phelps

well, actually even if Belarus get the last place is not a problem for us (I didn't consider that the battle to avoid relegation is between HUN and BLR...I was still thinking about the fact that GER and FRA can't go down this year because they're the co-hosts of the next Worlds)... the only important thing is that GER and FRA stay up, so we get a chance for next year...so, might the best team between HUN and BLR be saved...and good luck to both of them...

yes...and Slovak, too... I have the Kombi Pack from the satellite Skylink package...of course, I don't understand more than 2 or 3 worlds in total (apart for those channels which also have the English audio, like Eurosport or EDGE Sport...great channel that one...I discovered the Surfing sport there and it's quite entertaining, especially the women's events...), but at least I can enjoy a lot of sports I like that I would never see on the Italian tv (Hockey, Handball and Floorball above all)... about hockey, well...I haven't watched as many WCHs matches I liked this time...I had to make some choices and of course the NHL has almost always prevailed until now... I can say that I'm a bit surprised (in positive) by the Czech team until now (I didn't expect them being so strong, looking at the "names" of their roster), meanwhile I'm really disappointed with Slovakia (Ok, it's not your better team, but I think you should do better than this in any case...), Russia and Switzerland (both of them are playing well below their usual standard until now...and that goal taken by Berra against the Kazakhs...)... finally, obviously I hope that Hungary will be last in their group, so to see the unbelievable Italian team promoted to the next Top Class Worlds (and this is the biggest hockey surprise of the year to me)... by the way, today is a pretty busy day...I'd like to watch as much as possible of NHL Eastern Conference final game #1 between Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, Switzerland - Russia at the Hockey Worlds, Judo Grand Prix, Slalom Canoeing ECHs, Athletics Diamond League event in Shanghai and the Fencing World Cup competitions... it's not gonna be easy...but I give it a try...

earlier today...Judo Grand Prix (final block, on satellite feed) and Hockey (NHL playoffs thanks to nhl.tv and a few minutes of CZE-KAZ and GER-BLR, thanks to CT Sport HD)...meanwhile now I'm watching the second semifinal of the Euroleague Basketball (they're playing the OT right now)...

yes, for the Italian law you can go back as long as you want...the only important, fundamental feature is that the full bloodline did never quit the Italian citizenship... however, also her grandfather by her mother's side was Italian (the bloodline reported by Dragon is her father's side)... *there is a very hard dispute here in Italy about this advantage that blood heritage has in our laws...many people would like to give an easier route also to the socalled "iure soli", which at the moment has a lot harder requirements to satisfy in order to become Italian (typical situation: a couple coming from outside the EU needs 10 years of continuative residence to earn our citizenship...and their children, if they were born abroad before they came to Italy, can't have the Italian citizenship until their 18th birthday**...and it's not an automatic procedure..they have to ask for the Italian passport)... **to make a sport related example, that's why Italy couldn't start Mario Balotelli in the Football Olympic Tournament in 2008 (he wasn't 18 yet...and so he didn't have the Italian passport, yet)...

initially they said so, but then they started to say "top 8 but within a certain distance from the medallists"... basically, they wanted our athletes to show a certain level of competitivness, which Giupponi failed to give... but with Italian sport federations you can be sure that no standard is so strict...they will always find the way to adjust things to their favor, if they really want... and the same will happen with swimming...we can be sure that at the end the team will be larger than expected, with some late additions even if the original criteria haven't been matched...

well, this is the dominant feeling about him in any case... but they should think about all their problems, rather than being envious of someone else...

but too much outside the required time...at 99.99% he wouldn't have been selected in any case after sunday's race... however, with the Italian federation you never know...sometimes they are very strict with their decisions, some others they are not...but being the Olympics, I guess that our NOC wouldn't allow any sort of "good intentions"...

no, in both races...

don't forget Mexico and Ukraine...they have some chances, too...

not exactly true...after the disaster at the last World Champs, the Italian federation decided to cancel all the nominees of the male race walkers and announced that the team world championships 2016 had to be considered as one-shot trials for the Rio Olympics (with very strict criteria to earn a spot - top 8 finish or sub-1h20m for the 20km and sub-3h45m for the 50km)... so, basically Schwazer didn't steal anything to anyone, since only De Luca and Caporaso (both in the 50km) have matched the selection criteria other than him... and no other Italian race walker has got the required performance in the right moment...so, no complaints are justified by his missed "teammates"...they can only blame themselves...

no, Brazil used all of their 8 additional wild cards for otherwise non-qualified athletes...so all the 5 spots they won on the piste will stay... there can't be any reallocation...

so, in Rio we're going to have a 9-team competition in team events in both men's and women's epee...

no way...I don't agree at all... First of all, in 2008 mr. Tallent wasn't robbed, since Schwazer at that time was absolutely clean...all of his Beijing samples have been re-exhaminated more than 10 times in the last 4 years with all the new techniques and the final result was always the same: no doping at all, not even substances at that time legal and then become prohibited...so, for what concerns 2008 (and Barcelona 2010 Europeans), it's only an infamous bla bla bla... second, I know that he has been robbed of the pleasure of the medal ceremony, but in 2012 mr. Tallent won his Gold medal, which he will receive in the next weeks, after the final words over Kyrdyapkin's career have been written)...so, late justice...but no robbery once again... and now...well, we all know the rules...the first doping ban can't be for life*...Schwazer has paid his tribute to the cause (and he has paid more than almost every other athlete in the world, receving no support at all by the Italian institutions - unlike all the other Countries, where politicians and judges are always ready to cancel doping bans to their athletes, meanwhile Alex here in Italy has been even sentenced and fined by a "general" trial court and he's considered a criminal more than proved rapists and killers) and now he has the full right to get back and win again (since he was the best race walker in the world before being exhasperated by the Russians and consequently decide to race with their same weapons and he's still the best now)... and his current coaching staff, I'm sure that right now he's as clean as no other athlete (WADA are doing his doping tests by themselves, not delegating them to the Italian Authorithy, which is the normal procedure used with 99.9% of athletes...just to say how he's still treated by the sport community)... so, basically he's just another of those athletes who failed a drug test and got a second chances...frankly, I'm sick and tired of seeing all those hate against him, when I never read so many disgusting lines against all the other cheaters, even those billion times worse than him... *no misunderstanding...I don't like cheaters and I'm in favor of life ban at the first doping infraction...but it must be the same for all the athletes of all sports...I hate rules made "ad personam" (and it's the same for the Russian case...I don't think they are the only ones doing what they do)... by the way, these are my first and also last words on this question...

updates on Kenya's Marathon teams for Rio: http://www.flotrack.org/article/41586-eliud-kipchoge-heads-2016-kenyan-olympic-marathon-team

Alex is back!!! Alex Schwazer (ITA) makes his comeback after a 3 years and 9 months doping ban and wins easily the Team World Championships 50km Walk Individual race in 3 hours and 39 minutes dead, more than 3 minutes and a half ahead of the Olympic Champion Jared Tallent (AUS)...3rd was Igor Glavan (UKR) with the other Italian specialists De Luca and Caporaso finishing 4th and 5th respectively (so to give Italy the Team title, with UKR finishing 2nd and ESP finishing 3rd)... he's now qualified to the Rio Olympics, where I hope he can destroy the field and win another Gold medal*... *I have always been very tough against all doping cheaters, but, frankly, I'm more sick and tired of all those shameless cheaters denying any personal responsibility and having their sport and political system protecting them beyond any limit... therefore, who cares about Schwazer's past (he has paid his due...and he has paid a very high prize for it)? Until some justice will be done (especially in certain Countries and, above all, against certain Countries), I'm not...for sure... In the 20km events, meanwhile, it was a Chinese one-team show, both among the men as among the women... Men's 20km Individual Race 1st Zheng Wang, 1h19m22s 2nd Zelin Cai, 1h19m34s 3rd Alvaro Martin, 1h19m36s Team Result 1st China, 16 pts 2nd Canada, 28 pts 3rd Ecuador, 41 pts Women's 20km Individual Race 1st Hong Liu, 1h25m59s 2nd Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez, 1h26m17s 3rd Shenjie Qieyang, 1h26m49s Team Result 1st China, 10 pts 2nd Australia, 43 pts 3rd Colombia, 61 pts

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Final Standings Gold: RUSSIA Silver: HUNGARY Bronze: ROMANIA 4th IRAN 5th GERMANY 6th ITALY 7th SOUTH KOREA 8th UNITED STATES 9th BELARUS 10th SPAIN 11th FRANCE 12th CHINA 13th GREAT BRITAIN 14th ARGENTINA 15th GEORGIA 16th JAPAN 17th HONG KONG 18th CANADA 19th BRAZIL 20th CHILE

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Bronze Medal Bout Result (7) Romania - (9) Iran 45 - 35 Gold Medal Bout Result (5) Hungary - (3) Russia 38 - 45

well, in Sabre a big break can always happen, even between teams which are supposed to be closed... but in the end I think you're right...maybe it's still too early for Iran to get into a WCh Gold medal bout...but I also think that you can build on this team and have quite a good success in the next future... by the way, the dream of a podium place is also gone...ROU just won the Bronze medal bout by a score of 45-35... in any case, very good result for Iran...I guess you can be very satisfied even with this slighltly bitter 4th place...

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Semifinals Results (9) Iran - (5) Hungary 32 - 45 (3) Russia - (7) Romania 45 - 26

well, I really think that Iran today have a big, big chance to make the podium...HUN and ROU both have a great no.1 athlete, but the other players are not so strong... only RUS seem to be better than the rest...the remaining 2 places on the podium are really up for grabs...

Men's Team Sabre World Championships 2016 Quarterfinals Results (1) United States - (9) Iran 40 - 45 (5) Hungary - (4) Germany 45 - 43 (3) Russia - (6) South Korea 45 - 41 (7) Romania - (2) Italy 45 - 43 Semifinals Draw (9) Iran - (5) Hungary (3) Russia - (7) Romania

Yesterday it was an extraordinary and at the same time extremely sad day for the entire Italian Sport world... The final words "The End" came down over the career the best Italian female athlete of all times...we'll miss you, Valentina! and good luck for the rest of your life... unfortunately, a very focused Russian team spoiled the party...but, frankly, who cares? (this time, only) p.s. I hope the 2 refs of yesterday's final bout won't be at the Olympics (and if they will be there, at least I hope they won't get to ref any very important bout...it's not a question of one side or another...they just can't do it )...

Women's Team Foil World Championships 2016 Final Standings Gold: RUSSIA Silver: ITALY Bronze: FRANCE 4th SOUTH KOREA 5th UNITED STATES 6th HUNGARY 7th CHINA 8th GERMANY 9th CANADA 10th POLAND 11th BRAZIL 12th JAPAN 13th COLOMBIA

Women's Team Foil World Championships 2016 Bronze Medal Bout Result (5) France - (3) South Korea 45 - 18 Gold Medal Bout Result (1) Italy - (2) Russia 39 - 45

Women's Team Foil World Championships 2016 Quarterfinals Results (1) Italy - (9) China 45 - 18 (5) France - (4) United States 45 - 44 (3) South Korea - (6) Germany 35 - 31 (7) Hungary - (2) Russia 31 - 45 Semifinals Results (1) Italy - (5) France 45 - 36 (3) South Korea - (2) Russia 38 - 43