The Examiner's Ben Hann, Brian Allen and Josh Partridge unpack and discuss sports news from across Northern Tasmania. Video by Aaron Smith (6/8/24)
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00:00Welcome one and all to another episode of the Press Box.
00:09It's episode 63.
00:10My name's Ben Hand, joined once again by Brian Allen and Josh Partridge.
00:15We're right into the middle of the Olympics, into the second week.
00:19Not a lot of sleep being had by us three collectively, but you know, it's once every four years,
00:25we'll get over ourselves.
00:27To start off with, we've got everyone's favourite segment, Numerology.
00:36Now fellas, today, another golf one, but it's Olympics themed as well.
00:40I was watching on, I think, Sunday night, the golf, the final round of the golf, Scottish
00:47Sheffield ultimately won, but the home favourite, Victor Perez, who, you know, was just, brought
00:53rupturous applause every hole he went through, had an amazing back nine and almost stole
00:59a medal right at the death, and he shot 63 in that last round, which was his best round
01:05for the tournament.
01:07So, what a nice little bit of happenstance for you there, Ben.
01:11I certainly wasn't scrambling for anything before that.
01:14But we do have an action-packed show, obviously, a lot of Olympic stuff going on.
01:19To start off with, now, pretty comfortably, after we talked about it last week, Josh,
01:23probably Tasmania's greatest ever sporting expert, Ariane Titmuss-Bryant.
01:27Yeah.
01:28So, she's had an absolutely excellent campaign, and now she can relax, as she said, post her
01:35final race.
01:36And yeah, she's come away with two gold and two silver, that's covering her 400 metre
01:44gold and silver in that 800 to Katie Ledecky, and also to Molly, a fellow Australian, Molly
01:51O'Callaghan in the 200 metres, and also she's picked up relay gold there as well.
01:58So, just fantastic.
02:01Basically, the weight of the world was on Ariane Titmuss.
02:04She was the face of this Olympic campaign, and it's obviously, you know, something the
02:10Launcester community is very proud of, given that she mostly grew up here.
02:15So, yeah, like, you know, there's been so many articles and commentary around her.
02:21Obviously, you know, the 200 against Molly, like, you know, people are talking about how
02:27it was tough for her to take that she lost that and that sort of stuff.
02:30And I'm sure, you know, you go to win, you never like losing.
02:35But the thing that happened at this Olympics, I feel, in the women's swimming across these
02:40particular events is that Ariane won her pet event, the 400 metres, and she absolutely
02:47powered through it.
02:48She won that convincingly.
02:50And then Molly won the 200, which you could argue that's probably her pet event.
02:54And then Katie Ledecky's won her pet events in the 815.
02:58So sort of everyone has ended up with gold.
03:01And it is really hard to cross disciplines in any sport.
03:06And, yeah, I think that that should not be taken for granted.
03:11Yeah, absolutely.
03:12They have swum all so differently each distance event.
03:15So I completely agree on that front.
03:17And I was lucky enough to get in contact with Steve, and he sort of furthered to your point,
03:22like, just absolutely exhausted.
03:24She's absolutely wrecked after obviously one of the biggest weeks of her entire life.
03:28But he did say as well that the whole Launceston sort of support and how proud everyone is
03:33of her and the family.
03:35They were feeling it every moment of it.
03:38Even though they're in their own little bubble in the Olympic village, they just said it
03:41was just remarkable how much, you know, morning, night, every single day, receiving so much
03:47support from, you know, everyone all over Australia, including Launceston.
03:51So Brian, that brings us to our newest segment.
03:55Cue the sting, Harrod.
03:57We've got Brian's Extremely Difficult Sports Quiz.
04:08In your segment debut, what is your extremely difficult sports quiz for us?
04:14Oh, look, it's an Olympic theme, clearly.
04:17But yeah, looking to bring this one back each week.
04:20Five questions, fellas.
04:22Look, obviously the first to sort of jump in and answer.
04:26This is going to be competitive, isn't it?
04:28I don't think it'll be too sort of messy.
04:31You know, be polite, that sort of stuff.
04:34And yeah, hopefully, yeah, we can continue it and have a lot of fun.
04:38So first question.
04:41So in the paddling, Jess Fox has obviously had a massive campaign for Australia.
04:46And yeah, I'd like to know, she has a younger sister who just achieved gold.
04:53What is her younger sister's name?
04:55Naomi.
04:56Too quick for me.
04:57Yes, but there's a little bit of contention about this answer, because it's no Amy.
05:04Oh, well, I'm taking it.
05:07So, yeah, just a little bit.
05:10Zero points for us.
05:12I didn't know how to say it.
05:14Too technical.
05:15That's why that one has snuck in the quiz.
05:17The next one, obviously, you know, people love getting to the Olympics.
05:22We want to be spotted at it.
05:24And I'd like you to name three celebrities that have been spotted at this Olympics.
05:29The President of France, Macron.
05:32Yep.
05:37Lady Gaga.
05:39And I'll collaborate and I'll get the last one, Queen Mary.
05:43I'm taking 0.66 of a point.
05:47I don't mind that.
05:48I think that probably makes up for Pardo's sort of right but wrong answer at the start.
05:53So, yeah, very good.
05:56So, the next one, this will test you a little bit.
06:00You have to actually have done some listening and research, fellas.
06:03What is the repercharge?
06:05And just name an event it's been introduced in at this Olympics.
06:09At this Olympics.
06:11The repercharge is effectively a system for those who don't automatically qualify for a final
06:17to have a second chance at qualifying for a final.
06:20So, it's often used in things like rowing.
06:23A sport that's been introduced to, though, I'm going to have a guess and go BMX.
06:33I'm not sure.
06:35You've thrown me there because I'm focused purely on the sprints and hurdles.
06:40There you go.
06:41The trash.
06:42It's on the repercharge in the athletics as well.
06:45I'm going to claim benefit of the doubt because you two don't know.
06:51That's not a good sign for the quiz.
06:53Admittedly, it's hard to be across everything.
06:55Exactly.
06:56In what time did Noah Lyles, the American, win the 100-meter sprint and who did he beat by 0.005 seconds?
07:05It was 9.79.
07:07Yes.
07:09And he beat, I can't think of his first name.
07:11Is it Stevenson or Thompson?
07:14Kashane Thompson or something.
07:16Ben's got it.
07:17Ben's got it there.
07:18So, well done.
07:22Who won gold for Australia in the men's tennis doubles?
07:25Matt Edson and John Pearce.
07:27I actually could feel it.
07:29That answer coming before I had the chance to look down and see what it was.
07:35So, that's really good, guys.
07:38What have we got?
07:40So, Pardo, we'll give you that first one.
07:42We'll give you the last one.
07:43So, there's two.
07:44Ben, you can have the celebrities and the repercharge and Noah Lyles.
07:47So, it's probably three-two.
07:49Let's go.
07:52I think we've started pretty well there.
07:55I want the inaugural BDSQ.
08:00We do have to quickly move along, though.
08:04We'll go to you, Josh, for hockey and sort of all other Tasmanian Olympics.
08:07What have we had since our last episode?
08:10Yeah, so Eddie Ockenden and Josh Beltz as a part of the Kookaburras.
08:15They are playing in the men's team, not the women's team, this week.
08:18But, yes, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals, as were the women.
08:22The women were knocked out overnight by China.
08:24Three-two.
08:25A bit of controversy there.
08:26There was kind of, with the last Chinese goal, there was a VAR and all that
08:31as to whether it hit a Chinese player's leg on the way through.
08:34I believe it did, but it doesn't really matter.
08:37No.
08:38And, yeah, we've got Georgia Baker coming up, and you're covering her events, Ben.
08:42Yeah, so it's going to be some very early mornings for me.
08:46But, no, it's going to be great.
08:48She's going to be competing, hopefully, in three separate event finals,
08:51so potential for three medals.
08:53It's going to be great for the Perth cyclist.
08:55She's had such a great time at the Commonwealth Games.
08:57Not so much in the Olympics, but we're hoping this time around
09:00it's a bit different.
09:02Now, our last segment, I think, potentially, everyone's pet segment is
09:07can his heart hit his?
09:17So, the question this week, fellas, in light of that 100-meter final,
09:21where it was so close, where they both finished 9.79 seconds over the line,
09:27if a race like that in 100-meter sprint is decided by less than
09:33one hundredth of a second, should it be a joint gold medal?
09:38Yeah, look, I've watched the race numerous times,
09:42and on initial look, it obviously looks – it's hard to tell who's won that.
09:51It feels like it could be numerous people that could have won that.
09:55On the face of it, yeah, hard to tell on the kind of analytical thing
10:01or whatever they've got.
10:02Yeah, it looks like I'm happy with Noah Lyles winning.
10:07Yeah, it's brutal for Thompson to have lost that way.
10:11But, look, while I'm happy enough with the result,
10:16I just think that there might be a little bit of room for –
10:19like the reportage, we introduced a bit of a face-off, a sprint.
10:24A 1v1.
10:25A 1v1 sort of penalty shoot-out-esque thing,
10:29just a couple of hours down the track, Thompson and Lyles.
10:34To face off, clearly there was so little in it that you could pretty much
10:39call that a tie and have a rerun.
10:42Well, you can tell who's grown up doing athletics and who hasn't,
10:46because here I'm pretty well – just share it.
10:50It showed in the high jump in Tokyo where the two athletes went,
10:54well, can we both have gold?
10:55And they shared it.
10:56That kind of set that precedence, I guess,
10:58as to what could happen at the top level.
11:01So just give it to them both. Why not?
11:03Yeah, I think there is a slight controversy in the sense that
11:06when it's that close, it then becomes a matter of
11:11what body part crosses the line first.
11:13And I think that, yeah, would be so hard to swallow
11:16if you're the person who doesn't benefit from that.
11:19But I think Olympic sports are usually slow to change
11:24to these sorts of things.
11:25And I don't think that's a bad thing necessarily.
11:27And I think maybe having that as upper torso, I think,
11:32as a cut-off line might even be a good thing to stop people from
11:35maybe winning in ways that aren't necessarily fair.
11:38We have run probably overtime this week due to the action-packed
11:42schedule that we had.
11:43We'll see you guys next time out.