Nickyc707

I believe he's married to a French national and lives in that country.

And yet you don't appear to be involved in the Italian TJ progamme. A shocking waste of talent! 🤔😊

You must be concerned by their performance in the men's 10m platform synchro then given that they qualfied second.

Not a compelling argument. Looking at the three athletes you refer to from the previous Games it is open to question how many of them are still competing. The 3m springboard diver will be 34 by the time Paris comes around which is elderly for a diver and he's unlikely to be improving while others will be. The two 10m platform divers you refer to will be 33 and 31 respectively. The latter is also Ukrainian born and it must be open to question whether he will wish to compete for Russia in light of current circumstances. You're largely pinning your argument on a group of aging divers whose future is questionable. P.S . Daley hasn't officially retired

Is it possible to hop, skip and jump within that distance? 😎

Don't you think you're exaggerating the impact of the absence of the Russians. At the last two OG their nineteen divers managed to win just one bronze medal between them.

They rarely if ever achieve a clean sweep so the chances are that other countries will win 1-2 events.

Renoir, Matisse and Cezanne coming good for Les Bleus. 😎

The problem with the European Games is it doesn't have the core sports like athletics - the team event has pretty weak lineups - swimming, gymnastics, road/track cycling, etc. which attract the viewers. In contrast it has a lot of sports that frankly British viewers have little or no interest in. Team GB doesn't even bother to send athletes to compete in the non-Olympic sports. Both the CWG and multi-sport European Championships is a different story and both get full coverage. Personally I thing further development of the European Championships concept is the way forward rather than the European Games but I'm sure views differ from country to country. To date British TV has never covered these Games and this year it's not helped by having to compete against an Ashes cricket series and tennis's grass court season. It just isn't a fair contest.

715/720

A new WR set in qualifying for the women's compound with 715 out of a possible 720.

I believe one of only two known holocaust survivors to go on to compete at the Olympics. https://www.teamgb.com/article/sir-ben-helfgott-1929-2023/1xaWCon1OFwS94BPuRg3DG?s=09 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Helfgott

You seem a bit confused. Alex Yee doesn't compete for Malaysia.

The moment Mark Selby achieved his maximum. The score 9-8 to Luca Brecel after the first two sessions in the best of 35 frame final.

Either Mark Selby wins his 5th world title in ten years or we have a new world champion. Allen has appeared in one previous semi-final in 2009. For Brecel and Ji it's a first appearance.

Tulloch is also a decent vaulter if required, although they would presumably be relying principally on Jarman, Fraser and Regini-Moran on that discipline if they are on the team.

I pretty much agree with that assessment. Little to choose between the two countries women's teams when at full strength, while the GB men are clearly stronger than Italy at this stage subject to the same proviso about both teams being at full strength. In the absence of the men you mentioned this was the least experienced men's team I can recall in a very long time. Jarman only made his breakthrough last year, Tulloch - while experienced - only competes on rings and vault, leaving the other three competing in their first major international event.

True of much of the media everywhere.

I seem to recall sailing starting qualification very early during recent cycles but they seem to have delayed a year this time.

Some sports have a long history of crossover, e.g. cycling/speed skating, while triathlon athletes often have a background in running or swimming. Other crossovers are more unusual but Rebecca Romero won Olympic medals in rowing and then cycling. Clearly some of the attributes enjoyed by competitors in endurance sports are interchangeable and if a country has strength in one or more of them there are opportunities to develop a base in others, although culture and tradition also plays a part. In the case of Norway you have running on the track or road (athletics), running on ice (speed skating), running on snow (cross-country/biathlon) and running on pedals (cycling). They've also produced quality rowers and triathletes like Tufte and Blummenfelt, so your theory has credence.

Norwegian athletics seems to be at its strongest point since the mid 1990s when they had competitors like Trine Hattestad, Geir Moen, Vebjørn Rodal and Steinar Hoen.

I always thought the Dutch could only jump that high over water! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fierljeppen

Suspect that the bronze is going to be heavily disputed after that men's 800m race.

I always assumed he self-treated.

A near miraculous recovery from Doom after withdrawing from yesterday's individual final with a hamstring injury.