phelps

I fully respect your opinion (taste is absolutely personal), but I don't agree... the action might not be always fast and furious (actually, in the speed event it's fast and furious), but there's always a lot of tension, strategy, strenght, technique involved in any single move that makes this sport very likeable...at least for me... by the way, I just used this post to remember that today the new Sport Climbing season starts in Switzerland with the first Boulder competition... more details in the specific thread...

here we go! the new season starts today in Meiringen (SUI) with the first Boulder competitions... men's quali are already underway, women's quali are scheduled for the afternoon at 4.30 p.m. CET tomorrow it's time for the semifinals (11 a.m. CET) and the finals (men at 7 p.m. CET, women to follow, not before 8 p.m. CET)... as usual, Youtube provides a wonderful free coverage of the semis and finals...don't miss!

disaster for Italy...the whole team was forced to abandon the current world cup event in sofia because of a suspect case of coronavirus infection among the team officials...

still nothing compared to Los Angeles 1984...that was really dramatic...

in the general swimming thread, on the daily recaps of the British Swimming trials there's a list of British swimmers that achieved the British Qualification Standard... https://totallympics.com/topic/5431-swimming-2021-discussion-thread/

hoping for an unusual (miracle) sunny day, at least...

I hope for a NOR vs MNE final, but I fear that FRA would eventually win Gold and RUS silver... so, I voted France (losing finalist Russia, losing sides in the semis: Norway and Netherlands)...

Day #2 Highlights - James Guy, men's 200m Fly in 1.55.20 (Olympic qualification standard, literally dying in the last 10 meters or so after 180m on pace for a 1.53 swim, if not better...crazy 24.7 split at 50m)... - Kathleen Dawson, women's 100m Back in 58.24, OQS (also the 2nd ranked, Cassie Wild, went below the OQS with 59.51)... - Molly Renshaw, women's 200m Breast in 2.20.89, British record (and OQS, of course)...and also here the 2nd ranked, Abbie Wood, qualified to the Games with a great clocking of 2.21.69 pretty average races instead over the men's 100m Back and both genders' 800m Free (no qualifying standards matched)...

6. In case of a draw on points a. Exclusively between two boxers, i. the winner of their latest direct confrontation in one of the events listed above (if existing) determines the tie-break. ii. if there is no valid direct confrontation to determine the tie-break, we will proceed below to point 6.b. b. In case of a draw on ranking points amongst multiple boxers, i. the highest ranked boxer at the respective Continental Games determines the tie-break. ii. if still even on points, the tie-break will be the finishing position at the AIBA World Championships (WCH) in 2019, followed then by the WCH 2017/18. iii. if there is still a tie on the ranking points, the boxer who lost to the goldmedallist (or highest finishing positioned boxer) in the continental qualifier event will be considered the highest ranked boxer. iv. if the above three (3) tiebreaker rules do not determine the higher ranked boxer, a draw will be conducted to determine the tie-break

best of day #1 Freya Anderson winning the women's 200m Free in 1.56.80 (qualification standard by British Swimming), Kieran Bird qualifying in the men's 400m Free in 3.46.00, Aimee Wilmott also qualified in the women's 400 IM in 4.35.80, Harriet Jones earning the flight to Japan in the women's 100m Fly in 57.79 and finally the 2 "bombs", the world leading time by Adam Peaty in the men's 100m Breast (57.39, he's already officially named for the Olympics together with James Wilby in this discipline) and by Duncan Scott in the men's 200m IM, a stunning 1.55.90 (also Joe Litchfield qualified in this race with his 2nd place in 1.57.74)...

once again, multiple choice would have helped me... I went for Karate (Kumite only, I don't like Kata at all) because I love fighting sport, because probably this is the first but also last appearance of the sport at the Olympic Games, because there's a chance to see some Italian medallists...in the end, because I want to watch it... Individuals? Luigi Busà (men's -75kg) of course, but also Silvia Semeraro and the Iranian Ganjzadeh (I'm also frustrated because the competition format/rules won't allow the other Iranian Poorshab to participate since his Olympic weight class is the same of Ganjzadeh)... others to be followed...Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu (TUR, women's -55kg), Anzhelika Terliuga (UKR, women's -55kg), Steven Dacosta (FRA, men's -67kg) and basically all the Japanese fighters... but I'm also very excited about Sport Climbing's Olympic debut, even if the Olympic format is a senseless farce... climbers to watch? Janja Garnbret (SLO) because she's already the greatest of all times despite her young age...but also all the Japanese men and women and Laura Rogora, the Italian rising star of this sport... and surely I'm going to follow some Baseball, too...because despite the absence of MLB players (the best in the world), the Asian Pro Leagues' stars from NPB and KBO (which I follow regularly through the year) would provide an excellent tournament in one of my favourite team sports overall... Softball, most likely I'm gonna watch only a few games before the opening Ceremony and the Gold Medal match...I don't like this sport as much as I love Baseball despite they almost look the same thing... probably I'm also going to watch some Surf and Skateboard because it's the Olympics, but I'm not so mych into those 2 sports...most likely, I wouldn't follow them at all if they weren't part of the Olympic schedule...

naaa, I was joking... nobody wants him to comeback also here in Italy... and let's be serious...if he comes back and walks a 3.35 race after 5 years without a proper training, I'm the first one to think something crazy is goin'on... it would be more than a farce, despite all of his natural talent (which I'm sure is superior to most of the current top race walkers, but it can't be that good)... still, as I wrote before more than once, I'd pay a good amount of money to see him destroying the field...just to humiliate WADA, WA and IOC and their dirty manipulations... but it won't happen...so, there's no reason to get worried about that...

only if WA and IOC can find the way to keep Schwazer out of the Games...

I see most of those things not happening... they clearly underestimated British Rowing and Track Cycling and overestimated many other disciplines (especially Laura Muir...she has no chance against the Africans)...

most likely, they expect FIE not to count the CChs because not all the Continents are going to organize theirs (and it wouldn't be fair to give up points only to european nations if only the Europeans go on)... I think we have to wait for some official news before we can speculate on the draws of the Olympic Tournaments...

They've always been part of the ranking...and the draws of the Olympic tournaments have always been based on the last ranking released by FIE before the start of the Games... we'll see, but I think this time the Hungarian media could be wrong... by the way, in Italy, as usual, nobody says nothing...I think they don't even know if the Continental champs are going to be held or not, yet...

yes, if also the Continental Champs are cancelled, we already know the draws for the Tokyo Olympics (actually, we should wait also for Japan to decide which team event they will enter, because not in all of them they would be ranked 9th if they participate)...

very nice idea! I went for China, but I'd would have liked a chance for a multimple choice, as I think there are at least 3/4 Nations that have a true chance to stop Korea in more than 1 event... tbh, I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if KOR would eventually win more than 3 gold medals in Archery...

the poll once again has been built to have this precise outcome... from the low number of people interviwed to how those people have been selected to the main area where where those who participated live... it's not a true nationwide poll and it's not been built in good faith... I'm pretty sure it doesn't reflect at all the true Japanese position about the Games...

yeah, and also the women's 200m free (this one was intentional, I'm going for all the the superstitious rituals on that )... however, I think it's only an outside chance for bronze...Regan Smith and Kaylee McKeown are out of reach...add a surprising newcomer (there are always some at the olympics) and the podium is dead and gone... and I also hope to see another 1 or 2 of our youngsters (or even veterans) overperforming and getting a pair of unexpected medals, but obviously I didn't include that kind of expectations in my prediction...

if the Olympics started tomorrow, my prediction for Italy would be: - Athletics, 1-2 medals (race walking and men's high jump the best chances) - Swimming, from a minimum of 5 medals (men's 400m + 800m + 1500m free, women's 1500m free and 1 between women's 800m free and men's 100m breast) to a very optimistic 9 medals (the 6 events mentioned before with a double medal in the men's 800m free + the women's 100m breast and the men's 4*200m free relay) - Open Water Swimming, 1-2 medals (Paltrinieri not winning a medal would be very disappointing, Bruni is still the silver medallist from Rio 2016) - Judo, from 0 to 4 medals (if we don't medal in the men's -66kg and women's -52kg, it would be a big disappointment, men's -73kg and -81kg are more outside chances than true expectations) - Wrestling, 1 medal (men's Freestyle -74kg) - Karate, 3 to 5 medals (women's Kata is a lock, women's -68kg and men's -75kg are "not to be missed" targets, women's -55kg and men's -67kg are more than simple outsiders) - Taekwondo, 0-2 medals (both the men's -58kg and -80kg are realistic medal threats -even if the last one still has to qualify, hopefully at least 1 of them comes home with a medal) - Gymnastics, 0-2 medals (men's Rings and women's team in artistic gymnastic, the group event in rhythmic gymnastics...I hope at least 1 of those 3 potential medals would eventually come home) - Rowing, 4 medals (both lightweight doubles, M4- and M4X are the only medal candidates, but they are really strong medal candidates) - Canoeing, 0-1 medals (we just have 3 or 4 outside chances, not a real contender...most likely, our best results would come from men's K1 200m, men's K2 1000m and both slalom K1 events) - Sailing, 1 medal (Nacra17 mixed...but since sailing is so unpredictable, I secretly hope we can get also 1 or 2 more surprising medals, men's RS:X being the best shot) - Cycling, 4-5 medals (men's team pursuit and both Omnium events on the track are a lock, Ganna in the men's ITT and the women's road race are also expected medals...hoping to add some more, but it would be extremely difficult) - Weightlifting, 0-1 medals (men's -81kg could be a realistic shot at a medal) - Shooting, at least 1 medal in each clay target shooting event is a must (so, at least 5 medals) - Fencing, at least 3 individual and 5 team medals (8 in total) - Team Sports, 1-2 medals (men's Waterpolo, both Volleyball teams and the men's Beach Volley competitions are all possible targets, I hope at least a couple of them would eventually succeed) - other Sports...I don't think we stand a chance, maybe except for a miracle medal in men's Tennis (Jannik Sinner more than Matteo Berrettini) if the starting field is not too strong... in total, it should be around 35 (very realistic, almost pessimistic view) to 45 medals (very optimistic and unrealistic scenario)... everything below 30 medals (and 8 Golds) should be considered a big flop, a shame, a disaster... personally, I'd be happy with 35 medals (but at least 12 being Gold)...

don't worry, I was joking... as you might imagine, I'm a little biased on the 200m Free (by the way, Pellegrini last week was faster than she was in Spring 2019, when she finally won the world title once again...so, I'm also quite optimistic...still, very much biased)... in any case, it won't be easy for Ledecky over the 200m and 400m...surely not as easy as it was in 2016...

those are not locked gold medals at all...

no, I already posted the correct link to the medallists from day #1, good 2 days ago... wikipedia has them correct... day #1 only has the medallists also on worltaekwondo Europe's website, day #2 has the link to the full draw with results, too... https://worldtaekwondoeurope.org/files/Draw_lots_and_reslut_D2.pdf

no, there are a lot of big names you'll see on the Olympic podium... but of course they're not in good shape yet...and this is the first serious event in 16 months, so upsets and unexpected results are on the agenda...