Quote:
Originally Posted by GirlySports
But do we support/criticize our athletes between olympics?
I know that Australia is a sports mad country and they will follow their swimmers all year round and will be in-tune with what is going on. They realize that the swimming team is in a bit of a decline and are pissed off that they're getting bronze and not gold.
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You're bringing up good points but this is a pet peeve of mine. Why does the level of fanaticism a person has for olympic sport matter? Isn't this close to the 'real fan' argument that is so derided on the main boards? I don't set my PVR to record swim meets or track meets in non-Olympic years but I will watch them if I find them and read news stories if they catch my eye. Why do I have more right to criticize than someone else?
These athletes must all know that the only thing many people care about is the Olympics and I am sure most, if not all, of them train as if the Olympics are the most important thing in a four year cycle - which they are. It's the biggest stage there is, and many of these athletes are screwing up. If that's the case, it deserves to be said, especially Brett Hayden, who skipped another event we had 'a chance' in to focus on the one last night. That worked out great.
Not to mention the fact that anyone who has a job in this country is paying for these results, therefore, everyone deserves to criticize in my opinion. We are certainly not getting our money's worth at this point. Like Jiri said, the amount of stories you read/hear about that involve some supposedly world-class athlete completely flubbing their event by far outweigh the pleasant surprises.
As to the swimming results, I think you have to take the actual times with a pretty big grain of salt since setting a world record (!) isn't a big deal at all at these games. The actual rankings are interesting and I agree they are trending in the right direction, but there have been far more disappointments than joys from Team Canada this time around.
All that being said, in the past few Olympics it's taken a long time for Canada to bring home any medals. I just don't remember so many let-downs.