zob79

Thank you! Did you watch the final?

Ana Branza had an astonishing comeback; I also thought it's all over when trailing 20-23 with one minute to go

And now we are in the final after crushing Russia 45-31. We will face China in gold metal match

I know they have a common cultural heritage and I understand why they cheered for Angola, but BOOING your partner's attacks at Olympic Games? I've never seen it before. Then wtf will they do at Brazil - Romania direct game?

Unfortunately I'm not very optimistic in this matter; the old corrupted dinosaurs from IOC will keep on giving the Olympics to third world mobsters who know how to...oil the engine, if you know what I mean

Man, these are exactly my thoughts, just like you were my twin brother

I completely agree; they're the worst Olympics since Moscova 1980

Maybe thiago simoes or another brazilian user can tell us why the crowd was booing us right from the start; did we do something wrong and offended the mighty brazilian nation? I've never seen this at a handball game on a neutral venue.

If we play like in '76 we qualify to next Olympics

Very poor performance from Simona, she could't contain her emotions. Anyway, our hopes for a medal were related to Popescu and Gherman

[hide] Men's Tournament - Preliminary Round August 6th - August 14th, 2016 12 Nations, 2 Groups, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Nations from each Group will qualify for Quarterfinals Men's Tournament - Group A Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 August 6th 2016, h. 09:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Serbia 2 Hungary August 6th 2016, h. 11:40, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Greece 7 Japan August 6th 2016, h. 20:50, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Brazil 4 Australia August 8th 2016, h. 13:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Serbia 2 Greece August 8th 2016, h. 19:30, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Japan 2 Brazil August 8th 2016, h. 20:50, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Hungary 3 Australia August 10th 2016, h. 09:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Australia 4 Japan August 10th 2016, h. 10:20, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Greece 1 Hungary August 10th 2016, h. 19:30, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Brazil 6 Serbia August 12th 2016, h. 19:30, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Greece 5 Brazil August 12th 2016, h. 20:50, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Hungary 6 Japan August 12th 2016, h. 22:10, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Serbia 4 Australia August 14th 2016, h. 17:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Australia 2 Greece August 14th 2016, h. 18:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Serbia 6 Japan August 14th 2016, h. 20:30, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Brazil 5 Hungary Men's Tournament - Group B Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 August 6th 2016, h. 10:20, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro United States 1 Croatia August 6th 2016, h. 13:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro France 4 Montenegro August 6th 2016, h. 19:30, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Spain 2 Italy August 8th 2016, h. 09:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Croatia 1 Montenegro August 8th 2016, h. 10:20, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Italy 5 France August 8th 2016, h. 11:40, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro United States 2 Spain August 10th 2016, h. 11:40, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro France 5 United States August 10th 2016, h. 13:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Montenegro 1 Italy August 10th 2016, h. 20:50, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Spain 1 Croatia August 12th 2016, h. 09:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Croatia 1 Italy August 12th 2016, h. 10:20, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Spain 3 France August 12th 2016, h. 11:40, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro United States 1 Montenegro August 14th 2016, h. 15:30, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro United States 1 Italy August 14th 2016, h. 16:50, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro France 4 Croatia August 14th 2016, h. 19:30, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Montenegro 2 Spain Women's Tournament - Preliminary Round August 9th - August 13th, 2016 8 Nations, 2 Groups, All Nations will qualify for Quarterfinals Women's Tournament - Group A Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 August 9th 2016, h. 10:20, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Italy 3 Brazil August 9th 2016, h. 13:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Russia 4 Australia August 11th 2016, h. 09:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Russia 2 Brazil August 11th 2016, h. 10:20, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Italy 2 Australia August 13th 2016, h. 10:20, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Russia 3 Italy August 13th 2016, h. 11:40, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Australia 2 Brazil Women's Tournament - Group B Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 August 9th 2016, h. 09:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro China 4 Hungary August 9th 2016, h. 11:40, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Spain 6 United States August 11th 2016, h. 11:40, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro China 7 United States August 11th 2016, h. 13:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Spain 3 Hungary August 13th 2016, h. 09:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro China 2 Spain August 13th 2016, h. 13:00, Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, Rio de Janeiro Hungary 2 United States [/hide]

Sporting Rivalries and Medals (26) 1- Medals will be awarded to more nations than at the 2012 Summer Games - with at least 86. [YES - 3] 2- The best-placed European NOC in the overall 2016 Summer Olympics medal table will be Russia. [NO - 1] 3- Brazil will achieve their best ever placement in the overall 2016 Summer Games medal table, finishing within the top 14.[YES - 6] 4- Finland will fail to win a medal for the first time in history. [NO - 4] 5- At least 4 countries will win their first olympic medal. [NO - 3] 6- Rio 2016 will be India's best ever performance in overall medals won (7 or more). [YES - 2] 7- Denmark will be placed higher than any other nordic country in the medal table (Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). [YES - 3] 8- Netherlands will win more silver medals than any other color. [YES - 3] 9- Maghreb countries (ALG, TUN, MAR, MTN, LBA) will win at least 5 medals total. [YES - 2] 10- Japan will finish ahead of South Korea in the medal table. [YES - 3] 11- Azerbaijan will finish ahead of Turkey in the medal table. [NO - 3] 12- Ethiopia will finish ahead of Kenya in the medal table. [NO - 4] 13- Cuba will finish ahead of Jamaica in the medal table. [NO - 2] 14- Germany will finish ahead of France in the medal table. [YES - 4] 15- Serbia will finish ahead of Croatia in the medal table. [YES - 2] 16- The youngest medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics will be younger than 16 years. [NO - 3] 17- Spain will win more than one medal in all team sports combined. [NO - 2] 18- Iran will achieve their first medal won by a woman. [NO - 2] 19- At least 15 different american nations will win medals. [YES - 1] 20- At least two nations that last won a medal in Atlanta 1996 or before, will medal again in Rio 2016. [YES - 2] 21- There will be at least one nation who will win 8 medals or more, but won't win a gold medal. [NO - 5] 22- Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Singapore will all win a medal. [NO - 2] 23- Like in London 2012, more silver medals than gold medals will be awarded. [YES - 2] 24- The top 5 in the overall medal table will change its order on the very final day of the 2016 Summer Olympics. [NO - 4] 25- Argentina will win at least one gold medal in Rio 2016. [YES - 3] 26- Lithuania alone will win more medals than Estonia and Latvia together. [NO - 2] Aquatics - Diving (2) 27- China will win all four Synchronised Diving events. [YES - 6] 28- Canada will medal in all four Women's events. [NO - 3] Aquatics - Swimming (9) 29- Australian athletes take at least 2 golds out of the following 4 events: Women's 50m FS, Women's 100m FS, Men's 50m FS, Men's 100m FS. [NO - 2] 30- A nation will win 2 or more medals in Marathon Swimming. [NO - 3] 31- A nation will medal in all six relays. [NO - 4] 32- Great Britain will finish in the top 5 of the pool events' medal table. [NO - 2] 33- There will be at least one false start in an individual final. [NO - 4] 34- Either Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) or Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) will defend his/her olympic title in 100m Breaststroke. [YES - 2] 35- A gap of one second or more between the gold and silver medal winners will be clocked in 3 or more individual finals, ranging from 50m to 200m events. [NO - 4] 36- At least 5 world records will be broken in Rio 2016. [NO - 3] 37- At least 3 of the following 5 NOCs will win a medal: Bahamas, Egypt, Iceland, Jamaica, Singapore. [NO - 4] Aquatics - Synchronized Swimming (1) 38- At least 4 different nations will finish the Synchronised Swimming competitions with any medal. [YES - 1] Aquatics - Water Polo (2) 39- The men's final will be played by two ex-yugoslav nations (CRO, MNE, SRB). [NO - 4] 40- In the knockout stage, any 4th placed team from the group stage will upset a group winner and qualify for the semifinal.[NO - 5] Archery (2) 41- At least one top 8 seed in Women's or Men's Individual Archery will suffer an early exit in the Round of 64. [YES - 2] 42- South Korea will win all the gold medals in Archery. [NO - 4] Athletics (12) 43- Usain Bolt (JAM) will repeat a gold medal treble once again. [YES - 2] 44- There will be at least one sweep of medals, athletes from one country taking gold, silver and bronze. [YES - 3] 45- At least 5 olympic records will be broken. [YES - 1] 46- At least two teams will be disqualified in the 4x100 finals (men and women combined). [NO - 4] 47- The Women's and Men's Olympic champion in High Jump will have cleared a height of at least 4.40m combined. [NO - 5] 48- All medals in both marathon events will be won by African nations. [YES - 4] 49- Poland will achieve a double gold in Hammer throw events. [YES - 6] 50- A non-european athlete will win gold in either Men's or Women's Javelin Throw. [NO - 4] 51- A former olympic champion, who is not currently a defending one, will become champion again in Rio 2016 (not counting relay events). [NO - 3] 52- The whole final in the Men's 400m comprises of athletes representing nations including red in their flag. [NO - 5] 53- The leader after the first five events in the Men's Decathlon will finish outside the top 3 on the following day. [NO - 6] 54- The gold medalist in Men's Discus Throw will throw 70.00m or more. [YES - 2] Badminton (2) 55- At least one set in any event will end with a score of 30-28 or higher. [YES - 3] 56- A non-asian country will win a gold medal. [NO- 4] Basketball (2) 57- The United States will win the gold medal in Women's as well as in Men's Basketball. [YES - 10] 58- The Men's final will end by a margin of at least 20 points. [YES - 4] Boxing (2) 59- Both Nicola Adams (GBR) and Katie Taylor (IRL) will return home with a medal. [YES - 6] 60- The whole Boxing program will result in at least 8 bouts decided before the end of the 3 reglamentary rounds. [NO - 2] Canoeing - Slalom (2) 61- At least one country will win 3 or more medals between all events. [YES - 4] 62- Two or more nations will be represented in all four slalom canoeing finals. [YES - 1] Canoeing - Sprint (2) 63- At least one athlete starting from an outer lane (1 or 8) will win a medal. [YES - 2] 64- Isaquias Queiroz (BRA) will delight the home crowd with either one gold medal or at least two medals of any colour. [YES - 2] Cycling - BMX (2) 65- There will be a crash (between two or more riders) in either the Men's or Women's Final. [YES - 3] 66- Australia will win at least one gold medal. [NO - 2] Cycling - Mountain Bike (2) 67- Nino Schurter (SUI) will complete his set of medals with a gold medal from Rio 2016, after previously winning bronze in 2008 and silver in 2012. [YES - 2] 68- Mauritius', Rwanda's or Lesotho's male rider(s) will finish ahead of at least one athlete coming from a nation represented by 3 riders (SUI, FRA, ESP, CZE, ITA). [NO - 1] Cycling - Road (2) 69- A group finish with at least 20 riders clocking the same time will decide the medals in Men's Road Race. [NO - 1] 70- Less than half the riders will finish in the Women's or Men's Road Race. [NO - 3] Cycling - Track (3) 71- Australia will win a gold medal in both Team Pursuit events. [NO - 3] 72- The world record in the Men's Team Pursuit will be broken. [NO - 4] 73- The winner of either the Men's or Women's Omnium will win at least 3 of the 6 events. [NO - 3] Equestrian (2) 74- At least 15 athletes will be eliminated or will retire during the cross-country stage of Eventing competition. [NO - 3] 75- Germany will win more medals than the Netherlands. [YES - 3] Fencing (2) 76- At least 2 countries will win at least 3 gold medals. [NO - 6] 77- There will be an overtime period in the Women's or Men's Individual Épée final. [YES - 2] Field Hockey (2) 78- India's Men will end their medal drought since 1980 with any medal won in Rio. [NO - 6] 79- The Women's Tournament will have medalists from three different continents. [NO - 2] Football (3) 80- At least 4 Football matches will be decided in a penalty shoot-out. [NO - 3] 81- Brazil will win their first Men's Olympic Football title. [NO - 5] 82- At least 8 red cards will be awarded in the Men's Tournament. [NO - 5] Golf (2) 83- The eventual winner in the Men's Tournament won't be placed among the top 5 after the first day of competition. [NO - 2] 84- USA will win a medal in both the Men's and Women's Tournaments. [YES - 2] Gymnastics - Artistic (3) 85- Romania will fail to win a medal in Artistic Gymnastics. [NO - 5] 86- Simone Biles will win at least four total medals. [YES - 4] 87- At least one finalist in both Men's Horizontal Bar and Men's Pommel Horse will fall during their routines. [YES - 3] Gymnastics - Rhythmic (1) 88- Both gold and silver medals will be won by ex-USSR countries. [NO - 4] Gymnastics - Trampoline (1) 89- China will win the gold medal in both Trampoline events. [YES - 2] Handball (2) 90- A non-european nation will win a medal (Men's or Women's). [NO - 5] 91- At least twice we will see at least 40 goals scored in the Men's Tournament. [NO - 3] Judo (2) 92- Teddy Riner (FRA) will be beaten. [NO - 8] 93- A nation will win it's first Judo Gold Medal. [YES - 3] Modern Pentathlon (2) 94- In either the Men's or Women's event, the athlete starting first in the Combined stage will win the gold medal. [YES - 4] 95- A non-european athlete in either the Women's or Men's Competition will win a medal. [YES - 4] Rowing (3) 96- Ekaterina Karsten (BLR) will reach her 6th Olympic final in Women's Single Sculls. [YES - 2] 97- More countries will win medals in Rowing compared to London 2012 (18 countries). [NO - 4] 98- Athletes from all 5 continents will win a medal. [NO - 3] Rugby Sevens (2) 99- All the medals in the Men's Tournament will be won by nations from Oceania. [NO - 6] 100- At least one match on the Women's side will end in a tie. [NO - 3] Sailing (2) 101- At least one boat will be guaranteed the gold medal before the final Medal Race. [NO - 3] 102- Brazilian Robert Scheidt will win his 6th consecutive olympic medal. [YES - 2] Shooting (3) 103- All 15 events will see at least one medal winner from an Asian country. [NO - 6] 104- There will be at least one new world record set in any event. [NO - 2] 105- At least one shooter will repeat their gold medal success from the 2012 Summer Games. [YES - 3] Table Tennis (2) 106- Chinese athletes will take all 4 gold medals. [YES - 10] 107- The Women's Team final will result in a 3-0 score. [YES - 2] Taekwondo (2) 108- At least one medalist athlete in this sport will be winning at the same time the first ever olympic medal for his/her country.[NO - 1] 109- At least one of the four invited athletes (Boui CAF, Ferrera HON, Louissant HAI, Rawal NEP) will advance into the quarterfinals. [NO - 6] Tennis (2) 110- Serena Williams will fail to win a gold medal (in all events). [NO - 5] 111- An unseeded player in the women's or men's singles competition will go as high reaching at least the semifinals. [NO - 4] Triathlon (2) 112- The Brownlee brothers will celebrate together on the podium. [YES - 1] 113- The eventual winners of both the Men's and Women's Races will not be among top 5 placed after the swimming and cycling stages. [NO - 2] Volleyball - Indoor (2) 114- No medal matches in either the Women's or the Men's Tournament will end with a 3-0 score. [NO - 4] 115- An african team will win a group stage match for the first time in history (either Men's or Women's). [NO - 2] Volleyball - Beach (2) 116- There will be an all-Brazilian final in Men's or Women's Beach Volleyball. [NO - 2] Weightlifting (2) 117- At least one leader after the Snatch part will have three invalid lifts in the Clean & Jerk. [NO - 5] 118- A medal will be won by an athlete starting from Group B. [NO - 1] Wrestling (2) 119- At least one gold medal match will end by a fall. [NO - 3] 120- Russia will win more Freestyle gold medals than Japan. [NO - 3]

This is great draw for Andreea! Can I give you a big sloppy kiss?

Pls, pls, I want a good draw for Andreea Chitu. No Nakamura in her path Where are you watching the draw?

The fact I'm Romanian does mean that I have access to lots of competitions, papers, TV news and inner gossip that you don't have a clue about

OK Being Romanian, I probably know the Romanian gymnasts far less than you do...

That was the opinion of Romanian Gymnastics Federation officials; personally I rate Iordache better, even in these circumstances, and I think she had chances to win a medal (probably in AA). Ponor won't get any medal, you'll see

I've been following fencing since 1996, man (remember Badea-Trillini and Badea-Vezzali bouts in Atlanta?). I disagree with everything you said, but I don't wanna argue with you, so let's respect each other opinion, OK?

Cheating in fencing? it's one of the cleanest Olympic sports. Since the introduction of wiring there is less room for interpretation; only in sabre some decisions are questionable, due to the speed of the actions, but I don't see a mastermind who would control the referees. YES, I know the Shin Lam case, but that was an exception, due to particular circumstances.

It's a good post, but I think you're missing the fact that he market isn't homogeneous; those figures you're quoting come mostly from the western market, but there are huge geographical areas in which those sports are not even practiced. Let's take rugby, for example; it isn't played in almost entire Africa and Asia; and if that's the case of rugby, imagine how snowboard or golf stand. Also we need to consider that not all sports disciplines have a well developed market; I will illustrate this with an example from my country: wrestling is a popular sport in Romania, but there are very few domestic competitions (often with free entrance) so total turnover is small. On the other hand, figure skating is not so popular sport, but when some shows (eg the Evgeny Pluskin exhibition) are organised here, people come (social reasons/snobs etc) and the incomes are pretty significant. Thus, the less popular sport makes more money. I guess the TV ratings of Olympics are a good tool for our debate; let's wait'em and we will talk some more

97 athletes - final figure

Same here

It depends on your country; in mine, golf or snowboard have almost zero fan base. I did a bit of traveling in my life...never encountered fans of golf, snowboard, synchronized swimming, rapid water canoeing and such "sports" but I'm sure it's my fault, I didn't travel in the open minded, cool, pokemon world.

I was exaggerating a bit (humor, u know) but the point is all "sports" introduced in last 30 years have, in my opinion, a very limited fan base

I don't think they put very much thought into this...they just used some stereotypes If one should try to think logically, then the answers would probably be: Traditional - the oldest sports in Olympic schedule Popular - sports that are somehow new but reach the highest ratings Cool - every so-called sport added to the program in the last 30 years for the sake of "diversity", but doesn't have 1000 fans worldwide