OlympicsFan

I don't see any chance for Northern Ireland to qualify (directly), it should be between Germany and the Netherlands. Many people are talking badly about german football, but the main problem is Joachim Löw. With Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, Jupp Heynckes or Julian Nagelsmann as head coach, Germany would still be one of the main favorites at the next european championships. Germany is actually able to field a roster of 23 players only with players who will play Champions League this season, i am not sure how many other nations are able to do that?

Amazing job by the Czech Republic! I don't think anyone would have bet anything on them making it out of the 2nd group stage ahead of Brazil and especially Greece and all of that even without Vesely. I guess that the main reason for them making it out of the 2nd group stage was Giannis clearly underperforming, but if you look at their individual quality, then Greece still should have beaten them comfortably. I never considered Greece as strong as many others, but i still thought that Giannis would lead them out of the 2nd group stage and that they then would have a 50/50 match against France/Australia. Looking at the greek roster, i don't see nearly as much individual quality as on the spain/french/serbian roster and i think it might also have something to do with greek teams performing worse and worse every year in the Euroleague.

Do we already know how the draw for the world qualifier next year will work? If the following nations all compete with their best players, then those 4 tournaments could be extremely good: Serbia/Spain/France, Greece, Lithuania, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic Before the start of the tournament i considered Greece and Lithuania as the 4th/5th best european teams behind France, Spain and Serbia, but they were pretty disappointing here, so right now i would only consider Serbia/Spain/France clear favorites to qualify for Tokyo. If all nations play with their best players, then my guess would be that Serbia/Spain/France, Greece, Lithuania and Canada will qualify, but if Canada will miss their NBA players again, the question of who gets the 4th spot will be completely open and will mainly depend on the draw. I guess all teams will hope not to be drawn into the group with Serbia/Spain/France.

1) Just noticed that Pinto isn't on the start list anymore (https://www.european-athletics.org/mm/Document/EventsMeetings/General/01/28/90/76/TEAM_LISTCOMBINED_Neutral.pdf) 2) I don't think that the start lists prove that the level of participants is very good. In my opinion the US will compete with their best athlete in only 10 out of 34 individual events (Men's 1500 m, men's 3000 m SC, men's high jump, men's javelin throw, men's hammer throw, women's long jump, women's shot put, women's hammer throw, women's javelin throw, women's discus throw) and Europe will compete with their best athlete in only 13 out of 34 individual events (Men's 200 m, men's 800 m, men's 110 m hurdles, men's high jump, men's long jump, men's pole vault, men's javelin throw, men's hammer throw, women's 100 m hurdles, women's high jump, women's pole vault, women's discus throw, women's hammer throw).

It is always good when Serena doesn't win a slam title. The sad thing is that she is still able to reach a slam final that easily. Andreescu's victory should give hope to someone like Townsend, if you can win a slam looking like Andreescu, then there really isn't anything that should stop Townsend. I am not sure about how long Andreescu will stay at the top, after all someone like Ostapenko was also supposed to be the nixt big thing just to disappear very quickly. Personally i hope that Bencic will be the next one of the younger girls to win a slam, 3 or 4 years ago i thought that she would be the first one to do so. The fact that Williams is the only one to reach more than 1 slam final this year is also not very encouraging. On the one hand the absence of top players makes things kind of exciting and unpredictable, on the other hand i think that it would be good for women's tennis if some sort of rivalry could develop. It is almost impossible for casual fans to keep track with women's tennis, because there is a new face every couple of months and barely anyone has any consistency.

What about cycling? I think winning the Tour de France is bigger than winning an olympic gold? I think you could also name boxing (becoming WBA world heavyweight champion is probably more important than winning an olympic gold in the same category) or Sailing (America's Cup) or Skateboarding (X Games) or Triathlon (Ironman).

Two great matches today: Lithuaniva vs. France and USA vs. Greece. Especially Lithuania vs. France should be interesting, Lithuania needs to win this match. Greece vs. USA also is an important match, but so far Greece has been even less convincing than the US, so i am not sure whether they can actually make it a close match.

Really interesting to see that Medvedev is the first of the young guns to reach a slam final. I think even one year ago most people wouldn't have bet anything on him being the first of the young guys to do it. Guys like Zverev, Shapovalov, FAA or Tsitsipas seemed to the more obvious choices. Even among the russian guys he probably was only the 3rd choice (behind Khachanov and Rublev) for most people. I think Zverev isn't any less talented, but he has had the same flaws in his game for years and apparently he isn't willing to work on them and anyone who points those mistakes out to him gets fired ... By the way: Russia could have a great Davis Cup team in the future ... I think Medvedev is the youngest finalist since Del Potro did it at the 2009 US Open and i think he could also become the youngest winner since 2009 (when Del Potro won the US Open). He could be the first guy not named Federer/Nadal/Wawrinka/Djokovic/Murray to win a slam since Cilic did it at the 2014 US Open and the first guy not named Djokovic/Federer/Nadal to win a slam since Wawrinka did it at the 2016 US Open. I think only 1 of the last 39 slams was won by someone else than Federer/Nadal/Wawrinka/Djokovic/Murray (Cilic at the 2014 US Open). The last russian guy to win a slam/reach the final was Safin at the 2005 Australian Open. Safin is the only russian guy who has won a slam this century and i think Medvedev could become only the 3rd russian man to ever win a slam (only Safin and Kafelnikov have done it before).

Nile Wilson ... ?

Sorry, but ... 1) Why not speak about the italian coaches/managers who are the ones that made Kenya (and currently Uganada) a "superpower"? Ever heard of Federico Rosa or Renato Canova? Did you look into the connection between Canova and Salpeter (one of the athletes with the most ridiculous progression over the past couple of years)? 2) If you really think that Hassan and especially Klosterhalfen are a lap ahead of Dibaba and made a huge step forward under Salazar, then you don't know much about those athletes. Just yesterday Klosterhalfen for example lost against Gidey, one of the "flying Ethiopians", while Hassan for example was only third in the London 5000 m Diamond League race behind two athletes from Kenya. Hassan hasn't won a gold medal at a global championships so far (as far as i know) and Klosterhalfen is far from a lock to do win a medal this year. Klosterhalfen already won a medal at the 2016 U20 world championships and in 2017 she was the youngest athlete ever (as far as i know) to do the triple of breaking 2:00 in the 800 m, 4:00 in the 1500 m and 15:00 in the 5000 m. Anyone who followed athletics already back then knew that she was a generational talent (espcially people in Germany knew that, because even back then many scientists were "shocked" to see how little lactate was accumulating in her muscles when she did endurance tests, the consensus back then was that they had never seen anything like that). Since joing the NOP Klosterhalfen hasn't improved her 1500 m PB. She improved her 3000 m PB by 9 seconds and her 5000 m PB by 25 seconds, but we have to take into consideration that: a) All her PB's were back from 2017 when she was still 20 years old and those improvements only look "insane" because she was injured last season, otherwise it is pretty safe to assume that she already would have been much faster than 8:29 and 14:51 last year (before joining the NOP). b) When she set her 5000 m PB in 2017 it was with a massive negative split and even back then most people agreed that she could have gone around 14:40 with better pacing. As far as i know Hassan also only improved her 1500 m PB by 0.5 seconds or so after joining the NOP and i wouldn't call that a massive improvement. I think what both of them have in common is that they shifted their focus towards longer distances/did more mileage and that led to big improvements in the 3k/5k, but their 1500 m PB's barely changed after joining the NOP. Let me be clear: I wouldn't bet anything on Klosterhalfen/Hassan being clean, but if you think they are doped, then (at least in my opinion) you should assume that they were already doping before joining Salazar. Do i think that there is doping going on in the NOP? I honestly don't know ... we hear a lot of stuff and i have no doubt that they use methods that are "semi-legal", but i am also not sure whether Nike would really risk having some of the high-profile athletes at the NOP being caught for doping (that would be really bad for their brand), of course this could either mean that they have "forbidden" doping or that they just make sure that nothing ever gets out. I think that if it is possible to become as fast as the kenyan/ethiopian athletes even without doping, then only if you invest insane amounts of money like the NOP does and i don't think anyone else is willing to do that, so if any of the top runners are clean, then in my opinion it has to be the guys/girls at the NOP. For me personally Muir or Debues-Stafford are much more suspicious, because they reached (almost) the same level as Hassan/Klosterhalfen without the same level of money that the NOP has and without being remotely as successful as Hassan/Klosterhalfen were at junior level.

1) Maybe because (pretty much) everyone else on the top 10 all-time list was caught? I think many people consider it unlikely that the fastest one on that list is the only clean one. 2) As far as i understand it, anyone who is remotely intelligent will dope during a heavy training period (and not shortly before a competition) and will therefore have nothing in his/her system during major competitions. After all they know that there will be retests.

Why? Do we already know that Brazil won't qualify for the world qualifier? I have to say that the american teams have the second most difficult path to the olympics after the european team. In case they will/can still qualify for the world qualifier: Of course it will/would be difficult for them, but not impossible, especially if other teams like the Domincan Republic or Canada will again miss their best players. In my opinion there should be 16 teams at the olympics, for example: USA Canada Brazil Argentina Dominican Republic Japan China Australia Nigeria Cameroon Spain Serbia France Greece Lithuania Germany/Turkey/Italy/Slovenia/Latvia/Croatia That would be a great tournament with pretty competitive groups, for example: USA Lithuania Brazil Cameroon (Siakam + Embiid) Nigeria Serbia Australia Dominican Republic (Towns + Horford) Japan Spain Greece Canada Argentina China France Germany/Turkey/Italy/Slovenia/Latvia/Croatia

Indeed very impressive, especially because Vesely is missing! New Zealand also was rather good so far without Adams. The results here show that the results of the preparation games have absolutely no value. Germany lost against Japan (a team that didn't even make it out of their group and got thrashed by New Zealand), at the same time Germany won against Australia and Czech Republic comfortably and those two teams are doing great so far.

Great, so FIBA is another corrupt organization that changes the qualifying procedure during the qualification process ... Latvia is clearly better than those 2 teams and would have had as good a chance as any european nation not named Spain/Serbia/France/Lithuania/Greece to qualify for the olympics.

Agree, pretty weird. 5k + 1500 m was never an option, but 5k + 10k would have been the better option in my opinion, although i don't think that it will make any difference in the end, she would have been the favorite in all events. In the 10k she should win gold unless peak Ayana shows up and in the 1500 m she should win gold unless peak Kipyegon shows up. From a german perspective this is very good news (assuming that Klosterhalfen will now race the 5k instead of the 1500 m and if she doesn't, then she obviously doesn't want to win a medal), because it increases Klosterhalfen's chance for a medal. If it would have been someone else, then i would have said that maybe it was a NOP decision, but i think Hassan is their big star, so she probably was free to chose whatever events she likes most. If she would have chosen the 10k and 5k, then Klosterhalfen probably would have gone for the 1500 m and there her medal chances would have been clearly smaller, now at least theoretically the NOP could win all 3 events.

Still noone doubts that he is dirty. I find it really fascinating how many american athletes are actually caught. Sadly nowadays the only way you can actually get banned for doping is if you are actually caught with a needle in you, otherwise there will always be some bullshit excuse that will get you off. At this point i really don't see why any clean athletes would still be willing to put in the effort, considering that even the officials don't seem to care about doping.

Spain isn't as good as they used to be. The spanish team in 2008 and 2012 might have been the best european team ever, but they got old. I hope that one day France will reach the same level. They easily have the 2nd best talent pool in the world behind the US, but they often don't play as a team.

Dragic is done and they don't have much depth + they would first have to get a wildcard and Latvia, Croatia and maybe Germany (if they don't qualify here) will also want one. Greece, France and Lithuania are the 3rd, 4th and 5th best teams in europe in my opinion and then we have a lot of nations that could get the 4th ticket (if europe even will be able to win 4 tickets at the world qualifier).

I think Serbia and Spain are safe in the semifinal, so you will probably have to make the semifinal too. If you beat Australia, then you will probably have to beat Greece in the quarterfinal (which seems doable), but if you lose against Australia, you will probably have to beat the US, so i would say the easiest way to make the semifinal for you would be to beat Australia and Greece and then Spain in the 3rd place match, which seems like a really difficult path. I would favor Spain to get the 2nd ticket behind Serbia thanks to the ridiculous draw.

Good to hear, hammer throw, triple jump and race walking should be thrown out of the olympics and every other major competition.

Was Lyle the guy who was caught and then was still allowed to compete or was it someone else? Also nice job by USADA once again, 50 % of their athletes in the men's 4 x 100 m relay will be known cheaters, i hope they drop the baton in Doha once again.

The dominance of the 3 guys really was bad for the women's 800 m, before those 3 started to dominate we had girls like Jozwik or Bishop who were much better than everyone we have now except for Wilson (but she was caught before, so everyone should cheer against her). Those girls got really unlucky, if they would have been born a couple years later, then they could have won an olympic gold next year.

Great diamond league finals for Cuba, they won 3 events (men's long jump, men's 110 m hurdles, women's discus throw)! I just wonder what happened to them in men's triple jump ... ? My personal highlight was the guy in men's 1500 m with the patch on his nose (i assume he was the pacemaker?) who just went for it and almost made the top 5, great effort! Also at this point i probably wouldn't bet anything on american women winning more than 2 individual golds (and 3 golds in total) in Doha. Klosterhalfen should definitely race the 5000 m in Doha, but i fear this result will mean that she will instead race the 1500 m. In the 1500 m there are tons of girls who can beat her, but in the 5000 m i would only favor Hassan over her, assuming that neither Obiri nor Ayana will get back into shape until then.

I think that is very unlikely. I would say Serbia and Spain qualify here and then at the world qualifier 4 additional european teams (in my opinion 4 out of France, Greece, Lithuania, Germany, Croatia, Turkey, Italy and Latvia) will hopefully qualify. I think the world cup is the best chance for Italy to qualify for the olympics, they "only" have to beat Spain and then they have to win the 3rd place match or hope that Australia and the US make it to the semifinal.

Not sure about France. I always have the feeling that the french team is less than the sum of its parts, while it is the complete opposite with Serbia or Lithuania for example. I think preparation games dont mean much, results were all over the place. Germany lost against Japan and then a couple days later Germany easily won against Australia, while Australia won against the US. I still see the US as a safe finalist and i would be surprised if they would lose against a team other than Serbia, but maybe i am biased considering that they have Donovan Mitchell on their team who is one of my top 3 favorite players currently ... I think the weakness on the guard positions will kill every team except for maybe France in a match against the US. The american guards are just far superior athletically to the lithuanian or australian guards for example.