LDOG

Finally we have the same world cup appearences as Italy. And we even gave them a big handicap by withdrawing from 3 You're next, Germany (?)

Since I think this is one of the very few chances we have to make an "imaginary podium", I'm full team Pareto here despite the japanese is objectively the best in the category. Unlike several on the list Paula was also world champion and has an additional olympic bronze medal.

I would agree to the point he makes about collective responsibility if it was a democracy we were talking about.

Your move, fly_like_a_don. Time to one up with the human right abuses accusations.

Italy will finally win the gold. The young generation lead by Michieletto will do it. -Russia will not play. -France will not win two in a row. -Brazil is still competitive but in decline. -Poland... not betting on them at OG anymore. -USA I feel doesn't have good enough youth talent. -Argentina, Iran, Slovenia, Serbia don't have enough depth.

Although Netherlands is the greatest team in women's hockey olympic history I voted Australia because I can't stand to see them with the same votes as Zimbabwe's flukey gold medal win. they are clear for 2nd place, extremely dominant in Atlanta and Sydney.

I mean, with all the sanctions and companies leaving they have nothing to lose by taking those planes.

To elaborate: with other sports, like team sports for ex, I feel there is an aesthetic element that plays prominently at the moment of valuating old time athletes and teams. Not sure if this can be applied to mark sports (can someone run 1500m more "beautifully"?). For example, if we did a football world cup poll Brazil 1970 would probably rank pretty high because it's concensus that they played the most beautiful football despite the fact that they would get battered by France 2018 if they were to play.

I voted Paavo Nurmi but polls for "mark" sports are difficult to measure because many people will simply vote for the current WR holders. And there are perfectly good arguments to just do that. How to decide...

In ARG... Football >>>> Basketball, Tennis, Auto Racing, Rugby, Boxing >> Volleyball, Hockey, Handball, Futsal > Polo, Athletics, Swimming Everything else is simply not on TV except for olympics/pan am games. This is strictly about popularity/TV ratings. If it's about participation numbers the scene changes a bit (for ex. Gymnastics has a good number of people that practice). There are also sports that are popular in particular regions or provinces. Examples: Rink Hockey in San Juan, Cycling in the west/northwest in general, Softball in Entre Ríos, Ski in the south, etc. As I mentioned in page 4 the official national sport is Pato, but it's virtually unknown among the general public and doesn't have any TV coverage.

They also lost 5-0 to Spain so not so sure. Anyway, it's just one match, at home, not against a top opponent... anything is possible.

Most likely it was a fakeout to force ukranians to shut it down and make them lose a big power source.

When the war is against the west, to be precise.

War is more serious than doping. CAS will 100% uphold the ban or their funding and recognition will end. And yes, it will be a completely political and not legal ruling. Every international organization acts neutral until their money is on the line.

I don't know about the others but I read that Venezuela couldn't vote because they have debts with UN (yes, I mean a money debt lol).

Not an expert on the matter but isn't Mazepin kinda a prick and an average racer pushed by his oligarch dad's money? Honestly no sympathy with the guy then

South Africa abstention

Not all of them win big money, those outside the top 150 barely make a living. It's not like in football where they can just keep playing for russian clubs in the russian league, they have no source of income if you don't allow them to travel and compete internationally.

True. At olympic level there's no argument to defend their participation.

Say, if Russia backs down from their Ukraine intrusion within the next 10 days would these teams revert their decision? Or have they decided to not play Russia permanently or until Putin is removed or what?

Actually... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(UEFA–CONMEBOL_play-off)

Of course, but the russian team that enters the pitch are just a bunch of footballers doing their job. I don't see the point in expelling them from the competition other than for symbolic reasons. That's why I said cut the prize money instead, because that's something that can actually be used for evil purposes back in Russia.

Are you serious? With this criteria we shouldn't give "even a toilet paper" to a lot of countries due to a multitude of conflicts from the past.

To be clear, if I had any decision power on this I would: 1. Not allow Russia to host this play-off, for security reasons. 2. Allow participation of Russian team since their coaching staff and players have not done anything wrong. 3. Deny the russian football federation the prize money from WC participation (should they qualify) until their government ceases hostilities.

Btw these countries are maybe right to refuse to play Russia anywhere but do they have no problems with playing Saudi Arabia should they qualify to Qatar? Yemen doesn't matter I guess