[Amelia Chaffinch]

Bronze for Josh Kerr in the 1500. Ran a PB, almost broke the BR and vert nearly got the silver. A great achievement to get 3 in the final and even better to get one medalling.

[Devongone]

They should let the horse kick the coach.

The bit I didn't understand was why were most of the horses quite amenable even when not easy, but that one alone was pretty impossible. Surely they should be choosing horses of similar sort of ability and temperament. That one was barely prepared even to go into the ring, never mind jump.

They seem to change the Modern Pentathlon rules on a regular basis. If it weren't horsey and shooty and fencey it would probably get kicked out of the Olympics, but it's good for the richer mummies and daddies. Don't suppose many kids from Hackney or Handsworth get to have a go. BUT it works as a spectator event and will continue to do so as long as the finish remains a spectacle.

How come the Scots are so good at running? Is it the legacy of Trainspotting?

Why aren't we keen on Volleyball in this country? Not only is it a great game, but we have loads of goalies who can't catch who are halfway to doing a great job before they start.

Since I got Eurosport I've seen what a massive difference there is between the BBC approach & the commercials. If something is being shown on Eurosport from the athletics stadium and you switch to BBC there's about a 70% chance you'll find yourself in a fake Japanese studio in this country with Michael, Jess, Denise and Paula providing insight into stuff you are not seeing, or even more annoying has been deliberately confined to the red button. However well they talk, none of them are as good as when they were doing their events years ago. Watching the 400 hurdles is exciting, listening to Warholm and Sid much less so, and hearing what Michael and Denise think is way behind that. To demonstrate I'll now SHUT THE FKUC UP!

[Lord Snooty]

All the horses are supposed to be of a similar temperament. It's all down to the horsey skills of the rider. She was too tense.

That horse had been with a different rider, earlier on. There are 30 odd contestants, but not as many horses, so they do the rounds. It'd been difficult for the previous rider and she had the chance to swap. She chose not to.

i love watching the Modern Pentathlon. I just wish they wouldn't ignore it on the BBC until the final stages.

Next time, there will be eliminations for those who are not in the top so many, meaning that the lad who ran from 13th position, to win the silver, would've been knocked out before the laser run.

Stoopid idea.

---

Anyway. Talking of Paris 24. Tom Daley is favourite for the gold in the newest event.......

Competitive Knitting.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

I don't like the sound of the new rules. It seems to be designed to shorten it for the audience. I think there will be complaints about unfairness.

I think both the German rider and the coach should be banned from any competition for life. It's against the rules of the sport to treat the horse like that. The animal's welfare comes first. It's in the competition to show you can handle a horse that's not your own. Despite, the obvious animal cruelty, the way she was holding herself and being tense would have affected the horse's confidence.

---

Why did a baseball player arrive in a buggy?

[theo_luddite]

I somewhat agree with Devon on that stubborn mule, apparently they choose enough show ponies so that each gets ridden by 2 competitors, but there always seems to be one in every competition that is a stubborn mule.

Now, I either read, or heard on the 24 hour Beeb Beeb Ceeb repeats of the same 5 or 6 clips each day but with different pundits, that the 5 Stages of the Modern Pentathlon are supposedly based on the 5 most important skills that an army Captain should possess.

Seems feasible to me.

Given that said mule had already refused to play ball with one prior competitor, it's highly likely that had the two unfortunates to draw said mule been nowhere near a medal chance, we'd have heard nothing more about it. That said it doesn't excuse the reaction of the German coach - I'm with AmChaff on that one.

Now surely this brings us to two conclusions.

1) in the interests of fair play, said animal should have been quietly withdrawn and both "athletes?" should have been given the chance of a rerun on a more docile show pony .....



























2) any Army Captain worth his salt would have pulled out his pistol and given it a blast of lead between it's ears. If he was French he'd have fed the troops on it for a week.

Unfortunately, it would have to happen to a German wouldn't it?

[Lord Snooty]

Another couple of golds today to bring the total to 22. Fifth in the table. I'd say it's been a successful games.

[Devongone]

Another couple of golds today to bring the total to 22. Fifth in the table. I'd say it's been a successful games.

Aah, but is the medal table a reflection of what the Olympics is meant to be about? But I do like us to win or try to our absolute limit.

I'm 6'3" and was pretty good at most sports and I can safely say at no time in my life could I ever have fought Lauren Price.

As to the German girl in the Modern Pentathlon, I was hoping she would get off the horse and throw the complete tantrum that was written all-over her screwed-up face. That said as a lifelong racing man I can tell you horses can be strange creatures. Some habitually play up over entering starting stalls, but always eventually consent, others who have been amenable all their life suddenly say no, for no apparent reason and no amount of force or persuasion will move them. That horse was clearly on a bad day. There should be provision for a rider simply to be drawn another ride. There is a dividing line between difficult and utterly impossible. The horse doesn't know he's crossing it, but humans should. It wasn't only the German coach who was cruel in punching the horse, officialdom that insisted on persisting with the impossible was also cruel. And it is a bit silly to ask people to spend five years getting ready for an event, then they be asked to show-jump a zebra, especially if at that point they are in the hunt for a gold medal. I don't want to go in for racial stereotyping, but Germans do kind of expect things to be organised and fair. If Eddie Waring and Stuart Hall had been commentating it would have just have been another day on Jeux Sans Frontieres.

[theo_luddite]

A former Pentathlete on punditry duty on the Beeb (missed her name and didn't recognise her, but few outsiders to this little world likely would do) said that if they thought a horse was too difficult, they could ask for a replacement from the "reserve pool", but they are in the "reserve pool" for a reason.

[Lord Snooty]

It was Samantha Murray, theo. She won Silver in London.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

A former Pentathlete on punditry duty on the Beeb (missed her name and didn't recognise her, but few outsiders to this little world likely would do) said that if they thought a horse was too difficult, they could ask for a replacement from the "reserve pool", but they are in the "reserve pool" for a reason.

There was a riding expert on the radio, too, who said it was entirely the rider's fault, which is still my opinion. She sat wrong, she tensed up, she screamed, she pulled on the reins, she hit him and she whipped him. It was as if she'd never had anything to do with horses in her life. She was a fool and an extremely cruel person. The only sad thing is that she didn't get thrown "really hard" to use the coach's words.