JoshMartini007

Four second place finishes in a row for the United States. With 4/10 events completed, are all in solid positions to qualify to the Olympics with and (England) fighting for the last spot. Australia still has a chance at catching up. I imagine Europe really wants England to grab the final qualifying spot.

That should be the way to go though

Very outside chance, they'll keep things respectable, but unless boats start sinking they shouldn't win a medal.

Glad for Nicaragua, baseball is pretty much their only realistic medal chance at the games, though it won't be easy

Yeah, even for a winter sport Bandy is pretty non-existent worldwide.

I disagree, it's quite common for athletes to compete in multiple events in canoeing. It would be like forcing athletes in athletics or swimming to compete in only one event.

I think what they meant to say is that a nation can only qualify one boat in an event, but they can enter two boats provided that the other athlete qualified through a different event. To be honest, it's better to concentrate on athlete quotas than boat quotas in sprint canoe.

Pretty much. It's a bit too early. I think Lamaze is the only one truly safe. Fraser-Beaulieu likely makes it too because I can't imagine her losing to three Canadians in the selection process.

It would be embarrassing if we don't send a full team, especially since the United States has already qualified in dressage and jumping, but anything could happen at the Pan American Games. South America has been slowly catching up to us, but on paper we are still better than them.

He still competes, but it is doubtful he would make the team, especially since the event has been reduced to three athletes.

Iceland can only qualify through the European Championships and will thus be placed in either tournament 2 or 3. The only options for the second world championship team in the first tournament are Spain, Egypt, Brazil or Hungary. I'll be cheering for both Iceland and Macedonia, but it's unlikely that both will make it to the final tournaments. Yeah Qatar is not guaranteed to win the Asian Championships and would make qualifying for Egypt/Brazil/Hungary/Argentina/Chile a lot harder should they fail and finish runner-up. Even Bahrain finishing second among those teams isn't that crazy.

According to the qualification document it's the same as 2016. The continents are ranked based on the best performing nation at the Worlds 1st - Europe 2nd - Africa 3rd - Americas 4th - Asia Europe gets two spots and since Oceania didn't place between 8th-12th they are not given a spot and Africa will be given a second spot. The tournaments will be as follows Tournament 1 2nd Worlds 7th Worlds 2nd Americas 2nd Asian Tournament 2 3rd Worlds 6th Worlds 2nd African 3rd European Tournament 3 4th Worlds 5th Worlds 2nd Europeans 3rd African Worlds take priority over continental spots, if someone is qualified the spots move down one. Of course this format is unfair as it gives 7th place in the Worlds a better chance of qualifying over the 4th/5th places, not sure why they wouldn't continue the snake pattern and place the best non-qualified European team in Tournament 1.

Well they don't need to crush Tunisia, but a comfortable win is likely needed.

Maybe the strategy is keep the score close then crush Tunisia to advance to the 7th place game over Hungary via goal differential.

I think it's highly unlikely that 16 teams will participate in the America's tournament. Getting everyone up to Canada (Surrey, no less) is quite costly.

Also the Premier12 will only give the Asian/Oceania quota if they finish within the top 6, if not the final world qualifier will give 2 quotas.

Think of it as a quota to the mixed team event and an athlete qualified there can also compete in the team events. Just like the men's and women's team qualifiers can also compete in the individual event.

It's to avoid conflict with the World Aquatics Championships, especially among the other disciplines since they act as the continental qualifier to the Olympics. Still would it be the end of the world if athletics was on the first week?

It's still a bit early for rugby since the tournaments will be held during the second half of the year. According to Ireland the European qualifier will be the Sevens Grand Prix. Rugby Africa will use the Africa Cup Sevens as their qualifier. Asia will have their own separate tournament ( Nov. 9 for women and Nov. 23-24 for men). Nothing else for other continents. World Rugby is one of the slower sports for giving information.

To be fair that was the expectation considering they were seeded in Pot 6. Just noticed the next championship will have 32 teams and no increase for European Teams

Big win for Iceland to keep their Olympic hopes alive. Not over for Macedonia as they can still qualify to the final qualification tournament at the European Championships (or I guess they could win it all too)

Interesting news, I hope someone confirms/denies that the Laser/Laser Radial quotas will be split between the two continents like in 2016. The qualification document is a bit ambiguous. Also I thought the 2020 World Championships was suppose to be the qualifier (along with Oceania). I guess we need World Sailing to make a final ruling...

Had some spare time so here’s my proposal for future Pan American Games events and athlete numbers. In general, I strive to reach a balance between keeping athlete numbers low without turning the event into a farce. This basically means I won’t have events with fewer than 8 entrants competing. Olympic events will be prioritized though sports like sailing will follow Pan American tradition. Only sports with changes or general comments are listed. Total Current – 424 Events, 6690 Athletes Proposed – 388 Events, 6384 Athletes Overall, we have a reduction of 36 events and about 300 athletes. Considering I had to increase athletes in some events due to PASO turning them anemic this isn’t too bad. Are there places where we could squeeze out a few more athletes? Possibly, but at this point you are better off removing events than trying to cut athlete quotas. Aquatics (Diving) Current – 10 Events, 70 Athletes Proposed – 8 Events, 60 Athletes The two 1m springboard events were dropped. Diving is not a popular sport on this continent and the only reason why the synchronized events remain is because they are on the Olympic program. Finding eight nations, especially for 10m synchronized platform is difficult. Aquatics (Open Water Swimming) Current – 2 Events, 40 Athletes Proposed – 2 Events, 32 Athletes In a world where sports and events are struggling for quotas 20 athletes in the open water events are too much. Not exactly sure why the quotas for this event have been slowly increasing over each games. Aquatics (Swimming) Current – 36 Events, 350 Athletes Proposed – 36 Events, 350 Athletes Not a fan of having both a gendered and mixed relay, but as seeing that’s the path FINA is taking, I begrudgingly accept it. 350 athletes may seem small, but remember many swimmers compete in multiple events and there is a maximum limit of 18 athletes per gender per NOC. The athlete limit isn’t too bad, even among top nations it guarantees a different athlete could in theory compete in all events plus have a few left over to make relay teams. Removing the athlete quota only benefits the United States and to an extent Brazil and Canada and we would likely have to bump up the athlete quota to at least 375. I do hope they make a bigger effort to include 8 teams in each relay. Archery Current – 8 Events, 84 Athletes Proposed – 8 Events, 88 Athletes Compound archery has been recently added, but I feel it has been popular enough to warrant a spot at the Pan American Games for a while. The extra four athletes are to bump up the mixed team event to eight teams and the individual events to 12 athletes. Badminton Current – 5 Events, 88 Athletes Proposed – 5 Events, 96 Athletes The increase in athletes is to help guarantee 12 entrants per event. I’d also propose an increase to the maximum athlete per nation to five per gender. Regardless, the qualification system for this sport needs to change. Basque Pelota Current – 10 Events, 80 Athletes Proposed – 0 Events, 0 Athletes While popular in South America and Mexico the event is pretty non-existent elsewhere. There just aren’t enough nations to warrant the inclusion of this sport. Even in 2019 most events will only have 5 nations. Basketball Current – 4 Events, 240 Athletes Proposed – 4 Events, 256 Athletes 3x3 Basketball isn’t popular in Pan America, but since it is part of the Olympics, I have increased the quota to 8 teams each. Bodybuilding Current – 2 Events, 32 Athletes Proposed – 0 Events, 0 Athletes The sport is not that popular and is only making its Pan American debut because of Peru. Boxing Current – 15 Events, 120 Athletes Proposed – 13 Events, 104 Athletes Boxing has been reduced to 13 events at the 2020 Olympics, though it may struggle to stay on the Olympic program. Even if it does leave the Olympics it should remain a Pan American sport. As the women’s side continues to grow, I imagine this sport will gain more events and athletes. Canoeing (Slalom) Current – 6 Events, 44 Athletes Proposed – 4 Events, 32 Athletes As much as I like the idea of extreme slalom, the event isn’t even fully developed worldwide, let alone at the Pan American level. The only reason we have any slalom events at all is because they are part of the Olympics. Canoeing (Sprint) Current – 12 Events, 125 Athletes Proposed – 12 Events, 136 Athletes Canoeing gets very complicated with athlete and boat quotas. To simplify things, enough athlete quotas will be given to fill eight K4 and C2 boats and enough athlete quotas for four boats in the other events. Typically, athletes compete in multiple events and this likely gives at least eight boats in all events. Cycling (Road/Track) Current – 16 Events, 160 Athletes Proposed – 4 (Road) + 12 (Track) Events, 40 (Road) + 144 (Track) Athletes I’ve decided to split the road and track disciplines. 24 males and 16 females will qualify directly to the road race, but athletes qualified in other disciplines may participate in the road race. In track cycling I mostly followed the qualification system for the Olympics. 8 teams for sprint and pursuit and four entrants in the other events plus athletes from nations qualified in other sprint or long-distance events. Equestrian Current – 6 Events, 150 Athletes Proposed – 6 Events, 136 Athletes Both dressage and eventing had a reduction of two teams, the events are just not popular enough while jumping had an increase of two individual athletes. We could follow what was done at the Olympics and have three athlete teams (108 total athletes), but to be honest, three athlete teams make the team events into a farce. Golf Current – 3 Events, 64 Athletes Proposed – 3 Events, 48 Athletes Golf isn’t big enough to warrant a 32 person field at the Pan American Games. Gymnastics Current – 24 Events, 184 Athletes Proposed – 24 Events, 194 Athletes I question the need for apparatus medals in rhythmic gymnastics, but since it doesn’t add to the athlete numbers, I’m leaving it for now. The athlete increase is due to the group rhythmic gymnastics now having eight teams. Karate Current – 14 Events, 132 Athletes Proposed – 12 Events, 96 Athletes Team kata is unneeded and thus it and its athlete quotas were removed. Modern Pentathlon Current – 5 Events, 64 Athletes Proposed – 3 Events, 48 Athletes Modern pentathlon is not popular enough to have that many athletes. As a consequence, the men’s and women’s relays event were dropped, but the mixed relay event remains. Racquetball Current – 6 Events, 60 Athletes Proposed – 6 Events, 60 Athletes No changes, but I would like a different qualification system. Rowing Current – 14 Events, 220 Athletes Proposed – 13 Events, 240 Athletes The only Olympic event that is dropped from my proposal is the men’s coxed eights event. To be fair, the event was made up of athletes competing in other events which is uncommon for an entire crew to do so. With the Olympics dropping men’s lightweight coxless fours and adding women’s coxless fours there is some pressure to follow suit. Personally, it’s a bit premature to add the women’s event, but to save on athletes I changed the men’s lightweight fours to lightweight single sculls, to match the women’s event. Overall there will be 12 boats in singles events and 8 boats in all other events. Roller Sports Current – 12 Events, 56 Athletes (Minus Skateboarding) Proposed – 12 Events, 64 Athletes (+48 for Skateboarding) The main qualification document does not have skateboarding listed and I couldn’t find one. Regardless, I feel 12 athletes per event for skateboarding is enough. I also slightly bumped up the quotas for speed skating. I wouldn’t mind increasing the maximum athlete per nation to 3 per gender with a maximum of 2 per event. Sailing Current – 10 Events, 148 Athletes Proposed – 10 Events, 148 Athletes Despite having a different program than the Olympics, most of these boats are mainstays at the Pan American Games. Kiteboarding is new and I’m not exactly sold on it being a right fit for the games, but it is rumoured to be part of the Olympics. At this point it is better to wait and see. Shooting Current – 15 Events, 256 Athletes Proposed – 15 Events, 224 Athletes Despite losing three individual events, shooting didn’t lose any quotas. Even after readjusting; 16 per rifle and pistol event, 24 for male shotgun and 12 for female shotgun and giving 24 quotas to guarantee mixed team entrants we still have 32 quotas left to return. Softball Current – 2 Events, 180 Athletes Proposed – 1 Event, 120 Athletes Men’s softball is not developed enough to have a team, the women’s event has been bumped up to eight teams. Squash Current – 7 Events, 60 Athletes Proposed – 7 Events, 72 Athletes The women’s numbers have matched the men. I also suggest a different qualification system to ensure individuals can also qualify. Surfing Current – 8 Events, 88 Athletes Proposed – 2 Events, 32 Athletes I don’t think the Pan American Games are ready for such a large surfing program. I reduced it to the Olympic shortboard events. Taekwondo Current – 12 Events, 140 Athletes Proposed – 8 Events, 96 Athletes Removed the Poomsae events, I don’t think they are ready for the Pan American Games. Tennis Current – 5 Events, 80 Athletes Proposed – 5 Events, 80 Athletes No changes, but a better qualification system is needed. Water Skiing Current – 10 Events, 48 Athletes Proposed – 10 Events, 56 Athletes The qualification system needs to be changed, the additional athletes helps add specialists plus helps guarantee eight athletes per event. In general, each nation may qualify up to 3 athletes per gender in water skiing and 1 athlete per gender in wakeboarding. Top 8 athletes in overall and wakeboarding qualify while the top four qualify each in tricks/slalom/jumps. Athletes are allowed to compete in other events. Weightlifting Current – 14 Events, 126 Athletes Proposed – 14 Events, 126 Athletes No changes, but a different qualification system will be needed.

Big draw by Egypt, they now control their own destiny (assuming Qatar doesn't win/draw against Sweden)

To be fair we went from 364 events to 424, an increase of 60 events. The fact that we only increased the number of athletes by around 550 was amazing.