phelps

this is what I could find about it...
 
Wrestling Greco-Roman - Men's 52kg: URS / BUL / JPN (but ROU was a better wrestler in the years immediately before and after, despite losing to JPN in the early stages in LA).
 
Wrestling Greco-Roman - Men's 74kg: this is really a mess...
there are at least 2 legitimate people who were better than the rest in that period, URS & SWE; then, FIN, POL, BUL and ROU have exchanged places on the podium in the main tournaments of those years.
so, we can reasonably say URS / SWE and then you can flip the coin for bronze.
all this, despite the actual medals of the 2 events at the center of our poll.
 
Wrestling Greco-Roman - Men's +100kg: you can go with the FR Games podium here: BUL / CUB / URS (even if URS was definitely better than the Cuban in those years, who finished ahead of him most likely because of a favourable draw).

Rowing, men's Pair...this is one of the most difficult picks in the whole series, as it's the race where basically almost all the best rowers of all time competed at least once.
after a great internal battle with myself, my memories and my bias, I came up with the decision that I just can't go with any other than  Redgrave & Pinsent, despite all the (other) great men who give so much prestige to this boat.
 
Rowing, men's Lightweight Double Sculls...ironically, this is one of the most successful events ever for Italian Rowing, but we never won gold because we've always found some great duos in front of us.
and despite the Irish guys have been so impressive in the last few years, in this case my pick has to go with 2 real greats of the discipline,  Kucharski & Sycz.
 
Rowing, women's Lightweight Double Sculls...this is not so difficult as the 2 above...here there's a name that stands well above any other, Constanta Burcica, triple Olympic Champion in this race between 1996 and 2004.
therefore my pick has to be  Romania.
 
Canoe Sprint, men's K2 500m...one of the events already relegated only to the history books because of the crazy/disputable/idiotic IOC/ICF administration of the last 15 years (at least).
not to many memories about it, though...therefore I have to go with the long streak of  Germany.
 
Canoe Sprint, women's K2 500m...not so easy, as many great names of the sport had some glorious days on this boat.
but if you have someone named Birgit Fischer, you just can't be denied a place on the Olympus.
therefore, my pick is  Germany once again.

un po' fuori stagione, ma alcuni sport tipicamente parte del programma delle Olimpiadi estive stanno già iniziando la stagione.
 
e a parte le gare indoor di atletica (che comunque già si distinguono con alcune prestazioni incoraggianti di alcuni azzurri di punta e alcuni "volti nuovi" -oggi sugli scudi Larissa Iapichino, Simone Barontini e Claudio Stecchi, tornato in gara dopo ben 3 anni di travaglio per infortuni vari), segnalo in particolare il primo torneo stagionale del Grand Prix di Judo (dove peraltro l'Italia è presente in massa, ma con un team di terza categoria, in cui si è distinta solo la giovane Capanni Dias con un inatteso bronzo nei -57kg), la prima tappa di Premier League di Karate, con gli azzurri autori di una buona campagna (3 finali per l'oro e 4 per il bronzo conquistate) e il meeting di Nuoto in Lussemburgo (vasca lunga), dove si sono distinte Silvia Di pietro, Martina Carraro e soprattutto Thomas Ceccon, autore di un "botto" nei 200 stile libero da 1.46.52, con un miglioramento del personale di ben 2 secondi che lascia presagire un lavoro sulla resistenza alla velocità mai effettuato in modo così efficace in precedenza.
a questo punto, non è impensabile che possa diventare una pedina fondamentale anche per la 4*200m stile libero in vista di Parigi, sperando che sia solo l'inizio di un'evoluzione e di una crescita che lo porti finalmente a essere quel fenomeno poliedrico alla Phelps che molti pronosticavano anni fa e che in realtà non è mai stato per un motivo o per l'altro.

REFEREES & LINESMEN ASSIGNED FOR CHL FINAL 2023!
 
Top game officials from the Swiss National League and the German DEL will take charge of this season's Champions Hockey League Final.
 
The head referees for the CHL Final which will be played on 18 February in Luleå (SWE) will be  Miroslav Štolc @hckošice and  André Schrader.
 
Both are among the top 3 referees in the Swiss National League and the German DEL respectively and have officiated many games on an international level. 
 
Štolc, who started his career as a referee in 2014 following a professional playing career, worked in the Austrian ICE Hockey League before joining the Swiss National League in 2020.
He has been selected to officiate playoff finals in both leagues (once in Austria, twice in Switzerland so far).
On an international level, the Slovak was appointed for the 2022 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship in Finland.
 
Schrader has been a pro referee in the German DEL since 2017 and has officiated three playoff finals since then.
On an international level, he has been selected for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing as well as for games at the IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship, the IIHF World Junior Championship and the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship.
Furthermore, the German officiated the 2015 CHL Final between Luleå Hockey and Frölunda Gothenburg as a linesman.
 
Running the lines at the CHL Final in Luleå will be  Eric Cattaneo and  Marius Wölzmüller, working for the Swiss National League and the German DEL respectively.

the answer should be only a loud "Fuck you and your shit".

You can't separate politics and sport at the time of such a major military conflict. If you think that this is comparable to the Korean War or the Vietnam War, or any other war since WW2 you are fooling yourself. It's the largest attempted landgrab in Europe since Hitler was defeated, the historical significance of such an event is massive and can't be brushed aside as just yet another war. Making a "safe space" out of the Olympics would be foolish.
 
And yes, every Russian athlete, every Russian citizen is culpable. I say this as a Hungarian who knows that the fact that I am living in Hungary supports Orbán's system, regardless of how much I hate him. Russia is exactly like Hungary, just on steroids. They are all guilty, just like I will be guilty of being part of Orbán's regime if he does something truly awful, no matter how many times I vote against him. Putin isn't doing this alone. If Russia is like Hungary, the country is rotten to its core. People need to take responsibility for the actions of their nation if they live there and they are part of its society. Putin would have never started this war if the Russian society wouldn't accept such an action. 

How about a compromise?
 
Unban Russia/Belarus due to the Ukraine invasion, but ban Russia for their doping scandals?

un po' fuori stagione, ma alcuni sport tipicamente parte del programma delle Olimpiadi estive stanno già iniziando la stagione.
 
e a parte le gare indoor di atletica (che comunque già si distinguono con alcune prestazioni incoraggianti di alcuni azzurri di punta e alcuni "volti nuovi" -oggi sugli scudi Larissa Iapichino, Simone Barontini e Claudio Stecchi, tornato in gara dopo ben 3 anni di travaglio per infortuni vari), segnalo in particolare il primo torneo stagionale del Grand Prix di Judo (dove peraltro l'Italia è presente in massa, ma con un team di terza categoria, in cui si è distinta solo la giovane Capanni Dias con un inatteso bronzo nei -57kg), la prima tappa di Premier League di Karate, con gli azzurri autori di una buona campagna (3 finali per l'oro e 4 per il bronzo conquistate) e il meeting di Nuoto in Lussemburgo (vasca lunga), dove si sono distinte Silvia Di pietro, Martina Carraro e soprattutto Thomas Ceccon, autore di un "botto" nei 200 stile libero da 1.46.52, con un miglioramento del personale di ben 2 secondi che lascia presagire un lavoro sulla resistenza alla velocità mai effettuato in modo così efficace in precedenza.
a questo punto, non è impensabile che possa diventare una pedina fondamentale anche per la 4*200m stile libero in vista di Parigi, sperando che sia solo l'inizio di un'evoluzione e di una crescita che lo porti finalmente a essere quel fenomeno poliedrico alla Phelps che molti pronosticavano anni fa e che in realtà non è mai stato per un motivo o per l'altro.

Junior World Championships ( Dresden)
 
 
women's 1000m
Gold:  Kim Gilli
Silver:  Florence Brunelle
Bronze:  Oh Song Mi
 
 
men's 1000m
Gold:  Lee Dong Hyun
Silver:  Shin Dong Min
Bronze:  Michal Niewinski   @Monzanator @rybak @ all the Polish Totallympians he was not a fluke yesterday! he's for real! 
 

women's 3000m Relay
Gold:  South Korea
Silver:  China
Bronze:  Hungary

men's 3000m Relay
Gold:  South Korea
Silver:  Japan
Bronze:  United States

Is there any RunRan webpage somewhere??? Would be nice. 😉👍

Men's Individual Epee ( Doha)
 
Gold:  Gergely Siklosi
Silver:  Neisser Loyola
Bronze:  Yannick Borel &  Akira Komata
 
Semifinals
Siklosi b. Komata 15-11
Loyola b. Borel 15-14
 
Final
Siklosi b. Loyola 15-10
 
Full Ranking & Results
https://fie.org/competitions/2023/387

Women's Individual Epee ( Doha)
 
Gold:  Nathalie Moellhausen
Silver:  Marie-Florence Candassamy
Bronze:  Vivian Kong Man Wai &  Eszter Muhari
 
Semifinals
Moellhausen b. Muhari 9-8
Candassamy b. Kong 13-12
 
Final
Moellhausen b. Candassamy 15-8
 
Full Ranking & Results
https://fie.org/competitions/2023/79?tab=results

as we wrote last week, time for the Rifle & Pistol World Cup, Stage #1 in  Jakarta
 
Women's Individual 10m Air Rifle
 
Gold:  Eszter Meszaros
Silver:  Aneta Stankiewicz
Bronze:  Laura-Georgeta Ilie
 
Final Ranking and Results
https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=17431

naaa, full LA podium is better than FR's.

not so tricky, tbh...
 
 Numa was on another level compared to the Russian...his only true opponent would have been the other great Soviet man, Alexandr Romankov.

it's all about politics...
 
in Western Europe these European Games are considered just an Eastern European "affair", a showcase to show Russia's superpower among the European Nations (which was absolutely true for the Baku and Minsk editions, from the choice of the sports lineup to the judged sports cheats)...
 
moreover, the main federations (who have enough media attention by their own and don't need a multi-sport event help to gain space on the media by putting many different comnpetitions all together under the same umbrella and gain strenght by this collective work) see those Games as an attempt to steal part of the income coming from their continental champs and therefore decided to boycott the event as much as they can...
 
for what concerns LEN, until Paolo Barelli is their president and has a solid majority of counsellors in his board, there's no chance that Swimming Europeans and European Games would match...
 
Western Europe-oriented federations rather sustain the Multi-Sport European champs (they should happen once again between Munich and Rome -Swimming only, I think- in 2022) as direct competitors of the EGs...

just finished the Gold Medal match of the Field Hockey World Cup (BEL vs GER).
 
earlier this morning it was all about Alpine Skiing World Cup and Luge World Championships.
 
now it's time for some Fencing, Epee Grand Prix from Doha, live on Youtube for free...
 
here...
 

 
maybe also some Judo on the IJF website...
 
then, later on tonight, it's time for the NFL playoffs (the Handball Worlds GMM is going to tomorrow for me)...

Great final day of my predictions.  
 
Predicted Australia to take the bronze, Netherlands wins easily, predicted Germany by 1, Belgium ties the game one minute before the end... beautiful zero.

I think  vs  could/should be closer than the other QTF matches
 
if I'm not wrong, in the Netherlands, it's all on Ziggo Sport 
 
by the way, if you feel the lack of media coverage/interest in the "Hockey Nation" par excellence, just imagine how do the fans living in Countries with no tradition/general interest/media coverage feel.  
 
the current tenure of the International Federation is just killing the sport, making it almost inaccessible because of pay-walls and/or giving the media rights to obscure/non reliable companies. 

it's the other way round... 
 
 Coughlan won the gold medal match vs  Rodriguez (3 shido against the Venezuelan girl after almost 10 minutes, in the Golden Score period).

un po' fuori stagione, ma alcuni sport tipicamente parte del programma delle Olimpiadi estive stanno già iniziando la stagione.
 
e a parte le gare indoor di atletica (che comunque già si distinguono con alcune prestazioni incoraggianti di alcuni azzurri di punta e alcuni "volti nuovi" -oggi sugli scudi Larissa Iapichino, Simone Barontini e Claudio Stecchi, tornato in gara dopo ben 3 anni di travaglio per infortuni vari), segnalo in particolare il primo torneo stagionale del Grand Prix di Judo (dove peraltro l'Italia è presente in massa, ma con un team di terza categoria, in cui si è distinta solo la giovane Capanni Dias con un inatteso bronzo nei -57kg), la prima tappa di Premier League di Karate, con gli azzurri autori di una buona campagna (3 finali per l'oro e 4 per il bronzo conquistate) e il meeting di Nuoto in Lussemburgo (vasca lunga), dove si sono distinte Silvia Di pietro, Martina Carraro e soprattutto Thomas Ceccon, autore di un "botto" nei 200 stile libero da 1.46.52, con un miglioramento del personale di ben 2 secondi che lascia presagire un lavoro sulla resistenza alla velocità mai effettuato in modo così efficace in precedenza.
a questo punto, non è impensabile che possa diventare una pedina fondamentale anche per la 4*200m stile libero in vista di Parigi, sperando che sia solo l'inizio di un'evoluzione e di una crescita che lo porti finalmente a essere quel fenomeno poliedrico alla Phelps che molti pronosticavano anni fa e che in realtà non è mai stato per un motivo o per l'altro.

he should be very proud of the great diversity this sport has right now...
 
oh, wait...Germany has grabbed all the gold medals (and a lot of silver and bronze) so far... 

Junior World Championships ( Dresden)
 
 
women's 500m
Gold: Florence Brunelle
Silver: Ann-Sophie Bachand
Bronze: Song Jiarui

women's 1500m
Gold: Kim Gilli
Silver: Florence Brunelle
Bronze: Oh Song Mi
 
 
men's 500m
Gold: Michal Niewinski   @Monzanator @rafalgorka @ all the Polish Totallympians
Silver: Marcus Howard
Bronze: Li Kun

men's 1500m
Gold: Lee Dong Hyun
Silver: Shin Dong Min
Bronze: Lee Dong Min
 

women's 3000m Relay Finalists:
South Korea
Hungary
Netherlands
China

men's 3000m Relay Finalists:
South Korea
United States
Japan
China
 

Junior World Championships ( Dresden)
 
 
women's 500m
Gold: Florence Brunelle
Silver: Ann-Sophie Bachand
Bronze: Song Jiarui

women's 1500m
Gold: Kim Gilli
Silver: Florence Brunelle
Bronze: Oh Song Mi
 
 
men's 500m
Gold: Michal Niewinski   @Monzanator @rafalgorka @ all the Polish Totallympians
Silver: Marcus Howard
Bronze: Li Kun

men's 1500m
Gold: Lee Dong Hyun
Silver: Shin Dong Min
Bronze: Lee Dong Min
 

women's 3000m Relay Finalists:
South Korea
Hungary
Netherlands
China

men's 3000m Relay Finalists:
South Korea
United States
Japan
China
 

Grand Prix (Almada, ) Results - Day 2
Women's -63kg
Gold: Barbara Timo Silver: Gabriella Moraes Bronze: Cristina Cabana Perez / Iva Oberan
 
Men's -73kg
Gold: Obidkhon Nomonov Silver: Zhansay Smagulov Bronze: Kang Heon-cheol / Jose Antonio Aranda Olalla
 
Women's -70kg
Gold: Aoife Coughlan Silver: Elvismar Rodriguez Bronze: Ida Eriksson / Szabina Gercsak
 
Men's -81kg
Gold: Lee Joon-hwan Silver: Eljan Hajiyev Bronze: Mihail Latisev / Frank De Wit