[loz]

Can't help thinking that from what I have seen so far, that the media's medal targets for Team GB are somewhat over hyped.

Not convinced we will even match the Beijing medal haul yet alone beat it.

Hope I am wrong....

Early days, but a few of the medal hopes have already not matched expectations.

[Nezben]

Same old story. We all get sucked into the hype then complain about it when we fail.

Im sure we will get a few golds. Not many though.

[King Tones]

The Athletes should just enjoy themselves and have a great time being in the Olympics on home ground.

Would be a shame to build up these Golden Boys and Girls then turn on them whey they dont win Gold Medals.
We sure do like to build up people in the public eye then destroy them or just forget about them.

[loz]

Part of the problem perhaps is that we have given them a ton of money. And the public expects medals in return, not just "I tried my best".

[wbabbington]

I've been thinking that the reason im starting to doubt our medal chances is because I'm watching so much coverage of the sports. In past Olympics we would have just heard about so and so going out in the early rounds of judo/fencing/archery etc etc and not really giving it much of a thought. But now I'm actually seeing these people lose and and even though we we never going to win a medal in these events it just gets me doubting the whole of them GB even more. Take the sailing for example, there's lots of group racing and the medal race is later in the week. Im seeing some of the sailors struggle and I'm thinking there goes a medal chance here. But apparently Ben Ainsley had a very poor start in Beijing and still got gold. It's just that we didn't see the horrible early rounds.

Yes there have been some events we haven't done as well as we should but equally there's still a long way to go and chances for medals from unexpected places.

[Nezben]

You have hit the nail on the head there wbabbington.
Team GB are still in contention of quite a few medals, football, tennis, singles diving, boxing, all the rowing and all the sailing to name just a few and dont forget the indoor biking.

The problem is, we want to win everything and it just isnt possible.

I have been watching alot of the Olympics and all i see is Team GB losing alot, thats because there is alot of coverage of team GB.

[jonneymendoza]

we are on day 3 ***! come on.

[loz]

I don't expect us to win everything.

Only on day 3, but according to the some media predictions we might have had 3 golds by now - Cavendish, Addlington, Daley/Waterfield. As it is, only Addlingon delivered a bronze. But on the positive side Armistead's Silver wasn't predicted by many. Let's hope for every one who doesn't live up to the media hype, there's another that wasn't predicted.

Were is the first gold going to come from I wonder?

[Philly112]

We should remember that Beijing was totally unprecedented. We won 9 (I think) gold medals in Athens. And that was a record.
Yes, they have received huge amounts of funding. And that will surely be cut back.
I suspect that we will get a handful of gold medals. But not many more.
But who cares honestly? The guys will do their best. Adlington's time was better than her gold medal time last time. And she got bronze. Who can you blame? They are doing their best. The funding was maybe misplaced. Maybe not. We just are a great sporting nation.
We have the games, and are enjoying it. They're well run and I'm loving every minute.
I'd love us to win 20 golds. It won't happen. Just British media hype, in the full expectation of us failing so we can all be miserable.

Phil

[loz]

See BBC Sport - London 2012: Can Team GB really win 95 medals?

Be interesting to track how many of those predictions come in.

So far, they haven't been too accurate.

[Philly112]

Originally Posted by loz

See BBC Sport - London 2012: Can Team GB really win 95 medals?

Be interesting to track how many of those predictions come in.

So far, they haven't been too accurate.

Well, I've just read that. Total nonsense! I mean, they put Farrah in for gold in 5000 and 10,000 metres. He's our greatest distance runner. But that would place him up there with the greatest distance runners of all time. And of course they had Radcliffe in, who won't compete. Farrah's currently 11th in the world for 5000 metres. Going for double gold is brave - and I am hoping against hope that he can pull it off - but if he does......... Well, he'll be making history.

Oh - I'd love to come back and say I'm completely wrong. I'd like nothing more. But I'd be happy with 9 or 10 golds across the board. OK with 5 or 6. Unhappy with less.


Phil

[loz]

Team GB's own predictions are a bit more realistic perhaps - same level as Beijing
BBC Sport - London 2012: UK Sport wants top four finish from Team GB

[Philly112]

Originally Posted by loz

Team GB's own predictions are a bit more realistic perhaps - same level as Beijing
BBC Sport - London 2012: UK Sport wants top four finish from Team GB

Yeah, but that was on 4th July. Fingers crossed though. They had 1-3 in diving, and I expect that Daley/Waterfield would have been one for today.
Oh, and I am not negative about the Olympics. I love them and am so proud of my country. I just would hate it if we were moaning about our medal haul. It will be what it is. Rather have a successful and safe games, which it looks like we are having at the moment.

Phil

[loz]

Originally Posted by Philly112

Well, I've just read that. Total nonsense! I mean, they put Farrah in for gold in 5000 and 10,000 metres. He's our greatest distance runner. But that would place him up there with the greatest distance runners of all time. And of course they had Radcliffe in, who won't compete. Farrah's currently 11th in the world for 5000 metres. Going for double gold is brave - and I am hoping against hope that he can pull it off - but if he does......... Well, he'll be making history.

Oh - I'd love to come back and say I'm completely wrong. I'd like nothing more. But I'd be happy with 9 or 10 golds across the board. OK with 5 or 6. Unhappy with less.


Phil

It's the usual problem. No pundit dares to suggest any UK team might not win... and hence according to them we might win everything.

[Philly112]

Well, I really wrote a pile of rubbish on this thread! 14 gold medals so far, not far short of Beijing with a week to go. I totally underestimated what our rowers and cyclists would achieve. And my comments on Mo Farrah... Still, glad to have been proved wrong. OK, not just wrong, but ridiculously wrong. I blame Loz for starting the thread.

Phil

[loz]

Well we might have had a good day yesterday, but the are still quite a few medals to be won before they equal the hype or beijing.

Here's hoping they do, but there aren't that many Team GB medal 'certainties' in the coming days. The Cycling, Yatching and Rowing were big medal winners for GB at Beijing, and whilst we have done well again those events are almost over now. Fewer golds were won in the following days.

But yesterday alone made it all worth while. Though I don't expect another night like that in the stadium.

Amazing what progress we have made though in recent years.

We won only 1 gold at Atlanta in 1996. Now we average more than that every single day!

[Axl]

Originally Posted by loz

Well we might have had a good day yesterday, but the are still quite a few medals to be won before they equal the hype or beijing.

Here's hoping they do, but there aren't that many Team GB medal 'certainties' in the coming days.

Off the top of my head today there's two guaranteed silvers in the tennis. Two guaranteed sailing medals (quite possibly Golds). One shoe in for Gold in the women's cycling. Another chance of a medal in the men's cycling. A great chance of a medal (tipped for Gold) for Louis Smith in the gymnastics and 3 women's boxing chances. There may be more.

[loz]

Originally Posted by Axl

Off the top of my head today there's two guaranteed silvers in the tennis. Two guaranteed sailing medals (quite possibly Golds). One shoe in for Gold in the women's cycling. Another chance of a medal in the men's cycling. A great chance of a medal (tipped for Gold) for Louis Smith in the gymnastics and 3 women's boxing chances. There may be more.

Well yes. I didn't say there weren't any

But in terms of meeting the forecast of BBC Sport - London 2012: Can Team GB really win 95 medals? then we have to find another 56 in addition to the 10 you mention. Should be easy

[Philly112]

Originally Posted by loz

Well yes. I didn't say there weren't any

But in terms of meeting the forecast of BBC Sport - London 2012: Can Team GB really win 95 medals? then we have to find another 56 in addition to the 10 you mention. Should be easy

Yes, but in all seriousness that was a BBC forecast for Radio 5. The funding body wanted 48 medals minimum, which was one more than Beijing.
We got 30 in Athens, and 28 in Sydney. We've already got 30 in total (maybe 31 now as we just got a silver in sailing).

Phil

[loz]

The medal graph showing the comparison vs beijing is quite interesting as it shows that so far we are well on track
BBC Sport - Olympics 2012: Team GB athletes at London Games Day Nine
29 medals yesterday compared to 17 at the same stage in Beijing.

[SanPedro]

Compare this to Atlanta 96 where we got beaten in to 36th place by Ethiopia and Algeria. Who gives a toss if we don't beat the Bejing haul by a lot or not. Team GB are on a roll....

[loz]

Originally Posted by SanPedro

Who gives a toss if we don't beat the Bejing haul by a lot or not.

The people who have invested hundreds of millions of pounds into Team GB perhaps?

The coach for the swimming team who didn't meet medal expectations for 2012 has already said they expect to get their funding cut as a result, which means of course they may struggle to improve for 2016.

Funding is allocated on the basis of results, not just 'taking part'

[Kevo]

It was never in doubt, unlike the hype that goes with the England football team at the big events, the GB athletes/olympians usually live up to it and deliver and do so with great passion. Puts it all into perspective. The Olympics always makes football look a very mediocre sports, likewise for the athletse and the top premiership players

[jonneymendoza]

Goes to show money dont buy u success(in regards to throwing money in a sport trying to develop young talent)

[Mshulla]

Originally Posted by jonneymendoza

Goes to show money dont buy u success(in regards to throwing money in a sport trying to develop young talent)

Doesn't seem to have harmed our cyclists and rowers.

[SanPedro]

Originally Posted by jonneymendoza

Goes to show money dont buy u success(in regards to throwing money in a sport trying to develop young talent)

?

Don't understand... you mean you don't think we've been successful?
Currently 3rd behind China and the USA, who probably spend waaaaay more than we do on developing young talent.

I'd say that's pretty successful.

And the spending level is set to stay at this level till the next Olympics. Just hope it can be kept up afterwards.

[Trollslayer]

Originally Posted by jonneymendoza

Goes to show money dont buy u success(in regards to throwing money in a sport trying to develop young talent)

In terms of bang per buck AND ESPCIALLY population we have trounced other countries.
Also developing young talent can take a generation. Anyone remember how people turned on Tim Henman? That has taken time but now we have gold in tennis, this in turn encourages the next generation of players.
Or you can sit there and tell people not to try.

[loz]

I may be wrong but may be johnnymendoza was referring specifically to football which was the comment prior to his

[loz]

Interestingly the funding is 4x as much as it was for athens or sydney. £264m compared to £70m
But we will be doing well to get even 2x the medals - we would need 60 to double Athens.

[jonneymendoza]

Originally Posted by SanPedro

?

Don't understand... you mean you don't think we've been successful?
Currently 3rd behind China and the USA, who probably spend waaaaay more than we do on developing young talent.

I'd say that's pretty successful.

And the spending level is set to stay at this level till the next Olympics. Just hope it can be kept up afterwards.

I meant our football.