thiago_simoes

Each of the powerhouses (plus Japan, who is now a powerhouse, I suppose) got a medal. Good. But the non-medal results are really important too when you analyze the bigger picture. Usually, the World Cup/Challenge Cup series offer a bigger picture about what's to come. This year, won 2 individual medals, and won one. got a silver medal, and and had fourth-place finishes once. Thankfully, were able to translate their good results to the World Championships, since individual gymnasts qualified for finals. and got individual finals too, albeit their WCup success being with their groups, not individual gymnasts. unfortunately didn't qualify for any finals. But a medal result at the World Championships is a different story altogether. It's crazy to predict when an "outsider" nation will be able to achieve one. Kaho Minagawa got only one bronze medal at the World Cup circuit, and then she magically earned one bronze medal too at the World Championships in 2017. However, Son Yeon-jae got 22 medals at the World Cup circuit before she earned one bronze medal at the World Championships. Both of them were pupils of Irina Viner-Usmanova. Go figure.

Of course slips of the tongue might happen, and someone can always double check registrations for the date of birth in different past competitions (both China and North Korea lost world medals after inconsistencies were found), but I believe in you when you say evidence has been destroyed. China cannot be this dumb once again (they lost the team medal at the 2000 Olympics thanks to extreme dumbness).

I am kind of disappointed with this explanation. It's not that I'm implying you are lying or anything, it's just that we've had all sorts of rumors for years, and when I thought you had inside information or tangible evidence, you just added more fuel to the rumors, but nothing really concrete. The scandal about the age of gymnasts in 2008 is some sort of US-fueled conspiracy theory. I don't doubt Chinese gymnasts were underage, but most of the talks after the Olympics come from sore losers who blindly defend the US gymnasts, even though they did not deserve to win the team title that year. I know that underage is underage, so if the Chinese gymnasts were really less than 16, the US should win, but we need evidence.

According to a FIG's official document (here) Ukraine has not officially qualified, but they don't really need to do anything else. If they compete at the Europeans, then maybe you're right and the US will get the quota, I guess. But then, if the US gets the quota through the WC and finishes first at the Pan Ams, what will happen? Will the quota be awarded to Mexico, then?

I tried to, but it just redirects to the home address (https://osumoney.xyz/) and I don't think this would help you, would it?

The difference is that in 2016 only nations with two individual gymnasts in the top 10 were allowed to send both gymnasts to the Olympics. If this rule were still in place, we would have and with two gymnasts; and would lose one quota, while and would be guaranteed one quota (and also, considering the host nation quota reallocation). This would have been a lot better, in my opinion, for the sport. I believe the only sport with a specific score for artistic impression is artistic swimming. Not sure if equestrian (dressage) has it, and diving is completely crazy with its scoring system. In rhythmic gymnastics there are deductions related to artistic performance, but these are not exactly deal-breakers if the overall execution and, especially, difficulty, are on point. In artistic gymnastics there are also deductions related to artistic performance, but only in a couple of events: floor and beam. And, once again, if execution and difficulty are good enough, artistic deductions are not a big deal (the American gymnasts have mostly bad artistic performances in my opinion, but they still win gold).

Qualified nations: Continental quotas still to be decided: Europe: 1 quota; top 3 favorites: Asia: 1 quota; top 3 favorites: Americas: 1 quota; top 3 favorites: Oceania: 1 quota; 2 nations will decide the quota, and Africa: 1 quota; favorite nation for the quota: (really, no other country comes even remotely close to Egypt)

Well, Ukraine qualified after all. Very suspicious scores for some nations in this second half. This is not good for the sport.

USA ahead of Mexico. This is... LOL. Unbelievable.

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.