Epic Failure

In fairness, at least Mayer was just added to the field. Nobody has really lost out there. The heptathlon issue is far worse, because of the knock on effect on Sweden and Austria. Not to mention the French athletes who've missed out because their own federation is incompetent. Just a mess all round.

I imagine it is something to do with the heptathlon entries debacle.

Yeah, once that 3rd wicket partnership got going it wasn't even close. That's T20 for you.

Oh, I'm fine. I'm just annoyed from a viewpoint of hoping that the sport would actually try and increase its visibility somewhat.

But my point is that you can't change that if it is stuck on Willow TV. The only people who are going to be watching that are those who already care. At the very least someone at either the ICC or US cricket board should have tried to get it on a more accessible channel. Even if we're talking only about FS1 or something. Hell, ESPN+ regularly has cricket on it and probably has a wider reach than willow TV.

Draw for what - the Olympics? I'd imagine not until after the final qualifying tournament later in the month.

World Rugby clearly would love the 15s game to spread. But they have to push back against the established countries and their tournaments to do it. The increase in the 15s WC to 24 teams shows that WR is in favour of it. It's easier in 7s where they have more control over the top level of the game. And, as Dodge says, the competitiveness is greater there.

I mean, she's right. She's just not the person to be making that argument...

And in helpful fashion, the competition is being streamed in the US only on a niche ppv channel that most people will never have in their tv package. Sigh.

I think unacceptable is harsh. For a start, there's 40 less total boxers here than there has been at Rio and Tokyo. Not only that, but there has been another weight class added for women and one lost for men. This all means that there are about 60 fewer male boxers here than in Tokyo. That is inevitably going to hit GBR harder than some teams as we have historically qualified a bunch of male athletes who then lost in the first or second bout they faced at the Games themselves (no offence intended to those athletes, it's just a matter of fact). This time there are fewer slots available in Paris so some of those athletes are getting knocked out earlier in the process. That's an oversimplification on my part because I still think that some of the boxers have underperformed in qualifying. But it does explain it somewhat.

Who told you that? And, if it is true, do you have proof that in previous years athletes have had that ability covered? It's this kind of vague doom and gloom posting that gets you a bad reputation.

I mean, the following ideas have literally no chance of ever happening, but if we are wishing... I'd have the Olympics be a true festival of sports. All other sport doesn't happen in that period. If that means that it takes 2-3 months, so be it. It's still only 2 months every 4 years. You have representation from any country that wants it in any event so all sports are truly global. You have all sports that want to be involved in there. It would be glorious insanity.

Well, it has been a pretty uninspired week for boxers but Lewis Richardson makes it to Paris at 71kg. Savannah Stubley and Elise Glynn still in with a shot.

Well Robbie should be there as he's coaching Morgan Lake (a near certainty to be picked if fit) and a couple of other British jumpers these days, so let's get it done.

I don't think France would be favourites for 3rd but I think that they are definitely in with a shout of it. You've got the US and China who, on form, will be away and gone. Then you've got Aus, France, GBR and the great unknown of Italy (could be gold medal contenders, could miss the final). I think the medal comes from whichever of those 4 performs on the day. France will have home crowd behind them...you never know.

It's possible that Barshim has already received his silver somewhere else (I haven't checked). I know Robbie Grabarz received his (there was a 3 way tie for bronze originally) in Birmingham in 2022.

Technically he started as a platform diver way back in the day (he got bronze at the 2006 Commonwealths in the 10m synchro). But he's been competing at the 10m synchro (as well as still doing the cliff diving) for France since making the nationality change a couple of years back. They've not had a 10m synchro team at either the Worlds or Olympics in the last 15 years anyway, so he's probably not taking anyone else's spot.

Ugen doesn't have the Q and also doesn't have a quota spot so they couldn't invite her even if they wanted to. The 4x4 one is more difficult to determine. Given the relative proximity to trials and the Olympics, it's possible that both athletes and admin thought it wasn't worth it to risk it athletes having too heavy a workload here. It's noticeable that Haydock Wilson is the only one of the men's 400m individuals included in the relay team.

Bianca isn't in the squad. She's done one 100m race in the last month and that's it. Amy didn't have the GB standard for 200m. She had the Euro Q but GBR set their own standard for 200m women for some reason.

Yeah, I'd seen that as well. If I got a pound/euro/dollar for every incorrect piece of sporting info on wiki....I'd have several more pounds/euros/dollars than I do now!

No idea I'm afraid.

They are out now - https://zlatatretra.cz/uploads/doc2024/finalstartlist_ZT2024.pdf

It's at noon. Says so fairly clearly in the selection docs - http://www.uka.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-European-Athletics-Selection-Policy-Guidance-for-Athletes-Coaches.pdf

I'm not sure that is correct. Firstly I don't think the UCI have updated the rankings this week to show the final situation. So the calculations below are using last week's rankings (updated 20th May). I think some of the positions might have changed (ie I think have snuck into the top 8). Secondly, I think you are using the general national rankings, which are not the same as the Olympic qualifcation rankings. I've linked what I believe are the correct rankings below to each category. But using last week's rankings right now, I believe the following is accurate: Men - https://dataride.uci.ch/iframe/RankingDetails/220?disciplineId=7&groupId=136&momentId=179458&disciplineSeasonId=431&rankingTypeId=3&categoryId=22&raceTypeId=0 Top 8 (2 spots) - , , , , , , , 9-19 (1 spot) - , , , , , , , , , , African spot - Pan American spot - Asian spot - WC spots - , U23 spots - , host spot - That's because I believe from the qualification doc - https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/Olympic-Games/Paris-2024/Paris2024-QS-UCI-MountainBike.pdf - that the spots get reassigned to previously unqualified NOCs, not a second spot to those who have a spot in rankings already. The spots from specific races go to the first unqualified nation in that race. France's host spot goes to the first unqualified nation in the rankings. Women - https://dataride.uci.ch/iframe/RankingDetails/221?disciplineId=7&groupId=137&momentId=179459&disciplineSeasonId=431&rankingTypeId=3&categoryId=23&raceTypeId=0 Top 8 (2 spots) - , , , , , , , 9-19 (1 spot) - , , , , , , , , , , African spot - Pan American spot - Asian spot - WC spots - , U23 spots - , host spot - I think I'm right (again, allowing for any changes in the rankings this weekend). But I wouldn't guarantee it.

Can't find a full start list yet, but some of the big names are listed here - https://zlatatretra.cz/index.php?page=program2024-en