The Rio Olympics

Well, just by population alone, China should be ahead. I can see the coaches and failed athletes being re-educated...

As for this idiot:



What actually happens appears to be -

He and his pals trashed the toilet in a petrol station. Armed petrol station guards demand they pay for damage. He then tells his mother the actual truth, so terrible tales about robbery at gunpoint are all over the media. He legs it home and leaves his former friends to face the music.

Correct. What a ******** and many more.

http://news.sky.com/story/mo-farah-clinches-second-rio-gold-for-team-gb-10546156



That's an amazing result for the UK - and I don't think the team has caused any scandals?

Love Mo. The UK keeps getting better and better.

Aw, come on, Bonny, that scandal has been like a soap opera.

Yes, Mo seems to be a genuinely nice person, doesn't he?

If I was in charge of the US team - I'd have those fools cleaning municipal swimming pools for the next four years for this nonsense.

They were acting like immature drunken louts. That must have shaken them up all right......

Hungary came 12th - 8 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze, 15 total
Austria came 78th with one bronze.
Well done, Hungary! Austrians are looking forward to the Winter Olympics where they always do well.

LL

Well done LL.

A very respectable tally for Hungary!

That's a wonderful cover.

Brilliant!

Ryan Lochte loses all four commercial sponsors after Rio Olympics incident
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/08/22/speedo-drops-ryan-lochte-after-rio-olympics-incident/

If I was an American, LL, I would be very angry indeed with the idiot - he's managed to sour what was otherwise a great Olympics for the US. His antics are going to be everyone's abiding memory of the US team in Rio.

Meanwhile, the GB team have just arrived home:

http://news.sky.com/story/live-jubilant-team-gb-land-in-london-after-record-medal-haul-10548323



I love the gold nose cone!

Rio 2016: Hungary’s Gold Medalists To Receive €112K In Prize Money
2016-07-29 |olympicsrio2016
Hungarian Olympic athletes who bring home a gold medal from Rio de Janeiro will receive 35 million forints (approx. EUR 112,000) in prize money from the state of Hungary, the tabloid Bors reported.

Silver medalists will get 25 million forints and bronze medalists 20 million, the paper said. Athletes who place within the top eight will all receive cash bonuses with 7th place finishers getting 4 million and those finishing eighth getting 2 million forints. This means prize money allocations this year will remain unchanged from 2012, Bors said.

The tabloid paper added that while in the past, athletes were awarded prize money only for their three best results, Olympians in Rio will be awarded for all of their results.
(1 million forints is approximately £2,860.)

Well earned, LL, Hungary has done well.

I was watching the GB team arrive and wondered - do they bring all the horses home on special horse flights?

Ah, there are special horse flights:

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/olympics/700947/Rio-2016-how-did-horses-get-to-Brazil-for-Olympic-Games-transport-fly-passports-jumping

How did horses get to the Rio Olympics?

The Olympic horses were flown over to Brazil in specially-fitted planes for the equestrian events.

The airplanes had stalls on board and were specially made to make sure that the horses travelled in comfort with a supply of moist hay.

Luciana Martins, an equine vet hired by Rio 2016 organisers to help with transportation, said: “Sometimes the horses need even more care than human athletes.

"Any small injury to a horse can take them out of the competition.

“We work to keep them safe from contamination, make sure they get the right food and ensure they are not injured during transportation.”



he horses wore protective travelling boots and bandages to protect their legs. In exceptional circumstances, a horse might have required medication to calm their nerves.

Each horse also had an individual luggage limit, which included its own weight, water buckets and rugs, according to the British Equestrian Olympic team.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-08-08/how-do-horses-get-to-the-olympics

Do they get scared at landing or take off?
"The pilots will control a more gradual take off and a slower landing to a typical flight," explains British Eventing Team vet Liz Brown. "When you're on a passenger plane you'll experience a positive landing where they brake quite hard, but with horses they do a longer landing... so they don’t feel that sudden deceleration."

Also, the horses have the advantage of not realising they are 30,000 feet in the air, in a giant aluminium cigar tube...

My friends, this was taken from Sky News:

http://news.sky.com/story/team-gb-set-for-heroes-welcome-after-historic-rio-olympics-10548262

http://news.sky.com/story/live-jubilant-team-gb-land-in-london-after-record-medal-haul-10548323

My friends, this was taken from The Portugal News newspaper:

http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/portugal-returns-from-rio-olympics-with-one-medal/39271

also taken from The Portugal Resident newspaper:

http://portugalresident.com/portugal-brings-home-one-medal-from-rio-as-athletes-slam-lack-of-support-from-government

with all do respect for the PT athletes, it was only the responsability of these athletes to do their best in those games, in my opinion, instead of criticizing, these athletes should be proud of they have accomplished in the games of 2016.

Taekwondo fighter Rui Bragança spoke of a “lack of support” that affects many athletes, and said this may have been the last time he takes part in the Olympic games as he refuses to “borrow more money” from his parents.

Now that's interesting, Pedro, because the British team got HUGE funding from our Lottery, so not having financial worries maybe does help a bit?

bb1, your words are mine.

I remember when British athletes were poorly funded?

Yes, that's right, Lily. This time, the National Lottery gave them just about everything they needed, and it clearly made a huge difference.

http://www.theweek.co.uk/olympics-2016/75856/how-the-national-lottery-turned-team-gb-into-world-beaters

The "dedicated amateurs" of 1996 are long gone, says the Daily Telegraph, which puts the funding figure even higher: "Since London 2012, Olympic sports have received a total of £274m in Lottery funding, with around half as much again coming from the Treasury as grants. Elite athletes earn a maximum of £28,000 tax free, which is means-tested if their income rises above £65,000 through sponsorship and endorsements."

Rio Paralympics 2016: Russia banned after losing appeal
Russia will not compete at next month’s Paralympics in Rio after losing an appeal against a ban imposed for state-sponsored doping.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) upheld the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) ban on all Russian competitors.

The IPC made the decision after the McLaren report detailed a Russian state-sponsored doping programme. More at link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37165427

Hmm. I really don't like collective punishments, LL, and I doubt if Russia is the only one at it - the rest just haven't been caught yet.

I exclude the European teams from this, I hasten to add - I am sure they are all 'clean'.