OlympicsFan

Japan is looking very dangerous in men's 4 x 400 m relay. They should win a medal.

1) How so? 3) Again: I have no problem with Hungary not wanting to spend money on refugees, not sure why you keep bringing it up. From a german perspective of course it doesn't seem very smart to pay billions of euros per year to Hungary while Hungary doesn't help with the refugee situation. German officials don't really seem to have a problem with it though. 5) I don't believe in morality. It just isn't in the best interest of Germany (or the EU in general) to "allow" Hungary to be in a position where they can easily be blackmailed by Russia into sabotaging the EU. You have an absurd definition of blackmailing if you think that the EU is blackmailing Hungary. Hungary gets billion of euros from the EU, the least they can expect in return is for Hungary to not sabotage the EU whenever Russia tells them to. Hungary is trying to play both sides and the EU should force them to decide. In the end Hungary is clearly a net negative for the EU. Hopefully in 2025 Germany will get a new government that will end this clownshow and get Germany out of the EU (very unlikely, but it isn't forbidden to dream).

Another massive underperformance by Italy. Tamberi only with the gold medal despite being tied 3rd on the entry list. Will be interesting to compare the position of the italian athletes on the entry list with the number of their medals/top 8 finishes.

Beyond disgusting improvement by Tausaga. Improving her PB by 4 m as a 25 year old ... The Netherlands turned into a powerhouse almost over night. They used to be irrelevant and now they develop new medal contenders every year. Wouldn't be shocked if they would win 10 medals next year: 3 x Hassan Bol Klaver 4 x 400 m women's relay 4 x 400 m mixed relay Van Klinken Schilder 1-2 x Laros Vetter/Oosterwegel Maybe Weerman/Bouju

1) So you name one country and that country doesn't even have a higher budget? 2) Even if the german NADA would be bankrupt, it wouldn't mean anything. They could be bankrupt while getting 100 million euros a year if they wouldn't know how to manage their money. The amount of funding is one thing and the way they spend their money is another thing. Apart from that everyone (at least in Germany) always cries that they don't get enough money (german sports also constantly complain that they don't have enough money, when in reality they get more and more money every olympiad). I guess that is the best strategy to get what you need, but the fact that the amount of money the german state is spending has exploded, doesn't really fit with the narrative that everyone is always underfunded.

Obviously not, but you would only know that if you would have watched the Germany vs. USA match. Even without Reaves Germany looked better than Canada and if you would have taken Reaves off the US team and would have put him on the german team, then Germany easily would have won against the US on the second night of a back to back.

1) Don't get the point you are trying to make. As far as i know hungarian people aren't forced to work for foreign companies in their country, so at least for those people it is good news that those companies invested in Hungary instead of Germany for example. 3) Still no clue. Are you talking about migrants in Hungary or other EU countries? 4) Still no clue what your point is. 5) I don't blame Hungary for using russian gas, my whole point was that a) this helps Hungary saving money (which for example allows them to spend more on other things like sport) and b) it isn't good for the EU that Hungary can easily be blackmailed by Russia into sabotaging anything the EU plans to do.

I am still waiting for the list of countries with stricter anti-doping laws and a better funded NADA. Not sure why you felt comfortable enough to chime in when you clearly can't name those countries ... The german anti-doping law also asks for athletes to land in jail (up to 3 years) and the people behind it can also end up in jail (up to 10 years). Not sure how that makes the italian law more strict? Also not sure what the cases you named have to do with anything? Nowhere did i claim that there is no doping in Germany, but that the consequences of getting caught are more severe and that athletes and coaches are more hesitant to use doping. Also there is less incentive to dope (since the medal bonuses in Germany are laughable and unless you are a soccer player, it is almost impossible to earn a decent living as an athlete). You can compare how Armstrong and Ulrich were treated after getting caught if you want to see the difference between the US and Germany (Ulrich destroying his life (becoming a drug addict) + german TV not showing the Tour de France anymore). Also not sure why you feel the need to mention things that german nationals did in other countries? You are basically proving my point (german officials couldn't keep their doping going in Germany, so they went abroad). Another interesting case (if you want to educate yourself) would be Armin Klümper. When athletes like Sachenbacher, Ulrich, Klöden, Friesinger, Niemann-Stirnemann, Baumann or Schumann were at their peak, Germany was far more successful in classic endurance sports like cycling, cross-country skiing, rowing or speed skating. You might ask yourself why Germany became completely irrelevant in those sports (did they forget everything or weren't they willing/able anymore to use the same methods that made them successful before)? Also if i remember correctly Sachenbacher only got "banned" for 5 days, if that is one of the biggest cases you could find, then that isn't very convincing. Interestingly enough her coach at that time was a certain Wolfgang Pichler, who later went on to rebuild the swedish biathlon team from scratch ... (i am sure you see a pattern here). You have clearly shown that you aren't really familiar with german sport or the doping discussion in Germany. I think you only really know how hot this topic is if you are actually german. After everything that happened in the GDR (doping children, athletes dying, doping athletes without their knowledge), this topic is completely "burned" in Germany. I think the only people in Germany that are treated worse than dopers (and their coaches) are pedophiles. I don't think that you can compare it with the situation in any other country. Would be like comparing the antisemitism/right-wing politics discussion in Germany with the same discussion in other countries. It absolutely doesn't compare. Other interesting (former GDR) coaches you might want to look into: Jürgen Gröbler (rowing coach who went to ) Jutta Lau (rowing coach who went to ) Uwe Hohn & Klaus Bartonietz (athletics coaches who went to India, former coaches of olympic champion Neeraj Chopra) Dieter Kollark (athletics coach who went to China, former coach of olympic champion Gong Lijiao) Wolfgang Pichler (biathlon coach who coached in and now ) Markus Cramer (cross-country skiing coach who coached in and Cologna, now coaches in ...) Joachim Franke (former coach of Claudia Pechstein) Gabriele Fuß & Stephan Gneupel (former coach of Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann) Ekkart Arbeit (athletics coach who worked in and , wanted to hire him before their home olympics in 2000) Klaus Rudolph (swimming coach who worked in ) Heiko Salzwedel (track cycling coach who worked in and ) Hartmut Buschbacher (rowing coach who worked in & ) Frank Rogall (rowing coach who worked in ) Harald Jährling (rowing coach who worked in ) Eberhard Mund (rowing coach who worked in ) Theodor Körner (rowing coach who worked in ) Wolfgang Richter (swimming coach who worked in )

Yes

1) It is Čeh 2) I don't think that Čeh broke the CR

1 & 2) That is capitalism. Please tell me why Orban wants those companies in Hungary if he himself/Hungary doesn't profit from it? 3) No clue what you mean. 4) No clue what you mean. 5) There are other forms of energy & there are other landlocked countries that don't rely on russian gas & there are other countries that export gas through pipelines (for example Azerbaijan).

Doesn't have to be one or the other, but without doping all of this is irrelevant. China also claimed that their secret in the 90s was turtle soup. Of course you always have to try to give an explanation that gullible people can believe/plausible deniability, but the answer is always doping. People claiming that it is possible to dominate without doping are extremely disrespectful/insulting.

Banned for doping before ... no results in the 400 m hurdles between 2018 and 2023 ...

For now ... Alekna can take over ...

It isn't impossible, unless you use the number of medals to define good/bad. The actual performances matter as well. In the end every country always will have some athletes overperforming and some athletes underperforming and it depends how you weigh those two groups.

Tokyo was probably the biggest overperformance any country ever had in athletics (you can look at past olympics and tell me how often any european country won 5 golds). How much more do you expect? At this point everyone knows that you can't judge anything related to italian sports objectively.

Difficult to lead a discussion when you can't even quote (i don't get a message that you quoted me and therefore might not reply, which surely wasn't your goal). Track events were never really "a thing" in western/unified Germany. I think the last global champions were Baumann (caught doping) and Schumann (some rumors as well). If Germany would have continued to use the GDR doping knowledge, they would now be much more competitive. Instead german coaches went to countries like GB or China to continue their dop... training. Actually Germany hasn't been as good in the 400 m hurdles as they are today (although 2 of their 3 best guys are injured right now), but you are right about the other events. Italy also had a big downturn (same as Spain) after they were pretty good in running in the 1990s/2000s. Then those countries had some doping trouble (in running/cycling), which lead to them "laying low" for a while (and some of their officials going to african countries for example), but now they seem to be back. I think the situation in finish cross-country skiing is comparable. The Netherlands and GB didn't have that "burden", so they had less reservations using performance enhancing drugs. GB used to be insanely bad in sports until 2000 or so, but then they completely exploded and even all the stories around team Sky, Dwain Chambers Paula Radcliffe didn't really hurt them.

Difficult to lead a discussion when you can't even quote (i don't get a message that you quoted me and therefore might not reply, which surely wasn't your goal). Track events were never really "a thing" in western/unified Germany. I think the last global champions were Baumann (caught doping) and Schumann (some rumors as well). If Germany would have continued to use the GDR doping knowledge, they would now be much more competitive. Instead german coaches went to countries like GB or China to continue their dop... training. Actually Germany hasn't been as good in the 400 m hurdles as they are today (although 2 of their 3 best guys are injured right now), but you are right about the other events. Italy also had a big downturn (same as Spain) after they were pretty good in running in the 1990s/2000s. Then those countries had some doping trouble (in running/cycling), which lead to them "laying low" for a while (and some of their officials going to african countries for example), but now they seem to be back. I think the situation in finish cross-country skiing is comparable. The Netherlands and GB didn't have that "burden", so they had less reservations using performance enhancing drugs. GB used to be insanely bad in sports until 2000 or so, but then they completely exploded and even all the stories around team Sky, Dwain Chambers Paula Radcliffe didn't really hurt them.

1 & 2) Not sure what point you are trying to make. Are you saying that Rheinmetall creating jobs in Hungary is a loss for Hungary (or for Germany)? Rheinmetall is profiting (better margin) and Hungary as well (more jobs), the german public not so much (less jobs). 3) Not sure about the point you are trying to make. I am perfectly fine with Hungary not taking in any migrants. While you are at it you should just stop them from traveling through your country to other EU countries. I guess Putin wouldn't be happy about that, so not sure how realistic that is. 4) https://www.statista.com/chart/18794/net-contributors-to-eu-budget/ 5) I guess you could do what basically all other countries that used to be dependant on russian gas did ... I don't blame Hungary for doing this (Germany for example made the same "mistake"), but obviously Hungary remaining dependant on russian gas (and therefore making it easy for Puting to "blackmail" them) isn't in the best interest of other EU countries. Maybe they raised the transit fee to force you to go away from russian gas, who knows ...

Sadly the truth, i wish it wasn't. After what happened with GDR anyone who is remotely connected to anything doping-related gets bullied by the public. German coaches went to countries like China or GB to avoid this nonsense. Please name the countries that have a more strict anti-doping law and a better funded NADA. I am sure an expert like you, who felt confident laughing about my statement, can easily provide the information. I am sure that this isn't just another case where you are hyper biased (Alex Schwazer/anything related with italian sports).

I don't understand the outrage. Do we know that the player didn't want it/have a problem with it? Why do people feel the need to feel insulted on behalf of others? If she has a problem with it, she should express it/speak out herself.

Insane performance by Germany ... Either they miss the final by one place or they make the final and finish last ... Only exception is Vennekamp. In 2016 german shooters were super clutch, but since then they have been the complete opposite.

Good to hear ... Overall very poor/ideologically-driven "analysis". 1) People like Orban or Putin can pour insane amounts of money into sports (or military) because they aren't held as accountable as western politicians. Of course we all know that for example every american war (Vietnam, Afghanistan) since 1945 has been for financial reasons as well, so western politicians aren't much better. Would be interesting to know who earned money with building all the venues in Hungary ... In the end Orban can claim that he did spend all the money for his people (bringing all those sporting events to Hungary), while in reality he transfered european tax payer money to his friends/family who built the venues. Hungarian people are happy and probably don't ask if the money wouldn't have been better spent on education or healthcare. 2) Obviously it helps that western companies invest in Hungary (because production there is cheaper). 3) Personally i think that western european tax payers have every right to be pissed about Orban using their money to enrich himself. Of course Orban isn't the only one, the same happens with development aid in countries like Ethiopia. 4) Hungary gets more than twice as much money as Bulgaria from the EU. 5) I think it also helps Hungary that they still get gas from Russia. Some people might ask why the EU accepts that Hungary constantly acts against its interests and why Hungary is still part of the EU, but of course kicking Hungary out would hurt western european companies that produce there, so this probably won't happen. 6) It is interesting to look at the role Orban played in connection with the planned Nabucco pipeline.

1) Drechsler was infinitely better than Spanovic. Her PB was infinitely better than Spanovic's PB, so obviously she had much more room for error (age) and it doesn't make sense to compare them. Also doesn't matter what Spanovic "has on her mind". Robert-Michon also has Paris on her mind, doesn't mean that she is a medal contender or can stop ageing. 2) Germany won 1 medal at the 2008 olympics and then, 7 years later, 8 medals at the 2015 world championships. Not a single one of the athletes who won medals in 2015 was in any way relevant in the 90s. Germany could instantly be infinitely better if they would find a way to avoid 80 % of their athletes constantly being injured (Farken, Petros, Vetter, Ansah, Ansah-Peprah, Agyekum, Preis, Lita Baehre, Heß, Röhler, Hofmann, Mayer, Trost, Klein, Klosterhalfen, Meyer, Krause, Mihambo, Eckhardt, Hussong, Schäfer). Mihambo obviously could have sleepwalked to a medal if she would have been healthy and Vetter/Hussong also would have won a medal even at 80 %. Farken, Lita Baehre, Heß, Röhler, Klosterhalfen, Meyer, Krause, Mihambo, Eckhardt, Hussong, Schäfer all could/would have made the top 8 if healthy. Germany also just recently won 23 medals at the U20 european championships, as many as GB, France and Italy combined. The main problems for german athletics are injuries, the transition from junior to senior level and the aversion to using performance enhancing drugs due to ideological reasons. The Netherlands and Norway have far less talent and far less elite athletes, but still normally win more medals because their main athletes (Ingebrigtsen, Warholm, Bol, Hassan) are basically always performing (no injuries). Germany might be the most doping-averse country in the world (maybe next to Japan), thanks to the GDR past. Countries like the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, GB and obviously USA/Russia/China/Kenya/Ethiopia have zero problems with using performance enhancing drugs and of course this means more medals for them. German officials got brainwashed into hurting themselves by categorically refusing to use performance enhacing drugs. Just sad that the taxpayer still has to pay for their "morally"-guided suicide mission. Either you fund elite athletes with tax payer money and try everything to maximize their performance or you accept that it is impossible to win medals without performance enhacing drugs and stop financing a hopeless fight (for medals). Sadly this kind of "magical thinking" (believing in winning medals without performance enhacing drugs) is very prevalent in Germany across all sorts of topics (immigration, climate change). Pretty much all other countries are more pragmatic and more focused on their own interest instead of only caring about what they could do to feel morally superior.

This discussion has been held a billion times in the past decades. I think Japan also claimed that they wouldn't spend insane amounts of money on the olympics, but in the end they still did. Personally i think that the IOC would rather give the olympics to Saudi-Arabia or Qatar than to lower their demands so much that hosting the olympics wouldn't be a huge waste of money for the host country. Also not sure why you act as if it is Hungary on the one hand and dictatorships on the other hand ... what is the reason for Hungary hosting half of the big competitions nowadays if not propaganda for Orban?