mpjmcevoy

Jonnie Brownlee is a romantic hoice, but not a rational one - frankly, Alex Yee is a MUCN likelier winner at the moment - if he makes the front group on the bike after the swim - and that IF is the key - , on current form, he's slight favourite - Vincent Luis is not close to his form leading up to the Pandemic. Mola of course will always be a threat. Brownlee, however, will be in his element in the relay - he's actually much stronger over sprint distances than Ali Brownlee ever was, and stick him after the superswimmer Learmouth....

Indeed, she is

Yes, and Dygert is in the Women's Team Pursuit, is she not?

Thats' not quite fair. Cycling NOCs have always been able to fill their quota places in one discipline from athletes named in another - The French famously tried it a few games ago the other way round I think, trying to use a Road berth to squeeze in another trackie.

I see a lot of that for GB actually - they'll be in a scrap for gold, which they might lose, but hard to see no medal at all - both Duncan Scott's events fall into that class, for example, as do both Triathlon relay, Women's Omnium, Madison and Team Pursuit (the latter maybe less of a battle)

All very, very good calls - Mixed relay triathlon in particular, given recent Yee form. I'd be tempted to add Laugher & Goodfellow, 3m synchro, Duncan Scott, 200 free, mens 4x200 freestyle, mixed 4x100 medley and the women's 4 x 100m relay in athletics, Sky Brown, skateboarding, Kate French in Modern Pentathlon, Duncan Scott (again) 200 IM, Max Whitlock in pommel horse, and Laura Trott-Kenny in Omnium. For my primary team, Ireland - I think we're about to have a hell of a games, honestly (by our standards, anyway) - LM2x, W1x and W4x, Kellie Harrington, quite possibly Michaela Walsh, Rhys McClenaghan in pommel horse, all really solid medal shots, with several of the boy boxers a good shout as well. Our record for a single games is 6 medals, our gold record for a single games is 3, and they don't really count (Michelle de Bruin Smith), the record after that is 2 golds. I think those numbers, 2 golds and 6 total medals could genuinely be under threat at this games, especially if we can sneak a medal in Equestrianism or road cycling (long shots both, but both possible).... I forsee, in particular, a couple of possibly intriguing GBR v IRL battles - Pommel, Harrington v Dubois, Possible Puspure v Thornley

The one upside is that there will be 4 consecutive global champs after this, including a home worlds for her next year, and Paris only three years away. If she plays it cool, does the Diamond League circuit after the Games, she could make money hand over fist - America loves a 'redemption arc' - and be set fair for superstardom - not least because this is the one 'doping' story where most people who hear it will sympathise with her - indeed, given who her coaching team is, she could hardly have asked for a better story.

Hard agree. I'm a great believer, broadly, in 'bang for your buck' (Shooting pun absolutely intended!) when it comes to the Games. There's huge pressure to reduce the total number of athletes, and you can't muck around wasting them - I think, in some ways archery gets it right - the ranked team places come first, and EVERY team member gets a shot in the individual. Then the remaining places go to the ranked individuals. This is one of the ways Archery managed to snag a fifth event without ANY quota alterations - and a fifth event which will give many more NOCs an opportunity at a 'team' event (as they only need a single male and single female). FWIW the same principle means I believe every venue, especially expensive new ones, should find ways to cram in as many events as possible where that doesn't conflict, or can be made not to conflict, with quota numbers...So for example, I don't see why we can't have a mixed pair skeet, as it would require not a single new quota place, no new facility.

They do care, but IOC/ITF and ATP/WTA don't make it easy. And Covid is playing havoc with all professional sport. No-one who saw Rafa's doubles win in Rio, Djoks tears when Del Potro put him out, or either of the Murray finals would under any illusion players don't care. Different players have different relationships with it - for both Murray and De Potro, it's absolutely a major part of their legacy, for Djok it's the one last thing he doesn't have. For Roger, it's a national pride thing for a country with limited summer olympic gold opportunities. for some of the Mixed doubles pairs, its validation of their event, for others its just a festival of sport, a cnahnce to rub shoulders with heroes in other sports - (and the lack of fans is undoubtedly putting many off)

1 Peaty/100 breaststroke 2 Kenny, Archibald, Barker and Evans/Women's Team Pursuit 3= Liam Heath/Sprint Canoe 3= Men's 4 x 100 medley relay 1 Lightweight Men's double sculls 2 Women's single sculls 3=Kellie Harington 3=Rhys McClenaghan

Oh dear. That's a LOT of temptation.....

I think it's going to be a test of the discipline of the athletes, and the control the respective NOCs have over them. I suspect some teams are going to hit very serious problems at various points, while some teams will profit - I expect the teams from more disciplinarian countries may prosper, e.g. China, while I can see Scandinavian Teams or the like suffering, as they are admirably freespirited folk usually. Countries with large vaccine uptakes will probably do ok, and GBR fits in that category.

[hide] Event & Date Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Men's 400m Ind. Medley Day 2 July 25th 2021 Brendon Smith Wang Shun Leon Marchand Max Litchfield Broadie Williams Any Hungarian Athlete Alberto Razzetti Daiya Seto x Yuki Ikari x Lewis Clareburt x Ilya Borodin Chase Kalisz Jay Litherland Any Other Athlete Men's 400m Freestyle Day 2 July 25th 2021 Jack McLoughlin Elijah Winnington x Felix Auboeck Guilherme Da Costa Ji Xinjie Lukas Maertens Kieran Bird Gabriele Detti x Marco De Tulio Danas Rapsys Martin Malyutin Jake Mitchell Kieran Smith x Any Other Athlete Women's 400m Ind. Medley Day 2 July 25th 2021 Sydney Pickrem x Yu Yiting x Aimee Willmott Katinka Hosszu x Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas Ilaria Cusinato Sara Franceschi Yui Ohashi Ageha Tanigawa Hali Flickinger Emma Weyant Any Other Athlete Women's 4x100m Free. Relay Day 2 July 25th 2021 Australia Brazil Canada x China Czech Republic Denmark France Germany Great Britain Hong Kong Japan Netherlands x Poland ROC Sweden United States x Women's 100m Butterfly Day 3 July 26th 2021 Emma McKeon x Anastasiya Shkurdai Maggie MacNeil Zhang Yufei Marie Wattel Anna Ntountounaki Any Japanese Athlete Svetlana Chimrova Arina Surkova Louise Hansson x Claire Curzan x Torri Huske Any Other Athlete Men's 100m Breaststroke Day 3 July 26th 2021 Ilya Shymanovich x Yan Zibei Lucas Matzerath Fabian Schwingenschloegl Adam Peaty x James Wilby Nicolo Martinenghi Any Japanese Athlete Arno Kamminga Anton Chupkov Kirill Prigoda Michael Andrews x Andrew Wilson Any Other Athlete Women's 400m Freestyle Day 3 July 26th 2021 Ariarne Titimus x Summer McIntosh Li Bingjie Tang Muhan Isabel Gose Sarah Koehler Waka Kobori Miyu Namba Anna Egorova Anastasiya Kirpichnikova Katie Ledecky x Paige Madden x Any Other Athlete Men's 4x100m Free. Relay Day 3 July 26th 2021 Australia Brazil Canada France Germany Great Britain x Greece Hungary Italy Japan Netherlands Poland ROC x Serbia Switzerland United States x Men's 200m Freestyle Day 4 July 27th 2021 Kyle Chalmers Felix Auboeck Tom Dean x Duncan Scott x Katsuhiro Matsumoto Danas Rapsys x David Popovici Ivan Girev Martin Malyutin Hwang Sun-woo Townley Haas Kieran Smith Any Other Athlete Women's 100m Backstroke Day 4 July 27th 2021 Kaylee McKeown x Emily Seebohm Kylie Masse x Taylor Ruck Kathleen Dawson x Cassie Wild Margherita Panziera Kira Toussaint Anastasia Fesikova Maria Kameneva Regan Smith Rhyan White Any Other Athlete Men's 100m Backstroke Day 4 July 27th 2021 Mitch Larkin x Guilherme Basseto Marcus Thormeyer Xu Jiayu Yohann Ndoye Brouard Thomas Ceccon Ryosuke Irie Kliment Kolesnikov Evgeny Rylov x Pieter Coetze Hunter Armstrong Ryan Murphy x Any Other Athlete Women's 100m Breaststroke Day 4 July 27th 2021 Chelsea Hodges Tang Qianting Molly Renshaw Sarah Vasey Martina Carraro Benedetta Pilato Alia Atkinson x Any Japanese Athlete Evgenia Chikunova Yulia Efimova Tatjana Schoenmaker Sophie Hansson x Lydia Jacoby Lilly King x Any Other Athlete Women's 200m Freestyle Day 5 July 28th 2021 Emma McKeon x Ariarne Titimus x Summer McIntosh Penny Oleksiak Yang Junxuan Barbora Seemanova Charlotte Bonnet Isabel Gose Freya Anderson Siobhan Haughey Federica Pellegrini Katie Ledecky x Allison Schmitt Any Other Athlete Men's 200m Butterfly Day 5 July 28th 2021 Any Australian Athlete Leonardo De Deus David Thomasberger James Guy Tamas Kenderesi Kristof Milak x Federico Burdisso Tomoru Honda Daiya Seto x Aleksandr Kudashev Chad Le Clos Gunnar Bentz x Zach Harting Any Other Athlete Women's 200m Ind. Medley Day 5 July 28th 2021 Kaylee McKeown x Bailey Andison Sydney Pickrem Yu Yiting x Alicia Wilson Abbie Wood x Katinka Hosszu Anastasia Gorbenko Yui Ohashi Miho Teramura Kate Douglass Alex Walsh Any Other Athlete Women's 1500m Freestyle Day 5 July 28th 2021 Maddy Gough x Kiah Melverton Li Bingjie Wang Jianjiahe Sarah Kohler Martina Caramignoli Simona Quadarella x Anastasia Kirpichnikova South Korea Katie Ledecky x Erica Sullivan Any Other Athlete Men's 4x200m Free. Relay Day 5 July 28th 2021 Australia x Brazil China France Germany Great Britain x Hungary Ireland Israel Italy Japan Poland ROC South Korea Switzerland United States x Men's 800m Freestyle Day 6 July 29th 2021 Jack McLoughlin x Thomas Neil Felix Auboeck Guilherme Costa Florian Wellbrock Daniel Jervis Gabriele Detti Gregorio Paltrinieri x Henrik Christiansen Aleksandr Egorov Mykhaylo Romanchuk x Michael Brinegar Bobby Finke Any Other Athlete Men's 200m Breststroke Day 6 July 29th 2021 Zac Stubblety-Cook Matti Mattsson Marco Koch James Wilby Ryuya Mura x Shoma Sato Dmitriy Balandin Arno Kamminga Anton Chupkov x Kirill Prigoda x Nic Fink Andrew Wilson Any Other Athlete Women's 200m Butterfly Day 6 July 29th 2021 Brianna Throssell Zhang Yufei x Yu Liyan Alys Thomas Katinka Hosszu Boglarka Kapas x Suzuka Hasegawa Svetlana Chimrova Hali Flickinger Regan Smith x Any Other Athlete Men's 100m Freestyle Day 6 July 29th 2021 Kyle Chalmers x Any Athlete From Brazil Maxime Grousset Duncan Scott Nandor Nemeth Alessandro Miressi David Popovici x Kliment Kolesnikov Andrei Minakov Zach Apple Caeleb Dressel x Any Other Athlete Women's 4x200m Free. Relay Day 6 July 29th 2021 Australia x Brazil Canada China France Germany Hong Kong Hungary Italy x Japan New Zealand ROC South Africa South Korea Turkey United States x Women's 200m Breaststroke Day 7 July 30th 2021 Any Australian Athlete Sydney Pickrem Kelsey Wog Yu Jingyao Molly Renshaw x Abbie Wood Kanako Watanabe Evgenia Chikunova Maria Temnikova Tatjana Schoenmaker x Jessica Vall Lisa Mamie Lilly King Annie Lazor x Any Other Athlete Men's 200m Backstroke Day 7 July 30th 2021 Tristan Hollard Xu Jiayu Yohann Ndoye Brouard Christian Diener Luke Greenbank x Adam Telegdy Ryosuke Irie x Keita Sunama Evgeny Rylov x Roman Mityukov Bryce Mefford Ryan Murphy Any Other Athlete Women's 100m Freestyle Day 7 July 30th 2021 Cate Campbell x Emma McKeon Penny Oleksiak Yang Junxuan Charlotte Bonnet Marie Wattel Freya Anderson Anna Hopkin Siobhan Haughey Femke Heemskerk x Ranomi Kromowidjojo x Sarah Sjostrom Erika Brown Abbey Weitzeil Any Other Athlete Men's 200m Ind. Medley Day 7 July 30th 2021 Mitch Larkin Wang Shun Philip Heintz Joe Litchfield Duncan Scott x Hubert Kos Alberto Razzetti Kosuke Hagino Daiya Seto x Andrey Zhilkin Jeremy Desplanches Michael Andrew x Chase Kalisz Any Other Athlete Men's 100m Butterfly Day 8 July 31st 2021 Matthew Temple Josif Miladinov Mehdy Metella James Guy x Kristof Milak x Takeshi Kawamoto Naoki Mizunuma Jakub Majerski Andrei Minakov Mikhail Vekovishchev Noe Ponti Caeleb Dressel x Tom Shields Any Other Athlete Women's 200m Backstroke Day 8 July 31st 2021 Lena Grabowski Kaylee McKeown x Emily Seebohm x Kylie Masse x Liu Yaxin Peng Xuwei Kathleen Dawson Cassie Wild Katalin Burian Margherita Panziera Phoebe Bacon Rhyan White Any Other Athlete Women's 800m Freestyle Day 8 July 31st 2021 Kiah Melverton Ariarne Titimus x Summer McIntosh Li Bingjie Wang Jianjiahe Sarah Koehler Martina Caramignoli Simona Quadarella x Any Japanese Athlete Anna Egorova Anastasia Kirpichnikova Katie Grimes Katie Ledecky x Any Other Athlete Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay Day 8 July 31st 2021 Australia Belarus Brazil Canada China Germany Great Britain x Greece Hungary Israel Italy Japan Netherlands Poland ROC x United States x Men's 50m Freestyle Day 9 August 1st 2021 Cameron McEvoy Bruno Fratus Yu Hexin Ari-Pekka Likkonen Any French Athlete Ben Proud x Kristian Gkolomeev Maxim Lobanovszkij Any Italian Athlete Thom De Boer Pawel Juraszek Vlad Morozov x Michael Andrew Caeleb Dressel x Any Other Athlete Women's 50m Freestyle Day 9 August 1st 2021 Cate Campbell x Emma McKeon Wu Qingfeng Zhang Yufei Pernille Blume x Melanie Henique Marie Wattel Femke Heemskerk x Ranomi Kromowidjojo Kasia Wasick Maria Kameneva Sarah Sjostrom Simone Manuel Abbey Weitzeil Any Other Athlete Men's 1500m Freestyle Day 9 August 1st 2021 Jack McLoughlin Guilherme Costa Alexander Norgaard Any French Athlete Lukas Martens Florian Wellbrock Daniel Jervis Gregorio Paltrinieri x Shogo Takeda x Aleksandr Egorov x Kirill Martynychev Bobby Finke Any Other Athlete Women's 4x100m Med. Relay Day 9 August 1st 2021 Australia x Belarus Canada China Denmark Germany Great Britain x Hong Kong Italy Japan Netherlands ROC South Africa Spain Sweden United States x Men's 4x100m Med. Relay Day 9 August 1st 2021 Australia x Belarus Brazil Canada China France Germany Great Britain x Greece Hungary Italy Japan Lithuania Poland ROC United States x Women's 10km Open Water Day 10 August 4th 2021 Kareena Lee Ana Marcela Cunha Kate Sanderson Xin Xin x Lara Grangeon x Leonie Beck Finnia Wunram Anna Olasz Rachele Bruni Sharon Van Rouwendaal x Paula Ruiz Haley Anderson Ashley Twichell Any Other Athlete Men's 10km Open Water Day 11 August 5th 2021 Kai Graeme Edwards David Aubry Marc-Antoine Olivier Rob Muffels Florian Wellbrock Hector Pardoe Athanasios Kynigakis Kristof Rasovszky Matan Roditi Gregorio Paltrinieri Mario Sanzullo Ferry Weertman Alberto Martinez Jordan Wilimovsky Any Other Athlete [/hide]

I think Adlington is waiting on Nekoda Smyth Davis' continental place - since Nekoda is both injured AND pregnant. I think Sarah's chances are pretty solid, but it would be nice to confirm it.

Tokyo and Paris. She'll not be back until 2026, by which time she will be 34. She's probably done, me thinks

It's been an issue for decades - all the way back to Stella Walsh.

Pretty good answer. A sport like Weightlifting, where EWF and IWF are almost broken beyond repair, the kindest thing might be to kick the port out and try and rebuild from the ground up, abandoning IWF and seeking recognition for a new confederation altogether. Sort of AIBA on steroids (parden the pun) A sport like Swimming where FINA are clearly pretty shit and pretty corrupted, but the sport itself is not hopelessly riddled shoud be punished, but not to the same extent.

He does, and Sha' mysterious tweeted "I am human" about 6 hrs ago, which gives a lot of credence to this, If she has smoked weed the week of trials, she's a fool. Ban may be very short or even non-existent; the problem will be the invalidation of her trials results. If she is gone, seems likely to be a straight battle between Shelly Anne and Dina in the 100. Also tonight, namibian prodigy Mboma withdrawn from the 400 but not 200, strongly suggesting rumours of another Semenya situation are in fact true. Hell of a night for Athletics fans

More likely, given their youth, I suspect, is simply that the coach ran them in the 400m when he probably should not have.

If this is true, if they have dropped the 400, for which one of them was a cast iron gold medal favourite, it pretty much confirms the growing suspicions that we have another two intersex athletes on our hands. The 400 is one of the athletes covered by the Semenya rule. Tellingly, 200m is not.

I know, post in haste, repent at leisure - Shaunae can't catch a break!

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Heptathlon, if she's fit. If not, women's 4x1 relay Mark English has a puncher's chance in the 800, no more.

I'd say the removal of Nasar may change Shaunae's mind in a hurry - 400 has suddenly become hers to lose - especially with no left field danger from Femke Bol, whereas there's a dogfight in the 200 with the two Americans, Dina and Shelly Anne

I'd rather see the dumping of the Fed than the sport - and the recent ITA document, damning as it is, gives plenty of justification. But the sport is utterly, utterly riddled with doping culture - makes 1990's road cycling look vegan.