Omloop Het (Volk) Nieuwsblad - Feb 26th 2011

[boomcie]

I would have to say a medal in swimming is actually one of the most prestigious ones. Only to be bested by a medal in athletics.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

I would have to say a medal in swimming is actually one of the most prestigious ones. Only to be bested by a medal in athletics.

That's true. But a little bit off topic, this whole discussion, maybe?

 

[The Hitch]

And it's not hard to get medals in sports almost no one does

Didnt you say your father was the head of the Flemish cross country association. Does no one do middle distance running?

 

[El Pistolero]

Didnt you say your father was the head of the Flemish cross country association. Does no one do middle distance running?

Head of the Flemish athletics association. It's broader than cross country.

But I don't understand your question, I don't really now a lot of athletics even though I did it for 7 years(I was pretty good if I say so my self )

 

[El Pistolero]

I would have to say a medal in swimming is actually one of the most prestigious ones. Only to be bested by a medal in athletics.

I didn't say it wasn't prestigious, but it's easier to win medals in swimming than in a sport like cycling

There are way more medals available just look at Phelps. And yes he's a great champion, but it's easier for him to win olympic medals than a professional cyclist.

 

[The Hitch]

I would have to say a medal in swimming is actually one of the most prestigious ones. Only to be bested by a medal in athletics.

The mens road race is the most prestigious medal. You have 200 people going for 1 medal. MSR winners vs Giro winners vs LBL winners vs PR winners vs Tour winners.


But only one can be victorious.

Also it has the biggest crowds.

And its the first medal of the games.

Marathon is the other one because it also has crowds and its the last medal of the games. And its the most famous discipline.

You could say 100m but this Bolt hero worship (which is getting a bit annoying) no further makes it into the most important event than Redgrave made rowing the most prestigious or Liu Xiang the 110 hurdles.

The media can hype it up all it wants but its 3rd to Marathon and road race.

 

[theyoungest]

I would have to say a medal in swimming is actually one of the most prestigious ones. Only to be bested by a medal in athletics.

Yeah, Pistolero should maybe do some research on Olympic sports. Although I can imagine that as a Belgian, he isn't very interested in the Olympics

It depends on which medal in track and field, of course. The 100 meters freestyle is more prestigious than a medal at the steeple chase.

And to say it's easier to win in swimming than in cycling: wow, I'm not so sure about that.

 

[jaylew]

So your Dutch Colombian? Like DAOTEC? I never knew there was such a big Colombian population in Holland

Is Daotec really Dutch? I already knew Ryo was, but Dao too?

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

If you add the TV-viewers, i'm sure 100m athletics (& swimming?) have the biggest crowd.
If you add the non-selected sporters, i'm can imagine there are more 100m runners in the world than cyclists.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, Pistolero should maybe do some research on Olympic sports. Although I can imagine that as a Belgian, he isn't very interested in the Olympics

And to say it's easier to win in swimming than in cycling: wow, I'm not so sure about that.

It is. A lot easier.

Being the best in swimming will win you the medals.

Being the best cyclist doesn't mean you'll win the medals. And there's only 6 medals to earn. How many medals are there to earn in a sport like swimming? A lot

And I went to the 2004 Olympics(my dad went along with the professional athletes of Flanders and we went with him on "vacation", all paid by tax money tyvm) and will get one again in 2012 So yeah, I think I'm a bit more interested than you

 

[theyoungest]

The mens road race is the most prestigious medal. You have 200 people going for 1 medal. MSR winners vs Giro winners vs LBL winners vs PR winners vs Tour winners.


But only one can be victorious.

Also it has the biggest crowds.

And its the first medal of the games.

The road race is the most prestigious medal? Ask 6 billion people who Samuel Sanchez is. *complete silence*

Now ask them who Usain Bolt is.

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah, Pistolero should maybe do some research on Olympic sports. Although I can imagine that as a Belgian, he isn't very interested in the Olympics

Your taunting is impressive, but did you forget you were dutch?

The only gold medal Holand has is from figure skating ffs. Moreover he refused to answer "what is your name" to the camera, then got some karma being dqd for a blatant violation of the rules in the 10 000m race.

Needless to say for winning an olympic gold you guys named him athlete of the year. I mean, an olympic gold whew, what an achievment for the low countries

 

[boomcie]

The road race is the most prestigious medal? Ask 6 billion people who Samuel Sanchez is. *complete silence*

Now ask them who Usain Bolt is.

Do we have to answer those too? Cause I know the answer to both.
But you're absolutely right.

 

[theyoungest]

Your taunting is impressive, but did you forget you were dutch?

The only gold medal Holand has is from figure skating ffs. Moreover he refused to answer "what is your name" to the camera, then got some karma being dqd for a blatant violation of the rules in the 10 000m race.

Needless to say for winning an olympic gold you guys named him athlete of the year. I mean, an olympic gold whew, what an achievment for the low countries

Figure skating? Speed skating you mean. And no, he didn't win the athlete of the year award. That was another speed skater

Holland won a gold medal in snowboarding in Vancouver. (although, I admit, that was the first gold medal outside the skating rink for our country)

In the last Summer Olympics, Holland got 7 gold medals.

 

[The Hitch]

The road race is the most prestigious medal? Ask 6 billion people who Samuel Sanchez is. *complete silence*

Now ask them who Usain Bolt is.

The fact that one or two people from certain events get treated as celebrities doesnt make their events more prestigious.

The most recent face of athletics has been that croatian chick who does high jump. Her popularity doesnt mean the high jump is suddenly more prestigious. People will watch it while shes there but once shes gone, then they switch off.

Just like people turned off once Yelena Isimbayeva lost for the first time in like 10 years in 2009 worlds.

There will be 100's of articles written going into the road race whereas with tghe 100m it will be 100 about bold, and article or 2 mentioning Gay, people will switch on for 10 seconds switch off again.

 

[El Pistolero]

Your taunting is impressive, but did you forget you were dutch?

The only gold medal Holand has is from figure skating ffs. Moreover he refused to answer "what is your name" to the camera, then got some karma being dqd for a blatant violation of the rules in the 10 000m race.

Needless to say for winning an olympic gold you guys named him athlete of the year. I mean, an olympic gold whew, what an achievment for the low countries

Hey, we had a gold medal in 2008 as well

 

[boomcie]

Moreover he refused to answer "what is your name" to the camera, then got some karma being dqd for a blatant violation of the rules in the 10 000m race.

That makes sense. It was kinda funny

 

[jaylew]

The mens road race is the most prestigious medal. You have 200 people going for 1 medal. MSR winners vs Giro winners vs LBL winners vs PR winners vs Tour winners.


But only one can be victorious.

Also it has the biggest crowds.

And its the first medal of the games.

Marathon is the other one because it also has crowds and its the last medal of the games. And its the most famous discipline.

You could say 100m but this Bolt hero worship (which is getting a bit annoying) no further makes it into the most important event than Redgrave made rowing the most prestigious or Liu Xiang the 110 hurdles.

The media can hype it up all it wants but its 3rd to Marathon and road race.

Hitch, this is probably the craziest thing I've heard you say on this forum. The cycling road race isn't even close to the most prestigious medal - probably not even in the top 50.

 

[theyoungest]

That makes sense. It was kinda funny

Kramer's reaction was understandable, though. You've just won Olympic gold. The first interview question you get is: "who are you, and what do you do?" Lame.

 

[boomcie]

Kramer's reaction was understandable, though. You've just won Olympic gold. The first interview question you get is: "who are you, and what do you do?" Lame.

I t was a great reaction. But he did get in boomeranged into his face.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

THe 10k switch was more the blatant mistake of his idiot coach though

 

[kurtinsc]

It is. A lot easier.

Being the best in swimming will win you the medals.

Being the best cyclist doesn't mean you'll win the medals. And there's only 6 medals to earn. How many medals are there to earn in a sport like swimming? A lot

And I went to the 2004 Olympics(my dad went along with the professional athletes of Flanders and we went with him on "vacation", all paid by tax money tyvm) and will get one again in 2012 So yeah, I think I'm a bit more interested than you

You are actually viewing it in a way that is very biased towards cycling.

As a swimmer, I'd say there are 11 sets of medals available for mens cycling and 17 for swimming.

Now I'm sure you'd say that there's a big difference between mountain biking, road cycling, BMX and the track... and there is. But there are also big differences betwen the 50 free, 200 breast, 400 IM, 1500 free and marathon swim race. Part of what makes Phelps accomplishment so huge was that he was able to win in so many different disciplines.

So are there more medals available? Yeah, but not a lot more.

 

[El Pistolero]

You are actually viewing it in a way that is very biased towards cycling.

As a swimmer, I'd say there are 11 sets of medals available for mens cycling and 17 for swimming.

Now I'm sure you'd say that there's a big difference between mountain biking, road cycling, BMX and the track... and there is. But there are also big differences betwen the 50 free, 200 breast, 400 IM, 1500 free and marathon swim race. Part of what makes Phelps accomplishment so huge was that he was able to win in so many different disciplines.

So are there more medals available? Yeah, but not a lot more.

Swimming is one sport, all the others you named are different sports? It's not even possible to qualify for all the different sports that use a bike at the same time.

And the difference is way smaller, but you do have a point yes. But it changes nothing about my argument. If a country excels in swimming they"ll gain a lot more medals than a country that excels in cycling... Argue all you want, but it's true.

 

[L'arriviste]

Wow, how massively OT is this now?

EDIT: My 1,000th post! Yay! Do I get a (Olympic swimming) gold medal?

 

[Spine Concept]

Why are we arguing about other sports on a cycling forum? Furthermore, it is obvious that the Dutch are a better sports country in general vis-a-vis Belgium and probably always will be. It's ingrained in the Dutch culture, they do really well in a variety of sports for such a small country. However that should be reserved for another forum, not this one.