Free holiday for some... Just no sense of pride or passion.
Rather embarassing.
Free holiday for some... Just no sense of pride or passion.
Rather embarassing.
Didn't they get refused a chance to go to the last olympics for being lily white? Or was it the one before Beijing?Originally Posted by ghoti
Wasnt that the womans hockey or netball or something? Remember reading about that. I dont think the team was lilly white, but it didnt meet quotas.
“I believe Ayn Rand's first love poem went: Roses are red, violets are blue, finish this poem yourself you dependent parasite".”
Colbert
It was the mens hockey team.
It was the men's hockey and it was lily white iirc.
Our soccer had a chance ? looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooool ?
I would say that maybe they should stop with " wow we made the olympics " and switch over to " we've made it, but we are leaving with a medal ". Quite a difference in just going because you are there vs going for gold...
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" - H.P. Lovecraft
Some people seem to think that the Olympics are a learning curve which is utter BS. The learning curve should be all those other international events that South Africa SHOULD be taking part in. The Olympics are not the time to learn anything, the Olympics are about the best in the world competing for gold medals etc and sending a team of 100 athletes to hopefully get 12 medals is a disgrace and a waste of time and money and a slap in the face of every South African. You cannot take a bunch of hopefuls to such an event and expect those hopefuls to carry this experience over to the next game in 4 years time, you need to train people in every event possible and let them compete in every event out there so when the next games come around you send ONLY THE BEST to compete ON ALL FRONTS.
I disagree.
We send the best we have, its the spirit of the games and whatnot.
If you only want the best to compete, then we would have ,what, the China vs USA games?
So we don't win, pffft, at least we there trying.
Not that I enjoy tuning in and seeing our hockey down 800 - 0, but it could have been 801
We should send all those that qualify. It's up to the athletes to then step up or not. Who cares if their only realistic chance is having an extended holiday, they qualified for the event and therefore they should be there. They are still fitter, faster, more talented and more skilful than the lot of you.
That.
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" - H.P. Lovecraft
Mmmm, I don't know. I mean I saw some pretty small teams of only 4 or 5 athletes at that opening ceremony. I think we may as well fall into that category.I disagree.
We send the best we have, its the spirit of the games and whatnot.
If you only want the best to compete, then we would have ,what, the China vs USA games?
So we don't win, pffft, at least we there trying.
Not that I enjoy tuning in and seeing our hockey down 800 - 0, but it could have been 801
When you are picked for your country you should give your utmost best to do and be the best. Not long ago i remember we where doing well in Hockey both mens and womens teams and also netball. Things have changedOur hockey players are amateurs that have 9-5 jobs. The Aussies are pros. Even India has experimented with pro-hockey.
As for Banyana Banyana, let's look a their opposition;
1. Sweden - Home to a professional Women's league that has been in existence since 1973. The league is seen as one of, if not the best, women's league's in the world. Hell, UEFA has a women's champions league, in which Swedish clubs are the second most successful.
2. Canada - A nation that is exposed to the US collegiate scene - probably the best developmental system in women's football - and a nation that sees a number of it's players ply their trade in the Swedish club scene, which I've mentioned is pretty special.
3. Japan - Reigning World Champions and home to a professional league itself .
Banyana Banyana are amateurs and play on a continent which does not take women's football seriously. The coach said the state of competition in Africa is pathetic. You only have to play a few games against nations who barely put any effort in to qualify, so you go into a major competition ill-prepared and poorly tested. Not to mention our domestic scene does not have a pro-league and our university teams - the few we have - cannot even begin to be compared to the US collegiate scene.
We generally do well against lower tiered nations, ie at our level, but there is no way that we can be expected to be on par with nations with professional structures or highly developed development structures (US collegiate system).
Is it any different to rugby, where amateur and pro-am nations like Namibia, Georgia, Portugal, Uruguay, Spain and Russia get obliterated by tier one nations? By the above logic from Prophet and SinghDude we should tell Namibia off for being thrashed 87-0 by the 'Boks at the 2011 World Cup, because that is the kind of gulf in class we are looking at.
We will never win medals until our domestic structures and continental competitons/opponents are of the standard of successful nations/continents.
Last edited by thestaggy; 31-07-2012 at 08:43 AM.
The situation will not improve untill such time there is a proper development system in place for talented youth to come through the ranks and not just end at high school level , so much talent goes to waste due to the fact that there is very little structure in place to develop that talent and transform that talent into world class sportsman and sportswoman at all levels from junior right through to turning Pro.
Oh really?
Every athlete we have sent is there on merit and has met or exceeded Olympic qualification.
Do you actually think any one of them hasn't tried their best and feel bad at losing early?
Even mighty Germany with all their money and investment in sport so far have only one silver to their name
Even UK, the hosts, still don't have a gold
geez, I think a little bit of support for your countries athletes would be nice!
Yes our groundroots development is disgusting for certain sports but these athletes are the best from our country in their respected fields and they did qualify for the games.
It is an opportunity for people to go and represent their country at one of the most prestigious sports events in the world and you are wanting them to turn around and say "well I may get blown away by the competition so lets not even try".
Just remember that they may be at the bottom of those 6 teams or players but they beat thousands of other athletes just to get there.
I've got to stop saying "how stupid can you be?"...........Too many people are taking it as a challenge.
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