phelps

the big problem is that they don't have one...they're just a bunch of opportunistic and stupid people, prone to trust the most improbable fake news... if we just watch at their political actions so far, for sure we can say they're more rightist than leftist (with all the consequence of that orientation)...that's sure... eurosceptist? that's about half of the Country...it's not a question of political parties, rather than social classes...only those who are not touched by the loss of economical power and resources to come to the end of the month with some dignity and something to eat everyday and a few youngsters who are still dreaming instead of living the daily struggles are pro-EU...those who have lost their job or have seen their salary heavily cut because of the European requests to cut the public debt surely can't be pro-EU... their main feature is that they are "against"...they are against progress, they are against any sort of long term investment and against building any new infrastructure, they think all the other political forces are a bunch of corrupted liars and they are the clean side of the Country, but it's well proven that they are worse than any other political party, even Berlusconi's... about macroeconomics, they seem to embrace the degrowth theory by Serge Latouche, but this is only marginally true, they just give their own (wrong even in this case) interpretation of that (which is already something out of this world, imho...and they can even make worse than that)... imho, they are just a disaster...something that I wouldn't wish my worst enemy...where they have some local govern responsibility, everything is falling apart (Rome is the biggest example of that, with no more thrash cleaning from the streets, with public transports not working most of the time and a lot of those malfunctions that make life harder for the people who live in those places)... hopefully, soon this awful experience will end...but who knows what awaits us? we thought that after 20 years of Berlusconi followed by the German slave Monti nothing could be worse, but we got the "5 Stelle"... so, following the old proverb (when you've touched the ground, you can always start digging), I don't really know what to expect for the future...frankly, at the moment I don't see any new political force nor any new politician that could really be an inspiring figure to stand up and get back to the Country we once were...

yeah, but, as I wrote, in Italian (Latin) culture it doesn't have anything to do with racism or offensive thoughts... it's more a joke, something like "hey Japan/China/Korea (put the far east Country you like the most) here we come!" or "this time we won ", depending on situations... but, as inappropriate it could be, it has no offensive meaning at all (there are other ways to offend oriental people here...mostly connected to their "yellow skin" rather than their almond eyes, which actually are appreciated a lot at our latitude, especially when they are not almost closed, but well open and supported by a good make up)...

by the way, in Italy that gesture doesn't have anything to do with racism or trying to offend anybody... on the other hand, if you indicate the number #2 as you normally do in the USA (raising index and little finger like in the horn gesture), it's highly likely that here (especially in the big cities and in the Southern part of the Country) you get a knife in your stomach in less than 1/100 of a second... every place has its own meaning to the same kind of gestures, generalizing is always the worst thing to do (and ignoring that is even worse)...

nice final day tomorrow... in both the women and the men's events we're going to have a direct matchup between 2 crews entering the medal race with only 1 point difference (so, basically who ends up in front of the rivals tomorrow wins the title) and also a 3-way fight for the bronze medal (GRE/FRA both stuck at 48 pts and SWE at 52 pts among the men; FRA -64- / ITA -68- and ESP -74 pts- among the women)... for what concerns Italy, definitely some good results...but among the men our duo Ferrari & Calabrò wasted a good medal chance with today's poor performance (twice 19th and 9th) after a very successful week... among the girls, now we have Elena Berta and Bianca Caruso fighting for the medals and also looking to appreciate Enoshima's sailing conditions, meanwhile Benedetta di Salle and Alessandra Dubbini look really in trouble and have never been in contention here in Japan (they are only 17th in the ranking), but those 2 are the pair who won the Olympic quota...troubles incoming for our technical committee...

basically, this is a law that spoils our NOC of its tasks (and independency)... they have "invented" a new "company" with all officials named by the Government to control and manage all the amateur/everyday sports activities, replacing the existing one under the direct responsibility of our NOC (as the Olympic Statute requires)... moreover, it's written in the first chapter that the Government has to/can review and change all the NOC decisions about financial, sport politics and people's nominèes... in practice, the Government takes over all the NOC activities, except for the high level (Olympic) preparation (which depends on public funding already, so they also have control of that "de facto" -but before it was just the total amount of funding given to the NOC and then they could decide how to give it up to the single federations, now all the money would be given through the new company under a stricter control of the Government)... all things contested by the IOC through a letter they sent to our NOC boss Giovanni Malagò, who's been fighting against this Government and this law for quite some time (and he has to face also a lot of internal opposition, because most of the presidents of the Italian Sport Federations are also heavily connected with -when not fully part of- our political parties...to name one among the toughest Malagò rivals, our Swimming Federation's President Paolo Barelli has been a member of our Senate for at least the last 20 years, always with "Forza Italia", Berlusconi's party)... so far, the Government has refused to take into consideration any IOC statement...actually, they said the IOC are wrong and the situation is not like they think, but they're just a bunch of liars... the last chapter (for now) is about a new letter sent by the IOC yesterday, which askes the Italian IOC members, our NOC main officials and our Government representatives (those who wrote that law) to come to Lausanne next September and discuss about this situation, trying to avoid Italy to be sanctioned according to the IOC rules (in perspective, we're going to get the same punishment that Kuwait got for Rio 2016 and most likely the organization of the Winter Games of 2026 will be stripped from Italy if nothing's gonna change in the next few months). now we can only wait and see what's gonna happen, because after yesterday's voting (about another issue, nothing related to sport questions...it was about the High Velocity Train Lane between Lyon (FRA) and Turin (ITA), another complicated situation here in Italy...where a bunch of idiots -unfortunately among them there's the second party of the Government coalition, the socalled "5 Stelle", ideologically opposing anything new, modern and efficient- can take the 80% of the Country as hostage, delaying -if not completely stopping- one of the most important infrastructures that should be built in our Country ) there's a high risk that this Government is going to fall down rather quickly...and in such case we're going to be for months -until a new voting session and the following consultations to make a new Government- without a leadership capable of taking any decision except for the ordinary affairs and administration...

no, because MLB players can't play at the Premier 12 by rule... it's gonna be mainly triple- and double A players, with Japan, Korea and Chinese Taipei using their own main leagues to fill the spots on their respective rosters... still, US depth chart is beyond imagination, so, if Girardi can put on a good staff to help him selecting the right players in the perfect spot, USA can easily be a top contender in any case (like it happened 4 years ago)...

I think he's going to fill the team with big bats, totally forgetting that pitching and defense win the games... oh, wait...is that something he already did with the Yankees?

in Italy all sports are equal by law, but de facto Football is the only National sport of Italy (you can add Valentino Rossi and Ferrari -be careful, not motorsports in general...just those 2 "divinities"- if you like, but their sports are not recognised by IOC)... everything else just flaws by (Panta rei, for those who know a bit of ancient Philosophy) and maybe sometimes hits the news columns when Italy win a European/World/Olympic title (but the first 2 competitions get some consideration only for team sports...in the individual ones, you really have to become Olympic Champion to get a marginal place on TV and newspapers)...

this is history! my friends... Ivan Federico won the men's Park competition and he's the first ever Italian born rider (of any discipline) to win a X-Games event! moreover, he was the only non-Japanese skater to win one of the Skateboarding Olympic events (Yuto Horigome won the men's Street, Aori Nishimura won the women's Street and the 12-year sensation Misugu Okamoto dominated the women's Park, as usual)... here are the medal runs from that epic contest... http://www.xgames.com/video/27322135/medal-runs-men-skateboard-park if we consider this event the real thermometer of this sport, the Olympic medal table in Skateboarding would be something like this: JPN, 3 / 2 / 1 IOP, 1 / 0 / 0* USA, 0 / 2 / 2 FIN, 0 / 0 / 1 *following the latest (very sad and idiotic) development of the Italian political scene (yesterday a law that goes against most of the principles included in the Olympic Statute was approved by our Parliament), there's a very high chance that Italy won't be part of the Games in Tokyo and all the Italian athletes capable of qualifying as individuals will have to live their Olympic dream under the anonymous Olympic Flag (and they will have to listen to the awful Olympic Anthem if they win a Gold medal)...

yeah, but I'm not sure world sailing wants to increase the cost of 2 regatta instead of only 1 (the OQ status means also more participants, more judges, more accomodations, more costs for the whole infrastructure)... let's see what happens...maybe they're lucky enough to complete a regular program already this week in Peru...

tutto come ampiamente previsto... e con gli idioti che ci ritroviamo nel panorama politico attuale, sono quasi sicuro che il disastro sarà completo...addio Milano-Cortina 2026...

most likely they will use the world cup regatta of 2020 in Genua, ITA (where the european sailors in most classes are already scheduled to have their last chance event)...

in Surf it happens more often than not (to win a heat with the last ride, I mean)...

if only we had a decent setter...Malinov is simply unwatchable... luckily, we've found a girl like Egonu...she's the difference between a team with ambition and some chances and a team that couldn't even qualify to the global tournaments' qualifiers...

Romain and Romana: the 2019 UCI 4X Mountain Bike World Champions! Congratulations to Romana Labounková of Czech Republic and Romain Mayet of France who are crowned 2019 MTB Four-Cross World Champions! They prevailed in what was a fascinating competition in both the Men and Women Elite finals which got underway shortly after 21.00 local time under the floodlights of the beautiful permanent 4X track at Val di Sole, Italy, for the predictably frenetic wheel-to-wheel action that only 4X can deliver. After a day of rain in the valley of the sun that made the XCC cross country a harder task than imagined, the skies dried, the lights were lit and the finals commenced. After Thursday evening’s qualifying runs, in the Men Elite, Czech Tomáš Slavík posted the fastest time of 44.004, more than a second clear from the Swiss Lutz Weber and Austrian Hannes Slavik – with Sweden’s Felix Beckeman (2017 World Champion) and Britain’s Elliott Heap joining them in the top five individual quali times and Stefano Dolphin, the fastest Italian on his home track, hitting sixth. 2018 World Champion Quentin Derbier (FRA) was not racing to defend his title… but he was not the only Frenchman in Italy! For the Elite Women, of the ten starters, the eight fastest riders went through automatically to the semi-finals, representing seven different nations. Favourites and last year’s top three Raphaele Richter (GER, 2018 bronze medalist), Romana Labounková (CZE, 2018 World Champion) and Natasha Bradley (GB, 2018 runner-up) were the one-two-three in qualifying, pitching Labounková and Bradley together in the second heat. When the action unpacked and the four-way head-to-head eliminator rounds started? As the cowbells rang and the chainsaws whirred it was the quartet of Labounková, Bradley, French youngster Mathilde Bernard and the fastest qualifier Richter who progressed through to the Women Elite final, and that was the order over the line: it was the Czech athlete who powered away from the field to take the win in style for her second consecutive World Championship. In the men Elite competition, 32 riders started the 1/8th finals on Friday, with favourites Slavik and Beckeman leading the way and with Weber and Italian rider Roberto Cristofoli amongst the others making it through to the semi-final round. But the final four to line up were Beckeman, Heap, seventh-fastest qualifier Urban Rotnik of Slovenia and tenth-fastest qualifier Romain Mayet of France. And it was the 26-year-old Frenchman who took the win, the one-time BMX European Championships medalist putting it to the rest of the field. Britain’s Heap (fourth last year) took silver with Beckeman (fifth last year) collecting bronze. Congratulations to both winners, proud to wear the rainbow stripes for the next year – and it’s a long year with the 4X World Championships set to be run alongside the DHI and XCO World Championships at Val di Sole in September 2020. women's 4X Results Gold: Romana Labounkova Silver: Natasha Bradley Bronze: Mathilde Bernard women's 4X Results Gold: Romain Mayet Silver: Elliott Heap Bronze: Felix Beckeman Full Rankings: https://www.uci.org/mountain-bike/results

Stage #5 (Val di Sole, ITA) Men's Cross-Country Race Gold: Mathieu Van Der Poel Silver: Mathias Flueckiger Bronze: Nino Schurter

and in the men's class, it's Mathieu Van Der Poel giving the Swiss armada a lesson... not the most exciting race of the year, however... Italy had their best team performance in the last few years (3 guys in the top 10, 5 in the top 14), but unfortunately they couldn't make the podium and our top rider (Kerschbaumer) was really unlucky when he had to change a wheel just after rejoining the leading group...

Stage #5 (Val di Sole, ITA) Women's Cross-Country Race Gold: Pauline Ferrand Prevot Silver: Jolanda Neff Bronze: Jenny Rissveds

what a race!!! unbelievable comeback by Neff, but what a tough reaction by Ferrand Prevot, who could stay with the Swiss in the last half lap and then beat her at the sprint finish... the best women's race of the year...by far...

be serious...if you watch on Red Bull TV, turn the English commentary on... by the way, yeah...I love the Val di Sole Downhill track... but easier tracks like Les Gets normally give us a lot more exciting races (as it happened 2 weeks ago), meawhile here we can clearly see how big the difference is between the very few top competitors and those immediately following them in the ranking (not to mention those outside the top 10/15)...

because that's the only slot given by the Brazilian TV (I remember a lot of the old World League games BRA vs ITA played at the same hour -when here it was broadcasted by the glory days of the good old Telemontecarlo)... later in the day, there's only place for football (soccer, I mean)...

Stage #5 (Val di Sole, ITA) Women's Short Circuit Race Gold: Jolanda Neff Silver: Sina Frei Bronze: Pauline Ferrand Prevot Men's Short Circuit Race Gold: Mathieu Van Der Poel Silver: Henrique Avancini Bronze: Jens Schuermans

this time I think it will be difficult for Geoffrey Apithy to earn a spot in Fencing...

Oh, yes...I forgot to post it earlier... This is also the first chance to qualify to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games... directly from the official qualification pamphlet: "The seven (7) highest placed athletes per gender at the (Combined Event of the) World Championships will be allocated one (1) quota place, respecting the maximum quota per gender per NOC (2 women, 2 men)". "The quota place is allocated to the athlete(s) by name." "The Host Country is guaranteed one (1) male and one (1) female athlete." (which means that Japan still can qualify 1 woman and/or 1 man through the qualification pathway, World Champs included)... Full qualification system is here: https://www.ifsc-climbing.org/images/World_Competitions/FINAL_-_2019-02-01_-_Tokyo_2020_-_Qualification_System_-_Sport_Climbing_-_eng.pdf

no, it should go to (as I wrote, he's placed better, atm)... by the way, there are also a couple of guys from RSA not so far behind those 2 in the OQR...so I guess there will be some kind of fight for the African quota (if there are no further limitations, like being at least in the top X of the final ranking to be eligible for the Continental quota, which frankly I don't remember right now )...