Federer91

Karlos Nasar gave a press-conference before the Euro. Here are some of the highlights. - He is fully healed now, after the big injury last year. He is hopeful to not have anymore problems before Paris; - The Doha Grand Prix in December was a great testing ground and the 223 kg CJ World Record reassured him, that everything is ok. He mentioned, that he has lifted 233 in training, but joked, that he hopes it won't come to that for a gold medal. - He has received numerous offers from other countries. There was speculation, that he would go to Bahrein after the Olympics. Karlos firmly said he is rejecting all such offers and has no intention of switching. Bahrein had indeed made a strong proposition to his coach and said they are trying to make a "dream team". - If weightlifting remains an Olympic sport, he sees another 2-3 OG in him after Paris. - All the constant scandals with the national coach, the Federation, the different clubs has a negative impact on the team. It's getting tiresome to be surrounded by problems and not train normally. The National team is being split in two with some remaining with the still (disgraced) coach Ivan Ivanov, while Karlos and others train with his and other coaches elsewhere. He has no or wants to have any communication with Ivanov until the courts rule on the corruption case. For him the guy should leave as he has brought so much scandals over the years.

So Spain won and everyone cried wolf unnecessary. You would wonder what happened in the Hungarian locker room at half-time.

Of course, this was the toughest group by far. But luck of the draw is "part of the game". It has played a factor in much bigger events and tournaments and changed the trajectory of athletes / teams career.

Didn't i mention, that the qualification is moronic already? And don't get me started in Continental "preferences", because i can say a lot of things... In the end Canada lost 2 out of 3 matches and that is no ones fault, but their own. If they are this amazing team, that everyone is clamoring, then they would have cruised in this group, where 75% (!!!!!) are going through. I was just mentioning, that people like to bring the fairplay card, when it is against them, but often ignore all the other times it happens. And actually, i do wish FIBA was more powerful. Then we wouldn't be having the stupid Euroleague and basketball would have a better structure and prospect in Europe and around the world, like football has.

What the heck just happened

France shouldn't have been in the qualifications in the first place, so they played a factor in other teams chances as well.

Of course they can, this happens regularly in volleyball, football and countless other sports. Anything that isn't single elimination brings opportunities for future bracket tampering.

Don't blame the Spanish team, blame the moronic system, that allows 75% of teams in a group of 4 to qualify..

Can someone explain what all this controversy is about Geolier ? Never heard of him before and find all the drama strange.

One of Brazil or Argentina missing the OG will be good to do disrupt the monopoly these nations have on South American football (and sport).

I love Sanremo Festival and all, but whoever thought, having 5-6 hour evenings is a good idea, is a wackjob. I don't know who has the energy to sit and watch the performances from 8:30 to 1-2 in the morning.. It's absurd. There should be 20 acts and have a 3-4 hours shows.

France on a whole other level today

Krcmar giving the hosts a nightmare start to the Championships. Time for Slovakia to take the lead in CZ-SK duel

So in other news, the usual season for Sofia Goggia's career.

I've said it before, but 4 matches a day is absurd.

Things look good for Iran to lift their first cup, since the 70s.

I have to watch the start on ARD since Eurosport are showing snooker, again.. I like snooker, but don't know when it became this "money" sport for them, that they air it over ski-jumping. This happened only for the Masters in prior years, definitely not for lower tournaments. Conditions are awful and Willingen, but it makes for a very interesting results.

Time for my usual calendar rant... It appears the holy week in February is 12-18th, when we have the Swimming Worlds, the Biathlon Worlds, the Weightlifting Euro and the Wrestling Euro. And to be more "fun" all of their evening sessions are someway colliding in the 18:00-20:30 (BG) timeframe or so. It can't be the week prior, or the week after, no, everything has to be in this exact week. UWW and EWF are doing this a second year in-a-row, as if they are in cahoots.

Darn it, i was hoping she had magical genes in her too.

Not hard to predict, as usually it's lower tier athletes, that wouldn't cut in their current nation, that seek change. I was specifically talking about alpine skiing also. Rahneva is in no way someone, who is even in the conversation for a variety of reasons: A) She is an elite athlete already in her sport and probably very happy; B) Her sport has absolutely no foundation here and we bring absolutely nothing from a sporting perspective; C) She is 35 and if she ever wanted to compete for BG, it would have come up long ago; D) Again, she is 35 and the Federations here would want to select younger athletes, that have lot's of years ahead of them.

Some of you may have seen an interesting name while scrolling the results. Swiss born Anina Zurbriggen competing for . I thought it was another market deal, but apparently her mother is Bulgarian and she decided to compete for BG from this season (because she couldn't make the Swiss team i presume ). Couldn't find who her father is and what is her connection to the legendary Zurbriggen family. This has sparked a new strategy for our Federation in looking for foreign-born athletes with Bulgarian ancestry.

Usually 7-8 golds are enough for top 10 in the medal table, but with Russia having almost no participation, the threshold could rise to 10 golds.

BULGARIA Grafa & The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices - "Вековна Гора" (Ancient Forest) English Lyrics:

The big chunk of quotas are yet to be given, so it's expected that almost all nations will be below, what they had in Tokyo. The stats in early May will be way more telling on the ups and downs for the NOCs.

A round every 2 seasons is perfectly possible (same with Bansko btw ). If Croatia can manage to get rounds every damn season, for many years after the Kostelic siblings were out of the picture, then Slovakia should definitely get more chances, than the "fill the calendar spot every 4 years, when there is no big Championship" routine. Especially when Vlhova is one if the biggest names on the women's tour.