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Post by Panda on Feb 20, 2010 10:27:27 GMT 1
Amy Williams wins Britain's first solo Winter Olympics gold medal for 30 years with victory in the women's skeleton. Shelley Rudman was sixth, as was Kristan Bromley in the men's skeleton. I confess I didn't stay up to watch, but have caught a replay on the BBC website this morning. Congratulations Amy, and what a charming champion. Brave, modest and personable. I'm so happy for her. 2010 Sports Personality Of The Year (I wish) ? I stayed up to watch it! It was the 3rd run that really sealed it for her, almost doubling her lead. The only way she was going to miss gold on the final run was if she crashed. Shelley Rudman will be kicking herself over her opening run on Thursday, when she was half a second off the pace. She was right up there on the other three runs and that extra half a second would've got her another medal. It's sad to hear the Canadians joining the Americans' protest about Williams' helmet, even though it's been approved twice now. Their "Own The Podium" plan didn't work in this event, despite their sliders getting 10 times more track time than everyone else so now they're resorting to this... The plan worked in the men's event, though. Both curling teams are looking OK for a semi-final spot so we could still have a chance of winning 2 golds at a Winter Olympics for the first time ever. There's also the bobsleigh still to come. Sinead and John Kerr are in 8th place after the compulsory dance phase of the ice dance. |
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Tom
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*Of Royal Blood*
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Post by Tom on Feb 20, 2010 13:27:04 GMT 1
Oh, and why is Sue Barker commentating on figure skating and Steve Cram commentating on curling? Bizarre choices... Bring back Barry Davies and Dougie Donnelly!  Sue Barker commentated on a recent figure skating championships. Agree about Steve Cram though, does seem very random. Amazing gold medal for Amy Williams last night considering she'd never won one of the World Cup events. And yes she's been talked up as a shoe-in for the SPOTY this year (i think the World Cup may put paid to that though, assuming England do well). Wouldnt say im that interested in the Winter Olympics and haven't seen any coverage so far, but have been interested in the curling and have enjoyed following that and the other medal hopes on the BBC live text over the last 3 or 4 days. For anyone who's done the same, Ollie Williams used to be on BBC Radio Berkshire, few years ago moved to the 606 forums or something, came as a surprise to see his name pop up, he also mentioned he does live text for the domestic ice hockey, didn't even realise the BBC did that! I think the BBC Commentary is disgraceful and I'm watching all my coverage on Eurosport. Completely missed key Biathlon and Cross Country Skiing events and instead showed luge for about 2 hours and figure skating  They do offer coverage on the red button, but I have noticed complaints about what they don't show, ice hockey was one that was brought up. As i've only been looking at the mobile BBC site for their coverage haven't noticed this myself but they have links to other European feeds on their Winter Olympics section, so pretty much anything should be covered. |
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Post by Panda on Feb 20, 2010 13:35:09 GMT 1
And yes she's been talked up as a shoe-in for the SPOTY this year (i think the World Cup may put paid to that though, assuming England do well). It would take a very good World Cup for England (semis or better) or an outstanding individual performance, or a Murray Grand Slam win to stop her, I think... Unless Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France... |
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Post by Panda on Feb 20, 2010 13:41:22 GMT 1
These are the current odds for SPOTY:
7/2 Andy Murray
7/1 Wayne Rooney
10/1 Lewis Hamilton
16/1 Jenson Button
20/1 Amy Williams (as short as 9/1 with one bookie)
20/1 David Haye
25/1 Rory McIlroy
33/1 Steven Gerrard
33/1 Bradley Wiggins
33/1 David Beckham
33/1 Amir Khan
33/1 Frank Lampard
40/1 Mark Cavendish
50/1 Lee Westwood
50/1 Rio Ferdinand
50/1 Jermain Defoe
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Tom
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*Of Royal Blood*
Posts: 15,419
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Post by Tom on Feb 20, 2010 13:45:13 GMT 1
And yes she's been talked up as a shoe-in for the SPOTY this year (i think the World Cup may put paid to that though, assuming England do well). It would take a very good World Cup for England (semis or better) Thats what i had in mind when i made the comment  |
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Post by Panda on Feb 20, 2010 13:48:47 GMT 1
It would take a very good World Cup for England (semis or better) Thats what i had in mind when i made the comment Yes, but you can never assume England are going to do well and the qualifying performance was so strong that the usual quarter-final exit would be seen as poor. |
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Post by Panda on Feb 20, 2010 15:23:50 GMT 1
Oh, and why is Sue Barker commentating on figure skating and Steve Cram commentating on curling? Bizarre choices... Bring back Barry Davies and Dougie Donnelly! Sue Barker commentated on a recent figure skating championships. Agree about Steve Cram though, does seem very random. And with Cram and Paul Dickinson in Vancouver, Ronald McIntosh is commentating on today's indoor athletics (along with Mike Costello who usually does it on 5Live). Very bizarre... |
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Post by rubcale on Feb 22, 2010 13:04:09 GMT 1
Amy Williams will obviously be a consideration for SPOTY but it's plainly absurd to say someone has it won at this stage of the year when you don't know what could happen.
Apparently the men's curling team will qualify for the semis if they win their last two matches - the women also have to win their last two but it's out of their hands because other results have to go their way.
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Post by Shireblogger on Mar 1, 2010 13:58:46 GMT 1
But this year I'll be paying particular attention to the ice hockey, as the Canadians are desperate to win it. So, the Canadian men and women came through to win gold in the end. The men had a couple of shocks along the way, not least losing to the Yanks at the league stage, and then conceding an equaliser with 24 seconds of the final left to play. |
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Post by Panda on Mar 1, 2010 14:13:55 GMT 1
Exciting end to the games. That game will go down in history as the Canadian equivalent of 1966.
Disappointing the GB didn't add to their medal tally. 1 medal is par for us at the Winter Olympics but after the huge success of Beijing, expectations were a bit higher.
Thought: Why don't they get a racing driver to drive the bobsleigh?
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Mar 1, 2010 15:38:32 GMT 1
The US bobsleigh was designed by a racing driver...Italy had racing driver bobsledders in 1936 but they didn't get very far. How important is the push?
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Post by rubcale on Mar 1, 2010 19:04:31 GMT 1
They're trying to make out it was a good Games for the Brits because of improvement in lower placings but most of the fancied contenders including some world champions underperformed badly.
Interestingly Amy Williams wasn't even our #1 in the Skeleton.
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