CCB

I need to relax? Didn't know that I wasn't 

Congrats to your talented team. Don't know what happened with the Dutch men. In qualies and race for bronze they were a lot faster than Italy, but in the second round our third man (Tijmen van Loon) was almost 1,5 second slower than in the two other rounds. 
 
We really need Jeffrey Hoogland back in our team. That's the only way to give competition to the British team. 
 
However, today was a special day. For the first time since very long we entered the Women Team Pursuit and eventually won the bronze medal. Well, a lot of countries didn't participate, but with a national record of 4.12 still a very promising result. There are rumors that Milano Cortina 1.500 meter speedskating Olympic champion Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong will enter the team. 

A bit of a mixed session for  GB.
 
The Women's Team Pursuit blew up in the final and were lucky to avoid the overlap. Worth saying the GB were the only medalist that didn't make use of their substitute rider - probably not surprising given the substitute was Lauren Bell. Still a second-tier team was good enough to take a silver.
 
The Men's Team Pursuit had a nightmare day. Having crashed in the first qualifying run, they did enough on the rerun to get to the 1st round where they did step up and qualify for the bronze medal match. They kept it close against China for the first half before fading pretty badly to finish 4th.
 
I was a bit surprised that the Women's Team Sprint were beaten by China. They were leading by 0.2 seconds after Bell and Finucane had completed their laps but it looked like Parris-Smith was just way too far back.
 
The standout was the Men's Team Sprint. I thought they were going to have to settle for the silver but somehow managed to pull it out of the bag in the final lap. 
 

 

 
I definitely picked the wrong section of the crowd though - caught between two competing locals. One vocally anti-China, accusing them of cheating and booing every time they were on the track. At one point he was singing God Save the King and Rule Britannia. In the end he was asked to leave. 
 
Biggest cheer of the night was for  Lee Sze Wing's silver in the elimination race.

I know there will be other slots where more tickets will be released. Hoping for more affordable tickets in future slots

Disappointed. I wanted tickets for BMX, 3x3, beach volleyball and athletics. Sadly there were no tickets for BMX and 3x3. Athletics and beach volley way too expensive for me.
 
I will focus on 2030 Winter Olympics again.

I had found a nice Reddit post that had a comprehensive view of what was left and at what price.  Using that, I knew what I wanted to get.  Fortunately, things were smooth in the process overall.  One session was sold out of the tickets I wanted and I had to change dates, but ultimately, I'm pleased.  (Hey...we're going to the Olympics! )
 
We're going to see Women's Handball Prelims (we get to see two matches), and we will see Men's Lacrosse Prelims (where we get to see three matches...which means that we'll be guaranteed to see Team USA  ).
 
We were slightly constrained in availability (obviously) and also with the thought that we'll have our (then) 9 and 13 year old daughters with us, so it needed to be family-friendly and fun...and I think both of these tick that box.  I also wanted to see a sport we don't normally see here, so Handball definitely ticks that.
 
We ultimately would love to snag Climbing tickets (Women's Boulder specifically) and perhaps Women's Volleyball or Basketball (Team USA preferably), and our schedule does allow us some flexibility (we have several days between these events).  But, who knows if any will become available at any point (either in a future Drop or in Resale).
 
Best of luck to anyone else still wanting tickets!
 
Also wanted to share this Google Doc that some other kind soul on Reddit put together for anyone else planning.

I have a time slot 16th of April, but my girlfriend doesn't . So you're not the only one ...
Hopefully there are some tickets left when I enter the ticketshop.

Same for the Dutch crews  . Only a silver for Kampman, who won almost every race this week, except the grand final. 

And no Phijffers, by far our fastest male 400 metres runner this season.

So does Lieke Klaver.
No Klaver and no Bol, this will become the worst mixed relay in recent history for us.

That doesnt contradict what I posted.
 
The vacancy will be created if ALL of the 2026 Wrld Cup teams are.qualified. For now, Spain in the best placed non qualifier for that events and qualifies for the OQS

Sorry, didn't know that. Thanks for the information!

"2. Netherlands will be off from previous speed skating highs"
 
For sure, only in some women's events we can win gold medals, but I'm afraid won't even make the top 8 this time. But I like to be surprised by the short trackers, so who knows, maybe it will still work out well.

Lol what a nonsense argument to make. That's never what I claimed, and in the alltime medal standings Italy is even lower than the Netherlands so if you're trying to argue Italy is a powerhouse, then that's an invalid argument to make.
 
Besides, what else would you expect The Netherlands to do? There is no snow and there are no mountains which structurally eliminates 70% of medal options with a very rare exception every few games, and there's simply no figure skating or ice hockey culture over here which eliminates another 10% of options. We're simply maximising all our medal possibilities, resulting in consistent performances the last few Olympic cycles. 
 

The Netherlands is just lucky. I hope there's nothing more to it. Norway and the Netherlands have such an advantage in some sports that I'd like to take a closer look at them – after all, there was already a controversy over Bjoergen's asthma medication.

That's actually a good way to remind me why nobody should be obsessed with the medal table.

What a race, what an Olympics, 5 gold medals, damn  
 
Itzhak de Laat is Olympic champion, I'm gonna read that sentence 52 more times to make sure it's true  

Happy Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong finally has her gold.
 
Also extremely happy with Maltais’ bronze. It is a nice surprise. Keeps my streak of seeing Canadian medals at every event I’ve attended intact for now (women’s 3000m relay in short track, men’s 500m in short track, women’s ice hockey finals) with two more to go in Milan.
 
As a side note, now that I’ve attended the Olympics I can’t believe we ever did victory plaza. Having the medals presented right after the event is so special. 

Oh no, how unfortunate for Italy

Individual sweep for still on, 4th gold for Netherlands 

Man, dutch kids are really into skating 
 
Listen to me finally and Try hockey you weirdos ! you´ll see you´ll be good

Sighel did it again 

I'm very relieved because the 3000m relay final should be (if everything goes well) the first Olympic final I ever watch in person.

I was in the shorttrack-arena in Milan last Thursday. Still unbelievable what happened there. Two gold medals for  in just 15 minutes time. I expected Velzeboer, but Van 't Wout: wow!
 
I will never forget this historical evening for Dutch shorttrack.
Now back home and watching tonight's shorttrack from the couch.

I was in the shorttrack-arena in Milan last Thursday. Still unbelievable what happened there. Two gold medals for  in just 15 minutes time. I expected Velzeboer, but Van 't Wout: wow!
 
I will never forget this historical evening for Dutch shorttrack.
Now back home and watching tonight's shorttrack from the couch.