OlympicsFan

Yes, but you don't need a mixed relay for that. Mixed relays were always promoted as a way for smaller nations, that don't have enough elite athletes for traditional relays, to compete for a medal. At the moment most mixed relays are basically just another free medal for the big nations and don't add any new dimension to the program. I think that mixed archery doubles is a good example of a mixed event that makes sense, swimming mixed medley relays for example are the complete opposite.

Shockingly slow women's 800 free, Quadarella probably can't believe her luck, completely out of shape and still bronze, same was true for Paltrinieri in men's 800 free. Wellbrock and Köhler threw away two ultra easy medals despite clearly being in shape. Their coach must be super frustrated, he told them exactly what to do and from the first moment of the race they did exactly the opposite.

What a pointless event. Makes no sense to add a relay where only the big nations can medal.

Yes, that is my impression as well. I would say Kambundji/Asher-Smith/Jackson might have an outside shot. In the 100 m a disqualifcation always is a possibility and in that case the fight for bronze could be very open.

Pinto actually was really good compared to expectations. I don't think Germany is your main competitor, Switzerland looks much more dangerous. Depending on the level of Richardson, Switzerland and GB might actually be the favorites for silver and bronze. Germany good hit hard by the injuries of Lückenkemper and Mayer, with those two in normal shape, Germany would probably be favorite for silver. I think realistically 42 low would be a very good time for Germany (especially thanks to the lack of relay training) and both GB and Switzerland should be able to go sub 42.

I think Thompson, SAFP and Ta Lou are a lock for the final and Jackson/Neita/Asher-Smith/Kambundji/Del Ponte are the favorites for the remaining spots, the americans are pretty hard to read at this point. GB could have two women in the final or none, at this point a medal for Asher-Smith would be surprising.

Would make sense and would be nice to see (her disappear). Whenever a country pays insane amounts of money for medals (like Singapore or Hong Kong) it basically translates to "We don't care if you dope, just win a medal".

South African swimming is ultra suspicious. Somehow they always find someone who becomes elite very quickly. First Van der Burgh, then Le Clos and now Schoenmaker, kind of reminds me of Hungary. Whenever someone fades away, suddenly some new generational talent magically turns up. Will be interesting to watch the progression of Sates/Coetze/Du Preez. All of them were completely irrelevant at junior level and then during the pandemic their performances completely exploded.

Not that surprising that countries without Covid (New Zealand & Australia) and countries that pretend that Covid doesn't exist (Netherlands) are doing great ... Only surprising that Sweden and North Korea didn't do better ... Also interesting progression by the greek guy in single sculls ... from being completely irrelevant all of his career to olympic gold in such a short time.

36 medals would still be disappointing for Germany, but maybe it is the logical consequence of more and more countries pouring more money into sports. If you want to stay competitive, you have to do the same and allow the athletes to become pros. I would like to see what would happen if Germany would for example start paying 500k for a gold medal. I think the number of golds for Germany would increase rather quickly.

Tons of easy golds in fighting sports (judo & wrestling). Would like to see some day how many golds Russia could win at home (gymnastics, wrestling, boxing, judo) ...

I am not sure if any nation ever had a worse day (compared to expectations) than Germany today: Zeidler: Out in semifinals instead of gold Wellbrock: No medal instead of gold Herzog: From defending world champion to bronze Wagner: From defending world champion to bronze Ovtcharov: From possible gold (Fan Zhendong is his "favorite" chinese player) to bronze at best Men's hockey: From possible medal to very likely elimination in group stage Germany lost 2-4 medals today and 4 possible golds.

Completely absurd performance by Finke. This guy never did anything at world stage and now he massively improves his PB at the olympics and swims the last 100 m 2 seconds faster than Wellbrock/Romanchuk/Paltrinieri (the guys who dominated men's distance freestyle for years). I fear that he will be difficult to beat in the 1500 free as well. Always sad to see when a nobody magically appears at the olympics and steals a medal from those athletes who dominated before the olympics.

For Germany (compared to expectations): One medal less than expected (women's quadruple sculls had a safe silver and then they made a mistake and dropped to 4th or 5th) The two by far biggest gold medal chances (men's single sculls and men's eight) are still to come.

Hoping for 4 german medals today: Swimming men's 800 free, slalom canoeing women's C1 (Herzog), judo women's -78 kg (Wagner) and rowing men's lightweight double sculls. Herzog and Wagner are the defending world champions, so anything less than gold would be a bit disappointing, although putting that kind of pressure on them is probably unfair. The german team in men's lightweight double sculls looked great so far, but realistically silver is the best possible outcome. Wellbrock wasn't a medal favorite before the heats, but he looked great and it would be disappointing if anyone other than Romanchuk would beat him (given that Paltrinieri seems to be off). Ovtcharov could also secure a medal by beating Ma Long, but obviously that won't happen. He got a bit unlucky with the draw, he usually performs much better against Fan Zhendong.

I think it is quite interesting to compare the current medal table to the summer sports world championships medal table. Germany for example only „should“ have won 6 medals so far (instead of 10). Köhler in Womens 1500 free, dressage team and dressage individual repeated, but all other medals are new. On the other hand Trajdos (judo women’s -63 kg), table tennis mixed doubles and Vennekamp (women’s 25 m pistol) lost their medal.

Yes, only 4 medal chances and then they throw away a safe silver. German rowing has been declining for a long time now, 6 medals should be the absolute minimum for the importance of rowing, the funding they receive and the population size. There is no excuse for Germany to win less medals than Australia or the Netherlands.

I think Germany (and probably Ireland) would have been good enough to fight for a medal in double sculls?

Italy should be relegated. They got an adrenaline kick when they saw the british boat approaching them, without that extra kick they would have been slower.

Completely new tactic by GB, just collide with your opponents and take them out of the race ... Also there must be some brexit joke in there ... I thought that maybe the brits got confused because people in Japan drive on the right side of the road, but then i did some research and actually people also drive on the left side of the road in Japan too, so no excuse there. The most obvious explanation: The brits wanted to take revenge for the lost final of the european football championships by taking out Italy, but of course they missed (as usual).

List of nations that won more than 6 rowing medals at a single olympics in this century: GB (9 in 2012) The Netherlands realistically could win more than 6 medals, something even Germany and Australia never managed to do in this century.

The development of the Netherlands in rowing is beyond absurd. They never won more than 3 medals at the olympics and now they already have 3 after 3 finals. Would really like to know what secret sauce they are using (in rowing/cycling/speed skating).

Apparently Ressel got cheated in his fight against the japanese guy and then the "crowd" booed?

Nice for Funk to win a medal after a) Her coach died during an accident at the 2016 olympics and b) The place where she was born (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler) was in the epicenter of the recent floods.

Would have been nice to have 2 germans on the podium.