The Tokyo 2020 Non Athletics Thread

[Taffy2]

Beijing was the pits re the show hunting at modern pentathlon, it is a lottery. GB has real chances in this though.

[alfie]

Are you allowed to bribe your horse with sugar lumps ? I guess not ...

Seriously it is the one part of the event that does represent a bit of a raffle. But hopefully all the horses on offer today are reasonably competent and don't wipe out anyone's chance to win by their own skills...

[trickstat]

I've read about Olympic modern pentathlons of the past held in countries where equestrianism isn't that strong and someone has won the showjumping purely because they drew the best horse in that country.

[Dundee42]

Bronze for the women's hockey team.

[Dundee42]

I love the modern pentathlon, it's compelling viewing

[alfie]

That hockey match was a ripper. First GB dominating , 2 up : then in five crazy minutes India up 3-2 ... Half time chat must have settled GB down and they came steadily back to take it 4-3 . A great achievement to get that bronze after a tournament in which they were unable to replicate the total triumph of Rio ; but in which they kept coming back from any setback and got their reward . Well played !

Indian players left devastated but they have much to proud of in 4th spot . Knocking out the highly fancied Aussies and fighting so hard in the medal rounds - they have put Indian women's hockey on the map - and closer to their men. (Who were , of course ,once dominant in the sport and in this games have put themselves back in the top bracket after a few quiet years. They have nothing to be ashamed of in losing that.

Now just remains to see whether Argentina can possibly upset the Dutch. Doubt they can but would rather like to see it happen after the rather unpleasant sniping at the British girls from some Dutch players after semi...

[Grassmarket]

Another boxing finalist - Lauren Price into the final of the women’s middle on Sunday!

[alfie]

Olympic Boxing judging continues to confound me. I was astonished to see Lauren Price deemed behind on three cards after a first round she seemed to boss. Then she seemed to me to clearly lose the second ... but after a third round in which she battled hard but didn't totally dominate she ends up winning on a tie break decision from two of the judges ! Not complaining , mind 😊

Thought her Dutch opponent took the close decision against her much more graciously than a lot of losing fighters at these games 👍

Price on to fight for gold...

[Grassmarket]

Kate French does well in the swimming, 7th overall in one of her weaker events. On to the fencing bonus, going well in that too.

[trickstat]

Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald are going to emphatically win the inaugural women's Madison barring disaster.

[RunUnlimited]

Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald are going to emphatically win the inaugural women's Madison barring disaster.

The Dutch and Danes and Italians can have the time trials and sprints... Team GB seems to have focused on the more general skill track cycling events this time around... and it's showed!

[alfie]

Talk about totally dominating a race ! Laura and Katie just blew their rivals away from the start ... and even finished with the final sprint just to emphasise their control. Almost a "perfect score" as I think they only missed 7 possible points over the whole race.

I said the other day Laura might outdo her husband this time .He does still have the Keirin : but she has the Omnium to come 😀

[trickstat]

Cunning plan that they've done a number of training races with the male development squads to practice and hone their tactics while the pandemic has rumbled on.

[alfie]

The fluorescent yellow helmets were a nice touch too...

[RunUnlimited]

Jack Carlin gets the bronze medal in the sprint, well done!

[philipo]

Germans,french and even the Italians miles behind uk with their 200 million population. Up the EU...right up😄😄😄

[MysteryBrick]

You complain about being called out for posts and then you come out with absolute dross like this. Oh well, at least it was only a single one, not six single line posts in a row...

[trickstat]

I've no wish to go down the rabbit hole that is Brexit but it is extraordinarily tenuous to try and link a country's Olympic medal haul to whether they are a member of the EU or not.

[Iain27]

Disaster for the German, Annika Schleu, in the modern pentathlon - she was leading by quite a way after two events, but drew a dud horse and is now out of the competition.

[Taffy2]

GB have had a great games,, hopefully more to come. I see the stats companies are revising their predictions again. Yes we have underperformed in rowing and athletics, but over events have been amazing.