OlympicsFan

I never heard of him and i dont think he will be the next Bond ... My favourites are Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender. Cumberbatch would be an absolute horrible choice.

I think you got many of the times wrong (you probably looked at the meet records): 200 breast: I think Person won in 2:08.xxx 400 IM: I think Fraser-Holmes won in 4.14.xx 50 free: Sjöstrom won, but i think the time was a bit slower 100 free: The final will be tonight 200 IM: Heintz won in 1:58.xx 400 free: Beck won with 4:07.xx, Köhler had 4:09.xx and the 800 free final will be tonight

The fullbacks have been a problem for a long time. If you have no decent fullbacks, then you have to play without fullbacks. Germany has no real number 9 anymore, but i think with guys like Sane, Reus, Müller, Gnabry and Werner there are still more than enough guys who can score goals. There is noone coming up in the next couple of years at this position, right now all german fans should pray to god that Youssoufa Moukoko will really turn out to be a generational talent, otherwise the future at this position looks really bad.

On paper 1000 m (his main event) is a sprint event, but it lasts for about 70 seconds, so i am not sure you can really call it a sprint. The main story here shouldnt be that some german athlete doped, but that there is doping in german speed skating and they are still unable to win medals, financing this sport is a complete waste of money. German officials should just accept that Japan, Norway, the Netherlands and Russia are lightyears ahead of Germany when it comes to sport science/doping. The appropriate reaction would be to spend 100 million euros on some more luge/bob/skeleton tracks to get even more dominant there.

No, they were talking about more recent cases with about a dozen dutch speed skaters who had suspicious blood values.

Noone in Germany wants Löw to be the coach anymore. Everyone here wanted Grindel, Bierhoff, Löw and all the other guys gone after the world cup. Löw has absolutely no clue what he is doing and the formation tonight was horrible once again. On the one hand you have guys like Ginter or Schulz starting and on the other hand guys like Gündogan or Reus dont start and guys like Hummels, Boateng, Müller, Mustafi or Can dont even get nominated. Personally i would like to see something like that: Ter Stegen Rüdiger Hummels Süle/Kehrer Gündogan Kroos/Can/Goretzka/Brandt Reus Havertz Sane Gnabry Werner/Müller Germany just doesnt have any quality fullbacks, so the formation has to be one whithout fullbacks. The individual quality definitely is still there with guys like Neuer (Bayern), Ter Stegen (Barcelona), Leno (Arsenal), Hummels (Bayern), Boateng (Bayern), Süle (Bayern), Mustafi (Arsenal), Kehrer (PSG), Rüdiger (Chelsea), Kimmich (Bayern), Khedira (Juventus), Havertz (Leverkusen), Brandt (Leverkusen), Gündogan (Man City), Can (Juventus), Goretzka (Bayern), Kroos (Real), Reus (BVB), Sane (Man City), Gnabry (Bayern), Müller (Bayern), Draxler (PSG), Werner (RB Leipzig). I believe based on individual talent Germany is still easily top 8 and maybe even top 4 in the world. Of course for the next decade or so all big titles will be for France to lose, the talent gap between them and any other nation is just too big.

Ouch ... I must say that hurts. Its been almost 5 years since Germany won its last world title, how long has it been for the Netherlands? All jokes aside: Its pretty sad how happy the team looked after this win, considering that Germany should absolutely destroy the Netherlands based on individual quality, but i guess with a coach like that every win is somewhat of a miracle. Best of luck to your team, maybe you guys can finally qualify for a big tournament again.

Also surprising that we still havent heard any more news about the dutch athletes with suspicious blood values that ARD mentioned during the world cup final. I guess when you are from the country that owns speed skating, you dont have to worry about anything ...

Hopefully not Dufter, otherwise they can shut speed skating down completely.

1) Maybe you thought of Joel Embiid (who is from Cameroon)? 2) Hardens still of play/character shouldnt matter for the MVP award. His stats are unique and i think Giannis has a better supporting cast with Lopez, Bledsoe, Brogdon and Middleton. Harden has Paul and Capela but for like half the season Paul and/or Capela were injured, so i would say Harden leading Houston to the record they currently have is more impressive than what Giannis did. The only argument pro Giannis in my opinion is that he is just a way better defender, so some might say that he has more impact overall. 3) You watched it? Really crazy to see how he grew up and where he came from. A lot of NBA players had a difficult childhood, but what guys like Giannis or Embiid went through is probably on another level.

Very weird results on both sides ... Hofer is on a run, first gold in the mass start and now this. If he gets more consistent, he could maybe fight for the 2nd spot in the overall world cup next season.

Me too ... Did i miss something? What about Jernej Damjan and Primoz Peterka?

1) I think he was born in Greece and his parents immigrated from Nigeria. 2) I am not sure Giannis deserves it more, but it for sure should be between those 2. 3) Interesting video about Giannis (TNT feature called "Finding Giannis"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrCU305tzmM

Its a good performance, but nothing extraordinary. That time would be tied 7th on the US all time list for 13/14 year old girls. The american record for 13/14 year old girls is 2:25.75 by Amanda Beard from 1996. Last year at the junior european championships there was a 15 year old russian girl swimming 2:26.29 and a 14 year old girl from Isreal swimming 2:29.31. Especially in the 200 breast we often see girls like that who then never do anything at senior level. Just look at Solnceva who was swimming 2:19 as a junior in 2015 and still hasnt won anything at senior level. Edit: To make the A standard she would have to swim more than 4 seconds faster (2:25.52).

1) If you arent open to change your opinion, then whats the point of leading a discussion? 2) Another unfounded claim by you ... Am i happy when Germany is doing good? Yes, for sure. Do i only cheer for german athletes? Absolutely not. Of my top 10 favorite athletes or so, none is german. I am a huge fan of the NBA and my favorite team right now probably are the 76ers who dont have a german player. My favorite player is Victor Oladipo and before that it was Paul George (none of them is german). My favorite winter sport is snowboarding halfpipe and as you might know, Germany is basically nonexistant in that sport. My second favorite winter sport is figure skating (my favorite athlete until her retirement was Mao Asada) and as you might know Germany isnt doing there well either. As an other example my favorite athletes in track and field are Echevarria (Cuba, long jump), Thompson (Jamaica, 100 & 200 m) and Diallo (France, triple jump), none of them is german either ... 3) To be honest i dont care whether you think that german people hate polish people or not. I am sure you have a reason to think that and you are probably too old to be convinced that this might not be true. Are there certain prejudices when it comes to polish people? Yes, but the same is true when it comes to italian/french/british/whatever people. To be honest Poland doesnt play a huge role in german media nowadays and most german people dont really care about Poland nowadays. I would say there are much stronger feelings when it comes to people from Russia/USA/France/GB. I would also say most german people dont really feel a strong connection with Poland. The prejudices about polish people are also weaker nowadays than they used to be. People used to joke about polish people stealing whenever they can, but nowadays most people shifted those negative feelings to people from Northern Africa/Turkey/Romania/Bosnia/Serbia, which of course might have something to do with the economic development in Poland which lead to fewer and fewer poor people from Poland coming to Germany.

1) Easy for you to be neutral, when Poland never play a part in the outcome of a race. 2) Did you even try to get my point? You made an unfounded claim, then i did the same to show you that this doesnt lead us anywhere in our discussion and now you complain about my claim and make another unfounded claim yourself ("I assume Germans are anti-Polish biased by default ...")? Are we living in twilight zone? Serious question: Did you ever change your opinion after/during a discussion? To me it seems that you dont really care what anyone says and are repeating your point over and over again. Your only intention of being here seems to be to state your opinion and act as if whatever you say is a fact.

Would like to know her name and event?

1) So the meet she competed in wasnt certified? 2) Of course i know that not everyone who makes the cut automatically qualified, but you were only taking about those who made the cut, so ... ?

1) I think one of the Campbell sisters swam 24.41 yesterday. 2) Crazy to think that 14 year old Claire Curzan swam 24.89 yesterday and almost made the cut.

Good to know. Now i know why i never noticed him. Usually when i see a race with irregular conditions i stop watching. Apparently he never did anything of note under regular conditions (maybe apart from the bronze last year).

Not everyone has the time to follow every race, especially those in the US/Canada that take place at weird times for european viewers, i am not surprised you wouldnt know anything about that (See, i can write bullshit about you too, without having any proof. I guess thats what happens when you cant finish a single comment without a personal attack. I guess you need that to feel superior. Pretty sad when a grown man needs to brag about his biathlon knowledge on an online forum to feel good about himself). I remember the relay at the olympics last year, the conditions were irregular so i stopped watching after the 2nd exchange or so. Good for you that you dont have any more important things to remember, some of us do, so dont blame them for not learning all the biathlon results of the last 20 years by heart. What would you say? Did it help our discussion that i made unfounded claims about you or would you say that this will probably distract us from the actual topic?

Good decision, a guy like him shouldnt retire in such a sad state. He should do a Björndalen and peak at the next olympics out of nowhere and then retire at 45 or so. If a guy like Pidrushni can win a gold medal, then a 45 year old Fourcade should be able to do that as well.

I wouldnt count Canmore, probably a lot of top guys werent competing. Already completely forgot the results from the last olympics. When i learnt yesterday that Belarus won gold in the womens relay last year i couldnt believe it as well.

Once in a century day for Italy. On the womens side Italy deserved a gold, although as a german fan i am sad that Herrmann threw away the gold. On the mens side this must be the most surprising top 3 ever. Windish should retire now, it cant get better than that for him. Did he ever make a podium before? Impressive that Fourcade is out of shape and even when Desthieux messes up, some other random french comes out of nowhere and wins a medal. Boe must be very disappointed, only 1 individual gold for him is far less than anyone expected ... Edit: I have never been a fan of Fourcade, but this is not how he should retire. With the weak overall level behind Boe this season i still think that Fourcade could get a lot of top 3 finishes the next couple of season.

I think Davis played for the US in 2012? Barrett would definitely be a good addition to their team. Even without him and Wiggins they still have Murray, SGA, Lyles, Olynyk, Thompson. They are probably the second most athletic team only behind the US. Not sure if Australia is good enough to win a medal. Baynes, Exum, Maker or Ingles are nice players, but none of them really makes a difference at this level. On the other hand guys like Ingles or Broekhoff give them spacing, which is exactly what Simmons needs. With Broekhoff and Simmons they also will be great at defending their opponents bigmen. I think Giannis wont have a much weaker supporting cast and he is quite clearly a better player than Simmons, so if you would consider Australia a medal contender, you have to say the same about Greece. Serbia probably has a better supporting cast than those 2 + Jokic is better than any spanish/french player, so Serbia should be favorite for silver. Bronze should be between Greece (if Giannis plays), France, Spain and Australia (if Simmons plays).