thiago_simoes

What are Aruba's chances? Sailing?

This is my first time watching this event and I've lost patience already. No time for it.

It's an even worse offender than the official song. The sample is too short and it keeps repeating over and over again, so 15 seconds is enough for it to get on my nerves.

This will be a long post. I'll write my impressions about the whole competition, but instead of commenting about every event, I'll comment about each country. First, Canada. Their men's team is much, much improved from previous years and there's even a chance to qualify a full team for the 2020 Olympics if they tweak their performances here and there. I'm very impressed! Paterson did a very good job in the all-around competition, and Couroyer was mostly solid, but tiny mistakes cost him three individual medals. The women's team managed to perform well without Padurariu, and even with a number of mistakes they earned silver. Black was rock solid through most of the competition, Olsen is not on the level I expected her to be, and Moors performed the best routine in her life in the event finals. The US decided to send a very inexperienced men's team to compete at the Pan Ams, and boy, did it show. No gold medals, "only" four medals out of 15 chances for a medal... I know they are still very young, but hopefully the US will learn and take this competition seriously next time. The women's team was the cream of the crop, except for Simone Biles, and while still extremely successful as a team, individual performances were less than optimal for what was expected. Not even close to a clean sweep of the medals, and both Wong and Hurd were extremely disappointing. McCusker was also not on the level everybody expected from her. Mexico earned two surprising gold medals, and I guess no one was really expecting that. Good performances from de Luna and Núñez, but Corral is still recovering and rebuilding confidence. Still, I only expected a bronze medal for Mexico on rings, on a lucky day, but they greatly surpassed my expectations. The women's team was completely depleted of their biggest stars, and it shows. Cuba was a big surprise. All of the girls from the women's team seem not to be healthy. I'm worried about the training conditions there. Still, Ferrera won a medal and I'm really happy with that because she has suffered a lot with injuries, so it's nice to have a medal now. Two extra bronze medals in men's events were totally unexpected, but this only shows that the potential is there, though, again, I'm very worried about the training conditions there. I was not really surprised with a gold medal for Dominican Republic. I wrote about this possibility a number of times before, actually. The problem is that Nin Reyes misses his vaults more than he hits them, so I confess I was worried for a moment. Still, nothing to worry about. Great result form him. Guatemala had great performances with Vega and Palacios, and it's great for Vega to add another medal to his tally. Argentina finally earned a medal after 20 years, and I'm delighted with Molinari. Dominici was very impressive too, and in four years she will be ready to challenge for a medal, I'm sure. Magistrati is very, very, very talented, but she was not able to show it here completely. Once again, I hope that in four years she is ready to show it. Colombia earned two surprising bronze medals and this is probably more than they had hoped for. Jamaica was impressive with Francis and Beckford, but since they competed for Great Britain before switching nationalities, their somewhat decent performances were to be expected. Costa Rica was a quiet achiever, qualifying gymnasts for both men's and women's all around finals. I'm very impressed with the female gymnast from El Salvador. She has a lot of potential! Bolivia was the biggest disappointment of the whole competition, especially because both girls are talented but both had very poor performances here. Peru did well to qualify for a number of finals. Their best chance was on vault, but Aguero made a mistake in qualifications and he must have been very disappointed. On pommel horse, I still can't believe Moreto fell twice and lost an "easy" medal for him. Lucky to qualify for the finals, very unlucky not to hit when it counted the most. Last but not least, Brazil. I didn't expect much from the men's team, but in the end we got four gold medals. Unbelievable! And both Zanetti and Souza lost "easy" gold medals for them thanks to silly mistakes, but overall the experience was fantastic and I hope this means a new era for Brazilian gymnastics has finally arrived. Our women's team did well considering we lost Rebeca and Jade before the competition even started. Saraiva must be happy with three medals, but she lost other opportunities and overall I think she has lost steam compared to her almost impeccable form from 2016. Still, I have no words to express how happy I am with the number of medals achieved this year. This will go down in history as a very successful year and this is what matters. Rhythmic gymnastics events begin in a few days. The US is expected to dominate individual events, and Mexico group events. I'm very excited and I hope everybody performs to the best of their abilities!

I won't even bother downloading the app now.

Moors' gold on floor made history... for Brazil. I never thought I would see this in my life. I'm in shock!

I don't know why I still have any faith left in Flávia. Terrible beam routine. I can't believe it.

It kind of makes me sad that Olsen got a bronze medal on vault yesterday with 14.183 and Dominici could realistically have beaten this score (she scored 14.150 in qualifications) but she didn't. Unfortunately only a total meltdown like what happened on pommel horse yesterday could guarantee a medal for Dominici or Pisos today.

Argentina got me scared for a moment in women's handball, but Brazil did very well to keep calm and impose their rhythm. I expect men's handball to be very fiercely contested and I want Brazil and Argentina playing against each other in the final match too.

On the contrary: it was his execution that secured the bronze medal. Caio Souza had more difficult elements, but worse execution. I've wanted a medal for Molinari for so long that I don't even care he knocked a Brazilian off the podium. I agree that his past achievements may have made the judges a bit more lenient, but he deserved a medal after such a long career. The man is just tireless and he kept going and going and going until he could finally get this medal. I'm so, so, so happy! Now, de Luna had a better executed routine and deserved the gold medal. Zanetti's mistake cost him 0.6 (0.3 for loss of control when lowering his body and an extra 0.3 for using his forearms to bring his body to vertical position). In gymnastics, sometimes what seems like a small mistake is actually something quite big that will shave a lot of points off the final score. I agree. He deserves an individual medal. His last chance is on the high bar, and anything can happen.

I agree, but I also think swimming will make a big difference. Mexico is not expected to win any gold medals (or even maybe any medal at all) in swimming, so this sport could define which nation will jump to second place.

Yes, gym Gods! A medal for Molinari and Zanetti dethroned. PERFECT! Congratulations, Mexico and Argentina!

Zanetti lost the gold medal, and probably even the chance for a medal. BIGGEST shock of the entire competition.

Okay, now I want a medal for Molinari. This is what I've been waiting for the whole year. Molinari is one of my favorite gymnasts and I hope he finally gets a medal now. Please, gym Gods. Please!

Horrible pommel horse final. One of the worst I've seen in my life. I don't even know if I can force myself to celebrate this gold medal. Kudos to Barretto for not crumbling under pressure completely, but even he had very noticeable mistakes. Peru's only medal in gymnastics was earned in 1979 (a bronze medal on men's vault). Moreto had a once in a lifetime opportunity, he could even have won gold, and a bronze medal was definitely within reach even with a not so great routine from him.

Another unexpected medal! If anybody had told me Brazil would have 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze in two all-around events, I would have laughed so hard! Amazing day!

This makes me so happy! I fell in love with modern pentathlon because of Yane Marques, but I thought we would be done for after she retired... It looks like there's still hope for us after all! Amazing!

Yes, totally unexpected. Eaker had two falls, which is almost unbelievable. This gives me hope for a gold medal of floor for Flávia.

Fair score. If he really didn't fall, he loses only 0.5 for a deep landing, instead of 1.0 for a fall.

De Luna and Corral Barron are your best chances for a medal. I'm surprised with the level of Baron right now, and fourth place for your team is FANTASTIC.

Daniel Aguero blew his chances of a medal on vault. I can't believe it!

With this score? Absolutely. 10th-12th position at the World Championships is feasible.

I understand your point, but there are two things here that must be made clear: 1) The point is not "people don't like to see a Chinese swimmer winning medals". This is not about his nationality. When people complain about Sun Yang, the problem is not his origin. I understand that there is heavy bias towards Asia (yes, I read Orientalism by Edward Said during my PhD classes) but I honestly don't think most people here are biased towards Asia. Instead, most of us can't stand Sun Yang for his actions. 2) The fact that in other sports there are athletes who act like this is really sad. It should not be the norm, and I feel bad for people who admire such bad examples not only sport, but in life.

This was confirmed by one swimmer at the time. You can defend him all you want, but please don't act the fool. I'm not playing a game of "you are worse because..." with you. Not my thing.

I mean he's an a**hole. Plain and simple. He pushed a female Brazilian swimmer during practice once, confronted a fellow swimmer on the podium, destroyed possible evidence against him... And China topped the medal table thanks to diving, not swimming. They did not even finish in the top 3 in swimming events, even if you count open water swimming (US, Australia and Hungary were the top 3). My bias can be disgusting all you want it to be, and so is your poor judgement and senseless defense of a convicted doper.