The Great Great Britain Winter Olympics Debate

[Tymey]

Should Team G.B. bother with the Winter Olympics? All we seem to do is to surpass all the other nations in our levels of mediocrity.

The fact is for many of the events Britain simply does not have the facilities for the needed training and we continue to hear Claire Balding et al telling us how the British competitors came in at a battling 15th postion.

If we cannot truly compete in the Winter Olympics shouldn't any funding go to more worthy (including other sports training) causes?

P.S. Can someone tell me which event Ethiopia were present for?

[canuck]

Tymey - I suspect that this is an issue for many countries.
There is the argument that for sport to happen you have to have teams with which to compete, so all teams involved add to the strength of the event. I often said that Canada is an integral part of the World Cup of Soccer. Without our national team to beat, the other teams wouldn't advance to the finals.
As to the Olympics, some of the national teams are composed of people with dual citizenship. The player who scored the two goals against Canada in our 2-0 loss against Switzerland is really a Canadian who didn't make the national team. So, he plays for Switzerland. Years ago we had Canadian figure skaters who skated for France. In both cases there basic training came from Canadian funding.

Eddie the Eagle wasn't one of ours, but he is a hero in Canada.

There are many, many sides to the funding issues, especially of elite athletes. They make for a good discussion and have filled the cracks of many a family dinner in my household.

I hope that some interesting comments emerge in this thread.

[badger]

I know nothing about curling except what I've seen on TV but it does seem the selectors made a mess of this. It makes sense to me that the best team will be one that played together for a while and know each other well, rather than a random selection of good players who have hitherto been rivals. Can anyone with more knowledge enlighten me?

[Saveman]

Should Team G.B. bother with the Winter Olympics? All we seem to do is to surpass all the other nations in our levels of mediocrity.

The fact is for many of the events Britain simply does not have the facilities for the needed training and we continue to hear Claire Balding et al telling us how the British competitors came in at a battling 15th postion.

If we cannot truly compete in the Winter Olympics shouldn't any funding go to more worthy (including other sports training) causes?

P.S. Can someone tell me which event Ethiopia were present for?

It's not all about winning, it's the taking part that matters most.
So my coach tells me....

[tommy1979]

Should Team G.B. bother with the Winter Olympics? All we seem to do is to surpass all the other nations in our levels of mediocrity.

The fact is for many of the events Britain simply does not have the facilities for the needed training and we continue to hear Claire Balding et al telling us how the British competitors came in at a battling 15th postion.

If we cannot truly compete in the Winter Olympics shouldn't any funding go to more worthy (including other sports training) causes?

P.S. Can someone tell me which event Ethiopia were present for?

I for one am all for Team GB in the Winter Olympics, fair enough we may not be world beaters at most events but we have the capability to spring a few shocks. For a country who does not get much snow and does not have the right facilitys to train on it sure does make it sweet to get it right up the stronger winter olympics nations (ie Germany :lol:) when we get stuck in and win a medal or two.

[scorrie]

Should Team G.B. bother with the Winter Olympics? All we seem to do is to surpass all the other nations in our levels of mediocrity.

The fact is for many of the events Britain simply does not have the facilities for the needed training and we continue to hear Claire Balding et al telling us how the British competitors came in at a battling 15th postion.

If we cannot truly compete in the Winter Olympics shouldn't any funding go to more worthy (including other sports training) causes?

P.S. Can someone tell me which event Ethiopia were present for?

I thought it was all about taking part? At least that was the original Olympic Spirit. Sadly it is all commercialized and big money these days, although Italy are going to make a loss on hosting these games which will contrast starkly with the huge profit London expect in 2012.

I don't think our poor record is down solely to poor facilities or funding though. The culture here in the UK has the kids getting very little exercise and Ski-ing is very much an upmarket game.

Eddie Edwards needed a rocket up his tail feathers more than anything else. Eddie the Eagle? Eddie the Seagull (deceased) more like!!

By the way, Rastaman was in the cross-country ski-ing event. Check out the link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4695166.stm

Rhona Martin has hardly won a game since the last Olympics but was selected ahead of a good few who are currently ranked higher. Still, I think she earned her right to be there after the exploits last time around.

[tommy1979]

By the way, Rastaman was in the cross-country ski-ing event. Check out the link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4695166.stm

Ah man thats quality!! its like cool runnings all over again :lol:

I see he finished 84th out of 99...hey at least he wasnae last ;)

[2little2late]

P.S. Can someone tell me which event Ethiopia were present for?

Ethiopia (Robel Teklemariam) is there for the skiing, 15km, sprint and 50km races

Now there's an opportunity for a sequel to Cool Runnings. [lol]

[Foxy]

I thought it was the taking part that counted, Britain has managed one silver medal and the woman that won it got her financial backing from the people in the village where she came from they raised thousands of pounds to get her equipment, but gauranteed now the sporting authorities will throw money at her towards her taking part in the next olympics. :roll:

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

I thought it was the taking part that counted, Britain has managed one silver medal and the woman that won it got her financial backing from the people in the village where she came from they raised thousands of pounds to get her equipment, but gauranteed now the sporting authorities will throw money at her towards her taking part in the next olympics. :roll:

Agree with you Foxy about its the taking part.One thing though I thought the woman's equipment was 1 Tea Tray.I think the villagers were robbed by the equipment shop.:grin:

[Foxy]

That's the most expensive tea tray i've every heard of it cost about £5000 it must have been made out of gold. :grin: