phelps

I would add also c) I've watched very few moments of this event, but I was really impressed by most of the female athletes from some Countries (Kenia more than any other)...for instance, were Kenia's girls in the 800m (who of course dominated the event by miles over the opposition) really "girls"??? and I could go on for a good while with some more examples...

yes, but the main difference is the format of the competition...until last year it was a time trial race with the 3 members of each team swimming together (like time trials in cycling), now we have a real relay with 4 members (2 men + 2 women) for each team... and that makes it a lot more spectacular...I'd even say that this event should be put into the Olympic program...and it would make a lot more sense than most of the latest additions (Judo team event included, just to talk about mixed gender team events)... however, going back to the races of this first week at Balaton Lake, pretty disappointing results for Italy until now...all of our athletes definitely underperformed, if compared to this season's regular World Cup series... and especially in the men's Olympic distance we are really behind the best, we need someone else rather than this group of guys, who are good but not enough for the individual medals... and I'm not sure that taking Paltrinieri in this kind of events would be the right idea...

I just noticed that in the Men's Epee quite a few very good specialists have been eliminated in the preliminary rounds... and also that Italy has been killed by awful positioning of our fencers in the main draw...even if they are at their best, no more than 2 would survive the round of 16 because of too early direct match-ups between them... better tableau should have the Sabre specialists...especially Curatoli should be able to fill his contract and reach at least the quarterfinals (but of course I hope to see him finally on the podium)...

Official Website: http://www.fechten2017.de/welcome.html?L=1 Event Schedule (to be noticed...we are back to the Kazan 2014 format, with the first couple of days dedicated to the preliminary rounds up to the last 64 in all the Individual Weapons): http://www.fechten2017.de/sport/schedule.html?L=1

some news about the Mixed Team event in the Olympic format... as you might know, this event will be contested by teams made of 3 men and 3 women... therefore there were some doubts of how a possible 3-3 tie at the end of any single match-up would be solved... well, now we know that: in each bout of the match, 10 "classification points" will be awarded to the winning athletes by ippon, then 1 "classification point" will be given to each waza-ari scored by the winners by that score...no "classification point" will be given to the winners by shido or to the losers... so, this "classification points" total will be the first tie-breaker... if a match is still tied, then there would be a draw to choose 1 of the 6 weights classes to fight another bout (but starting directly from the golden score)...the winner of this fight takes it all...

the whole tournament can be seen on youtube (all sessions are also available on-demand after they're over)... here you can find the links: http://www.worldtaekwondo.org/competition/world-taekwondo-championships/championships-2017/live/

Vito Dell'Aquila is the youngest and brightest talent of the Italian Taekwondo...he's not even 17, but he already won quite a few titles and medals among elder ranks in the last 2 years (Cadets World Champion in 2014, Junior European Champion in 2015, European sub-21 Champion and Italian senior champion this year)... here some more data about him (I'm not sure at 100%, but I think he's from the same small village of Carlo Molfetta - for sure he fights for the same club in Mesagne, Puglia region, southern Italy)... http://www.taekwondodata.com/vito-dell-aquila.ambh.html#body

well, this time we have a slightly better coverage than usual... results are on the usual website (EUBC's home), so nothing new compared to the past, but at least now we have full video coverage on youtube (both Ring A and B, live and also on demand)... by the way, new Olympic cycle, but old style robberies here and there... but I didn't expect anything different...

around 40 or just above that...it depends on the other Continental Championship events running this week...

unfortunately, Nicky Hayden's conditions are not improving... as reprted by the latest bulletin from the Cesena Hospital, he has multiple trauma in his head with severe brain damages... moreover, he also has multiple fractures in his legs and pelvis and he's too weak to be operated to give him some relief from the cranial hematoma, which is at the moment his main problem, the most life threatening... poor Nicky!

what a mess! good luck to you, to all Slovakian hockey fans and to Slovakian hockey, also... however, at least you have your main sport website (and newspapers, I guess) writing about hockey each day of the year and every hour of the day, well before any other sport discipline... meanwhile here's how it looks our main sport website/newspaper... http://www.gazzetta.it/ It's only about Gossip, Soccer, Ferrari, Valentino Rossi and now, just because it's Giro time, Cycling... Hockey doesn't even exists on the main menu...they write about it only when some atrocious accident happens (and generally they write about it without knowing of what they're talking of)...

hopefully his life isn't under threat anymore...even if he's in very serious conditions (multiple abdominal trauma and severe concussion)... he has been moved to a renomated brain treatment/surgery specialized hospital in Cesena... here are some pictures from the accident's location... http://www.corsedimoto.com/gallery/gallery-ecco-le-foto-dellincidente-di-nicky-hayden/?intcmp=foto-hayden EDIT: according to some late news (unofficial sources directly from the Bufalini Hospital in Cesena), Nicky's life is still in danger...it looks that the situation is worse than expected...

well, being a better team than 2014 didn't take a big effort, actually... I don't remember anything worse than that experience in the last 25 years of Italian Hockey history... the 3 losses in the last minute or so of the games, instead, in my opinion are more related with the lack of experience of the majority of the current players of our team, rather than a lack of stamina... meanwhile the lack of scoring efficiency has a lot to do with the technical and physical skills of our players...it's clear that we lack at least 2 or 3 big, heavy snipers in front of the cage that can translate the great build up work of people like Scandella, Diego and Simon Kostner, Anton Bernard, Morini into goals...in all of our games, I've watched way too much circling around the net without anyone in front of the opposing netminder ready to touch the puck into the net...if we can't find someone with those skills, I don't see how we can improve this part of our game (moreover, the only player more or less like this we have on our roster - Joachim Ramoser - was out because of an injury...we haven't even been lucky)... finally, the Egger episode... I didn't even mentioned it yesterday because it was clear that it was only an unlucky accident due to the really shameful ice conditions... in my opinion the only one to blame is the ice master of the Lanxess Arena... I hope however that this experience has been useful to our guys and that they can rapidly improve and get back in the Top Class Worlds as soon as possible... but you know, without a competitive National Tournament is very difficult to develop a decent number of very good players...only those lucky ones who can get a place in the best European and/or North American teams have a chance to grow up quickly and became real globally recognized top players... and we don't have anything even close to a serious National Championship, so we are always in danger to get short with our National Team roster and find very few players good enough for this kind of Hockey... p.s. today's afternoon games have been great (especially the big rivalry battle between RUS and USA)...a very entertaining show (way better than last night's NHL game between Pittsburgh and Ottawa, which came out a bit disappointing, if compared with the previous NHL playoffs nights)...

Ok, we don't belong to this level of hockey... and our relegation was easily predictable well before the start of the World Champs... but...c'mon, man! what a painful and undeserved way to leave the top class it was, today's match!

well, it might even be your National Animal, but here in Italy we know them very well...we also have a small town named "Chamois"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois,_Aosta_Valley http://www.comune.chamois.ao.it/ and we also cook them in many different ways (especially as a sausage for tagliatelle/pappardelle - a kind of long and slim size pasta made with eggs and flour - but not only...they're so good)... https://www.google.it/search?q=tagliatelle+al+ragu+di+camoscio&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMuKyNhPDTAhWrI8AKHe9fBI4QsAQIYA&biw=1920&bih=1091 http://www.italy-recipes.com/ricette/dettaglio_ita.asp?index=1568&titolo=pasta-al-sugo-di-camoscio http://digilander.libero.it/valtellina2002/piatti_tipici/Tagliatellealsugodicamoscio.html http://www.mytasteita.com/click/index/14241764/cucinarecarne.it http://www.cottoepostato.it/GoToRecipe.aspx?ric=http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/fXZA/~3/l39MEO6jKZA/camoscio-con-polenta.html

my heart's broken... if only hockey games were scheduled on 58mins40secs and not full 60 mins, Italy would be safe with at least 4 points and Slovakia would be still at 0... but the truth is that 2 silly mistakes in the last minute or so of 2 different games and an awful PK (by far the worst I've ever seen by our team) are sending Italy back to the Hell of Division IA next year (unless the totally unexpected happens)...

well, in Wrestling they have a tradition in "buying" (better, taking advantage of their decisions...because I don't think they actually bought those athletes in the same way Azerbaijan, Qatar etc. - just to make an example - do) and not only in selling talents... remember the lights of the Nazarian, Moureiko, Guri...all of them winning global medals for Bulgaria, but coming from different Countries... by the way, we live in a global world, so to me it's quite normal to see athletes travelling to find better chances, like any other people do... the only thing that sports officials should do is avoiding - no matter how - shameful situations like those of Azerbaijan, Turkey and/or the Gulf Countries (and Greece in the past, nowadays I don't think they are a "threat" in that sense anymore)...

52nd European Senior Championships (Kocaeli, TUR) Team Finals, Final session Women's Events Team Kata Gold: Italy b. France 5-0 Bronze: Spain b. Portugal 5-0 & Turkey b. Germany 5-0 Men's Events Team Kata Gold: Spain b. Italy 5-0 Bronze: Russia b. Azerbaijan 4-1 & France b. Montenegro 3-2 Team Kumite Gold: Turkey b. France 2-1 Bronze: Ukraine b. Germany 3-1 & Croatia b. Italy 3-1 So, Turkey wins the Medal Table with 4 Gold Medals, followed by Italy and Spain with 3... Ukraine got 2 and Austria, Latvia, France and Serbia complete the field with 1 Gold Medal each... Finally, 16 Countries won at least 1 Medal overall...

after watching today's Russian "lesson" to Italy, I thought: "God, bring us back to a 12-team Top Division Worlds"... then, I saw the French guys... but I didn't change my mind...it was only an unexpected and exceptional "accident" for the Finns... @hckosice by the way, it doesn't look that good for your guys...once you score a good goal, the refs don't even give you that...

wow! we got so close to a real sport's miracle... and we actually deserved more than we got in the end... and if it wasn't for Hudacek's goal 64 seconds before the final whistle, you got so close to a shameful relegation... after having watched today's games (SVK-ITA, but also LAT-DEN), I have to admit I'm very worried about your team...I didn't really expect them to live such a nightmare against Italy (even if we played surprisingly well, with a very well organized defence and many effective counter-attacks)... in particular, I saw too many individual efforts and very few organized set plays from your guys...and I never saw that sense of urgency that every team needs, especially when they find themselves unexpectedly behind in the score... basically, the opposite of what the Latvian team showed for the entire game... p.s. Bernard today played very well (as he did throughout the entire season in Finland), but his Achilles' heel has always been "consistency"...so, I'm not that confident that he's going to repeat today's performance when it will really count as a do-or-die (the last game against Latvia, at this point...I don't think we can sum up any point against the supposed "big guns" of the group, especially tomorrow against Russia I'm scared we'll get a severe punishment)... however, today it was a very emotional afternoon that I never expected to live...so, thanks Blue Team...in any case!

52nd European Senior Championships (Kocaeli, TUR) Individual Finals, Second session Women's Events Individual Kata Gold: Sandra Sanchez Jaime (ESP) b. Viviana Bottaro (ITA) 4-1 Bronze: Dilara Bozan (TUR) b. Biserka Radulovic (MNE) 5-0 & Sandy Scordo (FRA) b. Jasmin Bleul (GER) 5-0 Kumite -50kg Gold: Kateryna Kryva (UKR) b. Duygu Bugur (GER) 8-1 Bronze: Serap Ozcelik (TUR) b. Sara Radichevska (MKD) 6-0 & Bettina Plank (AUT) b. Adriana Crohnkova (CZE) 3-0 Men's Events Individual Kata Gold: Damian Hugo Quintero Capdevila (ESP) b. Alì Sofuoglu (TUR) 3-2 Bronze: Roman Heydarov (AZE) b. Botond Nagy (HUN) 5-0 & Mattia Busato (ITA) b. Peter Fabian (SLO) 5-0 Kumite -60kg Gold: Kalvis Kalnins (LAT) b. Marko Antic (SRB) 1-0 Bronze: Dominik Imrich (SVK) b. Oleg Filipovych (UKR) 2-0 & Angelo Crescenzo (ITA) b. Eray Samdan (TUR) 8-5 Kumite -67kg Gold: Burak Uygur (TUR) b. Alexandr Gutnik (RUS) 3-1 Bronze: Carlos Leon Valbuena (ESP) b. Matej Homola (SVK) 0-0 (Hantei) & Mario Hodzic (MNE) b. Yves Martial Tadissi (HUN) 7-2 So, Turkey get their 3rd title and take the provisional solitary lead in the Medal Table, followed by Italy and Spain with 2 Gold Medals... Austria, France, Latvia, Serbia and Ukraine finally take 1 Gold Medal each and complete the winners' list for what concerns the Individual events... in total, 15 Countrues have got at least 1 Medal (no matter the colour)... Considering the Olympic Events only, we have a 3-way tie on top of the list: Italy, Spain and Turkey, with 2 Gold Medals each... Serbia and France got the remaining 2 Golds... by the way, today also the first of the Team Events was contested (the remaining events are scheduled for tomorrow): Women's Events Team Kumite Gold: Ukraine b. Turkey 2-1 Bronze: France b. Slovenia 2-0 & Slovakia b. Germany 2-1

52nd European Senior Championships (Kocaeli, TUR) Individual Finals, First session Women's Events Kumite -55kg Gold: Tuba Yakan (TUR) b. Sara Cardin (ITA) 1-0 Bronze: Anzhelika Terliuga (UKR) b. Ana Draskovic (MNE) 5-0 & Jovana Georgieva (MKD) b. Emily Thouy (FRA) 1-1 (Hantei) Kumite -61kg Gold: Jovana Prekovic (SRB) b. Lucie Ignace (FRA) 4-2 Bronze: Merve Coban (TUR) b. Nailya Gataullina (RUS) 3-0 & Anita Serogina (UKR) b. Alexandra Haag (SWE) 0-0 (Hantei) Kumite -68kg Gold: Alisa Buchinger (AUT) b. Alizèe Agier (FRA) 5-1 Bronze: Sanja Cvrkota (SRB) b. Cristina Vizcaino Gonzalez (ESP) 3-0 & Hafsa Seyda Burucu (TUR) b. Elena Quirici (SUI) 0-0 (Hantei) Kumite +68kg Gold: Anne Laure Florentin (FRA) b. Meltem Hocaoglu (TUR) 1-0 Bronze: Hana Antunovic (SWE) b. Anastasya Stepashko (UKR) 2-0 & Ivana Zaytseva (RUS) b. Dominika Tatarova (SVK) 2-0 Men's Events Kumite -75kg Gold: Luigi Busà (ITA) b. Stanislav Horuna (UKR) 3-3 (Hantei) Bronze: Erman Eltemur (TUR) b. Ruslans Sadikovs (LAT) 1-0 & Gabor Harspataki (HUN) b. Matus Lieskovsky (SVK) 3-0 Kumite -84kg Gold: Ugur Aktas (TUR) b. Berat Jakupi (MKD) 0-0 (Hantei) Bronze: Denis Denisenko (RUS) b. Georgios Tzanos (GRE) 1-0 & Timothy Petersen (NED) b. Noah Bitsch (GER) 5-0 Kumite +84kg Gold: Simone Marino (ITA) b. Enes Erkan (TUR) 2-0 Bronze: Slobodan Bitevic (SRB) b. Daniel Molnar (HUN) 1-0 & Shahin Atamov (AZE) b. Herolind Nitevschi (KOS) 2-1 So, Italy and Turkey take the provisional lead in the Medal Table with a couple of Golds each, meanwhile the other titles awarded this morning go to Austria, France and Serbia... in total, there are already 12 different Countries with at least 1 medal... Today's second session with the remaining Individual Finals is scheduled for 5.30 p.m. CET...

52nd European Senior Championships (Kocaeli, TUR) Team Competitions Preliminary Rounds completed...those are all the Medal Bouts (scheduled for Sunday): Women's Events Team Kata Gold: France vs Italy Bronze: Portugal vs Spain & Turkey vs Germany Team Kumite Gold: Turkey vs Ukraine Bronze: France vs Slovenia & Slovakia vs Germany Men's Events Team Kata Gold: Spain vs Italy Bronze: Azerbaijan vs Russia & France vs Montenegro Team Kumite Gold: Turkey vs France Bronze: Ukraine vs Germany & Italy vs Croatia The usual suspects, ITA-FRA-TUR have earned 2 spots in the Gold Medla finals each...ESP and UKR complete the field with just 1 shot at the most important medal colour... in total, 13 Countries have taken at least 1 spot in the Medal finals of the Team Competitions... with these numbers (and yesterday's) I think we can say that the European Karate has very good health and it's very widely practiced at the top level around the Continent... Tomorrow it's time for the Individual Finals...can't wait for those!

you can start with this... http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/sport/intro-to-ice-hockey/ then some serious stuff...the full IIHF Rule Book for the 2014-2018 Olympic span... http://www.iihf.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Sport/IIHF_Official_Rule_Book_2014-18_Web_V6.pdf