I’m not normally a patriotic punter but with the Olympics being in London I thought I’d get in the spirit of things by trying to find one banker bet. I also decided to look at Team GB’s medal hopes as the host nation can usually expect to win a third more medals;
Beijing 2008
China won 100 medals up from 63 in 2004
Athens 2004
Greece won 16 medals compared to 13 in 2000
*Their best sprinters, Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou, withdrew and has a relatively small population of 11 million
Sydney 2000
Australia won 58 medals this year, more than ever before, up from 41 in 1996
Atlanta 1996
USA went from 108 in 1992 down to 101 in 1996
*They did however increase gold from 37 to 44
Barcelona 1992
Spain won 22 medals up from 4 in 1988
Seoul 1988
South Korea averaged 7 medals in the years leading up to 1988, between 1988 and 2008 they have averaged around 30.
Everyone knows about Ennis, Cavendish and Farah and they may very well win gold. However due to their popularity I won’t be backing them due to the bookies knowing that they can price them short and people will still back them.
Instead I’m looking for events that we are usually good in, have received decent funding but the competitors are not household names…yet.
I do however still want these selections to be ‘Bankers’ so they’ll be short prices to form a decent priced accumulator for some fun with a very good chance of profit.
Rowing
Since 1984, rowing has been the only sport to win a gold medal for Britain at every Olympics, and in Beijing in 2008 only cycling beat its tally of six medals.
That success has seen the rowing team’s funding increase from £9.6m for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, to £10.6m for Athens in 2004, and jump to £26.1m for the Beijing games in 2008. For 2012, the sport leapfrogged athletics to receive the largest pay-out from UK Sport, with £27.5m.
With all of that in mind it seems a good place to start looking for Team GB Bankers. When you think of British rowing you think of Redgrave, Cracknell, Pinsent etc but I’m more interested in the women, as I feel the men’s events will be under-priced.
A British woman have never won a gold medal at the Olympics but that’s about to change with the below two events.
Women’s Coxless Pair
Wednesday 1st August
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning have improved over the last few years. In the last two World Championships they have had to settle for silver behind New Zealand. However this year they have won every race they have competed in. At the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Belgrade, Lucerne and Munich they won all three races by an aggregate of 6.94 seconds. From that form line it looks as though no other boat will have the speed to stay with them.
Women’s Double Sculls
Friday 3rd August
Katherine Grainger has won silver at the last three Olympics, she is now paired with Anna Watkins in the Double Skull, and she is unbeaten in two years. They have won the World Championship in 2011 and the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Belgrade, Lucerne and Munich by and aggregate of 5.18 seconds. A repeat of that form and home advantage should bring a gold medal.
Cycling
In 2005 there were no British cyclists in the Tour de France, 7 years later we came 1st and 2nd. Why is this? It’s surely has something to do with British cycling’s ‘Whole Sport Plan’ 2005-2009 and 2009-2013. These set out to bring cycling more into the public domain; this helped to increase popularity at grassroots level, which in turn brought in more funding and therefore success at the top.
The 2009-2013 version can be read at:
For the purpose of my Olympic betting I am looking for people who aren’t household names. That rules out the events involving Pendleton, Hoy, Cavendish and Wiggins. Instead I’m looking at someone who has the potential to be a star of the future, and that person is Laura Trott. She specialises in Team Pursuit and Omnium. So which of these is the bigger banker?
Women’s Team Pursuit
Saturday 4th August
Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell have shaved 5 seconds off the world record in a year. Australia are the main challengers, however at the 2012 World Championships they were over a second quicker than the Australian team, in Australia. There is no reason to think that they won’t be able to do this again, with home advantage. I also think that they’ll be able to break the World record again.
Triathlon
With high equipment costs (racing bike, wetsuit, triathlon lycra, running shoes…), Triathlon has spent much of its life as a sport only taken up by fitness-mad young professionals and not the Kenyan/Ethiopian athletes who dominate traditional one day endurance events. It is very much a sport for the white middle classes, something which we have in abundance in this country.
Alistair Brownlee
Tuesday 7th August
He dropped out of his medicine degree at Cambridge University in 2006 to concentrate on this sport and has dominated world triathlon for a few years now. He tore his Achilles in February this year but won his comeback race in June, beating his closest rival younger brother Jonathon, by almost a minute! There is no reason to believe that he shouldn’t be able to frank this form in Hyde Park.
He fits the mould of a Triathlon competitor and has the class and determination needed for gold, he can run 10,000m on the road in times only a couple of minutes slower than the fastest track times in the world and this after swimming 1500m and cycling 40k.
Anything at 4.00 (3/1) or over on all 4 to win is value to me
Great Britain Women - Team Pursuit Winner (Cycling)
Great Britain Women - Double Sculls Winner (Rowing)
Great Britain Women - Coxless Pair Winner (Rowing)
Alistair Brownlee - Olympic Triathlon Mens Winner
