CCB

Hockey finals today, but above all the 4x100 relays! And from a Dutch point of view the Madison at Track Cycling. Kirsten Wild and Amy Pieters became world champion this year, but both are of a respectable age already. I'm afraid 2021 will come too late for them. Wild thought she was already retired by now ...

First choice: Rotterdam Then: Hamburg and Nice

Today marathon swimming for men. Very curious if Ferry Weertman can retain his Olympic title from Rio. And of course men's sprint finals. Rudyk, Hoogland or Lavreysen? I guess Kenny. Only a few days to go. It drives me crazy it's almost over again

Indeed, today's the start of men's sprinting: will be interesting to see what Mateusz Rudyk can do. He is very talented and one of the biggest threats for Lavreysen. We'll see tomorrow in the finals! Nice that you cheer for The Netherlands. Every support helps! You cannot have a bad day in the quarterfinals. By the way: there are some rumours that the best Dutch player in history, Nycke Groot, will return to the national team (because of Estavana Polman's injury). That would be great. Today also reigning Olympic champion marathon swimming Sharon van Rouwendaal. I really like her. She always is so determined and committed. And beside that: she endures the freaks of het French coach Philipe Lucas. Now she has an shoulder injury (again), hopefully next year she can fight for a medal. Other highlights: men team pursuit, team jumping equestrian and hockey semis.

For most people Van den Berg, Lavreysen and Hoogland will be the favourites in the men's teamsprint, but for me is pretty clear that GB will win. They always win when it comes to it. Surely GB will have the best bikes and will win almost all track-competitions. Gymnastics: normally this would be the farewell exercise of Epke Zonderland (when he qualifies). Another Dutch Bart Deurloo also has chances to make it to the final. At the women's beam I don't really expect reigning Olympic champion Sanne Wevers. Her father and trainer is accused of mistreatment by the Dutch federation and not longer entitled to train with his daughter. Besides there are other good gymnasts that can qualify for the Olympics, like Sanna Veerman (uneven bars), Eythora Thorsdottir (beam/floor), Tisha Volleman (floor/vault) and Naomi Visser (all around). I would choose these four. Day 11 also the day of the hockey semifinals with the Dutch women for sure and hopefully the men as well. I'm not a big fan of their coach, Max Caldas. And of course athletics: that's a party every day :-)

Barcelona 1992 - Ellen van Langen - Gold in 800m athletics Lillehammer 1994 - no memories Atlanta 1996 - Dutch volleyballteam men - Gold Nagano 1998 - Hiroyasu Shimizu - gold 500m speedskating Sydney 2000 - Dutch Dominance in the pool - Inge de Bruijn and Pieter van den Hoogenband - 5 Golds Salt Lake City 2002 - Steven Bradbury - shorttrack 1000m Athens 2004 - Gold for Pieter van den Hoogenband again (100m freestyle) Torino 2006 - 8 years after double gold, Marianne Timmer gold in 1000m speedskating (I was there ;-)) Beijing 2008 - Usain Bolt Vancouver 2010 - Gold for speedskater Mark Tuitert in the 1500m (I was there ;-)) London 2012 - Epke Zonderland on high bar: gold (I was there ;-)) Sochi 2014 - winter Olympics in +30 degrees Rio 2016 - first appearance of a Dutch handball team PyeongChang 2018 - Ireen Wüst winning her 5th gold medal at her 4th Olympics (I was there ;-)) Tokyo 2020 - Harrie Lavreysen winning a gold in track cycling sprint (I'm hoping)

Day 10: highlight for me will be athletics, 200m women with Miller-Uibo, Fraser-Pryce, Thompson and Asher-Smith. And maybe, maybe, maybe Dafne Schippers. Hopefully she uses this extra year to find back her form of 2015-2017. Last prelims in women's handball competition today as well. Track cycling begins today. It will only become interesting for The Netherlands when their men's teamsprinters come in action. That's Tuesday.

Highlight for The Netherlands on the 9th day: Marit Bouwmeester in the Laser Radial. But there is so much more: the final of the 50 freestyle for men and women. Probably without Dutch participation, but who knows ... on the women's side we still have 2012-Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo and on the men's side Kenzo Simons broke the World Junior Record last december. Hopefully he qualifies already for the 2021-Olympics. Both Dutch hockeyteams normally will make their appearance in the quarterfinals. The women will be the clear favourite for gold, on the men's side I expect Germany and Belgium. And as icing on the cake the 100m men! WOW! Altogether a nice day!

It's our best handball player: Estavana Polman, voted as the MVP of the last WCh and wife of the more or less known Dutch football star Rafael van der Vaart. Coincidentally you ask that. This morning I read she yesterday has been seriously injured, she has torn her cruciate ligament. Very sad to hear, first of all for herself, but also for the Dutch team, which is nowhere without her. Predicted recovery time is longer than a year. Olympic Games at risk. So you probably can't support her next year

Super Saturday! Not many Dutch athletes today, but still a lot of nice sports to choose from. The swimming finals, including the 4x100 mixed relay. I know many people here hate this part of the competition, but I like this mixedevent. First sailing medals, hopefully one for Kiran Badloe in the RSX men. Day 8 highlights the series of the 400m hurdles with our young talent Femke Bol, hopefully she can join the strong American competition in this event. And last but not least I join @rafalgorka watching the archery finals

Wow, you call that a very broad preview, nice to read. Altogether quite a lot of opportunities for the Polish athletes. Netherlands also has some opportunities, but not as much as Poland. We 'only' have Dafne Schippers at the 100m and 200m (silver in Rio), but honestly: she's not going to make it this time. A lot of sprinters are meanwhile a lot better: Dina Asher, Shaune Miller-Uibo, Elaine Thompson and many others. And Sifan Hassan at the 10.000 meters. But there will be a lot of competition from Kenia and Ethiopia. Maybe there are a few other slight chances: Femke Bol (400 hurdles), 4x100 women and Nadine Visser (100 hurdles). But not very realistic. You're right: most important is having exciting competitions, but ... still nice when your own country wins some medals :-). And to finish: a nice weekend for you as well!

Well, I recommend something ;-) for example archery. Day 7 is the first day of finals of the individual tournaments. Spectacle guaranteed! Day 7 indeed a busy day. BMX finals, hopefully with the full Dutch team. And rowing 8s: although GB and Germany are the favourites, the Dutch will not give up so easy. In judo legend Teddy Riner will try to defend his titles in the +100kg, but I look forward to see Henk Grol, one of my favourite Olympic athletes. And the start of Athletics: @rafalgorka A lot of Polish medals incoming?

Yes, still possible he qualifies. But living legend Uchimura will be there as well. So Epke will definitely not the favourite on high bar. But we still have another participant: Bart Deurloo. He is fully committed to high bar and focuses on a medal.

Well, only the Women's coaches are under investigation and only their Gymnastics Sport Program has stopped. So Epke can continue training. But unfortunately Epke has not qualified yet for the Olympics.

Since the Dutch Gymnastics Federation yesterday decided to discontinue the Olympic Sport Program (due to all the accusations), I suppose there won't be Dutch gymnasts in the all around final. I feel sorry for Eyhtora Thorsdottir and Naomi Visser, who were very likely to be in some finals. But today we also have rowing, beachvolleyball and the start of the BMX competitions, with Niek Kimmann as Dutch medal hope!

Just saw this video on the ARD-site: https://www.sportschau.de/weitere/olympia/video-hoffnung-auf-olympia--beim-doppelvierer-der-maenner-100.html Looks like the German Quadrupples are always good when it comes to it. We have to wait for 364 more days till we know the result :-)

Today the 200m freestyle swimming; likely no Dutch entry, but still one of the highlights for me! Time trial women: Chloe Dygert will destroy the rest of the field, but maybe a silver for Annemiek van Vleuten (the one with the horrible crash in Rio)? At the men's side I'm hoping for Tom Dumoulin. Hopefully he'll somewhere finds his form back. Biggest chance for gold for The Netherlands is the Women's Four (rowing). Will be close with Australia and China, but they can do it!

Well, in the Women's Quadrupple Sculls Poland has a great chance to win. Germany and Netherlands aren't that good anymore. Biggest threat for Poland: China and Ukraïne.

Day 4, another day with a lot of Dutch athletes. The second match of our handball women and hockey women (both world champion). But the main focus from a Dutch point of view today is on rowing, the finals of the Men's and Women's Quadruple sculls. Hopefully they can medal both. Other interesting events for me to look forward to are the 200m freestyle swimming (men), triathlon (women) and MTB (women). What a day!!!

The Schurter - van der Poel clash definitely highlights day 3 for me. Furthermore the start of the RSX sailing; Kiran Badloe took out two times Olympic champion (12,16) Dorian van Rijsselberghe in the qualifications, so Badloe is a great medal hope for us.

Women's gymnastics with Rio gold Sanne Wevers on beam and Eythora Thorsdottir on floor Road cycling women with Annemiek van Vleuten and Marianne Vos Swimming 4x100 women and Arno Kamminga breaststroke

In the 400 meter competition in Bern two of our youngest athletes posted personal bests: Femke Bol 51,13 and Lieke Klaver 51,39. With Lisanne de Witte (PB 50,85) we now have three very promising 400 meter-runners. Such a pity the best one, Madiea Ghafoor, is in jail for drugs sale. Otherwise we would have a really competitive 4x400 relay team.

Well, normally I would be very happy with our first medal at this moment: in the mixed recurve competition. Our handball women were in the form of their lives, like swimmer Arno Kamminga and some rowing teams. We would have seen them at the first day, but instead I have to cry all day in between hoping for a vaccine. Strength for all sport enthousiasts! And more important: stay healthy!

Handball EC!!

Well, I predict a cancellation as there's no vaccin for Covid-19 in a few months. In The Netherlands people told the vaccins are only ready in autumn 2021, so I fear the Games will be cancelled.