Attn JAS

[Squawk]

Jas - are the "Great Britain" newspapers (as opposed to the English Tabloids) making much of the fact that GB is ahead of Australia in the medal tally?

Also, do you know the breakdown of countries within GB that have won Gold - ie Scots, Poms, Welsh, Nthn Ireland?

[JAS]

Jas - are the "Great Britain" newspapers (as opposed to the English Tabloids) making much of the fact that GB is ahead of Australia in the medal tally?

Also, do you know the breakdown of countries within GB that have won Gold - ie Scots, Poms, Welsh, Nthn Ireland?

I can try to find out.

I don't buy any newspapers but I'll have a trawl of some of the heavyweights websites.

I can probably work out the medals by looking at the regional BBC sites.

Hopefully have some answers by tomorrow morning...your tomorrow that is.

Regards
JAS

[JAS]

As far as newspapers are concerned there are a couple of articles specific to GB v Aus in the medals table. None were big front page headlines or anything and other papers made no mention or if they did it's buried within other articles....sorry not going to read them all

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 564644.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/au ... mpics20083

Also looked at The Independant, The Daily Telegraph and The Evening Standard.

Regards
JAS

[Squawk]

Thanks - the Times is certainly sinking it in!

[JAS]

Thanks - the Times is certainly sinking it in!

Should add that I don't know if the same articles are appearing in the printed versions. I think most papers send out an early edition and a late edition but obviously the websites can be updated almost instantly and don't have the same physical restrictions of space.

Will crack on with the medal lists now

Regards
JAS

[Squawk]

Just to make matters worse, the "Great British" team has just won another Gold medal - on the athletics track this time. That must be 3 today for them.

[JAS]

Right I think I've sort of worked it out

Number of athletes for each GB country who have won Gold medals. Note that some have won more than one medal but I only counted them once and some won team medals and I counted them individually. Also there are a couple born overseas ie USA, Belgium etc...I've put them down as England as that is where they currently reside

England 18 different athletes have won at least 1 gold medal
Scotland 1
Wales 3

Can't promise that I didn't miss someone so if you want to check for yourselves try this...clicking the names gives you their profile...

http://www.olympics.org.uk/beijing2008/ ... lists.aspx

Regards
JAS

[Tassie Blues]

The pomes were making mention of it tonight at the hockey but this was only until we got the last goal to draw the match.

The pomes have put allot on money behind sport in the lead up to the 2012 games as Australia did but we are now staring to see the slide in medals due to lack of funding. I was talking to some Team GB people on the way home from the rowing and they are targeting sports that they can get the maximum return on their investment. Sports that you can win multiple medals swimming, cycling and rowing also sports that have very few countries competing at the top level like modern pentathlon. They mentioned something like 500 million pounds in the next four years that’s big money and they already have some good Australian coaches working over there

[JAS]

The pomes were making mention of it tonight at the hockey but this was only until we got the last goal to draw the match.

The pomes have put allot on money behind sport in the lead up to the 2012 games as Australia did but we are now staring to see the slide in medals due to lack of funding. I was talking to some Team GB people on the way home from the rowing and they are targeting sports that they can get the maximum return on their investment. Sports that you can win multiple medals swimming, cycling and rowing also sports that have very few countries competing at the top level like modern pentathlon. They mentioned something like 500 million pounds in the next four years that’s big money and they already have some good Australian coaches working over there

Yeh pretty disgusting really...means as always any other sport struggling for a more money, participants, a little media recognition will loose out and be ignored e.g. handball, fencing, softball, water polo etc. The Olympics should also be used an ideal vehicle to introduce kids to sports they might never otherwise get to hear about, who knows it might actually stop them shooting and stabbing each other. So we still won't know if we could produce champions in the 'minority' sports.....rant, rant, rant. I'm sure Lord Coe and his cronies will make it as successful as the Dome.

Regards
JAS

[Squawk]

Softball has been scratched from the 2012 program.

[devilsadvocate]

Yeh pretty disgusting really...means as always any other sport struggling for a more money, participants, a little media recognition will loose out and be ignored e.g. handball, fencing, softball, water polo etc. The Olympics should also be used an ideal vehicle to introduce kids to sports they might never otherwise get to hear about, who knows it might actually stop them shooting and stabbing each other. So we still won't know if we could produce champions in the 'minority' sports.....rant, rant, rant. I'm sure Lord Coe and his cronies will make it as successful as the Dome.

Regards
JAS

Total side note here, but, IMO one big problem in the UK is funding of mainstream sports. Grassroots football in the UK is in a deplorable state IMO, espacially considering the squillions and squillions being made by the top clubs and from TV rights etc. For all it's shortcomings, the AFL does a great job of encouraging participation at grassroots level in Aus with the Auskick program. Further to that, local footy clubs are alive and well and provde kids in the 'stabbing' age bracket an opportunity to spend their time doing something constructive and building positive bonds with their mates rather than turning to gangs.

If £500m is spent on sports like rowing, cycling etc, it's not a bad thing provided it doesn't just go solely to the elite athletes, but also provides opportunities for participation at the lower levels, which is where you'll tackle social problems. Problem is, tackling social problems isn't profitable and doesn't win you gold medals. So, sadly, it will be business as usual.

[JAS]

Probably wishfull thinking on my part but I'm fairly sure that some programmes where they authorities don't try to fight against what the kids want to do but get them to do it in another, legal and responsible way have been successful ie car crime...train them as mechanics, get them into things like stock car racing etc and graffiti...give them proper art training and a chance to sell work.

Just maybe taking kids that are turning to gun crime etc and training them to shoot as a sport where they can be taught to handle weapons responsibly and safely might work. IIRC the BBC presenters said during the canoe/kayak slalom that some of the South Africa team had been made up from kids taken off the streets to stop them getting into the gun culture...basically stuck them in a canoe, told them if they wanted an adrenalin rush try this and shoved them dowm a rapid...and some end up at the Olympics and become great role-model material for others.

As for the 'minority' sports I think with Sky having a sizable monopoly on the top level sports the terrestrial stations could do a lot more to promote other sports here in the UK that are in need of some media attention rather than showing Italian and African soccer and other comps/sports that are not taking place here. For example there is Aussie Rules played in England and Scotland as well as baseball, softball and I don't think I've ever seen UK netball or basketball on tv. BBC Scotland do at least give shinty a fair crack and show live games during the season on BBC2.

They are all quick enough to jump on the 'get the kids fit' and obesity bandwagons if it means they can makes some ridiculous gimmicky show such as 'Fat Teens Can't Hunt' (yes it was a real tv series). Why not show them some real sports that can might actually like and find locally.

The government should also bring more sport back into schools. I don't have kids but from what parent friends tell me the kids do bugger all in the way of sport now. We had to do hockey, netball, athletics (everything except pole vault), cricket, rounders, lacrosse, volleyball, gym (not proper gymnastics), swimming, tennis, badminton, squash, basketball and the boys got soccer and rugby instead of some girlie stuff...and this was just a State school. The private school I started at obviously had a shed load of other stuff that cost extra but they probably still do so doesn't really count.

Oh dear...sorry there goes another rant

Regards
JAS