ofan

Surfing venue looks cool. It's nice to get a little preview of what an Olympic-like surfing venue will look like. I still wish Tokyo was building one of these though :D :

Noticeably no Andrew Wiggins, the highest paid Canadian in the NBA. Not like we need him anyways, he's highly overrated. Nonetheless, with the preliminary roster in place, it is very clear Canada will be a heavy medal favourite in this World Cup

Team Canada Training Camp Roster Forwards Oshae Brissett Dillon Brooks Aaron Doornekamp Melvin Ejim Mfiondu Kabengele Trey Lyles Kelly Olynyk Dwight Powell Thomas Scrubb Marial Shayok Kyle Wiltjer Centres Khem Birch Chris Boucher Brandon Clarke Tristan Thompson Guards Nickeil Alexander-Walker R.J. Barrett Aaron Best Luguentz Dort Brady Heslip Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Cory Joseph Naz Mitrou-Long Jamal Murray Andrew Nembhard Kevin Pangos Phil Scrubb Andy Rautins Nik Stauskas

Honest question (and this doesn't necessarily pertain to Halep), but do you think we could see some participation in the tennis tournament diminished since its all the way in Japan and right at the start of North American hard court season?

Gold! I cannot believe it! And with their first ever medal, Canada secures the first spot in women's beach volleyball in Tokyo.

Fuck this, fuck everything

Canada takes the first set! A nailbiter that went back and forth

I meant to say Quarterfinal, not Semifinal

That's what I said, but I accidentally said semifinal instead of quarterfinal.

So if win on Friday, the two semifinals on Saturday will essentially be "Olympic qualification championship matches" with the winners qualifying for the Olympics, alongside the winner of the - match.

Because those words, like all word that come out of Bach's mouth, are hollow and meaningless. He'll trade his integrity and the survival of the Olympic movement for glitz and glamour at every turn.

Wow, congratulations to Romania! Something about Olympics in Tokyo are special for them

Damnit, so disappointing. On the bright side, at least Sweden had one victory today!

1) I agree that judged sports are frustrating and that politics and personal taste do very much come into play. I will, however, say that this is not as much the case with freestyle skiing and snowboarding - they have not been exposed to the corruption that other judged sports like figure skating and artistic swimming have. The medals Canada earns in these sports shouldn't be worth any less than the medals Italy earns in alpine skiing and short track, in my opinion. Our victories aren't "tainted" like the victories of nations in other judged sports (*cough* Russia *cough*). I think that calling it not a sport devalues the work that the athletes put in - it still takes a great deal of skill and performing well on competition day, as do other sports. 3) Well, that sounds great then. All of our debate has been based on speculation and "what could have been". Now that the Games are officially in Milan and there is nothing that can change that, I look forward to watching their preparations and enjoying what should be a tremendous event, as well as continuing to debate these fun (and sometimes controversial topics) with you and other members in the lead up to 2026

Also remember that Stockholm pulled out of their bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, and there was much opposition to their 2004 bid for the Summer Games. I wonder if there is still some resentment against Sweden within the IOC

Also, ironically it was announced today that the San Siro will be demolished. I don't know if it this will be before or after 2026

1) It's really a waste of time in having a substantive debate with you if that's what you believe. To equate freestyle skiing and snowboarding with artistic swimming and rhythmic gymnastics shows that you truly have zero understanding of these sports and the athletic prowess that they require. As for the television network argument, the CBC has no power. The only television network with any sway is NBC, and while they surely encouraged the addition of new events in snowboarding and freestyle skiing, the IOC also has made engaging a youthful audience a priority (https://www.olympic.org/news/2020-vision-looking-ahead-to-lausanne-2020-engaging-young-people). Furthermore, the addition of new events in traditional sports has also benefited European nations with the chance for more medals in the same way additions in other sports have benefited the US and Canada. 2) This reiterates what I was saying. It's not your fault these other nations aren't engaged - it's due to the failures of the IOC to foster a sustainable Winter Olympic Games concept through their thirst for greed in staging the grossly expensive 2014 Olympics, which have turned off many democratic populaces from wanting to host. I was simply stating that in an ideal world, other nations would fall in line before Italy for hosting (this does not take away from the fact that I'm sure Italy will host an incredible Olympics in 2026) 3) This doesn't exactly help your argument - I remember that attendance was a major issue at the Torino Olympics. If Italian engagement in winter sports is low, it only furthers my argument that they aren't deserving of a second Winter Olympics in 20 years.

Read my post below. Italy is a very strong winter sport nation, but I would define a powerhouse as a country that can win or at least finish in the top 5-6 of the medal table consistently. However, my post has been taken out of context - I simply don't find Italy's winter Olympic performance strong enough to justify 2 Games in a 20 year span.

A few things: First, additions to the Olympic schedule have not come from the desires of North American TV networks, but rather the IOCs desire to cater to a younger generation of both athletes and viewers. Furthermore, the IOC has made a handful of additions to the Winter Olympics programs in other sports like biathlon, alpine skiing and sliding sports (the supposed sports Italy dominates non-European nations in) over the last few years. If Canada and the United States have benefited from the sports that are growing in popularity in modern times, at the expense of traditional sports, hats off to them for evolving with the times. Second, Canada may have been aided by some new additions to the program, but much of its success has come from the millions in government funding as a part of the Own the Podium program designed to bring Canada success in its home Olympics in 2010 and beyond. I'm sure the Italian government will put in place a similar program for 2026 to try and prove me wrong about them not being a powerhouse ( ) Third, I'm not sure if I'm reading correctly, but to suggest that snowboarding and freestyle skiing are not sports is ridiculous. My point is this: Italy has a very strong winter sports tradition. But, it is unfair to me for them to host multiple games in a 20 year span, when nations like Norway, Sweden or Germany, with a much deeper winter sports tradition and a much stronger medal performance at the Olympics, have not hosted once. However, that is the way things go when other nations don't have the public support levels in place to sustain an Olympic bid. To conclude, Italy had a great, technically-sound bid, and congratulations to all Italians. I never said the venues will not be iconic - Milan-Cortina will be a beautiful setting for the Winter Olympics, and I agree it will be the first "traditional" Olympic set up since 1994, as well as a great opportunity to potentially "save" the Winter Olympic games from the downward trajectory that they are heading in. However, I still stand by my belief that I would have liked to have seen the Games spread around to other nations before Italy got another shot.

Yes, very unfortunate. However, the IOC had concerns with the long-term viability of adding a roof and "modernizing" the facility, so it is still possible that it may remain an outdoor facility :d. It would be nice to have the speed skating outside again, it hasn't happened since 1992, but I'm sure logistical concerns such as weather make it an issue.

Yes, in Baselga, within the Val di Fiemme cluster of venues. They're rebuilding the venue used for the 1995 World Championships

Val di Fiemme, near Trento

First official marijuana sponsors of the Olympic Games.

US always gets the favourable calls. Just ask Canada

Copenhagen is too small. You need at least 40,000 hotel rooms and a population of at least 2.5 million. Copenhagen has less than 30,000 rooms.