hoversaBR

I'm really worried this tournament will turn into a European Championship. Japan, Cuba, maybe Brazil are out now... Iran and Egypt is unlikely to win in the round of 16. The only one left would be the USA.

Vital hates Brazil and Bernardinho, I wouldn't be surprised if they come with the reserves.

Paraguay still manages to be decent in some sports like handball and golf, so they're not a total disaster. Now Bolivia... They must be the worst in South America in all Olympic sports. I can't say how much Bolivia's poverty is the reason for this; it's probably quite a bit, but they don't seem to have a sports culture. I've watched several athletes from smaller nations and thought, "If only this country had more investment..." That thought never occurred to me with Bolivia.

We only had two medal chances in this tournament, and that was clear from the start. But that doesn't justify athletes performing at their worst possible level at the world championships. It's in the 100m, where several of our athletes have run under 10 seconds this year, but in this tournament, they're running an incredible 10.54 seconds. It's in the pole vault, where the athlete breaks all personal records this year, only to fail to clear 4.45 in the final. It's in the javelin, where the athlete is second in the world rankings, easily over 85 meters in every championship he competes in, but at the world championships, his best is 81 meters? And these are just examples...

Why am I not surprised by ? Another ridiculous performance from our athletics team. Fortunately, Bonfim and Alison can mask these shameful results as always. Athletes spend the entire season achieving better results, evolving, and then, when the major championships arrive, they perform mediocrely.

If Italy were to dominate men's volleyball, it would have to happen now. It's unlikely to happen after 2028, not now that France has started taking it seriously. And they'll also have to deal with many more experienced teams. Brazil, Bulgaria, USA, Iran, and others will certainly be much stronger.

I think he adds little to the Italian team. I really liked Bovolenta, I think De Giorgi should have been a little more insistent with him.

Medals in junior are important, but they are not everything. Italy is not going to destroy everyone in senior just because it has the best young players.

I think I've said a lot about how much I dislike Italian opposites, but I still don't understand why Rychlicki was naturalized.

is one of the teams with the most potential for the future.

Okay, that changes things. If Finland beats Korea 3-0, they'll qualify for the R16, and the loser of ARG-FRA would be eliminated. Amazing.

It would be a shame if Finland were eliminated in the first round. They certainly deserve the round of 16 more than half the teams competing.

Don't talk about London 2012 plz. That Falcao (BRA) vs. Murata (JPN) fight still hurts. Boxing may be beyond saving. But I think it was a better format than it is today.

Surfing and skateboarding

Yes, if I'm not mistaken, they gave the Polish boxer a 4-1 win in the last round, right? Well, the Brazilian commentator was quite calm about that decision, so I'll trust it wasn't controversial. But it's a problem because it severely restricts the sport. The average person can't tell when an athlete is winning or losing a fight, simply because there's no standard. It's not like judo, where a judoka scores an ippon and that's clearly a victory (or not always ). The problem with boxing lies in its conception.

Any sport that involves judges awarding scores is corrupt. Obviously, boxing tends to lead in this regard. One of the finals we lost, for example, was met with a lot of complaints from Brazilians, as usual. But I found this competition to be fairer than usual for this sport, despite the Kazakh/Uzbek discrepancy.

Alan and Darlan didn't play well today; it's unusual for both of them to underperform like that. Fortunately, we had strong performances from Judson and Arthur Bento.

Yes, and they're a talented team. I never understand why they're so inconsistent. In the VNL, for example, they beat you at home, went to a tiebreak with France, only to lose to China.

Yuri Falcão dominated Erislandy Alvarez. And Cuba ends up without a gold medal at a world championship for the first time.

Well, it's a surprise indeed, but when it comes to Cuba, you can't trust them even against Fiji. Oh, but if it were Brazil or Argentina...

I think Bonfim had only ever medaled in the 35km at the South American level. He's really getting better. Looking forward to the 20km race.

Brazil seems to have a big problem for this tournament: the OHs. We have a great setter, opposite, libero, and good enough middle blockers, but Bernardo doesn't seem to have found the best solution for the OH position yet. We're taking five, and I think all possible combinations have been tested in the friendlies, and none seem to be stable. Arthur is probably the most likely starter; the rest... Well, we'll see.

To be fair, De Giorgi doesn't have Egonu or Antropova. Romanò and Lavia were sensational on that occasion, but they haven't replicated that performance since this tournament. The rest of the team looks good, but not good enough to beat teams like France or Poland.

I guess when you're the host country, miracles happen. In 2016, Brazil nearly won a gold medal in shooting, after the last medal was in 1920.

Two gold medals for Spain. I'd never seen them in that sport before.