OlympicIRL

Last night and tonight I can see some nice colours in the sky..... though it's not as good as I have seen on other occasions. The moon is very bright so that doesn't help I guess.

Blossoms...... absolutely love, love, love this band.

Great to see Northern Ireland doing well again in this campaign.... would love to see them at the World Cup and now they are just two matches from getting there, the closest in my lifetime!

I couldn't give a stuff, talk all you want

European zone is truly a mine field these days. Points could be dropped anywhere. While this is a surprise result, it is no longer a massive shock.

France 0-0 Luxembourg Luxembourg hit the post towards the end of the match also!

Great!! Fantastic way to compliment the countdown If anyone has any ideas they wish to add here to get us into the spirit then feel free to use the thread in whatever way you want

23 weeks to go until the Games of the 23rd Winter Olympiad! Pyeongchang 2018 will officially be known as the Games of the 23rd Winter Olympiad. 23 is also the number of weeks to go until the Opening Ceremony! Key: a1 6 months to go a2 3 months to go a3 1 month to go b1 150 days to go b2 100 days to go b3 75 days to go c1 Four Hills Tournament begins c2 Hahnenkamm Race begins c3 Winter X Games begin d1 tickets go on sale d2 2018 Olympic year arrives (Jan 1st) d3 2018 Olympic Prediction Contests Open on Totallympics e1 lighting of Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece e2 Olympic flame arrives in Incheon e3 Olympic flame arrives in Gangwon province x Olympic cauldron is lit e1 b1 e2 c1 30 b2 e3 c2 30 b3 x c3 30 22 21 20 19 18 a3 d3 a2 d2 17 12 30 30 16 11 15 10 14 9 13 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PyeongChang 2018 ------------------50--------------------------------------25--------------------------------------02----- --------49-----------------48------------------27-----------------24-------------------04----------------01- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --47----------------------------46-------29-----------------------------22-------06----------------------------03 --------------------------------------36--------------------------------------16------------------------------- --45-----------------------38--43-------30--33-------------------16--21-------08--13------------------------05 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------44-----------40---41------------------28--31-------20--23-------------------10--11-----------07--- ------------------42--------------------------------------26--------------------------------------09------------- ----------------------39-----------------------------32-------19----------------------------12----------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------37-----------------34-------------------17----------------14------------- --------------------------------------35--------------------------------------15---------------

Great result but this a) doesn't make them world beaters b) mean that they are so good that qualification was a foregone conclusion.

Hardly official Plus they are not THAT good.

In terms of a lack of a strong team yes..... but you have to look at a bigger picture of all the teams in each group then it is much trickier than many others. Poland are the top seed by far.... then you have Denmark, Romania and Montenegro, a lot of potential there to drop points. And trips to Armenia and Kazakhstan are far from easy. Group B on the other hand has two front runners with little opposition apart from Hungary.... who aren't the trickiest 3rd team either..... and the bottom 3 are just weak. No wonder it has the 2nd team with the most points . That's why this system just doesn't work.

Yes Group E is looking in danger too. Again, one of the stronger groups. Whereas the weak groups will be safe. I will say it again for the millionth time, stupid unfair system.

Wow Cyprus! What a comeback!

Guitar / band hero maybe But I don't think it's played in e-sports currently . That's actually my biggest issue with e-sports, the focus is too much on one or two genres (though I admit I don't know a lot about it so I could be wrong).

If Netherlands lose tonight and still come 2nd they probably won't have enough points for a play-off (horrible rule which I hate as the best groups are most likely to have fewest points).

Bulgaria 2-2 Sweden and a missed penalty too.... it's not even half time yet

Sweden miss the penalty! Go Bulgaria

I'm not strongly against it, I have an open mind on it hence why I didn't vote. If I saw some tournaments and e-sports could show to me that it is firstly watchable as a spectator friendly sport and had a variety of different game skills and types (not just shooters and FIFA) then I could live with it. I think now is too soon but I am no more against e-sports than adding horrible mixed relays and such for the sake of it.

They added mixed 4x400m in athletics so anything is possible these days

Good, because I am likely to miss some milestone so I need more counters

24 weeks to go! Last Friday saw us pass the 24 weeks to go mark and each week now will see at least another piece of the jigsaw logo fit into place Key: a1 6 months to go a2 3 months to go a3 1 month to go b1 150 days to go b2 100 days to go b3 75 days to go c1 Four Hills Tournament begins c2 Hahnenkamm Race begins c3 Winter X Games begin d1 tickets go on sale d2 2018 Olympic year arrives (Jan 1st) d3 2018 Olympic Prediction Contests Open on Totallympics e1 lighting of Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece e2 Olympic flame arrives in Incheon e3 Olympic flame arrives in Gangwon province x Olympic cauldron is lit e1 b1 e2 c1 30 b2 e3 c2 30 b3 x c3 30 23 22 21 20 19 18 a3 d3 a2 d2 17 12 30 30 16 11 15 10 14 9 13 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PyeongChang 2018 ------------------50--------------------------------------25--------------------------------------02----- --------49-----------------48------------------27-----------------24-------------------04----------------01- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --47----------------------------46-------29-----------------------------22-------06----------------------------03 --------------------------------------36--------------------------------------16------------------------------- --45-----------------------38--43-------30--33-------------------16--21-------08--13------------------------05 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------44-----------40---41------------------28--31-------20--23-------------------10--11-----------07--- ------------------42--------------------------------------26--------------------------------------09------------- ----------------------39-----------------------------32-------19----------------------------12----------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------37-----------------34-------------------17----------------14------------- --------------------------------------35--------------------------------------15---------------

Billy Walsh left his role in Ireland in late 2015 to coach the US boxing team..... success quickly followed. Our federation treated him like crap.

4th place for Mona in the 200m breaststroke, so close to her third medal. 3 medals, 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze, 2 x 4th places, 7th place and a 6th place in the mixed medley relay. This is bizarrely good for our standards. Delighted with these performances

It's a very good question honestly. Rio 2016 could hardly have been more farcical for AIBA and yet there is no major boot in their ass to get them to reform. Their reforms a few years ago were a complete joke because they just made it easier to cover up cheating

Surprise, surprise.... Kazakhstan were involved. Always the same cohort of nations have all the influence in this non-sport. The farce is so blatant these days that they simply don't care. They will investigate a few referees post-tournament and that will make everything ok