Cobi

The development of India is undeniable. The country is progressing a lot and I'm sure you are going to succeed in Tokyo with more than 10 medals, which is usually a good indicator of social and economic development. I have never been to India, even though I plan to travel there in 2 or 3 years so I have been reading about the country, and it seems that cities are now "more organized" (I don't know how to express exactly this idea in English). However, as was mentioned before, India is enormous, so an important part of the population lives in small cities or towns, and these places have not followed the same growth that the rest of the country. So I think the country is on the right path, but the government stills have a lot to do.

Well, according to some sources, this problem is not being solved. In 1972, the sex ratio at birth in India was 106 male births per 100 female births, while in 2017 (last year I found data), it was 111 male births per 100 female births, which is a huge difference compared to Western countries (105-106 in average).

It is a shame not having 2 top teams at the Olympics instead of 1 because South Africa wants to send a team that it is not competitive at all... I know that Spain and Russia might be the 2 most benefited teams, but it is unfair that only 2 of the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary and Greece are going to participate in Tokyo. In my opinion, Africa should not have a regional spot in women waterpolo, at least with only 10 teams. Good luck to these 4 teams at the OQT! I will enjoy a lot that tournament as a neutral spectator.

According to our national federation, you have to reach the finals to qualify.

The Spanish song, Universo, has just been released.

Congrats Hungary for the gold! We have been very close this time, so hopefully we can reach the final again in Tokyo. It seems that our men have the same problem that Hungarian women have with Spain.

Is it interesting for you cheering for a boat that you know beforehand that it is going to finish last? I find fun to cheer for those small countries when they have some options to compete and at least beat some other nations (for example Andorra in canoeing slalom), but when the only achievement has been to participate in a World Championship... If they show a minimum level I don't have a problem on having these nations at the Olympics, but I feel a little bit unfair that some sailors have to qualify through a very hard process, while for others is just enough to fill a document. For this reason I really like the minimum requirements of sports like equestrian, shooting or team events in fencing. Anyway, I respect your point and I don't think that having these small nations is an important problem, but if I had to take the decission, I would reduce these free quotas.

I understand the reasons behind free quotas for small nations in Oceania, but I think they should add some requirements to give the quotas, like finishing top50 in at least one World Championship of the cycle or something similar, to assure that all the participants have a decent level to be at the Olympics. I think that having a boat finishing always in the last place, 20 minutes behind the winner, is not going to help to the development of the sport, and this person from is preventing someone better from an European nation to be there. Probably the European sailor who has not quaified yet is not going to win a medal anyway, but at least he will compete.

Hello Tokyo! Spain is back after Rio 2016 fiasco

GOLD MEDAL FOR SPAIN!!!

1st of 3 gold medals this weekend. ¡Vamos España!

34-32 Another final for Spain!

Spain won (again) against Hungary! This means that Russia gets the quota and the team wins another medal (silver in 2017 and 2019 at Worlds and bronze in 2018 at Europeans). Probably, the best Spanish team right now in terms of quality and regularity.

5 medals is a very good result for Spain considering we didn't win a single medal in 2016 and 2012. Hopefully, this generation will help to develop Winter sports in the country and we can regularly win at least 1 or 2 medals at the Olympics.

Yes, we won the silver medal in 2016. The problem is that the team was formed by Latin-Americans (mainly players from Venezuela and Cuba) who were playing in minor leagues in the US and their grand-parents were from Spain. In fact, a national newspaper wrote a very interesting article about them, and only one player was born here. The reality of baseball in Spain is that we have a league of only 8 amateur teams and the sprot is even less popular than ice hockey.

In women handball, Brazil was the World Champion in 2013 and South Korea has had a very good team for many years (I'm not sure now, but I guess they even won a World medal a few years ago). In baseball, Netherlands wasn't even able to qualify for the Olympics, so I don't think they have real options right now to be medal contenders.

According to Wikipedia, IHF has 201 full members, while WBSC only has 141 countries... I think handball is diverse enough to be at the Olympics, and the main reason why baseball isn't is that they don't take the Olympics seriously.

Don't worry, as Spain is already qualified, the team hasn't prepared specifically this championship, so you should win a hypotethical match against us.

A

My mistake I don't know why I exchanged the names, but my point is the same

Well, I don't think it's a miracle. It's true that Croatia was the favorite today, but I have seen a few games and I don't see a huge difference of level between SVK-CRO-SRB... So, if I have to bet I would do it for Serbia, but if you play as today (I only saw the 2nd half) I'm sure you could qualify.

Congratulations! 1st victory of Slovakia in European or World Championships and you may have some options to advance to QFs against Croatia, which will be a huge surprise and an incredible result for your team.

So both Spanish players (Pablo González and Eva Aizpuria) have won gold medals in ice hockey. I guess they have not been the most important players of their teams (even though Pablo scored a goal in the final), but it is fun to see some Spanish ahletes doing well in Winter sports.

Silver medal for Ot Ferrer, just after Rocco Baldini! 3rd medal for Spain, which is quite impressive considering we didn't win a single one in 2012 and 2016. Edit: Finally, bronze. The other Italian guy has finished 2nd.

Gold medal for Spain!