I think the entire country was prepared to just become honourary Americans (or Aussies) and win medals that way. We generally get 2-3 medals if we're lucky. Along comes 16 year olds Penny and Taylor and showing us a glimpse of what Tokyo might be. They might be hit by the puberty stick, who knows if they even continue but our swimming programme is finally in the right hands.

I'm pretty sure the head of Swimming Canada is fantasizing about 2020 newspaper headlines along the lines of:

• "Oleksiak defends 100m freestyle gold."
• "Oleksiak wins 100m butterfly gold."
• "Oleksiak anchors 4x100m freestyle relay gold."
• "Oleksiak anchors 4x200m freestyle relay gold."
• "Head of Swimming Canada declared genius by all."

Looking over our medalists and near-medalists from this Olympics, it'll be interesting to see who carries forward and who doesn't.  The competitive age brackets vary a lot by sport.  I was looking at our four gold medalists in particular: Oleksiak, obviously, could do three more Olympiads if she wants to go for it; Drouin has already medaled in two Olympiads and would be 30 in 2020, which I don't know if that's still an age for success in high jump (the fact that literally nobody has ever successfully defended Olympic gold in the high jump is not suggestive that it is); MacLennan actually did defend her gold, I don't know if she's up for one more round, but her pal Karen Cockburn competed into her early 30s (and came 4th in London at age 32), so it's at least possible; I don't know whether Wiebe, 27 now, will come back for Tokyo either.

I hope Emily Batty, who finished fourth in mountain biking, will be back.  Seeing as she'd be younger then than Catherine Pendrel is now, I don't see that age would be an obstacle.

And, of course, equestrianism is much more forgiving of age than most sports, so one images Eric Lamaze (who came excruciatingly close to repeating for gold and still got bronze) will saddle up again.  He's the new Ian Millar, but winning-er.

[walnutqueen]

45 minutes ago, SeanC said:

He's the new Ian Millar, but winning-er.

Do we have a new Big Ben too?  :-)

[sassykattt]

upthread somebody said Jamaica dominated the races.  Nope, USA dominated the races.  Back to where we used to be.

[legaleagle53]

5 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

I would put money on Channel Seven sneakily funding the synchro team in future to avoid another moment like having their constant, constant advertising for that baking show (which is premiering against the latest local attempt at Survivor) undercut by the swimmers using the Survivor: The Australian Outback theme for their routine.

Short answer on the lopsidedness of the medal tally: Most of Russia's medal hopes were banned (in particular, field athletes and weightlifters), the athletes who got the most help from Australia's and China's versions of Own the Podium are either retired or past their best (and the UK seemed to focus on the sports that would be affected to double down on the misery; see their Dutch-speed-skaters level of support for track cycling), and there have been a bunch of surprising results all over the place, mostly in events the US normally doesn't win (Brazil finally winning the soccer, the Belgium/Argentina hockey final, Kosovo winning a judo gold). It's a perfect storm, pretty much.

That still doesn't explain why your swimming team imploded so spectacularly.  I've been used to the (sort of) friendly rivalry between your teams and ours for so long that seeing Australia lose as consistently as it did during these games was in a way as disappointing to me as an American as I'm sure it must be to you as an Australian.

[Daisy]

2 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

That still doesn't explain why your swimming team imploded so spectacularly.  I've been used to the (sort of) friendly rivalry between your teams and ours for so long that seeing Australia lose as consistently as it did during these games was in a way as disappointing to me as an American as I'm sure it must be to you as an Australian.

Because Canada can swim now ;) we ate into their medal haul! :D 

On a realistic note - I do think Canada's medal pull contributed to Australia's woes, but I also would put it that, they didn't have a good first few days in Rio period, and what with the drama of the village the fire, the lost stuff, moving to a hotel, getting settled, i don't think they were ready from the word jump. Looking at the numbers, Australia matched their medal haul from London - with more gold. [10 medals, 3 golds], which was better than London [10 medals, 1 gold, and as they had 6 silver in London, this means they converted 2 silvers to gold, which is always good]. 

If we're comparing them to Beijing where they won 20 medals [6 gold], 15 in Athens [7 gold], and 18 in Sydney - yeah I can see where the disappointment is coming from. USA pulls in an average of 28-32 medals an Olympiad in the pool, and Australia for the most part has the second most producer of pool medals. But when the other countries (Hungry, Netherlands, China etc) click, and now with Canada, Denmark, South Africa getting stronger programmes, the one who is affected is Australia. not the USA. With Phelps retirement, it might put the USA team back to the "lower end" of expectations (ie: 28 lolol). 

[Daisy]

7 hours ago, SeanC said:

I'm pretty sure the head of Swimming Canada is fantasizing about 2020 newspaper headlines along the lines of:

• "Oleksiak defends 100m freestyle gold."
• "Oleksiak wins 100m butterfly gold."
• "Oleksiak anchors 4x100m freestyle relay gold."
• "Oleksiak anchors 4x200m freestyle relay gold."
• "Head of Swimming Canada declared genius by all."

Looking over our medalists and near-medalists from this Olympics, it'll be interesting to see who carries forward and who doesn't.  The competitive age brackets vary a lot by sport.  I was looking at our four gold medalists in particular: Oleksiak, obviously, could do three more Olympiads if she wants to go for it; Drouin has already medaled in two Olympiads and would be 30 in 2020, which I don't know if that's still an age for success in high jump (the fact that literally nobody has ever successfully defended Olympic gold in the high jump is not suggestive that it is); MacLennan actually did defend her gold, I don't know if she's up for one more round, but her pal Karen Cockburn competed into her early 30s (and came 4th in London at age 32), so it's at least possible; I don't know whether Wiebe, 27 now, will come back for Tokyo either.

I hope Emily Batty, who finished fourth in mountain biking, will be back.  Seeing as she'd be younger then than Catherine Pendrel is now, I don't see that age would be an obstacle.

And, of course, equestrianism is much more forgiving of age than most sports, so one images Eric Lamaze (who came excruciatingly close to repeating for gold and still got bronze) will saddle up again.  He's the new Ian Millar, but winning-er.

LOL to give the CEO credit he was very very quick to say - a lot can happen between now and 2020 , and i think looking at people like Amanda Beard and Missy Franklin can serve to be a reminder that it might not be all roses for them. BUT - they could also be little Katie Ledecky's in training who knows. 

The Fact that MacLellan won a medal (let alone gold) considering her concussion issues is a marvel. She did say baring disasters she'll be in Tokyo so we'll see. (karen wanted to be at these games, but had an injury at the test event and that's why she wasn't there). Drouin said he's aiming for 2020 (YAY! more Boyfriend!), and that his goal is to set some World Record jumps. 

Batty was so sad :( and again mountain biking isn't so age specific, like there were 44 year olds racing yesterday so i think it's just health permitting. 

And yes. you can be nearly as old as Moses and keep horse back riding. (i was surprised that Miller wasn't on the team, but his daughter Amy was. and Miller was part of the team that created the jumping  obstacles. which. were HARD).  

It really looks that OTP/RTE are focusing on areas where Canada can specialize (especially in female sports) and bring in a haul. (tis is something that I hadn't realized. Canada has won a wrestling medal in every games since 1992. And has won a gold in every other games since 2000. LOL. Wiebe kept the tradition alive!

7 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

Do we have a new Big Ben too?  :-)

lol no. he'l have Fine Lady (who was amazing) but she'll be like 17 in Tokyo so Eric will have a new horse. 

[katisha]

3 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

That still doesn't explain why your swimming team imploded so spectacularly.  I've been used to the (sort of) friendly rivalry between your teams and ours for so long that seeing Australia lose as consistently as it did during these games was in a way as disappointing to me as an American as I'm sure it must be to you as an Australian.

Well, I did read this today and it sounds like they had some good team spirit going, only it was just for the Australian swimming team, not the Australian team in general.

Edited August 21, 2016 by katisha

[Gulftastic]

Amazing from Team GB. Officially the only host nation ever to win more in the following games!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/37085511

Growing up, I was used to half a dozen golds being a great games. Suddenly, we are good at the Olympics.