thiago_simoes

One of the line judges was startled when Rublev smashed his racket after losing the first set, and the first thing I thought was "ok, I won't be surprised if she fakes a mental breakdown too at this point".

Yes, you're right. In the end, they're just about the same thing, though. FIG just decided to keep the name World Cup for their category A events, while their category B events were all renamed to World Challenge Cup. Even on their website they list the results for the WC and WCC under the same label. Why create a new and exciting event while they could just split the World Cup circuit and rebrand half of it as a new competition? Typical from FIG to take the easy way out.

Artistic gymnastics will finally be back. The first and last official event in FIG's calendar after start of the COVID-19 pandemic is the Szombathely World Cup, which will be held from October 2 to 4. Gymnasts from the following nations are set to compete: This could realistically be Albania's best shot at a medal in international competition with Matvei Petrov (especially on the pommel horse). Not many big names are going to compete. Filip Ude (Croatia), Marian Dragulescu (Romania) and Igor Radivilov (Ukraine) are former Olympics medalists and the most well-known gymnasts here. Boglarka Devai (Hungary), Teja Belak (Slovenia), Tin Srbic (Croatia) and Robert Seligman (Croatia) are also kind-of-big names.

And the British gymnasts did it again: another round of accusations about things that are hardly shocking. This time, Ellie Downie accused a nutritionist of making her feel bad because the woman advised her to lose weight. She mentioned she started having body issues, especially after the nutritionist asked her to send pictures on a daily basis showing her progress on her diet. Honestly? The British girls are really, really pissing me off.

More accusations, now from two female British gymnasts. Most of the accusations seem almost ridiculous, like being given controlled portions for meals and feeling pain from stretching. I mean, if you're gonna complain about these things, then change sports, go to modern pentathlon or something. However, one of the girls complains about being slapped and this is serious, of course.

I love how many diacritics are present here.

This is what happened to Daniela Druncea from Romania. Mediocre gymnast, nothing special about her, then all of a sudden she became a medalist in rowing at the 2016 Olympics.

Point 1: Look at the scandal where Bulgarian coaches were accused of abuse by Swiss gymnasts. Then, the gymnastics federation on Bulgaria, who had absolutely nothing to do with the training in SWITZERLAND, released an official note stating that they believe in the coaches and not in the Swiss gymnasts who accused them. Now, if the gymnastics federation of Bulgaria acts like that regarding a program in a different country -- which they have no involvement with and know nothing about -- it's not hard to imagine what measures they would take to cover up suspicious things in Bulgaria itself. Of course the gymnasts will say everyone is wonderful and whatnot, but let's not forget that Tsvetelina Stoyanova attempted suicide in 2016. The writing is on the wall here, seriously. Point 2: You see, most of the top nations can safely rely on new talents and their top gymnasts are under 20: just look at Ukraine with Nikolchenko, Belarus with Salos and Harnasko, and Israel with Zelikman, Voronkov and Telegina -- all of them are 19 or younger, and all of them won medals at the latest World Championships. Bulgaria is the only nation with a minimum of relevance to keep sending older gymnasts to the World Championships. I commend this, but I can also see this is a problem when the rest of the world can create great new gymnasts while Bulgaria cannot. I mean, Bulgaria had no medals with individual gymnasts at the 2019 WC. This means that not only younger gymnasts are not good enough, now even the older gymnasts are not good either. Do you really think Bulgaria has someone better to send to the WC?

In my opinion, it's even worse in rhythmic gymnastics, but you're right: this sport is toxic when it comes to how training is conducted all around the world. There are a number of reasons for that: 1) Most coaches learned to coach the Soviet way. 2) In some countries, physical violence and emotional abuse are seen as efficient ways to discipline athletes, and these countries usually thrive in gymnastics. 3) There's huge pressure for traditional programs to keep their results. 4) Similarly, smaller programs feel that if they don't come up with a miracle, funding will be cut, so they put three times more pressure on gymnasts for good results. 5) Age-requirements in women's artistic gymnastics are ridiculous. While in men's artistic gymnastics the boys are allowed to compete in senior events when they are 18 or older, in women's programs girls turn senior when they are 16. It's terrible because 13-14 year-old-girls are supposed to perform very hard skills and their bodies are not ready for that, so the coaches push them above their theoretical limits, and either the girls snap, the coaches snap, or both. In rhythmic gymnastics all of these points are 10 times worse because the number of countries that are relevant is very small, funding is nearly non-existent, basically only post-Soviet nations are relevant (and Bulgaria, a country which some coaches are equally toxic), and gymnasts over 20 are almost universally seen as past their prime.

@heywoodu I'm sad to hear about all of this. It's heartbreaking.

I'm very, very angry now. No Junior Worlds in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics in 2021, no YOG in 2022. I've never really been a huge fan of the Olympics (it's not a secret I only care about artistic and rhythmic gymnastics), but I enjoy the YOG for what is is. Terrible decision.

But the whole thing about governments that strongly support sports is that they want people to be proud of the nation while they do terrible things when no one is paying attention. I've not seen any act of communism here, honestly, and that was my point when I replied to your message. It doesn't mean that I support any of his actions, but I can't say I understand much about what's going on in Mexico now, to be honest. However, my main point of concern is that one can't just throw the word "communist" whenever one doesn't like what the government is doing. I mean, here in Brazil people have feared communist for decades now, to the point of electing Bolsonaro, and we're in deep, deep trouble thanks to him. Not that AMLO seems to be any better, especially when it comes to how he deals with the covid-19 pandemic, but it's not like I see him as a communist in the slightest (okay, criminalizing memes is bad, but that's about it).

Man, your views on politics really make me cringe. I would never think you're one of those people who see any leftist government as pseudo-communism, but here we are. Besides, it doesn't make any sense: if the government is pseudo-communist, why cancel a sports event which would celebrate national identity?

I agree about the origin, but it barely reaches the minimum number of federations to justify its inclusion in the Pan Am sports program. I don't think we need this sport at the Pan Am Games in any form, to be honest. This doesn't make any sense. If it has been played in Mexico and Central America, it does not fit the definition of a Pan American sport at all. In the end, it depends on what people want from the Pan American Games. There are those who want a mini-Olympics with countries from North, Centra and South American, and the Caribbean, and there are a few people who want that specific, indigenous and exotic sports eventually get added to the program. I'd be okay with a Pan American Indigenous Games or something like that, but I don't really understand why sports that are barely played on the continent are even considered for a full fledged edition of the Pan Ams. I mean, we already have some weird sports like Basque Pelota, Water Skiing and Racquetball, so why add even more bizarre sports to the program? What will come next? Capoeira?

I second this. Besides, quad hockey is popular in all of Latin America, while cricket is restricted to a small number of nations in the Caribbean. It's pretty much like Lacrosse: a sport I can't see being part of the Pan Ams because it's very specific to a small group of nations.

It's insane. I remember one commentator saying that Halkina has a body that "does not follow the standards" in rhythmic gymnastics because she has curves. CURVES! And some people even dared to call her fat because of that. NCAA, on the other hand, lets artistic gymnasts perform without a care in the world about their own weight.

2012 Olympian Francesca Fox from Great Britain came forward and accused her coaches of emotional abuse. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jul/07/uk-sport-to-investigate-shocking-and-upsetting-claims-of-gymnastics-abuse This is one more scandal in a growing list of accusations of emotional and physical abuse over the last months. Besides, at least two suicide attempts from rhythmic gymnasts have been reported in the last few years. Off the top of my head, the recent scandals I can remember are: Switzerland: https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/alle-news-in-kuerze/die-rhythmische-sportgymnastik-kommt-in-der-schweiz-nicht-zur-ruhe/45869394?fbclid=IwAR331DpvpzqsTdu9xy5gnqFuESsbtKYpnqzKTemdr7gfQTKT96msHfHKEOI Brazil: https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/reportagens-especiais/minha-historia-angelica/ Russia: https://www.rockergymnastics.com/rhythmic-gymnastics/2020/2/6/alexandra-soldatovas-alleged-suicide-attempt-rocks-rhythmic-gymnasticsnbsp Bulgaria: https://www.novinite.com/articles/174911/Bulgarian+Authorities+Confirm+Rhythmic+Gymnastics+Athlete+Attempted+Suicide Not to mention sexual assaults from coaches, medical staff or even gymnasts themselves in artistic gymnastics; in recent months, cases have been reported in Brazil, Canada and the United States, as far as I can remember.

These are beat-em-ups. Love these kind of games too! I have Dungeons and Dragons Chronicles of Mystara on Steam (based on Dungeons and Dragons Collection for the Sega Saturn, the greatest console ever) and I'll probably buy Capcom Beat em Up Bundle. But I was talking about one on one fighting games, like Street Fighter and The King of Fighters.

I totally agree. I never actually enjoyed MOBAs and I mostly dislike FPS games (though I'm okay with compelling single-player experiences such as Medal of Honor, Half Life, Metroid Prime, Deus EX), but I love 2D fighting games and it's been a long, long, long time since I've had any fun in multiplayer matches. I miss the arcade scene in the 90s. Any recommendations about good 2D fighting games? I'm a huge fan of The King of Fighters (especially '97 and '98) and Street Fighter Alpha 3. I heard Skullgirls is a nice game, and it's cheap enough for me to try it and not even regret buying it if it's not really good, so I'll give it a shot. Any other titles?

Thank you. They were not exactly my friends, but they were people I knew and it's always bad when someone you know dies, especially because of other people's lack of responsibility. I hope all of you guys are doing well. Keep wearing masks an avoid leaving home, even if the situation in your home country is not alarming. I've seen people here who clearly displayed signs of covid infection leaving home for absolutely no reason, even going to parties or to the beach. Some people show no respect for the lives of others, and it's like they would not even care if their actions kill someone. Trust no one. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Three people I knew died, all three of then under the age of 40. They were very cautions and aware of the dangers of this virus, and they did everything they could not to be infected, but all the other morons who lived near them were not nearly as cautious. I moved back to Rio de Janeiro, and while I'm happy to come back to my home place, I'm very, very, very surprised at how fearless everybody is. It's like they all want to die. I'm really angry at all the shitheads who live in Rio.

Somewhat unrelated, but it's about my name, so why not share it? Tiago/Thiago is a variation of James. Harry Potter's father, James Potter, is known as Tiago Potter in Brazil.

I believe there is enough room to decrease the number of quotas. Currently we have: Men's artistic: 98 quotas Women's artistic: 98 quotas Rhythmic: 26 individual quotas + 70 group quotas Trampoline: 16 quotas for men + 16 quotas for women The number of events is the same, but we have 210 women and 114 men. If there's a push for gender equality in numbers, as well, I believe this could happen: Men's artistic: 5 gymnasts in 8 teams (40) + 80 individuals Women's artistic: 5 gymnasts in 8 teams (40) + 20 individuals Rhythmic gymnastics: 5 gymnasts in 8 groups (40) + 20 individuals Trampoline: 16 quotas for men + 16 quotas for women Instead of 12 teams in artistic gymnastics, only 8 teams would be able to qualify. So, 8 teams + 80 individuals in men's artistic gymnastics means that 88 nations would be able to qualify, what is absolutely INSANE. I'm not even sure that there are 88 national federations with active programs in artistic gymnastics right now. Women's artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics have always been seen as niche disciplines with the same old countries earning medals, and a severe reduction in quotas would make things ten times worse than they already are. There's also a chance that teams in artistic will keep the current number of gymnasts (4 per team) instead of going back to the 5 per team (as originally planned for 2024). This could potentially open up 8 individual quotas in women's artistic gymnastics, but it would also affect men's artistic gymnastics and now 96 countries would be able to qualify. Once again: I'm not even sure that there are that many countries competing at the World Championships. This would lead to 52 less quotas. Now, if we consider a slightly different program consisting of the same number of events, I believe the following scenario could be feasible: Men's artistic: 8 teams with 4 gymnasts (32) + 66 individuals = 98 gymnasts Women's artistic: 8 teams with 4 gymnasts (32) + 33 individuals = 65 gymnasts Rhythmic: 8 teams with 2 gymnasts (16) + 17 individuals = 33 gymnasts Trampoline: 16 quotas for men + 16 quotas for women = 32 gymnasts In rhythmic gymnastics, groups would be gone. Teams would be composed of 2 gymnasts from the same nation. Events would be 1) team all-around and 2) individual all-around, instead of the current format (group all-around and individual all-around). This would lead to 96 less quotas. Wow! Either way, these options seem completely insane to me and would nearly kill both women's artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics.

The two biggest cities in the country are São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, so it's not surprising to know that most cases are from these cities. The state governor of São Paulo and the mayor of Rio de Janeiro presented plans to reopen stores in one week. This is absolutely insane. At least schools will not return to face to face classes in another 60 days.