NearPup

Yes, and Azarenka has also won the Olympics in mixed doubles.

Still not as weird as the *outdoor* NHL game in Las Vegas.

I hated this qualification system when I saw it on paper and I continue to hate it as I see it in action. Oh and let me say, preemptively, that I hate how the OQTs are set up, too. The whole thing is just unfair and too luck dependent.

This is obviously a much better way to decide continental quotas than just getting China and Iran or Nigeria and Tunisia to play against each other.

And she started cycling less than two years ago... what a find.

The only thing I miss are Olympic bids being exciting. Last time I was excited for an Olympic bid was the 2016 race.

Gosh, never realized that you were still a teen. I remember being one of, if not the, youngest active member on GamesBids way back during the 2014 bidding process and now you’re telling me there are super active members here who are almost a decade younger than I am? That feels weird xD To at least another 5000 posts :D

Bianca! Tougher than expected but she got it done.

Probably better to retire when you still have your health. Going to be weird not seeing him win the big crystal globe this season.

France is qualified for either the Olympics or the OQT (a tournament with six teams and one Olympic quota on the line) depending on whether or not they finish in the top 2 among European teams.

The Asian and African quotas will heavily come down to luck, unfortunately. Hopefully the two American and European quotas are, in the end, decided in a fair way.

So, every team that made the Ro16 at the world cup is guaranteed a spot in one of the four final Olympic qualification tournament. In the end the top 23 or 24 teams (depending on where Japan finishes) will qualify. However, based on FIBA ranking the following teams that aren’t currently guaranteed to qualify for the OQT based on their World Cup finish should qualify: Africa: 1. Nigeria 2. Senegal Angola and Tunisia should also be safe. Egypt, Cameroon and Morocco are on the bubble in that order. Americas: 1. Mexico 2. Canada Mexico cannot qualify through the World Cup. If Canada qualifies for the OQT through the World Cup their spot should go to Uruguay. Other than whether Canada qualifies through the World Cup or the world ranking there is no drama here. Asia / Oceania: 1. Iran 2. China The Philippines and South Korea should also be safe. New Zealand, Jordan, Lebanon and Taiwan are on the bubble, in that order. Europe: 1. Slovenia 2. Croatia This one is actually pretty secure since neither Slovenia nor Croatia can qualify for the OQT through the WC. The above assumes no major shakeup in the relative world ranking of the teams that fail to make the top 16 at the World Cup. Edit: this qualification system is terrible.

What a boring logo.

I expected nothing and I’m still let down. A pretty large part of me feels like it would be well deserved for this current generation of Canadian NBA players to never qualify for the Olympics.

It does undeniably cheapens the tournament. You can only beat the team in front of you, sure, but it is undeniable that regardless of who wins this tournament, they aren’t the best national team in the world (including if this US C-team wins). Kind of reminds me of Olympic weightlifting (especially on the women’s side) where the Olympic champion often didn’t have to beat the best athlete in their weight class. Just feels a little cheap.

Walk off home-run to cap off a five inning, 7-0 victory for Canada over Brazil. Canada, along with the US and Japan, maintains their records of qualifying for every Olympic softball tournaments. Brazil actually played pretty well, their fielding especially was impressive.

Not as bad as when that same IF made the ‘B’ World Championships an Olympic qualifying event...

Ya I remember rumors way back in 2015.

Maybe instead of abandoning against athletes people should try to, ya know, beat them?

This is how it always works at worlds and at the Olympics for Judo.

So, beat 17-0 in 2.5 innings (Canada only batted two innings), powered by a 15 run second inning that started with Canada stealing home plate. Obviously Canada was favoured to win this game, but Cuba is probably not that bad most days. Amazingly some of the Cuban players are veterans of their only Olympic campaign in Sydney 2000, where they actually finished ahead of Canada. Spare a thought for Yilian Tornes who now has an ERA of 126...

The biggest esport tournament in the world, The International, has just taken place in Shanghai. OG repeated as champion and won the 15.6 million dollar grand prize over 2017 champion :LIB Team Liquid. Hometown favourite PSG.LGD finished third.

I duno, at least I was able to watch some of those...

What’s up with Eurobasket having the most random collection of host nations?

I mean, it's about time they transition from the heptathlon to the decathlon.