thiago_simoes

I may be against the inclusion of games, but I agree about this. Fighting games, for example, ARE spectator-friendly. But not many people are aware of the competitive scene, and ignore the powerful effect some matches have on the viewers.

Instead of watching someone play virtual football, why not watch real people play real football? It's already part of the Olympics, anyway. I can see people playing games like League of Legends and maybe Counter Strike, since these are multiplayer co-op titles, but I still think there is no place at the Olympics for games. It takes a lot of skill to do something like Daigo did at that Street Fighter III match, but I can't see how well this would adapt to the Olympics.

Fair scores overall, except for Zeng ahead of Agiurgiuculese (but it was very close).

Vladi!!!! One of my favorite gymnasts! I'm glad she placed ahead of Ashram, which is a gymnast I don't really like to watch.

Minagawa had an unexpected loss of balance. Weird.

Best routine I've seen Agiurgiuculese performing in my life. Amazing.

Unbelievable to see Minagawa get a medal. Just unbelievable.

Minagawa will get a medal! What a huge upset in the very first final!

Poor girl...

I love video games and I even think about starting a PhD research in video games and literacy. But as a sport? No. Olympic sport? Big no.

I can't believe Zantaraia lost. He was better the whole fight, only to let his mind stay out of focus for one second and then he lost it. Poor guy.

Sad for Kelmendi, happy for Brazil. Miranda beat two Kosovan judoka here. I guess Kosovo hates Brazil now.

Rhythmic gymnastics was more of the same. Meh. Same old countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) dominating individual events. Nice to see North Korea and Japan (especially Tatsuzawa, who was only known for a bad performance at the 2014 YOG) earning medals, though.

[hide] Event and Date Gold Medal Winne Silver Medal Winne Bronze Medal Winne Athletes Women's Individual Hoop Day 1, August 30th, 2017 Dina Averina Arina Averina Linoy Ashram Katsiaryna Halkina Alina Harnasko Katrin Taseva Neviana Vladinova Linoy Ashram Kaho Minagawa Arina Averina Dina Averina Viktoria Mazur Laura Zeng Any Other Individual Ball Day 1, August 30th, 2017 Arina Averina Dina Averina Katsiaryna Halkina Katsiaryna Halkina Alina Harnasko Katrin Taseva Neviana Vladinova Alexandra Agiurgiuculese Sabina Ashirbayeva Arina Averina Dina Averina Anastasiya Serdyukova Any Other Individual Clubs Day 2, August 31st, 2017 Dina Averina Arina Averina Alina Harnasko Katsiaryna Halkina Alina Harnasko Katrin Taseva Neviana Vladinova Linoy Ashram Arina Averina Dina Averina Viktoria Mazur Laura Zeng Anastasiya Serdyukova Any Other Individual Ribbon Day 2, August 31st, 2017 Arina Averina Dina Averina Neviana Vladinova Katsiaryna Halkina Alina Harnasko Katrin Taseva Neviana Vladinova Eleni Kelaiditi Linoy Ashram Alexandra Agiurgiuculese Arina Averina Dina Averina Anastasiya Serdyukova Any Other Individual All-Around Day 3, September 1st, 2017 Dina Averina Arina Averina Katsiaryna Halkina Katsiaryna Halkina Alina Harnasko Katrin Taseva Neviana Vladinova Linoy Ashram Alexandra Agiurgiuculese Kaho Minagawa Arina Averina Dina Averina Viktoria Mazur Laura Zeng Any Other Group All-Around Day 4, September 2nd, 2017 Russia Italy Japan Azerbaijan Belarus Bulgaria Finland Italy Japan Russia Spain Ukraine United States Uzbekistan Any Other Group 5 Hoops Day 5, September 3rd, 2017 Bulgaria Ukraine Russia Azerbaijan Belarus Bulgaria Canada China Italy Japan Russia Switzerland Ukraine Uzbekistan Any Other Group 3 Balls / 2 Ropes Day 5, September 3rd, 2017 Russia Italy Belarus Azerbaijan Belarus Bulgaria Finland Italy Japan Russia Spain Ukraine United States Uzbekistan Any Other [/hide]

Nope. I couldn't find any video with their performance.

What the hell happened to Chinese Taipei in rhythmic gymnastics? 17.050 is a HUGE international score that even Spain's national group has not been able to achieve this year. I honestly expected something around 11 or 12, but over 17 is absolutely mind-blowing. They will likely win a medal (or even three medals) in rhythmic gymnastics, which is almost unbelievable. Their only important international result achieved before was a bronze medal earned at the 2006 Asian Rhythmic Championships, which goes on to show how much of a surprise it is for me that they are doing this fine at world level now. Estonia didn't have as much success as I had hoped, unfortunately. And the girls from Belarus and Ukraine are excellent, even though I've heard nothing about them, excluding Trubach (silver medalist at the 2014 Youth Olympics). Not a huge surprise (Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria dominate this sport, after all), but still nice to see.

This is why I said I knew we couldn't expect much, but I'm still disappointed. No gymnasts from Bulgaria, Italy and Israel...

The nominative registrations for rhythmic gymnastics are finally available, and am I disappointed... Russia will easily take gold and silver in all of the the individual events with Bravikova and Selezneva . Bronze medals are literally up for grabs. Trubach (BLR), Lu (USA), Bogdanova and Kalema (EST) are the only names that ring a bell for me. I also recognize the name of both Mexican gymnasts, but I doubt they can challenge for a medal. I'd be very happy if Estonia finally gets a major medal in rhythmic gymnastics for the first time ever. Fingers crossed. Other than that, a very disappointing field. I knew we couldn't expect much, but this is a lot worse than I thought it would be... Edit: Any Ukrainians here? I'm curious about the Ukrainian gymnasts, even though I've heard nothing about them before.

So they have a Japanese coach? Nice to know. But the talent is there, because the Taiwanese gymnast is very, very good. Pommel horse and parallel bars are two events I can barely force myself to watch. They are usually very boring. But I can watch the Taiwanese guy perform his routine all day long. It is that good.

Teramoto is way past her prime, but it's nice to see her going for broke in international competition. Iordache is still not in perfect shape, but she is surely going to challenge for gold in the All-Around and Balance Beam at the World Championships. I'm particularly eager for her to win gold in the all-around while Ponor earns a gold medal on beam. In fact, there are only five gymnasts I can seriosly see fighting for all-around medals at the World Championships: Iordache, any two American girls, Black and Rebeca Andrade. Maybe Kovacs from Hungary is also a threat for a medal, but I still don't see it unless she upgrades some of her routines.

I would say this would never have happened. Life is full of surprises. His routine is gorgeous and he deserved that gold medal! Now, about Dominican Republic, Nin Reyes is MILES ahead of Yamilet Peña in execution. He knows what he is doing, while Yamilet was just going crazy everytime and hoping for the best (i.e., not kill herself). Reyes' first vault is the hardest vault in the world. And he has a very nice execution. Maybe he is going to fight for a medal at the World Championships!

Olsen has a real chance of getting a medal on vault, but Ellie also deserves a medal. Maybe her best shot is the all-around, even though she will have to be virtually perfect. Beam and floor could also be a possibility depending on how other gymnasts perform.

Beautiful. Just beautiful. And very fair judging tonight, except maybe for Iordache's big score on floor which was not quite deserved, and Black's score on floor which deserved to be a few tenths higher.

Third best day ever. First one was beating the United States at the 1999 Pan American Games, and second one was securing a bronze medal at the 2006 Worlds.

Outstanding result for Canada. And now Japan had a rough beam rotation (considering their potential), and will probably finish behind Canada as well.