They just interviewed barret on the pitch and God is he unbearable
Tennis is; even if most casual tennis fans don't think so - just have a look at the previous winners, and it's a who's who of tennis players from the last 30 years; and the likes of Federer counting his Olympic medals (he has one of each IIRC), or Edburg his Olympic bronze as their most treasured possessions (let alone the likes of Agassi, Nadal, Murray, Graf, Williams, Williams, Davenport saying the same about their golds); or Djoker's interview etc etc.
Olympics is at least the equal of any grand slam; even with its best of 3 sets format.
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That wasn't too shabby now was it? Of my dark horses (US, Kenya and Argentina) only Argentina turned up, but like NZ they will massively struggle if they've lost two starters to injury.
Fantastic atmosphere for Brazil tries and amazing result for Japan who aren't much cop at sevens.
Joubert's penalty try for the play of the day by Imhoff wasn't great, but he's made far worse in the past month (never mind the RWC). The SA ref Rasta didn't make a single error during the entire women's contest so hopefully he'll replace Joubert for the rest of this tournament. He can't be allowed near a big game! Our Clive putting the boot in to Joubert was fun but he somewhat lost the moral highground repeatedly calling Brazil Spain (much to the obvious frustration of Butler!).
Great first round for SA, GB and France. I still think Fiji won't even medal. Pressure so big and probably contributed to Samoa not even being here.
But it's not. It's a nice addition, the cherry on top for most tennis players. Grand Slams are and always will be the pinnacle for tennis - 7 best of 5 set matches for the men; 7 best of 3 set matches for women. Compare that to Olympics men's competition which is 5 best of 3 sets and only the final being best of five sets; women's are 6 best of 3 set matches. It's special for players because of the wider context that the competition is played in and I think it sits in it own right as a very special event in the tennis calendar, but definitely not the equal of a Grand Slam; maybe just below it.
for international basketball the olympics is still the pinnacle, it's not like soccer where the world cup is more important
Nadal, regarding his wrist injury:
"It is how it is. It needs more time. If this wasn't the Olympic Games then I would not be here competing."
http://www.sport24.co.za/OtherSport/Olympics2016/nadal-calls-time-on-wrist-injury-talk-20160808
Djokovic, regarding his first round defeat:
[FONT="]"No doubt it's one of the toughest losses in my life, in my career," Djokovic told the New York Times after the match. "It's not easy to handle, especially now just after the match, the wounds are still fresh but you know you have to deal with it. It's not the first or the last time I'm losing a tennis match but Olympic Games yeah it's different."
[/FONT]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2016/08/08/rio-olympics-2016-novak-djokovic-crashes-out-of-the-tennis-at-th/
For every team other than the americans maybe but NBA Rings are prob more desired than the Olympics.
I'd expand that to NBA players.For every team other than the americans maybe but NBA Rings are prob more desired than the Olympics.
I didn't say it wasn't special, but it's still not the pinnacle of tennis or the equal of a Grand Slam.