Sports thread: Everything sport related here.

[SteelBird]

Talking about sports in Olympic Rio 2016, you'd need mention about Chinese domination on table tennis for decades long. I did a search and found this article

Why is China so Good at Table Tennis

If you caught any of the table tennis at the recent London 2012 Olympic Games, you will have noticed that China completely dominated.

They completed their second straight clean sweep of the medals (they did it in Beijing too!), winning every gold and the two silver medals they could also win. So that’s gold in the men’s and women’s team events. A gold medal for Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia in the singles, and silvers for Wang Hao and Ding Ning.

Actually, the format of Olympic table tennis was changed after Beijing 2008, to stop China from being able to win all the medals. Countries can now only enter two players into the singles events, so it’s impossible to have just one country on the final podium. At the Beijing Games, China received gold, silver and bronze in both the men’s and women’s event!

The material in this post has come from many sources but I would like particularly thank

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for his article from the USATT Magazine back in 2005, which proved extremely insightful.

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the reasons are:
- Huge depth of talent
- Ruthless selection methods
- Intensive training
- Individual practice partners
- Psychological and tactical support staff
- Early-specialization and talent identification
- The Chinese technique

Conclusion
So there are seven reasons why China is so good at table tennis. I’m sure there are more that I’ve missed. Leave a comment if you spot anything. I think it’s good to see the ‘Chinese method’ affecting all levels of development. From learning correct technique and moving to a specialist sports school as a child, to receiving an individual practice partner as a senior national player. They really are great strides ahead of the rest of the world, in all areas.

Can we ever catch up the Chinese? That’s another question.

 

[Mr T]

Very good meet for the Chinese women in the weightlifting - Xiang Yanmei won the 69kg category as well.

Today's medal rankings

USA - 20 gold - 13 silver - 17 bronze
China - 13 gold - 10 silver - 14 bronze
Great Britain - 7 gold - 9 silver - 6 bronze
Japan - 7 gold - 3 silver - 14 bronze
South Korea - 6 gold - 3 silver - 4 bronze

We've had a good run in the rowing, swimming and cycling is going well too. Fingers crossed we'll get a gold in the heptathlon.

Japan has done very well in the judo and the swimming pool (Kanato's gold medal was well deserved, given she was thinking about quitting only a few years ago). They've also got the wrestling still to come.

South Korea pretty much cleaned up in the archery, but then apparently they're always favourites in that. I guess they'll be hoping for at least one gold in the women's taekwondo.

 

[Mr T]

By the way, did everyone see the reaction of Fu Yuanhui when she won the bronze medal in the 100m final? I know most people don't get that excited when bronze medals are won, but she had such a wonderful reaction that showed how happy she was to get a medal (and how humble she was).

I will definitely be supporting her in 2020!

 

[siegecrossbow]

By the way, did everyone see the reaction of Fu Yuanhui when she won the bronze medal in the 100m final? I know most people don't get that excited when bronze medals are won, but she had such a wonderful reaction that showed how happy she was to get a medal (and how humble she was).

I will definitely be supporting her in 2020!

She is pretty much a meme at this point.

 

[Mr T]

She is pretty much a meme at this point.

Sure, but it was still a lovely reaction. A lot of athletes from big sporting nations like China, the USA, etc are often reserved if they "only" win a bronze. It's nice to see people be happy about winning a medal and getting a personal best.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Sure, but it was still a lovely reaction. A lot of athletes from big sporting nations like China, the USA, etc are often reserved if they "only" win a bronze. It's nice to see people be happy about winning a medal and getting a personal best.

I think it had to do with her personality. Fu is pretty famous in China for her quirky antics well before the Rio Olympics.

Here is a lovely old photo of her in a tiger cap (typically worn by toddlers or very young children in China).

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[Jeff Head]

Current Medal Count for the 2016 Olympics:

USA Total Medals 54 - G:21 S:15 B:18
PRC Total Medals 41 - G:13 S:11 B:17
BRIT Total Medals 26 - G:9 S:11 B:6
GER Total Medals 16 - G:8 S:5 B:3
JAP Total Medals 24 - G:7 S:3 B:14

 

[B.I.B.]

China's women get a well deserved gold in the track sprint cycling.
So far I think China's overall performance has been a little disappointing when compared with the Beijing and London Olympics., or have other countries caught up with her in diving and gymnastics?
Once again there have been allegations that the women gymnasts are under the legal age for Olympic competitions.
Meanwhile swimmer Chen Xinyu returning a positive test for doping revives accusations that their swim team still cheat.
The only way to limit China's medal haul in table tennis is to only allow one competitor in each event

 

[B.I.B.]

Very good meet for the Chinese women in the weightlifting - Xiang Yanmei won the 69kg category as well.

Today's medal rankings

USA - 20 gold - 13 silver - 17 bronze
China - 13 gold - 10 silver - 14 bronze
Great Britain - 7 gold - 9 silver - 6 bronze
Japan - 7 gold - 3 silver - 14 bronze
South Korea - 6 gold - 3 silver - 4 bronze

We've had a good run in the rowing, swimming and cycling is going well too. Fingers crossed we'll get a gold in the heptathlon.

Why do you Brits do so well in sports that involve sitting down?

 

[Jeff Head]

My hat is off to Michael Phelps.

He came to Brazil with the most medals of anyone at 22. Of those 22, 18 were gold. From Athens -2004, Beijing - 2008, an London -2012).

People wondered if at 31, after rebounding from some of his own troubles, whether he could do it or not.

Well, he is showing that he can.

Five more medals so far in 2016 in RIo...four of them gold!

Men's 4x200m freestyle relay GOLD

Men's 200m butterfly GOLD

Men's 4x100m freestyle relay GOLD

Men's 200m individual medley GOLS

Men's 100m butterfly SILVER

Pretty amazing...and he may not be done yet!

So, with these five, he now has:

22 Gold Medals
3 Silver Medal
2 Bronze medal

That's a total of 27 Olympic medals!

The man has set a total of 39 world Record times (both individual and team records combined)!

Since the Olympics started up again in 1896, between 1896 and now, there are 56 countries who have competed in the Olympics whose entire country have won less gold medals than Michael Phelps. Amazing.

As I grew up watching the Olympics every four years, I always thought Mark Spitz was going to be the best...but Phelps has long since eclipsed that.