OlympicsFan

I think according to the prediction by the Associated Press Germany would win 49 medals and 10 of them in gold. 49 medals in total would be a decent result for us, but 10 golds would be very disappointing. Here are some of the most interesting predictions from a german perspective: Athletics: 8 medals in total and only one gold would be very disappointing for me. No medal for Robert Harting, but a medal for his brother? No medal for Schwanitz? Boxing: One bronze in boxing would sadly be a decent result for us, but i think Harutyunyan is much more likely to win a medal than Pfeifer. Canoeing sprint: Only 4 medals in total would be a shocking result for us, 2 golds would be decent. Silver for us in mens k2 200m seems pretty unlikely, on the other hand we should win more than 0 medals in mens c2 1000m/mens k1 1000m/mens k4 1000m/womens k4 500m. Track cycling: 5 medals would be ok for us, but only 1 gold would be disappointing. Vogel gets beaten by James in womens keirin? Silver in womens team sprint and no medal for Russia? Diving: Silver in mens 3m synchronized but no medal in mens 10m synchronized? Equestrian: No medal for Sprehe, but bronze for Peters? Seriously? Silver and bronze in individual jumpin? Yeah ... Gold for Michael CHUNG in individual eventing? Artistic gymnastics: No medal for Germany in HORIZONTAL bar, but bronze for Nile Wilson? Judo: No medal at all for Germany? Very unlikely. Shooting: Only 2 medal in total and none of them in gold would be a very bad result for us. Football: No medal for us? I think thats not very likely. Swimming: 4 medals in total and 1 gold would be a perfect result for us, but its very unlikely that Biedermann will win silver and that Yang wont win a medal at all. Reichert for sure wont win a medal in mens open water swimming ... Table tennis: 2 medals would be a decent result for us, but its pretty unlikely that Ovtcharov will win silver. Taekwondo: 2 medal would be an amazing result for us, but silver for Tuncat would be a huge surprise. Tennis: Bronze for Kerber would be a pretty expected result, but silver for Stosur seems extremely unlikely to me. Weightlifting: 2 medals for us ... seriously? Bronze in mens -77kg? Haha ... haha ... seriously? Where is canoeing slalom? I have no problem with the fact that they are clearly overestimating most american athletes, but i have a problem with the following things: They dont even know the name of some athletes (Michael Chung) and even forgot a sport (canoeing slalom). They clearly dont know what they are talking about. On the one hand US wins medals in womens individual archery, womens 50m rifle 3 positions or womens single sculls, on the other hand they dont win a medal in mens 1500m (Centrowitz) and only bronze womens quadruple sculls, where they are the current world champion?

Petzschner (mens doubles) is out due to illness, Kohlschreiber will probably play with Zverev now, if ITF allows it.

Bastian Schweinsteiger retired from the german national team.

Gabius (mens marathon) and Petzschner (mens doubles tennis) out due to injury/illness, german team down to 424 athletes (without reserves).

Quick question: I dont want to read the introduction for all the prediction contests and i dont have time to predict right now. Which contest has the earliest deadline/when?

Most countries didnt compete with their best teams? Its funny that we always get our best results when european championships are no qualification event for junior world championships ...

I really dont get it. How can they ban russian athletics, but not russian weightlifting/wrestling or swimming? How can they say that russian athletes who were caught before are not allowed to compete, but athletes from all other nations who were caught before are allowed to compete? This just doesnt make any sense. I think this is actually pretty unfair for russian track and field athletes and even someone like Efimova. There is no doubt that Efimova shouldnt be allowed to compete, but why are other cheaters like Gatlin, Ohuruogu, Yang, Park or Gomes allowed to compete, although they were also caught before and therefore arent much different than Efimova? The same rules should apply to everyone.

Not surprised at all, i called it last year already, but lets wait for the B sample ... What about Yego ... ? Is he still considered clean? At least one opponent less for Röhler and Vetter, but maybe someone else will destroy his PB to win gold or Yego will suddenly throw 90m again, i think the guy from Latvia could also be the one to take the gold away ...

Do you think that there is really less doping in wrestling, boxing or less cheating by the judges in fencing/boxing/gymnastics?

Are you serious? That would be like making an IQ test, everyone with an IQ of 10 or bigger will be allowed to compete ... No one (or at least almost no one) would be stupid enough to get caught one day before the start of the competition, athletes (normally) dope much earlier (a couple of months before the start of their competition).

I dont know how many fans each sport actually has, but why not simply look at the amount of money in each sport? Snowboard (for example X games), golf (masters and ryder cup) or rugby (world cup) attract thousands of people and stars in those sports can earn good money, on the other hand even the best athletes in sports like canoeing or modern pentathlon probably cant even earn their living with it. Shaun White or Tiger Woods have earned millions of dollars in their life already, i am sure that this is impossible in about 3/4 of all other olympic sports.

Expected decision, Bach is just disgusting, Putin obviously has full contol over him. It has been proven that there is a state-run doping system in Russia, what else do they have to do to get banned? Nothing will ever change, the message is that you can dope as much as you want, but we knew that before (Efimova, Gatlin). This is a huge blow for clean sport and those clowns who just want to earn as much money as possible are destroying sport. They should just allow russian athletics in Rio, there really isnt a difference between russian athletics and most other sports in Russia. The most disgusting thing for me is that Stepanova wont be allowed to compete in Rio and the explanation is just plain stupid. She isnt allowed to compete, because she was part of the system and left it about 2 years ago, but most of the athletes who are still part of the system are allowed to compete? No one can be stupid enough to think that this explanation is in any way logic. I think i will only follow basketball, hockey, football, mens handball, sailing and maybe some other minor sports in Rio, where there are only very few age/nationality/doping/gender cheaters, but for sure no athletics, swimming or cycling.

They will probably be allowed to compete in every other sport, Bach is just a clown. Why not allow them to also compete in athletics? Where is the big difference between athletics and most other sports in Russia?

I think golf, rugby or snowboard have a much bigger fanbase than sports like modern pentathlon, canoeing or luge ... or did i miss the point?

Its correct that we shouldnt call him a cheater before B sample also is positive, its unfair for the athlete, although i would say that about 99% of the B samples are also positive. I think its ok to say something like "His A sample was positive and if the B sample is also positive, then ...", we definitely should be allowed to mention that his A sample was positive, before we know the result of his B sample. Interesting question: Do you think that its possible that romanian federation knew about the positive A sample, but still wanted to give him the chance to compete at the junior world championships, in case that his B sample is negative? What are the rules? Should someone with a positive A sample be forbidden to compete before we know the result of the B sample?

I really dont see the problem here, our serbian friend didnt say anything wrong (sorry, i cant "understand" his name ...). Our romanian friend said that he "supposedly" tested positive, but i think there is no doubt that he tested positive (A-sample) and our serbian friend didnt say anything else. His A-sample was positive, we still have to wait for the B-sample. If he really tested positive before the start of the junior world championships and romanian federation knew about it, then they never should have allowed him to compete there, i completely agree with our serbian friend about this, he stole a medal from someone else and that should not have been allowed.

Narsingh Yadav (wrestling), dont know about the reallocation of his quota place ... http://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-wrestling-india-yadav-idUSKCN10407B

1) We dont need the quota place, we will compete with Hoff, Rendschmidt, Groß and Liebscher, all of them are already qualified. 2) I think we would also get the russian spot in mens volleyball and mens beach volleyball? 3) Most importantly: I believe it when its official, i would be really shocked if Russia would be banned. I never thought that Bach would have the guts for this decision.

Haha, javelin throw is a freak show, lets see when the first of them will get busted. Junior championships are even more pointless than senior championships, with all the dopers and age cheats. All cheaters should get a lifelong ban and they should have to pay all their prize money back.

Andrei Toader (mens shot put) This guy just won silver at the junior world championships ...

Are you serious? Is this the girl that competed as a refugee at the european qualification tournament? THIS IS A SCANDAL! Very sad to see how desperate Belgium is for olympic medals, i have lost all my respect for this country and of course for IOC, because they allowed this. All athletes should protest to stop her from competing. I still cant believe that she was allowed to compete at the qualification tournament. If she really is a refugee, than IOC just should have allowed her to compete as a neutral athlete in Rio. I PRAY that she wont steal a medal in Rio.

Great to see that we reached the semifinal at the u20 european championships, this might be the first time (in a very long time). Hopefully FINA will soon find a new host for u18 european championships, this time we have a very realistic chance for the gold medal (if we play with our best team).

I bet that this wont happen. They might win 2 gold in beach volleyball, but some other country will win a gold in volleyball. I hope that France will win gold in mens volleyball.

Apparently it was a pretty interesting meet, but no new insights for Rio. The previous world record in womens 100m hurdles might have been suspicious, but a look at Harrison's arms tells the whole story, its impossible for a clean athlete to break a world record in athletics, thats a fact. She wasnt able to stand the pressure at the trials, so its unlikely that she wouldve been able to stand the pressure in Rio. Womens 100m hurdles gold seems to be pretty open, its always amazing to see how good Roleder is at major competitions and how weak she is at all other competitions. Lavillenie is dominat as always, while all his competitors dont seem to be in a good shape. Lavillenie will be the huge favorite in Rio, Holzdeppe could win a medal without being at 100%. GB might really challenge for bronze in womens 4x100m relay, Netherlands and Germany will try to stop them. Level of competition in womens high jump and mens triple jump is extremely weak this year, very good news for Jungfleisch and Heß. McBride and Hortelano are two very interesting cases, their progression seems to be too good to be true. I think Muir might challenge Hassan for bronze in Rio. Hassan seems to improve very quick, so she should still be the favorite for bronze in Rio. Vicaut still cant run fast outside of France. He might be the only european to make the final in Rio, but i dont think that he can fight for a medal. Bolt is in a much better shape than last year, i really dont understand why some people thought that Gatlin might win mens 100/200m in Rio ... The british sprinters (Gemili, Hughes and Ujah) all have been pretty disappointing recently. Without Ennis-Hill, Rutherford and Farah it should be almost impossible for GB to win gold medals at 2020 olympics. South Africa has suddenly become a powerhouse in track events, really interesting ... I am wondering why Brazil is so bad in track events, they should be much better. Tomorrow there will be some very interesting competitions from a german perspective: Womens pole vault: 4 medal contenders will compete, its gonna be interesting to see how strong they are at the moment. If at least 3 of them can jump at least 4.80m, than it should be almost impossible for Ryzih to challenge for a medal in Rio. Womens 3000m SC: I think tomorrow might be the first time we see Ghribi this year, lets see if she will be able to run close to 9:10 or even faster. Mens shot put: Storl will compete in the diamond league for the first time this year. I hope that he can stay close to Kovacs and maybe get a result of 21.50m or better, otherwise he will probably have no chance to fight for gold in Rio.

If Russia (as a country) will be banned, who will take their place?