phelps

20-year young William Shaner won the men's Air Rifle in the Osijek World Cup stage... Vladimir Maslennikov got silver and home Nation's hero Petar Gorsa won the bronze medal... not a good day for the Indian specialists, as it was not a good day for the Indian women in the same discipline (no one of them are in the final,where we have 2 Italians -and that's a big surprise)... women's 10m Air Rifle final is underway right now (live on Youtube)...

Sara Dossena pulls out of the Italian women's Marathon squad because of poor form... Giovanna Epis will be the only woman representing our Country in Sapporo in that race...

Gregorio Paltrinieri got mononucleosis... most likely, he's going to miss the Olympics, but even if he pulls out a miracle and recovers in time, he will be chanceless in terms of medals... we're ruined...

no, they didn't return any quota place... they got an additional spot because there were no more athletes (Countries) eligible for the continental quota places and they (Bellandi and the Korean, I mean) were the highest ranked fighters left out according to the overall standings (all classes in each gender)... basically, it's correct to say that ITA and KOR got reallocated spots from CQP...

I agree... 2-year long series with balanced points distribution according to the value of the events included in that list... no chance to leave any of the best out because of a bad day or an injury... and a very low percentage of quota places reallocated through unfair, disputable and prone to manipulation continental/invitational lists...

so, there's a chance they're going to mess everything up...

Italy have already chosen Jessica Rossi (Shooting, women's Trap Olympic Gold medallist in London) and Elia Viviani (Cycling, men's Omnium Olympic Gold medallist in Rio)... I'm absolutely OK with them, even if normally I don't like the idea of having "competitive athletes" carrying the Flag...

sure...I don't think PUR (and ITA, who are going to struggle badly against PUR with this roster...actually, I think we're going to lose quite easily against them) could even make you sweat...

lot of things have changed since then (even if some results by people like Phil Mickelson and/or Louis Oosthuizen in the last 2 majors seem to have turned time back )...

congrats! but tbh, I just can't believe we could get so low in the level of play... I'm truly disgusted by the lack of talent and above all, the lack of pride and winning mentality of this team... I think our NOC should stop funding women's basketball and send these girls all around the world to ashame our Flag...

and more money to make in the North American outdoor season with all the Master 1000 and US Open tournament in just over a month between August and early September... by the way, if this means that Berrettini and/or Sinner could end up with a medal, I'm more than happy with it...

no one in general, but I hope to see repeating themselves in men's Rugby Sevens... meanwhile I just can't stand Pita anymore...

not any Country in particular... but I always support some athletes like Issoufou, Sheik Cissè and Ruth Gbagbi and Anthony Obame (all Taekwondo)...and a few others, like Fabrice Zango, athletics (I also used to be a great fan of Terence Parkin, deaf swimmer, silver medallist in Sydney 2000 in the "normal" 200m Breaststroke)...

Iran (except for when they beat us, especially in Karate and/or Taekwondo ) for what concerns single athletes, Om Yun Chol (weightlifting) and since she came back from her desease, Rikako Ikee (swimming)...

so, we have to re-evaluate our very stupid loss against you as favourable episode... once every while, we've been the lucky side...

well, that's true also in almost any other sport...think about some swimming events where the USA could have the whole starting field in the final race or some athletics events, especially in middle distance running... as someone said, it's the Olympics that make the medal winners great, not the people winning medals that make the Olympics unforgettable...

I'm sure I'm gonna cry for any Italian Olympic medal as usual... and there are a lot of disciplines and events in my personal wish list of possible success... but the answer to the original question is a no brainer: Rowing, men's Quadruple Sculls winning Gold in memoriam of Filippo Mondelli...

Boari so far is literally killing any hope for Italy to be better than 4th... we could easily be there with IND and MEX if only she was shooting (not even say a good) just an average session...

women's teams after 90 arrows... 835 833 825 819

which means that Darya Derkach, who jumped just 1cm short of the Olympic standard a couple of days ago, has to improve by that damn cm if she wants to fly to Tokyo (our media were already convinced that she could easily earn her quota place thanks to the world ranking with that measure)...

there are a lot of athletes I like and support despite not being from my Country... it's too hard to select a few, but this year there's 1 woman I'd really love to see on the Olympic podium: swimmer Rikako Ikee (many people who know her story could also imagine why)

maybe you have a chance also in shooting in the first week...

normally, Italy in the last 5 or 6 Olympics have been stronger in the first week/10 days of the games rather than in the final 5/6 days... and I think it's gonna be the same also this year... on day #1... being very optimistic, we have Sofia Ceccarello in the very first medal event of the Games (women's 10m Air Rifle), but more rationally we will have to wait the afternoon/early evening when we have quite a good number of true medal chances (Fencing, men's Sabre and women's Epee; Cycling, men's Road Race; Taekwondo, men's -58kg and maybe even the Archery, mixed team event, but this is another optimistic hope, rather than an expected medal)... I think we have more than one medal chances almost every day... but we're likely to really get that in some days of the first week of the Games, when Shotgun Shooting, Swimming and Fencing are scheduled all together... maybe some days in the middle of the second week, but I haven't checked carefully enough the schedule to be accurate with this answer...

my picks... 1, 4 & 5 2 & 6 are likely to happen, but I'm not sure about it at 100% (there are only very few shots, they might miss out as well as get it)...therefore, I don't pick them for the poll's purpose... 3 is almost impossible to me, I'd be shocked if it really happens...

Quadarella in any case won't swim the 400m free at the Olympics...she's going to focus only on the 800m and the 1500m...