JoshMartini007

Bahrain only got one quota. Bolivia, Malta and Oman got two quotas because they applied for two to the tripartite committee.

Kazakhstan looked good, but they faced no European opposition. In reality this tournament is Russia's to lose

Awesome, Australia will be just as hard if not harder. I wish they didn't let nations which already qualified a team compete here.

Vanuatu has reached the semi-final after defeating Kazakhstan 2-0, their next opponent is China, even without their top pair it is going to be hard for them (likely a 2-1 result if they win). Australia vs. Japan is the other semi-final. For the men the semi-finals are Australia vs. China and Kazakhstan vs. Qatar.

No, all of the unused quotas have been released, all we're missing is the tripartite quotas (and confirmation of the individual quotas). One thing that needs to update is the 2014 and 2015 Rankings since some nations should lose points due to their athletes being caught doping.

Can't wait to see the stock market, apparently the pound has dropped by almost 15 cents against the US dollar over the past 24 hours

Still early, but I have serious doubts that "stay" will pull off the comeback. Looks like the UK is leaving.

Early results for the EU Referendum are in. Things are quite even with England wanting to leave while Northern Ireland and Scotland wanting to stay, no results for Wales yet. Results

He's listed in the 200m free, 200m fly, 100m free, 200m IM and 100m fly. Here's the entry list for the US trials.

It means a lot. The only thing keeping this from being a complete disaster (assuming more withdrawals, it's actually not so bad right now) is that the women's side is intact. First impressions are important and for a sport that barely made the Olympics. They would have to be fully committed in 2020 if they want to stay (or the IOC gets a lot of revenue regardless of the strength of field).

Looks like it was steroids. The Italian Athletics Federation has confirmed the allegation.

It's funny that only the men are withdrawing from the Olympics due to fear of the Zika virus. McIloroy's is the type of golfer that would cause a mass exodus from the tournament. Say goodbye to golf at future Olympics past 2020.

The 2016 Oceania Championships have begun. Nothing interesting on the first day of finals with the exception of Cook Islands' Wesley Robert reached the OST (B Standard) in the men's 1500m. Sadly I don't think it will be enough to make the Olympics.

It comes from the fact that the Russian Olympic Committee is not banned, only a single federation. Even then the Russian athletics federation is not completely suspended as some athletes are allowed to compete. To the IOC, because the IAAF is allowing some Russians to compete this is more like a heavy suspension where the name, officials and the vast majority of athletes are banned. In other words the IOC is using a previous rule to prevent suspended federations from competing independently. It is either be fully banned or limited participation under the Russia flag.

That confused me at first too. Looks like we have another example of a sports federation not knowing their own rules.

Rugby sevens is a bit different. Before I agree it was interchangeable, but now the game has become its own sport. We've seen multiple rugby players try-out for the sevens team and fail due to lack of fitness. It has become a different game with its own strategy. It would be like saying the World Cup for futsal or beach soccer isn't the top prize for those sports because we have the World Cup for football.

Samoa has lately been a wildcard in the sport. They're the only team that can win a world series event one week and finish in last in the next week.

I have to give Germany credit on their development in rugby sevens. Before rugby sevens was announced to the Olympics they were pretty much non-existent in top level European play. Now they are on the outside looking in at trying to join the core teams for the World Series. If things continue they will have a great chance at making the Olympics in 2020.

Russia has defeated Canada multiple times this year. Canada was the favourite, but losing to Russia (especially after losing to Germany) was realistic.

I really thought Canada would at least make the finals and lose to Samoa, but we've had trouble defeating Russia this year too.

It looks like the two spare quotas came from Russia

With that bracket Germany could pull off the upset.

lol Canada. Ireland will be the favourite going into tomorrow, but Samoa will have a great chance at qualifying.

You can't form an opinion on Canada's chances until it at least faces Germany. Sri Lanka is the weakest team in the event while Uruguay isn't too much better. It seems the gain in popularity in rugby sevens has hurt Tonga the most. They use to be on the outside looking in, but to be fair group A is a very strong group, both Zimbabwe and Tonga would have had a chance to reach the quarter-final if placed in any other group.

Ireland just defeated Samoa. It looks like the nation is finally taking sevens seriously.