Dragon

In fairness, Gracenote's predictions are usually pretty accurate but they don't take into account certain things that aren't seen in pre-Olympic statistics. For instance, they have underestimated GB medals for the last three Olympics because GB don't make as much of an effort in world championships in the middle of the Olympic cycle compared to other countries and concentrate more on just the two weeks of the Games.

Decision on 2028 schedule postponed https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-executive-board-meeting-8-september-2023-revised-information-for-the-media

Basically you're talking an eisteddfod here?

The campaign to make dwile flonking an Olympic sport starts here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwile_flonking

Bring back the Pythian Games! Maybe Sindo can set up www.totalythian.com in the future?

Well, if cricket isn't in 2028 some very important newspapers are going to look very, very stupid

Although people from different countries could use the same argument for at least 20 different Olympic sports

Modern Pentathlon has been on the Olympic programme for 120 years, was invented by two very important people in the IOC but might be thrown out of the Games on Friday...

and may have to make late changes to their teams after the medical examination of the horses.

Although that was because having 1200 of the world's best players not being able to play embarrassed the IOC

https://variety.com/2022/sports/asia/shah-rukh-khan-knight-riders-cricket-stadium-los-angeles-1235255440/ I think what sealed the deal was the fact that there is already a plan to build a cricket stadium in LA

Sorry, I missed out the final section of the report from The Times "The new sports at Paris 2024, including break-dancing and sport climbing, are expected to be retained. Baseball and softball’s hopes of being reinstated for LA 2028 are still in doubt due to issues with Major League Baseball, while there are some concerns that modern pentathlon will be dropped."

Report in "The Times" in London "Olympic chiefs are set to give cricket the go-ahead this week to be included as a new sport for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Olympic chiefs are set to give cricket the go-ahead this week to be included as a new sport for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. The International Olympic Committee’s executive board is to decide on additional sports for the LA Games on Friday and sources say that men’s and women’s T20 cricket will be included. Any decision will need to be ratified by the IOC’s session in Mumbai, India, next month. Thomas Bach, the IOC’s president, is understood to be very keen to include cricket because of its appeal to the vast populations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are traditionally not so engaged in Olympic sports as other parts of the world. An Olympic T20 tournament would be expected to attract enormous numbers of TV viewers. LA 2028 organisers (LA28) are understood to be willing to accommodate cricket in return for “flag football” — a non-contact version of American football where players are tackled by having Velcro tags removed — being included as well. Bach has been encouraging India to bid for the 2036 Olympics, which would be the first time it has hosted the Games, saying there is a “strong case” to take the multi-sport event there. Having cricket established as an Olympic sport would be a big boost towards that and would also be appropriate for the 2032 Games in Brisbane, Australia. It would also receive a positive reception in Mumbai during the IOC session on October 15-17. The ICC has agreed to some compromises — making the men’s and women’s tournaments run at different times and making them as short as possible with two matches a day. The format would be two groups of four teams, with the top two in each going through to the semi-finals. The IOC and LA28 are also understood to have reached a compromise over total athlete numbers which would allow more than the total of 10,500. Organisers have said the athletes’ village can operate inside its full capacity by spreading the schedule more, so that different sports take place at different times."

Oops. Squash Positives - Relatively easy to host, really, really wants to be in the Olympics Negatives - Been trying to be included for decades. If not successful in the past then why now? The story seems to be that the LA organizers really want Baseball/Softball and Flag Football for local interest. The IOC want Breaking and Cricket to break into new markets. And they need to work out a compromise between the two.

I've edited them out

Continental Tour - Bellinzona 4th September, 2023 Women's 800m Audrey Werro Lore Hoffman Gabriela Gajanova Elena Bello

My analysis. Baseball POSITIVES - One of the biggest sports in the host country, will require no new facilities, might attract big crowds live, A US Olympics might persuade MLB to allow players to compete NEGATIVES - Little interest outside a few parts of the world (North America, parts of Central and South America and East Asia), If MLB doesn't allow their players to go the Olympics then the competition will be the lowest quality of any Olympic sport. Will take a lot of quota places Flag Football POSITIVES - A variation of one of the biggest sports in the host country, will require no new facilities, might attract big crowds live. A US Olympics might persuade the NFL to allow players to compete NEGATIVES - Little interest outside the USA, the USA will win easily, unlike Rugby Sevens it's not established as a serious sport. Will take a lot of quota places Breaking - POSITIVES - Got to be in with the street culture, dude. It's quite fun to watch NEGATIVES - There is no subjective way of judging the "sport". Is it even a sport? Cricket POSITIVES - India is the last important country in the world where Olympic TV rights are undervalued. Mr.Bach likes Rupees. NEGATIVES - Will need new facilities. Cricket is only played well in about 25 countries around the world. Will take a lot of quota places Lacrosse POSITIVES - Popular in North America. Exciting to watch. NEGATIVES - Only a handful of countries are competitive. Will take a lot of quota places Karate and Kickboxing POSITIVES - Widespread competition around the world NEGATIVES - Too many similar combat sports in the Olympics. E-Karting POSITIVES - There must be some? NEGATIVES - Does motorsport belong in the Olympics anyway?

I'm now being told breaking will be in for 2028 as well.

Rumours are that cricket will miss out for 2028 but baseball/softball and flag football will win a place. Flag football must be considered a surprise.

David Watkins, one of the few Rugby players to have been a star in both Rugby Union and Rugby League has died at the age of 81

Let's have some breaking news from the 2012 London Olympics... The Russian and World Anti-Doping Agencies (Rusada and WADA) have won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport against an original decision by RUSADA's Anti-Doping Commitee concerning 2012 Super-Heavyweight Olympic medalist and multiple World and European champion Tatyana Kashirina. Kashirina has now been banned for 8 years based on data from the infamous Moscow lab (LIMS) database and could lose years of results from the time the offence took place. Since most of the problems in LIMS come from 2011 to 2013 they has the potential to strip Kashirina of a great lot of medals.

Absolutely. There were some really stupid decisions made by UK Athletics this time round. Not picking Jade O'Dowda (hep) and Lavaii Nielsen (individual 400s) was especially dumb

For those who follow motor sport Ben Llewellin is the son of David Llewellin who was British Rally Champion in the 1980s and competed regularly in the World Rally Championships.

This is actually a better ranking than the one officially published because it ignores all the results that will not be counted when the rankings close next June