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I think we will sooner see men's water polo dropping to 10 teams. For me, the best measure of qualify in a team sport is how many nations qualify between both men's and women's tournaments. Football is the best here (besides being the most popular team sport in the world bar none). It's the only team sport where the likes of Honduras, Iraq, Chile, Zambia, Mali and many more can not only qualify but also be competitive at the tournament itself. With my metrics, field hockey and rugby are probably the least competitive. Way too much overlap between male and female qualifiers.

Boy bands never sounded so smart. Carina Cassoe Kruth & Danciera win the Western European League opener with a brand new freestyle. Also, that piaffe on the final center-line was the best I have ever seen them do. Way to go! In fact, Denmark picks up right where they left off at the home World Championships in August. Top 4 sweep today in Vilhelmsbjorg + two more in the Top 9. Sure, it's a home World Cup, but the success is unprecedented. Langehanenberg and Schneider are usually on the podium, or very close to it, at these qualifiers, but today they have been closed out. Western European League - Stage 1 (Vilhjelmsborg, DEN) Carina Cassoe Krueth (Heiline's Danciera) - 85.925% Nanna Merrald Rasmussen (Blue Hors St. Schufro) - 82.610% Daniel Bachmann Andersen (Zippo M.I.) - 81.330% Full results...

Down to 26 songs. A lot of them grew on me during this second listen, so there will be some heartbreaks once the lower points are set to be decided upon.

Oh looks like we just missed each other. I was there last week until Sunday evening. Great place and I already miss Hradčany.

Next year's Badminton Horse Trials will coincide with King Charles' coronation (May 6th), so the organizers have decided to rework the schedule (move everything one day, so the show jumping will be held on Monday). Friday 5th May – International Event – Dressage Saturday 6th May – International Event – Dressage Sunday 7th May – International Event – Cross Country Monday 8th May – International Event – Show Jumping It's a novelty in the sport. Dressage competitions will be stopped on Saturday during the coronation itself. I gather we could see many more of this across other sports. @Dragon @Grassmarket

I'll have to think on it. Of course, the number of participants is not fixed yet. Btw, we are open for suggestions from everyone.

Lists of international events for 2023 have appeared on the FEI calendar. These hold implications for the Olympic rankings, but the calendar is still TBC. Curiously, both Colombia and South Africa are set to host a number of 4* eventing competitons. Especially South Africa is bound to host *a lot* of them. Doors to Paris are instantly left wide open. But first let's see if FEI will play along. Traditionally they are not big fans of high level competitions popping out of nowhere in the OQ season.

What are the odds that "a group of Iranian soccer and sports personalities" are actually Peru? They are represented by a Spanish firm after all...

Equestrian schedule has been unveiled. Previously it was always listed as TBD or subject to approval. https://inside.fei.org/system/files/Paris2024 Timetable 10Oct2022.pdf Medal events in dressage and jumping will mix and match. This is to give several rest days between team and individual jumping competitions, and therefore limit the freshness advantage that was to be gained from not contesting the team final, for example. Or the team event at all.

First listen completed. Down to 35 songs. One or two more listens to come. Do 32nd or 35th placed songs have any chance to get into the points territory? Probably not. But I'd like to revisit them to remember as many as possible for the Grand Final. It can be a weird experience following the Final and keep asking myself: "What was that leading song again?"

Any more voting updates? How many have voted? I am just about to complete my first listen. There are definitely some curious songs out there.

On the bright side, there are some positive changes. 10 teams will advance to the team final in dreassage as opposed to 8. Grand Prix Special to music nonsense (music here was not judged but required for youth and urban reasons only) has been removed. Team scores have been reverted back to percentages instead of total points. Team final in jumping is back ahead of the individual final. Team USA winning a team silver after none of their riders made the individual final (=rest day) caused unhappines to some.

General assembly is scheduled for early November. Outlines for the Olympic regulations and minimum requirements have appeared on the website. In my experience, these are effectivelly final. Very rarely something changes at the assembly itself. https://inside.fei.org/fei/general-assembly/2022#fei-hybrid-ordinary-general-assembly And yeah... It's bad. For stupid reasons, the FEI keeps insisting on raising the minimum eligibility score in dressage. For Tokyo, it was raised from 64% to 66%. 64% was used for Beijing, London and Rio. Now they have raised it *again* to 67%. And that's despite the proposal to keep it at 66%, which was dismissed by saying the "increase was correct in relation to the current competition level". Hilarious thing to say after two years of an umprecedented pandemic. Of the top of my head, this rule would have kept Virginia Yarur out of Tokyo. First Chilean rider to have competed since 1968. Admittedly, I remember expecting them to finish last based on some fairly low scores posted in 2021 (she collected the required qualifying scores in early 2020). But guess what? She arrived to Tokyo prepared and posted 66%+ to finish 46th, defeating more than a dozen other athletes. Highlight reels after the ride showed her coach in tears. It was a heartwarming ride to watch. But I guess FEI sees removing such athletes and stories as a win for them.

Not to forget the increase of women's team sprint size from two to three riders following the Tokyo Olympics. Such rule change was always going to hurt smaller teams like Lithuania more than anyone else.

Anyone has a Spotify playlist to share? Can we get both YT and Spotify playlists linked in the opening post?

Funny how we read @Werloc's remark differently. Guess my glass is half full, because I understood it as Werloc saying there are too many good songs. Meanwhile, I should start with my first listen tomorrow. On the way to Prague.

Looks like have secured individual quota for show jumping Santiago 2023.

How good was Paraguay? Any chance they upset Brazil for the Olympic qualification?

Može li Cvjetko realno promijeniti svoju kategoriju u nekom kraćem roku? Ako da, prenosi li išta bodova (bojim se da je ovdje odgovor ne)?

have qualified teams in show jumping for Santiago 2023. Bedoya is currently sitting in 5th place individually after two rounds. Would be quite something if this turns into the first medal for Bolivia.

Let's start the Belgium 23 project.

Weird how we always get stuck at 41 nations max. But who knows, maybe the Double Jubilee edition will bring 50 nations...

Good luck abiding the rule 7. (d) then.

True, but for the sake of transparency I think it's better to have entries posted in the thread itself. It's a standard practice anyways, which hasn't been interrupted for 18 full editions , so putting it in a rulebook would hardly be intrusive.

Venezuelan entry appeared in the opening post, but not in the thread itself. Presumably it was entered via PM (but could have been mailed in for all we know). But apparently the rulebook was not violated with this. A nation can seemingly incognito itself through the whole contest (participate without making one post). As for posting in the thread, it's a rule that we might wanna put on paper for the next Double Jubilee edition, though.