stratocumulus

Slovakia qualified! Congrats @hckošice 

Extremely divided opinion.
 
Public:
 
Some take it as a fact and justify it under the point that a lot is at stake (not qualifying for the Olympics in hockey = unimaginable national tragedy) so we need the best available regardless where they are gaining their bread,
Some (Pro-Kremlin/Pro-Current governement) are super excited,
Some (Anti-Kremlin/Anti-our current governement and traditional hockey fans) are sad - some of them have even black screen avatars... but at the end will still watch and cheer, because missing the Olympics with such generation we currently have would be a huge waste and would not be fair...
Some (Anti-Kremlin/Anti-our current Governement and casual hockey/sport fans) are shocked and disapprove to the point of considering = calling in medias to boycot the team and the tournament.
 
Players:
 
Several players expressed that they do not want to play in the national team as long as there are players from the KHL (there are names we are missing in this roster without more special informations added why, like Cehlárik, Slafkovský, Černák...),
Some were some were begged on knees by the coach staff for this tournament (Like Martin Pospíšil, Feherváry or Lantoši... especially Pospíšil last days called he will not play if the KHLers will really be invited... only last night came statement of hime and his brother who is also in the team that they will both came and play for the country... as there is a lot at stake
"We did not change our oppinion, but we want to help Slovakia to be at the Olympics... and play there"
https://sport.aktuality.sk/hokej/clanok/martin-pospisil-sa-rozhodol-bude-reprezentovat-slovensko-2024081819450673443.
 
All in all, It is bad. I am seriously worried and afraid, ...no..., I am convinced that now two "camps" will be formed within the team, the pro and anti and seriously, I can´t even imagine how it can work in a TEAM.
 
I am really afraid. Normally, such roster even without Slaf, Černák, Cehlárik and others missing would very likely win this group, but, who knows what will happen now...

Never mind table tennis, we should remove men’s pole vault due to lack of competition. Who’s with me?

Probably very much true. The other bit of true is probably that he might struggle to get a place in the Austrian national team because of the firm competition he would face whereas it is probably.... different in the Dutch team  And so he might get stuck in the internal selection in Austria while at the same time he could just concentrate on the World Cup for the Netherlands. Smart move.

Sure, he knows in Austria it'd be difficult, but already during his active career he had mentioned more than once that he might very well one day represent his mother's country once his career in the top was done  
 
 

If the jumping is done last, the cross-country part should be done with interval starts  
 
I know it won't happen because it's not 'sexy' for the TV viewers with the attention span of a goldfish, but it would at least make it more fair, with the results in both the jumping and the skiing being decided entirely by the quality of the athletes instead of by for example hanging on in a mass start and avoiding serious time loss.

Let's be honest, most of the swimming distances are redundant  There isn't something that unique of doing 100 or 200 meters. But because the sport is as popular as it is and has a big branding of creating superstars, who can win "countless medals", it gets a pass on the program.
 
If we were looking objectively, compared with the other sports, the swimming schedule should be only:
 
- 100 m for the 4 styles
- 400 and 1500 m freestyle 
- 400 m individual medley
- 4x100 freestyle and 4x100 medley relays 
- Mayyyyyybe a mixed relay 
 
 

They should allow it but tell them no more quotas. 

And that some beach sprint events in rowing will replace the lightweights.

Mixed events are perfect for sports where two separate team events are unwarranted, for example the mixed team judo or mixed triathlon. One team event is enough in those sports and mixed is a good compromise for that. In this sense, I wouldn't mind a mixed team diving, for example. However, in table tennis I would prefer mixed team and separate men's/women's doubles.

A maximum of three Nordic combined athletes per country are allowed to compete at the Olympics, so there is no possibility of fielding two teams. The field of participants has been reduced to 36 athletes.

1. 
 
10. It was literally the best performance ever in history of Olympic Games for Portugal. Besides having equalized the maximum amount of medals in a single games (4) as done in Tokyo, this time they managed to do it but with one gold, TWO silvers and one bronze.
 
unbelieable edition for teamPT 
.
 
 
2. What were the suprises and heartbreaks ?

heartbreak was Pimenta in sprint canoeing, very sad for him as he missed a lot of his child events to train for this and ended up 6th.
 
also pichardo, I was not expecting gold but after his first jump I thought that was it. 
 
 
3.Was your country's goal achieved? 

yes, the official goal were 4 medals, no matter the color.
 
 
4. Which are the sports that will be invested more in future? 
 
Hard to tell, Portugal still lives around football. Hopefully track cycling, after what happened this week. Also triathlon team did a great job.
 
 
5. Who could be some the potential star for your country in LA?
 
hard to tell. The big ones will soon retire, so not sure who can be there in 2028.
 
 
one last sad thing: today, on the day of the closing ceremony of the best Olympic Games ever for Portugal, the president of our national committee died.
 
he was president since 2013 and completely revolutionized professional sports in Portugal, and was one of the main responsible for the facility improvements and the increase in financial aid that helped the record medals of 2020 and 2024. All Olympic athletes loved him, so it was quite a sad news for them today as well.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!?!?!
 
A masterpiece from Pikulik! She looked strong today, but made stupid mistakes in scratch and eliminator and I honestly thought this was it.... But what she did in the point race! OMG, can't believe it!

WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!?!?!
 
A masterpiece from Pikulik! She looked strong today, but made stupid mistakes in scratch and eliminator and I honestly thought this was it.... But what she did in the point race! OMG, can't believe it!

Well, since I am missing Polish women in the final I have no such emotions watching the event, but I wanted to share my appreciation for the venues created by the French hosts. The TV pictures with the Versailles in the back are really looking like there is an important event going on. Also other disciplines (Grand Palais!, beach volley, etc.) had great venues. Well done.

The most useless part of competition - fencing bonus round.

And this is it for Poland. Looking back at the prediction, I was:

1) 100% right in the "sure" section who wins a medal, slightly wrong about the colours (Świątek bronze instead of gold)
2) nearly on target in the section "probable" - I predicted 3 out of 7 chances, 2 chances delivered (fencing & climbing)
3) nearly on target in the "maybe" section - I predicted 1 out of 8 chances, 2 chances delivered (athletics & canoe slalom)
4) on target in the section "chance" - I was hoping for something and one delivered (boxing)
 
I wanted to be proven wrong, unfortunately I wasn't. The disappointment is not the low number of medals but the subperformance of most of the athletes, who were not able to deliver the results they already had during the season (let alone Personal Bests) with most notable cases like Nowicki, Fajdek (both hammer throw), Skrzyszowska (100m hurdles), Andrejczyk (javelin), Wasick (50m freestyle in swimming), Szymanska (judo) or the complete disaster of the kayak team.
 
If only the Polish athletes delivered their "usual" performance I believe it would lead to a nearly doubling of the number of the medals. Unfortunately, in the past 20 years a subaverage performance level of Polish athletes at the Olympics has become repeatable, hence my pessimistic prediction which turned out to be fairly accurate. 
 
So, this means our worst Olympics since Helsinki, 1952. Ouch.
 

 
Meanwhile, I do not believe we could expect any change in that. It hurts even more looking at the British case which went from 1 (one!) gold in Atlanta to 29 (!!!) in London and kept the level since (ok, Paris is slightly worse in terms of gold, but the total number is again on a very high level). So - it is possible, but probably not in Poland now.
 
Looking forward to your summaries

Also it’s only the SIXTH gold medal EVER for Portugal, so you have to understand how huge this is!!!
 
I hope this guys get the f*cking president receiving him at the airport with all the honors they deserve!

I was really confused watching the laser run. The Olympic Champions looked 1:1 like a guy I played with in a table tennis team once, just after like 50 sessions in gym :D But the performance was impressive, a deserved winner  

Zapasy na + nawet już. Szkoda że szykujemy formę na same igrzyska. Męczymy się z kwalifikacjami, losują nas do najlepszych, ale jak się przygotujemy jest ok. Tylko, że tak trzeba w miarę co roku, wtedy będzie efekt, łatwe 1/8, realne 1/4. Itp itd.

Well, the level France has shown today is incredible. I hope we are having a rematch in the Olympic final sooner than in the next 48 years

Poland was so bad these Olympics we usually did not even get as high as fourth place. And zap - problem solved  

Brave boy Baranowski ! He made the Azeri wrestle. Fingers crossed for the final for his opponent and good luck then fighting for bronze.

Poland was so bad these Olympics we usually did not even get as high as fourth place. And zap - problem solved  

Ototo! Bo to nie jest tak, że nasze gwiazdy nie wyrabiają najlepszych wyników w życiu, tylko one w dużej części na Igrzyskach występują poniżej swojego PRZECIĘTNEGO poziomu. I tego od lat nie jestem w stanie zrozumieć  Gdyby nasi sportowcy TYLKO wyrabiali swój normalny poziom, to ostatnie 20 lat olimpijskich doświadczeń wyglądałoby zupełnie inaczej... :/