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Olympics 2012

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Jimmy Commas
01 Aug 12 16:49
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Date Joined: 27 Aug 02
| Topic/replies: 1,039 | Blogger: Jimmy Commas's blog
It`s often said that to compare era`s in the same sport is futile and even more futile to compare different era`s and different sports, but I like a bit of futility now and again :)
First of all Steve Redgrave`s achievement from 1984 to 2000 in 5 Olympics is without question phenomenal. To remain that dedicated for such a long time is something I could only dream of.
5 Olympic Gold Medals..fantastic.........but hold on a minute having said all that........yes it IS 5 Olympic Gold Medals Steve has........yet to me they are TEAM gold medals. To be exact Steve received 3 pairs and 2 fours gold medals plus a pairs bronze. Yet NO single skull medals because as far as I`m aware he didn`t compete in any during all the Olympics he participated.
So then as individual rower he has no Olympic Gold medals.  In danger of being more futile in some people`s eyes, (oh why not) effectively for achievement IE team v individual I`d say effectively Steve` contribution (assuming, maybe wrongly) that he gave equal effort would be equivalent to  2 Gold medals not 5. Do the sums. Of course they don`t give out 1/2 or 1/4 gold medals. So for all you cynics I know he has 5 gold medals.
Bradley Wiggins has 4 single achievement Olympic Gold medals 1 silver medal and 2 bronze medals. Is he GB`s greatest Olympian? Maybe,  yet to me he has gone some way on at least dispelling the media`s myth imo that Steve Redgrave is the greatest British Olympian.
Pause Switch to Standard View Wiggins far greater than Redgrave?
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Report DonNo1 August 1, 2012 4:53 PM BST
Do you know what Wiggins 4 golds are from?
Report DonNo1 August 1, 2012 4:54 PM BST
And his Silver and Bronze?
Report xmoneyx August 1, 2012 4:57 PM BST
indoor--track---last 3 olympics
Report DonNo1 August 1, 2012 5:01 PM BST
Yeah 4 medals from team events....
Report razz August 1, 2012 5:02 PM BST
i'd say winning the tour is a bigger acheivement than any olympic medal
Report Darlo Bantam August 1, 2012 5:07 PM BST

Aug 1, 2012 -- 5:01PM, DonNo1 wrote:


Yeah 4 medals from team events....


Including two golds at individual pursuit.

Report DonNo1 August 1, 2012 5:17 PM BST
I didn't notice the 'single' in the opening post but it's still only 3 single gold medals.  I think it's futile to try and compare, as Jimmy pointed out part of what makes Steve's achievements so great was that it was over 5 Olympics and he only entered 1 event per Olympics?
Report blackpood August 1, 2012 5:24 PM BST
Impossible to compare legends from 2 different sports. It's like saying Sir Winston Churchill, far greater than Frank Sinatra. LaughLaugh
Report Darlo Bantam August 1, 2012 5:32 PM BST
I agree about comparing over different sports. Who, for example, is to say that Phelps is better than say Bolt or Lewis. If we had 100m hopping, skipping, running and running backwards, like swimming has four strokes, I'd say Carl Lewis' medal haul would be huge.
Report rob_dylan August 1, 2012 6:39 PM BST
I'd say wiggins is our greatest ever sportsman taking everything into account.  Not so hard to compare with Redgrave IMO, when you throw the Tdf into the mix he clearly leapfrogs Redgrave.  But how do you compare with people like bobbys Charlton and Moore, or even Stanley Matthews.  Or jack Hobbs?
Report rob_dylan August 1, 2012 6:41 PM BST
Oh and wiggins mightn't be finished yet.  He strikes me as the type who wouldn't want to retire early as he'd prob go on the p1ss al day and get bored.  That's another thing he's got over sir Steve... Wiggins seems a bit of a geezer, Steve is many things but geezer ain't one of them.
Report mafeking August 1, 2012 6:50 PM BST
think carl lewis has 8 individual gold medals, phelps "only" has about 10 not including relays. clearly lewis's is the greater achievement in that regard
Report DonNo1 August 1, 2012 6:52 PM BST
Depends if the US ever covered up positive drugs tests for Phelps
Report 1stpost August 1, 2012 10:08 PM BST
yes in my opinion...cycling a much more competitive evevt...rowing in uk is without doubt predominately for public school boys.....almost a closed shop...bit like cricket...
Report md49vd August 1, 2012 10:12 PM BST
i can buy a bike tomorow, i can't buy a boat though.
Report Sharapour August 1, 2012 10:27 PM BST
Who has most golds?
Report rogerthebutler August 1, 2012 10:29 PM BST
1stpost Joined: 14 Oct 07
Replies: 193 01 Aug 12 22:08   
yes in my opinion...cycling a much more competitive evevt...rowing in uk is without doubt predominately for public school boys.....almost a closed shop...bit like cricket...
 

B0ll0cks
Report Jimmy Commas August 2, 2012 8:02 AM BST
Thanks DonNo1 for pointing that out, yes one was in the team persuit, so 3 individual medals not 4. Bradley may well go on for one more Olympics, Steve Redgrave last Olympic Gold Medal appeared to be the hardest fought for and the same should apply for Bradley Wiggins (should he compete) taking into account his age in 2016.
mafeking....Good point re: Carl Lewis.....I would put him right up there as the greatest Olympian, bearing in mind what rob dylan pointed out in regards to swimming where there are more events, which Phelps took great advantage of with his medals in 2008.
Report jumper August 2, 2012 9:08 AM BST
You just cannot compare these to come up with one superior to the other. Both are/were exceptional. Also, Wiggins probably has one more Olympics in him and a few more years on the road. Great to see cycling getting so much media attention, can only help the sport's profile.
Report 1stpost August 2, 2012 9:53 AM BST
rogerthebutler...hit a nerve?..exactly right...shuv it up yer harris posh BOY
Report johnnyrant August 2, 2012 11:49 AM BST
Definitely not. He won the worst TdF ever in which his team won it for him by dictating it from start to finish with no pressure applied to Wiggins whatsoever. And he just won a very weak Olympic time trial in which all his opposition was decimated.
It's like cycling has become the only sport in the UK all of a sudden - totally OTT accolades for Wiggins led by tub-thumping media.
Report rogerthebutler August 2, 2012 1:03 PM BST
1st post

This year's senior squad including spares:

12/32 men from independent schools (i.e. 37.5%)

9.5/22 (Helen Glover moved to Millfield after GCSE's) women from independent schools (i.e. 43%)

1/8 Paralympians from independent schools (i.e. 12.5%)

Your move, loudmouth
Report xmoneyx August 2, 2012 1:13 PM BST
wiggins---miles ahead of redgrave
Report 1stpost August 2, 2012 1:17 PM BST
exactly...so wat of the other 20/32 men you think 12/32 from indepenent schools is a fair representation from this country   public school boy....the loudmouth and too big for an blouse like u to shut.....
Report rogerthebutler August 2, 2012 1:26 PM BST
your original post talked about Rowing being 'predominantly' for public schoolboys...almost a closed shop.

I give hard stats to show this isn't the case and you respond with bluster.

You've nothing to say and you're saying it too loud.
Report 1stpost August 2, 2012 8:11 PM BST
your figures are gabbags....unless you consider the WHOLE pool size  and very clearly a much higher % of public school boys like u represent gb at these olympics {especially rowing /equestrian/shooting..etc] than state  school pupils...i can understand the twistwed mathematics in your puplic school insnt the same as my state school maths but,   


so 12 men from independent school,pool size say100,000   20 men from state schools...pool size say 1000,000....i know these figures r not accurate but i'm sure u know wat i mean...your public school boys have far too much of an advantage in these sports they grow up with an expectation to do anything they want....wat state school did good old Redgrave go to??...ye spent his life competing against his henley chums.....like cricket not a really competetive sport in this country and especially over the borders....
incidentally if ALL pupils were given the same chances to compete then these figures would mean nothing,assuming the best are chosen
Report toilettennisplayer August 2, 2012 8:48 PM BST
what was redgrave's bronze in? didnt know about this. Does this mean he participated in 6 Olympics ?
Report rogerthebutler August 3, 2012 12:10 AM BST
and very clearly a much higher % of public school boys like u represent gb

Grammar school, but who am I to stop you when you're off on one? Redgrave went to Marlow Comprehensive.

You've been found out but continue to move the goalposts, bluster and generally talk a load of chippy cr@p.
Report Darlo Bantam August 3, 2012 12:12 AM BST

Aug 2, 2012 -- 8:48PM, toilettennisplayer wrote:


what was redgrave's bronze in? didnt know about this. Does this mean he participated in 6 Olympics ?


I wasn't aware he had a bronze until yesterday. He won gold and bronze at Seoul in coxless and coxed pairs respectively.

Report mafeking August 3, 2012 12:57 AM BST
kim crow who's up against kath grainger in the double sculls tomorrow has also made the single sculls final. conventional wisdom says you're asking too much in an endurance sport
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