Take the stick out of your arse. We have 7 boxers (same or near to number of US) competing now who come from an island the size of one of your states, and currently have three Ring rated no.1's in their division (Calzaghe, Hatton, Haye) so I don't know what you're basing your opinion on.
He qualified for the Olympics over a year ago at the World Championships as a lightweight, as he's a young lad he's put on a bit of muscle since then and has boxing at light welter rather than lightweight for recent tournaments. It's not as he's put on fat and can't boil down. The GB coach, however, was confident that Gavin would be able to make the lightweight limit for the Olympics but unfortunately he hasn't. The whole thing still sucks though.
You mug. You don't even know what you're talking about. He has been training too hard and put on lean muscle. He won the World Championships and has beaten everyone in his weight class. He has been fighting recently at light welter, and would have been able to move up to that for this Olympics once they realised he was too heavy, if it were not for the fact that we have already got another fighter who has qualified in that weight group. Due to the fact that we were taking 8 fighters to the games, only one less than the USA, and given that Britain is the size of Texas with a 5th of the US population, that is not bad really is it?
I'm not so sure it's building muscle in the gym as much as filling out. He's only 22 and is likely to have grown since he qualified. As you say they definitely would have moved him up if there had been a space in the weight class above but they probably thought they'd risk it since Bradley Saunders has a decent chance at a medal as well. Gamble didn't pay off though and now everyone looks pretty stupid.
Btw im from England, and I'm just voicing what i feel affects the majority of our sporting setup. If you honestly believe the self-hype that the British are equal to the leading nations in sports, then the onus is on you to take the stick out of your arse and stay humble. Last i looked, its been a long time since we saw any British teams in any sports maintaining their dominance. Frankie Gavin's failure to meet the weight is a collective failure at not being able to nurture and look after our biggest prospect. I do not deny his talent and will admit that Britain has given us a few good winners now and then. Just consider our position in global sports and then tell me if Britain is on par withe U.S, Russia, or Australia. P.S The muscle theory is a load of 'poppycock'. Are you telling me that from the last weigh-in to now, that Gavin's team missed out that he had gained muscle mass? If it was a mistake as some have insinuated, then this just proves the lack of professionalism on display.
oh, a self-loathing Englishman, how original. The state of British amateur boxing is on the incline. And a steep incline at that. 4 years ago it was Amir on his jones, and now 8 people qualified this time around. 800% is a pretty large figure in anyone's book. Oh and you're talking global sports now? Why bring that up? Britain isn't a particularly sporty nation other than football and we've been about the same on that global stage since 66. We get a clutch of medals every Olympics, and have our almost guaranteed winners of rowing and shooting, with the odd track and field win. That's fine in my book, and I don't see why we need to dominate in the world when sport is such a minor part of our culture. Contrast that to American's who are always desperate to win anything, and Australians who are probably the most arrogant nation on earth.
Rusty j - your comments are rubbish 1) you can't compare Britain to the USA as they have the most diverse population of any country in the world and like Russia have considerably more people which is a far large pool to pick from. 2) Russia has just had around 7 atheletes ejected for taking banned substances and there is talk of systematic doping. 3) Australia are only good at specific disciplines where they have targeted because of the weaker international competition which was due to fact that in the 70's they came back from one olympics with 0 medals. plus they are still rubbish at atheletics 4) You mentioned that we haven't maintained any dominance in sport but are obviously unaware that are cycling team has been dominant for nearly 8 years and are expected to clean up as well as having a strong sailing team.
i read that kerry kayes was helping out with supplements and advice. why on earth didn't he just go as a light welter?
Cos there's already another British boxer qualified at that weight. Frankie qualified at lightweight 9 months ago at the World Championships when he could make the weight.
Im gutted, and thats as a Scotsman. **** sake, the only dead cert for a medal, possibly gold. Wonder if it demoraliuses the rest of the squad, bet it does.