Olympic Optimism

booboo

Been thinking about starting medal chance speculation thread when I saw this headline in the NZ Herald: NZ tipped to win 11 golds in Rio 
After finishing laughing i clicked on the link. 
Unfortunately it was <blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
By Chris Rattue</blockquote>But surprisingly he was not on the wind up merely reporting on a report in another newspaper about some other mob's predictions. 
11 would be a ridiculous number of golds to win. Given our best ever (realistically when everyone turned up) was 6 last time, or 8 if you count the Non-Commie Olympics in '84. 
However read the below and let us know what you think. 
I think Infostrada may be touch optimistic on our behalf. <blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
New Zealand will have its finest Olympic gold medal haul in Rio and crack the top 10 list for just the second time. 
That's the exciting - and perhaps over-excited - prediction being made by a "sports data company" called Infostrada whose latest virtual gold medal list has been published on Britain's Telegraph news site. 
The report predicts New Zealand will finish 9th on the gold medal list with 11 and score 23 medals overall, significantly more than the 14-plus medals targeted by High Performance Sport New Zealand. The medal predictor reckons the USA will finish top with 43 golds in the August Games, followed by China, Russia and Australia. 
Unsurprisingly, HPSNZ chief executive Alex Baumann regards such predictions "with a grain of salt" and emphasised how tough it was to succeed at the Olympics. 
Baumann - who knows all about competing at the top of world sport - agreed it was nice to hear such an optimistic appraisal of New Zealand sport. 
"But I wouldn't want to over-cook it...we need to manage expectations," said Baumann, who won two swimming gold medals for Canada in world record times at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. 
"I relate it to politics, and all the polls that are held in advance. It's who wins the election that counts." 
Baumann said caution was needed when using lead-up performances because athletes were not always at their peak in pre-Olympic meetings, and in a sport like cycling technology advances might be kept under wraps. 
An obvious case in point is Tom Walsh, who won the world indoor title in Oregon this year. Walsh, who is tagged with a gold medal in the virtual table, won in a field missing a few of the world's best. 
Still, Baumann was hoping the top ranked Kiwis would do a little better than in London. New Zealand went into the last Olympics with 21 competitors ranked in the world top three on 2011 results, and emerged with 13 medals. 
"Our conversion rate in London was a little low to my mind - it should be 65 to 70 per cent." 
New Zealand's best Olympic gold haul came at Los Angeles in 1984, when a boycott by eastern bloc countries (in retaliation for the American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games) skewed the results. Led by the golden generation of canoeists, New Zealand topped the podium eight times, and finished 8th on the gold medal table. 
New Zealand has some outstanding gold medal prospects for Rio this year and particularly on the water where canoeist Lisa Carrington, sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke and rowing pair Hamish Bond and Eric Murray are supreme. 
World golf number one Lydia Ko, who will want to avoid any water, will also be a hot favourite. 
But New Zealand's rugby sevens teams have had erratic results and might not be the hot gold medal prospects they once were. 
The Infostrada predictor believes shot put superstar Val Adams, who is returning from injuries, will claim a bronze medal. 
NZ's predicted gold medallists 
Tom Walsh (shot put), 
Lisa Carrington (canoe 200m/500m), 
Cycling sprint team 
Lydia Ko (golf) 
Women double sculls - Zoe Stevenson/Eve Macfarlane 
Women lightweight double sculls - Julia Edward/Sophie MacKenzie 
Mens rowing pair - Eric Murray/Hamish Bond 
Rugby sevens (men and women) 
Mens 49ers sailing 
NZ's top gold medal hauls 
8: 1984 - Los Angeles (8th on gold medal table) 
6: 2012 - London (13th) 
3: 2008 - Beijing (19th); 2004 - Athens (20th); 1996 - Atlanta (21st); 1988 - Seoul (15th); 1964 - Tokyo (11th).</blockquote>Anyone else in contention for medals generally? 
Link <a class="bbc_url" href="http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11624571">http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11624571</a>

booboo

BTW I think 3 is par for us.

mariner4life

Medal tables are nationalistic dick waving of the worst kind 
I hope we win heaps

NTA

Me too cobber!

Chris B.

Looks like they're predicting that any NZer with a reasonable shot at winning, will win.
 
Lots of those events need some luck - if half of those predicted to win gold actually do win, I'll be surprised.
 
I'd put $10 on Bond and Murray, though!

mariner4life

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="573310" data-time="1460975780">
Me too cobber!</blockquote>
 
Shit if the pool goes well you won't be able to turn around in this country without getting hit in the face by a medal table (ordered by golds or total medals, which ever looks best)

Unco

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="573316" data-time="1460978596">
<div>
Looks like they're predicting that any NZer with a reasonable shot at winning, will win.
 
Lots of those events need some luck - if half of those predicted to win gold actually do win, I'll be surprised.
 
I'd put $10 on Bond and Murray, though!
</div>
</blockquote>
 
Yeah, seems pretty stupid. Bond and Murray are the only real sure thing we've got, the others have a good or even very good shot but anything can still happen.

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="573318" data-time="1460981048">
Shit if the pool goes well you won't be able to turn around in this country without getting hit in the face by a medal table (ordered by golds or total medals, which ever looks best)
</blockquote>
 
 
Yeah. The pool is a fucking rort. But the Yanks wanted it that way...

rotated

Very, very worried about the men's Sevens program. Titch should have been more open to guys coming into the set up later like previous Commonwealth Games.

Bones

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="rotated" data-cid="573329" data-time="1460998008">Very, very worried about the men's Sevens program. Titch should have been more open to guys coming into the set up later like previous Commonwealth Games.</blockquote>
Can't agree with that, leaves too much up in the air. Look at Messam, he's completely lost and used to be an absolute gun. Williams looks average. Why leave it open to 50/50?

taniwharugby

If we win 7s they should count the number of individual gold medals handed out, then we'll waste our old record!

Crucial

I'm guessing somewhere from 4-6 Gold but an overall medal tally of around 12

No Quarter

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bones" data-cid="573331" data-time="1461005232">
<div>
Can't agree with that, leaves too much up in the air. Look at Messam, he's completely lost and used to be an absolute gun. Williams looks average. Why leave it open to 50/50?
</div>
</blockquote>
 
Yeah, I have to admit I underestimated the difference between 15s and 7s. My initial thinking was any of the AB loosies or backs would waltz into 7s and run riot. But the positional play is just so important when there's only 6 other blokes on the field with you - SBW and Messam are really struggling with this, whereas the more experienced 7s players have a knack of being in the right place at the right time.

Bones

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="No Quarter" data-cid="573346" data-time="1461014775">Yeah, I have to admit I underestimated the difference between 15s and 7s. My initial thinking was any of the AB loosies or backs would waltz into 7s and run riot. But the positional play is just so important when there's only 6 other blokes on the field with you - SBW and Messam are really struggling with this, whereas the more experienced 7s players have a knack of being in the right place at the right time.</blockquote>
SBW less so than Messam which is a surprise. But just shows how much it's changed since he was king (Messam). It's played much shallower now and there's absolutely no resting.

hydro11

7's is a lottery but we should have the best squad, I think. Deserve to be favourites but probably only about a 1 in 3 chance of gold.
 
Ko is the best female golfer in the world but she probably has what? a 15-20% chance of gold?

Crucial

I have my fingers crossed that the experience of Titch will see us hitting things just right. The World Series has been a funny beast this year with teams taking very different approaches and trying tactics/players all over the show.
 
NZ in particular has being playing a long game and Titch will have a good idea of who he wants and how he will utilise them.
 
Of the injuries Ben Lam looks to be the biggest blow and there may need to be an adjustment to the final game style. The one that worked really well (and has been shelved since) is to use some hard hit ups in the centre followed by a quick side to side with power on the outside from Akira and Lam.
 
The final selection will be interesting. With only 12 players it will be very important not to carry any niggles into the tournament or you can find yourself short staffed and an extra time game can take the stuffing out of the frontline.
 
My guess is a 6 forward, 5 back, Mikkleson squad
 
I think these guys are locked in (barring injury)
 
 
Forwards: Forbes, SBW, A Ioane,
 
Backs: Kaka, Pulu (we need two playmakers), R Ioane,
 
Mikkleson
 
Then (my guess bold)
 
Forwards (3 from): Messam, Curry, A Savea, Collier, Dickson
 
Backs (2 from): Baker, Ware, Webber (is he injured?), Ahki
 
The others used this year come into contention as backups. Messam or Dickson a hard call.

KiwiPie

Tom Walsh (shot put), in the mix but not the clear favourite 
Lisa Carrington (canoe 200m/500m), Clear favourite - expect 1 gold, hope for 2. 
Cycling sprint team a good chance but not certainties 
Lydia Ko (golf) the favourite but golf too random to expect gold 
Women double sculls - Zoe Stevenson/Eve Macfarlane no idea 
Women lightweight double sculls - Julia Edward/Sophie MacKenzie no idea 
Mens rowing pair - Eric Murray/Hamish Bond very likely 
Rugby sevens (men and women) Aus favourites for women, too close to call for men. 
Mens 49ers sailing very likely
 
Still a chance that Val will improve enough to take gold, it wouldn't be a huge surprise as the distances aren't special.
Are there any other cyclists with a chance?

Frye

Ware has been up and down. If Webber is fit in time than I'd bring him straight in. Otherwise I'd take Molia over Ware.

Frye

Here's the full list 
Athletics 
M Shot Put T. Walsh 
Canoe Sprint 
W K1 200m L. Carrington 
Canoe Sprint 
W K1 500m L. Carrington 
Cycling - Track 
M Team Sprint NZL 
Golf 
W Individual L. Ko 
Rowing 
W Double Sculls Stevenson/MacFarlane 
Rowing 
W Lightweight Double Sculls Edward/Mackenzie 
Rowing 
M Pair Murray/Bond 
Rugby Sevens 
M Team NZL 
Rugby Sevens 
W Team NZL 
Sailing 
M 49er Burling/Tuke 
Silver 
Cycling - Road 
W Individual time trial L. Villumsen 
Cycling - Track 
M Keirin E. Dawkins 
Rowing 
M Lightweight Four NZL 
Rowing 
W Pair Prendergast/Gowler 
Rowing 
M Single Sculls M. Drysdale 
Sailing 
W 470 Aleh/O. Powrie 
Swimming 
W 800m Freestyle L. Boyle 
Bronze 
Athletics 
W Shot Put V. Adams 
Cycling - Track 
M Team Pursuit NZL 
Rowing 
W Eight NZL 
Rowing 
W Single Sculls E. Twigg 
Sailing 
M 470 Willcox/Snow-Hansen

taniwharugby

Carrington got silver in the K1 500m at latest event, isn't this her main event? First loss (or not 1st) in a long time?

The Silver Fern

Olympic Optimism