Two days ago a reporter for the Guardian in Britain dismissed the Aussie relay swimmers as has beens compared to their British swimmers
www.guardian.co.uk/.../olympicgames.aquatics.britainaustralia
One really should be careful about dissing another countries competition. It tends to backfire and bite you on the bum.
Australia mens 4 x 200 freestyle relay - bronze medal. Where were the British men?
Australian women 4 x 200 freestyle relay gold and smashed the world record - where were the British women?
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Former Member
The media here in the UK have been over-stating GB's medal prospects throughout the Olympics. E.g. they were hailing Kirsty Balfour as a great medal prospect in the 200 ***, when any of us who watch the sport closely knew she didn't have any chance.
You have to see it in the context that the swimming is being given prime TV coverage here and they want viewers to watch it, so they have to hype up our medal hopes to get people to watch. We have just one main TV channel showing the Olympics, all the rest are peripheral so-called "interactive" channels that you access by pressing a red button on the remote. The swimming has been on the one main channel throughout, they really are pushing it in a big way. I doubt they really believe their own hype.
The media here in the UK have been over-stating GB's medal prospects throughout the Olympics. E.g. they were hailing Kirsty Balfour as a great medal prospect in the 200 ***, when any of us who watch the sport closely knew she didn't have any chance.
You have to see it in the context that the swimming is being given prime TV coverage here and they want viewers to watch it, so they have to hype up our medal hopes to get people to watch. We have just one main TV channel showing the Olympics, all the rest are peripheral so-called "interactive" channels that you access by pressing a red button on the remote. The swimming has been on the one main channel throughout, they really are pushing it in a big way. I doubt they really believe their own hype.
