thiago_simoes

His father is American and his mother is Japanese. He is a haafu (half Japanese), not a naturalized athlete.

I'm somewhat disappointed with the results so far. Minagawa's bronze medal was a nice surprise, but overall this event is at a much lower quality than I was expecting it to be. I've never been a fan of Ashram, and even though she won a medal today, it was not the moment for me to change my opinion about her. Compared to gymnasts with creative routines like Vladinova and Pazhava, Ashram is just more of the same. She plays by the books, and I think it's just plain boring to watch. I expected more from Vladinova, but she still managed to walk away with a bronze medal, which is nice. Pazhava is still recovering from a nasty injury and it's clear she was not ready to compete on this level. Still, her routines are gorgeous and she is probably the best thing this sport has ever seen, in my opinion, even though she almost never wins major medals. Both Russians were once again overscored here and there, but you can't deny they are MILES ahead of the rest of the field. Deserved medals for them, for sure. Halkina was a big surprise to me. Even though she has had great results this year, I just thought she would choke, but she had the best result for a non-Russian gymnast (silver). Harnasko is wonderful to watch, but she seemed to be nervous during all of her routines. Agiurgiuculese had great results in her first year as a senior gymnast. Zeng is even more mechanical than Ashram, and I believe she has reached her peak. And I hope with all my heart that Ukraine manages to improve on what we've seen.

Nice to see Nacif Elias doing well. He's Brazilian and decided to compete for Lebanon because the Brazilian Judo Federation would not admit him in international competition. It's weird to listen to a coach from Lebanon speaking Portuguese to his athlete.

Terrible final. Most stages of the World Cup circuit this year were a lot better than this.

Russia losing the silver medal is surprising.

Team Brazil at the World Championships: Men: Arthur Zanetti, Arthur Nory Mariano, Caio Souza, Francisco Barretto Júnior Women: Rebeca Andrade, Thais Fidelis Jade Barbosa and Flávia Saraiva are injured, and both Daniele Hypólito and Carolyne Pedro did not reach minimum requirements for making the team.

I agree that it's hard to enjoy it fully if you don't understand much of what is going on. It helps a lot if you understand the value of some elements. But I admit that it is hard for most people, even die hard fans. Here are some videos that might help, though.

I remember there was some sort of discussion about rhythmic gymnastics not being a proper sport. Some people even consider it to be easy. When a girl performs a routine with big mistakes, everyone can see how hard this sport is, and maybe, just maybe, people will finally learn to respect the hard work each and every gymnast puts on their routines. Besides, you can post the routines of the medalists if you want. I encourage you to do so.

Another unfortunate routine...

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.