[POLL] How was your 2018 speaking about Sports only?

[vlad 371]

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

As a Brazilian, it was an good year.

First, I always follow closely results of the "big three" sports (athletics, swimming and gymnastics) because together they award a huge number of medals at the Olympics. In 2018 Brazil got medals in each of the World Championships for the big three, something that doesn't happen very often -- this only happened before in 2011 and 2014; at the Olympics this happened in 2016; at the Youth Olympics, in 2014 and 2018. I'm aware that indoor athletics and short course swimming are hardly comparable to the "true" Olympic events, but there's no other basis for comparison this year, so we have to go with what we have. This year, summing the results of the WCh for the big three, we had 10 medals overall, 7 of which were in Olympic events. In 2014 we had 13 medals overall, 7 of which were earned in Olympic events, and at the 2016 Olympics we had 5 medals in all these sports. I hope we can keep consistency and earn 5 or more medals at the 2020 Olympics in athletics, swimming and gymnastics.

Moving on to other results, for the first time ever we had a world champion in slalom canoeing -- not in an Olympic event, though. Also, it was only the second time we had a world champion in a UCI event, but not in an Olympic event as well. At least we got a medal at an Olympic event at the UCI Championships, and the medal was won in a very Steven Bradbury way, so it was quite funny (video below, race starts at 2:38). Our other big sports, volleyball and judo, were very disappointing. Indoor volleyball teams finished fourth, and Judo only brought one medal at the World Championships (and the judoka retired after the event), so we might be in trouble for 2020. The best moment of the year was Hugo Calderano defearing Fan Zhendong in table tennis. I hope he blossoms nicely next year. He deserves a medal at the World Championships.

And that's it. Not a terrible year, but also not a spectacular one. It was good, overall. 

 

Edited December 26, 2018 by thiago_simoes

[Col_Frost 179]

For Polish athletes it was very good year, not excellent, but very very good. Two medals in Pyeongchang is a good result considering that except jumpers we didn't have any real chance for podium. Kamil Stoch was absolutely king of the season, winning everything he could except flying WCh. In winter we had also a first medal ever in short track WCh. Nine WCh medals in summer olympic events, including five golds which is great result considering that it was season without athletics WCh in stadium (gold of volleyball team was one of the greatest moments of this year). Speaking about athletics, world record of men's 4x400m relay and defeating Americans is something I will always remember, doesn't matter it was only indoor championships. European Championships was also great, 12 medals, 7 golds, 2nd place in medal table (better than Germany!) - two golds of Justyna Swiety-Ersetic in one day!

 

I will remember this year also because of multi-sport European Championships Glasgow-Berlin and I hope this initiative will survive and help to build European Games we deserve. I am also glad about athletics World Cup which is much more interesting for me than Continental Cup. It's pity that almost every team didn't compete in optimal squad but maybe someday IAAF will take this competition and make something with it (if calendar will allow for this).

[intoronto 5,771]

2018 was a year to remember for me in terms of sports. It started of with me attending the Olympics, a dream I have had since I was 9! The World Cup brought some good matches and overall we have had some solid moments in sports this year. The year before the [Summer] Olympics is usually considered the busiest of the quadrennial, so here is hoping to more action next year!

 

[LDOG 2,418]

I lived two magical weeks at the youth olympics. An opportunity to live olympics in my country that probably won't repeat in my lifetime.

 

Other than that I found the sports year boring in general. I don't care much about the winter olympics (also didn't help that our tv didn't broadcast it for the first time in two decades) and Argentina performed TERRIBLE in all my favorite summer sports.

 

So, I'll make an average and say "satisfactory"

 

 

Edited December 26, 2018 by LDOG

[LDOG 2,418]

hace 9 horas, thiago_simoes said:

 Indoor volleyball teams finished fourth

 

fourth? 2nd and 7th respectively

[MHSN 3,645]

I vote for satisfactory . it wasn't great but also not bad either. I had low expectations this year because of financial situation in Iran.

 

Asian Games was the main event of the year for me. and Iran won more or less the same number as 2014 despite having much lower budget. and some favorite events being dropped out by the organizers. there were some bad results of course but in general the whole competition was OK.

 

Iran got some great results in YOG finishing 7th in medal table !! but I guess we can't take YOG seriously. but still.

 

World Wrestling Championship was a total disaster but Iran won 3 gold medals in Olympic events in other Olympic sports. that will be OK if we repeat that in Tokyo.

no much in team sports. volleyball was disastrous and our football team couldn't pass the first round at the World Cup. even though at least they didn't ashamed us in Russia.

 

I'm not that optimistic for 2019 which is important for the Olympic qualification . the financial situation is not getting better and most federations have to work with a budget one-third of what they had 2 years ago. beside that there are 10 federations here without a president some of them are important sports.

[CCB 565]

For The Netherlands it was a quite good year. A very good performance at the Olympics with several (some unexpected) speedskating medals and the first gold medal in shorttrack in history. Our national men's football team became a force to reckon with again. After some horrible years without ECh and WCh, we now qualified for the finals of the Nations League. Besides that we had very good results at the combined European Championships with gold for our open water swimmers, gymnasts and a diver (first time since the eighties). And decent results for our women's teams: European gold for waterpolo, European bronze for handball, Worlds gold for hockey and a 4th place for volleyball at the Worlds. In cycling we had a lot of champions: in track, road cycling and BMX. Maybe the biggest success: 3 champions at the Sailing World championships!

 

Will be difficult to have the same good results in 2019. But who knows ...

[hoversaBR 472]

According to the Brazilian results, my year was like this:

 

Positive (highlights)
1) Volleyball (Men) - Brazil deserved the world title automatically for reaching the final with that bad team.
2) Surf - Gabriel Medina is my king!
3) Cycling - A Brazilian won a BMX medal in cycling. Another finished fourth on Mountain Bike. I never imagined that would be possible.
4) Table Tennis - What is Hugo doing? The boy is a monster.
5) Basketball - Our league continues to evolve, now the Women's League has presented a great project that I hope will continue. Great results with young male players.

 

Other: Canoeing, Gymnastics, Swimming, Athletics, Skateboarding.

 

Negative (highlights)
1) Volleyball (Women) - I hate the team, especially the coach.
2) Judo
3) Beach Volleyball, especially the male was a horror, I have never seen such a weak year.

 

Others: Sailing, Artistic Swimming and more.

 

Result: It was a good year for intermediate sports. For the big ones only disappointment, including football. The rest I do not care. 6/10.

 

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

1 hora atrás, LDOG disse:

 

fourth? 2nd and 7th respectively

Both teams finished fourth at the World League.