Olympics 2024

1. I think just about every commentator said this was the best overall Olympic squad sent to a foreign olympics. I think that prediction was proven correct!

2. I predicted 41 medals and our usual 4 or 5 unexpected which made it 46. Well I was ay off there with a final total of 53 making Paris the undoubted most successful Olympics ever.

3. Some sports predictions were right, some were close and some were way off the mark.

We predicted i medal in the 3 day event competition and while we thought that would come in the teams event it was a silver for Christopher Burton.

I predicted 1 medal for our tennis squad, and while I thought it would be De Minaur who had the best hope we snagged the gold in the men's doubles.

I had 17 medals in the pool, and we grabbed 19.

I had canoeing grabbing 5 and we were spot on there.

Cycling was predicted to grab 8 medals and that was spot on.

I predicted 5 medals for our athletics team but they bring home 7.

Sailing was predicted at 3 but we came home with 2.

Surfing was a one medal sport and that is what we won.

We had three in diving but only grabbed 1.

We predicted 1 medal in shooting and that was correct.

I predicted 1 medal for the basketball and that was correct.

The three sports we did not predict medals in but which were successful were boxing 2 medals, Skateboarding 2 medals and the stingers won silver in the water polo competition. 

The sports where we predicted medals but did not result in any were Golf, field hockey, beach volleyball and Rugby 7's. 

Best Australian Performance: Contenders. Ariarne Titmus 400m freestyle, Christopher Burton 3 day eventing individual, Jessica Hull 1500m womens, Saya Sakakibara BMX Racing, Jessica Fox womens slalom K-1, Matthew Ebden & Johnathon Peers mens doubles, Men's Team Pursuit and Nina Kennedy womens pole vault.

Winner: While Jess Fox performed under immense pressure and Ariarne Titmus defeated a hot field, and Saya Sakakibara was dominant in her efforts, I have gone with Nina Kennedy. Creating history by becoming the first female to win a field gold medal, she was involved in a strong competition, she failed at an early height but from then on she dominated the competition and never looking like losing. One of the best performances of any Australian female athlete in an Olympics. 

Best Overall performance: Contenders. Yaroslava Mahuchik womens high jump, Deng Yawen womens BMX Freestyle, Christian Kukuk individual showjumping, Remco Evenepoel mens cycling road race, Faith Kipyegon 1500m womens, Roje Stona mens discus. Leon Marchand.

Winner: While all these performances and in Marchands case becoming the face of these games as the local hero would all qualify, I have to give it to Yaroslava Mahuchik. The immense pressure she had on her shoulders coming into this as a raging hot favorite, and of course with her country under siege, she not only won her competition, but she totally dominated the competition from start to finish. I know as an Australian I should have been irritated that our two ladies did not win but this victory was one of the best moments for me in the whole games.

Best Australian Performance From Nowhere: I thought Grace Brown's time trial was terrific but she was a contender before the event. Arisa Trew was more professional than her years and again dominated her competition. However for me I found it hard to split Moesha Johnson in the womens 10km swim and Christopher Burton but in the end I went with Moesha Johnson. I know she finished fourth in Tokyo but she was heading for the gold in a dominant performance before she made a wrong turn. She recovered and came again to just miss the Dutch swimmer by 5 seconds. If she had come back and won it would have been one of the best victories of any Australian at the Olympics. You have to feel for her but her effort was the definition of forget what had happened and keep going.

Best Performance from Nowhere: There is only one for me. Roje Stona, never heard of him, well you where not alone in that reality. The Jamaican discus thrower came in as a potential finalist. He qualified for the final sixth more than a meter off bronze and needing a huge improvement just to medal. Then in the final after his 3rd round throw he was still sixth and not showing any signs of troubling the dais. Come fourth round throw and all of a sudden he presents the perfect movement, the perfect swing and launches the discus to an olympic record 70.00m. He had just bettered the olympic record which was set by the Lithuanian thrower who had just lowered his own fathers record with second round throw. Great theatre and exactly what great sports competitons are all about. And a performance from nowhere!

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Biggest Australian Disappointment: Many would say the Matildas but they were always going to struggle to get a win and that is exactly what we saw. Both the field hockey teams underperformed but that is more a case of that sport being extremely competitive than the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos being terrible. Both our road cycling squads were abysmal and we are along way from the days of Rogers, OGrady and McEwan being a talented team, and having good road strategy directors. It looks like it will  be a long long time until Australia ever has a chance of getting a medal in the men's and women's road race events. And I thought our divers were extremely poor, considering where they were coming into this games.  In the end but I have no problem labelling the womens rugby 7's team as the most disappointing performers of the games for our nation. This is the third games in a row where they have come in as gold medal favorites, and they looked sensational in the group stage, but once again when the pressure was applied in the sudden death matches they were found wanting. They went in with huge hype, and until they actually win another gold medal, for me they are borderline medal hopes in the future.

Biggest Disappointment: For me this was an Olympics which had no surprises. I suppose the mens marathon saw dual defending champion Eliud Kipchoge fail to finish, but he is now 39 years old and despite his two recent Berlin marathon wins he has not been the same runner since Tokyo, so while his DNF was surprising, he was not expected to be in contention for any medals. The fact that Fiji did not win the mens Rugby 7's and that the French did was a huge surprise but Fiji did make the final so is that disappointing?

Biggest Controversy: No need for contenders here, the transgender boxers who won medals really I think put the nail in boxings Olympics life. It might be around for Los Angeles, but I am hearing Brisbane is seriously thinking about leaving it out for 2032. 

Biggest Organisers Mistake: While the Last Supper bit in the opening ceremony was very tasteless, it should be a contender here, however I am going to go with the apparently deficiencies of the athletes village. From cardboard beds, to the food that was on offer, this was apparently the worst experience for the athletes in the village ever. While obviously I can not confirm this, I am taking the athletes at their word and it is after all supposed to be about the athletes and sport, chuckle chuckle, okay but I did say supposed to be.

Best Comedic Moment: I had to add this category as my BGirl, Raygun, made the world laugh in these troubled times with a performance which might have been worthy of the Opera House or the State Theatre, but it was not breakdancing. Anyone who has seen Breakin, and Electric Boogaloo, knows what break dancing is and that ain't it. I have seen a lot of athletes try to take down sports, ben Johnson in sprinting and others, but this lady has destroyed breaking in one games, so much so that the home of breaking has decided to leave it out in 2028 in Los Angeles. Would love to see Raygun leading the half time show at the AFL or NRL, more entertaining than half the music acts they could find.      

 

 So frustrating to watch.  That was pure ego and arrogance. 

 

True, and so so wrong.

Be whatever makes you happy in your own life, but dont pass yourself as something you are not when it impacts others.

 

 

 It's easy to be a sport hero with all limbs intact and with normal brain function. But to do it with limbs missing...or any impairment...is pure guts and bravery.  

 A shame some people on here aren't watching. They might learn a little humility.