OlympicsFan

1) Germany winning medals in women’s epee and women’s Sabre is very „unusual“. 2) Germany winning as many individual medals as Italy is very very unusual. 3) Russia only winning 1 individual medal might be the biggest surprise in the history of sports. From a german perspective: The gold for Heathcock was expected, he is the biggest German talent since Leonie Ebert (who has been very disappointing for the past 2 or 3 years).

Sadly not unrealistic (in my opinion). Two thoughts: 1) Would anyone start nuclear war over Putin dropping an atomic bomb on Ukraine/Poland/Germany? 2) Even if a nuclear war happens, there will probably be survivors. It will be difficult to build civilization up again if the whole earth is unhabitable, so it would be great if everyone could agree on sparing a certain area (an island like Australia/New Zealand/GB/Japan) in order to rebuild civilization there.

The german men are doomed unless Engelmann becomes really good real quick. The juniors are lightyears off the pace. Norway on the other hand seems to have a never ending pipeline of great talents on the men's side. France and Italy also should have a bright future. On the women's side there doesn't seem to be a special talent at junior level, but Italy and France seem to have really nice depth. Austria and Switzerland also seem promising, i think in the future the women's side will be more competitve (more nations fighting for podiums) than the men's side.

No, realistically the best since at least 2014 and only half the individual events are done.

You usually seem like a rather intelligent person, but this is an almost shockingly bad troll attempt: 1) You mean the embarrassing depth that led to a relay bronze at the olympics (and an individual gold) ... ? 2) You realize that she is only the 3rd best talent in Germany in this age group alone? 3) You realize that another german girl just won gold in the junior individual? 4) You realize that most medalists at youth level (roughly 2/3 in my estimate) never amount to anything? My current estimate would be that she is maybe a fringe top 10 talent in Germany, so not one of the most likely candidates to make the german senior team (especially given her lack of skiing speed). Either way this whole "discussion" is silly. Croatia is completely irrelevant in biathlon and this girl is at least 5 years away from being good enough of having any impact in the world cup, it makes zero sense to "fight" over her at the moment.

I SPECIFICALLY SAID THAT I FEEL THE SAME WAY WHEN GERMANY IS PROFITING FROM IT, because i knew that someone like you wouldn't even bother trying to lead a discussion and would rather try to play the "but X did Y" card. I am amazed that there are people out there with such limited mental capabilities*. AGAIN: I absolutely am not in favor or eastern/southern european people coming to Germany to do the shit that german people don't want to do (and then of course in turn for example ukrainian people will go to Poland and fill the holes of the polish people that left for Germany, which of course then creates holes in Ukraine and so on ...)

I am amazed that you go through all this trouble instead of just shutting this thread down. Thanks on behalf of all the people who (for some reason) feel the need to talk about the conflict on this website.

Don't see how this would change anything for Ukraine (at least short term). The only thing western countries realistically could do to help Ukraine short term is to deliver weapons/intelligence.

It is disgusting when people profit from the system of a certain country (financed by tax payers) and then compete for another country (that gets the rewards). Same is true in other areas as well. Every year there are many people who finish their medicine studies in Germany (financed by tax payers) and then go to Switzerland because they can earn more there, those are disgusting human beings. I also feel the same way about people who only live in certain places to dodge taxes (for example Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic or many formula 1 drivers), they are disgusting human beings as well and it is braindead to think that any of them feel patriotic. At least in sport (with the X per nation rule) you can argue that it is good when all the best athletes get to compete.

Maybe if she won't be good enough to make the german team. Would still be a disgusting decision of course.

Absolutely disgusting. I hope german skiing federation will use all power they have to fuck FIS.

Impressive that Germany won a medal in 5 out of the 6 races so far*. The german women are in a very good place. Crazy that the 3rd best talent (Moric) is the only girl who won 2 medals in 2 races so far. * This is already the best result for Germany in terms of individual medals since 2014 (when they won 7 individual medals). The last time Germany won 8 or more individual medals was in 2010 (when they won 8 individual medals).

Some things i noticed while looking through past results: - I would say roughly one third of the medalists at youth level become good at senior level - Unsurprisingly (for people who follow biathlon) it usually takes many years (5+ years) for medalists at youth/junior level to become good at senior level, although of course there are exemptions (for example Davidova, Dahlmeier* or Öberg) - Looking at the 2009 junior women's results is almost surreal and shows what an historic talent Miriam Gössner was: She finished 2nd in the sprint with 5 misses (8 seconds behind first place, the first and third placed athlete both had only 1 miss) and first in the pursuit with 8 misses (the second and third placed athlete had 7 misses combined) - Looking at the result of men's junior sprint in 2009 is pretty crazy, the following athletes all finished top 16: Hofer, Windisch, Weger, T. Boe, Schempp, Doll, Lesser, Beatrix, Semenov, Lapshin (pretty insane group for Germany) * Looking at her junior results it had to be pretty clear that she was a special talent. She won a bronze at junior worlds in 2011 (roughly half a year after turning 17), the equivalent this year would be a girl born in August of 2004 winning a medal at junior level (while in reality the youngest medalist at youth level so far was born in August 2004). Of all the girls competing this year, Tannheimer from Germany is probably the closest, she had the 2nd fastest skiing speed in the individual and was born in August 2005.

Some more thoughts: 1) To me it looks as if Putin is (very) ill. Maybe he knows that he won't have a lot more time, so nothing is off the table. 2) I don't think that this will end after Ukraine and i am not sure how afraid Putin is of attacking a NATO/EU state. Moldova sadly seems like a likely victim. 3) Whatever sanctions the west will impose on Russia, the same sanctions have to be imposed on Belarus as well.

I feel really sorry for the ukrainian people who did nothing to cause this. It might be justifiable for other countries not to get involved in the fight, but it makes me lose trust in our system even more when i see that western countries can't even agree on sanctions. I don't believe that this is the will of the normal people. I absolutely don't see why western nations can't just ban Russia from everything. Why still allow russian people to enter western nations? Why still allow russian companies to do business here? I understand that countries are somewhat dependant on russian gas, but this absolutely doesn't explain why they can't agree on sanctions that would barely be felt by their own people. It's not as if Russia is a super important market (considering that the russian GDP is just marginally bigger than the one of Australia).

Horrible performance by the german men today, the women were ok. Not sure who the best talent on the men's side is, but on the women's side it clearly is Michelon (who will be able to compete at junior level for two more years and already is at the top when it comes to skiing speed).

I am shook. The german women have crazy depth and Albert Engelmann really is the most promising male german talent in a long time. A bit disappointed that Grotian didn't do better, but i think she doesn't quite have the endurance yet. I think the sprint is better suited for her. Also i thought that Grotian would be the one, but Tannheimer might actually be it. Tannheimer is one year younger than Grotian and already faster, she will be able to come back two more times to compete at youth level. Andersson and Zorc also seem like decent talents, although the fact that Tannheimer is equaling their skiing speed while being two years younger should put their talent into perspective. Overall i am very happy from a german perspective (although of course Russia and France not competing means that all german talents would probably have finished 3-5 spots lower if everyone would have competed). Finally the german talents have superior skiing speed. Hopefully they will be able to translate it to senior level.

Alpine skiing - No combined - Different format for the team event: Only two athletes per nation and both race once on the blue and once on the red course. Biathlon - Drop the pursuit - Make the races "more different". At least one event should clearly favor good shooters and one should clearly favor good skiers. Bobsleigh - Monobob and two-man for both men and women Cross-country skiing Relay: Don't change anything Team sprint: One leg freestyle, the other leg classic style 7.5/10 km classic style interval/mass start (maybe alternate between interval start and mass start every olympics) 7.5/10 km freestyle interval/mass start Classic style sprint Freestyle sprint Alternative: Completely get rid of classic style and only have freestyle events. Curling Absurd to say that this is the sport with the most depth ... Don't really have any thoughts about this sport, but 3 events seems like enough. Figure skating Get rid of the team event and the ice dance Freestyle skiing Get rid of mixed aerials and include mixed ski cross (or get rid of mixed snowboardcross, makes zero sense to have mixed snowboardcross but not mixed ski cross) Hockey No thoughts Luge Drop the relay and maybe add women's doubles (or drop men's doubles and add mixed doubles at some point after 2026) Nordic Combined Either only have a normal hill competition (same in ski jumping -> Less costs building only one hill) or make the two individual competitions more distinct so that one clearly favors good jumpers and the other clearly favors good skiers. Also maybe add a women's event and a mixed event (overall this sport shouldn't have more than 4 events). Short track speed skating Too many events, completely absurd that this sport and speed skating combine for a billion events. If the alpine skiing combined event is dropped, then this sport and alpine skiing have the same number of events!!! I would drop the 1000 m race and maybe also the relays or the mixed relay. Skeleton Not sure how a relay would work in this sport, probably would be best to keep everything the same. Ski Jumping Maybe add a women's team event and drop the men's large hill competition. No point in building two hill just for the olympics. Snowboarding Program seems fine. Only thing i would do is find a common scoring system for the ski freestyle/snowboard events. Sometimes adding the top 2 scores and sometimes only taking the best score is pretty confusing (especially for the casual viewer). Speed Skating I would only have the following events: 500 m m/w 1500 m m/w 5000 m m/w Team pursuit m/w Maybe mixed relay/pursuit

Hoping for a Repinc vs. Grotian battle on the women's side. A bit surprised that those two won't compete at junior level. The italians also look good as usual and the norwegians are unpredictable since none of them have any recent results. On the men's side things look less predictable, although Betemps should be the favorite. Engelmann from Germany and Trojer from Slovenia look like interesting talents as well. Also a guy named "Sivert Björndalen" will be competing as well ...

Biathlon junior worlds and cross-country skiing junior/U23 worlds will start soon. I'll try to watch some of that. Will try to figure out who might be the stars of 2026.

Only natural that the interest in the olympic has decreased. IOC did their best to achieve that. I would be surprised if there wouldn't be a turnaround for 2024. The competition times will be much better for european times + the host is not controversial + fans will probably be back.

1) I think your trend in speed skating at the olympics is negative (2014 -> 2018 -> 2022). The Netherlands should remain dominant, but not sure by how much. 2) A medal in a 4th sport (snowboard) wasn't impossible and your prospects there look good. Not sure about skeleton though. So again winning medals in at least 3 different sports in 2026 looks definitely realistic.

I think their first spot is safe. I don't see any chance for the US, but maybe Russia can do it. Russia has a lot of potential to improve on their gold medal count in speed skating, biathlon and women's cross-country skiing. The norwegian dominance in women's cross-country skiing might end, but i think they have a very bright future in speed skating (especially on the men's side), nordic combined, alpine skiing (especially on the men's side) and of course biathlon. No other nation than Germany has won more than 11 golds at the last 3 olympics and i think Germany doesn't have the potential to win many more golds, while Norway will probably win 12+ golds even if they completely flop. I think climate change will lead to their dominance in sports like biathlon, cross-country skiing or alpine skiing becoming even bigger. The exciting part is that noone can really make any solid predictions about what will happen in 4 years. 4 years ago absolutely noone would have predicted Schouten and Roeiseland to become this dominant.

Something that really bothers me about Roeiseland: She never finished higher than 12th in the overall world cup before turning 28 and then she suddenly became superhuman. Also: What are the odds of Boe becoming the winter olympian with the most golds in 2026?

Pretty much confirms most of what i already thought. Only surprised to see that Austria and Russia apparently "underperformed". Italy, Finland, Slovenia and Sweden had close to perfect olympics and Canada won tons of surprising medals. The fact that Canada won so few golds might have something do with them not having many gold medal favorites. It also has to be said that some of those results used as a reference are from 3 years back, so not sure how relevant they still are. For example german biathlon was in a very different spot back then (when Laura Dahlmeier, Simon Schempp and Arnd Peiffer were still active). Edit: About the italian medal tally: I actually think that Italy has a lot of room for improvement in biathlon and alpine skiing. Even without the new sports/events they might go for 20+ medals.