Women's triathlon streaming live at the mo

icedog,
Yes, glad someone else noticed, I thought the main pack on the cycle were just out for their Sunday ride - not sure if it was an illusion as a being a big pack or not?

No illusion, at times they appeared to be going so slow they might fall off, and they were all over the place. No effort from them resulted in a no medals, and how did swallow get dropped from them?? Nobody seemed to want the gold did they...

The message below has just been posted by Andrea Whitcombe (at least thats what it says - and I dont doubt it is her)....
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"Can I just say something......Firstly thank you to the people that have supported me throughout this whole mess up. I am not blaming Jodie for being selected or blaming her for not stepping down. I am blaming GM for selecting an unfit athlete in the first place and then lying to both of us from then on. GM promised me on several occasions, and infront of respected people in the triathlon world, that he would pull JS from the team if she did not finish in a top 5 place in the World cups mentioned. He didn't tell JS the same. It was only when she failed to finish in the top 5 that he then tried to pull her from the team. He asked her to withdraw and say that she was injured. Rightly so, JS declined this. He's screwed up and I feel that i've paid for it and in a way so has Jodie. He could have handled it so differently. As for JD. She was clearly injured in Cyprus and had pain killing injections in her foot. However both the doc and GM said that she was fit enough to finish the race. They could only pull her if they felt she wouldn't be able to finish. I should have been explained this before travelling to Cyprus. It was very hard for me to see it all happening infront of me. Something needs to be done. Athletes cannot go through this again. Having watched the race on tv today I wasn't in the least bit surprised. MD did great. She nearly always does and no one deserved their place in the team more than her. What can I say about the others? Perhaps i'll leave that to GM to explain. It was won by a class runner. I'd like to think that I had a chance but unfortunately I wasn't given that chance. As for JD helping MD in the race.....it's never happened before and it's been brought up on many an occasion.

Let's hope the men do something good tomorrow.

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I thought you might like to see it
lfw

Sorry - should have said - the message was posted on another site - www.tritalk.co.uk

I wonder if it is genuine?? Some good points tho'

Well that was a good race wasn't it - shame the TV cameras didn't capture the winner closing in until very close to the end.

Agree entirely with Andrea W - you can't get your form back in a couple of weeks and picking an unfit athlete should only happen when you have no realistic alternatives.

Hard to say on the bike - they may have been waiting for others to try and push on - you've got to remember in the TdF they often have team members who are there just to chase with no individual aspirations - that isn't the case here so maybe nobody wanted to sacrifice themselves for the bunch. Sooner or later though some country is going to start using the rules to their advantage. eg - 3 good cyclists could build up a big gap on the rest if they could finish in the main group in the swim. If one of them could run a bit they'd have the medal in the bag.

Icedog
Andrea has posted again - and I have no doubt it is her - pop over to tritalk and join in if you like.

"nobody seemed to want the gold..."

apart from harrop, and allen..!

Let's not forget that the hill on the bike course was 1in6 so no wonder they looked like they were going slow.

They looked slow on the flat bits to. I know the front few wanted the gold and thoroughly deserved the medals they had a great race, and the finnish was awesome, but the rest....

I thought she was from Austria?











*giggle*

sorry...sorry...I know what you mean, ignore me.....

you mean the Aussietrian?

Didn't Diben have a broken toe or something and yet the selectors still wouldn't put Whitcombe in? Sounds like there are some big headed people in charge of GBTri who aren't prepared to admit they'd made a mistake. If she can, I'd advise Whitcombe jumps ship and competes for another country, where she might be more valued. Qatar seem to have plenty passports.

Yep, Swallow is unfit and Dibens has a foot injury which means she's having painkilling injections - great!!!

Dillon said afterwards that people were trying to pull her zip down during the swim. !?! What the heck is that about?

it's called a typical triathlon swim..........no mentions of punches or kicking then???

Well she said she spent a lot of energy fighting people off. Do they do mixed events?

{starts clearing diary and warming up accosting gloves}

Now I know why Monique and Derek were planning to wear boxing gloves.

Actually I quite like the idea of fighting during the swim - are you allowed to put other riders into a ditch on the cycle and stick an elbow on them if they try and overtake you on the run?

I'm bringing a Tazer and an icepick.