CCB

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.

I'm rewatching some of the final sessions of the 2000 Sydney Olympics ... almost 20 years ago that Pieter van den Hoogenband (Hoogie) and Inge de Bruijn (Inky) dominated international swimming. That were the days!

Miyachi already won 3 stages. Zonderland as well, so we will have a tiebreaker definitely. The only reason why Miyachi skips the last two World Cups is that he knows he will be selected for the Japanese team. Otherwise I don't understand him. He 'only' needs to win the next World Cup with a score of 14,733 to surpass Zonderland.

Very disappointing result for Roest, but a very nice battle between Bloemen and Kramer . And Fish ... he will be the champion at the 10km. And another medal for in the teamsprint women. Whoop whoop

I can't find a list of competitors. Are Sharon van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman competing?

Thanks! And happy that Netherlands and Italy won't fight each other for the Olympic ticket. We beat Italy 10-4 at the ECh, but the Italian players were infected (virus) that day according Dutch media. Normally Italy is a little better than us.

Hopefully you are right! Semifinals as deciding matches will be interesting.

I'm not sure about it, but the person who did the draw ceremony mumbled something like that. The men's tournament has quarter finals and semi finals for sure.

and in the same poule at the Olympic Qualification tournament. In the end only 10 teams are participating (Africa and South America withdrew), therefore there will be only a round robin. Both poule winners qualify for the Olympics. Not very happy with this draw, against Italy in Italy.

Dutch World Champions Bekkering/Duetz didn't have a great start either. They already collected a lot of points. Third world title in a row is not very likely anymore. At the men's side Bos/van Vugt still fighting for an Olympic place. NOC decided they have to finish top 6 at least. After this first day they are 4th!