Federer91

Sjöström is one of the most sweet and enjoyable swimmers out there, but to be fair Phelps competed at only 6 WC (and practically 5, since he did only 1 discipline in 2001 at 15), while this is Sarah's 8th WC. Doesn't take the fact, that she is one of the greatest female swimmers ever.

And of course we are going to lose with the most minimum difference to Japan. They were leading us with 8-10 points before Ilieva completely destroying Emura at the end... Atanasova should have competed earlier too as she gained a lot as well...

Doesn't matter, rules are rules, no matter how stupid they nay be. If Kharlan beats Ilieva, then be it. The IOC already set the rules, that Russians will be allowed under neutral flag, so FIE were following that. If they were stupid enough not to anticipate such things, then it's on their hand, but don't bend the rules afterwards to save face.. I don't like when people get preferable treatment, doesn't matter if your name is Kharlan, Richardson, Chalmers, Zhang, or some guy from Cambodia.. Everyone follows the rules, until someone gets a bye. Plus it was not like this was Kharlan's one and only chance. What about the team event, where Ukraine is in a top position? What about the individual tournament, isn't Kharlan a multiple time World Champion? There are still 4 World Cup events for the rankings as well, though i'm not sure what's the value there. This is 100% a PR stint from Bach, since the DQ hit the newsfeed worldwide. I doubt if this was someone from Albania or Singapore he would be giving out WC's.

So Bach is like the Pope now. He is giving his blessings and apperently quotas on his desire. I want a volleyball quota too mister President.

Levski are playing Shkupi in the legendary, greatest, most advanced country of MAcEdOnIa. Who would have thought, that fans would get ambushed and attacked in Skopie... One Levski fan has been stabbed and has been in operation, while their mighty police are arresting random Levski fans without reasons. The match will be played at their National Stadium, but you should see what the pitch looks like.

This is a great example. It's absurd, that the individual events are 60% dependent on the team event, with another 30% being geo-locked.. The whole qualification system is geared to the same few powerhouse countries. Italy, Russia, France, United States, Japan, Korea or China always have 50% of the quotas. Yeah, it's most likely because of the IOC's policy of "fewer" athletes, but this way it just kills the flame in smaller nations to actively try to break through in this sport. And the team events having only 8 teams is a different story.. Ski-jumping and Nordic Combined are chastised for their team events, but fencing even gets encouraged by the IOC, even though they are with same... 8 teams

Does anyone else find it stupid, that for a 2.5+ hour broadcast, Eurosport shows only 6 matches?! I may be old-fashioned, but don't know why they don't organise the schedule in a way to show the 1/4, if not the 1/8, as well.

I knew USA were going to underperform on their usual performance, but damn things are looking bleak. Their chances of winning the medal table have been heavily reduced. They have very, very good swimmers, but for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, there is always some other superstar that wins the race. Usually the USofA were the ones with the big superstars.

Pity that Kharlan got DQ-ed, Yoana Ilieva is strong enough to beat her on the field.

How bummed can one be, that the best WR's, those of Phelps and Pellegrini, were the ones, that had to be broken...

Phelps was WR holder in the 400 IM for 21 years, which is the longest consecutive time for a person to hold a WR in any singular discipline (long course) in history.

Damn you Chalmers... Italy winning would have been amazing

It appears we are back in the days, when breaking WR's in swimming is an afternoon chore.

I don't know how Marchand can make 3 seconds on the breaststroke on Phelps of all people. Michael Phelps not having an individual WR seems very wrong.

Yeah, Kamminga is coming for the inevitable second place

China looking very strong. Third place in the medal table look very appealing for a betting man.

So the 3 biggest male stars - Dressel, Peaty and Milak all have mental problems... Usually being the best at something prevents these things, but maybe that is my thought.

Any reason Peaty isn't here?

AUS starts with a bang as usual, since the 400 free is as AUS discipline as any. Throw in the 4x100 women's and day 1 is always amongst their strongest. Let's see how long they will keep the lead in the table.

It's juts the first event. Now if people expected her to win 6 golds ala Phelps, then yeah, it might be a disappointment.

Titmus with a WR and a triumphant return to the big stage. And that is a big WR Tokyo nightmares have returned for the others. Ledecky started very slow, but it didn't matter at the end either way. McIntosh sinks, which posts a few questions.

Ceccon looks to be in form, this bods well for Italia

Damn, first final and that was so close. New AUS sensation takes the gold right in front of the Olympic champion.

Almost time for the first finals session and the only one i will watch live until next weekend. (damn work.. ) Most interested to see if Italia can continue their rise and fight against the giants of US and AUS. Mainly starting with the 4x100 men's free The US don't feel the juggernaut they usually are, let's see if they could finish with sub 10 golds, which would be madness.

Nonetheless, i don't know if i have ever seen another elite athlete have such an instant, rapid decline, as Sagan has had. It's like he went to bed and woke up the next day, as a completely different person, like in a Latino telenovela... The closest one to compare is probably Gregor Schlierenzauer.