Olympic Dreams

Post here if you have anything general about sport whether in Kintyre or the world!

Re: Olympic Dreams

Postby Mary G » Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:56 pm

Hume wrote: ... i said chris hoy trains with uk facilities - i didnt mention the word ours...


Didn't mean to mis-quote you, Hume. My logic was that if you are Scottish, then you are probably a UK citizen, and so can lay claim – so to speak - to any facility or service paid for by UK taxes. Whether located in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, I see them as ours.

The specialisation point is fascinating, especially in cycling. My other half was a serious cyclist in his day, and so I have learned more than I would normally be interested in absorbing on this topic. The Welsh road cyclist who won gold, Nicole Cooke, spent lots of time doing wind-tunnel tests, which were filmed and analysed, using some pretty heavy duty technology, to monitor where any resistance and turbulence exist. They did a lot of work with her on the position she should adopt, and even redesigned and rebuilt her bike to suit. All very specialised work, done over months and months, and then re-tested. Even bits of the brakes were redesigned for her specific race/ position/ bike to minimise turbulence. And she wore some special super-new-slip-stream outfit in Beijing, too, that was also subject to similar development and testing.

It all seems very space-age, somehow – almost like Formula 1- but the cyclists themselves love the fact that they can pile in all the effort training, practising tactics, preparing for specific races, and then all the technology kicks in to capitalise on their hard work. I don’t grudge them the success, because they do all work very hard – so good luck to the whole lot of them –back-up teams too.

Trapper – you are right – this is not about medals, or even medal tables. And if you check back on my previous posts you will see that this is not my focus. For me it is about helping Scottish athletes to excel, and to achieve their potential. Pooling resources and expertise at a UK level provides a great opportunity for our athletes to do precisely that. And not one of them is any less Scottish as a result – they represent us fantastically, in my view.
Mary G
Can't Stay Away
Can't Stay Away
 
Posts: 765
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:25 am


Previous

Return to Sport Chit Chat

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests