copravolley

Doping certainly did too, but it`s true that sport was very important there because of dignity + it was the only way to break out of poverty in the provinces, improve one's status, go abroad, etc. These are the two main factors. However, you can invest in sports if you are a highly developed country, e.g. the UK: in the 1990s they were very weak and in 1996 they had a disastrous result in Atlanta. This hurt their pride and they invested a lot in sports + organizing the games in 2012. in London was the height of their glory. It made similar progress in the 21st century: The Netherlands, which now performs on par with Germany: a much larger and equally rich country.

Bulgaria's best times in sports were at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s: in 1988 you won 35 medals, including 10 gold (I don`t count 1980 due to the boycott of many west countries). Later, until the beginning of the 21st century, you won a dozen or so medals in every games and suddenly there was a great crisis from Beijing 2008. Why? In theory, after joining the EU, the country should develop and become richer, which means there will also be more money for sports. The same problem concerned Romania but I see that they are slowly rising up, e.g. in rowing.

I will consider any number of medals: 40+ as a success but I would like to win more gold medals than in Tokyo: 12-13. This will 99% result in a place around 8th in the medal classification. This performance will be OK for me. For now, however, we need to qualify as many people as possible for the Olympic Games, because in the case of Italy, quantity often translates into quality.

This year, however, they have much more time to prepare due to the earlier elimination of Bolzano + they are playing at home. Two, Hungary is in poor form and they recently lost 2 matches against Poland: 2-5 and 2-6. If Italy doesn`t advance to the Elite together with Slovenia this year, I will be very disappointed. Thirdly, for me, paradoxically, the absence of Keenan will be an advantage.

How do you rate this wide squad? Who are you missing in it? https://italiahockey.com/2024/04/16/nazionale-u18-i-risultati-delle-prime-due-giornate-del-mondiale-nuove-convocazioni-per-la-senior/

Chirichella was clearly worse at the Novara than Danesi and Bonifacio. The only thing that appealed to her was greater experience. Folie ended her adventure with the national team in 2021 and she probably couldn't be persuaded to come back. Malinov also didn't want to return to the national team, from what I heard. The most important thing is that Fahr on this list- currently the best Italian middle blocker and let her be healthy.

Manca però almeno una donna al tiro a segno, quindi non possiamo schierare nemmeno una sola squadra mista. L'unica vera chance da oggi è probabilmente Sofia Ceccarello, che era la nostra unica tiratrice a Tokyo. Gli altri, purtroppo, sono a un livello molto scarso e sono così da anni, da quando Petra Zublasing ha concluso la sua carriera agonistica. Ci sono dati diversi riguardo le qualificazioni attuali per l'Italia, ad es. la Wikipedia inglese riporta il numero 221 + 1 e ora sarà 222, Coni: 219 + 1 = 220. Non è del tutto noto come contare le qualifiche nel nuoto e nell'atletica leggera, ad es. Giorgi/Fortunato nel marcia o Restivo/Panziera/Cocconcelli nel nuoto.

According to the English Wikipedia this places is only 1 in sprint and keirin for Italy.

On the other hand, she might not be as strong on the track as she is now, when she has been 100% focused on the track for 2 years. She is also less exposed to injuries, etc. (for example, during Paris-Roubaix you can get injured and lose all season). I wonder if Lotte Kopecky or Elisa Balsamo trained 100% on the track for 1 year, would they be able to fight with Archibald?

I think that: Italy, The Netherlands and Germany will be close to each other on medal table, just like in Tokio 2021. On the other hand, France will get a much better result because of being the host team.

Great success for Miriam Vece: 2 QO in sprint and keirin

A good sign for Italians. Looking at the current form of the Hungarians, we have a good chance of advancing to Elite, along with Slovenia.

Looking at Mathilde Gros individual form, I cannot understand how France couldn`t advance to the Olympics in the women's team sprint. With such a leader, there was enough time to build a strong team around her.

The competition will end only tonight at European time.

Archibald, for example, is a phenomenon and on the road she meant nothing, but she is the only one now. Now the trend is to ride both on the road and on the track, except for ciclists in sprint and keirin. The French women regularly take part in road races, but they do rather poorly there, e.g. a similar situation was with Paternoster until this season. Balsamo, who started her career on the track, probably feels better actually on the road.

3rd qualification in tiro a segno: Sollazzo, Monna, Maldini. Still much worse than in Tokyo, but maybe something will come up. The biggest problem is with the women's team and has been for several years. In Tokyo there was only 1 qualification for Sofia Caccarello, and now 0 for now and it will be difficult to get any.

What does it mean?

They are part of the whole puzzle. Moreover, you need to use them regularly and in large quantities to absorb your opponent's attention. If you send even 50 Shaheds at once, it will do you no good.

Israel is in a better situation than Ukraine because it has 100% US guarantees and better anti-aircraft protection. I don't think the Iranian Shahed drones that are effective in Ukraine will work here either.

Drones are often used to detect enemy anti-aircraft protection and know where to strike with something stronger. This is how Russians often act in Ukraine.

If Maldini advances from here tomorrow the Latvian will basically also be certain of promotion. I hope that!

Strautmanis? He can advance for the rankings, but not yet.

Maldini deserved to go to Paris but it won't be easy. He is 4th in the world ranking, so he must to advance here or overtake the Latvian in the last two World Cups. Unfortunately, France is weak in this competition and only 1st place in the world ranking. Don't say anything about the level of our girls, because it's a total disgrace... Italian shooting today is only Monna, Solazzo and Maldini. The female sector is practically non-existent

I'm just worried about the final against the UK, which was a disaster for Italy. France was able to improve from run to run, Italy was not. I think that in the end, Paternoster will replace Alzini in the 4 for the team at least looking at the current form. In the road race, due to profile of course, Elisa Longo Borghini will 100% be the Italian leader, especially if she maintains her current high form.

I mean that France doesn't currently have a top-class cyclist like Elisa Balsamo or even Chiara Consonni. The problem for the Italians is that they rarely train with each other due to the intense season on the road. Therefore, beating UK, which focuses 100% on the track is unlikely but fight of silver and bronze is still open. I hope that Marco Villa has planned it well and will have more time to work with the team before the Olympics. Balsamo and Consonni have a strong position in their teams and will certainly be allowed to train longer for the track.