LDOG

I join in.

They play for Italy because they don't have any chance for their native country, not because of love for their nonno, let's be honest.
 
But anyway the main issue I have is that I really don't get why these countries do it in the long term... when the players retire they leave nothing behind, since it's an artificial team without a serious development structure to back it up. And also some other more "ethical" considerations, like "do the victories taste the same that way?" or "do they have equal merit as those countries who breed their own players?"
 
 

They play for Italy because they don't have any chance for their native country, not because of love for their nonno, let's be honest.
 
But anyway the main issue I have is that I really don't get why these countries do it in the long term... when the players retire they leave nothing behind, since it's an artificial team without a serious development structure to back it up. And also some other more "ethical" considerations, like "do the victories taste the same that way?" or "do they have equal merit as those countries who breed their own players?"
 
 

It would be more useful if they released a list with all the athletes that took TUE during olympics, so we can see if USA is particularly taking advantage of it or not.

Is today the Mr Burns Birthday, for your safety say: happy Birthday Mr Burns!!
 

It's not so much of an "invitation" but more like any member federation of FIH can participate in world league as long as they pay the entry fee I think.
 
 
Next stop is in  (only for ladies) with the home team and . 3 spots to take, I'd say it should be very close between them but with Switzerland as outsiders (first time they participate in women's IIRC). 

^He has some trace of his slavic accent in the spanish part and he mixed a few words with italian I think (the demonyms, he said "cino" and "serbo" instead of "chino" and "serbio"), but other than that, is good. 

I'm sorry guys, but you'll have to wait until Wanderer has a bit of free time. I postponed a lot of stuff to be able to enjoy the olympics and now I have to catch up (remember is not summer here, so I can't have any vacation for the moment). It is what it is.

Well, some countries have been qualifying teams for CL since forever and their leagues haven't got much better in level (Greece, Turkey, Russia, Switzerland, Netherlands).
 
The only country that increased the level of their league over the last 20 years is Portugal I would say... and Ukraine, but in a lower scale.
 
I think other factors are more important than CL money.... economy of the country, level of investment in football, etc

2020 Vision
 

 
A new Olympic cycle is upon us and as we embark upon the trail to Tokyo 2020, I am going to begin a new project entitled "2020 Vision". This project will follow the trials and tribulations of 20 young Irish athletes throughout this Olympic cycle as we follow their progress towards realising their Olympic dream. The athletes will be aged 20 years or younger and will range from a variety of different sports. Some have already had a tilt at Olympic qualification, others will be embarking on their Olympic quests for the first time.
 
So without further ado, let's meet our 2020 team of hopefuls.
 
 
1. Rhys McClenaghan (Artistic Gymnastics)
2. Jack Woolley (Taekwondo)
3. Conor Ferguson (Swimming)
4. Nhat Nguyen (Badminton)
5. Ian O'Sullivan (Trap Shooting)
6. Cathal Daniels (Eventing)
7. Finn Lynch (Sailing)
8. Liam Jegou (Canoeing)
9. Mona McSharry (Swimming)
10. Sharlene Mawdsley (Athletics)
11. Kevin McGrath (Athletics)
12. Gina Akpe-Moses (Athletics)
13. Rachel Darragh (Badminton)
14. Gearoid McDaid (Surfing)
15. Lee Cole (Field Hockey)
16. Oisin McClelland (Sailing)
17. Aoife Hopkins (Sailing)
18. Bertram Allen (Showjumping)
19. Antoinette Neamt (Swimming)
20. Gerry Quinn (Swimming)
 
 
 
 



 
 
 
So expect plenty of updates on these athletes as we move into a new Olympic cycle.
 
Tokyo 2020 begins now!

I was invited to a Radio to talk about the olympics (thanks for the forum to increase my Knowledge) and the other guest was........the brother of Emmanuel Ginobili  (its not my best picture, i know)
 

Rio 2016, the games in which Argentina broke all curses:
 
-68 years without winning more than 2 gold medals, we win 3
-Never an argentine woman had been olympic champion, Paula Pareto does it
-Sailing had won 9 medals but no gold, Nacra17 does it
-Hockey had won 4 medals but no gold, men's team does it
-And finally, Juan Martin del Potro broke the curse of his injuries for good

Final Standing available here.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Pabloffo

 
 
 
 
bestmen 
 
 
 

 
OlympicIRL
 
Our little noisy fennec becomes Olympic Football Prediction Champion. Pabloffo again does great in a football contest and takes another medal, OlympicIRL also is back into winning ways. Congratulations! On the other hand, a real pity for vinipereira who could probably have won a medal if he had predicted quarterfinals.
If many of you are wondering why some days in which you posted predictions show as blank in the standings, well, it's probably because you predicted goal difference instead of the result of the match (I can understand it, with so many contests at the same time is difficult to remember the rules of each one). 

If we get rid of weightlifting we get 15 events and many free quota for TKD and the new sports, just saying

Rio 2016, the games in which Argentina broke all curses:
 
-68 years without winning more than 2 gold medals, we win 3
-Never an argentine woman had been olympic champion, Paula Pareto does it
-Sailing had won 9 medals but no gold, Nacra17 does it
-Hockey had won 4 medals but no gold, men's team does it
-And finally, Juan Martin del Potro broke the curse of his injuries for good

Most of them were Junior World champions in 2005, but couldn't perform in senior level because of bad coaches/other internal problems. The current coach changed their mindset into winning mentality, he's a genious... the guy won WC 2010 gold and silver 2012 with the women team, then in 2014 he won bronze coaching both (!) teams at the WC and now this gold. I believe he's the best coach in the world right now.

Absent Beijing, 10th London, 1st Rio

Death, taxes, and Iran underperforming in Taekwondo at the olympics...

Dat moment when you lose a 10 point bet.

Hopefully this is a bad omen for tomorrow too

For a second I thought this comment was written by OlympicsFan or Pavlo, but i'm shocked to see it's from you....

oooh oooh oooh MY KNEE!  I'M PARALYZED FOR LIFE!  I'M DY...what's that?  Canada's on the attack?  Run Run Run.  

I knew some shit was going to happen, an argentine can't win without suffering. I lost 5 years of lifespan watching this.
 

 
 
I want to remind everyone that our male sailor  had cancer last year and missed the whole year of competition. A deserved culmination of a great career.
 
 

Really dumb prejudices.
 
I do hope more men play it in the future.

The result was the only good thing, they played terrible again. Only scored 2 because the referees helped. No defense, no concept of anything, forwards can't dribble past any opponent, all players physically unfit and slow... in sum, total disaster.