OlympicsFan

Who knows? I think the results here mean nothing for the olympics, there are probably 5 teams that could win gold there. What worries me a bit is that the german coach said that the focus clearly is on Tokyo and that they don't want to peak too early, but at the same time he said that it is difficult to hold the young athletes (like Hinze or Grabosch) back at their home world championships. If they went all out for this competition, then they might end up without a medal in Tokyo, considering how strong the field is.

The advantage of the dutch team in men's team sprint is really "fascinating". Team sprint should be about tenths of a second, but somehow they have about a second on all the other world class relays. Usually GB always pulls off a miracle perfomance at the olympics, but this time they need a really big miracle. In which events do they actually have a realistic shot at gold? Women's team pursuit, women's omnium and ... ? I would be very surprised if they would win 4 golds or more. I can't agree about Bauge, i hope that he will never again win a medal.

Really interesting results today: - The level in men's and women's team pursuit is absolutely insane. The german women's team was actually on a great pace but then they made a huge mistake, i think they still could reach the bronze final with a more concentrated performance tomorrow. - I know that GB always peaks at the olympics, but they might be too far away this time to do their usual thing? - Unless the Netherlands find a way to get disqualified, there is no way that they won't win gold in men's team sprint - Kind of surprising to see Germany win gold in women's team sprint, but there are easily 5 teams that could end up with the olympic gold, i am very surprised to see how good Canada has become

Yes! When was the last time that Israel was top 3 in a medal table at the olympics?

Yes, obviously ... my prediction would have been Switzerland ahead of Israel and France, but i wasn't sure ... Szollos wasn't quite as agressive as she usually is, which cost her the gold medal, while Klopfenstein as usually had a great technique and deservedly won the gold medal.

Seriously? I couldn't even find start lists for biathlon/cross-country/speed skating/ski jumping yet and you are telling me that you know who the favorites are? Let's hear it!

Interesting result in women's super G, sadly results at youth olympic games are a far worse predictor for future success than results at junior world championships. Just as the guy from Morocco who won gold in the super G in 2012 or the guy from Japan who won silver in the giant slalom in 2016.

Why do french female athletes nowadays always have such exotic names? Caitlin McFarlane, Melanie de Jesus dos Santos, Julia Pereira de Sousa-Mabileau ...

Does anyone have any clue who the favorites will be in alpine skiing? Never heard of any of those athletes ...

Is there any way to watch alpine skiing tomorrow? Thanks!

Personally i want to see german teams qualified in as many team sports as possible, so i would prefer Germany qualifiying in men's handball and women's volleyball for example over Germany qualifying in men's handball and women's handball, but not in volleyball. By far the most important thing for me would be to see the men's basketball team qualified. I would be very happy if that would happen, even if Germany would fail to qualify any other team.

I have no clue about volleyball but i think that is too easy of an explanation. Didn't he also play at the 2016 olympics where Germany didn't do anything? He would have to be by far the best player in the world to turn a bad team into a medal contender. I think it is more likely that Germany has had some great coaches recently (Heynen, Giani).

Sounds like a typical french problem in team sports ... They also always have great players in basketball but somehow never get it together with the national team and the same was true for their football team for a long time. Also their women's team should have won some major titles by now based on their individual talent.

Me too, now i would be disappointed if they (and the women's team) wouldn't qualify, although realistically they never had more than an outside chance. The same happened when the women's handball team failed to qualify after almost having secured the semifinal at the world championships. I don't really care about football at the olympics, but i would really like to see german teams in volleyball, handball and basektball. I think team sports are like the backbone of the games. The bad thing about the german men's football team being qualified might be that german tv will show all the matches live and will forget about other sports, but let's hope that they will prove me wrong.

Very unexpected win. I didn't follow this tournament so far, because i didn't think that Germany had a chance, but maybe i will watch the final. I thought that Germany has been on a downward trajectory the last couple of years thanks to all the best players being too old, but apprently the home advantage has helped this team a lot. I am a bit surprised that France didn't look too convincing so far, weren't they one of the best teams in the world just a couple of years ago? Germany qualifying both volleyball teams would be great. It is such a shame that the women's handball team and the women's football team messed up, otherwise Germany could have had a record number of teams qualified. Both football teams, both hockey teams, both handball teams, both volleyball teams + maybe men's basketball ... would have been amazing. So far it only happened one time (2008) that Germany qualified at least one team in football/basketball/handball/volleyball, with some luck it could happen again. Also Germany never had more than 5 teams (out of 8) qualified in those 4 sports, with some luck it could have been 7 this time.

An (in my opinion) interesting documentary (mostly in italian) by Franco-German TV network Arte about the italian colonies in Eritrea and Ethiopia. I thought maybe some of the italian users on here are interested in that part of "their" history ... @phelps: Don't know if this counts as a TV series ...

I am not a conservative and i like a lot of HBO shows (Curb, Oz, The Sopranos, True Detective, Band of Brothers, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Entourage, Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, Eastbound & Down), i am just saying that "The Boys" is far better rated by the general public than "Watchmen". I haven't watched either show so far, so i can't judge them, but i am not a fan of "superhero shows" in general. I have watched 4 and a half seasons of Vikings and it is nice show to "waste some time", but in my opinion it is miles away from shows like Breaking Bad, The Wire of The Sopranos quality wise. The acting is pretty bad (by some of the main characters), the languages are all messed up, the timeline is completely weird and some of the storylines are almost comical (for example the death of Aethelwulf). At least i learned some interesting things about history and "religion", for example i never knew about the Varangian Guard or that the Vikings actually reached Africa.

Overall i would consider most of the predictions pretty good, but i am not sure about the following predictions for overall medals: - 3.45 medals for Sweden: Unless i am forgetting something, their absolute best case would be 4 medals for Sjöstrom (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 100 fly). She is pretty much a lock in the 100 fly, but it isn't even certain that she will compete in the 200 free and in the 50 free and especially the 100 free she isn't a lock for a medal. I would consider 2.5 medals a more realistic prediction. - 1.90 medals for France: Right now i would say 1 medal in total seems to be the most realistic prediction for them, probably for Manaudou in the 50 free (although he will have to beat at least two out of Fratus, Dressel, Morozov and Proud). They have other medal contenders (men's open water, men's 800 free), but i don't think that those 3 (the two mentioned before + Manaudou) combined are likely to win 2 (1.90 to be precise) medals. - 0.74 medals for South Africa: I think you are underrating their medal chances. Le Clos (100 fly + 200 fly) and Schoenmaker (200 breast) should combine for an expected medal count of around 1.50 in my opinion. - 0.69 medals for Lithuania: I think right now Rapsys has to be considered the favorite for gold in the 200 free and i don't see 3 other guys who are more likely to medal in the 400 free right now. I would have them at 1.25 medals or something like that. - 5.25 medals for Hungary: 5 medals realistically seems to be the best case for them in my opinion (2 x men's 200 fly, women's 200 IM, women's 400 IM, women's 200 fly). Kesely (400 free), Hosszu (200 back) and Milak (100 fly) have outside chances for more medals, but on the other hand 2 medals in men's 200 fly and a medal in women's 200 fly are far from certain. I would say their expected number of medals is closer to 4.50. - 6.32 medals for Canada: 7.50 seems more realistic in my opinion. 3 medals in the relays on the women's side are almost a lock (at least the 2 medals in the 400 free relay and the medley relay), the same is true for a medal in women's 100 fly and then you also have (very) good medal chances in women's 100 free, women's 200 free, women's 200 breast, women's 100 back, women's 200 back, women's 200 IM and women's 400 IM. - 7.91 medals for Italy: I really don't see how Italy should win 8 medals? Men's 400 free, men's 800 free, men's 1500 free, women's 200 free, women's 800 free, women's 1500 free, women's 200 back. Those medals aren't all a lock (especially men's 400 free, women's 200 free, women's 200 back), but of course on the other hand they have (outside) chances in other events like women's open water and men's 100 breast. Overall i would consider something like 6.50 or 7.00 a more realistic value. In the end it is still a long time until the olympics and i am sure a lot of things will change until then, so probably it is still too early for predictions like that to be taken too seriously, although of course it will be interesting to compare the actual medal table to your predictions. When/how often (if at all) will you update your predictions?

Surprisingly dominant performance by Germany against the Netherlands today, Henk Groener is really doing an amazing job. I think a major reason why the Netherlands are so amazing in team sports (at least on the womens side) is that they have great coaches, Germany could learn a lot from them. It is kind of sad that Germany needs to hire a dutch coach to play successful handball again ... I think with one more win (hopefully against Serbia) Germany should be guaranteed at least the 3rd place in this group and the 6th place overall, but maybe this team can keep overperforming and qualify for the olympics right here, although of course Germany wouldn't be the favorite in a possible semifinal/final. I think there arent many team sports (on the womens side) where it is realistic for the reigning world (and european) champion to not even make the top 12 at world championships, but i am not sure whether this is a sign that the overall level in womens handball is very high?

How is this a TV show?

I haven't watched it, but this take still seems rather "creative" in my mind ... It's rating on IMDb isn't great and after all it is a show about superheroes ... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7049682/ Have you watched "The Boys" yet? Based on the reviews many people seem to think that Watchmen isn't even the best TV show about superheroes currently running. I have to say that for me there currently isn't much going on when it comes to TV shows. Curb, Fargo, Rick & Morty, True Detective, Modern Family and Better Call Saul are all on a break and for me there really isn't a "must-watch" TV show right now (although many seem to consider "Stranger Things" just that). I just finished watching "Fleabag" and it was ok (better than must other current shows), now i am watching "Vikings" and it is quite entertaining, despite being far worse quality-wise than shows like "The Sopranos", "The Wire" or "Breaking Bad" (but i guess that is true for 99 % of all shows).

3:51 low for Germany in men's team pursuit, a new national record. Realistically we could have 4 teams under the old world record by 2020 ...

Very good draw for Germany. They should field the strongest team in their tournament (especially with Wagner, Bonga and Hartenstein all being one year older), but if they underperform like they did this year, then every other team can beat them. Serbia should be safe (although Italy also has a pretty good team), in tournament B it could be close between Lithuania and Slovenia (but only if Doncic will play). Tournament D is absolutely brutal, Greece and Canada (if they play with their best team) would have been favorites in all other tournaments except for tournament A and Turkey also has a decent team (at least on paper). In my opinion Canada clearly has the 2nd best guard rotation in the world (only behind the US), but their big man situation looks pretty dire, maybe Greece (Giannis) can hurt them there, but Giannis hasn't been spectacular at FIBA level and Milwaukee is very likely to go far in the postseason, so if Canada will play with at least 2 or 3 of their top guards (Alexander-Walker, Murray, RJ, Gilgeous-Alexander, Lyles, Wiggins) they should win their tournament. Only Murray should go far in the postseason, so all the other guys probably will have no excuse to not participate. I would say tournament C is by far the most unpredictable, at least 4 teams could win that tournament.

1) It is not the beginning, we had many major competitions over there before (for example cycling or artistic gymnastics world championships) and i hope this development will stop. 2) Very unlikely that more sport fans will be willing to travel halfway around the world to a country where it is almost impossible to find alcohol (at a reasonable price), where women are treated like shit and where you basically cant leave your hotel room without risking your health. 3) Please god prevent any official from being stupid (corrupt) enough to give a (major) competition to Saudi Arabia ... whats next ... giving a world championship to North Korea?

Not sure about Eugene ... how big is the stadium and what was the attendance for the US trials this year for example?