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ArbitorIan wrote:At least the massive economic failure means that I can finally drive around east london without traffic. London currently has 8% LESS tourists than is normal in August. I'm losing about half my income from theatre shows that suddenly have no audience. And don't bring it up with a cab driver.

I will bring it up with a cab driver, because theatre shows have reported increased box office takings, not decreased takings.
Source is here, by the way

BBC wrote:West End figures published on Monday showed box office takings for the first seven days of the London 2012 Games were up £250,000 on the previous week.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Lord Lloyd-Webber added that Monday night's takings for Shrek and Phantom of the Opera, both playing at his theatres, were "hugely up".

ArbitorIan wrote:

Albatross wrote:

mattyrm wrote:Well enlighten me, why do you feel better when a stranger from Liverpool wins a medal but feel nothing when a stranger from Hamburg does?

Because that stranger from Liverpool is representing my country.

Ah, the country that you worked long and hard to be part of? The country that your drive and ambition enabled you to be part of? Oh no, the bit of land that you completely randomly happened to be born in, through absolutely no work on your part.

No, that piece of land I contribute to, and strive to make better by making a positive contribution to my community and the area in which I live. The random piece of land whose cultures and customs helped shape the person I am and my outlook on life. That piece of land you seem so keen to spit on gave me and my family a safe place to live, put food in my belly and allows me to live in a level of luxury that millions of people across the world can only dream of. Yes, I am proud that I'm not Somalian, Kyrgyz or Cambodian - I'm British, and that means I live in a country that is safe, prosperous, stable and free. Being British mean that yes, we have the luxury of having heated discussions on whether or not patriotism is appropriate and what it means to support one's national team, because our lives are so comfortable that we're paralysed by ennui. We don't have to sit around speculating about what happened to the journalist who lived down the street before he went missing, having written an article critical of the government. We don't have to argue about how best to source clean drinking water and sanitation facilities, like the unfortunate citizens of so many countries.

It's wonderful to be British, and I'm unashamed to admit it.

That stranger from Liverpool is a stranger form Liverpool. Like a stranger from Paris, who you would presumably support whole heartedly had you happened to be born in Avignon.

You are so intelligent and incisive to point that out. That thought had never crossed my mind. I now see the error of my ways. In fact, I fear you've made me look quite the ass.

Groups of people have shared customs, which makes them familiar. But their success is has no echo towards anyone else who shares their customs. Their success is their own. To claim it as your own would be very very wrong in my book....

It's a damn good job I'm not doing that then, isn't it? However, you are free to keep whacking that strawman, though I will warn you: Should you succeed in destroying it, I will of course claim your success as my own. Go Team GB!

Albatross wrote:No, that piece of land I contribute to, and strive to make better by making a positive contribution to my community and the area in which I live. The random piece of land whose cultures and customs helped shape the person I am and my outlook on life. That piece of land you seem so keen to spit on gave me and my family a safe place to live, put food in my belly and allows me to live in a level of luxury that millions of people across the world can only dream of. Yes, I am proud that I'm not Somalian, Kyrgyz or Cambodian - I'm British, and that means I live in a country that is safe, prosperous, stable and free. Being British mean that yes, we have the luxury of having heated discussions on whether or not patriotism is appropriate and what it means to support one's national team, because our lives are so comfortable that we're paralysed by ennui. We don't have to sit around speculating about what happened to the journalist who lived down the street before he went missing, having written an article critical of the government. We don't have to argue about how best to source clean drinking water and sanitation facilities, like the unfortunate citizens of so many countries.

It's wonderful to be British, and I'm unashamed to admit it.

Albatross put this far more eloquently than I would be able to, due to my severe lack of stirring speech-writing ability, but I agree with this message wholeheartedly.
Amusingly, I felt a small amount of pride stirring whilst reading that, but I'm not sure whether that would help or hinder the argument for feeling proud about British athletes' achievements.

On a lighter note, they give out way to many fething medals for swimming. Giving out three medals for every different stroke is idiotic. By that logic each weightlifting category should get 3 medals, one for total, one for snatch, one for clean and jerk.

Amaya wrote:On a lighter note, they give out way to many fething medals for swimming. Giving out three medals for every different stroke is idiotic. By that logic each weightlifting category should get 3 medals, one for total, one for snatch, one for clean and jerk.

Oh Amaya, why so bitter about weightlifting?

rubiksnoob wrote:

Amaya wrote:On a lighter note, they give out way to many fething medals for swimming. Giving out three medals for every different stroke is idiotic. By that logic each weightlifting category should get 3 medals, one for total, one for snatch, one for clean and jerk.

Oh Amaya, why so bitter about weightlifting?

I don't understand what you're attempting to ask.

I'm annoyed that swimming gets something like 1/4 of the medals given out. It's silly. Backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle do not all deserve medal categories. Freestyle is the fastest stroke all the matters is speed. Everything else is just 'art'.

Glorioski wrote:This is something that has caught my attention here in the Uk, although here it has been fantastic. The BBC has a live stream every single sport which is currently being played on their website and also over several chanels if you have cable or satellite, all with commentary and free for licence payers (which is mandatory if you have a TV in the UK). You can rewind the streams on the net service too and watch everything which has already happened if you missed it. I actually feel my TV licence was well worth the money this year.

That stuff is only accessible to us if you've got pay TV, and I'm not paying about $100 a month and committing for a year to watch Olympics (and domestic cricket in the summer )

sebster wrote:I think your right, the medal table isn't a good way to assess a nations sporting prowess and I'm certainly not arguing that. But each discipline has their own medal table and that is a perfectly reasonable way to asses how healthy that particular sport is in your country. For example I don't think you could argue that British cycling or Rowing isn't in very good form right now. Compared to Australia, who (long before Sydney) always had very successful swimmers and it has to be asked what's gone wrong there.

Absolutely, the British cycling has come up and produced so many elite athletes in such a short time is a credit to everyone working in British cycling. Same for British rowing (though that's always been pretty strong, hasn't it?)

And yeah, I'd agree that you can look at the medal count in an individual sport and conclude a country is best in that particular field. My problem is when you add up all the medals across all the sports and think that total means something.

Also for what it's worth I don't think there are any "wierdo" sports at the Olympics and I think it is a great way for those sports who don't get much time in the spotlight to showcase themselves to young people who think sport starts and ends at football (or Aussie rules in Australia's case). I think sports which have huge popularity generally take care of themselves as far as funding is concerned. I'm not going to back any initiative to give government funding to Manchester United's talent scouts.

Don't get me wrong, I like the weirdo sports. I wish I'd actually get to see more of the weirdo sports, and less of the bloody swimming. That is, exactly like you say, what the Olympics is all about.

But that doesn't mean they're not obscure, weird sports.

To be honest I think Australia need to reassess how they value success at the Olympics. Even the British media rate the Bronze medal athletes for their achievement. For example, this is ridiculous...

There's actually going to be a review into Australian swimming. Seriously. It is, as you say, ridiculous.

That's the other problem with that medal count - it clouds achievement that doesn't produce a medal. I'd argue that Australia getting a finalist into a top tier event like the 400m is a bigger deal than picking up a gold medal in one of the dozens of sailing events... but the medal count ignores the former and gives the latter as much importance as Bolt's run in the 100m.


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Frazzled wrote:Indeed thats why I hate the Olympics with a passion, ok one of many reasons to be accurate. This year we have the DVR or whatever its called. I set up to record the taekwondo and shooting as they all seemed to be on at 3.00AM in the morning, vs. the constant swimming Phelps nonsense (seriusly if you're gong to show swimming quit talking ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE WHILE THE COMPETITION IS GOING ON). Of course the DVR recorded competititve tiddlywinks or some crap.

Yeah, I get excited for the Olympics and then you start watching the coverage and it's just swimming and all this other nonsense and medal counts and for feth's sake just show me elite athletes in sports I don't normally get to watch.


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Amaya wrote:On a lighter note, they give out way to many fething medals for swimming. Giving out three medals for every different stroke is idiotic. By that logic each weightlifting category should get 3 medals, one for total, one for snatch, one for clean and jerk.

Ummm... they do give out medals for the best lift in the snatch, another for the clean and jerk, and again for the total. At least swimming doesn't brake it down by weight classes, so there isn't a 100m event for skinny people, another one for slightly less skinny people and so on

I mean, I don't think there should ever be a complaint about individual medals getting handed out. Butterfly is a different discipline to other swimming strokes, and shows strength in different muscle groups. It's just that people should be aware that some sports have loads more medals up for grabs even when they're really not very important sports, and so trying to assess how well a nation is doing by the overall medal count is silly.

This is what comes to mind when watching synchronized swimming:

To back up ArbitorIan's complaint, I commute to work in the west end every day, and it's a lot quieter than usual. The stations, the tube and the streets are relatively quiet at commuting and lunchtimes.

Some of that is because it is school holiday time, but some of it must be due to lack of tourists.

Albatross wrote:

ArbitorIan wrote:Ah, the country that you worked long and hard to be part of? The country that your drive and ambition enabled you to be part of? Oh no, the bit of land that you completely randomly happened to be born in, through absolutely no work on your part.

No, that piece of land I contribute to, and strive to make better by making a positive contribution to my community and the area in which I live. The random piece of land whose cultures and customs helped shape the person I am and my outlook on life. That piece of land you seem so keen to spit on gave me and my family a safe place to live, put food in my belly and allows me to live in a level of luxury that millions of people across the world can only dream of. Yes, I am proud that I'm not Somalian, Kyrgyz or Cambodian - I'm British, and that means I live in a country that is safe, prosperous, stable and free. Being British mean that yes, we have the luxury of having heated discussions on whether or not patriotism is appropriate and what it means to support one's national team, because our lives are so comfortable that we're paralysed by ennui. We don't have to sit around speculating about what happened to the journalist who lived down the street before he went missing, having written an article critical of the government. We don't have to argue about how best to source clean drinking water and sanitation facilities, like the unfortunate citizens of so many countries.

It's wonderful to be British, and I'm unashamed to admit it.

This was a good post and you should be proud of it.

Albatross wrote:
No, that piece of land I contribute to, and strive to make better by making a positive contribution to my community and the area in which I live. The random piece of land whose cultures and customs helped shape the person I am and my outlook on life. That piece of land you seem so keen to spit on gave me and my family a safe place to live, put food in my belly and allows me to live in a level of luxury that millions of people across the world can only dream of. Yes, I am proud that I'm not Somalian, Kyrgyz or Cambodian - I'm British, and that means I live in a country that is safe, prosperous, stable and free. Being British mean that yes, we have the luxury of having heated discussions on whether or not patriotism is appropriate and what it means to support one's national team, because our lives are so comfortable that we're paralysed by ennui. We don't have to sit around speculating about what happened to the journalist who lived down the street before he went missing, having written an article critical of the government. We don't have to argue about how best to source clean drinking water and sanitation facilities, like the unfortunate citizens of so many countries.

It's wonderful to be British, and I'm unashamed to admit it.

See, clearly I agree with all of that, I don't see why anything I said excludes it! I think I should reiterate my actual feelings on this matter because I have been posting pissed occasionally! But if you think I don't wake up every day thinking "feth me its great living in Yorkshire" after spending all that time In Africa and the middle east and Asia you are off your tits mate! Aren't I always saying how minuscule all of our so called problems are over here? People get pissed about cell phone coverage and flights being delayed when years ago they had no phones and they had to travel for three days on a horse!

ALL of what you posted could have been posted by me, I entirely agree with it. I dont even care about the economic aspect either because I reckon It will even out, and regards Ian's comment, I actually read a story about that yesterday when Lloyd Webber conceded defeat.. here it is.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/london-2012/9457147/Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-on-London-2012-I-was-wrong-about-West-End-bloodbath.html

Andrew Lloyd Webber has admitted he was wrong to predict a West End “bloodbath” during the Olympics after figures showed takings for his theatres have risen by 25 per cent since the Games began.

Lord Lloyd-Webber’s theatres are currently hosting Matilda the Musical, The Phantom of the Opera, The Wizard of Oz, War Horse and Shrek. Box office takings for the first seven days of the Games were up £250,000 on the previous week, according to figures published yesterday. While the number of foreign tourists in the West End is down, domestic visitors are flocking to the theatre, Lord Lloyd-Webber said. His positive message came as the Prime Minister’s spokesman refuted claims that central London has become a “ghost town” during the Games. Separate figures showed an increase in sales on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street last week, and footfall up 11.6 per cent on the previous seven days.

“I’m the one who said it would all be doom and gloom in the West End, but I have been proved wrong and I couldn’t be more delighted about that,” Lord Lloyd-Webber said.

“I thought nobody would come to London and I said at Christmas it would be a very difficult time for the West End. I was on the Olympic committee and I knew how few people were booking.

“I thought it was going to be terrible because there would be no foreign visitors whatsoever, and it is true that we’re not seeing the foreigners we normally get at this time of year.

“But what is happening is that a lot of families from all over the country are coming to see things like the equestrian events or the volleyball or this, that and the other, and saying, ‘What else can we go and see?’

The entirety of my distaste for the Olympics isn't about not supporting your local team (I support mine) or deflating athletes achievements (It is a great achievement to be able to complete a triathlon for example) it simply boils down to two things which I really do loathe.

1. Rampant aggressive Patriotism/Jingosim.
2. A desire to ride on the coat tails of your betters.

The first is a constant source of shame to me. I genuinely think it makes us look like total dicks. We Brits are obviously quite a proud people, rightly so you might think, I wouldn't disagree. But as a result we are also haughty and somewhat boastful, despite the fact we love to claim the opposite. The amount of time British people spend off slagging the Americans and the French and the Argies when they wave their flags and chant "NUMBER 1!" is substantial. The British love to say (see Orlanths post for example, and I have definitely heard you say it before as well) "We Brits are more quiet and down to earth.. the Americans like to flag wave and be loud, we are more reserved about these things" and yet after some success, we seem to have copied all of the people we like to claim we are more mature than! Endless bragging, hooting and hollering, painted faces and flag waving and gloating on websites when an obese non competitor tells a foreign non competitor "haha! WE beat YOU"

Is that not an entirely valid point?

I don't care about economics, I don't care about supporting a team or an athlete, I just am well aware of the obvious fact that endlessly harping on about how awesome you are and waving your flags makes you look like a dick. I don't hate Britain and I obviously want a bloke from Leeds to beat a bloke from Nigeria in a race.. but seriously.. some of the gak I have seen in the press is genuinely embarrassing and I cringe when I read it.

There is a huge difference between humble pride (I always shake a losers hand before I celebrate, none of this whooping from me!) and looking like a tit because you think you are hoofing at everything and you are boasting because someone you never even met won a medal in a competition!

If you or Orlanth think I "hate" my country (the very idea is absurd surely?) you have me all wrong.

This may well be down to my habit of posting pissed and making broad sweeping statements.. but still.

ArbitorIan wrote:

mattyrm wrote: I mean, I don't see any other fether complaining do you? So you should direct your comments at me, everyone else is on the "pro olympic" team.

Officially supporting the anti-olympic team.

At least the massive economic failure means that I can finally drive around east london without traffic. London currently has 8% LESS tourists than is normal in August. I'm losing about half my income from theatre shows that suddenly have no audience. And don't bring it up with a cab driver.

.....

Ya Boo sucks to the Stick-in-the-Mud team then, though surely having a team for these flies in the face of team captain Mattyrms desire not to crow abouts things.

And to the point that cabbies are not busy - fan-fething-tastic! Those bolshy buggers raised their prices to rape the wallets of tourists, Olympics fans and Londoners alike and now they are loosing out, this is great news. I only wish there was some way for the Tube/bus/train drivers to also lose their Olympic "bonus" that they wrangled on the basis of being over worked during the Olympic period. If somebody can punch Bob Crowe immediately it would be greatly appreciated.

Kilkrazy wrote:To back up ArbitorIan's complaint, I commute to work in the west end every day, and it's a lot quieter than usual. The stations, the tube and the streets are relatively quiet at commuting and lunchtimes.

Some of that is because it is school holiday time, but some of it must be due to lack of tourists.

There are also plenty of people staying out of town while its on, though I suspect summer holidays will be most of these along with the many of us that can work from home.

I go through Stratford (the Olympic Park) to commute into London and the trains, that are usually not that different to those Japanese trains where the conductor levers everyone onboard, are noticeably emptier.

On the day of the opening ceremony I had planed to leave work early and get through Liverpool Street Station and Straford before 2PM on account that gates opened at 3PM for the 7PM start. I ended up geting a train at 6.30PM and travelled on a virtually empty train - lovely.

Didn't the government essentially give the civil service leave to work from home while the Olympics/Paralympics is on? There was a big fuss about it kicked up in the Mail or some such. If true, then that would presumably make a difference to commuter traffic.

sebster wrote:

Amaya wrote:On a lighter note, they give out way to many fething medals for swimming. Giving out three medals for every different stroke is idiotic. By that logic each weightlifting category should get 3 medals, one for total, one for snatch, one for clean and jerk.

Ummm... they do give out medals for the best lift in the snatch, another for the clean and jerk, and again for the total. At least swimming doesn't brake it down by weight classes, so there isn't a 100m event for skinny people, another one for slightly less skinny people and so on

I mean, I don't think there should ever be a complaint about individual medals getting handed out. Butterfly is a different discipline to other swimming strokes, and shows strength in different muscle groups. It's just that people should be aware that some sports have loads more medals up for grabs even when they're really not very important sports, and so trying to assess how well a nation is doing by the overall medal count is silly.

I think people look at the likes of Michael Phelps and see how he can excel at so many different disciplines of swimming and conclude that they aren't different enough to warrant so many medals, when in fact they it is amazing that Phelps manages to do that. And anyone who claims it's not so amazing as Mark Spitz did it before him should note that the world records Mark Spitz set at the 72 Olympics wouldn't even get him on the US team in London.

Glorioski wrote:

sebster wrote:

Amaya wrote:On a lighter note, they give out way to many fething medals for swimming. Giving out three medals for every different stroke is idiotic. By that logic each weightlifting category should get 3 medals, one for total, one for snatch, one for clean and jerk.

Ummm... they do give out medals for the best lift in the snatch, another for the clean and jerk, and again for the total. At least swimming doesn't brake it down by weight classes, so there isn't a 100m event for skinny people, another one for slightly less skinny people and so on

I mean, I don't think there should ever be a complaint about individual medals getting handed out. Butterfly is a different discipline to other swimming strokes, and shows strength in different muscle groups. It's just that people should be aware that some sports have loads more medals up for grabs even when they're really not very important sports, and so trying to assess how well a nation is doing by the overall medal count is silly.

I think people look at the likes of Michael Phelps and see how he can excel at so many different disciplines of swimming and conclude that they aren't different enough to warrant so many medals, when in fact they it is amazing that Phelps manages to do that. And anyone who claims it's not so amazing as Mark Spitz did it before him should note that the world records Mark Spitz set at the 72 Olympics wouldn't even get him on the US team in London.

I think they should give medals out for backward sprinting and bear crawl races since they utilize different muscles.

Amaya wrote:

I think they should give medals out for backward sprinting and bear crawl races since they utilize different muscles.

Have you seen some of the gak they DO give medals out for? Neither of those would be particularly out of place in the bloody Olympics!

And seriously, who the feth plays handball?

If pretty much every fether doesn't do it, I don't think it shouldn't be in, they should probably cut the amount of events by half in my book!

Seems like the UK's gotten the customary home country boost, and I think that's nice to see. Obviously I'm rooting for mostly US athletes, but it's nice to see the UK athletes give the home fans some nice moments.

Regarding swimming, 96 medals seems like kind of a lot. But then to me any medals for team handball seem like too many.

Regarding all the other stuff, I think sports are diversions that most people put in their proper place. There are obviously people that take it too seriously and get egos too wrapped up in it. But that goes for anything.

Case in point...this conversation is taking place on DakkaDakka, fer chrissakes.

Amaya wrote:

Glorioski wrote:

sebster wrote:

Amaya wrote:On a lighter note, they give out way to many fething medals for swimming. Giving out three medals for every different stroke is idiotic. By that logic each weightlifting category should get 3 medals, one for total, one for snatch, one for clean and jerk.

Ummm... they do give out medals for the best lift in the snatch, another for the clean and jerk, and again for the total. At least swimming doesn't brake it down by weight classes, so there isn't a 100m event for skinny people, another one for slightly less skinny people and so on

I mean, I don't think there should ever be a complaint about individual medals getting handed out. Butterfly is a different discipline to other swimming strokes, and shows strength in different muscle groups. It's just that people should be aware that some sports have loads more medals up for grabs even when they're really not very important sports, and so trying to assess how well a nation is doing by the overall medal count is silly.

I think people look at the likes of Michael Phelps and see how he can excel at so many different disciplines of swimming and conclude that they aren't different enough to warrant so many medals, when in fact they it is amazing that Phelps manages to do that. And anyone who claims it's not so amazing as Mark Spitz did it before him should note that the world records Mark Spitz set at the 72 Olympics wouldn't even get him on the US team in London.

I think they should give medals out for backward sprinting and bear crawl races since they utilize different muscles.

I assume the facepalm was directed towards Sebster as that was what he said, and to be honest I think his point went over your head.

In any case the complaints against Swimming having too many medals are redundant unless you are bothered about it's effect on the overall medal table. Sebster has already explained why that is of no significance and I agree with him, although it is fun to follow (unless you're Mattyrm of course, in which case you'll be crying constantly until you've made sure nobody is having any fun).

I'm going to watch the Women's Football final.

Kilkrazy wrote:I'm going to watch the Women's Football final.

I'm rooting for Japan in this one!


And 3 more medals for Canadian athletes today!
Here's hoping our women's football team can put their hurt & disapointment behind them and focus on winning our country's first ever soccer medal tomorrow!

There are 45 medals for weightlifting and there are 102 for swimming. Weightlifting medals are only given out for total, not for total, C&J, and Snatch.

Compare it to sprinting. There are the 100m, 200m, 400m individual sprints, 4x100 and 4x400 relay, and 110m and 400m hurdles. For men and women that is only 42 medals.

(800m and 1500m are considered middle distance)

The different swimming strokes are not complex enough to warrant additional medals for each one in both the 100m and 200m distance.

Individual sports (including relays) should have roughly similar medal counts.

http://youtu.be/knCj92zA0tU

Great performance by the Germans.

I want to see more 50 meter events. One for each stroke. That gak is intense!

Amaya wrote:There are 45 medals for weightlifting and there are 102 for swimming. Weightlifting medals are only given out for total, not for total, C&J, and Snatch.

Compare it to sprinting. There are the 100m, 200m, 400m individual sprints, 4x100 and 4x400 relay, and 110m and 400m hurdles. For men and women that is only 42 medals.

(800m and 1500m are considered middle distance)

The different swimming strokes are not complex enough to warrant additional medals for each one in both the 100m and 200m distance.

Individual sports (including relays) should have roughly similar medal counts.

Mate, I didn't want to say anything because I know you are passionate about weightlifting and it might annoy you, but seriously, its fething obvious.

More people give a feth about swimming. Swimming is even (slightly) more interesting to watch because its in that nice popular "race" format.

If you were handing out free tickets to either swimming or weight-lighting, more people would go for swimming, so obviously they get a few less medals, its not that big a deal surely?

You might as well ask why Soccer gets more hours on TV than Curling!

Well more people care about swimming in America and probably as well in Australia, the UK, and Canada, but I doubt that is true for everyone, certainly not Eastern European nations, Arab nations, and China.

I'm impressed by weight lifters.

Louisiana Tech won several national titles while I was there in weight lifting.

I won't watch it on TV, nor do I care if it's in the olympics.

No offense intended, Amaya.

If it makes you feel better, I also don't care about the equiestarian horsey events, men's synchronized diving, or any of the shooting events.

Wooooooooooooooot!

Go Canada!!!

Our girls brought home the bronze and have given our country it's first ever Olympic soccer medal!!!



After that disgusting display of poor officiating, our girls really, really deserved this. Good on them for holding it together and achiving their goal of getting on the podium!

filbert wrote:Didn't the government essentially give the civil service leave to work from home while the Olympics/Paralympics is on? There was a big fuss about it kicked up in the Mail or some such. If true, then that would presumably make a difference to commuter traffic.

That sounds like the sort of thing the Daily Mail would 'claim'.


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Amaya wrote:I think they should give medals out for backward sprinting and bear crawl races since they utilize different muscles.

Does backwards sprinting and the bear crawl race have a professional discipline in which a significant number of people train professionally every day of their lives? No? Well the various swimming disciplines do, so your point kind of doesn't make any sense.

I mean, yeah, I get it that there's loads of medals up for grabs in swimming. There's loads of medals up for grabs in a lot of sports without that much of a difference between them, including track and field. And I get that people have made a stupid amount of noise about Phelps, and it's been annoying.

But that doesn't mean being good at freestyle and being good at butterfly don't mean significantly different things.

Seriously go for Olympic jousting

Amaya wrote:There are 45 medals for weightlifting and there are 102 for swimming. Weightlifting medals are only given out for total, not for total, C&J, and Snatch.

Fair enough, my mistake.

But having different events for different weights is no more arbitrary than having different events for different swimming strokes.

Compare it to sprinting. There are the 100m, 200m, 400m individual sprints, 4x100 and 4x400 relay, and 110m and 400m hurdles. For men and women that is only 42 medals.

(800m and 1500m are considered middle distance)

Uh huh. So you lump the 50m and 1500m swimming all in one category, but split running into sprinting and middle distance. Why not split swimming into sprint and middle distance events as well?

Individual sports (including relays) should have roughly similar medal counts.

No, they shouldn't. The only things that matter are whether an event has a decent base of professional athletes and is of interest to the general public (if those are true then concerns over practicality fit in - do we want another stadium for this, and can it fit into existing event schedules).

Trying to have parity in medals is putting the medal count ahead of people competing in and watching sport, and that's completely wrongheaded.


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Amaya wrote:Well more people care about swimming in America and probably as well in Australia, the UK, and Canada, but I doubt that is true for everyone, certainly not Eastern European nations, Arab nations, and China.

And being interested in weightlifting, would you enjoy it more if they started adding more weightclasses, or variant events to bump up the gold medal count to equal the 'parity' number of gold medals someone invented in their head? Or do you want the number of events to be determined by the historic weight classes of the sport?