dodge

Poland can qualify a maximum of 2 crews, and only if they both win the event. If 3 win their event, they’ll have to choose two. If only one crew wins, but multiple finish in qualifying position (or none win, but finish in qualifying positions), Poland can choose only one quota

She’s racing in the European championships, not the Olympic qualifiers. It’s a separate event (same place, same weekend)

First prelims today Women’s single (top 2 from each heat into finals) Men’s singles (top 2 from each heat into SF) Lightweight women double (prelim race order) lightweight men (top one into final) in the first heat & both close to Poland. In second, Ukraine just beat Suspect all other crews out of quota contention

While I don’t think she will win a medal (she hasn’t been top 5 in any race this year), she’s a very interesting character. Shes 28 and this is her first ever professional season. Before this year her only races were representing her country

Confirmed by Fintan that he’s not 100%. Same with Aoife Casey. I’m told it’s not serious and there’s no worries for the rest of the season

No lightweight doubles. Presume an injury/illness to Fintan. Paul still down for the heavyweight singles

Yeah. Odd championships. Several countries still boycotting and more sending B squads (or mixed squads!) Ireland went 4/5 today (including the walkover when Petrova unfortunately pulled out)

Rowing team for the European champs Lightweight double Paul O’Donovan/Fintan McCarthy lightweight single Jake McCarthy openweight single Paul O’Donovan (!) lightweight single Mags Cremen Openweight double Zoe Hyde/Alison Bergin Aoife Casey isn’t fit. Hyde was injured for World Cup 1 so they’re in here It’ll be interesting to see if POD does the heavyweight single and the LW double…

Sure. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either SA or GB win a medal, but it also wouldn’t be a surprise when one or both doesn’t qualify for the record so far this seaisn Dubai 1st 10th 11th 12th Cape Town 6th 7th 9th 10th Perth 5th 8th 11th 12th Vancouver 7th 9th 11th 12th LA 2nd 4th 11th 12th HK 6th 8th 11th 12th South Africa on top in 4 of the 6. Spain 2nd in 3 of last 4. Only one event where 2 of these 4 weren’t the bottom two

Don’t think any of them are guaranteed to win. 4 very flaky teams. Obviously GB are still heavy favourites

Only 5 nations going for the 2 spots in the lightweight women’s double. Meanwhile Klimovich, a Tokyo Olympian for is the only entrant in women’s singles

Seems to be some confusion about quotas and places etc. These relay quotas are the same as 4x100, 4x400 etc A nation that qualifies a walking relay team can enter that team with any man and any woman they want, but they can’t use those quotas to get extra individuals in the 20km walk Most countries will use their strongest individuals (ie those already qualified) for the team event though so they won’t be additional quota spots for most. Canada is an example where qualification increases their athletic team by one. Dunfee will go in the individual event and he’ll go in the relay too. His partner in the relay won’t be in the individual event though

Technically it isn’t the “5 best 2nd pairs” It’s the first 22 pairs (with a max of 2 per NOC) In reality it’s likely the same thing but just in case…

I’ve actually studied this exact topic. The “system” was indeed the basis, but let’s not kid ourselves on doping here.

I enjoy you saying this is nonsense followed by “eastern Europeans just doped more ruthlessly” So even when you agree with my point, you still have to argue. You remain unrivalled on here

Is someone genuinely asking why Eastern bloc countries fell off in terms of sporting results after the arrival of democracy? East Germany only competed in 5 Olympics in rowing, but they won 48 medals, including 33 gold. They were only overtaken by the US in 2016 in the all time medal list (and they’re still ahead of the rest) In Athletics, there’s still several European records that exist since the 80s with East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and the USSR all involved. This isn’t a slight on the fine people from Eastern Europe on here and the current athletes doing their best. But the answer to why they were so strong in the 1980s is doping. No one disputes this.

Their medal predications for Gold McCarthy/O’Donovan - Lightweight double sculls Rowing Rhys McClenaghan - pommel gymnastics Silver Daniel Wiffen - 800m free swimming Cian O’Connor - showjumping Kelly Harrington - 60kg boxing Bronze Daniel Wiffen - 1500m free swimming Rory McIlroy - golf

Gracenote medal predictions for Ireland Gold McCarthy/O’Donovan McClenaghan Silver Kelly Harrington Cian O’Connor Wiffen 800m Bronze Rory McIlroy Wiffen 1500m

Those 400m free times are insane Woo-min was about 3 seconds slower than his World Championship winning time, but the Aussie pair are way ahead of that, with Winnington only .19 off his PB already

Completely irrelevant here, but funny to me to see Hong Kong first in an alphabetical list of nations! (Japan and India first in some events too)

has sent a team that includes the 5 boxers who qualified at last year's European Games including Olympic champion Kelly Harrington It doesn't include boxers who fought at the last World Qualifier, or are scheduled to fight at the World qualifier in Thailand

I honestly have no idea. It seems it is a shock to most in the athletics world. No clarification yet

Maybe the Belgians aren’t smaller than the Dutch… But yes, the rest are.

Joking aside, the biggest issue is that lightweights were brought in to help nations whose people just aren’t as big as the power nations Mine is one of them, so I’m biased, but the following countries have had Olympic finalists in the last 20 or so years that aren’t from “traditional” rowing countries; Japan, France, South Africa, Greece, Cuba, Finland, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Belgium. Theres extra places for qualification too compared to heavyweight doubles so even more countries are brought in. Obviously some of the countries above have had the odd heavyweight success too but lightweights have brought in a lot to the sport. Shame, IMO, they’re excluded from the Olympics now

So far today in the rowing finals; Keogh/Murtagh silver behind the Dutch. They looked OK so probably still in the top 4/5 but without Australia and Romania we won’t know if they’re likely to contend for a medal yet Doyle/Lynch went off very slow but had an insane finish to grab bronze. They’ll need to be more consistent to challenge in Paris The women’s four were miles off two GB boats and finished in 4th as the Dutch eased away. Still a good regatta for them though and I’m more confident they’ll qualify now Timoney/Corrigan win the B final and let’s hope the illness/injury is behind them