phelps

I just can't stop asking myself what's the aim of having those senseless not olympic team competitions with basically nobody at the start, despite many athletes being on site for the individual (and the mixed, when they are in the Olympic program) events...

women's Team Skeet Gold: United States Silver: Italy Bronze: NOT awarded (only 2 teams at the start ) Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15952 men's Team Skeet Gold: Italy Silver: Puerto Rico Bronze: Peru Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15954

Equestrian, Individual Dressage...I give up on that, I really have no clue as I don't like at all this thing (and therefore I don't follow it)... Athletics, men's Decathlon...you can be Superman, you can be the first man over the 8000 points mark, the first man over the 9000 points mark, the most consistent man through the longest stint, the strongest but also the most unlucky man of an entire decade, but you just can't compete with the myth, the legend of Jim Thorpe... Athletics, women's Eptathlon...her record, her medals...there are quite a few really strong athletes in the list, but imho Jackie Joyner-Kersee is still the best of them all pound for pound... Mountain Bike, women's Cross-Country Race...the first woman to win the Olympic race and still the only one to win not once, but twice...no need to add anything else... Paola Pezzo is my pick... Rugby, women's 7's Tournament...I'm passing this one because of the same reason of the men's tournament...and even more in this case 'cause it's a sport with so few people practicing at the top level that's truly a mistery why it's in the Olympic program...

the Athletics, women's High Jump poll is the only one of this series that mekes me think... but in the end, all the medals and a world record still standing since 1987 led me to vote for Stefka Kostadinova, even if this discipline has had through the years a lot of exceptional players... Athletics, women's 20km Race Walking is a no brainer, since Antonella Palmisano is the first legitimate Olympic Champion after a series of doping cheaters and / or parvenu winning only because of inept if not corrupted judges... Taekwondo, women's +67kg class...also in this case I have no doubt that Milica Mandic is the best player in the game, through the last 20 years at least... the other 2 polls, I'm passing because one (Tennis, mixed doubles) is a farce with no true top players participating and therefore shouldn't even be an Olympic event, meanwhile the other (Rugby 7's) is still too young to have true champions in different ages and also because I think that it shouldn't be an Olympic discipline, by virtue of being basically the third-tier level of rugby, the last chance for those who can't shine in 15 or 13's...

no, in shooting the number of event is the same as in Tokyo... there's only a switch between the Mixed Team Trap and the Mixed Team Skeet (which are going to alternate between themselves, in L.A. will be the Trap again)... Boxing has less men's weights, but more women's...it's the gender equality obsession... Weightlifting, instead, has been punished by cutting weight classes and quota places (and there's still a chance it won't even be in Paris at all)... Sailing...well, it's the youth and urban philosopy...therefore, Kitesurfing is in and we're going to have a single 470 mixed competition instead of the 2 classic men and women's divisions... they also tried to put on a farce with a off-shore event, but they failed and therefore we'll see "regular" M + W Kite instead of a single mixed event...

Men's Junior Individual Foil Gold: Kazuki Iimura Silver: An Yeonbhin Bronze: Anas Anane & Chase Emmer Semifinals An b. Anane 15-9 Iimura b. Emmer 15-7 Final Iimura b. An 15-13 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/226

Women's Junior Individual Foil Gold: Lauren Scruggs Silver: Yuzuha Takeyama Bronze: Carolina Stutchbury & Kateryna Budenko Semifinals Scruggs b. Budenko 15-7 Takeyama b. Stutchbury 15-14 Final Scruggs b. Takeyama 15-3 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/225

a lot of surprising results in the team events... USA (women) and Germany (men) not winning any medal is a true shock for me...almost like Italy winning the men's Gold...

Men's Youth Team Sabre Gold: Italy Silver: Romania Bronze: Egypt Semifinals Italy b. Spain 45-33 Romania b. Egypt 45-39 Bronze Medal Match Egypt b. Spain 45-40 Gold Medal Match Italy b. Romania 45-41 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/234

Women's Youth Team Sabre Gold: France Silver: Hungary Bronze: Italy Semifinals France b. Mexico 45-43 Hungary b. Italy 45-43 Bronze Medal Match Italy b. Mexico 45-36 Gold Medal Match France b. Hungary 45-41 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/233

women's Individual Skeet Gold: Dania Jo Vizzi Silver: Austen Jewell Smith Bronze: Lucie Anastassiou Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15945 men's Individual Skeet Gold: Nicolas Pacheco Espinosa Silver: Federico Gil Bronze: Hayden Stewart Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15948

women's Team Trap Gold: United States Silver: Guatemala Bronze: Puertorico Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15929 men's Team Trap Gold: United States Silver: Spain Bronze: India Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15932 Mixed Team Trap Gold: Spain 1 Silver: Mexico Bronze: Spain 2 & United States 1 Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15935

sure they were on the mats... Poland won 4 bronze medals in men's Freestyle wrestling and 1 silver and 4 bronze medals among the women...so, a grand total of 9 medals (0-1-8)... unfortunately, they missed out on the medals in the Greco-Roman events...

sure, if they choose a sport that's already well structured with established events and rankings and they don't have to build anything from scratch... in any case, if they throw one between weightlifting and/or boxing out of the Olympic program, they have a safe bet to replace it/them... it's Karate, which would actually deserve to be there (possibly with a better format, no more Kata but all 5 M+W Kumite classes with let's say 16 fighters per class) after its Olympic one-hit appearance in Tokyo instead of that joke named breakdance...

yeah, unfortunately the problem is that only 1 of those disciplines can be named "sport" (and 1 of the remaining 3 as long as it is right now, it's girls & boys game, with many ethic issues about the age of the best performers and who actually controls their lives, earnings, education and so on)...

Skarbonkiewicz did it, despite not being expected before the start of the championships... meanwhile Colin Heathcock, who was basically a lock, just missed out on the double cadet & junior gold (fun Fact...he missed out his "natural" class title and won among the older guys)... it's not the first time it happens, but having the same winners (almost) in 2 events out of 2 is quite boring, so to say...

Men's Cadet Individual Sabre Gold: Zuhriddin Kodirov Silver: Colin Heathcock Bronze: Cody Ji & William Morrill Semifinals C. Heathcock b. Morrill 15-7 Kodirov b. Ji 15-10 Final Kodirov b. C. Heathcock 15-13 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/240

Women's Cadet Individual Sabre Gold: Magda Skarbonkiewicz Silver: Siobhan Sullivan Bronze: Kim Eunyu & Alejandra Manga Semifinals Skarbonkiewicz b. Manga 15-11 Sullivan b. Kim 15-10 Final Skarbonkiewicz b. Sullivan 15-9 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/239

Men's Junior Individual Sabre Gold: Colin Heathcock Silver: Pietro Torre Bronze: Antonio Heathcock & Hwang Heegeun Semifinals C. Heathcock b. A. Heathcock 15-9 Torre b. Hwang 15-9 Final C. Heathcock b. Torre 15-10 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/228?tab=results

Women's Junior Individual Sabre Gold: Magda Skarbonkiewicz Silver: Honor Johnson Bronze: Sugar Katinka Battai & Zaynab Dayibekova Semifinals Skarbonkiewicz b. Dayibekova 15-8 Johnson b. Battai 15-10 Final Skarbonkiewicz b. Johnson 15-9 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/227?tab=results

tbh, I think the refereeing was really poor in that match and heavily penalized the Greek woman, the mat ref never gave her the time to develop her parterre work, even when it was clear that she was truly going for a decisive move and the Swede was on the verge of being turned on her back in a danger position... I know the rules have changed and there's not much patience anymore to avoid wrestler wasting too much time on the ground, but I'd like to see them at least not being stopped when they're really trying something and are quite on the move... by the way, our brand new Russian born guy, Danila Sotnikov, is in the gold medal match in the greco-roman superheavyweights! I'm really curious to see what he can do against a great wrestler like Taha Akgul (who actually doesn't seem to be on top of her game, but still is good enough to easily make the final at the Europeans)...

it's not that strange...it's well known that women are better students than men... by the way, on the ESPN Player there are also a lot of NCAA Rowing meets... it's a real "must have" for those who like to follow the NCAA sports (and not only the NCAA)...

however, the highlight of the Games is basically at the end, on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th of August... luckily, it's in prime time... I just can't wait for the Breakdance to make its Olympic debut!

c'mon, man! the NHL is getting hot and it's playoff hockey time all around Europe! and next week there are the NCAA men's Frozen Four, too... to be added this week to the Wrestling Europeans and, today through Sunday, to the Judo Grand Slam tournament in Antalya... some Euroleague basketball is also in the mix... and from Thursday, the MLB is also going to start... and you say that this period is a hole in the sports calendar? this is close to the best time of the year, I'd say!

new world cup stage in Lima women's Individual Trap Gold: Gaia Ragazzini Silver: Kayle Browning Bronze: Alessandra Della Valle Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15922 men's Individual Trap Gold: Alberto Fernandez Silver: Erminio Frasca Bronze: Derrick Scott Mein Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15926