phelps

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/alberto-contador-undergoes-surgery-to-remove-over-100-benign-tumours/

done! p.s. should we post our personal choices once the ballot is over? it might be interesting to see who voted for whom?...

1.too early to call it right now. at the moment, Tonaki is still the JPN no.1, but look for Wakana Koga, in 12 months time she could overtake both Tonaki and Tsunoda in their National ranking. it won't be an easy choice for them. 2.she's definitely a medal contender, even if I think she's not going to win Gold. there are at least 2 Japanese girls (atm, Tonaki and Tsunoda, but the 3rd -Koga- is coming) and Scutto, who are already better than her. 3.the KAZ girl is a good judo player, but she would need a favourable draw to make the medal matches. Figueroa is a slightly better than average, experienced player. she's dangerous in any given match, but no way she can overtake many of the top 4/5 girls of this weight class in a whole tournament (still, an easy draw could help her to make the final block).

say nothing... yeah, in fact we all said that the OA Sport ranking is way better (even if I'm totally against having Motorsports and their drivers in any sport list, since it's all only about having the best car/motorbike and not about single drivers' skills).

both Fencing, women's Judo and men's Skateboarding events can easily have a French medallist, even if they're not the no.1 favourite (at least by now) in any of them. however, I'd be surprised if Boukli (Judo) and at least 1 fencer don't make the podium (at least).

I guess you can always name her in the "any other" option... however, she's not going to win the Olympic Gold...Assunta "Susy" Scutto is the name for that!

I already have 6 of them in my list...and it was really hard to leave some others out... in some categories, I'm really in trouble to make my choice (I think I'm not going to vote at all in the Breakthrough category).

I agree...and that "only 1 athlete/team from your Nation" doesn't help at all...

yeah, the Gazzetta Awards sucks big time (and basically only 3 sports have been taken into consideration)... those of OA Sport are way, way better, even if I think Motorsports shouldn't even be considered, Goggia and Ganna are way underestimated and I find a pure scandal that Simone Alessio isn't even in the Top 20

by the way, the most qualified opinion in the world of the Italian sport, is surely the specialized website OA Sport. this is their yearly ranking for 2022 (it's just a single 20-name list, without special categories): 1.Francesco Bagnaia (& Ducati), Motorbike 2.Stefania Constantini & Amos Mosaner, Curling 3.Thomas Ceccon, Swimming 4.Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti, Sailing 5.Arianna Fontana, Short Track Speedskating 6.Benedetta Pilato, Swimming 7.Gregorio Paltrinieri, Swimming 8.Vito Dell'Aquila, Taekwondo 9.Nicolò Martinenghi, Swimming 10.Sofia Raffaeli, Rhythmic Gymnastics 11.Elena Micheli, Modern Pentathlon 12.Marta Maggetti, Sailing 13.Diana Bacosi, Shotgun Shooting 14.Sofia Goggia, Alpine Skiing 15.Marcell Jacobs, Athletics 16.Gianmarco Tamberi, Athletics 17.Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine, "Olympic" Boxing 18.Filippo Ganna, Cycling 19.Giorgio Minisini, Artistic Swimming 20.Antonino Pizzolato, Weightlifting

as we explained many times in the past, in Italy there's no offcial award for the best sportsmen/women of the year... however, there are quite a few ceremonies trying to make a ranking of the best athletes and events of the year. the oldest and somehow still the most prestigious prize is the classic Gazzetta Awards, organized by the legendary sports newspaper with the rose pages. in 2022, the Gazzetta Awards went to: Best Male Athlete: Marcell Jacobs (Athletics) Best female Athlete: Benedetta Pilato (Swimming) Best Team: AC Milan (Soccer) Most Outstanding Performance: Gregorio Paltrinieri (Swimming), for the Gold Medal in the 1500m Freestyle at the Acquatics World Championships Breakthrough of the Year: Yemaneberham Crippa (Athletics), for the Gold Medal in the 10,000m at the Athletics European Championships Paralympian of the Year: Xenia Palazzo (Para-Swimming), 7 medals (4 Gold) at the Para-Swimming World Championships as usual, more than usual...nobody here gives a crap to Wintersports and people just can't get Soccer out of their minds...

well, it should be an indicator that you appreciated the dinner...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the Totallympians & families!

some of them are a "must watch" though...

not gonna happen...I'm (relatively) sure Pizzolato isn't to be caught with his Tokyo samples (not going to bet on him overall, as you wrote, with weightlifters you never know). Italy has recorded only 1 single positive test among their medallists in all the Olympic history (the poor Rebellin in 2008)...we have a pretty good organization to avoid any embarassment on the big stage (while the rest of the 4-year span is just another thing, unfortunately).

right now, the whole Winter Sports season, culminating in the World Champs. and also the great finale of the American Football season, with the NCAA Bowls and Nat'l Champ game and the NFL playoffs through to the Superbowl in early February. in March, Baseball is back! first, the World Baseball Classic, then in late March/early April, the start of the new season of MLB, NPB and KBO. April also means playoffs Hockey (NHL, but also all around Europe), as May means the Hockey World Champs. in Summer & early Autumn, there will be a lot of World Champs in many Olympic sports (Athletics, Acquatics, Fencing, Judo my favourites, but also many, many more). September means that a new Hockey season is back. October means playoffs Baseball (MLB, NPB, KBO). and then the cycle starts again with a whole new season of Wintersports, while the c(o)untdown for Paris 2024 runs quickly with the various sports' qualifications.

Silver medallist Bonnat has already been caught before the recent World Champs... now the gold medallist... time to make some re-test from last year's Olympics...I alrready smell Gold #11 in Tokyo coming sooner or later for

I wonder if they will ever stop talking of getting rid of this corrupted people and start to take real actions against them

yes, men (max 2) are entitled to enter only and exclusively the team event (for now)... basically, unless some newcomers show up in the next 18 months, among the top teams, only Italy would eventually benefit of this rule change and hopefully will improve their rankings thanks to Giorgio Minisini, right now the absolute best male artistic swimmer in the world.

ed è già finito anche il masters di Judo... oggi, nell'ultima giornata di gare, una superba Alice Bellandi salva la faccia all'Italia, conquistando un oro meraviglioso nei -78kg. nel suo percorso, successi contro la campionessa del mondo (la brasiliana Aguyar), la medaglia d'argento Olimpica (la francese Malonga, battuta ormai per la terza volta negli ultimi 3 confronti diretti...e questa volta addirittura nettamente, con un sontuoso ippon) e l'ex grande campionessa mondiale (pure francese) Audrey Tcheumeo. considerato che negli ultimi mesi ha già "sistemato" anche la campionessa Olimpica (la giapponese Hamada), le rimane da superare il tabù tedesco, con Annamaria Wagner e Annette Bohm che sono le uniche 2 atlete che quest'anno si sono dimostrate imbattibili dalla nostra punta di diamante. altri 2 risultati di prestigio (Bronzo) sono stati portati a casa da Assunta Scutto (nei -48kg) e da Odette Giuffrida (-52kg). ma se "Susy" ha ottenuto il massimo possibile (al momento non è ancora pronta per affrontare alla pari le migliori giapponesi), prendendosi anche la rivincita sull'ostica kazaka Abuzakhyna (che l'aveva battuta nettamente al Grand Slam di Abu Dhabi), lo stesso non si può dire di Giuffrida, che, come al solito, fa un passo avanti (battuta finalmente la "bestia nera" Keldyorova) e uno indietro (sconfitta in semifinale per un errore banale dall'abbordabile britannica Giles). si salva giusto anche Antonio Esposito nei -81kg, che incassa un quinto posto che dà punti e, forse, morale dopo una seconda metà di 2022 da dimenticare. passo indietro, invece, per Gennaro Pirelli nei -100kg, che incappa già al secondo turno nell'ostico Zelym Kotsoiev (medagliato mondiale e pure oggi a fine torneo) e perde, anche se dopo un match molto tirato e comunque solo per somma di shido, non per aver subito tecniche da punteggio. disastroso, infine, il resto della numerosa spedizione, con tutti gli atleti usciti al primo o secondo turno contro avversari sulla carta inferiori. in particolare, indisponenti Parlati e Lombardo (quest'ultimo ormai in fase di preoccupante involuzione). occasione importantissima sprecata anche da Martina Esposito, che avrebbe dovuto raccogliere molti più punti per la qualificazione olimpica, che per lei è destinata a restare in bilico fino all'ultimo, e rappresentando la campana un elemento chiave per la competitività degli azzurri nella gara a squadre (in pratica, è l'unica atleta decente che abbiamo nella fascia 63/70kg, una delle 3 in cui è divisa la parte femminile del team event). gli altri, "contorno" erano e "contorno" continueranno a essere. all'anno prossimo...

in any case, it's always or men's Alpine Skiing is very boring lately...

so, the last and 2nd most important tournament of the year is in the books... despite sending a second (if not third) tier team, Japan won the final medal table with 3 Gold , 2 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. France were also very strong, finishing second in the medal table with 2 Gold, 6 Silver and 2 Bronze medals, followed by Georgia, also winning 2 Gold medals, but adding to that only 1 Bronze. 7 more Nations won a single Gold medal ( and ), meanwhile the total number of Countries enjoying at least a medal is up to 22 (in just 14 events), making Judo one of the most widely spread sports in the World when it comes to high level performance. Here's the Full Results Recap https://www.ijf.org/competition/2316/results and here's the Full Medal Table https://www.ijf.org/competition/2316/standings

The Masters ( Jerusalem) Day #3 Medallists men's -90kg Gold: Sanshiro Murao Silver: Alexis Mathieu Bronze: Luka Maisuradze & Rafael Macedo men's -100kg Gold: Ilia Sulamanidze Silver: Simeon Catharina Bronze: Peter Paltchik & Zelym Kotsoiev men's +100kg Gold: Tatsuru Saito Silver: Temur Rakhimov Bronze: Kokoro Kageura & Alisher Yusupov women's -78kg Gold: Alice Bellandi Silver: Audrey Tcheumeo Bronze: Mayra Aguyar & Guusje Stenhuis women's +78kg Gold: Romane Dicko Silver: Coralie Hayme Bronze: Akira Sone & Raz Hershko

if I remember well, the boxers must have a limited number of pro fights under their belt to enter the Olympic pathway. I'm sure it was between 10 and 15 max (with no title fights) when they opened to the pros in 2016, but tbh I don't know if the limitation is still in place or it's been removed.

actually, the best pro boxers can't take part into the Olympics, so if someone wants to name people like Usik or Fury or Canelo and all the giants of the sport, it shouldn't happen in the Olympic categories...just my 2 cents.