OlympicsFan

Not quite two months ... (although even i thought that they would last a bit longer). Yesterday the afghan president announced that they would mobiize the forces now, which made you wonder what they have been doing so far ... Afghanistan is a made up country by the west, in reality it is just a bunch of tribes. The fact that roughly 60k not very well-equipped taliban can "beat" a very well-equipped/trained army of roughly 300k soldiers clearly shows you that most people don't really seem too willing to defend "western values". I feel sad for the afghan women, but in the end there never was a chance of a different outcome (something that most soldiers who came back from there even 10-15 years ago ... or history could/would have told you). I am not sure if western politicians actually had the goal/belief to achieve something else over there, personally i hope that they aren't really that naive. If afghan people want a different life, they can either leave the country of build a different country on their own. I hope that Europe won't again take on hundreds of thousands of refugees regardless of their "qualification". Nothing wrong with letting "qualified" refugees in, but no society is capable of integrating such a huge number of people from a completely different culture (if those people even would be willing) at the same time. This doesn't change anything about the fact that western countries should give humanitarian help (setting up camps in bordering countries). Also one of the biggest "miracles" for me is how the west never was able to effectively cut off the stream of weapons/money to the taliban (from Saudi Arabia/Pakistan?). I also fear that afghanistan will now become the "headquarters" of international terrorism again, but maybe this time the west will be able to fight that more effectively with drones.

Congrats! I don't think that those athletes will be competitive by 2024, but maybe in 2028 they could do some damage.

Medal table in olympic events: 2/3/3 & 2/0/1 2/0/0 1/3/0 & & 1/0/0 0/4/1 & 0/1/0 & & & & & 0/0/1 Germany with clearly the most medals (as usual) and the Netherlands almost nonexistent as usual (just to completely explode at senior level).

Also no New Zealand and Australia.

Or they both will never amount to anything like most teen phenoms before. Hussong and Andrejczyk? are both easily young enough to go until 2024 at least and both have thrown 69+ m this year, a level that very few have reached before.

Throwing events in general don't create a lot of interest. Also most field events aren't super exciting currently, except for maybe men's pole vault, men's shot put, women's triple jump and to some degree women's high jump.

Other interesting threads might be "Athletes who could write history in Paris" (for example Zaynab Dayibekova from Uzbekistan in fencing (has Uzbekistan ever won a fencing medal?) or Nicholas D'Amour from the Virgin Islands in archery) or "Which athletes are the most likely to defend their title in 2024?".

I came up with a very long list, so i trimmed it down to only 100 athletes. I focused on U23 athletes in most sports (U20 in artistic gymnastics/swimming) who didn't win an individual medal in Tokyo and in my opinion have a good chance to win at least one in Paris. I also made a top 10 list for french athletes who didn't make the top 100. Here are the lists: Top 100: Oleksiy Sereda (Ukraine, diving) Rikuto Tamai (Japan, diving) Jacob Whittle (GB, swimming) David Popovici (Romania, swimming) Hwang Sun-woo (South Korea, swimming) Hubert Kos (Hungary, swimming) Ilya Borodin (Russia, swimming) Summer McIntosh (Canada, swimming) Isabel Gose (Germany, swimming) Leon Marchand (France, swimming) Destin Lasco (USA, swimming) Katie Grimes (USA, swimming) Wang Jianjiahe (China, swimming) Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas (Hungary, swimming) Anastasia Gorbenko (Israel, swimming) Evgeniia Chikunova (Russia, swimming) Torri Huske (USA, swimming) Claire Curzan (USA, swimming) Benedetta Pilato (Italy, swimming) Andrey Minakov (Russia, swimming) Joshua Liendo (Canada, swimming) Antonio Djakovic (Switzerland, swimming) Samuel Short (Australia, swimming) Meg Harris (Australia, swimming) Mollie O'Callaghan (Australia, swimming) Bella Sims (USA, swimming) David Bethlem (Hungary, open water swimming) Anastasiia Kirpichnikova (Russia, open water swimming) Hikaru Mori (Japan, trampoline) Erriyon Knighton (USA, athletics) Krzysztof Roznicki (Poland, athletics) Sasha Zhoya (France, athletics) Sean Burrell (USA, athletics) Mykolas Alekna (Lithuania, athletics) Sha'Carri Richardson (USA, athletics) Winfred Mutile Yavi (Bahrain, athletics) Britany Anderson (Jamaica, athletics) Cyrena Samba-Mayela (France, athletics) Cole Hocker (USA, athletics) Oscar Chelimo (Uganada, athletics) JuVaughn Harrison (USA, athletics) Kristjan Ceh (Slovenia, athletics) Mykhaylo Kokhan (Ukraine, athletics) Brianna Williams (Jamaica, athletics) Matvei Volkov (Belarus, athletics) Mekides Abebe (Ethiopia, athletics) Henriette Jaeger (Norway, athletics) Prisca Chepsang (Uganada, athletics) Kim Je-deok (South Korea, archery) Tang Chih-chun (Taiwan, archery) An Se-young (South Korea, badminton) Jessica Guo (Canada, fencing) Aizanat Murtazaeva (Russia, fencing) Federica Isola (Italy, fencing) Yuka Ueno (Japan, fencing) Liza Pusztai (Hungary, fencing) Mohamed El-Sayed (Egypt, fencing) Kirill Bordachev (Russia, fencing) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium, cycling road) Lea Sophie Friedrich (Germany, cycling track) Kata Blanka Vas (Hungary, mountainbike) Saya Sakakibara (Australia, BMX) Evy Leibfahrt (USA, canoeing slalom) Nicolas Gestin (France, canoeing slalom) Jacob Schopf (Germany, canoeing sprint) Moritz Adam (Germany, canoeing sprint) Joan Morena (Spain, canoeing sprint) Alexandra Förster (Germany, rowing) Gennaro di Mauro (Italy, rowing) Althea Laurin (France, taekwondo) Omar Salim (Hungary, taekwondo) Takeru Kitazono (Japan, artistic gymnastics) Illia Kovtun (Ukrain, artistic gymnastics) Yang Haonan (China, artistic gymnastics) Kayla DiCello (USA, artistic gymnastics) Ryu Sung-hyun (South Korea, artistic gymnastics) Viktoria Listunova (Russia, artistic gymnastics) Vladislava Urazova (Russia, artistic gymnastics) Sofi Özbas (Hungary, judo) Romane Dicko (France, judo) Wakana Koga (Japan, judo) Manuel Lombardo (Italy, judo) Tato Grigalashvili (Georgia, judo) Lasha Bekauri (Georgia, judo) Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan, table tennis) Lin Yun-ju (Taiwan, table tennis) Saurabh Chaudhary (India, shooting) Mary Tucker (USA, shooting) Sofia Ceccarello (Italy, shooting) Oceanne Muller (France, shooting) Jeanette Hegg Duestad (Norway, shooting) Deepak Punia (India, wrestling) Amir Hossein Zare (Iran, wrestling) Turan Bayramov (Azerbaijan, wrestling) Sergey Kozyrev (Russia, wrestling) Khanum Velieva (Russia, wrestling) Anshu Malik (India, shooting) Keno Machado (Brazil, boxing) Caroline Dubois (GB, boxing) Dainier Pero (Cuba, boxing) Top 10 for France (only those who didn't make the top 100): Ryan Helal (track cycling) Mathilde Gros (track cycling) Loane Lecomte (track cycling) Alija Luty (fencing) Christo Popov (badminton) Lisa Barbelin (archery) Shirine Boukli (judo) Justine Delmas (swimming) Jeff Erius (athletics) Rose Loga (athletics) Note: Obviously a lot of the names that didn't make the list very well could have made it and considering the number of sports i covered, it is very likely that i missed some names. In athletics and swimming especially there are tons of athletes who could have made the list as well (for example Franko Grgic, Yang Yunxuan, Merve Tuncel, Adriana Vilagos, Tara Davis or Jorinde van Klinken).

Close ...

Doping obviously helps in boxing, wrestling and shooting. In shooting for example you could ask an Hungarian user about a recent case.

You could still enjoy it for what it is, a form of entertainment. Personally i believe that anyone who watches elite sports is supporting doping, so i will stop watching it. Personally i believe that you should not not do something that is right, just because it has negative effects on you personally (not being able to use sports as a source of entertainment).

Nope, the source should be your own common sense, but in this case it doesn't seem to work, because you somehow see the accomplishment of some of your compatriots as partly your own and admitting to yourself that they are as dirty as everyone else would leave you without anything to be proud of.

Obviously there is no proof, otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to compete. Common sense/a basic understanding of statistics should tell you that the probablity of him being clean at best is as big as the probability of you winning the lottery every week for the rest of your life.

I don't think so, german people are far less nationalistic than british/american people. I didn't really notice any hype. The biggest topics were actually Patrick Moster (the guy who used a racist slur towards riders from North Africa) and Annika Schleu + her coach for the way they treated her horse. From a sporting perspective the biggest story probably was the gold for Alexander Zverev.

In general: Obviously every medal winner in swimming was/is doped. About Peaty: Are you serious? You mean to tell me that you think that a guy who is lightyears ahead of the most talented russians/chinese (countries with combined more than 30 times the population and systematic doping) is clean?

Because you can be elite witouth a great flat time (and great technique). A female 8:45 runner can fluke a medal in the steeplechase, but in the 3000 m flat she wouldnt even be top 20.

I don't even want to argue about the big picture (although you might be surprised if you look at the number of medals Germany won in athletics at the 2004/2008 olympics), but that you aren't even consistent: Mihambo is enough for you to say that Germany is relevant in women's long jump, but Pudenz/Kaul/Hussong aren't -> Inconsistent. I think it would help if you would be clear about the point you are trying to make the next time before you enter a discussion.

Please ... just stop, reading your comments physically hurts me. The 2021 olympics were the best for german swimming since 2008 and it is the first time that more than one person won a medal since 2004 and the first time that a german men won a medal since 2000. Seeing how you constantly write bullshit with absolute conviction, when you clearly have no clue what you are talking about, actually makes me angry. One last point: Unlike many other countries Germany doesn't try to push the athletes to dope by offering crazy rewards (Germany pays less than half for a gold medal than Slovakia for example). When i see the rewards for bulgarian athletes and look at the state of their anti-doping-system, it seems like a no-brainer to dope if you are a remotely talented bulgarian athlete.

German athletics gets more money than british athletics. German athletics has the same problem as many other fields in Germany. It is lead by people who are too naive and actually think that you can compete without doping. I guess in a nation that is lead by a person who thinks that she can convince Putin/Erdogan/Orban to change their course by asking them nicely this isn't too surprising ... I think the last two olympic champions in a track event were Dieter Baumann (got caught) and Nils Schumann (strong suspicions) ... and i don't believe that this was a coincidence. Germany chose to not use the GDR know-how anymore and instead those coaches went abroad ... and for example took over british rowing. France has a different "problem", unlike GB and Germany they are actually relevant in team sports. Imagine how good France could be in sprinting, if they could use all their volleyball/handball/basketball talent there ...

Of course they do, only the other doping super powers (Jamaica, Kenya, Ethiopia, USA) win more track medals. Germany for example hasn't won a single track medal at the olympics since 2000! Klosterhalfen is as much part of the german system as Farah was/is. A lot of german journalists raised questions after she decided to join Salazar. Until recently my view was that anyone who wins a track medal at world level is dirty (regardless of nationality), but now i think that it might be possible to win a medal in the hurdles/steeplechase without doping. Klosterhalfen won a medal in the 5000 m, so there you have your answer ...

It is shocking how you can get almost everything wrong in such a short comment ... 1) Klosterhalfen turned 24 this year and won a world championship bronze less than two years ago. She also just finished 8th at the olympics, which made her the best european runner in this event. What was the best finish of a polish woman in a track event? 2) So you are saying Germany isn't relevant in women's javelin (number 2 in the world this year), women's discus throw (olympic silver medalist) and men's decathlon (defending world champion who turns 23 this year and 99 % would have won at least bronze at the olympics without the injury). I believe that Germany had more top 8 finishes at the olympics than the Netherlands/Italy and as many as Poland (thanks to their gold in the joke mixed relay). Those countries had generational fluke performances, but their actual level in athletics is much lower than the medals make it seem. 3) You are correct that Germany got much worse in doping sports over the last decades. Not too long ago Germany was still great in speed skating, rowing, biathlon, (men's) cross-country and women's canoeing sprint. I wish you were trolling, but sadly i don't think you are.

Yes, espcially swimming ... also we ignore the miracle rise of british cycling because ... ? I feel sorry for you if you actually think that GB achieved this ridiculous improvement without systematic doping.

No, she isn't. She planned to move to his training group, but couldn't do it thanks to COVID. Please inform yourself in the future before accusing everybody who isn't british.

USA definitely, not sure about IAAF. Obviously this won't happen, since american TV owns the olympics/IOC.

Maybe they should take a serious look at british sports and how it went from irrelevant to top 3 within a decade ... or british cycling ... or Paula Radcliffe ... or Mo Farah. British people are the last that should point fingers when it comes to doping.