mpjmcevoy

Wth Hepwort's worth on rings, I think tulloch is no longer a required get out of jail free card. Equally, GBR are going through an unusual moment of being a bit weak on pommel. finally, if Whitlock can get himself into anything like the 2020 zone and do three clean routines, he remains a major medal chance, and boosts the team medal chances. Hall was a fabulous swiss army knife of a gymnast, but again the trio of Jarman, Hepworth and Fraser probably cover your AA/Swiss army knife needs. Haven't seen enough of Yolshin-Cash yet to really draw conclusions. I'd say Jarmin, Hepworth, Whitehouse, Fraser and a.n. other is about right On the girls side, it's kind of tragic what's happened the Gadirova's in terms of injury - like Ellie D, there's a hint of what might have been, even as they have had a great career.

Looks like Weston, if he gets fit, might be a very good bet indeed on this track. Stoeker was very good in the team later on, and Wyatt upped his level.

North american cup incorporating Pan American Champs are running at same weekend, I think.

Exactly the other example I thought of. I genuinely think there's an issue with those two sports - in Diving the rise of GB prevented somewhat embarrassing back to back to back clean sweeps; they would be well advised imho to seek to add mixed synchro, team and high dive events, which could be done faguely cleaply with relatively little rise in total quota (14 fr the high dive - the rest could be found from existing competitors), and uses only another reasonably cheap venue (Basically scaffolding with wrap, a big pool which you can reuse, and temp seating near the beach) - given the increase in beach based events - volleyball, but more so coastal rowing and beach sprint canoe, and possibly triathlon and open water swimming, there's no harm adding a nice spectacular high dive event with about 24 quotas total (12+12) - the advantage being the Chinese are not so into high dive so it automatically jazzes up your medal table - in a way its a pity Gymnastics aren't having a beach based flying rings competition which has a long Venice Beach tradition. Don't know how we fix Table tennis, truth be told - it is simply 'their' game, in a way not even diving is - they have tables in railways stations and everything.

There are only 10 gold medals. A spread of 6 winners i frankly pretty good - you should try Diving...

But certainly a dope. Well, he apparently has earned a lot of money from his adult career, so perhaps that's the gamble he chose. Interesting that he originally told a bit of a fib about what he was being investigated for - he claimed it was his adult site content, but it turned out it was leaking some of that content on a more mainstream social media site, on an account linking to Gb Canoeing. It's a long way from cheeky rugby calendars with carefully placed balls...

It's looking, as suspected like CGF has persuaded Nigeria they will get 2034 if they have their sh1t together. Rumours suggest New Zealand have suddenly got their appetite back - perhaps on a more Glasgow scale - for 2038 - if true, that's quite a change in certainty

5 individual medals was exactly the same as Paris, despite injuries to two of GBs best prospects, Caudrey and Kerr. Hunt's medal was a revelation, wightman's a vindication, while KJT's felt a bit valedictory, although O'Dowda had an excellent two days - the big news out of it, however, was the continued rise of Anna Hall and Kate O'Conner - the event felt very much like a signal for the end of what has been the Nafi-KJT era, or even the Nafi-KJT-Ennis era if you want to go all the way back to 2009. The relays were the issue. They were, let's be honest, appalling. I could be mistaken, but as i understand it MHS has some mental issues that make relays a bit of an ordeal unless he runs first leg. The wheels certainly came off at this champs, but if they are coming off, this is the champs for it to happen. I would still add Charlie Dobson to your list for this cycle, in a similar position to Burgin. I would add Amber Anning to that. I have felt like we're on the downslope with both Daryll and Dina for a while now. I'm not sure how in love with the sport Dina is any more, her other passions seem to be asserting themselves, and the move to America really only set her back, after enjoying the culture to begin with. Daryll has not had a great couple of years, and Imani seems to be an injury casualty now. That generation may have had its time, not unlike the great Gemili-Hughes-Mitchell-Blake cycle a few years earlier...

I think the swap has to be reasonable in motivation - as in, for legitimate reasons, bot as in 'middle of the road' - so Benji, for example, yeah, it's odd, but it's legit, a genuine quirk of his personal history. Obviously Ireland is a diaspora nation, and that diaspora story is culturally pretty important to us - a real sense people were FORCED to leave, not just chose to, so I have very little problem with the 'grandparent' rule. No real problem with the marriage rule either, save only the sham marriage route. I don't like the full mercenary route. I understand the attraction to the athlete but it just stinks really when a country buys an athlete who has no plausible connection whatsoever with the country. It makes you think, what's the point of international sport in that case? Now, if you spend several years genuinely living in the country before the switch, that's a bit different - at that point you're a genuine immigrant. But since I adore bundee aki, I might be biased! i really don't like the pairs/ice dance figure skating system, I have to admit.

There's a strong tradition of Fijian army recruits turning up in English union.

He's been on the radar a couple of years now, some ridiculous results for a 19/20yo. Also worth noting Kate Waugh had a big win in the T100 over the weekend; a number of major triathletes whose season was broken up leaving them out of the WTCS reckoning prioritised the T100

It occasionally happens that a great nation in a sport, through the fullness of time and events, simply fades away from the top table, or near the top table - the travails of Romania in rugby union and gymnastics, for example, although the romanian girls seem to be back on an upward slope - it is very sad to see West Indies in that position. One wonders if a mooted 2 division structure might not be good for them to reboot and come back,

Ireland have shelved the men's programme, but as I understand it, not the women's.

To be honest, the Euros have pitched themselves since 2012 as a moment to get Q times for the Olympics - I don't think it helps - much better to be an event for Olympians to either bask in their glory, or save their disappointing season - sure some, maybe even quite a few will skip it - but they are skipping it now anyway

In my opinion both Matchplay and proper team events are a criminally underused format - even tennis has the good wit to put some beef into its Davis and BJK Cup - they aren't the Slams, but they matter. Really wish a smaller team match play format ( maybe just 2 men, 2 women, playing 1 mens singles, 1 womens singles and 1 mixed alternate shot foursome over nne holes) was introduced to the Olympics - 16 teams could have a full knockout competition over only 36 holes and two days - Rd 16, QF, SF, Medal matches - each match over nine holes but consisting of three ' ties as set out above, with 2 pts for the win, 1 for the tie, target of 4 out of 6 points, and if its 3-3 after nine, single shot nearest the hole tie breaker on '10th' for the deciding point 4-3 - you could even seed the event based on the strokeplay scores