Olympics - does anyone actually care anymore?

[flibbertyjibber]

Our cyclists are at it again then in the velodrome.

Well done Fiji on their 7's win (annihilation) and their first ever olympic medal.

 

[Zinzan]

Our cyclists are at it again then in the velodrome.

Yeah you ****s, pipping us in the event we're world champs in!

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Yeah you ****s, pipping us in the event we're world champs in!

Crazy how we peak for the Olympics all the time. Some race though.

Our pursuit teams looked impressive, will take some beating.

 

[Meridio]

Yeah disappointing for our sprint team, but that was a pretty awesome race. BBC comms unbearably smug though, had to flick over to watch something else. Good to see Fiji winning their first ever medal.

 

[_Ed_]

Fiji winning is one of my favourite things that's happened in these whole Olympics. They massively deserved it, and obviously it was a huge deal for the country. Really awesome to see.

 

[Burgey]

Great stuff Fiji.

 

[Zinzan]

Received 3 texts from ex-staff I used to manage remotely in Fiji already this morning, They're naturally ecstatic, just the boost the country needed after Cyclone Winston.

In many ways I'm happier they got the Gold than NZ.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Random Olympics-related question for NZers:

How did you find out that most of Africa boycotted Montreal in 1976 because of New Zealand rugby team touring South Africa? I thought this would be kind of a big event in our history but no one really mentions what happened and even at school we only focused on the 1981 protests.

 

[_Ed_]

Yeah, that's a good point. I think I only learned about that when I took a 20th century NZ history paper at uni.

 

[Zinzan]

Interesting. Didn't know that truth be told, nor did I ever make the connection despite being aware of both events.

 

[_Ed_]

To be fair it detracts a bit from John Walker's win.

 

[Zinzan]

True, even though the African nations didn't dominate the middle-distance events like they do these days, Filbert Bayi from Tanzania had beaten Walker in the '74 commonwealth 1500 meters.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Yeah there's three things about those Olympics that most NZ sports fans know:
- Walker's gold
- Hockey gold
- Australia doing so badly that they started up their state-sponsored doping program

But the history surrounding those games are hardly mentioned in NZ media from what I can tell. I only knew the full extent of it when I stumbled across it on the Internet.

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah, didn't find out about it till years after the springbok tour. Might well be a bit of national embarassment over causing such a significant boycott, but equally it could just be that the '81 tour (being only 5 years later) just overshadows it. I wonder whether '76 played a role in the '81 tour being as contentious as it was?

Probably didn't affect Walker's race though, given that iirc Bayi was injured at the time anyway.

 

[Zinzan]

- Australia doing so badly that they started up their state-sponsored doping program

.

Lol, I thought that was in response to LA '84 when Australia managed just 4 golds to NZ's 8.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Yeah I've heard that as well but it's a myth. They got zero golds in Montreal and the AIS opened in 1980.

 

[Burgey]

Nah the AIS was a direct response to the farce of Montreal.

Jeez I feel sorry for McEvoy. He just hasn't been in form at all these Games.

Edit: and another disappointment in the women's 200 Breaststroke after qualifying fastest.

 

[hendrix]

Random Olympics-related question for NZers:

How did you find out that most of Africa boycotted Montreal in 1976 because of New Zealand rugby team touring South Africa? I thought this would be kind of a big event in our history but no one really mentions what happened and even at school we only focused on the 1981 protests.

I had no idea

 

[Burgey]

What a farce. No medals for the Campbell sisters at all.

 

[Burgey]

Luckily, no one cares any more.