I disagree Kelly. We've had the same round robin system and rules in football, hockey, etc, for years without a problem. That said, according to Gail Emms, the referees were warned about this potential before it happened. At that point, someone should have nipped it in the bud. No-one comes out of this looking very good, but the players have no grounds for complaint imho.

Assuming what you say is true , Darlo , surely the rules should have been better framed in those other sports too .  Mentioning soccer is not valid though , those in charge world wide have had their heads in the sand for a long time now .

Liked the hockey system I saw the other night  , GB scored a goal , but video review ( only one allowed ) showed it was technically illegal and it was ( justly ) scrubbed  . But the water polo judges were in the dock yesterday , and I can understand people who feel they have been robbed taking some disruptive action .

Will they make teams not trying in the past retroactive ?  can remember some soccer tournaments which came under scrutiny betting wise , when people did the sums .  Cant believe it is rocket science to devise a system which always rewards endeavour .

There was a game in football a few years ago where both teams were defending the other's goal because of some bizarre rule where extra time goals counted double. There was obviously the Austria-Germany match in one championships which was more than iffy and I think Peru-Argentina was fixed for a 6-0 win to send Argies through in their own tournament.

There's still the opportunity for teams to lose on purpose to avoid a bigger team, as happened here with the badminton. So it ain't perfect. That's why the players as well as officials were at fault here.

simple avoidance of this... new draw for semi final.

bb66, mens tennis has 3 set matches in qualifying and a 5 set final?


A shambles in the mens Pole Vault qualifying trying to work out what they were going to do.  Looked like they just left it up to the athletes in the end.

Well there were quite a few others, but I don't want to detract from, what was a very good games.  But not as good as Sydney.

the one thing I'm really not sure it worked fine from watching TV pics was the medical treatment of athletes injured in competitions, remember in a steeple heatwhen an etheopian crashed into the last barrier, the SA 4*400 relay start runner who probably broke his collarbone, and today the SA in the marathon as well.

its been a superb olympics, yes we have won alot more than we usually do, but the organisation of it all, has been fantastic. Add to that, the crowds have willed every sportsman to do his very best and they have more than done their bit, by doing that.  The one thing, that our great country is brilliant at is running big events. The best ever Olympics - probably.

A brilliant cameo of the games in one thread.

Starts with miserabilst, churlish, small-minded nitpickers.

Ends with pride at a fantastic job well done

The baton thing summed up the games for me - Bolt wins(wr), official holds out hand to receive the baton (as is her job) bolt holds it out but jokingly keeps hold of it, offical laughs and lets it go. If that had been the last olympics the offical would have prob chased after him and tried to wrestle the baton from him!

spyker, have a look at this, perhaps you would like to change that last post?

http://www.complex.com/sports/2012/08/video-usain-bolt-fought-two-olympic-officials-for-the-baton-he-carried-during-the-4x100m-race-over-the-weekend

I didn't know about those afters but seeing that video sums it up even more for me Shiraz - the officials politely ask for it back as is their job. I'm pretty sure that all equipment has to be collected as it has to fit certain regulations - weight, diameter - and prob has an official Olympic stamp. They get the baton off him, see the official stamp (i.e it is an official baton so the record/result stands) and return it to Bolt (possibly as a result of the crowd) so everybody's happy!
I stand by my comment that at Beijing the scenario I describe earlier prob would have happened if Bolt hadn't returned it sharpish. There certainly wouldn't have been vociferous crowd involvement (at Beijing) and I pretty much guarantee that he wouldn't have got the baton back. Prob the same would have happened at most Olympics (certainly any American!) apart form the Sydney games as they have the same healthy disrespect for authority that we do!