Monzanator

Swedes announcing retirement out of the left field becomes a norm. Kajsa Kling, Maria Pietiae-Holmner were also fairly premature to say the very least.

Yeah, but FIS taking whatever excuse Norway comes up with shows clear intent. If they busted Johaug for the lipstick excuse then why completely ignore looking into Bjoergen's case? Imgaine if those were Russians. FIS would bend over backwards to dig into the case. The Symbicort Empire lives on!

Marit Bjoergen admitted in her autobiography she had a positive test for nandrolone in 2017 but FIS turned a blind eye And you wonder why nobody outside Norway gives a fuck about cross country anymore. https://www.world-today-news.com/bjoergen-used-a-forbidden-measure-the-reaction-of-the-fis-surprised-everyone/

Mass murder using bow & arrow... in 2021? So Norway went from Breivik to medieval methods now? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58906165

Before Jabeur only one Arab woman made WTA Top 100 - Selima Sfar. Mayar Sherif has since joined them as the third one. Unlike ATP, Morocco hasn't produced any noteworthy female players over the years (they seemingly have Tunisia instead). Amanda Coetzer (CH #3) is the highest ranked female player from Africa ever (in singles). There were more in doubles (Ilana Kloss, Liezel Huber and Cara Black were all #1 in doubles).

Poland hangs on to win 1-0. If we beat Andorra in the next game (kinda probable) then Albania would have to beat England on the road to prevent us from securing 2nd place with one game left after that.

Albania vs Poland (0:1) has been resumed in the 78th minute.

Poland scored in 77th minute. Albanian fans started throwing bottles on the pitch and the match is suspended.

Well, Top 5 for Sakkari would really be crazy given she's won a grand total of 1 WTA title so far. She's not that good but WTA is a mess right now anyway. Beatriz Haddad Maia bounced #1 seed Karolina Pliskova just minutes ago. Haddad Maia is back after doping suspension and profited from LL spot in MD. And she's into R4 of Indian Wells! Defending 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu is out after losing to Anett Kontaveit. The fall from grace continues and Andreescu's 2019 season appears to be a complete flash in the pan.

I still remember Osrblie hosting World Cup in the 1990s. The Duszniki-Zdroj venue is undergoing an ownwership change which for some reason resulted in the IBU Cup calendar drop.

Commonwealth Games have cut down mandatory events from sixteen to two: athletics & swimming. Another sign how this event is basically expendable in modern era. They can always go with "urban" events for kids and e-sports for teenagers? https://www.bbc.com/sport/commonwealth-games/58870657

Your are stuck in recency bias tunnel vision. You really believe the IOC heat rules will stay there forever? Or NBC will ban SOG from being held in November forever too? Whoa! I don't have anything to add here.

Tyson Fury knocked out Deontay Wilder to finish the trilogy

Oh yeah, because desert heat is mystic knowledge for anyone? Of course I know about the heat but this excuse to prevent Qatar from staging SOG will eventually be overcome by money. IOC is ALL about the money so they will eventually give in. The question is when? 2052? 2060? Who knows? World will probably look very different in 30 years from now.

If Beijing can host the Winter Games then Doha can host the Summer Games too. It's only a matter of time. Let's don't forget Moscow 1980 remains the hottest SOG ever

Hamilton will take a 10-place grid penalty in Turkey. Red Bull appears to be way off in practice so far. Meanwhile Michael Andretti seems to be serious with the Sauber/Alfa Romeo buyout which would bring Colton Herta to F1. https://racer.com/2021/10/08/andretti-set-for-further-sauber-f1-takeover-talks-in-austin/

Yeah, the honeymoon is over. Raducanu has a target on her back and no longer can play the underdog card. Btw, Sasnovich only has three Top 50 wins all season (vs injured Serena Williams at Wimbledon, vs Podoroska at Cleveland and now vs Raducanu in Indian Wells).

Russell Wilson suffered a finger injury in a loss vs Rams and could miss over a month. This probably means Seahawks (2-3) season is basically over.

Astros spanked White Sox at home twice alrready while Chris Sale gave up five runs in the 1st inning vs Rays but Red Sox came back to win 14-6 ti even the series.

Well, her last season was pretty bad already. Guess she figured out she's got no chance to win the gold so why bother.

In winter sports there is no growing of the sport. On the contrary even, fewer nations are relevant there year after year. Finland has completely fallen off the cliff, first in ski jumping then in cross country. Germany in alpine skiing and not looking all that great in biathlon either. Canada is gone in alpine skiing too. Czech Republic is gone from ski jumping and we're like one Olympic cycle away from Poland being gone too. The ski jumping struggles to even field 50 jumpers at World Cup level these days if the event is held outside of Europe in Russia for instance. Even if the reason is the growth of freestyle skiing it doesn't explain how former powerhouses are completely irrevelant in certain events. It's been 20 years since the Lahti WC doping fiasco derailed Finnish cross country. That's like two full generations and their answer is a 42 year old RL Roponen? Putting on mixed relays solves nothing. Cross country goes down with inbreeding and will become more irrelevant year by year. Only Norway, Sweden and Russia seem to care about this sport these days and everyone seems to be fine with it. FIS can sell these new ideas but nobody is buying that.

Rules can alwas be changed on the fly. Who will stop Norway from boosting the team count anyway especially since Russia and Sweden would also be for adding a second or third team if neccessary. Cross country has about three relevant countries left running the show so of course they will get their wish. Anything to further extend Norway's dominance of the sport will be fine.

Like which smaller nations? If they allow Norway B, Russia B and Sweden B to compete (duh) then these smaller nations would end up where they are now - without adding another event Norway can dominate The biggest competition is in individual sprints. Relays are basically a wash with the same 5-6 big nations always finishing in Top 5-6 places all the time.

Woo! More cheap gold medals for Norway? How exciting

Well, Bach probably won't be in charge of IOC by the time some of these "interested parties" fall off the list. He risks nothing by sending out a list like that. IOC has been long ridiculed as corrupt organization so every bit of positive PR helps. And Australia is one country that will heap praise for IOC after being awarded the SOG in Brisbane. I can understand where you come from.