Olympic thread

It was the French guy who did the dangerous move, Pidcock’s overtake was fine. Not only was he ahead but there were two ‘lanes’ provided intentionally. He took one of the given options and then stayed pretty close to the side he chose, the French guy took the other option and then came right over to Pidcock’s side almost cutting him off and crashing into his front wheel.

For anyone who didn’t watch, the French lad was all the way to the left of the screen as he went around the other side of the trees. There would never have been any danger of a crash if he’d have stayed further on his side. Obviously that would be slightly further and therefore slower but that’s the path he chose to take.

 

Yeah, absolutely nothing wrong with the move at all. Piddock did amazing having being 40 or so seconds down with that puncture. 10000000% deserved Gold. How he powered on after regaining the lead was immense as well. Sheer grit and talent.

 

Exactly as I saw it.

 

Let's go back again ehh shall we lol, and share some more Acidic memories, of the Olympics.
Remember Olympia '80, when the rather unknown Scotch lad Allan Wells, won the men's 100m for G.B.
And it's hard to show vids of it these days, for various reasons!.

 

I find it hard to imagine what guts it takes to give away so much time in a race and then come back and win.

I seem to remember Lasse Viren doing something similar on the track.

You need to be a fookin Titan to do what he did.

He's a Yorkshireman, obviously.

 

And hey, one of my all time favourite sporting rivalries was then... the Seb Coe or Steve Ovett rivalry!.
I preferred Steve, and I admit I went with the anti Seb, posh boy and upbringing sort of thing.

 

1980, when about 60 nations boycotted (inc USA) due to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Wells won it in 10.25, you'd have to go back to 1956 for a slower winning time. Fair play, he's in the record books as Olympic gold medallist, but only due to circumstances.

 

Aww come on Rich, yeah I know about the U.S and Soviet thing. But let's give credit to Allan ehh, for beating what was put in front of him, in '80.

 

He did, I gave him credit for that, but... circumstances. There were loads of sprinters that would have beat him that weren't there.

 

Hopefully the boxing judges never work again after these Games. We’ve been screwed in every bout I’ve seen.

 

Yeah I know, and I do understand what your saying Richie lad lol.

So ok then, let's move on ehh, to U.S '84.
When we had a so called Brit lass called Zola Budd (who was actually South African) running for us.
And she was allegedly blamed for Mary Decker falling, because they collided and Mary flipped down.

 

Budd running barefoot. I never blamed her, just a racing incident.

Wendy Sly the forgotten woman though. Budd/Decker was/is such a big story that Sly getting silver for GB barely registered.

 

Hey Rich mate I never knew that, is that true then (about Wendy Sly) ?.
How or why did Zola Budd though, come about in the first place ?.

 

True about Sly, British representing GB, finished 2nd.

Not sure what you mean about how did Budd come about? She'd only just been given permission to run for GB just before the games. She applied through one of her grandparents being British, she couldn't run for South Africa due to the apartheid/segregation issues going on that meant they were excluded at the time. She ran for SA before, and returned to running for them later (she did so in a later Olympics, 88 or 92).

 

Like Callum styles playing in the Euros….?

 

Budd getting selected for the GB team was a huge news story prior to the games. Literally everyone knew who she was from all the news coverage, and the fact that she continued to run barefoot (which was also a will she / won't she side headline).

There was huge expectation and media pressure on her. Mary Decker was the US darling athlete and Budd became the unwitting villain as a result of the clash between them.

1984 was the first Olympics I watched on TV and the memories of it are still vivid. Budd / Decker was undoubtedly one of the big stories that came out of it.

 

Personally don't think either did anything wrong. They were racing, they got a bit close, that's it. And if Pidcock hadn't passed the French guy at that point, he would have done so at the next opportunity as he clearly had miles more left in the tank. Victor Koretzky was spent.

 

The thing that surprised me was that, to put it in motor racing terms...Koreztky left the door open for Pidcock.

 

Lasse Viren (if I remember rightly) was a pioneer of blood doping before they made it illegal.