zob79

""The most important thing, in my opinion, is mental preparation" - Maria Vynnyk said this on Thursday after winning the first major gold medal; maybe this is where the secret lies. As you said, Ukrainian girls have always been strong, but not dominant at continental level; my conjecture is that the Russian invasion has made them mentally stronger, giving them that extra edge needed to tilt the balance in the final stages of a competition.

It happens to me since I went past 40; I got lazy and I find myself not willing to run around forests and swamps like our mutual dutch friend

Don't get fooled by link title, it's not official UWW site Believe me, it's free; give it a go

UWW TV

Curling, street dancing, backgammon and my all-time favourite, running in the woods

This still happens at Romanian customs; nothing could put a stop to it

It was - for travellers from eastern bloc. Western citizens were tracked by secret police, their hotel rooms were bugged; I mean individual travelers. Groups of tourists who came to our seaside during '70s and '80s were not harassed, as Ceausescu badly needed cash flow

It happened to a friend of mine in 2008, I remember it vividly. Yes, travelling in Eastern Europe was safer during communism, as police kept a tight grip on society

This happened until 2010s, travellers were hijacked by criminals impersonating Bulgarian policemen; felt like Wild West Tbh, if heywoody travelled through Romania, I'd pull the same stunt nowadays

Agree; that's the key concept to depict life in Romania 1990s: insecurity. In Bucharest you couldn't go out after nightfall without risking being mugged. I never saw a police car in my neighbourhood during the '90s

Corruption is a plague in the Balkans. It's a cultural heritage, a "trojan horse" of the ottoman administration; I honestly doubt this can be adressed in a predictable future. Regarding Bulgaria, I share your amazement, especially knowing that the EU was the driving force behind Romania’s progress. Yesterday I had a bout of nostalgia— I watched some YouTube videos depicting Bucharest in the '90s and, believe me, it looked like stone age..

Romanian team: Men's Freestyle: Kovacs Razvan – 57 kg Coman Stefan – 65 kg Bojthe Benjamin – 70 kg Sarem Omar - 125 kg Men's Greco-Roman: Mihai Denis – 60 kg Arnaut Razvan – 63 kg Gordan Patrik – 97 kg Women's Freestyle: Grigore Vuc Alina – 50 kg Ferenț Beatrice – 53 kg Ana Andreea – 55 kg Capezan Roxana - 62 kg Incze Kriszta- 65 kg Zelenykh Kateryna - 68 kg Anghel Alexandra - 76 kg

This "guy" is not for real; he's a troll, an arab hey woody

theocracy = institutionalised murder and khomeini was a brainless butcher; no comparison can ever be made to the former Shah, despite all his flaws. Dictators are not alike, as graveyards around the world can testify...

They are usually weak 2 years after Olympics and then suddenly the "boosters" kick in. I'm talking about all their crews, not just M4x. Everybody knows what happens, but when you're born in the right part of Europe, some things are put aside