thiago_simoes

Vedeneeva was robbed. Not surprised, though.

To no one's surprise, a VERY long wait for the scores. Horrible organization by FIG, as always.

I wonder how important, exactly. I remember that in 2012 absolutely no one I know cared about the final match against Mexico. I even went to a restaurant with a group of friends at the time, not to watch the match but instead to talk about life. No one there cared about the match in the least, despite the fact that there was a TV there showing the match. But in 2016 everybody went crazy about it because the Olympics were in Brazil. This year, most people don't care about it again. Exactly. This means that 98 gymnasts is a low number, because most of them are all-arounders who happen to compete at the Olympics and have a chance to fight for medals in individual events, while a number of great true specialists are kept at home thanks to the insanely low number of gymnasts allowed to qualify. FIG has become more and more welcoming towards specialists: now up to 3 per apparatus can qualify through the world championships and 1 per apparatus at the World Cup Series. In the past they only allowed 1 per apparatus to qualify, and only if this person was the World Champion at the event the year before the Olympics. Crazy. Besides, 60 people fighting for only 3 medals is a little too much. Especially in an event with such a low number of people generally interested on it, except, of course, for the people in this forum.

This is kind of off topic, but I'm absolutely mesmerized by the fact that 60 men were allowed to qualify for the 20 km march and another 60 for the 50 km march. That's 120 men qualifying for only 2 events in 1 sport. In the entirety of artistic gymnastics, only 98 men are allowed to compete in total. I know I sound salty, but this is not fair in my opinion.

And artistic gymnastics. I'm not sure Amir Said will continue, but if he does, he should be a threat for the podium. But France's best chance should be Melanie de Jesus dos Santos. It's unbelievable how she just cannot control her nerves. She and Flávia Saraiva are the most heartbreaking cases in artistic gymnastics of extremely talented gymnasts that cannot win medals at the Olympics or the World Championships because they choke every single time. But when they learn to control her nerves, they can be serious medal threats.

I've almost given up hope in the group event. I'm not ready to see and , who should be the two groups fighting for the gold medal, receiving low scores, while the ugly routines from and will probably be overscored to death and win gold and silver. And don't be surprised if or sneak onto the podium. In the individual event, Kaleyn and Harnasko are my favorite gymnasts. I'd love to see a Kapranova-like situation where one of the Russians give in way for both Kaleyn and Harnasko to earn medals. But, let's face it, the podium will probably be both Averinas and Ashram, and if this happens, it will be my least favorite podium in the history of this sport. The current Code of Points destroyed this sport, in my opinion. The focus on difficulty almost killed any semblance of artistry in the routines. As I mentioned, only and can do it well. also tries hard, but it's just that I don't like their style, but of course this is my problem, not theirs.

O jogo de vôlei foi muito frustrante. Perder um set que estava 20 x 12 e depois entregar o jogo... Sem condições. Bem, o lado positivo é que já temos 19 medalhas garantidas. Nossas próximas chances de medalha são: Vôlei: Chance de 90% de uma medalha, 60% de duas medalhas. Canoagem: Chance de 80% de uma medalha, 1% de duas medalhas. Hipismo: Aqui não sei bem, mas tô chutando uns 10% de chance de medalha. Marcha atlética feminina: Chance de 1%. Saltos ornamentais: Chance de 0,05%. Ginástica rítmica: Chance de 0,01%. Vôlei feminino, futebol, Bia no boxe e Isaquias podem trazer ouro. Seria perfeito pra coroar nossa melhor performance no total de medalhas com a melhor performance em número de ouros. Mas, obviamente, não será fácil. Queria demais uma medalha surpresa no hipismo pra gente sonhar em chegar a 23 medalhas. Seria uma marca que nem alguns países super badalados conseguiram, como Espanha ou Canadá (excluindo os Jogos boicotados de Los Angeles).

It was a disaster. I had to turn off the TV after that, and as much as I want Douglas to win a medal, this farce of a team does not deserve anything. Still, of course I won't cheer for Argentina, so let's get that bronze medal for Brazil.

And, with that, the historical record for the most nations earning a medal at a single edition of the Olympics has been broken. The previous best was Beijing 2008 with 87 nations. Now we have 88.

A healthy Romani could have beaten Walsh. Romani achieved 22.61 in 2019.

Yes, this is true. But it doesn't make any sense to add golf and rugby to the Rio Olympics, in my opinion. I'd even have accepted break dancing or even e-sports, but definitely not golf.

Now, who had the terrible idea to add Golf to the Olympic program in 2016 when we could have had THIS in Brazil?

Of course the last qualifier had to be American. Of course he had to win a bronze medal. Of course. Anyway, congratulations, Pedro Barros and Keegan Palmer!

Three Brazilians in the first four places. This sport is going to be HUGE around here.

That was a great race!

Em primeiro lugar: me lasquei lindamente duvidando de todo mundo ontem. Ana Marcela ganhou ouro, o vôlei feminino passou pela Rússia e só o vôlei de praia acabou caindo. Em segundo lugar, um ponto interessante, embora totalmente óbvio a essa altura: os três esportes mais badalados dos Jogos Olímpicos talvez sejam ginástica, atletismo e natação, e finalmente o país tem um campeão olímpico em cada gênero, em cada um desses esportes. Confesso que eu jamais diria isso antes de Tóquio. Não apostava na Ana Marcela, mas, especialmente, por mais que eu desejasse que Rebeca saísse com o ouro, não via como isso poderia acontecer. Biles criou um salto novo, muito mais difícil do que qualquer outro, então seria óbvio que ela levaria ouro. Mas aí os caprichos do destino entram em ação e uma história aparentemente impossível acabou se tornando possível da noite pro dia.

I see some big names like Mellouli and Weertman trailing behind... Should I be worried that they won't be able to keep up?

I'm just kidding. I don't expect Brazil to win this match, to be honest, and after a very challenging match against Argentina in the preliminaries even the bronze medal is at jeopardy. But I'm confident the women's team, at least, can still win gold. It's not going to be easy and, once again, nothing is guaranteed, but there's a bigger chance of winning gold with the women's team than with the men's team.

Heartwarming news: Rebeca Andrade will be Brazil's flag bearer at the closing ceremony Source: https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/miscellaneous/tokyo-2020-rebeca-andrade-will-be-brazils-flag-bearer-at-closing-ceremony/

Wow, I'm surprised to discover that Barbosu is still not age eligible for the World Championships! But she will be available for 2022 and this is what matters. Romania absolutely needs her if they want to qualify a team for the World Championships in 2022. Voinea will only be age eligible in 2023, but I think Barbosu will be able to handle the pressure and lead the team in 2022.

I don't know who's going to win this, but all I can say is: IT'S NOT GOING TO BE RUSSIA! I mean... ROC.

I was rooting for Asaad after Reis got banned, so I'm glad he got it. Now Syria has both an Olympic medal and a medal at the World Championships in this sport. Amazing. To be honest, I think Asaad would have earned a medal even if Reis had competed here. Asaad is a beast. Reis didn't have great results after 2018 anyway, and even though media in Brazil was hopeful for a medal for him, Asaad is just better and Reis wouldn't have been able to get one anyway. I'm sure that one journalist skmewhere was even preparing a headline with a pun on his name in case he won a medal (Reis means kings in Portuguese).

I will. I've started taking meds and it will be alright.

I'm glad I had a heart check up yesterday and even though I discovered I have high blood pressure -- yes, it sucks -- at least my heart is in good shape. Following this marathon was all the proof I needed. LOL.