CCB

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:

I am most looking forward to the world speedskating championships in Heerenveen. I have tickets for the third day and hope to see skating sensation Jutta Leerdam live. A month earlier the first phase of the ticket sales for Paris '24 starts. I wonder if I get the chance to buy some nice tickets. Finally, I'm curious about the development of Dutch talents Tes Schouten (swimming), Joanne van Lieshout (judo), Niels Laros (athletics) and Roos Daleman (handball).

In the men's time trial one of the Belgians will win; I pick Remco Evenepoel (who will win the men's road race as well). At the women's side Annemiek van Vleuten won't win. She stops racing at the end of 2023. Reigning world champion Ellen van Dijk normally screws it up at Olympics, so my favourites are Chloe Dygert (USA) and Zoe Backstedt. Both are not in the list.

Totally agree, but we have to add Ellen van Langen (1992, gold in 800 meters), Yvonne van Gennip (triple gold in Calgary 1988) and Ireen Wüst (speedskating gold from 2006 till 2022) to the list. Oh wait, we were only allowed to choose 5 ...

Netherlands has a lot of medal contenders, but unfortunately not many clear favourites for gold. Well, my top 5: 1. Rowing: women single sculls (Karolien Florijn) 2. Hockey: women's team 3. Hockey: men's team 4. BMX: women's race (Merel Smulders) 5. Swimming: women's 200 breaststroke (Tes Schouten) I predict a lot of silver and bronze, especially for our superstars in athletics (Femke Bol, who is without a chance against Sydney McLaughlin), in cycling track (Harrie Lavreysen will be without a chance against Mikhail Jakovlev) and in swimming (Arno Kamminga is without a chance against Adam Peaty).

The men's volleyball title in Atlanta '96 for was chosen as the best and most memorable sportsmoment in the last century in our country. And I'm guessing if you include this century, this sportsmoment 'wins' again. So I voted for The Netherlands!

Second round nrs 1-4 A against nrs 1-4 B. And C with D?

I am happy that the Netherlands won against Montenegro, but it is not really a victory that counts. Montenegro no longer played for anything. Nevertheless, the feeling prevails that the Netherlands has failed against Germany and Spain, while winning was really possible. But congratulations to Montenegro, Denmark and Norway. One of them qualifies for the OS and the other two are sure of an OQT.

Yesterday's referees were a disgrace too. Netherlands scored a clear goal in the last second, but the referees disallowed the goal of Polman. Today again; the last penalty for Montenegro ... why? Things are very complicated now for . No semifinals and probably the fifth or sixth place in the poule, because I expect to win against . We expected a lot more after the crucial win in the first match against .

If continue to play like they did yesterday against , we will finish 12th. In all those years I've seen handball from the Dutch team, this was by far the worst match. The players have zero confidence at the moment, which is pretty strange, because they played good against .

Poor Poland. Spain and Germany of course ended with the result both teams going ahead. And a pretty good match from against . Sadly lost and plenty of room for improvement. On to the game against .

Correct. Montenegro is playing very strong, especially in front of the home crowd. Germany has also played well in recent months. Spain is really disappointing. Group II is going to be a tough one.

Normally Probably And one out of But all depends on the draw of next year's world championships and the composition of the OQT's.

I really didn't expect this. It proves once again that sport is not a science. I gave nothing more for Denmark's chances after the defeat to Slovenia. Certainly not because they recently lost to the Netherlands twice. Nice that it remains exciting in group I.

I agree. It's really bad.

Surprising win for Poland against Spain . Will be difficult for Spain to reach the main round. France with a very convincing performance against Romania. For me the French team is the big favorite for the ECh-title now.

Apologies :-)

Unfortunately, the tension is a bit off in groups A and B. After today's results, you don't have to be a fortune teller to predict that Norway and Sweden will make it to the semi-finals. There is more tension in groups C and D.