thiago_simoes

I'm done. I'll not follow this sport anymore. Enough.

So, Bulgaria now has a big chance for a medal. Russia and Italy had uncharacteristic mistakes. It's also going to be interesting to see who qualifies for the Olympics.

First shocker of the night: Ukraine will not qualify. At least not now. They will need the European Championships.

This is exactly what I thought. One of the worst excuses one could give.

Is that even possible? I mean, I was both physically and morally disgusted with this comment. How come one lets a baby "suck" one's nose? UGH. And could anything in the baby's breath really affect a person to the level traces could be found in one's bloodstream? This sounds completely crazy to me.

Japan has zero choreography. They should be HEAVILY deducted in artistic performance, but still they earned the biggest score so far. This is ridiculous.

Yes. Through the World Cup circuit (April 3–26, 2020). I believe will not even bother to compete (she's already qualified even if she doesn't compete anymore until the Olympics), will qualify through the European Championships and will qualify through the Asian Championships. The three extra quotas at the World Cup circuit will likely go to and one of these nations: or even .

Yes, I edited mere seconds before you posted this. No chance at all. is much stronger than the rest of the continent, and there's also with considerably stronger gymnasts even if has a complete meltdown.

Qualified nations: If host nation quota applies: might qualify through the World Championships if not qualified otherwise (see scenarios below) Next in line: Three extra quotas will be available at the World Cup and one quota for each continental championships. Now, we have some very interesting scenarios which could even lead to different nations qualifying through the World Championships: 1) Provided qualifies through the World Cup/European Championships, would be next in line and 2) If qualifies through the WCup/ECh, would be next in line and 3) If qualifies through the WCup/Asian Championships, then qualifies through the World Championships. Then, if and get quotas through the WCup/ECh and gets a quota from the Asian Championships, then could qualify through the World Championships. If this is the case, then there's no hope for to qualify through the World Championships anymore, I'm afraid.

Oh, good. Pazhava also has a small chance now that Salos is performing poorly (poor girl). We shall see.

I am furious right now. The presentations for group B in the all-around final have finished. The top 4 from this group secured an Olympic quota, and the gymnasts are from and . Vedenneva and Pazhava , two of my favorite gymnasts, missed out. I have no words to express how disappointed I am every time the results in this sport get "suspicious". Honestly, sacrificing Vedeneeva so the home gymnast (from Azerbajan) gets an Olympic quota is perverse. Now we need someone to screw up badly in group A, something Vedeneeva did not deserve to go through and which no one from group A deserves to go through either. Vedeneeva and Pazhava, two of the most artistic gymnasts in this sport, each in her own style, not qualifying to the Olympics because a group of judges believe a routine with a rather questionable Mortal Kombat song deserves the quota. Unbelievable.

finished way ahead of , so now even I started to doubt about Sri Lanka's chances of a wildcard quota. North Macedonia's gymnast lives and trains in Bulgaria, so it's easy to understand why she finished first. The Sri Lankan gymnast is actually Canadian. Lucia Castiglioni is the only one who was born in her represented nation among the top 3 nations eligible for the tripartite invitation. Whoever they choose, it will be a bittersweet choice for many reasons. As I predicted, no team medal for this time. Scores with ribbon were too low for their level, so took their chances and earned the bronze medal. was able to keep the high level until the very end, and I am very surprised with their performances.

From the point of view of a sovereignty of a nation, yes. But time and time again it has been proven that, as a sovereign nation, there is a lot of political involvement in sports, and if this is the route Iran wants to follow, no one should be surprised about the consequences. Another point: I'm always baffled when you repeat that the rest of the world doesn't know how things work in Iran when all the news we get from many different sources is that athletes are punished by the government, gay people are killed, women are forbidden to go to gymnasiums and stadiums watching men compete... Either the whole world is obstinate to spread fake news about Iran, or you really are trying hard cover the problems in your nation (or you are not aware of them). And if the judokas are allowed to compete individually, it's not really a tragedy for the sport, only for the nation as a political entity. Not that Iran didn't dig its own grave in this case, if all evidence is correct.

Of course. My bad. I thought this was the final result.

Since both Israel and Palestine are not officially recognized as nations by a bunch of other countries in the world, then maybe leaving both outside of these Games is not such a bad idea at all? At least Palestine didn't invade another territory and forced international recognition, so what remains of Palestine should be treated differently from what has become Israel. And let's not even pretend politics is not part of this, or that it should be left behind. Nations are, after all, political organizations and divisions. Israel cannot even coexist peacefully within the Middle East, ffs.

I would not be mad, really. I mean, women can't even watch sport events in your country. Maybe you're not aware how completely crazy this sounds to the rest of the world. What good does it bring to the world to have a country like this competing internationally? This is one of the many reasons why I never, ever cheer for Iran or support your athletes, despite all Iranians here being nice people. And I (kind of) understand you're disappointed, but there's no reason to abandon the forum. You guys should not blame people who are trying to force some sense into the managers of your sports federation.

Israel should never take part in these Games, but Palestine should be given a nod. Anyway, it's not that this is a super important competition, but it would still be nice for Palestine to be present in as many sport events as possible.

with gold in C&J! Wow!

The Slovenian gymnast competed for Russia a few years ago. She has always been among the top 8 Russians, so it's only natural she will qualify representing Slovenia (this year she won a bronze medal at the World Cup circuit and a silver medal at the Grand Prix circuit... She's fantastic). Serbia has no chance at all, unfortunately.

So Lebanon is not eligible? Bummer. I don't think the tripartite invitation would go to Europe, so I'm crossing out North Macedonia from this list. Sri Lanka will probably qualify instead, and one Arabic-speaking nation (Egypt) will qualify through the African Championships next year, so there's a bit of happiness for everybody.

Very poorly, unfortunately. Indeed. Among all nations, she is the one that deserves the invitation the most. Much improved over anything her country has shown in the past The Lebanese girl is not so far behind the Sri Lankan. Maybe we'll get to see an upset, who knows?

Random thoughts so far: 1) The tiaras worn by the Russians are tacky, overly pretentious and add nothing to their routines. 2) I'm not a fan of Ashram, but she deserved gold over Selezneva in hoop. But of course "weird" things always happen so Russians end up with the gold medal. 3) Israel in second so far in the team event is a big surprise. They still have their "weakest" performances to come with Telegina and Voronkov, but so does Italy with Maffei and Russo. Bulgaria and especially Belarus could benefit from this. Granted, Bulgaria has Vladinova to come (and she has been nothing but disappointing in the last few months) and Belarus has a team of three excellent gymnasts, so Belarus definitely has the edge over Italy in my opinion, provided they hit every single routine. But it will be close. 4) Griskenas ahead of Zeng? What? Griskenas even made it to a final! Very unexpected! 5) I am very surprised with Barbara Domingos from Brazil. 19.100 and 18.450 are huge scores for her level, and if she's lucky (like, extremely lucky) she could finish 24th and qualify for the final for the first time. Unlikely, but definitely not impossible at this point. 6) Angola, of all nations, has a competent gymnast: Luana Gomes. Nice to see their level has risen considerably. 7) Canadian competing for Sri Lanka, Anna-Marie Ondaatje, is doing pretty well. She is on the right track for the tripartite Olympic qualification. 8) Alissa Sadek from Lebanon is also posting very decent scores, and I honestly never heard about her. Is Lebanon even allowed to apply for a tripartite invitation? 9) There's an Egyptian gymnast also posting good scores. She's currently in 55th place, ahead of both Portuguese gymnasts, and Portugal invests considerable money in rhythmic gymnastics (they even hold one of the World Cup events), so it's surprising to see Egypt ahead of Portugal. 10) Even Australia now has a good gymnast sitting in 58th position! Rhythmics has truly become a global sport by now. I'm amazed!

Hard to say. In my opinion, she is really ill because her performance in Portimão was baffling (even though she won AA gold). But of course we can expect anything from Viner. Truth be told, she had no chance to reach the Olympics, and even her participation at the 2019 Worlds would have been nothing but a footnote for the Russian team. I don't think she would even be able to earn an individual medal. She should have gone the Vedeneeva route by choosing another country to represent (but to be honest I'm not sure Viner would allow her to do this).

Unbelievable. I'm at loss for words. He was such a nice guy. May he rest in peace.

Expected individual Olympic qualifiers: Dark horses for individual qualification: Expected group Olympic qualifiers: Dark horses for group qualification: Groups already qualified: Expected tripartite invitation: