phelps

I feel ashamed I wasted 2 consecutive nights watching the UEFA Champions League (especially that pure sh*t on Friday night )... apart from that, this week has been only about the NHL playoffs with a small touch of Golf (PGA Championship since Friday morning here in Italy, because of time difference)... and it's not gonna be different today, tomorrow and in the following days (except for Golf, which is gonna end late tonight, tomorrow for me)...

DJ on top of the ranking after the "moving day"... but there are a lot of players still within reach (17 in a 4-stroke range, 29 within 6 strokes from the leader)... very curious to see how some new faces among the rising stars of the PGA Tour are going to manage the pressure of the last day of a Major Tournament while fighting for the win... p.s. my 2 cents are on Koepka doin' it again... p.p.s. live leaderboard, here: https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2020/pga-championship/leaderboard.html

Day #16...this is "The End" (cit.) sadness and depression at their climax...to me, this is absolutely the worst moment of my "normal" life (except for the serious troubles, of course...we're still talking of sport, of course)... by the way, my "event(s) of the day" would strongly depend on the Italian interest (= presence in some medal matches)... but...if there were no Italy at all (or if Italy were present in each and every team sport final), Athletics (men's Marathon), Track Cycling (men's Keirin and women's Omnium more than anything), women's Handball Gold Medal match and men's Waterpolo Gold Medal match would surely my "not to be missed" events of the day... women's Volley and Basketball would go in the second row... and I promised myself not to watch a single second of the Boxing tournament, but I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna keep this promise...I like the sport too much to resist temptation... in any case, it's sure that I'm not going to watch a single second of Rhythmic Gymnastics (that's too much for me) and the Closing Ceremony (that's too painful...I'm not so masochist)... bye guys...it's been a lot of fun to live this "Neverland Olympics"... but now I do really hope to live a true, genuine Olympic experience in 12 months time...

Day #15..."it's the final countdown" (cit.) as usual, this is the real super-Saturday, where basically everything on the schedule shouldn't be missed... but since there's no chance to get everything live as it happens, we have to make a priority list... and at the top of my personal list we have for sure the last Wrestling and Karate finals, followed by Track Cycling (men's Madison), Athletics (especially the women's High Jump, hoping for a stellar duel between Lasitskene, Mahuchikh, Cunningham and who knows? maybe some more surprising jumpers) and possible finals of Team Sports with Italian participation (hopefully at least a couple among Volleyball, Beach Volleyball, Waterpolo)... also high on my list are women's Golf last round, the last Canoeing finals, men's Modern Pentathlon and the remaining Team Sports, even with no Italy involved (especially Baseball and men's Handball Gold Medal matches)...

day #14...slowly coming towards the end... so, my "Olympic depression" would normally be at its climax, entering the final weekend... however, my "top event(s) of the day" are surely Wrestling (the great day of Frank Chamizo...will he finally become Olympic Champion?) and Karate (the great day of Luigi Busà...such a career can't finish without an Olympic Gold medal, he truly deserves it)... also not to be missed: women's Beach Volley and women's Field Hockey Gold Medal matches, Athletics (the whole program, especially the men's 50km and the women's 20km Race Walk), Track Cycling (women's Madison above all), Sport Climbing's last event of the Games, Table Tennis (men's Team event Gold medal match), women's Modern Pentathlon and men's Waterpolo semifinals... then, in the third row, all the remaining sports in the schedule...

I don't have any proof about anybody because it's not my job... for what concerns NOP and all of their athletes, the US Senate has a report of more than 200 pages that nails all NOP officials, trainers, athletes and even the Nike vice-president (not just a low tier worker, the executive vice president!) to their responsibility... but thanks to this WADA (and their political accolites) the criminals always come only from China and / or Russia (or other non English-speaking Countries)...

take it for what it is...just fun... I have no doubt...my beloved Milan! and actually, I already have a detailed plan to host a very sustainable edition of the Games (with more athletes and less officials than the current numbers) in my birthplace... unfortunately, I have no money nor "connections" good enough to put this thing in place, but I'm sure that it would work and it would be lovely, more than some of the Games we already saw in the recent past...

Day #13...one of the busiest of the whole Games for my personal taste... absolutely not to be missed: Atheltics (especially the morning program and the men's 20km Race Walk), the Olympic debut of Karate (medals incoming for Italy...I expect a 3 out of 3 in this day), Open Water Swimming (the men's race, with the epic fight between super-Greg Paltrinieri and his German nemesis, Florian Wellbrock), Track Cycling (with the finals of women's Keirin and above all, Elia Viviani defending his men's Omnium Gold medal from Rio), Sprint Canoeing (above all, the men's K1 200m and the men's K2 1000m, the 2 best events for Italy -even if I don't think any medal will come from this sport, unfortunately), Sport Climbing (the men's Final, the first ever title awarded at the Olympics in this sport), Wrestling (today's finals of course, but especially the men's FS -74kg prelims with the great Frank Chamizo) and finally, the men's Field Hockey Medal matches... and there are also a few more events that I also would like to watch (more Team Sports, the Table Tennis women's team event medal matches, the men's Sakateboarding Park event, the women's Golf tournament), but I fear I have to recover later,as I think I'm already gonna get mad with the "not to be missed" things... this is one of those typical days where I need at least 3 tv screens working at the same time (and I'd need 6 eyes, too)...

day #12, I guess... obviously, today it's only about one word, one sport, my "reason of life"...Artistic Swimming! I'm joking, of course... being a bit more serious (but only a bit), my main events of the day will be for sure Track Cycling (men's Team pursuit and women's Keirin), Open Water Swimming (women's race), today's Wrestling finals and Athletics (all of today's program)... then, the remaining finals (the last Sailing events and the Equestrian Individual Jumping above all) and a good team sports wrap up, especially my beloved Waterpolo, Field Hockey, Baseball and Handball (as they are all in the hot stages now)...

thanks... I thought Piraguismo was the same all over the Spanish speaking world... nice to learn something new every day... and yes, Italian and Romanian root for the Rowing sport are the same, as many other words, as both are neo-Latin languages (Romanian has also heavy French influence, but in this case the neo-Latin heritage prevails)... of course "canoa" in Italian is also for the object as it is (and it's used for both Canoe and Kayak, as basically we never use the word Kayak, if not for the sport competitions to distinguish the 2 disciplines...but in common language referred to a trip in your leisure time we normally use only the word canoa meaning either C or K)...

day #11 event of the day to me is Sailing, Nacra 17 Medal Race because of possible Italian success... then, also not to be missed are: Track Cycling (especially women's Team Pursuit), Athletics (all of today's program, but the men's 400m HS final is my highlight for sure), Flatwater Canoeing (the first finals of the Games for this sport) and finally I have a dream, an Italian medal in Wrestling (GR -97kg, Nikoloz Kakhelashvili)... last but not least, Sport Climbing's Olympic debut and the many "win or go home" matches in Team Sports (Waterpolo, Baseball, Field Hockey and Handball above all)...

you're forgetting this one...8 years before Emmons (the same day of Mauer vs Horneber)...

yes, I'm absolutely sure "Bisteccone" was narrating Rowing (Canottaggio) for our public TV RAI in 1984 (he was doing it even before, when the Abbagnale brothers won their first world medal in 1982...and he was himself an Olympic rower -I don't remember if in the Pairs or the Double sculls- in Rome in 1960)... Canoeing in Italian is "Canoa" (Canoa Sprint = Flatwater Canoeing, Canoa Slalom = Slalom Canoeing, no difference with many other languages)...in Spanish is "Piragua/Piraguismo"... by the way, he never used to be a Football broadcaster, even if he used to follow our Serie A football from Rome for the RAI sports news programs...

I just can't find the 1984 final, but on youtube there are many of his broadcasting shows from 1988 to 2000 (he was the voice also for the big Italian Gold medals in Canoeing)...

based only on the feeling of the moment (and it's not a good one, since I have my back totally stiff...once again...and it's the most painful period of the whole process right now)... Sarajevo 1984 - Paul Hildgartner winning the men's Single in Luge and Paoletta Magoni winning the women's Slalom in Alpine Skiing Los Angeles 1984 - the Abbagnale brothers winning the Coxed Pair in rowing (especially because of the crazy enthusiasm of our historical broadcaster, Giampiero "Bisteccone" -"Big Steak"- Galeazzi, a true legend of sport broadcasting on the Italian public tv) and Vincenzo Maenza winning the Greco-Roman Wrestling -48kg Calgary 1988 - Tomba La Bomba, what else? the second run in the men's Slalom is still the most watched sport event in the history of the Italian TV...even the Football World Cup matches couldn't beat those legenday minutes yet... Seoul 1988 - Gelindo Bordin, Marathon man Albertville 1992 - here I'm totally biased...Stefania Belmondo winning the women's 30km Free in Cross-Country skiing (I still remember that I missed the school to watch her race that day) Barcelona 1992 - poor Fabio Casartelli winning the men's Road Race in Cycling and Pierpaolo Ferrazzi winning the inaugural men's K1 in Slalom Canoeing basically at the same time on an extremely hot Sunday early afternoon Lillehammer 1994 - that's a no brainer...our men's Cross-Country Relay triumphing in the garden of the stunned Norwegians, the highest point ever reached by the Italian Winter Sports (and who cares if it's also the greatest cheat in the Italian sports history ) Atlanta 1996 - Wang Yifu shooting a riculously low score in the last throw of the men's Air Pistol, gifting Roberto Di Donna of the Olympic Gold medal in the craziest competition of that sport so far (Matt Emmons' drama was still to come 8 years later) and, above all, Yuri Chechi, the Lord of the Rings (also Paola Pezzo winning the first ever MTB Cross-Country Gold of the Olympic history showing her decolletè is not to be forgotten, though ) Nagano 1998 - only one name...Dominik "the Dominator" Hasek...no need to add more... Sydney 2000 - the unbelievable results of the Italian team in Swimming, Giuseppe Maddaloni winning the first ever Olympic Judo Gold for Italy and Alessandra Sensini, edging out Amelie Lux (GER) in the most exciting medal race in Sailing (women's RS:X) I've ever watched Salt Lake City 2002 - once again...Stefania Belmondo, my hero! Athens 2004 - Marco Galiazzo winning the Individual Gold medal in Archery, our unbelievable men's Basketball team, our Waterpolo girls "revenge" and above all, Stefano Baldini entering the Panathinaikon and winning the most iconic Marathon in history Torino 2006 - Armin Zoeggeler (men's Single, Luge), Enrico Fabris (men's 1500m and with his teammates the men's Relay, Speedskating) and above all, the men's Relay and Giorgio di Centa winning Gold in the men's 50km, Cross-Country Skiing Beijing 2008 - Andrea Minguzzi lifting and throwing Fodor (HUN) in the last second of the men's Greco-Roman Wrestling final...all my neighbours still remember my scream in that precise moment (my window is still trembling) Vancouver 2010 - Syd the (whining) Kid scoring the winning goal in the OT vs the US boys in the men's Hockey tournament London 2012 - so many wonderful memories...I just can't choose only one or two...but if I have to name just one, it must be the clean sweep in the women's Foil (Fencing) on the opening day of those Games (which incidentally was also my birthday, July 28th) Sochi 2014 - tbh, I have no positive memories about those Games...they were disappointing under any point of view, strictly personal, Italian, general... Rio 2016 - once again, to many exciting events to choose from... more than anything, they were the last Games I could enjoy together with my mom (who was already fighting against that fuckin' leukemia that took her away 10 months later)... PyeongChang 2018 - our Golden girls...the crazy duo from the Bergamo province, Sofia Goggia (Alpine Skiing) and Michela Moioli (Snowboard) and, above all, Arianna Fontana (Short Track Speedskating) Tokyo 2020 - I'd like to write about Italy winning a record number of Gold Medals, but I fear that all of us will always have as the first thought that fuckin' Covid-19...

better make a new thread... it could be fun and interesting at the same time... I'm gonna answer to this question in the new thread...

day #10 first in line for me, obviously, the last day of the Fencing competitions (men's Team Foil)... then, Athletics (men's High Jump, women's Triple Jump and of course the men's 100m dash above all), the end of the Swimming program (men's 1500m especially...no need to say why?) and Golf (men's final round)... not to be forgotten, Sailing (finals of the day, but also the Nacra 17 fleet races) and Badminton (men's semis and women's medal matches)... day #11 not to be missed: the first Wrestling finals (and the men's GR -97kg prelims, hopefully with the great new "Italian" Nikoloz Kakhelashvili), the end of the Shooting program (with the 2 most exciting events of them all, the men's Rapid Fire Pistol and 3-Position Rifle), Sailing (men's 49er and women's 49er FX medal races), Athletics (my personal highlights of the day being the women's 100m HS + the men's Long Jump and 3000m Steeplechase finals) and the start of Flatwater Canoeing and Track Cycling programs (women and men's Team Pursuit qualifiers above all)... then, gotta find some place also for the other finals of the day, especially the men's singles in Badminton, the men's Rings in Gymnastics (with our Marco Lodadio) and some Team Sports reaching the "hot" stages...

just 3 letters: N-O-P all those cheaters should be cancelled from the sports history books, exactly like those of the BALCO scandal, Ma Junren's Turtle Blood addicted and all benefiting from the (many) State-run Doping programs discovered through the years...

maybe you just missed out on how Quadarella destroyed the Chinese (and all the other) girls at the last world champs... her expectations are higher than mine, however...she recently said she really thinks she can beat Ledecky over the 1500m and be closer to her than last year in the 800m by next season... I think she's gone a bit too far, but surely she's better than the Chinese girls (especially if WADA makes a normal, not even beyond average, job) and even than Titmus, who's going to focus on 200m and 400m mainly, using the 800m just for training (she isn't even sure she'll take part in the Olympic 800m, like she said in an interview after the race of last year's worlds)... Panziera last year was 2nd or 3rd (I don't remember exactly) in the world in terms of clockings and 4th at the world champs, when she underperformed because she was sick (even if we discovered that only months after the event, at the time she only said she had a bad week like it happens sometimes)... with her PB in Kwangju she would have been 2nd with margin... behind the untouchable Regan Smith I don't see any other girl out of reach for her...then, anything can happen, as always...but there are not so many girls capable of going down to 2.05...and she's one of them, which to me is enough to say she's a legitimate medal contender...

correction, sir! Hassan is the new Wang Junxia...

waiting for @heywoodu's comment, here...

right now it's only the 100m heats and a few jumps...the streaming starts at 6.40 p.m. CET (5.40 p.m. back in the UK)... here:

they had to, because of the new rules about the 14-day mandatory quarantine for all those coming to Italy from a few Countries with strong covid-19 reprise (Romania is one of them, for instance)... by the way, Viktoriya Tomova tested positive for covid-19 in Palermo and had to withdraw from the qualifications of that tournament (luckily, it looks that at least she has no symptoms)...

no need for the lobbysts to do anything...I'm pretty sure his own teammates would eventually take care of him...

Margherita Panziera in the Women's 200m back and above all, Simona Quadarella in the women's 800m Free... obviously I'm not talking about Gold, but Silver and/or Bronze are well possible for them (actually, anything else below Silver for Quadarella would go under the classification "disappointing")...