CCB

On the other hand: Netherlands does not have good memories of matches against Hungary in recent years. In that respect, it might be better we have a good chance of reaching the semis now.

Well, actually I'm very disappointed. The Dutch waterpoloteam has eliminated itself. Very stupid, although I'm not a fan of losing on purpose, but at the next World Cup it will certainly happen.

What a horrible performance by the Dutch men. A clear 0-3 against Slovenia. Well, this can happen, because Slovenia is a strong team, but the way Netherlands played this match ... pfffff. If they don't improve quickly, they won't make it to the Olympics.

The Dutch federation wants fewer medals, but to increase the chance of more first places. That's why we now only have competitive boats in the W1x, W4x, M2x, M4x and M8. In my opinion a wrong choice, because in these five boats there are so many other top countries that you better participate in more boats and then settle for bronze or something. In the W1x Karolien Florijn is the reigning world champion, but the Australian Tara Rigney has almost passed her. The W4x is for China, the M2x for the Sinkovic brothers, the M4x for GB and the M8 too. So anyway a lot of silver and bronze for the Netherlands. I'd rather have 8x silver and bronze than 5x silver and bronze. I really don't understand the choice for these priority boats.

I couldn't have been more wrong. 3-0 for Germany, for me a surprising win.

Cuba for sure.

Very interesting draw for Netherlands. Their goal is reaching the quarterfinals, well ... that's possible with this draw. However Spain and Brazil are really good teams. Looking forward to the group E and F-matches. Will be a great battle for the quarterfinals.

I especially like Hannah Ohrtmann and Lisa Alsmeier. Germany really became stronger last year. Interesting to see if they can qualify for Paris with competition from Dominican Republic, Canada and Netherlands. Serbia played the first two weeks with their B-squad. But Ojgenovic and the legend Boskovic came back in the third week. But Serbia was still a little shaky.

Watch out for indeed. Don't know why, but somehow I think they will reach the final against .

Yeah, I really think she is the most important player. I agree she's maybe not the best of the team, but her position (opposite) is the most important! And Dambrink is way better than Celeste Plak and Iris Scholten on that position. They did better than I thought in the last two weeks of the VNL. But losing to Germany and Dominican Republic (and Canada) was really unnecessary.

Point differential count towards World Ranking points. There is a very complicated formula to determine how many points a winner gets. Kind of tournament, place on the ranking, differences in places, difference in points, and 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2 all matter. This VNL counts more heavily than the OQT and Continentals.

Well, congrats! Netherlands didn't deserve this win, they did not play constant today. And they missed a good opposite, our best (Elles Dambrink) sits at home (nobody knows why, she really could have helped the team today). So a deserved win for Canada, nice to see they improved so much the last years. With the points of this match, they are full in the race for the Olympics. About that: all the surprising wins of Dominican Republic today do not help Netherlands and Canada at all.

I totally agree with the women's prediction. At the men's side I predict instead of . Maybe or as winners of the European League instead of ? Will be a close call.

Well, losing 3-2 against Italy actually is a good result, it means only -0.01 on the WRL. Losing in four sets would mean -3.00, so the hard work (a sort of) paid off after all. Very surprising win of The Netherlands against Japan. Tomorrow an important game for Canada and The Netherlands. Let's hope for a nice battle!

Don't worry about the match against Netherlands. Canadian women's volleyball team has improved so much, I think their level is far beyond the Netherlands now, especially because we miss our best player this week. A win against Netherlands means a lot of points for Canada. And honestly: they can win against Italy (without Egonu) as well. When you beat Brazil, you can beat every other team in this competition. My prediction is that The Netherlands will have to fight it out with Germany, Belgium and Dominican Republic for the last Olympic spot. And in fact Canada already has passed Belgium, because Belgium lost 3:0 to Sweden yesterday in the European League. So Belgium therefore gets about 5 points deducted.

B-boys and B-girls ... It won't be my favorite sport, but maybe I'm just too sour

The Netherlands will simply try to win that match. After the 12-8 win against Spain in the semi-finals of the World Cup, it would be too flashy to lose. There is still a chance for the Netherlands at the European Championships and the next World Championships. It is annoying that the countries already placed for the OG are also participating again. A certain form of match fixing is therefore unavoidable. After the women's hockey, the water polo players are the Dutch team from which the best performance is expected in Paris. It is assumed that the hockey teams and the water polo team are the three qualifying team sports of the Netherlands in Paris.

The Dutch federation will not be happy with the results of the Dutch boats. They have gone all out to win more gold instead of all the silver and bronze medals of the past. If you disregard the single scull, they failed to do that. Only silver and bronze and almost no connection with the gold. Fortunately, we won two gold medals in the single scull. Florijn was expected, but Van Lierop winning was completely unexpected. Anyway, I think the Netherlands did well with 10 medals in Olympic classes. While we competed in 11 of the 14 classes. I expect and hope very much that most boats will be reconstituted and that the women of the W2x and W2- eventually end up in the W4x and W4- again. Especially if the Romanian twos become even stronger.

Well, as expected only silver and bronze medals for the Dutch boats. Except for the Men's Eight, all the boats (even the M4x) were far from gold.

That surprises me too. Roos de Jong and Laila Youssifou are the best Dutch rowers at the moment. Together with Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester they could form a very strong Four or Quadruple, but the union prefers 2x silver to 1x gold. Romania is just way too strong in the W2x. There were rumors that Simona Radis from the Romanian Double Sculls was going to skiff, but luckily she didn't. Otherwise Karolien Florijn would have a problem.

That is indeed correct. The Netherlands has also changed the composition of a number of boats. The priority boats are the Men's Eight, Men's Four, Women's Four and Women's Quadruple Sculls. And it is precisely in those numbers that Great Britain is much too strong. True to tradition, I expect a lot of silver and bronze for the Netherlands.

The eight best nations are pre-seeded in the WCh: A: C: B: D: E: G: F: H: This normally means a quarterfinal for against Norway or France, in my opinion the two best teams in the world. Both are already qualified for the OG, so the winners of A/B/E/F are playing for the third place and the Olympic spot. Countries ranked 4 to 9 will play an OQT. I think it's really unfair that the number 9 ends up in the easiest OQT-poule with only 1 other European country.

Well, unfortunately I had to decide not to buy any tickets. Wanted jumping (sold out), BMX (sold out), track cycling (way too expensive) and some other tickets, but all in all only the most expensive were left for a lot of sports. So, I'm going to watch the Games from my couch with Totallympics on my laptop next to me. Also nice! And I'm going to save money for Milaan 2026 ... But ofcourse I wish everyone with tickets a very nice time in Paris. And for those who still want to buy tickets, good luck!

This afternoon I also received an email saying my allocation time is from 12th of May at 10.00. Very curious which tickets are left at that time. Hoping for some track cycling, athletics, hockey and beach volleyball.

Eindhoven Qualification Meet - afternoon session Women's 50m freestyle Marrit Steenbergen (24,42)