The Tokyo 2020 Non Athletics Thread

[alfie]

Thought Titmus was nailed on for that , though the HK lass gave her a great race ! Ledecky might be taking on too much at these games ; must be hard swimming 200s and 1500 heats and then backing up for a final next morning.. She still has the long ones to come.

[marra]

Titmus was always going to beat Ledecky and Haughey getting sliver isn't that much of a surprise. Ledecky off pace but she's always been a distance swimmer who can drop down rather than a sprinter. I'd still fancy her to win both the 800 and 1500.

GB rugby loses to NZ in the SF. No real surprise. Even getting a bronze would be above expectation based on the last few years on the 7s circuit. I didn't expect them to get this far.

[RunUnlimited]

Titmus was always going to beat Ledecky and Haughey getting sliver isn't that much of a surprise. Ledecky off pace but she's always been a distance swimmer who can drop down rather than a sprinter. I'd still fancy her to win both the 800 and 1500.

GB rugby loses to NZ in the SF. No real surprise. Even getting a bronze would be above expectation based on the last few years on the 7s circuit. I didn't expect them to get this far.

Ledecky is indeed best at the longer distances, but it must be remembered that in Rio 2016, she *won* the 400 m and medalled in the 200 m, before dominating in the 800 m as expected. Here, she has looked nearly as good as she normally does in the shorter distances, so will she be able to turn it around so abruptly for the 800 and 1500 m? We'll just have to wait and see.

[marra]

She didn't just medal in the 200m at Rio, she won it! But swimming has moved on since then. She was so far ahead of the field in the 400m and 800m back then that the 200m was the only real challenge. That's not a criticism of her or anyone, just a reflection of times. Plus, she's 5 years older with lots of miles in her legs.

I think she'll win the 1500 very, very comfortably. She's got 18 seconds on the rest of the world in terms of best times and has the 12 top swims in history.

The 800m will be tougher, especially if Titmus doesn't scratch it and drops a huge time. But Ledecky still has 30 of the top 31 times ever in the event!

[marra]

Gutting for Abbie Wood. 4th by 0.11. Still, a PB. Can't ask much more than that.

[Taffy2]

How classy was that

[RunUnlimited]

Men's 4 x 200 m relay absolutely smashed it! Almost got the WR too! A European Record by almost 3 seconds... and the USA didn't even medal, the first time that has happened EVER in the history of the 4 x 200 m relay in Olympic history.

[marra]

Except the one they skipped in 1980.

[RunUnlimited]

Obviously, discounting the boycotts! :P

[marra]

Phenomenal. When you consider that the WR they were so close to was done in the super suit era, that was the fastest non-super suit relay by a long, long way. First time since 1908 we've had more than 2 golds in the pool in one Olympics.

[MysteryBrick]

Best British relay since the 2017 M4x100m. That was pure dominance.

[RunUnlimited]

Phenomenal. When you consider that the WR they were so close to was done in the super suit era, that was the fastest non-super suit relay by a long, long way. First time since 1908 we've had more than 2 golds in the pool in one Olympics.

Yep. They are the first 4 x 200 m relay team since the banning of those suits to have gone sub 7 minutes in the event. Incredible performances from the four guys. Nominal WR and OR in my book.

[alfie]

Well that was a sensational relay swim... I reckoned it would have been a real surprise if they had failed to win , given the individual swimmers ; but getting so close to that WR was brilliant. The young fellows on first and third and the relative veterans with the other legs - all excellent. Think they will get that WR sooner or later...

Abbie Wood agonizingly close to a medal : PB so you can't do any more than that. She is certainly one for the future.

Best swimming games for GB in living memory - hopefully more to come too 👍

[marra]

Because I'm a nerd about these things. We've had around 25% of the medals handed out (84 events out of 339 total)

In terms of gold medals won, this is currently ranked =12th (out of 29 total) in Summer Games for GB

In terms of total medals won, this is currently ranked 22nd of 29.

[marra]

Murray and Salisbury out of the doubles. Were a set and a break up. Missed opportunity to at least get into a medal match.

[Grassmarket]

Men's 4 x 200 m relay absolutely smashed it! Almost got the WR too! A European Record by almost 3 seconds... and the USA didn't even medal, the first time that has happened EVER in the history of the 4 x 200 m relay in Olympic history.

Seemingly the first time the Americans have failed to medal in ANY relay, male or female.

[Grassmarket]

What is annoying about the rowing is that there are four famous ex-rowing pundits in the BBC, and not one of them will tell us what’s wrong, although they all clearly know. That’s not good enough.

[marra]

Safe to say we're not going to medal in the diving today, barring the most of unlikely of circumstances (the entire rest of the field falling to pieces)