CCB

What a surprise Germany won this WCh. But in the end ... well deserved. Netherlands played a good tournament as well. I'm looking forward to the ECh and the OG with our young and talented team.

You are only allowed to buy 30 tickets, so you'll have max 5 packs (3 events each), assumed that you will travel with your sister. I wanna go from 31 July till 5 August. Hopefully I can visit some hockey matches, but I have to guess in which matches Netherlands is playing.

I'm afraid there's only a little chance to be lucky in the draw. I am praying 24 hours a day ...

Normally Worldofvolley is well informed, but the FIVB has not confirmed the pool composition, so I think you are right.

According to Worldofvolley.com this is the pool composition for the OG-qualification for women's volleyball. The 'draw' was held on December 19th. I have completely missed reports about these pools. Pool A (Japan host): Serbia, Japan, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Peru. Pool B: Italy, China, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Thailand, Czech Republic, Argentina, Slovenia. Pool C: Brazil, United States, Poland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Ukraine

According to Worldofvolley.com this is the pool composition for the OG-qualification for women's volleyball. The 'draw' was held on December 19th. I have completely missed reports about these pools. Pool A (Japan host): Serbia, Japan, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Peru. Pool B: Italy, China, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Thailand, Czech Republic, Argentina, Slovenia. Pool C: Brazil, United States, Poland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Ukraine

Bad result for us against Germany, but not unexpected. We played a good tournament and will probably finish at the 11th place. So no OQT for us :-(

Hopefully you get all the tickets you want. We planned the following: 2-Aug: waterpolo women 3-Aug: rowing finals, athletics finals 4-Aug: hockey quarterfinals men, beachvolleyball 5-Aug: hockey quarterfinals women, jumping qualification So, fingers crossed I got a place in the draw ... or the second draw ...

Let's hope anything can happen. However, nobody expected this level of the Dutch team anyway, so it's already a big performance of them.

Croatia and Slovenia with best chances to finish as the two best numbers three, so I expect they will qualify for the OQT. Unfortunately the surprising Dutch team lost against Norway, which means they have no chances anymore to finish top 2 (they'll never win against Germany on Saturday).

For sure, the second match and today's match were a lot better. But in the end we have to be honest: group C was incredibly weak. In the quarterfinal we play against Australia/Argentina or South Korea. It will be an extremely difficult match for the Dutch.

Here are the predictions for the Dutch team Archery: 1 woman and 1 man (no team of 3, Steve Wijler is the only one with a decent level) 2 Athletics: hopefully we can qualify all the relays 35 Artistic swimming: duet 2 Badminton: women’s double, men’s double and a mixed double 4 Basketball: no universality qualification tournament, less chance for our men’s team 0 Beach volleyball: I think 2 men couples and 1 women couple 6 Boxing: no Olympic sport anymore, otherwise no Dutch competitors 0 Breaking: no idea, I thought it was a joke when Breaking was announced as an Olympic sport 0 Canoeing slalom: at the women’s side we have some good competitors 2 Canoeing sprint: no way 0 Cycling BMX : 3 women and 1 or 2 men 4 Cycling Mountainbike: 1 men (or will Mathieu van der Poel return?) and 2 woman 3 Cycling Road: full teams for men and women 8 Cycling Track: women pursuit, madison, omnium and teamsprint (7), men Madison, omnium and teamsprint (5) 12 Diving: at the women’s side a synchron 3 meter and 1 individual 3 Equestrian: jumping and dressage teams qualified, one eventing rider 7 Fencing: no chance at all 0 Field hockey: both men and women with a full team 32 Football: no chance for women, a slim chance for men, but don’t think so 0 Golf: maybe 1 woman 1 Gymnastics artistic: only two individual gymnasts, too much rumours after all the scandals in Dutch gymnastics 2 Gymnastics rhytmic: no chance at all 0 Trampolino: no chance at all 0 Handball: men’s team becoming better and better, but no realistic chance; woman still have a chance, but are not as good as they were the last five years, so my prediction is 0 Judo: both at the men’s and women’s side 4 judoka’s 8 Modern pentathlon: 0 Rowing: difficult to say because almost all the crews are going to change, probably 19 men and 21 women 40 Rugby sevens: no chance 0 Sailing: I predict 6 boats, total sailers 8 Shooting: unfortunately no good shooters in The Netherlands 0 Skateboarding: normally all 3 woman 3 Sport climbing: no climbers at all 0 Surfing: 0 Swimming: somewhere around 15 men and woman in total 15 Table tennis: only woman who could make it is pregnant now, not sure if she’ll come back 0 Taekwondo: 0 Tennis: 2 men for the singles, 2 extra for doubles and maybe 1 woman for mixed doubles 5 Triathlon: 3 Volleyball: my heart is bleeding, no volleyballteams, especially after the bad results at the WCh on home soil and the fact that the woman cannot find a good coach 12 Water polo: hopefully the women can make it 12 Weightlifting: only 1 man, Enzo Kuworge 1 Wrestling: no wrestlers 0 The total should be around 230 athletes. I.m.o. the prediction of Topicmaster1010 (286) is a little too ambitious for our small country. But a lot of respect for his work ... wow!

Dutch team doesn't play well against Malaysia. Too many technical mistakes. I expected a lot more of our young team. Hopefully their level will go up in the next match against New Zealand. Australia made the best impression in the first matches. In my opinion biggest favourite for the title.

I am still very excited to visit the Games. I am sure France will manage this. But I can't find an accommodation yet. Surely not all hotels will be sold out yet?

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE for sportswomen in Olympic sports #1: Irene Schouten (Netherlands, speedskating) #2: Marte Olsbu Røiseland (Norway, biathlon) #3: Sydney McLaughlin (USA, athletics) #4: Arianna Fontana (Italy, shorttrack speedskating) #5: Emma McKeon (Australia, swimming) #6: BEST MALE ATHLETE for sportsmen in Olympic sports #1: Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark, cycling) #2: Kjeld Nuis (Netherlands, speedskating) #3: Leon Marchand (France, swimming) #4: Nathan Chen (USA, figure skating) #5: Armand Duplantis (Sweden, athletics) #6: BEST PARALYMPIC ATHLETE for athletes in Paralympic sports #1: #2: #3: #4: #5: #6: BEST NON-OLYMPIC ATHLETE for athletes in Non-Olympic sports #1: #2: #3: #4: #5: #6: BEST YOUTH ATHLETE for any athlete up to 18 years old (including Olympic, Paralympic and Non-Olympic sports) #1: David Popovici (Romania, swimming) #2: Mollie O'Callaghan (Australia, swimming) #3: Erriyon Knighton (USA, athletics) #4: #5: #6: BEST MEN'S TEAM for men's teams or groups (including Olympic, Paralympic and Non-Olympic sports) #1: Sweden horse jumping team #2: Finland ice hockey team #3: Croatia waterpolo team #4: #5: #6: BEST WOMEN'S TEAM for women's teams or groups (including Olympic, Paralympic and Non-Olympic sports) #1: Norway handball team #2: Netherlands field hockey team #3: Canada speedskating team pursuit #4: #5: #6: BEST DOUBLES OR PAIR for doubles or pairs (including Olympic, Paralympic and Non-Olympic sports) #1: #2: #3: #4: #5: #6: BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR for the most improved athlete or team (including Olympic, Paralympic and Non-Olympic sports) #1: Xandra Velzeboer (Netherlands, shorttrack speedskating) #2: Mollie O'Callaghan (Australia, swimming) #3: Jordan Stolz (USA, speedskating) #4: #5: #6: SPORT MOMENT OF THE YEAR for any sport moment from 2022 (including Olympic, Paralympic and Non-Olympic sports) #1: Ireen Wüst winning her fifth individual gold medal at her fifth Olympic Games #2: Lindsey Jacobellis' snowboard cross gold, finally! #3: Jonas Vingegaard winning the Tour de France #4: #5: #6: OLYMPIC SPIRIT AWARD for any athlete or team that took part in the 2022 Winter Olympics or Paralympics #1: #2: #3: #4: #5: #6: