Supporting Small and Exotic Nations at the Summer Olympic Games 2016

[dcro 10,210]

9 hours ago, JoshMartini007 said:

If anyone wants to look at the athletes which participated in your chosen nation's history you can check out sports reference.

 

Yes, I use that to look if a country is going to make a debut in some sport.

[heywoodu 15,145]

10 hours ago, intoronto said:

I will choose  

 

Fun fact: my parents area from Sri Lanka.

Now that's a good reason to support them 

[JoshMartini007 2,538]

Angola - Road to the Olympics

 

For nations like Angola just qualifying to the Olympics is seen as a big achievement. Angola is classified as a tripartite eligible nation due to qualifying few individual athletes over the past two Olympics so it can expect to receive wild cards along with the athletes which it qualified. Currently the nation is qualified in three sports and will likely qualify in at least three more by the time the qualification process is over.

 

The first group of athletes to qualify was the women’s handball team. The team qualified to its sixth Olympics in a row by winning gold at the African Olympic Qualification Tournament. As with previous Olympics the handball team will be a large part of the overall team.

 

Angola will be making its debut in rowing as rowers Andres Matias and Jean-Luc Rasamoelina won silver in the men’s lightweight double sculls at the African Qualification Regatta. Despite having a long history of rowing Angola only began competing internationally in 2010 where Matias competed at the Under 23 World Championships.

 

In sailing Angola will be making its second Olympic appearance as they competed in 1992. At the Men’s 470 African championship sailors Matias Montinho and Paixao Afonso finished sixth, but were the highest ranked eligible boat and thus qualified their nation to the Olympics. The fight for Olympic qualification for Montinho and Afonso is not over as they must better fellow countrymen Francisco Artur and Edivaldo Torres in a series of trials.

 

The most likely sport Angola will qualify by merit between now and the end of July is judo. Currently Antonia Moreira is ranked 23rd in the -70kg event in the Olympic rankings and is certainly expected to receive at least a continental quota once the final rankings are published. Qualifying a second athlete would be almost impossible though. Not only would Moreira have to reach world qualification status (she needs over 200 more points to reach it), but another Angolan athlete would have to reach top two status within Africa to obtain a continental quota.

 

By losing the final of AfroBasket 2015 to Nigeria the Angolan men’s team has a very good chance at missing their second Olympics in a row. They will get one final chance at qualifying at one of the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. They will play for one spot between Serbia, Czech Republic, Puerto Rico, Latvia and Japan.

 

For the most part additions to Angola’s team will come through wild cards and tripartite invitations. In swimming Pedro Pinotes holds an Olympic Selection Time (OST) in the men’s 400m individual medley which means he could be selected if there is enough space. However, should he not be selected it is quite likely that Pinotes will be selected as a wild card. The female wild card will likely go to Ana Nobrega due to being the only female athlete to compete at the 2015 World Championships, a requirement for wild card selection. She will likely compete in either a freestyle or butterfly event.

 

Athletics is currently not a strong sport for Angola with the nation often sending one or two athletes to major events. The athletes that could be chosen are currently a bit difficult to decide. Neide Dias competed in the women’s 800m and 1500m during the 2015 African Games while Adriana Alves competed in the women’s 100m at the 2015 World Championships. 8 athletes also competed during the 2014 African Athletics Championship. We probably won’t get a clearer picture until after the 2016 edition due to be held at the end of June.

 

It is currently unknown as to which tripartite invitation events Angola has applied to receive. Joao Paulo de Silva would be the most likely invitation. He competes in trap shooting and has already reached the MQS in the event. Should he qualify it will be his first Olympics since 2000. Rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics could be an option, though Angola would not be the top choice for the lone spots. Similarly in canoeing Angola loses out to Sao Tome and Principe in priority and it would be difficult to convince the tripartite committee to give African nations the two lone quotas for the sport. Given their history it would be easy to imagine Angola applying for a boxing quota, though Angola has not participated in any qualifiers as they missed the African Championships.

 

Overall Angola will be looking at around 25 athletes once everything is finished. Should the men’s basketball team pull off the huge upset Angola could potentially surpass its largest team which was set at the 2012 Olympics.

[Griff88 1,952]

I would like to choose:

 

and

[AmericanHero40 213]

Ill take Israel 

[ahjfcshfghb 287]

I would have taken Nauru  But I'll take Micronesia, then. What exactly do I do after I've picked?

[Pavlo 141]

Israel??

[Pavlo 141]

I`ll take US......Virgins (joking, i`ve made my picks)

[AmericanHero40 213]

28 minutes ago, Pavlo said:

Israel??

 

.....   is there a problem with Israel? 

[Pavlo 141]

11 minut temu, Maxim Fastovsky napisał:

 

.....   is there a problem with Israel? 

are they small and exotic nation in sport? C`mon, maybe Austria, Portugal? Uruguay too? , nope . Plz don`t compare Israel to Andorra or Comoros

Edited May 8, 2016 by Pavlo