phelps

what a bunch of losers, chokers!!! they just just be whipped live on tv in front of the entire Nation!

yeah, of course right now they're focused mainly on the US trials...after the end of that, they will surely update everything...

only from quarterfinals on...

that's crazy!

not that changes too much for the other swimmers (except for herself and Ledecky), but Titmus swam 3.56 in the women's 400m free at the aussie trials... she should be on top of that list...

British eight might well be a contender, but if I didn't miss anything, the Sinkovic bros in men's Pair are miles ahead of their main rivals (ITA and ROU, SRB not at all imho)... if CRO decided to put them on another boat (or if they're injured), then, it's a completely different story...but, as I said, I'm normally very bad in predicting results and I haven't read anything about them in the last period...

because when it really mattered, in the last couple of years, they've just been untouchable (even if some winning margin could suggest something different)... world cup events to me don't count anything...I'm pretty sure all big teams were playing games and/or making experiments before taking their final decisions (and some did even miss the event)... by the way, it's just my opinion...and I'm notorious to miss most of my predictions...

right now, I think there are only 3 male (and no female) events where we have a "written" gold on paper...men's Pairs (), men's Eights (), men's Lightweight Doubles (, even if not with the same margin of the previous 2)... in all the other races, there are at least 2 contenders more or less on the same level...

Puspure will win Gold for sure...the only question is if she's gonna win it in Tokyo or a few years later, when Prakhantseva's samples will be re-analyzed...

men: women:

Italy this is our team so far, but many things have to be fixed (the relay only swimmers, but also some individuals that could qualify at the next Settecolli meet in Rome, from June 25th through to the 27th)... women Rachele Bruni (10km Open Water) Martina Rita Caramignoli (800m + 1500m Free) Martina Carraro (100m Breaststroke) Elena di Liddo (100m Fly) Sara Franceschi (200m + 400m Individual Medley) Margherita Panziera (100m + 200m Backstroke) Federica Pellegrini (200m Free) Benedetta Pilato (100m Breaststroke) Simona Quadarella (800m + 1500m Free) women's 4*200m Free Relay women's 4*100m Medley Relay men Stefano Ballo (200m Free) Federico Burdisso (100m + 200m Fly) Thomas Ceccon (100m Backstroke) Marco De Tullio (400m Free) Gabriele Detti (400m + 800m Free) Nicolò Martinenghi (100m Breaststroke) Alessandro Miressi (100m Free) Gregorio Paltrinieri (800m + 1500m Free + 10km Open Water) Alberto Razzetti (200m + 400m Individual Medley + maybe 200m Fly) Mario Sanzullo (10km Open Water) men's 4*100m Free Relay men's 4*200m Free Relay men's 4*100m Medley Relay mixed 4*100m Medley Relay

it's obvious that our friend doesn't know how things work in Golf... being the no. 300 in the world ranking doesn't necessarily mean that you can't play... all the top ranked golfers come from the top 2 tours in the world (US PGA and European tour) because those 2 competitions normally award a lot more ranking points than any other organization... but there are way more than 200 good golf players in the world, we often see even amateurs making the cut in the major tournaments, even at events like the British and/or the US Open... by the way, replacing stroke play with match play (64 players in both tournaments, but only 8/max 16 seeded...then, random draw) could be a good idea...

loses also Gigi Datome (right elbow bursitis) for the pre-Olympic tournament in Belgrade...

my pick... and going for gold, then a bunch of Nations fighting for bronze, among which I opt for the side polls: 1 - Betto and Olmo could get close to top 10 in the women's race in a good day, Steinhauser and the men are hopeless (they qualified only because of the mixed relay, where I think we can't get any better than 9th or 10th, if we're lucky)... 2 - less than average, top 10 places in the history of world series/world champs and Olympic games can be counted on one or two hand's fingers... and the worse part of that, it's that here Triathlon is one of those sports with a lot of amateurs practicing, but with absolutely no reward for professional athletes (they are fully unknown to the media, which never broadcast any event, not even the world championships), therefore we also have a lot of troubles finding new faces for the top level activity... somehow, exceptionally, it looks that we have a couple of young promising athletes right now, but who knows if they will ever make a good transition to the senior level?

Damian Lillard and Draymond Green are the first 2 NBA stars to agree and play for the US team in Tokyo according to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic... more "big names" to be announced in the next few days...

it's always the same old story... Italy have had so many promising single scullers that have been screwed up by our coaches, either by putting them on another boat just after achieving a good result as a single sculler or not really trusting and supporting them to perform at their best in the long period... I'm just asking myself if I'm ever gonna see in my whole life an Italian single sculler on the World and/or Olympic podium?

they made it a mess... and surely they didn't apply the rules they wrote in their papers in these years (it's not that we all got fooled during the OQP when we used to compile the list of continental quota places competition after competition...they surely changed criteria -or at least, the interpretation- without making it public)...

Polonara and Mannion are already with the team (they will play the Hamburg tournament this coming weekend)... Datome will play for sure in Belgrade (unless he's injured), even if right now he's still pausing after the (disastrous for him and his team) end of the Italian league... Hackett, I wouldn't be so sure about his participation...

the only 110% sure place among the tripartite invitations is in men's kata (makin'it 10 players in that class)... then, there should be 1 more free place in the women's -61kg class, otherwise there would be a 9-woman tournament, but here there are no athletes eligible according to the top 50 of the OQR/WR rule... therefore I think they won't use that rule (they will make it easier for sure, like to be in the top 75/100 just to find someone to match the criteria)... for the last 2 spots...good luck!

it's written in the article...there will be 82 athletes (21 kata, 61 kumite specialists) in Tokyo... the Refugees are extra quota... and men's Kata will feature for sure 1 of the 4 tripartite commission invitational places, so in the end threre will be 10 athletes in that discipline as well...

it should be 4 in the women's division and the men's heavier classes, 8 in those men's weights where there are at least 24 starters, if I remember correctly but rules might have changed from the last time I read them...

c'mon! we all know that all the NOP athletes should be banned for life (and Nike should be banned from being a sportswear supplier)... and we all know what are the names that should end up in the blacklist...a Shelby Houlihan, among others, isn't just enough...it looks she's just the typical scapegoat...

as usual, the draw could make any prediction impossible... however, my picks: -87kg: not necessarily in this order -130kg: safe gold, then and someone not in the list (thinking mainly of , but not only) side poll: no, we live in 2020s...people might be able to choose where they want to live, practice sport and the Country they feel more obliged to and they want to represent...

-51kg: safe gold, the remaining medals will be influenced by the draw...so, I pick not necessarily in this order... -60kg: Dubois will be driven to the gold medal whatever might happen on the ring, it's written in the books...then, it's up to the draw, even if being no.1 and facing Dubois early in the tournament would mean end of dreams in any case... my picks for silver and bronze medals, not necessarily in this order, are: -75kg: Fontijn is clearly the best in the class... Price however has clearly the judges on her side (see the attempted robbery in the 2019 worlds final)...so, those should be the 2 going to the gold medal match, but I don't pick any of the 2 for gold... for the Bronze medals, always if the draw doesn't make it impossible, my picks are and

no, not at all... at the moment, I just can't run and jump, but I can still walk (just for short routes and with some discomfort)...