phelps

that would be very expensive for FIE and difficult to set up for many athletes...remember that most fencers are no pros at all (Italy and France are just a couple of notable exceptions in this sense) and probably they can't take more than a weekend every once in a while off their regular job... but I agree that at least they could try once in a season...maybe the world cup finals, with only the best athletes per weapon (=all pros who can do what they want of their time) could be the right event for that...

so, at least we're gonna have some familiar surroundings and a bit of party atmosphere in the speedskating hall...

yeah...but usig the conference hall of a 4* (maybe 5*, but I'm not sure) hotel maybe is a bit too depressing... not asking for an NBA arena, but at least a decent hall should be the case...

yeah, sometimes it's depressing how this sport makes himself such damages... however, at least they have a live scoring and a HD live streaming for the vast majority of their international events, which isn't always the case for many sports, even a lot richer and more "media-friendly" than the wonderful art of Fencing... because people can think what they want...to me it's one of the most entertaining and exciting sports in the world...I love it and I won't stop loving it just because the international federation's president is one of the most controversial Russian oligarc and one of the richest man in the world but he administrates his sport like a kids' recreational activity...

per la serie: già vinceremo così tante medaglie e abbiamo così tanti giovani di grande prospettiva che lasciamo ogni (già minima) speranza di far bene nel Team Event e bruciamo uno di questi giovani, portandolo in Corea dopo i mondiali juniores, quando sarà ben spremuto sia fisicamente che psicologicamente (perchè a Davos avrà tutti gli occhi addosso e la pressione del risultato e di dimostrarsi superiore ai ragazzini che affronterà e che alle Olimpiadi per almeno altri 4 anni non ci possono nemmeno sperare di andare)...

yeah... to be honest, he already has been vice-president since 1998...so, it's not gonna change things that much...I guess it's more of a public image problem, rather than an actual worsening of the already dramatic AIBA situation...

Medal Matches Live on Youtube right now... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fQ2TR_zHos By the way, shame on the Italian girls...they had the easiest root to the final ever...and they did waste this enormous chance against Hungary....Hungary!!!

Women's Team Sabre (Baltimore, USA) Final Results: Gold: France Silver: China Bronze: South Korea Semifinals: China b. Hungary 45-44 France b. South Korea 45-43 Bronze Medal Match: South Korea b. Hungary 45-44 Gold Medal Match: France b. China 45-40 Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Today's competition: http://fie.org/competitions/2018/216/results/rank

oh, I just missed out on his name... I really can't believe he's in this list...c'mon, man! however, this what we know about him: https://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/athlete-biography.html?sector=AL&competitorid=204319&type=result

a proposito di Pyeongchang 2018, questo è il programma TV previsto dalla RAI per la parte in chiaro (ricordo che i diritti principali sono quelli di Eurosport, visibile in pay-tv su sky e mediaset premium con 2 canali dedicati e standalone tramite il proprio Eurosport Player online, ad oggi l'unico modo di poter vedere tutti gli eventi dell'Olimpiade per gli appassionati Italiani): https://www.digital-news.it/news/sport/44342/giochi-olimpici-invernali-pyeongchang-2018-con-rai-sport-110-ore-di-programmazione

the new Karate season has started! the great news about it it's the fact that from now we're in the Olympic Qualification period, when the top tournaments in the World (Premier League, Serie A, Continental Champs and, of course, World Champs) give up points for the new World Ranking, which, at the end of the process, is going to determine most of the 10 qualified athletes in each Olympic category to Tokyo 2020... because yes!, Karate will make its first Olympic appearance in 2 years time... and just a few minutes ago, the first stage of the 2018 Karate 1 Premier League has finished in Paris (FRA)... and the most prestigious tournament of them all has finished with non-news, meaning that more or less all the medals went to the usual suspects... Japan, in fact, dominated the field with 5 Gold Medals (3 in Kata events, 2 in Kumite events...3 of those 5 coming in Olympic classes), well clear of the local heroes from France, who got 3 full triumphs (all in Kumite events, 2 of them in Olympic classes)... Iran was the 3rd strenght this week with 2 Gold Medals (both in Kumite events, 1 in an Olympic class)... Finally Malaysia, China, Kazakhstan and Spain got 1 Gold Medal each (the first 3 in Kumite events, ESP in Kata), with CHN and MAS success coming in Olympic categories... here are the full Final Results fro the Paris tournament: https://www.sportdata.org/wkf/set-online/popup_main.php?popup_action=results&vernr=161&active_menu=calendar just a personal (sad) thought... Karate refs suck!!! and they suck a lot!!! imho, now that Karate has become an Olympic sport, we're gonna see more and more episodes of bad refereeing, corruption, "political" decisions and awful things like that... and this because there are so few Olympic quota up for grabs and for the various federations is vital to earn at least some of them for this fisrt Olympic party for Karate... my preview is that we're gonna see even more scandals than in the early days of Olympic Taekwondo...and I said it all...

Ladies and Gentlemen... the "new" AIBA interim president (at least until Moscow's elections at the end of 2018)... https://www.aiba.org/blog/aiba-names-new-interim-president/ just a reminder about the man now in charge... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gafur_Rakhimov https://en.crimerussia.com/criminalauthorities/gafur-rakhimov-sanctioned-by-us-for-supporting-thieves-to-head-amateur-international-boxing-associat/ good luck to boxing and boxing fans...

well, since we're not a small Nation who can be satisfied just with being part of the Olympics, I think our athletes must at least be "competitive" enough to earn their spot... and with that I mean they should be at least regular top 15 finishers (with at least a couple of top 5/6 peak results, just to feed at least the hope of a "diploma" result at the Olympics)... otherwise, there are a lot of competitions that fit better their (poor) quality... I know it's quite a harsh thought, but that's my opinion...

yes, Lucrezia Fantelli is one of them, if I remember well also Sofia Belinghieri in SBX, but her situation is quite different...actually, she's quite promising, but she had a severe injury to her knee before the start of the 1st race of the season, so she hasn't competed in WC yet... but if she's re-established her health, she could do quite well at the Games... than there are the XC Skiers...most of them have never been in the top 30 in a world cup race...so, I don't know why they've been named for the Olympic team...I know we have a tradition, but if nowadays we don't have enough decent athletes it's not with 40th place finish that we're going to defend our name in the XC world... p.s. also Nicol De Lago in Alpine Skiing...she's not at the same level of her teammates...she's not ready for the Olympics yet... not to mention the Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined guys (apart from Pittin)... I mean...we have way too many athletes who are not competitive at all in this team and I don't see why* our NOC has to waste a lot of money to fly them to Korea... *actually I know why they do that...it something involving our strange and complicated organization...it's about politics among the Military Corps that keep our sports (especially the Winter Sports) alive...

Ledecka just made a big mistake... but general conditions weren't that bad (the course is a demanding one, but it was well setup)... you can see it from the highlights of the men's final between Galmarini (SUI) and Coratti (ITA)

probably he couldn't match the very strict rules they have (among other requirements, you have to sustain an examination about Swiss history and geography to get the Swiss citizenship)... not yet, at least (you can try more than once, of course)...

frankly, I don't know why some names are on this list... there are athletes that literally didn't even show up to any world cup race this season (and some others who didn't have a decent finish -let's say top 15- even in really favourable conditions)... boh!?

frankly, I don't know much about her... but I guess/fear that her European title was just a one-hit wonder, favoured by particular conditions (both technical and environmental)... happy if it's not, of course...we'll see in the next future...

d'altronde con solo 10 posti per categoria... è il male assoluto di molte gare delle ultime versioni dei Giochi... però è vero che non si possono neanche avere Olimpiadi con 50000 partecipanti...

yes, Emura, Noutcha and Nikitina are less than 20 y.o.

comunque pessimo weekend per i nostri colori... di sicuro non inizia sotto una buona stella la finestra di qualificazione olimpica... temo proprio che, ora che il Karate arriverà ai Giochi, il livello tecnico salirà molto e i nostri saranno sempre più in difficoltà (senza contare le questioni politiche, che non faranno altro che penalizzarci sempre più)... imho, se riusciremo a portare Cardin e Busà alle Olimpiadi (oltre ai 2 del Kata) sarà già un successone...

perchè gli arbitri sono dei cornuti! scherzi a parte, è stata una decisione molto discutibile...loro hanno sostenuto che la proiezione da cui è partito il colpo finale non fosse stata eseguita in modo completo, tecnicamente corretto...

Fencing World Cup (women's sabre) on youtube Karate Premier League, Paris stage, online Winter Sports (CC Skiing, Alpine skiing, Luge and Snowboard) this for the early part of the day... later tonight, the Gold Medal match of the Handball men's Europeans and some Golf (tape delay of the final holes of the Dubai Classic -European Tour- and live from San Diego, the Farmers Insurance Open -US PGA Tour)...

don't get too influenced by that race...that's a unique event held only once per season... all the remaining races are just "normal" one-by-one runs... the main difference between NTL and ATL are the courses (obviously), which in NTL are normal everyday mountain roots iced with snow and water to get the track... there are no banked curves, just some wooden (sometimes with airfences, too, but not always) protection walls in the most dangerous passages... and sleds have brakes (the ropes handled by lugers are there for that purpose) to slow down a bit before the most demanding curves... and because of its nature, in NTL driving skills are a lot more important than aerodynamics... that's it...

back spasm problems for D-Fisch, it looks... however, it shouldn't be anything too serious...