Maman Poulet

The Australian Olympics Committee are taking a case against the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation (FIBT) at the Court of Arbitration. The Court has set up an office in Vancouver ahead of the Winter Olympics which starts next Friday.

The outcome of the case affects the Irish Women’s Bobsleigh team who thought they had qualified and were getting settled in. Yes we have a team – Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin qualified in 19th place. However the Australian women’s team, who were slower than the Irish, are saying that there should be a place for them in the Olympics due to an understanding about the participation of a team from Oceania. Japan is already in there in 20th place (yup Ireland were also quicker than the Japanese!)

The Australian Olympic Committee have dispatched a lawyer from Sydney to help out.

In a situation that brings to mind the movie Cool Runnings, based on a true story about an underdog bobsled team from Jamaica, the team say they are being shut out of the opportunity to represent Australia.

Loch-Wilkinson and McIntosh had expected they would automatically be awarded a berth in the event as the top-ranked representatives of Oceania under the rules of International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.

”If any continent is not represented in the top 20 rankings, it was always an understanding that they would get a spot,” Loch-Wilkinson told The Sun-Herald from Canada.

But the team, which just missed out on a top 20 ranking, found out 10 days ago there would be no berth for Oceania as part of an International Olympic Committee attempt at tightening athlete numbers.

The Court of Arbitration have announced that they will hear the case tomorrow – they were due to hear it yesterday. There are snippets about this in the Sunday Independent and Irish Times but no radio call ins, national gnashing of teeth etc ala Henry’s handball….yet

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It’s been a while since I’ve brought you news on a Bertie earner - being the recession and all I suppose times are tough for the Iar Taoiseach and the way he might scratch a few euros to make up for his pension levy losses.

However news reaches us today of Bertie Ahern’s signing as the newest columnist with the Irish News of the Screws – entitled Bertie Ahern Talks Sport, the column will bring us the opinions of Dublin Centrals’ finest on sports at home and abroad.

‘It’s no secret that I am sports-mad and this column will give me the chance to look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Irish and international sport. Let’s hope I end up writing about Ireland qualifying for the World Cup, winning the Six Nations again and Padraig Harrington lifting a few more Majors.”

That’s code for earners to all the 6 nations Matches and a few Major’s so?

And is Bertie the first former prime minister to have a sports column? He says in the press release from the NOTW that he’ll have to set aside his allegiances to Dublin GAA (not so difficult after yesterday) and Manchester United for his new role.  His first column will be published this weekend in what Geoff Frazer, the editor of the Irish News of the World says ‘will be an unmissable read for every sports fan in Ireland. ‘

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Blogging on Maman Poulet might be a bit light cos I’ve caught the Olympics bug – struck down terribly I am.

However I’m still reading – and in fact consuming a lot of Olympic blogging. Over at the Irish Times we have Sean (Sean who??) – who seemingly is being paid to stay up all night to watch the Olympics. Not a bad idea on the sports editors part to hire him – the Guardian do up all night blogging and all day live blogging of sports for that matter. Last night it was Beach Volleyball, Swimming and Volleyball that had him trying to stay awake.

Meanwhile at RTE’s Olympic website there is a veritable feast of Olympic blogging going on. We have Con Murphy, John Kenny and Gearóid Mac Donncha blogging as Gaelige. However it’s the work of George Hamilton which has piqued my interest (ok when I saw it I knew there was fodder for many a post and perhaps even a Green Ink Cartoon could appear to Ireland’s newest blogging superstar- Fustar could be writing manys a post on George Hamilton and the Back Seat Drivers might be spurred into lots of more regular posting – a silly season of Hamilton induced blogging if you will.)

The sports fans amongst you will realise that George Hamilton is no ordinary sports commentator. Years before internet fan websites were ten a penny – we had Dangerhere.com in homage to the commentator and his love for putting his foot in it. A indepth explanation on George and his special talent is available here and here.

Hamilton has taken to this blogging lark with ease and is regaling us with tales of eating in Beijing. He’s also trying to give us a bit of politics and culture on the side in his own special way!!

You’ll note that from his pic his computer runs on windows 95 or something so we know that George is not a man who likes new ideas!

Today’s entry might make it into the food blogging category in next years blog awards!

We needed somewhere to get down to business and discuss the discus, and everything else that’s on the agenda from Friday in the Bird’s Nest, so we found ourselves a sweet little French-themed restaurant, up a typical side alley in what is as near as it gets to downtown Beijing.

The menu offered the tomato and mozzarella starter so beloved of my colleague, and a steak in pepper sauce. We both went for both.

The insalata caprese was delightful, we were both raving about it, and I was just about to add that it was equally delightful that we were back in the kind of territory that we know, where you get the opportunity to have a first course before the second lands on the table (or worse, the main course is there before the soup), when, lo and behold, around the corner came the steak. Ah well, when in Rome. Or Beijing.

But then came our visit to Ristorante L’Isola. Now this is so far east of our digs, it’s in a different weather system. We left home in a thunderstorm, and arrived in the peace and quiet of an evening of oriental calm. Beside the Mercedes-Benz dealership. On the first floor of an office tower.

But it was an exquisite Italian restaurant that was as good as it gets. Bean salad with tuna for Tony, bresaola with rocket and parmesan for me, followed by osso bucco for him and sea bass for me. Then tiramisu and a blueberry confection with raspberries.

All enjoyed at a table in this bang up-to-date dining room with a floor to ceiling window through which we delighted in the sights of a busy unfamiliar city at night. Broad street, bright lights, flowing traffic, with the occasional reminder that we were in China, like the guy on the bicycle pulling the trailer loaded high with whatever it was he had to get to wherever.

Ah yes down hanging out with the real people our George – with just a brief reminder whilst glugging the Chianti that he was in China working on the Olympics and partly responsible for bringing it to our screens.

The thing is, when you’re on the ground in Beijing, your preconceptions shoot right out the window. We become conditioned by what we’ve learned from the media that we use. We take comfort from the fact that it’s so far away and so different.

Yet, when you arrive, and get down among the locals and experience life as they live it, you are struck by a bolt between your eyes. This is a big city populated by people, exactly like every other one you’ve ever been to, be it London, Paris, New York, or Sydney.

So in the world according to George the regular Beijing ‘life as they live it’ experience involves eating in French and Italian Restaurants downing caprese salads and Osso Bucco! Beijing we are informed is a ‘A big city populated with people.’ (As opposed to Martians I suppose but George is to be ever to be relied upon for under or over statements!)

If you want more you should read all about George’s experience of Chinese hotel breakfasts and how they have become more international and the service has suffered since his arrival. I can’t wait till the athletics start and we’ll have more insights into George’s foray’s into lunch on the run! You never know perhaps he’ll meander into human rights or political blogging or maybe Beijing is like any other city in the world and there are no human rights concerns for it’s residents.

UPDATE: Wednesday’s missive from George is his search for a Starbucks .

Lunchtime arrived, and thinking back to our last excursion when several Starbucks flashed by the taxi window, I thought I’d seek one out for the Chinese version of the experience.

As I think I’ve indicated, I’m discovering a latent desire to restrict my intake of slippery dumplings and egg fried rice. Not that I’ve anything against them. Just not every night.

So I seized the day, and armed with the address of the nearest Seattle coffee shop transliterated into Chinese characters, headed off in a taxi to God knows where.

We then get loads of macho stuff about how he got followed by someone as he looked. He managed to lose the person who he called ‘Gum Shoes’. Someone has been watching far too much Mike Hammer!!

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Oops a sport’s post! I am a bit of a sports addict – as in the armchair variety. Later this year I hope to combine my interest in disability and society and sport in writing some posts on the Paralympics as I know some of the paralympians and know how little coverage they get, and I’m fed up of how a lot of that coverage will be about their bravery, their bodies and extremeness and and how they don’t work, how the athletes ‘overcome their disabilities’ and quirky posts about boccia.

Which brings me to the issue of Oscar Pistorius. Someone has called him ‘Blade Runner’ probably not Oscar but it’s stuck. Pistorius received a ruling from the Court of Arbitration yesterday which means that he can try to qualify for the Olympics and other athletics events- only right and proper.

However this comment from Tanni Grey Thompson had me thinking.

“For Oscar, it is huge and I can understand why he is doing it,” She said. “He will be the first Paralympian who is truly known worldwide and the movement will benefit from it. But the argument goes much deeper than Oscar.

If he runs at the Olympics, they have to take his event out of the Paralympics because I would not want the Paralympics race becoming the ‘B’ event . . .

If Oscar is seen to be making the jump from Paralympics to Olympics, then the Paralympics is immediately B finals . . . He has always said he wants to run both but there is something about that which does not feel quite right . . . It is the whole future of his event at the Paralympics Games which is under discussion.”

I had never seen Oscar’s quest to compete in the Olympics as dissing the Paralympics or damaging it in anyway. Tanni has always been for me a bit on the conservative side in her sports politics and her disability politics also. However I do wonder how the double amputees who run sprint events and are training for the Paralympics this year are feeling this morning. In the Paralympics they run against each other and don’t get the coverage. In the quest for competing in the Olmypics an athlete gets called Blade Runner with focus on the mechanics and lots of accusations of privilege – some made in the way drugs cheats get pointed to.

I see the Paralympics and wanting to run in the Olympics as both being about equality. Well I think I do? Are my glasses rose tinted?

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• Blade Runner free to try for Olympics [via Zemanta]

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Tonights Six One News contained the usual sports report with Colm Murray. Steven Staunton has announced his squad for the forthcoming internationals. Not a lot of interest probably as qualificiation is virtually impossible probably involving 5 Bulgarians scoring 20 goals against Lithuania.

But what was very interesting was the Staunton philosophy on Irish leadership and what he and Bertie Ahern have in common- he said that his recent difficulties were just something in the media, that Eddie O’Sullivan will survive his little problems and is probably hoping that the soccer matches come quickly and everyone will forget about it. ‘If it’s the rugby, if its the soccer, it’s the gaelic, even if it’s the Taoiseach.’

So this is how it works – Can’t manage a soccer team, no bother. Can’t manage a rugby team and get us out of a qualification group at a world cup, no bother. Can’t get the story right at a tribunal and don’t have a bank account when a government minister, no bother. Media and public complain about it a lot (unless ye are from Dundalk) no bother. It will all pass over! Watch and learn! (Click on the sports news link for the Real Player clip – about 3 minutes in.) Who needs a spin doctor or other over paid guru when one has an overpaid soccer manager who can disperse such wisdom!

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Sky News reports that Mourinho has left Stamford Bridge.

BBC News 24 report that senior players received text messages this evening confirming Jose Mourinho’s departure

So no more special one on Today FM? What will Mario Rosenstock do? I predict a No. 1 Record with a new version of ‘I think I better leave right now!

Update 1
Chelsea Fanzine Editor reports seeing Mourinho at a screening of the soccumentary ‘The Blue Revolution’ earlier this evening and all seemed well.

BBC 5 Live cannot confirm if he was pushed or he left voluntarily. An emergency meeting of the Chelsea Board was held this evening and senior players received texts from Jose himself.

Update 2

Some Gift Grub Youtube Links – Shaddup your Face

Jose and his Technicolour Overcoat

Update 3

1.09am – Sky News now say Mourinho was ’sacked’. BBC News 24 say that he resigned and there is nothing official yet blah blah blah. And I’m off to my bed, unusual fodder for Maman Poulet, normal blogging will return when the inspiration hits!

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Or how I got through the Liverpool/Chelsea match tonight! The night before the election I think is when the final is due! Now will it be against Manchester United?

Anyway whilst I bit my way through the match I researched and wrote this for Irish Election – more of this throughout the campaign.

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A few weeks ago I’m sure that some of the Irish sports journalists who were sent to Jamaica to cover the ICC World Cup were happy enough to be packing their sun block and t-shirts for a brief holiday and sending home a few quirky reports on our team of part timers and amateurs. Well a few days, a draw and a win and the tragic death of the coach of the team that Ireland beat and that has all changed.

RTE to be fair seem to have committed a lot of resources to following Ireland in the World Cup. On their website you can read the diaries/blogs of one of the journalists, John Kenny and a fan, Ed Leahy. Lots of Irish bloggers have been brushing up on their over rates, power plays and the like. And you can watch the highlights of the Pakistan match including the performance of the Blarney Army on Youtube.

As someone who has followed cricket since I was 12 I probably would have thrown a eye to the coverage on Sky Sports but the last few days have turned into compulsive viewing as the team of part timers and two professionals faced down Pakistan and won. Bring on West Indies (ah we haven’t a hope there – but that is what I said before the Pakistan match) and bring on England in the super 8’s.

For the Irish Cricket Union themselves, well they do not seem to have their own website – this seems to be some sort of european cricket portal that the ICU are part of. Well I would suggest they get their act together or someone gives them a dig out because the next time Ireland play a home match against a professional side from the UK the queue for tickets will be out the door and round the corner. There might be a few youngsters turning up to try out for some of the local sides in the coming months too as they try to follow the steps of Ed Joyce who is one of the few Irish born players earning a crust at the game.

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17.26 John Inverdale apologises to BBC viewers on the ‘Mainland’ for overuse of term historic

This is after a video package attempting to explain why England playing at Croker is so historic, complete with newspaper clippings and son’s of players who played in that match 87 years ago.

So John when will you be apologising to Irish viewers for the use of the term ‘Mainland’. All that being nice and making sure everyone knows why it’s a bit sensitive and you go put your foot in it again.

Anyway the anthems  passed off peacefully – although I’m sure I saw some tears on Irish players faces during Amhran na Bhfiann…

It’s quiet outside finally for a while – well the next 80 minutes plus halftime…

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One week into independent living in Dublin City Centre Maman Poulet gets a chance at some citizen journalism

It’s all kicking off outside the apartments this afternoon as England on tour visit the alien land of the northside on their way to Croker. I’m not brave enough to venture up to the Hill 16 establishment to see if they have opened their arms to the visiting brethern. However I’ve just been up Talbot street to get in my own pre match supplies (ciabatta and chicken fillets – very southside really!)

There are Gardai everywhere, helicoptered and on foot and in vans. Two English lads have just been arrested for scrapping, nice bit of blood on show. And it’s only 3 o’clock!

Later tonight I’m venturing out to review the Sunday Papers on Taste on Newstalk. Wish me luck as I brave the streets (Come on Ireland!)

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