OlympicsFan

I think your rankings are wrong, for example you forgot Hayang (who could be a dark horse alongside Foster). Also I don’t think that Scott (or Dean) will swim the 400 IM, but who knows ...

Nice surprise by Strasser. I guess the conditions were unfair? Overall some very weird results already this season. Would be nice for Strasser to become a top 10 guy in the slalom. I expected more from Kristoffersen/Noel/Vinatzer this season.

The same as for swimming: Men: 10000 m: No medal for Kiplimo/Kipruto? High jump: Would be very surprised to see Starc winning a medal. I think Russia will win at least one medal. Long jump: I don’t see Hashioka winning a medal. What about Henderson/Manyonga/Tentoglou? Did they retire/get caught? 200 m: Would be very surprised to see Odudoru winning a medal. Maybe De Grasse for bronze. Sani Brown winning a medal would be nice. Triple jump: No medal for Claye? Shot put: No medal for Kovacs? 400 m: I think Norman will medal. 5000 m: No medal for Kiplimo? 4 x 100 m: I don’t think that Jamaica will medal, I would go with Japan. Women: Discus: I would pick Caballero over Allman. 5000 m: No medal for the world record holder? 200 m: I think Miller-Uibo wins a medal if she competes. 3000 m SC: I don’t see Kiyeng winning a medal. Even Krause seems like a more likely option. 400 m: No medal for Naser? 1500 m: Ennaoui ...? I think that there are at least 10 girls who are more likely to medal than her. 10000 m: A medal for Japan would be one of the biggest surprises in Olympic history. Even if Kenya and Ethiopia would be banned, she wouldn’t be a favorite for a medal.

I will maybe post my full „analysis“ later, but here are my biggest „problems“ with your predictions: Men: 400 IM: I don’t see Papastamos winning a medal. If you want to pick a young guy, you should rather go for Borodin. 400 free: Both Horton and Yang not winning a medal seems pretty unlikely. 4 x 100 free: I don’t see Australia winning a medal. I would pick Russia for silver and Brazil for bronze. 4 x 200 free: I think that GB will medal (instead of Russia) 100 breast: A medal for Prigoda seems extremely unlikely. I think Chupkov will win gold and then the other medals will be between the two Japanese guys, the two Australian guys and maybe Kamminga. 100 free: Gold for Scott seems very unlikely. I think it will be Dressel - Chalmers - Minakov/Morozov/Grinev/Scott/2nd American guy. 200 IM: Silver for Seliskar seems very unlikely, I doubt that he will even qualify. I think Scott/Larkin/Andrew/Hagino/Desplanches and maybe a couple other guys are all more likely to medal than Seliskar. Women: 400 IM: I think Margalis will medal. 200 IM: I don’t see McKeown winning a medal or even competing, but who knows ... My prediction would be Hosszu + Ye + Margalis/Japanese girl. 50 free: Wasick winning a medal would be a big surprise for me. I think Blume, Campbell and the Chinese girl are all more likely to medal (apart from Sjöstrom and Manuel).

Interesting that no one predicts Germany to qualify. I hope that the German team will prove them wrong.

Men’s basketball: I would pick France/Australia/Serbia instead of Greece. Men‘s football: I would pick Brazil instead of Egypt. Men‘s handball: I think at least one out of Norway/Denmark will medal.

I think at Full strength they could have had a chance to make the semifinal. Canada, Russia and Sweden seem to be too good, but maybe Germany at full strength could have surprised Finland/USA. It’s quite ironic that this is the first time that Germany made the quarterfinal, when they were playing the first 3 games with only 14 players available and without 2 of their 3 best players (including Seider, who probably would have been the best dman at this tournament). Looking at Peterka‘s stats in this tournament, I feel good about my take on draft night that he should have been a first round pick. In a couple of years Germany could Land some upsets at senior level with this generation + Draisaitl.

I think at least Dressel, Rooney, Milak and Minakov have a better shot at winning a medal. Miladinov is a really interesting case though. If I remember correctly he lived in Germany until 2 years ago. I am not sure whether he was born there or only went there as a child though ... Switzerland has really made a stunning progress in swimming recently. Now they have 4 athletes (Ponti, Desplanches, Mamie and Ugolkova) who could make the final in Tokyo.

I don’t agree ... She got lucky that she was let off the hook so easily. She should be remembered as a cheater and not as a champion.

LOL ... I guess it was worth a try ...? Those times seems really slow now. Those athletes probably would have needed 4 or 5 minutes more if the course would have been 1600 m longer and if they wore the new Nike shoes, they probably got another 2 or 3 minutes thanks to that.

I don’t think that Japan will dominate. In my opinion it will absolutely be dominated by Norway. They are the only nation that is good in women‘s ski jumping and cross-country. I think Germany, Slovenia and Russia could also be good. I am not a fan of this Sport becoming Olympic. Women’s ski jumping is already a fringe sport, so it will be even worse for Nordic combined. Not sure if any of those athletes will be able to finance themselves, so the question is whether a country like Germany will see this as an opportunity to get some more easy medals by pouring some money in this sport.

Ruta was 15 years and 4 months when she won gold, Pilato will be roughly 16 years and 7 months come Tokyo. Those two are on two completely different talent levels.

Interesting to see that Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands are all taking tough measures at the same time. I wonder if it is just a coincidence? Also I want to thank all British people on this board for testing the vaccine for the rest of us!

Whenever I watch Oeberg skiing I get nightmares, thinking that Tora Berger made a comeback.

I would be interested in predicting the medalists, but not in predicting the team size. I am always unhappy with the German nomination policy, always way too many athletes get nominated. Personally I would only nominate athletes who can realistically finish top 8. I think predicting medalists in sports like Biathlon, Cross-Country or Speed Skating at this point wouldn’t make much sense, maybe the start of the next season would be a better date for early predictions.

Quite funny. Two German coaches (Wolfgang Pichler and Johannes Lukas) turn Sweden into a powerhouse while Germany struggles ... Also interesting to know that Johannes Lukas is only 27 years old!

This song was on the Oscar shortlist for best original song in 2017. It was used in the documentary "Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story" about Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler (Hedy Lamarr), one of the most fascinating woman of all time.

Surprised to see Germany in this contest. Personally i don't like the song choice (the singer isn't even german) and i never understood why nations enter the competition with songs that aren't in their native language. Also sad to see that South Africa wasn't entered. Maybe if there is another contest like this i will enter for South Africa.

Just because Koch "made his name" in Freiburg, doesn't mean that he can't be an elite defender. Söyüncü also "made his name" in Freiburg and was one of the best defenders in the Premier League last season. Ginter also "made his name" in Freiburg and has been pretty good at Gladbach (a team that currently is first in a Champions League group with Inter Milan and Real Madrid). Obviously Koch shouldn't be anywhere near the national team (considering that he is the 6th best german central defender at best), but i wouldn't hold the fact that he plays for Leeds against him.

I don’t think this will do anything. After all he had the audacity to not retire after 2018 and the higher-ups haven’t voiced any doubts during all this time. On paper Germany still has the second or third best team in Europe, but it is hard to do anything when you have your worst enemy as coach.

BioNTech isn’t located in the US though. Also interesting that Pfizer was founded by two German immigrants (Karl Pfizer and Karl Erhart, two cousins) in 1849 in New York City.

But then you could go back even further in history and think about how the borders in the Middle East came to be in the first place ... Obviously it makes no sense to ignore the elephant in the room (religion holding back the development of certain countries), but usually the US mostly/exclusively cares about its own interests and in many cases that means natural resources (but I am sure that we don’t really disagree about that).

1) I heard that not only Russian, but also TURKISH soldiers will be used as peacekeepers. If that is true, it would be a huge humiliation of Armenian people. 2) I think Russia likes to keep Armenia in a position of weakness, where they need Russia. Also this has shown Armenia that turning towards Europe might not be a very good idea. Azerbaijan has gained importance for Europe recently (energy) and in general has a very important position as „gateway“ to Iran. 3) From what I understand Armenia never had a right to „occupy“ that region, so I have a hard time feeling sorry for Armenia.

Not sure who said that Trump would start WW3, but I remember that some people predicted that Clinton would start WW3 if she would become president. Personally I don’t really feel that the world has become safer under Trump. China is more aggressive for sure, but I am not sure how much that has to do with Trump (not really seeming to care about (some) American allies). Not sure where we stand with North Korea and Iran, but at least Trump seems to have a good relationship with Russia ... I think American people mostly care about how many of their soldiers die and how much their wars cost and I think in that regard Trump did a good job. Right now I can’t tell whether that was the best strategy longterm.

It is quite interesting that the CEO of Pfizer is a Greek Jew and the CEO of BioNTech (the company that developed the vaccine) is a Turkish immigrant to Germany.