zob79

And  men’s 8 are through also! 

women’s 8 make it to the Olympics! What an amazing tradition they have in this event 

goo romania !!

Thank you for your kind words

W1x :  
M1x :  
 
M2x :  
W2x :  
 
M2- :  
W2- :  
 
W4- :  
M4- :  
 
LM2x :  
LW2x :   
 
M4x :  
W4x :  
 
W8+ :  
M8+ :  

she was on the Russian quadruple sculls at the 2019 world champs (the finished 9th, the first below the line, beaten by Italy with more than 2 sec margin in the B final of that event)...
 
her improvement in the single sculls this year, however, is frankly more than suspect...

Greek team 
 
W1X: Anneta Kyridou
Our best chance to qualify. She won bronze at last year's European Championships in this event, and also won gold in this event at the European U23 Championships in 2019 and 2020. She also won a lot of other medals, including gold in W2X at the 2019 World U23 Championships.
 
LW2X: Evangelia Anastasiadou and Zoi Fitsiou
They have an outside chance to qualify but I don't expect it at this point. Anastasiadou is a big talent, she won gold last year in LW1X at the European U23 Championships as an 18 year old. Individually her times are much better than Fitsiou. If Nikolaidou (former world champion in LW1X, 4th place in Rio 2016 in W2X) wasn't injured then her and Anastasiadou would have a really great chance to qualify. Hopefully Anastasiadou can continue to improve and then Anastasiadou/Nikolaidou could even contend for a medal in Paris 2024.
 
M2X: Ioannis Kalandaridis and Antonios Papakonstantinou
Not sure what to expect from them. It is their first time together. Kalandaridis until last month was competing in M2- and Papakonstantinou in LM2X. Both were clearly better than their partners so I guess they decided to combine and try to qualify. Both have won a bunch of medals in U23 and junior competitions. Kalandaridis even has two gold medals in World Championships (M2- at the Juniors in 2016 and M2X at the U23 in 2018).
 
 
So far we only have two boats qualified, M1X and W2-. Very small team for us compared to other years (Rio 2016: W2X, M4-, LM4-, London 2012: LW2X, LM2X, M2-, M4-, Beijing 2008: M1X, LM2X, LW2X). Stefanos Ntouskos (M1X) is our only rower returning from Rio (he competed in LM4- there as a 19 year old).
 
 
 
EDIT-Big shame for Greece to not even try to qualify in W2X. In Rio 2016 we had Asoumanaki/Nikolaidou (19 and 23 years old) finish fourth in the event. They won silver at the 2015 World Championships also. Then we had in 2019, Kyridou/Tsamopoulou win gold at the World U23 Championships but then Tsamopoulou got injured and couldn't compete at the senior World Championships. Even last year we had girls finish 4th at the European U23 (Christodoulidis/Theochari, and Theochari was still a junior but competed in U23) and bronze at the European Junior (Fragkou/Natsioula). Between all of these girls, you'd think we would at least try to qualify a boat.

I wont stop, because, if they used half the effort from looking for excuses into actually doing effective vaccination/ preparation / coordination we wouldn't be in this situation. And this is the nation that was said for decades has biggest work ethic and discipline in the world.. If it was almost any other nation, i could understand the situation. But from the top 5 richest, perfectly organized Japan, it's not acceptable.. 
 
And of course no one cares about the Olympics, just before 4 billion people watch every single day. Happens every time. Internet filled moralists aren't the world, no matter how much they scream and cancel in 2021.

Congrats! I'm happy for every young performer who makes it to such a high level of competition

What happens if Ana is disqualified? I heard she's on the McLaren/Ferrari list

that was a heart breaking defeat for Canada but on the other hand that was a great attack right at the end for Romania.

Why wouldn't they allow it? This is how sport works in the 21st century, there's nothing unusual about this. The issue isn't with that Russians are competing for other countries, the issue is that wrestling is so unpopular in other countries that second tier Russian wrestlers are able to take quotas from athletes born outside of Russia. Solve it by making wrestling more popular outside of Russia. 

but if i would have to suggest sth would be this, afghan national sport
 
 

I don't think that it would be good idea. But as I said it many times before, I HATE IOC of that because they have adding multiple events, new sports and so on, but number of athletes remain unchanged or even is lowered in few sports, just like now in wrestling where two places per continental quota and in world qualifier is laughable and no B standards in athletics.... If they are adding new events, also number of athletes should raised respectvily to number of events.

I'm surprised with how much you guys seem to like sports climbing. For me, it's the worst sport in the current Olympic program. I could even pick breakdancing over sports climbing, to be honest.

They only have a live audio feed so far. Worldrowing could do such a better job promoting their sport. They had streams for the European U23 and Junior Championships last year which were watched by thousands of people on Youtube. They should do the same for this too.

Greco now. I didn't really went deep into the draw to check head to head results etc. I promised to write something tonight. I try to be as accurate as I can.
 
60kg:
Kerem Kamal is the top seed and probably the favorite in the top half. but he has a tough draw. first GEO, then MDA/BLR and later HUN/BUL/NOR in the SF. if we don't count that Romanian guy (and GEO who is a bit new). 6 of them are accomplished wrestlers ! I like Ciobanu's style, I didn't notice him in the original entry list. I pick him but that will be close between all these guys. kind of interesting BUL is trusting the old guy Angelov. he won bronze in Ukraine recently and did good. does his body survive 2 tough matches ?
the bottom half is less "crowded" I think Lizatovic is the favorite to win the 3rd quarter but whoever comes from the last part will be the favorite. I think we will see another AZE/ARM battle in the QF. Gharibyan is the current European Champion so he is pick.
My prediction:
 
67kg:
Thoresen surprised everybody at the Euro, where he won the title. I think his first round match vs Korpasi is the real final for that part of the draw. Korpasi has to cut a lot to make weight, but HUN is the host and refs can do miracles in Greco from the rest 6 guys I only see Islamov as a threat .
bottom half is much harder with so many good (but no great) wrestlers. UKR, GEO, TUR, AZE, ARM, ROU they are capable of winning the quota but I want to go with Sahakyan. he has bye in the first round which will help him in the 2nd round too.
My prediction:
 
77kg:
well, today is Azerbaijan's lucky day Suleymanov has no big opponent in front of him but then this is Greco, one caution and your opponent can collect lots of points in parterre. nothing is guaranteed. I saw Gutu at the world cup , he is talented but still something like 18. can surprise AZE for sure, then Starcevic and Wolny, I think they are all in the same level. in the 2nd quarter I really don't know any of these guys I saw the French guy at Ukraine, he probably wins that part.
we were supposed to see Vlasov vs Nemes here. but Russia had a late minute change, it's Chekhirkin now. he has a very tough draw with Eisele and Bolkvadze, if he survives, that's most probably Nemes ! can he survive 3 tough matches in a row without much time to recover? I have hard time to pick between RUS and SRB here. I think it will get into the hands of the refs. I think Cengiz will win the 3rd quarter but lose the SF.
My prediction:
 
87kg:
poor Huklek. what a reward for being the top seed! Shahinyan, then Gobadze/Basar! and then Russia! both Basar and Gobadze won the world title before. it's just hard to pick between those 3 guys but whoever wins will be underdog against Russia. sorry it's impossible to not pick Russia in this sport but Alirzaev is new to this weight and his first match against Datunishvili won't be easy at all.
and when AZE had to be in bottom half because of the seedings, all big guys fell in the top half just luck? it's just getting hard to believe it.
I know almost all European Greco wrestlers are tough and you can't underestimate anybody but Abbasov couldn't ask for an easier draw. the fact he has a bye in the first round will help him in the 2nd round too. Aleksandrov is probably his only serious obstacle.
My prediction:
 
97kg:
not a lucky draw for Nikoloz Kakh. he has Ukraine and then former European Champion from Norway. (or Belarus) all these 4 guys are good enough to beat each other. and I think in heavier weights we will have so many lucky 1-1 wins. FRA, GER and FIN are also good in the 2nd quarter. I don't know much about the Swedish guy. I really like that Finnish wrestler. I think he will meet our Georgian/Italian friend in the SF.
Azerbaijan is still in the easier half, but this time it's not that easy. Milov (BUL) has an easier first round. I think he will survive the QF as well (which is not easy at all) Lokyaev is a world junior bronze medalist from Russia. I think Milov can handle him.
My prediction:
 
130kg:
do I need to say AZE is in the easier half ? I think most matches will finish 1-1 and will be decided by "luck" I think AZE and ROU will wrestle in the SF. but anything can happen. none of these guys are "unbeatable" the Romanian guy won a very surprising gold medal in the last Euro.
Semenov was the one nobody wanted to face. unlike most of super heavy weight guys he can throw and he does it very well.
My prediction:
 

For the love of the sport? 

You are acting as if that is some kind of secret ...
GB knew exactly what they were doing, it is no coincidence that they went from 1 gold and 15 medals in total at the 1996 olympics to 27 golds and 67 medals in total at the 2016 olympics.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/58335.stm

"the resentment of a bunch of mediocre people" is one of the biggest latinamerican problems for me, dont worry, it not just Mexico.

You can call it half time action! i thought that cheerleaders supposed to cheer up not beating down...

6/8 ain't bad 

Luo Xue, Shao Jieni, Yu Fu - 3 mighty...portuguese

lol what a reply !! you want me to post everything and you will see why ?
 
 

I'd say Hong Kong, Austria, Poland, Korea, Singapore, Portugal, Romania, Taipei - in women's competition
 
I'm not very familiar with men's table tennis, so I skip.