OlympicsFan

The Netherlands made it much harder than it had to be. They should have won by 2 or 3 goals. Not sure how far they can go (given their lack of individual talent), but they should definitely top their group now.

I can’t believe the level of stupidity by the German teams and the level of cheating by the referees those past two days. Germany should have won both finals. Overall today was a very poor match, neither of the teams was able to create anything other than penalty corners. You just knew that Germany wouldn’t even score if they would get 100 corners and if the Netherlands would play without a goalkeeper. I guess it is encouraging to see that no European team currently is in better shape than Germany ...

Lol ... no she isn’t anywhere close to being a medal contender (the same is true for all other British long jumpers). You can’t take any of those long jump performances in the US seriously. Malone jumped over 7 m there and then she was hopeless in the Florence Diamond League. I would be HUGELY surprised if Ugen would jump over 6.80 m at the Olympics. The only realistic medal chance for GB in a field event is women’s heptathlon and maybe women’s pole vault.

Like I said before: The quality might be at an all-time low. Pretty much all the consistent players are gone. Now is the chance for young players like Gauff to break through. The Czech Republic (Noskova) also won the women’s junior competition! Noskova might not even be their biggest talent, Fruhvirtova is higher rated.

Do you have Amazon prime?

Ahlmann won’t compete for Germany at the Olympics (in jumping). Another huge blow for Germany after Blum was already out. 3 world class rider for Germany who will miss the Olympics (Klimke also won’t compete).

The broadcast was pretty much unwatchable. 10 hours for 5 Olympic events. So far the only event where Australia could medal is the men’s 400 free.

One of the most absurd results in hockey history. Germany was clearly superior and should have been up by at least two goals in the first quarter already. The women were super lucky yesterday, but this game was the complete opposite. I hope they use the fact that they were clearly the best team at this tournament as a motivation for the Olympics.

Final: Impossible to predict (thanks to group F). France should make it. Next in line based on talent are Germany, England and Portugal. Golden boot: Should be between Griezmann, Mbappe, Immobile, Kane and Lukaku. Best player: Usually Someone from the winning team. The best bet would probably be one out of Griezmann/Mbappe/Pogba/Kante. Most concerned: Russian hooligans, lack of quality thanks to all those teams being added, weird results in the Last Matches of group Stage thanks to Teams trying to avoid Portugal/France. Most looking forward to: Finally fans again, England flopping once again ... and the tournament finally being over which will mean that we are finally getting rid of Löw.

I think usually 40-45 medals is a good prediction for Germany, but with the new sports it should be a bit more. Swimming: 3 medals isn’t the best case. 3 x Wellbrock + 2 x Köhler already gives you 5 medals and then you also have Beck (open water), Heintz (200 IM) and Muffels (open water). Fighting sports: Germany might very well win no medals in those sports. Fencing: Best case would be 2 medals in men’s Sabre. Gymnastics: Best case would be 2 medals (Dauser and Seitz). I think Germany could also win 1 or 2 medals in sailing.

2 at best.

Spain is having one of the biggest fluke performances ever. I doubt that they will win more than 1 medal in Tokyo.

I wish Russia wouldn’t be allowed to compete and I hope that France will flop.

Every nation has impressive performances like that. Just look at the development of some of your distance runners (mainly in men’s 3000 m SC) or you shot putters.

6 medals in swimming is pretty much the best case for Hungary (+1 in open water).

What a horrible comment ...

Would be incredible if Greece could win both singles titles. Also would be nice to see a Sakkari/Tsitsipas mixed double (at the olympics). First all-European slam semifinal on the women’s side since 2018 Australian Open.

Possible surprise medals for Germany: Dauser (parallel bars) or Seitz (uneven bars) All-around: I think Europe will win a medal in both events and maybe it will even be Kovtun.

Yes and this situation is completely unacceptable. At the last 3 world championships combined Germany has only won 3 medals, the Netherlands have won 7 medals, Brazil 9 and Canada/Kosovo 3 each. If it isn’t possible to win more medals with the money they get, then they should completely cut the funding and invest it in sports where this money actually makes a difference, otherwise they have to completely change their approach. I doubt that countries like Kosovo, Brazil, Canada or the Netherlands spend significantly more money in judo, so they very likely just spend the money more efficiently. Germany has qualified a lot of athletes, but most of them will be completely hopeless. Maybe it would make more sense to focus on those athletes who actually have the potential to medal and as usual when you don’t know how to do something (win more medals) it makes sense to ask someone who knows how to do it (win medals) for help. If the German coaches can’t do a better job, it probably is time to get a foreign coach with a better track record. Currently more than half the budget is spend on sports where Germany will win 15 medals combined at best at the olympics. Sports like fencing, sailing, rowing, volleyball or hockey get clearly too much money, while swimming, athletics and gymnastics should get clearly more money.

German judo is in a very sorry state. They should either completely restructure or cut the funding an spend the money for more important sports like swimming or athletics. A country like Germany should win 4 medals at least.

Not a fan of Swiatek, but this is her tournament to lose. Even less consistency on the women’s side than usual. No Williams, Sharapova, Azarenka, Kvitova, Keys, Stephens, Bencic, Pliskova, Osaka, Barty, Kerber, Halep, Svitolina, Andreescu, Muguruza. Hopefully some of the younger women will become at least somewhat consistent soon, otherwise most slams will be ultra-low quality. On the men’s side Nadal vs. Tsitsipas seems like the most likely final. Italy has great prospects on the men’s side, let’s see how that will turn out. Canada has shown that even having multiple amazing talents doesn’t guarantee success at senior level.

Completely absurd to have this as an Olympic event. Why not also give two team sports to handball/football/hockey and so on? How about beach soccer/handball or 9 x 9 rugby? Why not randomly make up new team events in other sports as well? How about Open water water Polo or urban field hockey (on a field with some obstacles where you get extra points for hitting those obstacles)?

Lol @ the improvement of the British women in the 400 m hurdles. Turner improved her PB by 1 second at 25, Nielsen improved her PB by almost 1.5 seconds at 25 and Knight improved by 0.5 seconds at 26. Not fishy at all to have three different athletes in the same discipline all destroying their PB in the same year.

Really impressive by the Italian athlete in women’s pole vault to go that high while being pregnant!

I have huge respect for everyone who is capable to watch women’s basketball for more than a couple of minutes. The amount of easy layups/floaters missed is insane. Also the Spanish number 10 looks more like someone who ate a professional athlete than a professional athlete herself.