dodge

Interesting summation. Just on the swimming, it’s worth noting that Irish swimmers can only achieve the times at the Irish open, the world championships, or a likely qualifying event in 2024

I’m OK with the Dutch federation doing this. Most federations have rules in place that effectively mean boxers have to abide by what they say/do. As has been said she can still compete in boxing without going near the Olympics

Olympic ranks in women's pursuit after 2023 Euros and two WC events: 1 1880 2 1530 3 1520 4 1475 5 1405 6 1337.5 7 1000 8 880 9 871.5 10 630 11 600 12 560 No continental championships so far for the non-Europeans. Poland, Switzerland and Australia have only competed in one of the Nations Cup events. Long way to go with next year's results being included too but already it looks like the top 8 here and Australia should qualify.

6 countries who won medals at the 2022 championship, including 5 gold medals, aren't at the championships. If you want to add medal winning countries from the last Olympics you can add Others who usually compete who haven't entered include have won medals at the last Worlds and the last Olympics and didn't sent a team either. However Megan de Cler has decided to enter on her own. She's listed as Netherlands but has the IBA flag beside her name.

I guess they think there’s more important principles than “competition” As many other athletes do for a variety of reasons

To be fair, there are loads of reasons why someone would not back a “fellow athlete” and would want to see them banned. For some, this war is enough. It’s OK that you don’t agree with that but expecting athletes to not have opinions is a bit much IMO

Slightly connected but they’ve announced the qualifiers for the European games this year

It’s effectively a 50/50 chance between Ireland and GB for the European spot With all due respect to Spain, who I believe are having a great year.

The official Olympic rankings are now live on the UCI site. Only the 2023 Europeans count for now

The Late late show certainly isn’t the vehicle for this. We watched as a family though and the song by Connolly was quite good and should have won. There were some terrible songs too

Thanks. That’s the one that makes most sense but I haven’t really paid attention before I think the top 5 is nearly set already;

Can anyone clarify how the host country is handled? The document states France are “guaranteed” a spot and they’re already out of the European games But do the top 4 non-French qualifiers get the World Series spots or does a nation need to finish in the top 4 to get one?

It was poor but Remco also missed the crossover that most of the peloton didn’t, including his team mates Lampaert and Morkov who were behind him

I’ll have a go for Athletics - 15 Quietly optimistic about Irish athletics. I’m hoping Rhasidat Adeleke continues her development at 400m. We’d need at least one relay team to reach 15 but I think we can do it Badminton - 1 Just Nhat Nguyen in the mens Boxing - 8 5 women and 3 men. Amy Broadhurst has moved to 66kg and I’m predicting she’ll win gold in Paris. 2 medals in Tokyo, we will surpass that Canoe Slalom - 1 We have 3 decent C1 paddlers and they’ll get one of the quotas and fight for it between them Cycling Road - 3 2 men and 1 woman for the first time. Mia Griffin is a world tour rider this year and I’m putting her down in hope more than expectation Cycling Track - 4 the women’s pursuit team will qualify and compete in the madison too Diving - 2 Hopeful that Tanya Watson will return and Jake Passmore graduates from the junior ranks Equestrian - 7 show jumping and eventing are already in. We’ll add a solo dressage competitor. The show jumping team will win a medal. Golf - 4 Any number of men could join McIlroy. Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow will go to their 3rd games. Medal chances in men’s and women’s Gymnastics - 2 Rhys McClenaghan in pommel and an all round woman, probably Emma Slevin. Hoping our world champ can get that Olympic medal Modern Pentathlon - 1 Natalya Coyle is rumoured to be on the comeback trail. Sive Brassil may qualify too Rowing - 18 Mens and women’s fours. Men’s and women’s lightweight sculls. Men’s and women’s pair. Women’s double. 2 medals with McCarthy and O’Donovan retaining gold. Rugby 7s - 24 Initially I was pessimistic about our chances to qualify but I now think our men will win at the Euro qualifier and the women will get in at the last chance qualifier. Medal chance for the men (outside) Sailing - 3 49er and Laser Radial. Laser is a possibility too. Going young Eve McMahon gets the nod at radial Swimming - 6 No relay this time but 6 individual with Daniel Wiffen being an outside chance of a medal in the distance events in the pool Taekwondo - 1 Jack Woolley will make his second games and anything could happen. Other sports were we have chances to qualify include Hockey (very much a down year for men and women), Triathlon (our Olympians effectively took 2022 off), weightlifting (because the qualification rules are insane) and shooting (men’s and women’s trap are somewhat competitive).

With an Olympic spot up for grabs, this looks very likely to be a GB v Ireland final already (with GB being favourites despite recent results)