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Best 10 athletes 2022 by Xinhua news agency ( fairly reflected ordinary Chinese sports fans‘ view ) Gu Ailing, Freestyle Skiing Lionel Messi, Football Irene Schouten, Speed Skating Eliud Kipchoge, Athletics Armand Duplantis, Athletics Karim Benzema, Football Rafael Nadal, Tennis Katie Ledecky, Swimming Iga Swiatek, Tennis Max Verstappen, Auto Racing

Multiple Olympic medallist Aliaksandra Herasimenia (swimming) was sentenced for 12 years in prison for actions against Belarus national security (which is in a nut shell - speaking badly about Mr. Lukashenko...) Herasimenia was not present during the trial as since 2020 left Belarus and is very active in neighbouring countries of Lithuania and Poland.

China has lifted the COVID quarantine requirement for foreign arrivals starting January 8th, 2023. This might impact sports too with tennis in particular very probable to resume tournaments there (on the women's side in particular, I believe Australian Open has the most Chinese women qualified for a Grand Slam main draw ever). https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64097497

1.too early to call it right now. at the moment, Tonaki is still the JPN no.1, but look for Wakana Koga, in 12 months time she could overtake both Tonaki and Tsunoda in their National ranking. it won't be an easy choice for them. 2.she's definitely a medal contender, even if I think she's not going to win Gold. there are at least 2 Japanese girls (atm, Tonaki and Tsunoda, but the 3rd -Koga- is coming) and Scutto, who are already better than her. 3.the KAZ girl is a good judo player, but she would need a favourable draw to make the medal matches. Figueroa is a slightly better than average, experienced player. she's dangerous in any given match, but no way she can overtake many of the top 4/5 girls of this weight class in a whole tournament (still, an easy draw could help her to make the final block).

say nothing... yeah, in fact we all said that the OA Sport ranking is way better (even if I'm totally against having Motorsports and their drivers in any sport list, since it's all only about having the best car/motorbike and not about single drivers' skills).

I voted 'other athlete' in the -48 kg poll, for the home favorite Boukli. I have a feeling the French will win a lot of judo medals at home.

Patrick Star on Nickelodeon reacting to Russell Wilson's interception

I told you, I’m not good at judo

by the way, the most qualified opinion in the world of the Italian sport, is surely the specialized website OA Sport. this is their yearly ranking for 2022 (it's just a single 20-name list, without special categories): 1.Francesco Bagnaia (& Ducati), Motorbike 2.Stefania Constantini & Amos Mosaner, Curling 3.Thomas Ceccon, Swimming 4.Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti, Sailing 5.Arianna Fontana, Short Track Speedskating 6.Benedetta Pilato, Swimming 7.Gregorio Paltrinieri, Swimming 8.Vito Dell'Aquila, Taekwondo 9.Nicolò Martinenghi, Swimming 10.Sofia Raffaeli, Rhythmic Gymnastics 11.Elena Micheli, Modern Pentathlon 12.Marta Maggetti, Sailing 13.Diana Bacosi, Shotgun Shooting 14.Sofia Goggia, Alpine Skiing 15.Marcell Jacobs, Athletics 16.Gianmarco Tamberi, Athletics 17.Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine, "Olympic" Boxing 18.Filippo Ganna, Cycling 19.Giorgio Minisini, Artistic Swimming 20.Antonino Pizzolato, Weightlifting

Merry Christmas fellow Totallympians! I wish you enjoy the holidays with your loved ones.