OlympicsFan

Maybe, maybe not. Your comment is nonsensical, but that isn't 100 % your fault. I didn't provide a "metric" to measure the popularity. In the end the ranking depends on the "metric" we use and i think it will be difficult to agree on a "metric". You could for example look at the tv ratings, the number of followers on Instagram or the money the top stars in each sport make. I think the top stars in ice hockey make clearly more money than the top stars in handball/volleyball/rugby, but maybe i am wrong.

I think the popularity ranking of olympic team sports is as follows: Football Basketball Ice hockey Rugby/Handball/Volleyball Water polo/Field hockey Would be interesting to compare where swimming/athletics/tennis/golf/road cycling/biathlon/alpine skiing/snowboard rank in comparison.

Didn't know that "Perfect Days" was the japanese entry, given that it was made by a german director. Would have been better to enter it for Germany and to allow Japan to enter "Monster".

@Whoever moderates this Forum: If you don't want to prevent worstmen from constantly spamming this thread with his propaganda (making this thread unreadable and preventing people from discussing any other topic), could you maybe at least prevent him from spamming 2 threads (this thread and the "General Chat" thread) at the same time with the same propaganda?

I think in handball Germany will finish 5th or 6th at the european championships and (if they qualify) it will be roughly the same in Paris. France, Denmark and Norway all have more quality, so normally Germany should beat them maybe 2-3 times out of 10. Spain and Sweden also have more quality in my opinion, but Germany might be able to beat them 3-4 times out of 10. Men's basketball: The goal should be to win a medal. I think the US, Canada and maybe also France/Serbia should be favored over Germany. Women's basketball: Not qualifying would be a disappointment and if they should qualify, then they should aim at making it ouf of the group. Men's volleyball: The goal should be to make it out of the group. Women's volleyball: Don't see any chance that they will qualify. Men's football: Won't compete in Paris. Women's football: I think it is pretty unlikely that they will qualify. Men's hockey: The goal should be to win a minor medal (if they qualify). Women's hockey: The goal should be to win a minor medal (if they qualify). Men's/Women's water polo/rugby: Won't compete in Paris Women's handball: The goal should be to qualify and then to make it out of the group. Overall: The goal should be to win 2-3 medals in team sports.

1) What exactly is the point of your comment? You can't expect me to lead a discussion in good faith with you after you come in putting words in my mouth in order to frame me. With this childish behavior you shouldn't bother to answer me in the future. 2) Your argument about Grotian obviously doesn't make sense. Grotian at 19 is now slower than she was last year with 18, this isn't "developing at different speeds" it is "regressing", which absoutely shouldn't be seen as normal for someone of her age. February 28th, 2021

Crazy how much depth Norway has on the men's side. I think the following guys from IBU cup could all immidiately fight for the top 10 at world cup level: Frey (born 2003) Nevland (born 2001) Uldal (born 2001) Oeverby (born 2000) Botn (born 1999) Soerum (born 1998) It will be really difficult for their younger guys (who currently compete in the junior cup) to even make it to the IBU cup. Riethmüller (born 1999) from Germany and Müllauer (born 2003) from Austria are also very promising. Hopefully they will soon get a chance.

1) Denmark 2) France 3) Norway 4) Spain 5) Sweden 6) Germany 7) Hungary 8) Portugal 9) Croatia 10) Netherlands 11) Slovenia 12) Serbia

Absolutely shocked by Grotian's development. Not sure what happened during the summer, but her off-season must have been horrible. She can't even dominate at IBU cup level. Normally she should completely destroy a mediocre talent like Ida Lien. Hopefully Tannheimer will do better at world cup level than Grotian. For the next world cup station i would like the following german teams: Women: Preuß, Hettich-Walz, Tannheimer, 3 out of Kebinger/Voigt/Schneider/Grotian Men: Doll, Nawrath, Horn, Kühn, Riethmüller, Fratzscher/Kaiser

Most chocking or most shocking? Germany also competed without Voigt + this week will show if Hettich-Walz is really better than Tannheimer.

Don't have any information on that, but i think it would also be interesting to speculate who might medal at both the 2024 youth olympic games and the 2026 winter olympic games. I think the sport where the transition is the fastest/easiest are figure skating, ski freestyle and snowboard. In short track and ski jumping it seems also possible, but in most other sports it seems almost impossible. One exception might be Colturi in alpine skiing.

Personally i don't understand why the youth olympics have to "overlap" with the alpine skiing junior world championships. I think this will prevent some of the best talents from competing at the youth olympics. At least one of the best german athletes (Laila Illig) who would have been eligible to compete at the youth olympics won't compete.

German team: https://www.dosb.de/sonderseiten/news/news-detail/news/90-junge-team-d-athleteninnen-fuer-gangwon-2024-nominiert 90 athletes, 54 girls and 36 boys. Athletes by sport: - Biathlon: 8 (4 girls and 4 boys) - Curling: 6 (3 girls and 3 boys) - Ice hockey: 18 (all girls) - Figure skating: 2 (1 girl and 1 boy) - Speed skating: 4 (2 girls and 2 boys) - Monobob: 3 (all boys) - Nordic combined: 4 (2 girls and 2 boys) - Luge: 11 (6 girls and 5 boys) - Short track: 2 (1 girl and 1 boy) - Skeleton: 4 (2 girls and 2 boys) - Alpine skiing: 6 (3 girls and 3 boys) - Cross country: 6 (3 girls and 3 boys) - Ski freestyle: 7 (4 girls and 3 boys) - Ski jumping: 4 (2 girls and 2 boys) - Snowboard: 5 (3 girls and 2 boys) Athletes to watch: - Finn Sonnekalb (speed skating) - Romy Ertl (alpine skiing) - Muriel Mohr (ski freestyle) - Kona Ettel (snowboard)

Sadly i found out about this too late. My answers would have been: 1. JANUARY - Who will win the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship? 2. FEBRUARY - Who will win Men's Pursuit event at the 2024 Biathlon World Championships? (J. Boe) 3. MARCH - Who will win Ladies event in 2024 Figure Skating World Championships? (K. Sakamoto) 4. APRIL - Who will win Golf Masters Tournament in 2024? (J. Rahm) 5. MAY - Who will 2024 Ice Hockey IIHF World Championship? 6. JUNE* - Who will win UEFA EURO 2024? 7. JULY* - Which NOC will win the most medals in total in Paris 2024 olympics? 8. AUGUST* - Which NOC will win the most gold medals in Paris 2024 olympics? 9. SEPTEMBER - Who will win Tennis Ladies Singles event in 2024 US Open? (C. Gauff) 10. OCTOBER - Who will win 2024 World Series (Baseball)? 11. NOVEMBER - Who will win ATP Finals in Singles event? (N. Djokovic) 12. DECEMBER - Who will win World Drivers' Championships in F1 2024 season?

Complete domination by Norway once again, their skiing speed is just superior. Even someone like Botn can come out of nowhere and put up the fastest skiing time right after moving up from the IBU Cup. With the abundance of talent in cross-country skiing i don't really see an end to their domination. I guess all biathlon fans should be thankful that FIS doesn't reduce the number of norwegians that are allowed to compete in the cross-country skiing world cup, otherwise their dominance in biathlon would probably become even more absurd. I wonder what would happen if countries like France, Sweden or Germany would completely focus on biathlon and give up on their men's cross-country skiing, maybe then the norwegian dominance in biathlon could be broken.

Great result for Emma Aicher, top 15 in giant slalom and the 4th best second run. She could realistically become a podium contender in all disciplines. Colturi on the other hand has been disappointing this season, i thought that she would regularly fight for the top 10. Maybe a dip like that is normal at her age, hopefully she just needs a bit more time.

Is there a reason why the world championships "have to" take place "in the middle" of the season? Why can't the world championships be the last competition of the season? Also: For me Antholz or Hochfilzen are much better stages than Oberhof (Oberhof usually doesn't really feel like a "natural" place to host a winter sport competition), so personally i would have no problem if IBU would get rid of at least one german stage, but i absolutely don't see them doing that, given that Germany is the biggest market. Maybe climate change will make it impossible to host those competitions in Germany in the future, so IBU will have no choice. Personally i think that it is borderline insane to continually host winter sport competitions in places without natural snow.

You can have that opinion, but your opinion doesn't really make sense. Biathlon isn't really a thing outside of Europe, so the best athletes are all european and pretty much only european fans care about biathlon. "World cup" doesn't have to stand for "All over the world cup", it can stand for "Best in the world cup" and that is exactly what it is. The only plausible reason to host world cups outside of Europe would be to try establish the sport in countries like China, USA or Canada, but if that isn't really a realistic goal (because biathlon never will be a thing in Canada/USA/China), then it wouldn't be in anyone's best interest to host world cups outside of Europe. Athletes from Pan America, Africa, Asia and Oceania are irrelevant in biathlon and i doubt that they will ever be relevant, so they don't really matter. Fairness isn't a relevant category. If hosting world cups outside of Europe is a bad business decision, then they shouldn't host world cups outside of Europe.

Number of individual world cup podiums (world championships included) for the german team: 2019/2020: 14 2020/2021: 13 2021/2022: 14 2022/2023: 12 2023/2024 with 32 races left: 12

Stupid take obviously. Germany is the biggest market for biathlon, so getting rid of a german world cup stage would be a clear sign of mental retardation. The beginning of January isn't the right time for Oberhof though, it should host a world cup at the end of January or beginning of February. Sadly there aren't many places left with guaranteed snow at this time of the year. Canada, the US and Japan are irrelevant in biathlon + the problem with travelling. Russia isn't an option for obvious reasons and a country like Kazakhstan also isn't really an option. Maybe they should (have less world cup stages and) don't go to central Europe until the end of January, only Finland/Sweden/Norway before that. Maybe something like: December: Östersund + Trondheim (not sure if they have a venue) January: Oslo + KontiolahtIi + Antholz + Annecy February: Oberhof + Ruhpolding + Nove Mesto March: World championships (Hochfilzen, Lenzerheide, Pokljuka)

My own predictions for Germany: 30-32 medals

The 100 best male footballers in 2023 according to The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2023/dec/19/the-100-best-male-footballers-in-the-world-2023 Some interesting choices. Personally i find it difficult to for example compare a goalkeeper and a striker, i think it would be better to have a top 10 for every position.

I really would have liked to nominate Bellingham for the breakthrough award, but i don't want to take any of the other athletes off the list. Maybe he could be a candidate next year (if he wins the european championships and/or the champions league), but i guess he was already too good this year for him to still possibly qualify for the breakthrough award next year. I think someone like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander belongs in the same category.

My predictions: Male: Alcaraz or Marchand Female: Biles or McIntosh Youth: McIntosh Men's team: USA basketball Women's team: Spain football Breakthrough: Extremely difficult to predict, possible candidates: Kharun, Pan Zhanle, Wiffen, Heilman, Laros, Zhoya, Neugebauer, Topic, Furlani, Zaire-Emery Comeback: Extremely difficult to predict, possible candidates: Dressel, Miller-Uibo, Thompson-Herah, Van Niekerk, Mihambo, Wlodarczyk, Thiam, Peaty, Nadal Breakthrough: Only athletes who never won an individual medal on the world stage before Comeback: Athletes who underperformed the previous year or didn't compete due to injury I think in a year with summer olympic games most awards will go to athletes who excelled at the olympics, which will make it difficult for athletes in winter sports to shine. If this wouldn't be an olympic year, i could have seen someone like Botn win the breakthrough award. Maybe it would be better to have all awards seperated by winter and summer sports. Personally i find it difficult to hand awards to winter sports athletes when they compete against summer sports athletes (since there is usually more competition in summer sports).

Not a fan of some of the categories. Would like to see categories like "best athlete over 40" or "best athlete by continent". Nominations: Male: 1st choice: Djokovic 2nd choice: Marchand 3rd choice: Boe 4th choice: Odermatt 5th choice: Stolz 6th choice: Vingegaard Female: 1st choice: Kipyegon 2nd choice: O'Callaghan 3rd choice: Biles 4th choice: Shiffrin 5th coice: Vu Youth: 1st choice: McIntosh 2nd choice: Lebrun 3th choice: Zaire-Emery 4th choice: Lee Chae-un 5th choice: Brookes 6th choice: Qiyuan Breakthrough: 1st choice: Haiyang 2nd choice: Stolz 3rd choice: Gauff 4th choice: Malinin 5th choice: Loutitt 6th choice: Tebogo Comeback: 1st choice: Biles 2nd choice: Meilutyte 3rd choice: McEvoy 4th choice: Johnson-Thompson Men's team: 1st choice: Germany basketball 2nd choice: Denmark handball 3rd choice: South Africa rugby Women's team: 1st choice: Spain football 2nd choice: Australia women's 4 x 100 m free relay 3rd choice: Australia women's 4 x 200 m free relay 4th choice: France handball