(05-08-2012 10:28 )terence Wrote:  i bet any yanks watching the marathon today don't believe that there actually seeing london. according to hollywood, london consists of cobbled streets, horses and carts and lots of filthy little street urchins picking the pockets of well dressed rich folk!

(05-08-2012 09:51 )terence Wrote:  (what? martin mcguinness shook the queens hand, it could happen!)

(05-08-2012 10:56 )mr williams Wrote:  

(05-08-2012 09:51 )terence Wrote:  (what? martin mcguinness shook the queens hand, it could happen!)

There was that wonderful Matt cartoon in The Telegraph the day after Gerry Adams shook hands with Ian Paisley. The Devil was wearing ice-skates and attempting to do a pirouette (Hell having frozen over!!).

Anyway, back to the Olympics and whilst taking nothing away from Greg Rutherford's marvellous achievement his 8m 31 was the shortest winning long jump since 1972, when Randy Williams (as I was known in my youth!) won with 8m 24 (although he jumped 8m 34 in the qualifying round).

However, in the nine subsequent games 8m 31 would have won you the silver six times and the bronze once, so he was clearly there or thereabouts, and yesterday luck was on his side that his opponents couldn't do a bit extra on the day.

Lynn Davies, the last British long jump winner in Tokyo 1964, also had a stroke of luck. On the day of the competition the weather was absolutely awful - instead of the expected high 70s/low 80s (25/28c) it was cold, pouring with rain and the temperature was in the low 50s (10/11c). The African and American favourites had no experience of this and certainly weren't prepared for it. They were literally shivering and despite setting the qualification at a ridiculously low 7m 60 only five of the 32 competitors made it and they had to let the best 7 non-qualifiers through to make up the 12 for the final. Wellesley Clayton of Jamaica, who had finished 3rd in the Pan-American games, jumped just 6m 75.

Davies, who also ran in the 100m, had trained on the bleak hillsides above Bwlch y Clawdd in the Garw Valley and was in his element. His coach, the late BBC commentator Ron Pickering recalled looking around at the shivering athletes, realised what was happening and yelling "Lynn!! You can do this!!", and his fifth round jump of 8m 07 brought him the Gold, 4cm ahead of world record holder Ralph Boston of the USA.

(05-08-2012 09:51 )terence Wrote:  

(05-08-2012 08:55 )mr williams Wrote:  Has anybody on the forum actually been to any of the events??

i didn't want to ruin the experience for myself. it's only a matter of time before the olympics come to northern ireland so i think i'll wait for that!

(what? martin mcguinness shook the queens hand, it could happen!)

(05-08-2012 10:28 )terence Wrote:  i bet any yanks watching the marathon today don't believe that there actually seeing london. according to hollywood, london consists of cobbled streets, horses and carts and lots of filthy little street urchins picking the pockets of well dressed rich folk!