Ted

I think Biden said he is considering a diplomatic boycott (not because of Peng but just in general), although he met with Xi the other day and didn't say anything or even say anything about Covid so who knows.

The only one in world sport that could make a difference putting out a public statement is IOC. 
 
If China sees there's any risk of a serious boycott or threat on their games they will let her go quickly.

So far Sakkari is the only top 10 player to post about this

Pretty much so, USA just embarrassed themselves in Afghanistan, EU can't handle the immigrant crisis and became a laughing stock after Brexit so China has a free path to become #1 global powerhouse in 15-20 years. They are #2 powerhouse already. China is far & away the biggest long-term winner of the Cold War, USA might have conquered Soviet Union but they failed to acknowledge China growing way bigger than Soviet Union ever was.

The Luge live-streams get an upgrade.  Will be hosted on olympics.com this season, and therefore also via the apps, Fire sticks, Roku etc.  
 
https://olympics.com/en/video/watch-luge-eberspacher-world-cup-series?uxreference=playlist

European Champs, both Men’s & Women’s starting in Lillehammer on Saturday. Lots of matches available on streaming, more than ever before probably.  Here’s the schedule.
 
https://worldcurling.org/2021/11/ecc2021-broadcast/
 
Streaming won’t be on YouTube, though - World Curling has a new channel.  It’s not a free service, but it’s based on paying microcredits per game.  Also lots of games on ES as usual.
 
https://the.recast.app/user/5pYk0?referrer=5pYk0

Congratulations, Muguruza! I only care because this means Sakkari stays at number 6 and doesn't fall to number 7 as Kontaveit can't pass her 

This doesn't look like it would be her email, maybe someone wrote this letter instead her? We can't be sure if she ok until we will have an evidence, like someone would see her or at least if she would create an live video for fans on an social media.

this world really sucks 

Salah with body guards from Egypt vs Gabon match yesterday ! not sure if world class players are used to such acts with their national teams , but i guess i haven't seen this scene even in very dangerous countries in Latin America

I think it be Russian Football federation. Which seems entirely bonkers. 

Not so sure, Is not a new rule that in all Olympic sports they have to compete under ROC name since last spring or so ?, I remember when they also suddenly changed their ice hockey teams M & W from original russian ice hockey federation to ROC a couple of days before this years world Champs tournament started.

When is this draw taking place? I read one person saying it's on friday but I thought official date was in december?

Norwegian Team for WC
 
Women :
Tiril Kampenhaug Eckhoff, Fossum IF
Emilie Ågheim Kalkenberg, Skonseng UL
Karoline Offigstad Knotten, Vingrom IL
Ida Lien, Simostranda IL
Marte Olsbu Røiseland, Froland IL
Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, Fossum IF
 
Men:
Filip Fjeld Andersen Geilo IL 
Sivert Guttorm Bakken, Vingrom IL
Johannes Thingnes Bø, Markane IL
Tarjei Bø, Markane IL
Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen, Geilo IL
Johannes Dale, Fat Ski Club
Sturla Holm Lægreid, Club de ski de Bærums
 
If Alexader Andersen makes the team, you could have two sets of brothers at the same time, on the same team.
 

Yeah, I believe Kontaveit will be the favorite vs Muguruza in the final.

Adrien Theaux crashed today in Copper Mountains, Colorado during training very badly. He broke the left elbow, right shin and right ankle. Already underwent surgery in the USA, but the Olympic seaosn is over for the 37 year experienced speed specialist.

Maria 
Still, she had an amazing year. I am so proud of her. She improved her year-end ranking for the 11th straight year. This time, from 22 to 6 or 7 (depending on tomorrow's result).
 
She made 8 (!!!) semifinals including big tournaments like Roland Garros, US Open, Miami and WTA Finals. Unfortunately she was 1-7 in these semifinals but still she made tremendous progress this year and as a Greek tennis fan I am very proud of her success. It's a pity that so many people in my country hate her and celebrate her losses because she is dating the Prime Minister's son (yet these haters are the same people who always say "love is love" and "support gender equality" etc etc ). By the way I am supportive of everyone and their rights but it's just hypocritical when we had a female politician from the far left party make sexist remarks about Maria and her relationship during the Olympics, that is why I am upset, because this anti-Maria behaviour has become normalised in some parts Greek society (they are a minority but they exist) and she doesn't deserve such treatment. It is so wrong because first of all they shouldn't take their political anger out on a tennis player, and also Maria never made any political statements ever anyways and even if she did, there are other athletes who have which I disagreed with but I still supported them in their careers.
 
Anyways congrats to Kontaveit, she has been the best player on tour the last few months. 29 of 32 matches won 

now that´s a valuable and important win away. Only the second away win in this qualification.
 
Still a hard draw left with only two home matches reamining in the rest of the qualification, and both games are against nothing less than & lol. + 2 away games in and . 4 points could be and probably will be enough to advance. So quite challenging but hopefully doable.

Of course they won't cancel any events in China. It's the biggest market for WTA these days since the country is willing to host tournaments and fill WTA's pockets. Same as Middle East tbh.

The Ice Cube (formerly Water Cube) where curling will take place will only be at 20% capacity, or 1000 spectators. 
 https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/beijings-ice-cube-capacity-capped-20-covid-19-measure-2021-11-11/
 
We can expect the rest of the indoor venues to be the same, I guess. Having lived in Beijing during Covid this doesn't make much sense to me because everything here is usually business as usual, except with masks and health code.  I don't know why for the Olympics in particular we suddenly have to reduce capacity.  It's disappointing because, as with everything in China, it was already going to be hard to get tickets because everything is always snatched up by large companies right away and you basically have to be a local to understand how to get them (i.e. air, train and sporting events).  Now we know it'll be impossible.  Very disappointing because a big part of the reason I stayed here this year was for the Olympics. Now we're sure we won't be able to attend, and there will be no atmosphere, we'll just watch at home like I could have done anywhere.  I live so close to most of the Beijing venues, I had dreams of scooter over to catch a hockey game before hopping to catch some speed skating.  Very sad now.  
 
Having said that, Beijing is experiencing a "mild" outbreak again so things are getting crazy.  Probably due to the Olympics, a new policy is going into effect tomorrow where you cannot enter Beijing if you've been anywhere that has even 1 case in the last 14 days.  You also cannot go to any city with a land border or a port (i.e. Shanghai or Guangzhou). 
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/beijing-city-tightens-covid-guidance-travel-chinese-areas-with-overland-ports-2021-11-14/
 
So basically we are locked into Beijing until after the Olympics at least.  Now I know how the residents of Tokyo felt.  You suffer due to hosting, but you get nothing in return.  Even as a huge Olympic fan, it stings.  It probably stings more as a fan.  

IOC approves Russian uniform for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
 
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1115494/ioc-beijing-2022-russia-athletes

I really hope Greece can return to the medals here. I can't believe that our senior team has not won a medal since Eurobasket 2009!
 
It's actually crazy but we've had a lot of disappointing results since then. At the 2010 World Cup we played Spain in the round of 16, while at the previous World Cup we played Spain in the final. At the 2014 World Cup, we won our group (beat teams like Argentina and Croatia) but lost in the round of 16 to Serbia, who ended up making the final. The other teams who won their groups had easy draws, we had to play Serbia. At Eurobasket 2015 we won our group (beat hosts Croatia for example) and beat Belgium in the round of 16 but lost a very close match against Spain in the quarterfinals. Of course Spain ended up winning the tournament.
 
It also doesn't help that we are always missing several key players for big tournaments very often in the last decade or so.
 
 
I think this can be a very good Greek roster IF everyone is healthy and shows up:
Guards: Sloukas, Calathes, Dorsey, Larentzakis
Forwards: G.Antetokounmpo, Papapetrou, Mitoglou, T.Antetokounmpo, Papanikolaou
Centres: Papagiannis, K.Antetokounmpo
 
That is only 11 players so I would give the last spot to another forward probably, either Printezis (he will be 37 so that is why I didn't include him because I'm not sure if he will still play for the national team, plus he seems to be declining, although he might want to play one last time after he had to miss Olympic qualifying due to injury), or Kalaitzakis (he is playing for the Bucks but so far only appeared in 5/14 games for them). 
 
Other than that, no one else really stands out and there are dozens of other players that can be in contention for any position if some of these guys aren't available.
 
We could also probably use another centre otherwise, but Koufos is now in the NBA G League and he has really declined the last few years (despite not being that old yet), and I don't think Mantzoukas (our big young talent) will be ready as he is only 18 and barely plays for Panathinaikos.