Dragon

Unconfirmed as yet but the rumour is that the whole Russian judo team (or at least 90%) have been rejected by the IOC

"The Belarusian Wrestling Federation reports with great regret that 9 out of 10 wrestlers selected for Paris will not take part in the Olympic Games by decision of the IOC, Abubakar Khaslakhanov will become the only representative of Belarusian wrestling."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ6akiGRcL8

You may think that. I could not possibly comment...

Somebody more famous than Rasmussen

Some of you may know this story but I'll repeat it anyway. Imagine a well-known European cyclist goes to train at high altitude in Mexico before he starts the season. Many months later he fails a dope test at one of the biggest races of the season. So what happened? Well, the theory is that he ate contaminated beef when he was in Mexico then had blood taken and frozen. In the middle of the race he had the blood returned to his system via transfusion and of course that where the positive test occurs. He tries to argue that his food was contaminated but since he was in Europe where the drug he tested positive for is illegal in cattle. He lost his case. You may have guessed who I'm talking about...

Here it's 14 c and raining...

Before yesterday I had winning by around a second and a half with and very close for silver. Archibald's injury may cost 2-3 seconds lost for GBR

In almost all of Europe it is illegal to give these drugs to cattle.

I still expect plenty of medals from the cycling team though, without Katie, less in the way of gold

""I tripped over a step in the garden and managed to, somehow, dislocate my ankle; break my tibia and fibula; and rip two ligaments off the bone. What the heck," said Archibald."

Massive blow for cycling chances

In one word alone. Bugger!

I have to be honest that I thought I was being over-optimistic where I thought would win 25 golds overall but I only predicted 2 in swimming....

@avlar thinks it will be either or

She is injured.

Veronika Chumikova was cleared to compete in wrestling but will miss Paris through injury

One down for Eritrean Olympic marathon running

Hmmm... (There was a tweet from the IOC above. It seems it got deleted)

From the "Sports Examiner" newsletter Russian wrestlers to decide whether to go to Paris on 19 June Following up on the IOC’s announcement of 14 Russian athletes approved to be “neutral” athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games – including 10 wrestlers – the head of the Russian wrestling federation said a decision on whether to accept the invitations to compete will be decided on Wednesday. Mikhail Mamiashvili told the Russian news agency TASS: “We have a decision deadline of June 20, so we will meet with the teams and coaches on the 19th. In general, taking into account who was admitted, the composition is far from optimal, but nevertheless we are able to perform well. We'll decide. “In order to convince our friends, including those who supported us, who said that it was unacceptable to limit us artificially and succumb to political pressure through IOC sanctions in the form of their recommendations, we went all this way. By doing this, we showed that people, those who usurped power showed complete disregard for the position of the United World Wrestling. “We took this path, the UWW created a commission. Even I, the vice-president of this organization, do not know the names of the lawyers and other figures who were included in it. It is completely independent of any influence of mine.” TASS reports confirmed that Russia submitted for approval Tokyo Olympic champions Zaur Uguev (57 kg) and Abdulrashid Sadulayev (97 kg), but both were rejected as insufficiently “neutral.” Artur Naifonov, the Tokyo bronze winner at 86 kg was apparently also considered, but was not confirmed. In taekwondo, no Russian athletes will compete, according to coach Vadim Ivanov, who told TASS: “I received information from the president of the Russian Taekwondo Union that Russian taekwondo athletes will not compete at the Olympics. The IOC’s decision not to admit our athletes causes me nothing but regret.” Russia won four medals in the sport in Tokyo, with Maxim Khramtsov (80 kg) and Vladislav Larin (+80 kg) taking gold medals, plus a bronze for Mikhail Artamonov (58 kg) and a silver for Tatyana Minina in the women’s 57 kg class. Protests against Khramtsov and Larin were lodged by Ukrainian sources, who said they supported the Russian war effort against Ukraine. Looking ahead already to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Russian weightlifting federation chief Maxim Agapitov cast doubt on whether a team will be sent, telling TASS: “I wouldn’t speculate on this topic, because the world is changing very quickly. The United States sees the enemy in us and is setting up everyone else; they want to inflict a strategic defeat on our sport for at least the last eight years. And now we see how their tactical unsportsmanlike behavior is emerging, aimed precisely at destroying our values, destroying our system of training athletes built over the years, discrediting, creating a negative image. “Given the current situation, it is difficult to believe that it will change quickly in 2028. But, on the other hand, the world is rapidly rushing and changing, so I will not rule anything out. We miss the Olympic Movement that we know, which we created together someday, together with all continents, with all federations, with all countries, perhaps a miracle will happen and we will really be together.”