Olympics Tokyo 2021 - sport | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Olympics Tokyo 2021 - sport

Panthera Tigris

Tiger Champion
Apr 27, 2010
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Great effort by both the Aussie boys to make 1500m final. Awesome stuff.
The pace that Stewie set front running was outrageous. Look at his cadence as he opened up a 10m lead in the mid stages. Absolute world class. Olympic record pace. No one runs that fast from the front and survives. A suicidal run. But survive to fight another day, he did.

Last summer. He ran a world leading mile time at a country meet in Penguin in rural Tasmania, running a fair chunk of it by himself. Runs like that away from the big meets of Europe, just don’t happen in this day and age as the norm. The athletics world was saying, “Where the *smile* is Penguin?” When that one came up in the rankings. Certainly not a fast, elite track either. Just a local country track that elected for a cheaper grade of surface that gets resurfaced once every 20 years or so.

But tells you what type of runner he is, that he can grind out times like that off his own bat, in front of a modest country crowd. An astonishing talent.
 
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leon

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Apr 6, 2014
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The pace that Stewie set front running was outrageous. Look at his cadence as he opened up a 10m lead in the mid stages. Absolute world class. Olympic record pace. No one runs that fast from the front and survives. A suicidal run. But survive to fight another day, he did.

Last summer. He ran a world leading mile time at a country meet in Penguin in rural Tasmania, running a fair chunk of it by himself. Runs like that away from the big meets of Europe, just don’t happen in this day and age as the norm. The athletics world was saying, “Where the *smile* is Penguin?” When that one came up in the rankings. Certainly not a fast, elite track either. Just a local country track that elected for a cheaper grade of surface that gets resurfaced once every 20 years or so.

But tells you what type of runner he is, that he can grind out times like that off his own bat, in front of a modest country crowd. An astonishing talent.
I agree; great runner. But I still can't see how anyway he tries to race, he won't be over-run by someone - probably Kenyan. No matter what you try, these guys will cover it and still out-pace you at the finish. Stewie just doesn't have that great kick in the final 200m.
 

Baloo

Delisted Free Agent
Nov 8, 2005
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I was barracking for a *smile*-Hoare double in the first semi final of the men’s 1500m

How awesome would the scoreboard look if the German runner, *smile* placed 1st and Hoare placed 2nd?

*edit fancy having a surname that the auto censor won’t publish.
HoareFarken.jpeg

Not quite in the same league as the German hockey team from a couple of Olympics ago
ButtFuchs.jpg
 
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Panthera Tigris

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Apr 27, 2010
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I agree; great runner. But I still can't see how anyway he tries to race, he won't be over-run by someone - probably Kenyan. No matter what you try, these guys will cover it and still out-pace you at the finish. Stewie just doesn't have that great kick in the final 200m.
The only way you seem to beat those guys is if you are a specialist sit and kick runner with a blistering change of pace, like the American Centrowitz, who was in Stewie's heat and was the defending champion from Rio. If the Kenyans aren't willing to make it fast earlier, blokes like Centrowitz seem to be able to out kick them in the right race.

But the downside to that is if you get in a heat with someone like Stewie who is willing to make everyone hurt from a long way out, you are vulnerable. And as a result, Centrowitz and a couple of other similar types were run out of that semi. They just couldn't mount a challenge off that pace.

Having said this. Like I was talking about earlier regarding the 800m. The only time in these middle distance races that you see someone being able to run from the front and win at championships, is if they are a dominating athlete at the peak of their powers. A world record holder who is several seconds faster than anyone else. Whereas there is no one in that category at the moment. There is a thin margin between the top dozen or so. Stewie is currently ranked 4th on time among that blanket.

So you are right, you likely see him set up a race in Olympic record time. Everyone hurts like hell, a few drop off the back and just cannot kick off that pace., but 3-5 of the absolute cream manage to come over the top at the end. Perhaps even the top 6 (including Stewie) finish under or close to the Olympic record, with less than a second separating them all. That is the scenario you can see playing out.

And I think Stewie's coach, Bideau is realistic in that thinking too. When asked if Stewie can win a medal at the Olympics in this event group, his response (to laymen) is normally along the lines of, "Possibly....but people don't grasp how incredibly hard it is to win or get medals in these events." I think what he is getting at there is the average broadcaster (or punter on the street) watches the gold rush in the swimming, then watches athletics and goes, "We're *smile* at athletics, if our swimmers can do it, why can't our runners?" But what they are looking at is apples and oranges in terms of the overall difficulty level to place at the pointy end. No disrespect intended to athletes from other sports, because we know how incredibly hard they work. But it cannot be compared in a neat way where a gold medal in skateboarding or BMX is of the same value as a gold medal in the 100m or the 1500m on the track. Which is the kind of erudite undertone that is fed by the broadcasters to average fat Wayno, sitting on the couch at home watching the broadcast with a VB in one hand and a packet of twisties in the other.
 
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AngryAnt

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Nov 25, 2004
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You've bagged them in every game yet here they are a 4-3 loss to the US after being robbed by the Swedes 1-0

Here's my full assessment for your reading pleasure. Given lack of competition and terrible lead in form where they didn't win a single warmup game, they did pretty well. They've been pretty bad since 2017? when they beat Brazil and the USA for fun, under Stasic. right now we have a good coach, a world class striker in Kerr and some good players in Carpenter, Lozano, Catley. The forwards didn't really help Kerr out, the other strikers went goalless for the tournament with our only other goals coming from headers from central defenders and one lucky deflection by Fowler IIRC.

The US game was typical - our defence sucks and has all tournament. A couple of defensive howlers expertly exploited by the US. My daughter who played rep regional football commented we should have been down about 4-1 at the half. But Bronze medal games are often like that - defence goes even more out the window as teams can't get as motivated to do the hard things.

Similar to the first Sweden game where we actually led 2:1 after being down 1:0 we can't keep a clean sheet and we rarely keep a lead, if we get one. We squeaked through to the quarters in third place in the group. The high point - the GB game - we should have lost. They were all over us for much of the game and their missed penalty and a well-taken goal by Kerr in the last minute of regular time got us through to extra time where we won it.

Sweden semi final we actually did better than I expected, Sweden have been the form team all tournament. They'll beat Canada in the final and that was a big chance for gold for us if we had got past them. Sweden dominated possession but we defended pretty well. Kerr's disallowed goal was technically correct if very soft.

As usual for Australia we have great fighting spirit, a great striker in Kerr, a porous defence - a bad defence in world football means you don't win anything.

But hey, I'm un-Australian, Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi and all that
 
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Ian4

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May 6, 2004
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I put a tenner on the Boomers losing the bronze medal playoff. I know that sounds unpatriotic and I have no idea if Slovenia is any good… But the Boomers are notorious for choking at this point of every tournament. I hope I lose my money, but deep down, I know I won’t.

Im definitely not an expert on soccer,

quite the opposite.

But my perception of the straya V Sweden,

was that Sam Kerr was cooked and shouldn't have played, and the teenaged indigenous girl who came off the bench and makes things happen,

should have been the go-to fro the outset?

The injured/exhausted champ almost never works anymore.

Yes, she definitely looked tired. moreover, i think she needs to make some adjustments to the way she plays. if you look at the runs she makes in the box, they are almost always straight and this makes her predictable. Sure, this works a lot for her because she is just so good. but making some different types of runs will make her more unpredictable and potentially an even better player.

4-1 now.

As I said earlier the Matildas are the most overrated Aussie national team. Sure, they never give up, but against strong professional organised teams, they don't compete well.

I think Ante Milicic was a terrible coach and the Matildas went backwards under him. They got absolutely destroyed on the counter. They are still suffering from the Stajcic sacking a couple of years ago. They are also suffering from the bigger investment and massive growth of the women’s game in Europe.

But in the short time Tony Gustavsson has been coach, we have seen some pretty big improvements. Remember they got pumped by Germany and the Netherlands in April. Finishing 4th at the olympics is a good result. they got the quarter final "bogey" off their backs. And I think we will get better with the 2023 home world cup around the corner. I still believe we can go deep into that tournament if we eradicate our defensive frailties.
 

Redford

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Dec 18, 2002
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But hey, I'm un-Australian, Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi and all that
Geez I hate that chant. You are an absolute lame, corny Australian sap in my book if you start yelling that out. One of my pet hates. As bad as any of the annoying US yell outs. Totally cringeworthy.
 
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Ridley

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Jul 21, 2003
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I put a tenner on the Boomers losing the bronze medal playoff. I know that sounds unpatriotic and I have no idea if Slovenia is any good… But the Boomers are notorious for choking at this point of every tournament. I hope I lose my money, but deep down, I know I won’t.
Slovenia have Luka Doncic who is a top 5 player in the world and Goran Drajic who is an outstanding player in his own right. Doncic is certainly panels better than any player we have and Dragic is probably better than our best player as well. I have no idea about the rest of their team but they are obviously pretty good if they ran France (clearly second best team in the world) to one point.

I feel our boys are pretty devastated by the loss. I hope they can come back from it but not sure they can. Gut says 4th again.
 
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Panthera Tigris

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Apr 27, 2010
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Geez I hate that chant. You are an absolute lame, corny Australian sap in my book if you start yelling that out. One of my pet hates. As bad as any of the annoying US yell outs. Totally cringeworthy.
On that note. Adding cringe on top of cringe on top of cringe.

Collingwood supporters chanting U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A at Mason Cox. :vomit
 
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AngryAnt

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Nov 25, 2004
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Geez I hate that chant. You are an absolute lame, corny Australian sap in my book if you start yelling that out. One of my pet hates. As bad as any of the annoying US yell outs. Totally cringeworthy.

It's the worst thing in the world.
 
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AngryAnt

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Nov 25, 2004
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I think Ante Milicic was a terrible coach and the Matildas went backwards under him. They got absolutely destroyed on the counter. They are still suffering from the Stajcic sacking a couple of years ago. They are also suffering from the bigger investment and massive growth of the women’s game in Europe.

But in the short time Tony Gustavsson has been coach, we have seen some pretty big improvements. Remember they got pumped by Germany and the Netherlands in April. Finishing 4th at the olympics is a good result. they got the quarter final "bogey" off their backs. And I think we will get better with the 2023 home world cup around the corner. I still believe we can go deep into that tournament if we eradicate our defensive frailties.

Agree Ian, and Gustavsson did well given the limited preparation we had.
 

Brodders17

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Mar 21, 2008
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Here's my full assessment for your reading pleasure. Given lack of competition and terrible lead in form where they didn't win a single warmup game, they did pretty well. They've been pretty bad since 2017? when they beat Brazil and the USA for fun, under Stasic. right now we have a good coach, a world class striker in Kerr and some good players in Carpenter, Lozano, Catley. The forwards didn't really help Kerr out, the other strikers went goalless for the tournament with our only other goals coming from headers from central defenders and one lucky deflection by Fowler IIRC.

The US game was typical - our defence sucks and has all tournament. A couple of defensive howlers expertly exploited by the US. My daughter who played rep regional football commented we should have been down about 4-1 at the half. But Bronze medal games are often like that - defence goes even more out the window as teams can't get as motivated to do the hard things.

Similar to the first Sweden game where we actually led 2:1 after being down 1:0 we can't keep a clean sheet and we rarely keep a lead, if we get one. We squeaked through to the quarters in third place in the group. The high point - the GB game - we should have lost. They were all over us for much of the game and their missed penalty and a well-taken goal by Kerr in the last minute of regular time got us through to extra time where we won it.

Sweden semi final we actually did better than I expected, Sweden have been the form team all tournament. They'll beat Canada in the final and that was a big chance for gold for us if we had got past them. Sweden dominated possession but we defended pretty well. Kerr's disallowed goal was technically correct if very soft.

As usual for Australia we have great fighting spirit, a great striker in Kerr, a porous defence - a bad defence in world football means you don't win anything.

But hey, I'm un-Australian, Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi and all that
I reckon the Matildas did well all things considered.
You say they finished 3rd in their group, which is true, but omits the fact the 2 they finished behind are the 2 best teams in the world.

Scoring has always been a bit of an issue, relying on Kerr's brillance. I dont Simon highly, Raso runs up and down the wing nicely but doesnt threaten, Ford is stronger with the ball but likewise doesnt look like scoring often.

We really couldnt have worse preparation though. the team has a new coach and hardly trained together in the 18 months leading up to the games. this has to impact on our ball movement.

Hopefully the core stays together and the likes of Fowler and Cooney-Cross, 2 attacking players, can take the next step leading to the world cup.
 
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