The official (Bah Humbug) Olympics thread

I know Nick Skelton is older than ME :eek: There is hope for me yet :D
 
cambsno said:
Fwiw 50% if the gb rowing team went to state schools, as did Bradley wiggins.
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Yeah that would tie in with the 50% of medals being won by the 7% stat. 50% of the team made up by the 7%. The BOA chairman has let the cat out of the bag, denial won't help.
 
Laudrup said:
The only place I want to see an elderly man wearing a top hat is on a Monopoly box. Again when the UK sits down the world trembles.
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d6055__confuse.gif
 
*waits for Laudrup to call the showjumpers 'posh boys'*
 
well of course they are elitist toffs, just like rowers, cyclists, canoeists, sailors etc infact any sport you cant play with a pringles tube as equipment
 
whitewash said:
well of course they are elitist toffs, just like rowers, cyclists, canoeists, sailors etc infact any sport you cant play with a pringles tube as equipment
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cheers, i worked damn hard to build my first decent bike..

(unless my sarcasm detector is on the fritz)

and no not all horse riders are toffs either. now please retract your blinkers.

ta.
 
whitewash said:
well of course they are elitist toffs, just like rowers, cyclists, canoeists, sailors etc infact any sport you cant play with a pringles tube as equipment
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'ooh 'ark at him with his fancy pringles tube, when I was a la' we came oot t' mill and we play footba' with jist a hedgehog..and it were gratful..."
 
whitewash said:
well of course they are elitist toffs, just like rowers, cyclists, canoeists, sailors etc infact any sport you cant play with a pringles tube as equipment
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The more people able to participate the tougher the competition. The sports you listed all stop the majority competing for financial reasons. You were the best who could afford to do it, congratulations.
 
Team GB show jumbers are actually

Nick Skelton (age 54), Ben Maher (29), Scott Brash (26) and Peter Charles (52)

just metioning this in case laudrup can't be bothered to do his research
 
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Laudrup said:
The more people able to participate the tougher the competition. The sports you listed all stop the majority competing for financial reasons. You were the best who could afford to do it, congratulations.
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do they though? your argument seems to fail when scrutinized there are all manner of schemes set up to ensure people from all backgrounds can get into cycling, horse riding, rowing, id hazard a guess there are similar for canoeing and sailing as well.

your harking on like the first thing they do when you want to try these sports is ask you to present 3 consecutive bank statements and decide the victor based on that, you appear to argue that any sport that "St Cuthberts" can offer whereas a city centre school doesn't is elitist and completely inaccessible to others, when infact its not.
 
big soft moose said:
Team GB show jumbers are actually

Nick Skelton (age 54), Ben Maher (29), Scott Brash (26) and Peter Charles (52)

just metioning this in case laudrup can't be bothered to do his research
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Yep, Nick Skelton who left school without any qualifications and worked his way through to competitions by shovelling ****.

Dead posh innit. ;)
 
fabs said:
Yep, Nick Skelton who left school without any qualifications and worked his way through to competitions by shovelling ****.

Dead posh innit. ;)
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Same could be said for Tina Cook whose father, Josh Gifford, grafted his way up by becoming Champion Jockey four times.

But obviously bettering oneself would be against class solidarity.
 
fabs said:
Yep, Nick Skelton who left school without any qualifications and worked his way through to competitions by shovelling ****.

Dead posh innit. ;)
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Well he did go to a £10k a year school, not their fault he couldn't muster up any qualifications.
 
whitewash said:
do they though? your argument seems to fail when scrutinized there are all manner of schemes set up to ensure people from all backgrounds can get into cycling, horse riding, rowing, id hazard a guess there are similar for canoeing and sailing as well.

your harking on like the first thing they do when you want to try these sports is ask you to present 3 consecutive bank statements and decide the victor based on that, you appear to argue that any sport that "St Cuthberts" can offer whereas a city centre school doesn't is elitist and completely inaccessible to others, when infact its not.
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Out of a pool of 615,000 privately educated pupils we achieved 50% of the medals compared to roughly 9 million achieving 50%. If you have better information than the BOA chairman then please share it with us.
 
fabs said:
No, but he didn't gain any financial advantage from it which is the pertinent point here.
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His parents were hardly on the dole if he had a pony at 18 months and a £10k a year education. I'm waiting for someone to claim Prince Abdullah Al Saud drives an Austin Metro.
 
Laudrup said:
His parents were hardly on the dole if he had a pony at 18 months and a £10k a year education. I'm waiting for someone to claim Prince Abdullah Al Saud drives an Austin Metro.
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I know a lot of people who had ponies as kids, not one of them was from a wealthy family. The fact that his parents had money is of no relevance here, he made the opportunities himself, something that anyone can do (as long as they want to).
 
Laudrup said:
Out of a pool of 615,000 privately educated pupils we achieved 50% of the medals compared to roughly 9 million achieving 50%. If you have better information than the BOA chairman then please share it with us.
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lets not forget that your facts are from bejing

according to the BBC those from a public school background account for 32% of the team GB london medalists so far - which means that 68% of our medals have so far been taken by those with a state school background - which combined with the fact that many of the medals already won are in your supposed elitist list rather than those in which you think anyone can compete, shoots a rather large hole in your theory.

Also one reason promulgated for why public schools make up more than their share is that its not just down to resources, but also to ideology - ie that many state schools have moved away from competitive sport due to pressure from those who think that its not 'inclusive' to have winners aand losers, and who think that the whole idea of sport is elitist.
 
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Laudrup said:
I'm waiting for someone to claim Prince Abdullah Al Saud drives an Austin Metro.
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Meanwhile I'm waiting for you to show me how he's a member of the British team?
 
fabs said:
I know a lot of people who had ponies as kids, not one of them was from a wealthy family. The fact that his parents had money is of no relevance here, he made the opportunities himself, something that anyone can do (as long as they want to).
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Well in the context of 50% of medals being won by 7% then yes it is. As for ponies at 18 months old and spending £10k a year on schooling you and I have different perceptions of wealth it seems.
 
DemiLion said:
Meanwhile I'm waiting for you to show me how he's a member of the British team?
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Equestrianism is an elite sport, I didn't say the UK has a monopoly on it. King Abdullah has spent handsomely on the Saudi team, which is hardly surprising given his son competes for them and he owns 1,000 horses. No point taking umbrage with me about the very obvious matter.
 
DemiLion said:
Meanwhile I'm waiting for you to show me how he's a member of the British team?
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He's not. He's competing for Saudi Arabia. He was however born in London.
 
Laudrup said:
No point taking umbrage with me about the very obvious matter.
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quite so - its abundantly clear that as usual you havent got a clue what you are talking about, but theres no point in taking umbrage because its just another great day of situation normal.

I shall just put you on ignore instead
 
I'll repeat myself, seem to have been doing it most of today.

Stop the bickering, please :)
 
sorry kelly :eek:

(that int the right smiley - i'm sure we used to have an embarrased/mea culpa one but i can't find it)
 
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Laudrup said:
Yeah you just might need to use Ann Romney's horse or be lucky and your dad is the King of Saudi Arabia or your gran is the Queen of the host nation. You have 71 year olds and 65 yer olds competing in it. Imagine a 71 year old in athletics.
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I went to a "normal" school and worked at a stable yard in exchange for lessons. I didn't get paid I just worked my arse off at the age of 12-14 so I could have riding lessons, I could have become something within the equestrian world had i not moved away from the area. Point is it cost me NOTHING to do this, and cost my parents nothing more than the fuel to get me to the stable yard about 5 miles away.
 
Laudrup said:
Equestrianism is an elite sport, I didn't say the UK has a monopoly on it. King Abdullah has spent handsomely on the Saudi team, which is hardly surprising given his son competes for them and he owns 1,000 horses. No point taking umbrage with me about the very obvious matter.
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The whole tenet of your argument has been that British Olympic sport is dominated by competitors that have been privately educated. I fail to see what a foreign national, competing for a different country, has to do with it.
 
DemiLion said:
The whole tenet of your argument has been that British Olympic sport is dominated by competitors that have been privately educated. I fail to see what a foreign national, competing for a different country, has to do with it.
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That fact has already been proven, the figures are there for all to see. I can illustrate a point about equestrianism being elitist without having to confine myself to just the products of the UK schooling system.
 
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