OlympicsFan

So you cheer for Russia ... ? As an objective fan i can say that Russia already won enough, so Germany should win.

I dont agree, i think Wieczerzak, Bachmann or Doll winning gold was a bigger surprise, probably even Schmidt winning bronze. The coach is the main reason for this, but i also think that adding many young players was very important, after the team had been basically the same for many years. This really changed things up and brought a whole new dynamic to this team.

Anthony Randolph plays for Slovenia? How did that happen ... ? I also heard something about Slaughter playing for one of those teams ... ? Nice start for Germany, Schröder is clearly the best european point guard and for sure among the 10 best european players currently. With so many missing players (4 NBA players + Zirbes, Pleiß, Mushidi, Wagner) i dont expect more than a 3rd place in this group and a loss in the next round.

Obviously ... i just cant cheer for her, she doesnt amaze me. Russia will always have multiple world class skaters, they have the best depth in the world.

I know, i didnt want to mention it here, because apparently its not confirmed by the russian federation. Their head said that he didnt hear anything about a retirement ...

I just found out that Germany seems to have a pretty young team, which is surprising, considering that Germany never had really good results at junior level on the mens side. Bogachev and Zenger were born in 1997, Krick was born in 1998, Brehme and Weber were born in 1999. Did anyone watch the german matches and could maybe tell me something about those players? Could anyone of them potentially become world class?

Huge blow to russian figure skating. Apparently Yulia Lipnitskaya ended her career. Adelina Sotnikova is injured and will miss the whole season (including the olympics). I am sure that russia will find other medal contenders, but i am absolutely shocked by the news about Lipnitskaya, she has been one of my favorite athletes ever since the 2014 olympics, now i wont have anyone to cheer for at the olympics, without Lipnitskaya and Asada. Here is a video of the legendary performance by Lipnitskaya from Sochi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke0iusvydl8

I really underestimated the canadian team, never heard of Sanchez, Hannah, Smith, Knelson, Zavaros before this week. If Oleksiak and Ruck would have competed in all their best events, Canada would have won the medal table and probably would have come close to 20 medals. Canada has a very good chance of having being the best nation in womens swimming by 2020. Canada could have 2 finallists in most events by then, only "weak" events could be 800/1500 (maybe also 400) free and 200 fly. The depth in womens 100/200 free and 100/200 back is insane. Impossible to see Canada not winning 3 relay medals in 2020 and at least one of them (4x200 free) in gold. The mens side on the other hand ... is just very bad. Is there anyone (besides Acevedo) who might make the final in 2019 or 2020?

Agree, its crazy to compare her to Ledecky (and i dont think that LDOG was serious about that). Ledecky already was an olympic champion when she was 2 years younger than Pignatiello is now. We also shouldnt forget that she wouldnt have medalled in the 400 free, if all the top junior (Bingjie Li, Titmus, Ruck) would have competed and in the 800 free she probably would have fought for silver against Titmus. Nevertheless her 800/1500 free times are very impressive, she would have made the final in both events at the worlds with those times and would have been close to a medal in the 1500 free. She doesnt have to improve much to have a realistic chance to make 2 finals at 2019 worlds/2020 olympics, which would probably an unprecedented performance for a 19/20 yo girl from Argentina. The only thing that concerns me is that her 1500 free time is much stronger than her 400/800 free times, which might indicate that she swims crazy volumes in trainings and might not improve much. I dont see her ever winning a medal at senior level, but the 1500 free isnt too deep, so who knows ... ?

Could someone please tell me, why Germany competed with such a horrible team in jumping? Where are Ahlmann, Deußer, Meredith etc.? What happened in eventing? How did Germany not win gold in the team?

I am not 100% sure that this is true, at least if you judge by the number of medals only? Canada will probably medal in womens 100 free, womens 200 free, womens 100 fly, womens 200 back, all relays and maybe womens 50 free. Any more medal chances for Canada in olympic events? Concerning overall medals this could be the same of maybe worse than Rio, but Canada should win more gold, i guess 3-4 in total.

Dont know if you are interested in the numbers for Germany, but apparently the german wrestling federation had 63.631 members last year, which is clearly less than the 74.889 members in 2002. If you are interested in numbers for other sports, just write me a PM.

So Stäbler won in a weak category? Isnt he good enough to compete in -66 kg?

Wow ... i come home from work just to see two german guys in the fight for gold! Amazing, are those olympic weight categories?

What a story ... https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/farright-news-site-breitbart-mistakes-exarsenal-star-lukas-podolski-for-jetski-gangster-a3615766.html

Other news from Germany: Youssoufa Moukoko scored 8 goals in his first 3 games in the german U17 Bundesliga. That itself is pretty impressive, but might not be too much news, but ... ... (officially) he is only 12 years old! There has never been anything close to that in the german youth leagues. There are many people who doubt whether he is really 12 years old or not, but officially he is, so we might very well see a 13 year old playing for Germany at the U17 European Championships next year.

I noticed before that you are extremely agressive in this thread and basically never write anything sports-related, what is the reason for that? I never said anything about Germany missing out on a medal being the reason for my claims, but i am not surprised that you are desperately trying to use everything you can to troll here, that is apparently what you have become these days. The womens 4x100 m relay is probably the second least competitive relay, only ahead of the womens 4x400 m relay, whether Germany wins a medal there has nothing to do with it. In fact the level was really bad this time and 42.X would have been enough for bronze, which is very weak. I am honestly disappointed that you dont seem to be able to be objetive towards your own athletes, unlike me. You said nothing about the shocking performances of Bosse, Diniz, Robert-Michon and Bigot, which completely contradicts your normal behavior in this thread, i really thought that you were one of the very few who was able to recognize suspicious performances at first sight.

GB and the US won medals in all relays, so 8 out of 12 medals went to only 2 nations, not much diversity ... I Jamaica wouldnt have had so much bad luck, they probably would have won 3 of the remaining 4 medals ... In womens 4x100 m relay there were 5 nations at best that could win a medal (USA, Jamaica, GB, Germany, TTO), but the US was lightyears ahead. In womens 4x400 m relay they were actually only 3 nations that had a chance to medal (USA, GB, Jamaica), but thanks to an injury Poland won a medal there. In both mens relays the diversity is much bigger, although in both relays they were only 2 or 3 relays that had a realistic chance to win. It is not just the domianance of the US (especially on the womens side), but the fact that, if it wasnt for injuries, 11 out of 12 medals would have gone to just 3 nations and in addition to that the level on the womens side is just atrocious. In addition to that the medallists dont change much over time, USA, GB and Jamaic have been dominant for a very long time and they basically are always almost a lock for multiple medals in relays. It is just much less likely that a small nation has 4 very good athletes than a small nation having one extraordinary athlete who can win a medal, so there always will be less diversity in relays.

Relays should be cut from world championships and olympics, they are absolutely not competitive, the same is true in swimming.

Not according to bestman, he must know better.

You realize he isnt african ... ?

Horrible world championships for Germany, only 5 medals and it would have been incredibly easy to win medals in mens high jump, mens triple jump, mens pole vault, mens shot put, womens pole vault and womens 4x100 m relay. Of course Schwanitz and C. Harting guarantee 1-2 medals, but 6-7 medals would still be pretty bad.

Ayana and Hassan look very much alike, isnt Hassan also from Ethiopia? Maybe they are sisters?

I think pretty much everyone expected Semenya and Niyonsaba to be first and second. The only question was if Wilson or Wambui would be third.

Just sad what happened to Kiprop, his downfall allowed all those no-names to win medals. He should have prevented guys like Centrowitz or Ingebrigtsen from winning (gold) medals, this sport doesnt deserve (gold) medallists like them.