Jinzha

I have also been reading all the memories! I definitely have some ideas for Dutch (and international) memories, though far from enough to fill 212 more days ;-) Luckily the Olympic channel did part of the work for me with this compilation!

It's so dependent on how many (important) events in each sport actually happened this year. As a result it feels like cycling just got the most opportunity to shine this year. There has been other sports, but often the events were far more limited in attendance and attention (athletics and swimming for example). Sportsman: Mathieu van der Poel Sportswoman: Anna van der Breggen Talent: Femke Bol Team: ??? (probably a rowing team after that successful European championship) Surely my follow Dutchmen will have some more original picks.

Do you know whether the Dutch matches will be broadcasted live somewhere? I assume NOS will only have summaries. There was a great one hour Ziggo Sport documentary released this week on the world championship by the way!

Looks like tomorrow is the day for both the women's football and field hockey finals, I hope we get to see Dutch teams in both of those! And then there's track cycling and athletics for the rest of the day and hopefully a semifinal in handball too. With some beach volleyball and sports climbing sprinkled in out of interest moreso than Dutch contenders.

Day 11 is could be a special day for the Netherlands with medal chances in track cycling (men's sprint) and gymnastics (men's horizontal bar, women's balance beam) and in a best case scenario in athletics (women's 200m). I don't exactly expect Sanne Wevers and Dafne Schippers guaranteed medals, but you know I can always hope And then there's water polo quarter finals, field hockey semifinals and beach volleyball quarter finals. If the Dutch contenders don't provide enough content, there is still sports climbing, men's volleyball quarters and the rest of the track cycling, athletics and gymnastics programs to watch.

Why must you do this to me! Great idea to watch all the highlights everyone mentions. I sometimes watch French sport highlights to work on my French, but this'll be a great way to be introduced to Italian, Hungarian(?) and Polish highlights among others!

This looks like a thread where I get to feel young... Sydney 2000 - I was a bit too young to remember these games, but here's an anecdote I've shared before. Pieter van den Hoogenband grew up just a couple streets behind my parents, so I do recall the ceremony we had in town when he returned. I got an autograph and touched his medals as a 5 year old! Athens 2004 - Van den Hoogenband again, obviously! Turin 2006 - I mostly recall the impressive showing of a young Ireen Wust. Beijing 2008 - the Dutch gold in women's water polo was big news here, just like the 4x100 freestyle women. The story of Maarten van der Weijden, who won gold in open water swimming after winning the battle against cancer. All in all, these were very memorable games. Vancouver 2010 - this memory is more vivid than any other... sitting in the living room with the whole family when Sven Kramer makes a wrong switch and gets dqed. Sad times. There was also the only Dutch medal in a snow event by Nicolien Sauerbrei. London 2012 - Probably the first Games I started following really closely. Epke Zonderland's gold on the horizontal bar stands out far and above, but also Ranomi Kromowidjojo winning the 50m and 100m freestyle. Sochi 2014 - Sven Kramer still not winning the Olympic 10.000m stands out sorely again, though the entire speed skating was dominated by the Dutch more than ever. Rio 2016 - By now it's so recent that it's hard to pick a specific memory. For some reason the lost bronze medal matches of the Handball and Volleyball women come to mind. And the horrible Annemiek van Vleuten crash. But also various international athletes standing out, like Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Neymar Jr, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles. Too many to mention really. PyeongChang 2018 - Again it's hard to choose with the Games being so recent, but Ireen Wust's 1500m and Kjeld Nuis's double come to mind. And Esmee Visser seemingly coming out of nowhere to win gold on the 5000m. Also the first big victory of Suzanne Schulting, let's hope she starts an era like Wust did in Turin 06

Agreed on all of this, plus I'll start following beachvolleyball RO16 'today'. Hopefully with Dutch male and female duos still competing. I've been loving this thread! Every night I check out the schedule for the next day and I already look forward to seeing everyone's reactions and predictions.

Aww that's really sad to hear. Estavana Polman did an hour long interview with NOS for the Olympic Podcast that was released just this week. Definitely recommend listening! (In Dutch ofc) As for the Olympics 'today', swimming and athletics are once again the main events. I hope Nadine Visser and Femke Bol reach the finals for 100m and 400m hurdles. And also the RS:X medal races, archery and potentially some preliminaries in team sports.

For the Netherlands the BMX finals and rowing 8s will be the most exciting today, Maybe judo too. I will also try to follow swimming and the first day of athletics of course and hopefully a women's football quarterfinal. This day will require at least 3 screens...

Looking forward to the time trials and a variety of swimming and rowing on day 5. Hoping Tom Dumoulin is fit enough for a time trial medal next year, and hoping for another dominant display by the women cyclists of course. Judo is always interesting throughout the first week as well, though I never quite remember which Dutch judoka are in each weight class.

Incredible time by Bol! And like Heywoodu said, a really likeable athlete in the interviews I've seen.

Devastated to hear the news of her disease and her passing. Lara van Ruijven was an amazing athlete and showed an incredibly enthusiastic and likeable personality in her media presence. A massive loss for short track and Dutch sports. The Dutch shorttrack team is an incredibly tightknit team. I hope they can support and comfort each other.

I also have a little correction, I wasn't sure where to send it. The country page for the Netherlands (where else would I look!) states in the description that Inge de Bruijn is the most decorated athlete, but both Sven Kramer and Ireen Wust have surpassed her. The medal table lower on the page has the correct numbers.

@Agger great run, congratulations! My running club has restarted its training with a social distancing protocol, so I finally ran intervals with a group again yesterday! Felt good to be running together again.

I'm going to look for canoe slalom! I don't think the Olympic Youtube channel has a full replay. Beautiful sport to spectate though, even if I have know little about it.

I've still been watching some Rio 2016 finals on Youtube. They've stopped uploading new ones though, it's mostly older replays now. I've (re)watched: triathlon, marathon, volleyball, beach volleyball, field hockey, handball, water polo and basketball. Running out of sports I enjoy watching by now. Currently the badminton women's double final is on. I don't think I've ever watched a full match of badminton before, but it's surprisingly entertaining. I saw they uploaded cycling's women road race recently, but I just can't bear rewatching that one! Any other recommendations after I finish badminton?

I feel like you've based your Marathon results on the world championship in Doha 2019 instead of the global marathon majors (Berlin, London, NY, Dubai, etc). Kipchoge and Bekele should be favorites for gold and silver. I do agree that the Dutch medal count can be toned down a little. But either way, really fun simulation! Thank you @rafalgorka

A day 14 medal table with the Netherlands above GB, Germany and France, I can't help but enjoy this simulation. 5 medals in a single day might even be a record for us. I always love these final days with all the big finals in the team sports.

For the men's decathlon on day 13 you seem to have missed Kevin Mayer (FR). He dropped out due to injury at the 2019 world championship, but in a fit state he is imo the favorite for gold or a medal at the very least.

I genuinely don't know non-Dutch athletes well enough to make a serious prediction for any sport. Of course I would love for a 1) Anna van der Breggen 2) Annemiek van Vleuten 3) Marianne Vos in women's road race (cycling), but sadly I doubt that will happen. I'll gladly enjoy any predictions you guys make though Edit: also, with 4 more days of simulation to go, the Netherlands has already broken their all time Olympic medal record, beating the 25 tally of Sydney 2000. Tokyo really could have been the perfect storm... What a combination of experienced 30+ athletes and a new generation of world beaters. Some of the iconic athletes of the past decade going for their 'swan song' like Epke Zonderland, Dafne Schippers, Femke Heemskerk, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Eva de Goede, Annemiek van Vleuten, Marianne Vos and Kirsten Wild on the one hand. And future icons on the other hand, like Harrie Lavreysen, Vivianne Miedema, Niek Kimmann, Sifan Hassan and Mathieu van der Poel. Let us hope Tokyo 2021 lives up to the simulation, though I fear for the older generation.

I haven't been frequenting the forums much now that all sports are on hold, but I just wanted to thank you @rafalgorka and @Gianlu33. It has been a lot of fun to read this thread. Other than a gold or silver for Mathieu Van der Poel in men's MTB and no medals for Lorena Wiebes in women's road and ITT cycling, I don't have any major suggestions. I look forward to the next days.

Random brag but Pieter van den Hoogenband grew up a couple streets behind me. So after Sydney 2000 he got a little ceremony in our town and I got to touch the medals as a 5 yo kid! Tokyo 2020 really could've broken that Sydney 2000 medal record, let's sew what 2021 brings for us... Also just finished watching Rio 2016 beach volleyball M finals, great match and a really hype Brazilian crowd!

I think my next project tomorrow is going to be the beachvolleyball finals. But I've also got W marathon and triathlon and M volleyball final on my list.

I don't usually rewatch older sports events but this thread (and the lack of live sports) inspired me. I've made a list of some Rio 2016 replays on the Olympic youtube channel. Already watched the men's marathon and triathlon and the women's volleyball final. This isn't as bad as I thought! And plenty of replays left on the official channel.