Michael

@CrankyGuardian @tdavis032101 @thewinterdollx See if you can get one to qualify and we’ll start a campaign supporting you… until then stfu

@tdavis032101 @thewinterdollx Because polar bears have as much right to compete with women as men

I’ll entertain the trans ban in the Olympics if someone can name 3 trans women who have competed in the Olympics.

@cmclymer @DennisPassa I was on his table at a lunch one day. A humble champion

@DennisPassa I’m jealous you got to interview him, Mr. Passa!

It annoys me that so many people are under the impression that this guy, Steven Bradbury, is some subpar goober who lucked his way into gold. That could not be further from the truth. This is one of the most satisfying victories in the history of the Olympics if you know the full backstory. This medal final was during his fourth Olympics, in Salt Lake City in 2002. Earlier in his career, he was among the best athletes in the world in this specific event, the 1000 meter short-track men's speed skate. But despite his talent, he just had some of the shittiest luck in the sport. We're talking a decade of shit luck. In the '94 Winter Olympics, he was considered the odds-on favorite to take gold, but he fell in his heat after getting illegally pushed by an opponent (who was later disqualified). He didn't get a re-do. That was it. He got shoved by some asshole, and his Olympics was over. Then in the '98 Winter Olympics, he was a favorite to at least medal in the same event but got caught up in a collision that wasn't his fault and failed to advance. In 1994, he got his thigh sliced open by a competitor's skate during a race, which required 111 stitches and 18 months of recovery time. In 2000, he broke his neck during training because a skater in front of him fell and tripped him up. That required a bunch of screws and plates being inserted into his skull and back and chest. And doctors told him that he should stop skating. But he didn't wanna give up. It meant too much to him. So, there he was in Salt Lake City in 2002, past his prime, a walking erector set, going up against opponents who were faster and younger and in their prime. He manages to win his heat and advance to the quarterfinal but then has the shit luck (yet again) of having to go up against the best two athletes in the quarterfinal and only the top two advance. He finishes third and thinks: "Damn, I gave it my best shot." But then, the second place finisher is disqualified, so Bradbury gets to advance to the semifinal. Now, at this point, he's thinking: Well, shit, I'm not as fast as these younger guys, and I got a bad habit of getting taken out by crashes that aren't my fault. So, he consults with the Australian national coach, Ann Zhang, and they decide that he should hang back from the pack and hope the pack crashes. That is a perfectly valid strategy. If you crash, you lose, but speed skaters risk crashing to gain an advantage in order to win. It may not feel exciting, but it is a valid strategy and just as risky: avoid crashes entirely and hope that pays off. It paid off in the semifinal: the pack, including the defending Olympic champion, jostled too much and crashed. Bradbury wins and advances. So, he's improbably in the final and takes the same approach, and it works: the entire pack jostles too much and crashes, and Bradbury's risk of hanging back pays off. This victory was not some un-athletic schlub lucking his way into gold. It was a journeyman athlete who never gave up and played smart after a career of shitty luck and finally got his due after it being snatched away from him so many times. Hands down, one of my favorite Olympics stories.

@davidking34 @Matt__Welsh_ My horse ran 43.77 for 800m from the stand. I don’t think any horse has run faster. He also went 49.27s for 900m.

@Matt__Welsh_ At risk of this being a stupid question, why not the last split?

Question for racing people : What’s the fastest a horse can possibly run 200mts / 1 furlong ? And, what’s the fastest we’ve seen?

@lukeR15sky @Bgal1486 He’s also not reliant on a CA wage anymore. T20 keeps the lights on. And as great as Rodney was, he was definitely not “the first fast bowler recogni(s)ed in world cricket”.

@Bgal1486 Rodney hogg played over 100 games for Australia taking over 200 wickets. He was the first fast bowler recognized in world cricket. That's harsh, cmon mate.

Cameron green will most likely miss the back end of the shield due to the world cup. This is where cricket Australia should grow a spine and say, you want to play in the bangldesh series and South Africa. Then you skip the world cup and play shield. Absolutely pathetic

@jlandsme_93 Hard agree

@sammcclennan @MarkGottlieb So we’re doing the House of Saud next?

@MarkGottlieb Nicolás Maduro was never the legitimate head of state. He lost his election and has held onto power through authoritarian rule backed by the military.

The United States just attacked a foreign country and kidnapped their president and his wife. What. The. Fuck.

@RobertG7958 @MarkGottlieb Do you have CTE

@MarkGottlieb They and several other countries were involved in stealing 72 countries elections over the last 10 years which is a act of war , Trump is operating under the rules of the Law of War manual, this is totally legal

@just_plain_Rick @rachelrwithers Abbott showed they are solely about besmirching your political enemies with no tangible outcome

@rachelrwithers Royal Commissions are not about action, they’re expensive, toothless enquires, which take so long that the time for action is long past and is easily ignored. It’s better to act now, as Albo is doing, and check the results later. We know the background to this already

Just saw one of those "sports stars join call for RC" posts on instagram (Grant Hackett, newscomau), and decided to check what the commenters thought. Not lefties on x, not the political class, but the people who comment on insta (and no, this is not a scientific method)...

Grow up.., imagine blaming children because you took a dead end job. Aussie kids are out there dominating sport

@MarkGottlieb She’s a soulless ghoul born of zirconia come human

Sharri Markson’s father made his fortune trying to squeeze every dollar out of the 15 minutes of fame from so many Aussies. She should know from personal experience that this sort of horsetrading from various competing hangers-on is incredibly normal. Instead she smears a hero.

@MarkGottlieb @footyindustryAU @brisbanesport67 And he was very wary of exactly that reaction in his SEN interview yesterday. Cricket is very largely beholden to the weather but this is on the MCG staff’s choice. Other people are likely to lose their job because of those decisions

@footyindustryAU @brisbanesport67 CA could maybe hire a "national pitch manager" or something if they wanted to go down this route but if I was a professional curator/groundsman and Todd Greenberg turned up to tell me what to do I'd tell him to go eff himself.

Credit to MCG curator Matt Page for fronting up to a large press pack this morning on what should’ve been a monster 3rd day of test cricket in front of 90 thousand fans. That’s the sort of accountability you rarely see from others. #AUSvENG #TheAshes

@TraceyLeeHolmes @G1Collmen CÁ doesn’t control the pitches although after that disaster maybe they should take some control. Greenberg was on SEN yesterday morning and wasn’t shying from what a disaster it was

@G1Collmen I think the spin was putting him up and not hearing from CA. Where is CA?

MCC Head Curator, Matthew Page, perfectly explains the pitch in Melbourne for the captivating test match - weather, forecasts, and the ‘game has changed’. Absolutely. I hope the heat is off him, turns to the quality of batsmen, and Cricket Australia’s plan for future test matches. Is it time to go to 3-day tests? #Ashes2025

@MarkGottlieb Didn’t he also have Covid in one

There's a bit of a myth around Matt Renshaw in test cricket. People think he got a huge go at it. He didn't. He played 14 tests across 3 stints in the side. One of which was being called in after sandpaper-gate. Just 5 in Australia. Bloke has never had a fair shake.

@aboutasteph express delivery bag (G not E)

ok so when i was sick i had to use uber for bakers delight and this was written on the bag by the staff, does anyone know what ED BAE means? 🤣😟

@AdamBurnett09 Incredible storytelling and so very brave by Terry. John Stackpoole is still about the Gators always has a junior team named after him.

I started out on this piece wanting to pay tribute to Martin Bedkober. Fifty years after his death, I didn’t think his story had really been told. Then I met Terry O’Connell. Two men. Both very deserving of a voice, which I hope this story gives them. cricket.com.au/news/4409516

@tmase04 @Page1991Adam And a beautiful big horse. Myles Plumb “trained” him

@Page1991Adam I backed Perlin on debut at Bendigo in 2002; he bolted in at $5. I also backed him at $2.40 during the Flemington carnival and he won again. Won the ‘05 Underwood. Talented animal.

It was once a regular occurrence that Team Williams would unveil an unraced 3yo here in Oz, but I can’t remember the last time that happened? This gelding is set to debut at Kembla Grange on Thursday.

Both kids better fielders than Duckworth

@TerryBa84407946 @Quinny_1 Michael Wrona

@Quinny_1 Is that Terry Spargo Calling race ? lol 🙋

A son out of a former top Australian sprinter wins on debut in America. Greenwich Village, out of Houtzen and trained by Bob Baffert won Race 7 at Los Alamitos. Houtzen burst onto the scene winning her first four career starts before finishing fifth in the 2017 Golden Slipper and retired with seven victories. He was purchased for $435,000 at the Keeneland September 2022 sale.

@horsevault @RacingPedigrees

@RubyXMJ Nathan Lyon the only bowler to play every Test