mpjmcevoy

I think there are potentially much stronger csndidates than Radacanu. However, as a two time Olympic champion as well as a multiple Grand Slam winner, I think Murray has a good insurance policy if he doesn't orherwise qualify and fancies playing on clay again.
 
Norrie needs to perform well in the first half of next year and take advantage of his much higher ATP ranking in the two remaining GS tournies before the rankings close.

The "highest ranked three (3) athletes" rule applies only for the nations that already qualified an athlete. For example, if qualification ended today,  and  would get a second quota via ranking in women's trampoline, and in men's. The other places would go to NOCs that have not qualified an gymnast yet.
 
Also, in the end I think both the host and the Oceania spot will be unused as they should qualify via ranking.

That's why I said that it won't be that easy for Camilla to get a second quota for since  and  are in very good position for a second quota...

I think you can certainly make a case that a type of track suits a power sprinter, or a rush sprinter; someone who can maintain speed, and someone who can accelerate to a super high speed for a shorter time. That doesn't mak the track bad for sprinting - it might make it 'bad' for a certain subgroup of sprinters - nothing new in that - Helsinki Athletics track is infamous for its tight bends, i've even heard people comment about deeper and shallower 50 metre pools.
 
the only bad track is one that is either wildly unfair or one that allows no room for tactics - the first is a disservice to the athletes, the second to the fans

Absolutely this. A short or long finishing straight doesn't make it 'better' or 'worse', the top athletes simply take it into account when making their race plans.

The straight in London was/is unusually long if memory serves, which before the Games was thought to maybe help the more pure power-based sprinters - Hoy, Meares and Bauge. in Two of those cases, it worked, but Kenny found a way around Bauge. I suppose what you do is you factor it in, bring some expertise and analysis to bear, and work out how to manage it with your talent pool, up to and including attacking a full bend earlier.

Quota : Women's Triathlon
 
Medal, Men's Sevens

A very strange link to the the Olympic Games here.
The Irish politician is Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit party.
His mother is the actress SInead Cusack, was born when she was a teenager and was adopted by another couple.
Many years later his mother married British actor Jeremy Irons who played IOC president Avery Brundage in the film "Race" about Jesse Owens.

Olympic hurdles medalist Ronald Levy suspended after failing drug test

You're right - it was an absolute horror show for   although some of the guys did get some pretty tough draws. Will ignore the women because I still think we are well placed to qualify in 5 of the weight classes and have realistic medal prospects in both Giles and Renshall (She wasn't at the Euros after picking up injury in Zagreb). On the women's side, I would probably be most disappointed for Nekoda Smythe-Davis who had to fight for her place in the squad and wasn't able to take advantage of the opportunity. 
 
Had high hopes for Sam Hall to do well as he has had some decent form over the last couple of weeks, but he drew 4th seed Khyar in the 1st round which was always going to be difficult. I just wish he and Charlie Young had been reversed in the draw because I think Hall could have had the beating of Garcia Torne but that could just be wishful thinking. 
 
Both Petgrave and Moorhead need to get their s**t together and start banking some points PDQ or they will see their potential quota places disappearing quicker than Usain Bolt. 
 
On a side note, was very surprised that Olympics.com site was suggesting that Wesley Greenidge (+100Kg) was one of the British athletes to watch as a potential qualifier for Paris. He is so far off the pace that the suggestion that he could qualify is almost laughable.  

I would also add Pia Skrzyszowska in Athletics - W 100m Hurdles. I would cherish her medal a lot, but this medal is not "rather unlikely", it's "extremely unlikely" I'm afraid.
 
But if we have a thread for "an unlikely finalist you would cherish the most" - that's definitely her. If she is in the final, that would be as much fun for me as Ewa Swoboda in 100m final in Budapest.

The,oppos
The opposite is also true. I’m old enough to remember the Dutch women’s table tennis team making the semifinals of the World championships twice (IIRC) in the 1980s. And three different players becoming individual European champions in a short period of time. Both totally unthinkable now. 

I'd argue the Ireland new zealand match the night before was actually better. But it's close, to be fair, and both should obviously have been semis, not withstanding England's heroics when they got a shot at SA

I think I've commented elsewhere on UK Swimming's selection policy - long story short, I am not a fan. There is no rational justification for putting an arbitrary cap on the number of athletes that you are willing to take - especially when you set that cap a year ahead of the selection event.
 
Looking at the times so far in the qualifying window I think you are probably right and there will be some athletes who achieve the 'OCT' but don't ultimately make it on to the GB team, but I would expect that number to be in the low single digits. I find swimming selection hard to predict because of the level of doubling up that we see but it will be interesting to see how GB Swimming deal with athletes who have the GB qualifying standard in one event but only has the OQT in another - like Freya Colbert who has the GB standard for the 200 Freestyle but not in the 400 Freestyle - will they select them to the team and allow them to compete in all of the events where they have the OQT or will they restrict them to the events where they have the British standard. 
 
I get the impression that the selectors already know who they want to take, and they have shown that when those athletes don't quite perform as expected, they will be willing to move the goalposts so whilst the policy might say that you have to achieve the qualifying time in the final, they have left themselves with enough flexibility to take the athletes that they want to. 

I would put the M2x and M2 as serious medal contenders given they won medals at this year's world championships and are on an upward trajectory. Definitely in with good chances.
Also Mona McSharry in the women's 100m breaststroke was just inches away from a medal at this years world championships where she finished 5th. I'd put her in the outside chance category.
Leona Maguire in women's golf definitely has an outside shot at a medal also. I'd be inclined to say Mark English and Andrew Coscoran would be off the list. For example, I think even our sailing team or even the eventing squad who I don't fancy at all could be more likely to sneak a medal than either of them. But it's not really on the cards.

Hard to say. Ben Healy definitely has a serious medal chance given his incredible year and his riding style and such. But it's the road race on hilly terrain, there's always going to be at least 20-30 riders with a somewhat serious medal chance....  (and so individually, every single rider has a rather low percentage by himself, even the top favourites like Van der Poel don't have anywhere near 40% medal chance or something)

A best case scenario? That's going to be fun, if we add all the numbers in this thread together we'll end up with double as many gold medals as actual events, I think  
 
But right, I'll take a bit of time as well tomorrow or so because I'm curious how the Netherlands is looking. As far as I can really say anything about most sports other than athletics and the various cycling disciplines  

Would love to see Ciara win a well deserved medal in the 1500m.
Definitely would be an emotional medal for Ireland - but equally every Olympic medal is emotional for us because they are so scarce!

In Europe, 2024 Six nations and RE Championship; the dutch are in the latter (I think)
 
But Delta, a dutch team, are one of eight teams in the Rugy Europe Super Cup, and they start play in  a few weeks.should be available free on Rugby Europe website.
 
You can enjoy a nice Delta intercept try away to Lusitanios from a year or two back here:
 

Can't agree more.

I think totally otherwise. Games so close, almost at the backyard. This is a huge advantage

Nah, he's not a king.
 
He's a Pope, and the IOC is his Conclave. If he had his way, Lausanne would become a new Vatican of sport.

our federation already said they are in for some shopping, as they want a medal in LA  

I think  Adam Peaty will probably be pretty pleased with how his World Cup series has gone having shown good progression through the 3 legs, particularly given he obtained the Olympic qualifying standard today.
 
Among the positives to take away I would say is the fact that in Budapest, both his heat and final time were under 1:00.00 - something he didn't achieve in either Berlin or Athens - and the gap between himself and  Qin has gone from over 2 seconds in Berlin to 1.43 seconds in Budapest.
 
He still has a huge fight on his hands to successfully defend his title, but given he has had limited training and preparation, he has got himself back into the kind of shape where he would be in the mix to make the final. But if he is looking to get a medal, then he will need to drop at least another second and if he wants to take home gold, he's probably going to need to drop close to 2 seconds. I don't know if he will be able to do that, but I have a feeling that he will at least enjoy the challenge. 

And its over......im not angry at all, a third place defeating England will be marvelous.