thiago_simoes

I can't believe Argentina conceded a goal and now we'll get to see a penalty shootout.

Well, that's football for you. Congratulations, Italy!

LOL, just when I thought everything was lost for Italy...

But even gymnasts who did not qualify, like the two Brazilian individuals, decided to withdraw from the competition. It's kind of weird.

So, Ukraine finally got a medal at the World Cup circuit this year. I'm worried about the upcoming Moscow World Challenge Cup, though. Only nine individuals are supposed to compete and three groups. This is the absolute lowest of the low number of gymnasts and groups I've seen in a World Cup stage. Even the 2011 Montreal World Cup, the previously least-attended event in the history of the circuit, at least saw 14 gymnasts attending. If the Moscow World Cup really happens, then we could see the first-ever medal for Latvia at the World Cup series. We could also expect medals for Slovenia.

Before the tournament, I expected Brazil to lose at some point, but after reaching the final and against Germany, among all teams, I suddenly had big hopes for Brazil qualifying. It looks like I shouldn't keep my hopes up when it comes to Brazilian basketball.

This is completely absurd. Agiurgiuculese didn't deserve to qualify. As far as I understand, the national team coordinator is minimizing this decision saying that Raffaeli is still young and Paris will come soon, but this sport is very hard on the body of gymnasts and no one knows whether Raffaeli will even continue to train until 2024. Terrible decision and now I can't force myself to cheer for Italy in Tokyo anymore, unfortunately.

LOL, 2 goals in 4 minutes. When was the last time I saw something like this? Oh, yes, vs. .

The women's team is... interesting. Basically, China wanted to make absolutely sure they're going to win gold and silver on the balance beam. So much for "Biles is going to win 5 gold medals" now, unless two Chinese gymnasts have major problems in the event finals. As I suspected, China will be pleased with a team bronze medal, but the strong dependence on the beam routines alone could make things very interesting. I wonder what Fan Yilin will be able to do now, and whether she will be able to win a medal on the uneven bars. Now, the men's team left me puzzled. What's the point in selecting Lin Chaopan? Maybe he was only selected to complement Sun Wei, but the very fact that Sun Wei was also chosen kind of puzzles me. If it were up to me, I would have selected Zhang Boheng and I would have put Liu Yang in the team, with Weng Hao getting the individual quota. No Sun Wei or Lin Chaopan. I get it that China is trying to justify their presences thanks to previous experience, but it's not like they're actually rock solid and 100% trustworthy, to begin with. I believe You Hao was going to be selected for the team, but since he got the World Cup quota, China had to come up with something completely different from their original plan. Anyway, I'm very excited about two events now: men's team and rings. If Dalaloyan were 100% healthy, I'd say Russia would take gold easily, but without him in his best form, it's going to be a tough battle between Japan, China and Russia. I don't trust the Japanese team at all, and China might take the gold medal here, even though this is not exactly the absolutely best team China could have assembled. And now that Liu Yang was chosen, Petrounias will not have an easy time trying to win the gold medal. Everybody else will have a very tough fight for the bronze medal.

Ugh, what an ugly display of football during the penalty shootout. Switzerland really dropped the ball here. At least the uncertainty made things a little bit exciting.

Well, that's surprising.

Absolutely heartbroken for Alistratava and Likhovitsky. Two great gymnasts with a very good chance of reaching at least one of the event finals. Anyway, at least will get to keep their women's spot, and can now finally confirm their men's spot.

I'll be bluntly honest here: Camelia Voinea is completely crazy. Seriously, from the way she dresses to the way she handles her daughter's career, that woman is an total nut job. Sabrina Voinea is very talented, but every time I see a video about her, it looks like she's on the verge of suffering a career-ending injury because her mother has absolutely no tact or decency to correctly direct her training. Of course your federation doesn't want her to train Sabrina; it's just not safe. That woman makes me cringe.

Probably a silly question and the answer is "no", but I have to ask anyway: can't Iran explain this and formally ask for his inclusion? Of course, after removing the undesired lifter from the other list...

The first subdivision is always bad. No one wants to go first. On the women's side, , and could greatly benefit from being in the last subdivision. , and were out of luck, and it will be especially hard for Urara Ashikawa to reach beam finals now, unless she does something truly remarkable. Mai Murakami also might suffer competing first, especially because her floor routine could be outscored by the Americans, Russians and even French, Canadians and Brazilians who will compete much later. Iordache will get to compete in the same subdivision the will be in, so it's going to be interesting to see if her scores will go up by this proximity. In my opinions, judges more often than not score the Americans higher -- sometimes, WAY higher -- than they deserve, so judges might "forget" about some deductions for Iordache too, if they're willing to do so. Let's see. On the men's side, things are usually more fair, but the first subdivision is still undesired. will not suffer so much because Srbic will compete on the high bar in the very last rotation, so judges will have a clear view of the field by then, especially after , , and will have competed on the apparatus. So, it's not the end of the world for Srbic. Zonderland, on the other hand, will start on the high bar and he's definitely going to be scored a couple of tenths lower than he would have been had he competed in the last subdivision. Basically, the worst possible draw for him. Georgious has enough potential to reach at lest one of the event finals, but competing in the first subdivision will hurt his chances. The last subdivision is going to be especially interesting for the Rings, because , , will compete.

Of course had to receive the short end of the stick.

Yes, England!

Tumbling would not be a new sport or even a new discipline at the Olympics. It would merely be another event in trampoline. It's FIG's fault it's not part of the Olympics.

Rhythmic gymnastics: out with the groups, in with mixed duets. Of course this would have been tough as this event has merely been shown as a gala event with no real competition so far. Trampoline: out with individual trampoline, in with a "trampoline all-around" with tumbling, individual trampoline and double mini trampoline being competed by the same person. Once again, this is not a real event, but it would have been a lot more exciting than the current format, especially because individual trampoline is very boring, in my opinion. Artistic swimming: out with duets, in with mixed duets. Football: out with the traditional association football on field, in with beach soccer. Wrestling: out with the old mat event, in with beach wrestling. I hate this sport anyway, so any change would be welcome. Swimming: out with the 1500 m events, in with team 5 km open water, but with the format used a few years ago where swimmers would basically race against the clock. I liked it a lot, but I'm probably the only person in the world who wants it at the Olympics.

Sports climbing - Acrobatic gymnastics Golf - Aerobic gymnastics Artistic swimming - Parkour Yes, I'm totally biased towards gymnastics, but I'm sure everybody expects this.

Yes, I agree, but unless something drastic occurs, there's no point for letting Vera van Pol go to the Olympics. I kind of understand Eythora and Lieke Wevers, and being extremely pragmatic there's a reason why Sanne Wevers was chosen -- even though her chances are minimal this time. Maybe they're "hiding" something with Vera van Pol? It will be interesting to see.

So, Netherlands went the "we're trying a shot in the dark for individual medals" route with their women's team, and basically sacrificed any chance of reaching team finals. Sanne Wevers did not deserve to qualify, and it must be heartbreaking for Elze Geurts, who deserved to qualify, to stay home while someone will go to the Olympics in 2021 for what she did in 2016. Naomi Visser also deserved to qualify ahead of Vera van Pol. Really, what a weird choice. Nothing makes sense.

No. Their own NOC claimed they had one, and told their gymnast she was going to Tokyo. Imagine how heartbreaking it must be for her now.

in women's artistic gymnastics.

has been confirmed. I guess this wraps up the qualification process. Finally.