phelps

Swimming, men's 100m breaststroke...here I'm heavily biased, but I voted for Domenico Fioravanti because he was the first man in the long history of swimming to double up the 100m and 200m breaststroke and because hadn't he been stopped by the really strict Italian rules on the heart's troubles, he would have surely won a lot more global medals...he was really a pleasure to watch, also from a stylish point of view...his success will be always be underestimated... Swimming, women's 100m Fly...my pick is Kristin Otto, for the same reason of the previous poll she was involved in... Swimming, men's 10km...here's is a no brainer...the way Florian Wellbrock dominated the Tokyo race and many more global events are there to show why he's by far the best man ever in this game... Diving, men's Platform...even here, the choice is quite obvious...with all respect for Greg Louganis, Dmitri Sautin and all the Chinese champions, Klaus Dibiasi is and will be still for quite a long time the best diver in the history, especially in this discipline... Women's Waterpolo...well, I don't think the USA would eventually have any rival in this poll...

congrats to Salkazanov for not givin'up until the last second... but I just can't believe how Frank threw this gold medal away...after the first throw who earned him 4 points (5 with the lost challenge by the Slovak coach), he did absolutely nothing for more than 5 mins...and those last 6 seconds! how can he always lose this kind of bouts, it remains a mistery to me (it's certainly not the first time it happens)... tbh, I'm really, really disappointed with today's performance by Frank...

yeah, I know the Pac-12 Network on YT (and all the other pages with "controversial" videos )... and I have an official subscription to ESPN Player (EMEA version, of course)... however, I only watch very little women's softball (and a bit more NCAA men's baseball)... I rather watch the big 3 Pro League (KBO is always live on Naver Sport App -don't even need a VPN- meanwhile at playoffs' time I subscribe to Korean I-Kor TV and Japanese IPTV -it was iSakura Pro until last year, then they closed down and I had to rely on the sloppy Muji TV...this year I've seen that there are 2 new apps for Japanese expats...maybe I'm gonna try Jnext TV through this week )... for what concerns the MLB...well, I have quite a few options (MLB.tv, but also sky Italia with their new deal for up to 7 games a week)... p.s. Taiwanese CPBL is basically always live for free on Twitch...

Athletics, men's Shot Put...I don't think that there's any doubt about Ryan Crouser's superiority in this discipline... despite we have a lot of great putters, some of them real "winners" (like Majewski), some others more "big performers" than "competition killers" (like Randy Barnes or Ulf Timmermann), Crouser have both the killer instinct and the big put in his arms... therefore, he's my pick... Swimming, Men's 400 IM...here I have a bit of an internal conflict between Tamas Darnyi's class and Michael Phelps' strenght and durability, but in the end I have to opt for the great American... Shooting, women's Air Rifle...here I go with Renata Mauer for the same reason I picked Phelps over Darnyi in swimming... Shooting, men's Air Pistol...this is quite a no brainer...despite some controversial fails (the most dramatic of them all, the Atlanta 1996 final), Wang Yifu is "the shooter" when it comes down to the Air Pistol... Cycling, women's Time Trial...no doubts also here... Leontien Van Moorsel was and will always be the queen of the discipline in my mind and in my heart...

and in many classes we have a vast majority of competitors born in the former Soviet Union... I was looking at the men's -61kg in men's FS...13 starters, 11 of them have Soviet heritage (the Bulgarian Vangelov and the Turkish Atli -if he truly is from Turkey, with them you never know- should be the only non Russian-born participants)... and if the Russian/Belarussian ban goes on for quite some time, I fear we're gonna see tons of Russians establishing elsewhere ans stealing the next OQ spots for their "new" Countries...

Japanese top Pro Baseball League (NPB) has started last Friday... next Saturday it's time for the Korean KBO and the Taiwanese CPBL... and finally, next week (April 7th) it's the MLB to begin their campaign...

Mexico 1986...I still remember Canada losing their opening match only 1-0 against France, thanks to a late JPP (Jean Pierre Papin) goal... not many memories of the games against Soviet Union and Hungary, though...

not that much... I know she grew up in Italy (Aosta, extreme north west) and she always competed for Italy since the youth classes (she won a couple of bronze medals at cadet and junior level in the past few years)... our media only mentioned her Albanian heritage, not saying anything about Greece... p.s. she also used to play Sumo in the youth classes...

it's all against all, of course... the main targets are Mancini and the fedration's president, Gravina... but the truth is that only the players who were on the pitch last night are responsible of this national shame... by the way, we are lucky that most people's attention is on the war between Russia and Ukraine, so there's a lot of disinterest for football right now (at least among the main media)...

that guy played in that same stadium for Palermo from 2015 through 2019... naming him ungrateful is a very, very large euphemism...

Full Match replays of the entire Final Series: Game #1 Game #2 Game #3 Game #4

and the 2 "new" Italians coming from Russia are competing for us also at the upcoming European Champs (set to start next Sunday in Budapest)... this is the Italian team for the 2022 Euros... Men's Freestyle Shamil Omarov (-61 kg) Gianluca Talamo (-70 kg) Frank Chamizo (-74 kg) Simone Iannattoni (-92 kg) Abraham Conyedo (-125 kg) Women's Wrestling Emanuela Liuzzi (-50 kg) Morena De Vita (-59 kg) Aurora Campagna (-62 kg) Eleni Pjollaj (-72 kg) Enrica Rinaldi (-76 kg) Greco-Roman Giovanni Freni (-55 kg) Ruben Marvice (-63 kg) Ciro Russo (-77 kg) Matteo Maffezzoli (-82 kg) Mirco Minguzzi (-87 kg) Nikoloz Kakhelashvili (-97 kg) Danila Sotnikov (-130 kg)

Athletics, men's Pole Vault...here my pick is Sergey Bubka, despite the impressive stuff by Mondo Duplantis in the last few years... right now, what Bubka represented for the discipline (and the whole sport) is still unmatched...we'll see in a few years if Mondo would be able to keep up with the pace he set... Swimming, women's 400 IM...as @dcro wrote, Tracy Caulkins was heavily hit by the 1980 (and 1984) boycott, since those Olympics are not taken into consideration as many others and because the other international events didn't have so much hype and coverage as it happens nowadays... but she was truly a great swimmer...and pound for pound, I think she has quite the edge over the great Katinka, despite the many titles won and the many records established by the Hungarian... Judo, women's -48kg class...my pick is Kye Sun-Hui, one of the most underestimated champions in the history of Judo... if only she wasn't from PRK, she would have got a lot more "good press" and she would have been described closer to what she deserved, advantage that instead went to Ryoko Tani (still, another great judo player), who gets a lot more credits because of the "obscure" background of the girl who beat her when they faced each other in a global final... Judo, men's -60kg class...well, that's a no brainer... Tadahiro Nomura is "the man" in this weight class... when he was on top of his game, he put on clinic after clinic, taking Judo to perfection, he was simply the state-of-the-art expression of this sport... Fencing, women's Sabre...where are Sofya Velikaya and Olga Kharlan? really, I'm not joking...I just refuse to vote for any of those Olympic Gold medallists, who can't even be in the same sentence with the 2 best players in the history of the game, who never won the Olympic Gold they deserve only because of some inexplicable reason... therefore, I'm sorry, but I have to go for the new option... I'm passing this question...

well, if we're going to see Sapporo 2030 after Tokyo 2020, why not Italy 2036 after Italy 2026? obviously, it depends on how many reliable bids are there for 2036... and however, as I wrote, for Italy, it all depends on the 2026 outcome (and from many more aspects of our society/economy...we're not going to face easy times in the next future, I fear)...

to me, all of these polls are very entertaining, but I think that right now we can focus more on the Imaginary Olympics and save the "prediction" poll on Paris 2024 for the next months... in any case, I rely on the boss' decision if you keep going, I'm surely going to take part in all of them...

yes...most likely that's what's gonna happen... for what concerns the 2036 SOG, I think Italy might launch a serious Rome-Milan "twin cities" bid, if the 2026 WOG experience would prove a big success...and that's a big "if"...

by the way, the 2022 Junior European Champions are: women's Individual 10m Air Rifle: Gitta Bajos men's Individual 10m Air Rifle: Danilo Dennis Sollazzo women's Individual 10m Air Pistol: Miriam Jako men's Individual 10m Air Pistol: Mattis Hembre Mixed Team 10m Air Rifle: Italy (Sofia Ceccarello & Danilo Dennis Sollazzo) Mixed Team 10m Air Pistol: Germany (Vanessa Seeger & Eduard Baumeister) tomorrow the men and women's team events in both Rifle and Pistol will be the final acts of the junior championship... meanwhile in the weekend, the seniors will be in action in all the classes...

just asking myself why Italy entered 2 established shooters like Sollazzo and Ceccarello in the Junior events? OK, it's their right to do that, they are still juniors, but c'mon, man! what's the goal to make them win a more than obvious medal (which happened to Sollazzo and to both guys in the mixed team event) or risk an epic fail (which happened to Ceccarello in her individual event)?

well, we might see some interesting choices in some of these events...

Swimming, women's 200m Freestyle...don't tell me I'm biased (because it's obvious that I am), but Federica Pellegrini is by far the best specialist of this specific race in the history of the sport... Tennis, men's Singles...where are Rod Laver and Roger Federer? I'm joking, of course... however, in absence of the only 2 guys who could have given him a scare, Rafael Nadal is quite an obvious choice, here... men's Beach Volleyball...well, it doesn't matter that much if it's on the hard court or on the sand or who were his teammates, Karch Kiraly is the best male volleyball player ever, so I just can't pick anybody else... women's Beach Volleyball...once again, it's a no brainer...Kerry & Misty have been just amazing for such a long stint...they've been truly untouchable for years... so, Kerry Walsh & Misty May are my (obvious) choice...

well, it's way too early to make a prediction... it's just a game, it's more about which team people hope they're going to win the next Olympic Gold medal, I guess... so, let's play... women's Volleyball... Italy, of course...it must be Egonu's biggest chance to win it all before she gets too old... Basketball, both tournaments...it's a no brainer, it doesn't matter anybody's will...unless they choose to boycott the tournament, the USA are always gonna win...easily (especially among the women)... women's Football...maybe it's time for new faces to jump on the top of the podium...I'm gonna pick the Netherlands...

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Team Sabre ( Budapest) Gold: Hungary Silver: France Bronze: Germany Semifinals Hungary b. Romania 45-30 France b. Germany 45-40 Bronze Medal Match Germany b. Romania 45-43 Gold Medal Match Hungary b. France 45-38 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/827

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Women's Team Sabre ( Istanbul) Gold: South Korea Silver: Spain Bronze: Hungary Semifinals South Korea b. Italy 45-43 Spain b. Hungary 45-44 Bronze Medal Match Hungary b. Italy 45-44 Gold Medal Match South Korea b. Spain 45-31 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/756

the usual Italians...when it doesn't matter anything at all, they dominate the event... p.s. sorry for the late (final) update, but I was without internet connection in the past couple of days...

women's Team Skeet Gold: Italy Silver: United States Bronze: Slovakia Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15906 men's Team Skeet Gold: Italy Silver: United States Bronze: Germany Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=15909