OlympicsFan

I don't get the point of closing the borders (between Germany and France/Switzerland/Austria for example), especially in countries that didn't even bother to quarantine people from China/Italy (initially). I think in many countries it is too late to stop the virus from spreading.

Sorry, but to me this also sounds very "fishy". Weren't there millions of people who fled the Hubei region before the lockdown and therefore could have spread the virus all over the country? In my opinion there is absolutely no way that the problem is "solved" and that China won't have the same problems again in a couple of weeks/months. In my opinion the chinese government just realized that they can't shut down the economy forever and therefore they just decided to let the virus run its natural course (which is what all other countries should do too in my opinion).

It will be interesting to see whether GB can turn it around once again. They have shown some magical performances at the last 3 olympics and in some events they aren't too far off (especially on the women's side), but i think in men's sprint/team sprint and men's team pursuit the gap is just too big for them to catch up until the olympics.

Is men's 50 m pistol still an olympic event? Jin Jong-oh has won that event 3 times in a row, so if it still is an olympic events and he hasn't retired yet, then he might have a chance. He also won silver in 2004, so he was very close already. Dario Cologna also is an interesting case. He won the 15 km race 3 times in a row, 2010 and 2018 in freestyle and 2014 in classical style. He could win a 4th gold in 2022. Saori Yoshida was also pretty close, she won gold in women's -55 kg wrestling in 2004, 2008 and 2012, but "only" silver in the -53 kg category in 2016. Shaun White could also win his 4th gold in the halfpipe in 2022, but i don't know if he even plans to compete? Mijain Lopez won gold in 2008 (-120 kg), 2012 (-120 kg) and 2016 (-130 kg), so he could also win his 4th gold in 2020 (don't know if he is still active?).

I think Icho should count since there was no -63 kg weight class in Rio, so she had no chance to 4-peat.

Unlucky draw for Bötticher. He for sure isn't at his best, but i still think he could have beaten everyone except Hoogland/Lavreysen here. Kenny might be on a different level come Tokyo, but i think the two dutch guys are in a league of their own sadly and should definitely win gold and silver there (if the Games will actually take place).

I am sorry to hear that, i think your team could have challenged for a medal.

1) I would be surprised to see GB winning 4 golds or more because they are far off the top in at least 5 disciplines (men‘s team sprint/sprint/team pursuit and women‘s team sprint/sprint). A lot can happen in the 7 other disciplines, but in none of those british riders are favorites, so i would consider it rather unlikely that they will win more than half of those. 2) Bauge has been caught doping before and in general i dont want athletes who have been caught before to win and more medals after their return.

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.