Sport highs and lows

[Manxman in exile]

On 30/06/2021 at 14:49, honeybee13 said:

Resurrecting this thread. It was a good day for Britis the Isle of Man [Edited that for you] in sport yesterday.

...

Mark Cavendish won his first Tour de France stage in five years.

...

There's an amazing video of the last 30 seconds of Mark Cavendish's race.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1409916347702726657

 

 

 

And two more sprints since then!

 

C'mon the Isle of Man!!!

[Manxman in exile]

11 hours ago, honeybee13 said:

Sorry, Isle of Man.

 

That's OK - we'll accept British!

 

(I went to school with his dad you know... )

Edited July 9, 2021 by Manxman in exile

[Manxman in exile]

12 minutes ago, honeybee13 said:

Mark Cavendish won again today as the Tour de France arrived in Carcassonne, despite having a puncture. The teamwork was brilliant throughout and he's now equalled Eddy Merckx' record for stage wins.

 

The IoM must be very proud.

 

Yeah - but that one looked a bit difficult... 

 

So... one more to beat Mercx's stage wins record.  Eight stages to go and a win on the Champs d'Elysee?  If he can get through the Pyrenees... 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Manxman in exile

[Manxman in exile]

Well - this afternoon at the Olympics I saw what must be one of the most surprising and astonishing feats by a British sportswoman that I've ever seen. 

 

Emily Campbell won a weightlifting silver medal in the Women's +87kg category.  She is the first British woman ever to do so.  And the last British male to win a weightlifting medal was David Mercer and that was in 1984 (37 years ago) at the LA games.

 

It may not mean much to people who don't know a lot about weightlifting, but it's an almost unbelievable feat.  Unlike GB rowing (which gets about £20+ million funding per annum with virtually nothing to show for it this time round) and GB cycling, I don't think GB weightlifting gets any central funding.

 

She's 27 years old and only started lifting 5 years ago.

 

WELL DONE EMILY CAMPBELL!

[Manxman in exile]

3 hours ago, The GodMother said:

The shot putter sophie lives in the same town as me. The she has had to crowd fund her training. While we are disappointed that she did not get threw we are proud she got there.  

 

Yay - Sophie McKinna!  And Gt Yarmouth is my nearest seaside town.

 

It's a great pity she didn't get through qualifying into the final but I think it's just too difficult.  I was hoping she'd make it to the last 12 but it wasn't to be.  Even so she's had a tremendously impressive couple of years.  The problem is that the athletic throwing events are not popular in this country and even less so for women.  I think girls who want to throw weights (or lift them for that matter) are considered a bit odd.  It's a great pity and very unfair.

 

As you say, she had to crowd fund to support herself.  I've got nothing against track cycling or rowing (in fact I'm an avid fan of both those sports) but if the relative failure of rowing at this Olympics makes UK sport reconsider how they fund different sports, it'll be a good thing.  If you only fund sports where you are successful - which is what we do - we'll never improve in the ones that we need to improve in.  Maybe weightlifting will get some money now...

 

Good luck to Sophie for future games - I hope she keeps going!