OlympicsFan

In the end we got the same result ... I think there are 105 possible draws and in 45 of them we have Bayern-Barca, Barca-Real or Real-Bayern. Edit: Why did you put the 8/8 in there? You wanted to make it more intuitive? I dont really see the intuition behind it, could you please explain (maybe with a PM)?

I agree, its also funny that Chelsea, PSG and City often play against each other or against Barca, as if UEFA doesnt want them to go far. On the other hand UEFA did a bad job protecting Barca/Bayern by drawing them against Atletico/Juve. There wouldve been many easier opponents for Bayern in the round of last 16. Its funny that Bayern had to eliminate the strongest team in the round of last 16 (Juve) and now Barca has to eliminate the strongest team in the quarterfinal (Atletico), as if they planned it before, so that every big club has almost the same chances. I think UEFA would always like to have a semifinal with Bayern, Barca, Real and City/Chelsea/PSG.

How did you calculate? 4/7 for Bayern/Barca/Real not playing against each other and then 4/7*4/7*4/7*4/7*4/7?

You dont want "Der Harting" to win a medal? Why? He is such a nice guy ...

Yes, you can read it here if you understand a bit of german: http://www.bild.de/regional/ruhrgebiet/mord/vater-von-leichtathletik-star-wegen-mordes-angeklagt-43343042.bild.html I am very "proud" that she came back so strong, many other athletes/people never wouldve been able to recover. Its amazing that she came back so strong, improving her 60 m indoor PB by 0.16.

Yes Gambassi and me posted the rules earlier, but do you really think that an organization like FIVB will necessarily apply the rules? We are talking about Russia, the defending olympic champion ... After all that happened with Goijman i dont expect anything at all from FIVB (anymore) ... Of course we could go to CAS, but there probably wont be enough time to decide before the qualification tournament starts. First we should wait if the positive test was really at the qualification tournament or if there will be even more positive doping tests (for other nations). I am pretty sure now that one positive doping test wont be enough to disqualify Russia. For our team and especially our coach it would be amazing to play in Rio, considering that it will be the last tournament for our coach and for many of our players (for example Grozer). In 2008 and 2012 we were pretty lucky to qualify, so maybe we just used up all our luck for the last 2 olympic games ...

Pinto and Wester were pretty disappointing in Portland, but they are both pretty young, so its ok. It was the first time that Wester competed for Germany and Pinto didnt compete internationally last year, so she might have been a bit nervous. Heß improved his PB again to 17.14 in Portland and his 5th jump was about 17.60, but sadly it didnt count. Heß could even be a medal contender in Rio, if Tamgho wont get back to his old shape. 17.50 could be enough for a medal in Rio and Heß has the ability to do it. For Wester it will be pretty difficult to qualify for Rio, considering that Malkus, Mihambo and Moguenara all jumped at least 6.90 in one of the last two years. I would say that Wester and Mihambo will definitely qualify and the third place will probably go to Moguenara. Pinto has to lead our very young relay in Rio, i think she will be the oldest member of our relay, with just 24 years of age. We have tons of potential on the womens side (Butzek, Lückenkemper, Mayer, Kwadwo), but Rio might be too early. I think the medals will go to Jamaica, USA and GB. I am happy that we finally got some talent in track events. Last year we won 2 individual medals in track events, for the first time since 1999. Both Roleder and Krause clearly improved their PBs this winter, so they could really fight for a medal in Rio. In addition to that we could also fight for a medal in womens 800 m (Kohlmann, Hering) and mens 1500 m (Tesfaye). I am most impressed by Klosterhalfen, she was running very fast from 800 m to 10000 m this winter and set multiple records. At 800 m she improved the 36 year old german u20 indoor record by running 2:03:37. At 1500 m and 3000 m she set new european u20 indoor records. She also improved the 26 year old german 10 km road race u20 record (33:03) by running 32:24. I think if she wont get injured, she could qualify at 1500 m and/or 5000 m and/or 10000 m for Rio.

FIVB still would have two possible excuses: 1) He wasnt really part of the team, because he didnt play. He didnt have any impact on the game. 2) Meldonium became illegal at the end of 2015. Maybe the russian players took it at the end of 2015 (when it was still legal), but the test was still positive, because their body wasnt able to "get rid" of Meldonium fast enough.

Why should i like it if a german athlete gets caught for the 2nd time and probably will be banned for ever? She wouldve had a good chance for 2 medals in Rio, so i would be pretty sad if she would be a german athlete. I think there is no doubt that she deserves to get banned, she has been caught two times at just 23 years of age, so she obviously doesnt want to play fair. The same is true for Kulizhnikov. I am really surprised how stupid/careless many russian athletes seem to be. I dont think that german athletes are necessarily "cleaner", but at least they hide it better ... Its really interesting that so many russian swimmers have been caught in the last couple of years, although Russia isnt very good in swimming. On the other hand chinese/japanese/british/french/american/australian/hungarian athletes are (almost) never caught, but i doubt that they are any better.

He didnt play against Germany or France (in the final), so this probably wont have any effect on the decision whether Russia will be disqualified or not. Edit: I think he played in the 4th set against France, but he didnt have a big impact.

I am surprised that both Braz and Barber didnt win a medal. I expected Barber to not repeat his performances from last year, but of course he still has a lot of time to prepare for Rio. In Rio it could be very interesting between Barber, Lavillenie, Holzdeppe and Braz. The level on the womens side has really exploded. About 10 athletes are able to jump 4.80 m or more, apparently there has been some new discovery. We have seen tons of junior/youth world records in the last couple of months.

I really like the german and the american kits, they look very elegant. The brazilian and kenyan kits dont look very special.

I am happy that Efimova finally is gone. She shouldnt have been allowed to compete in Kazan anyway. I dont understand why someone like her (who has been banned before) isnt more careful ... Why bother to read WADA mails, if you have been banned before and cant afford another positiv test ...

I am sad that our mens team has to work with a new coach. Markus Weise, who won gold at the last 3 olympic games (2004 with our womens team, 2008 and 2012 with our mens team), now works for german football association. Until a couple of months ago i was pretty confident that we would win gold again, but now i think that even a medal will be difficult.

I know, but some predictions are still pretty "brave" ... Gold for Berian and Centrowitz? Bronze for Kendricks? I would favor Braz ... Two medals in mens triple jump? Gold in womens long jump? BUT: Only bronze in womens high jump? Some american fans are really going crazy over Cunningham. Some of them predict her to jump world record (2.09) as a junior (until the end of 2017), although she just set a PB of 1.99 ...

Zonderland isnt qualified until now for Rio? I think your main goal should be to qualify Zonderland, all your other athletes wont have a medal chance. I think he can also qualify individually if your team fails to qualify. Germany, France and Ukraine are stronger in my opinion, but you should beat Romania and Spain, especially if Zonderland is fit. Zonderland should score close to 16 points at high bar, which should put you out of the reach of Romania/Spain. I think you can actually be pretty relaxed. Team qualification would be a bonus and Zonderland should have no problem to qualify if he is not completely out of shape. As a german fan i cant be that relaxed, because Nguyen, Bretschneider and Hambüchen all have to qualify and all could be medal contenders in Rio, so we really have to qualify a team. You really should talk to the guys of Infostrada, they dont predict a gold medal for Zonderland in Rio. He might struggle with injuries, but all the other guys (maybe except for Hambüchen) are pretty inconsistent. Leyva, Uchimura and Larduet all could challenge for a medal, but i think only Larduet has enough upside to challnge in-shape Zonderland. From a german perspective all my hopes are on Bretschneider and not on Hambüchen. Bretschneider wouldve won the gold medal at the last world championships without the fall, so you clearly have to consider him as a possible medal contender.

In general they have very interesting picks, i think they are overstimating american athletes in most disciplines. In womens long jump they didnt predict a medal for the top 2 in world ranking, which is very interesting ... Nataliia Lupu (2nd at 2012 world indoor championships) wont be allowed to compete, she apparently took Meldonium for a couple of years as a medicine. At the 2014 world indoor championships she tested positive for Methylhexaneamine and therefore got a 9 months ban.

Its great that IOC uploaded all the competition videos of London 2012 olympic games to youtube, but i am missing mens basketball final. Does someone know where i can find it?

What a choke by Zverev ... Actually Nadal did absolutely nothing to earn the win, Zverev gifted it to him. Zverev has the level to beat almost anyone, but he doesnt have the nerves to do it. He should have 3 top 10 wins this year already (Berdych two times and Nadal once) ... It was a great chance for him (quarterfinal at a masters tournament against Nishikori, first top 10/top 5 win, entering top 50), but you could really see that the pressure was too much for him, Nadal won 15 of the last 16 points. Maybe he will learn from it, but i am not very optimistic. He clearly has to improve his net play (Monfils destroyed him a couple of weeks ago by forcing him to the net) and his forehand. His fitness and his strength is getting better every time i watch him play. I actually think he should serve better, considering his size. I really like that he risks a lot with his 2nd serve, but yesterday it was too much, he had 9 aces and 11 double faults. I also noticed that he is very bad at attacking the 2nd serve of his opponents. He often risks too much, he throws away tons of opportunities by making easy mistakes.

And why exactly is that good news? Would he be bad for your chances to qualify for Rio, because he is only good at one apparatus?

Medal predictions for Portland: http://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/category-formcharts/2890-2016-world-indoor-champs-men-s-medal-picks

Will Narang also be allowed to compete in air rifle? Italy has only one quota place in womens trap and it was won by Stanco, so why will Rossi be allowed to compete instead of Stanco?

By winning against Nadal, Zverev could become the first 18 year old to reach the quarterfinal of a masters tournament since Nadal himself in 2005. The only other 18 yo to do that in this century was Roddick in 2001. No player born in 1994 or later reached the quarterfinal of a masters tournament so far.

Some athletes/teams who noone mentioned until now: Athletics: All russian medallists in athletics might miss the olympic games. Björn Otto (silver in mens pole vault) is very unlikely to qualify. The same might be true for Hadadi (silver in mens discus throw). I think Savinova/Poistogova (gold and bronze in womens 800 m), Alptekin/Bulut (gold and silver in womens 1500) are banned? Basketball: Russia (bronze in 2012) wont qualify in mens basketball. Boxing: Campbell (gold in 2012) turned pro, i dont know if he will try to qualify. The same is true for Nevin (silver in 2012), Ogogo (bronze in 2012), Joshua (gold in 2012). Maybe there are other athletes who turned pro and wont try to qualify. Slalom canoeing: In slalom canoeing it could become very interesting, because only one athlete from each nation can qualify, so guys like Tasiadis (silver in 2012) or Aigner (bronze in 2012) might easily miss the olympics. Track cycling: Förstemann and Levy (both won bronze in mens team sprint in 2012 and Levy won silver in mens keirin) might very well not qualify. Ed Clancy (bronze in mens omnium in 2012) also might miss qualification, Cavendish seems to be more likely to compete in mens omnium for GB. Clancy might compete in mens team pursuit instead. Equestrian: Langehanenberg won a silver medal in dressage team in 2012, but she wont qualify for Rio, the same probably will be true for Schneider, who was in the same team. Fencing: Germany won bronze in mens team foil, but didnt qualify for Rio. Joppich at least qualified individually. Japan won silver in London in mens team foil, but only Ota qualified this time. Vezzali won bronze individually and gold in the team in London, but this time she missed qualification. Russia and South Korea won silver and bronze in womens team foil, but this time both nations were only allowed to qualify 2 athletes, so some of their medallists from 2012 will miss Rio, the same is true for mens sabre. Swimming: I think it will be pretty difficult for Cielo (bronze in 2012), Jamieson (silver in 2012) and Beisel (bronze and silver in 2012) to qualify. Shooting: Tons of athletes who won a medal in London and are young enough to still compete (and therefore probably didnt retire) didnt won a quota place for Rio (until now). For example: Cox, Narang, Moldoveanu, Tesconi, Zlatic or Rossi! Tennis: Sharapova (silver in womens single in 2012) might miss Rio.

Marco Huck said that he wants to compete in Rio, but we already have a qualified athlete in his weight category ... He might try to qualify in an other weight category or he could also compete for Serbia. Jürgen Brähmer, Felix Sturm and Artur Abraham dont want to compete in Rio. In general i think that not many german pros (if any) will try to compete in Rio. I think most pros can only loose at the olympic games. They have to fight in a completely new system with only 3 rounds instead of 12 and they dont earn anything. Not to talk about what would happen if a pro looses at the olympic games ...