phelps

my picks... Klapfer has a highway to this title...if he doesn't win today, it could even stop his career... Frenzel should have the edge over the rest of the field for the Silver medal and I think Geiger will come back for bronze... but maybe Geiger can challenge also his teammate for Silver...

well, that's because of my "very Italian, very Latin" character... and as I wrote, sure I care a lot of my Country, being just some sports success or a lot more serious things..so, it's quite normal for me being "participative" and also very critical when I see something that I don't like (and I think it could/should be done better)... you can call it an excess of love, if you like...

right now, it footbal (soccer) champions league time...Juventus vs Tottenham... and tomorrow, finally, some men's Hockey makes the appearance in Pyeongchang...

it's not completely true...there are some athletes who have a comparable technique (of course not at the same level of effectiveness)... in today's race, for instance, if you carefully watch someone like Rastelli, he used more or less the same technique to climb the second hill (and in fact he was just behind Klaebo in the first quartfinal at that moment)...unfortunately he's 15cm shorter and 20kg lighter than the Norwegian (and most of his opponents), so he was left far behind on the following downhill and didn't have the same strenght in the arms in the final straight to compete with those "big guys" (if compared to him)... and he's not the only one...

2 - I think that all the elite athletes do something that's impossibile to be done without pharmacological/scientific help... I also think that all the socalled "big sports Nations" have the same amount of funding and knowledge to run "performance enhancing programs" (the only difference being that some of them do it as a State mission, some others just close their eyes on some individuals taking advantage of the opportunities that the human progress gives them)... so, I still enjoy elite sports events...because I don't think that there is so much disparity at the start between the socalled powerhouses...in a certain sense, it's still a fair competition between a bunch of cheaters... I just watch sports events like movies and/or tv series...and I try to enjoy the pictures I watch...pure entertainment and nothiong else (with a bit of participation for the Italian colours, but that goes well beyond sports and frivolities like that)...

really? Wust skating in pair no.4 against Yvonne Daldossi??? c'mon, man!!! apart from Wust, I'd pick pairs no.12, 15 and 16 as those whom the medals will come from... and of course I hope Marrit could do it once again...

today there has been a lot of ups and downs in "my Games"... of course, it was really exciting for the Italian medals (especially Fontana's Gold...what a better way to honor the Flag she carried at the Opening ceremony that winning the first Gold medal of these Olympic Games for our Nation?)... and technically, I saw a wonderful exhibition by Chloe Kim in the snowboard women's halfpipe...it was really a great show...one of the poster pictures of these games, for sure... but some events were a farce (alpine skiing men's combined event) or just weren't close and exciting enough (mixed curling Gold medal match, both CC skiing Sprint finals and, in some way, also the speedskating men's 1500m didn't keep me involved until the very last moment as I'd have liked)... and still, the scheduling sucks!

some people in the Italian staff, a few years ago already said: "take notice of this name: Johannes Klaebo" (when he was still 17/18 y.o.)... CC insiders have been knowing for a while that he was coming...and coming big way... sure, the margin with he's winning many races may leave more than a doubt...but surely he's not coming out of nowhere (p.s. I have no doubts....there is no top athlete in any sport that lives with "bread and water"...to me, they are all at the same level...that's why I still enjoy those sports...I don't think there's a great disparity between the bigger Nations, any of them)...

sure, the Germans are still the main favourites, but don't underestimate the US team in the relay event... they have a good chance to make GER sweat quite a bit, at least... imho, more than Austria (they don't have a woman who can keep the pace of the best Germans and Americans, even if the training runs of the doubles say that Penz/Fischler can keep up with Eggert/Benecken's pace)... CAN is going for a bitter 4th place, I guess...

no, the DSQ came for "impeding" (I saw the judges' screen in the pictures when they re-watched the race), so It can't be for any of the moves between her and Arianna... I guess @intoronto has given the right interpretation to this situation...still, I don't agree with the fact that her DSQ were justified (as they were not many of the impeding calls in both the ST sessions so far)... c'mon! this is ST, not a "stay in your lane and run against the clock only" discipline...

best news from the luge track today...Emily Sweeney is fine...just some bruises all over the body, but no fractures nor concussion... very good news...

as I wrote, very controversial refereeing today (to say the least)... imho, in the semis Boutin should have been DSQ and the Chinese advanced, but it went the exact opposite... and frankly the Korean being DSQ in the final is the most unexpected move of these Games...I did never expect the judges to make a mistake against the host (because it is a clear mistake, not even something that could be interpretated in more than one way, just a bad mistake. Point.)... well...now I'm done and gone...more than the athletes themselves... so, I can go and relax with some speedskating and curling (delayed, of course)...

yesss!!! at least the German clean sweep has been avoided... congrats to Gough! p.s. no comment on the Italian girls...

and Pellegrino is in the final...today it could become an Italian party (even if Klaebo looks unbeatable, but not as many other times, and Bolshunov, Svensson and Hakola are very tough opponents)...

our proud flagbearer....what a wonderful flag it is!!!

yeeeeesssssssss!!!! Ariannaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! Sochi's forgotten!!!!

p.s. awful refereeing today...

that's completely new to me... but in those events they always come up with this kind of unusual things... however, this proved even better for us...so, let's take it and kepp our fingers crossed for the final...

WTF... it's gonna be Christie, Fontana, Choi and Fan in the same semifinal!!! that's the real final...

Valcepina... what a wasted chance...

good start for alpine skiing...a complete farce...and also an unfair one, to say the least... but at least the best still managed to get the Gold medal...just a little consolation...

well, maybe you're not so interested in CC skiing and short track, but those are my 2 highlights of the day (together with the already gone snowboard women's halfpipe) and they are exactly at the same time (for what concerns the most important phases of the competition)... moreover, always at the same time there are the luge finals, the mixed curling gold medal match and speedskating (all things I'd like to watch, too)... so, it will be almost impossible to keep myself away from spoilers, especially in ST and CC, which could see some Italian success (and therefore we're going our TV jumping from one to the other all the time)... p.s. if there's something boring, to me, that' ski jumping (apart from figure skating, which it's not even a sport for my taste)...

it's because the course has to be set for the women's speed events (they have to make it half the days for men and half for women)... that's why normally there are 2 different track in 2 different locations for men and women...but in Korea they don't have another hill high enough to build a downhill size track...so, they have to share the same course for both genders... and this is the result of that...

so, it should be half a medal for Italy, too...I guess...

sure...figure skating and snowboard have been scheduled in the Korean morning because of NBC's money... but Sliding Sports, Ski Jumping and Biathlon are scheduled to favor the European networks (especially the German TV, but not only them)... and Speedskating has basically been scheduled by the Dutch TV... it's a bit of a compromise, as it always happens for most of the events even at the Summer Olympics...