heywoodu

I wonder if we will actually reach the 230 it says in the OP

That last bit is true and it does seem like WADA made some big mistakes in the whole meldonium thing. That still doesn't change that Sharapova admitted using banned substances and the others did not

Nope, its not. The difference is Sharapova was so incredibly stupid to immediately admit she used it after it became illegal. Basically all other caught athletes say they stopped using it before January (or said nothing), that's a huge difference. Sharapova admitted she took banned substances, most others didn't (not just American Lepchenko, also a ton of Russians).

I'm not familiar with Lepchenko's case, but can you give me some link where she says she used it after it became illegal? (Like Sharapova did, which was the reason for her two year ban)

She handled this whole thing with the IQ of a rat She even went on Facebook saying the tribunal clearly said she didn't take it intentionally/to enhance performance, yet that is the conclusion in the end..

Didn't they have someone who is not a convicted doper? Another "fuck you" to the clean athletes..

Yep. Worked your ass off for two years and what do you get? A place in a sport where your best result is accidentally winning the mountain jersey in the Tour of Freaking Cameroon (Haring) and getting a reserve place in your own sport (the other guy).

I'm going to stop discussing on this matter before I'm getting my head bashed in Apart from: I think the Slovak federation f*cked up Haring's career highlight which he had deserved and which is really sad to see and I'm curious to see what Sagan will be able to do.

I still don't get why UCI should have given him a wildcard. Slovakia isn't one of the tripartite nations.. And come on, don't start by accusing the UCI of deliberately knocking Sagan off his bike by a motorbike, that's nonsense (no offense) Besides, it's not like they didn't allow him to participate in the Olympics. They did, in the road race. It's not UCI's problem that Sagan doesn't want to race on that course. That all doesn't change my opinion on Sagan by the way, I still think he's awesome. I just think the Slovak federation seriously screwed up the years of work of an athlete like Haring.

Ah yeah, that should have been a clue

Absolutely But if you look at it from Sagan's perspective: he normally wouldn't have a chance in the road race, it's way too much climbing for him. Obviously the MTB doesn't feature climbs that are that long and we know short steep climbs are less of a problem for him. So why not try it as long as it doesn't kick a MTB specialist out of the MTB race, which it unfortunately does now.

That is so incredibly unfair and such a huge "fuck you" in Haring's face..

Though on the other hand, if there's one person in the road peloton that might pull it off, it's Sagan

Is it sure that Mohradi will go to Rio or might Iran send someone else in his class? I'm definitely hoping for the latter, but if they send him, I'd be happy to see him repeat his London performance

I think in MTB Sagan has a higher medal chance in Rio than on the road. Which doesn't mean he has a high medal chance, only that I think it's higher than on the road

Of course mountain biking isn't specifically climbing And yeah, the course is seriously hard. This is not made for Sagan

Dutch media are reporting Peter Sagan will get the only Slovak ticket for the MTB in Rio...hckosice, any truth to that or will he, as planned, be the second Slovak in the MTB race? It'd be quite horrible if he would indeed be the only one..

Athletics Will there be a disqualification in the men's or women's 100m finals? Boxing Will Claressa Shields win the gold medal in the women's middleweight? Will both Nicola Adams and Katie Taylor win a medal in their respective weight classes? Cycling - BMX Will Australia win at least one gold medal? Equestrian Will Germany win more medals than the Netherlands? Field hockey Will either Australia or The Netherlands reach the final in both the men's and women's tournament? Swimming Will there be a disqualification in any of the individual finals? Will any nation medal in all six relays? Water polo Will the men's final be played between two nations out of Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia? Weightlifting Will Iran win at least one gold medal? General Will more than 5 positive doping tests be published before the closing ceremony? Will Brazil reach their highest ever rank in the medal table? Will the youngest medalist at the Rio Olympics be younger than 16 years?

Yes, but remember that the positive sample was the one from the 2008 Olympics, so if the other B sample there is positive as well, her 2012 clean sample means nothing

A German court ruled that Claudia Pechstein will not get her 4,4 million Euro claim

I'd say the first option The second option might be possible if you're the world number 40 or something, but not if you're Nadal

Indeed it doesn't matter because I'll participate either way of course and obviously I'll think of questions either way as well Swimming Will the gold medal in both the women's 50 and women's 100 meter freestyle go to an Australian swimmer? Will Great Britain finish in the top-5 of the swimming medal table?

Because 0.5 is what literally every betting site uses because it's the easiest to avoid any confusion, and since I saw the word "bet" here, I thought: "Well let's use the logical option" In the end it doesn't matter so much of course, the logical one (0.5) or the one that needs more text and thought ("at least this or that"), it's both the same

Athletics Will USA and Jamaica win more 6.5 combined medals in the four relay events? Will Kenya win the gold, silver and bronze medals in the men's 3000m steeplechase? Will African nations win more than 1.5 combined medals in non-running events? Will Caster Semenya (800m), Pawel Fajdek (hammer throw), Ashton Eaton (decathlon) and Almaz Ayana (5000m) all win their respective events? General Will more than 2.5 nations win their first ever Olympic medal? Will an Asian nation medal in any team event?

I've got a question about the biathlon qualification and more specifically about reallocations. Under "F. Reallocation of unused quota places" the document says "Not applicable". However, in May 2017 NOC's who won quota places in the World Cup Nations Cup have to confirm the use of these places. It is of course possible again that not every nation will use every quota place. Now my question is, what will happen with unused quota places? Since the document says "not applicable", does that mean they will be "thrown away" instead of reallocated? And if they are reallocated, who would you guess would get these tickets? Nations that are next in line in the World Cup Nations Cup or do you guys think there will be more than 5-6 athletes who might qualify with the "D4" criteria mentioned in the document? I'm guessing the IOC wants to have exactly 115 male and female athletes at the Olympics, so I almost can't even imagine that unused places won't be reallocated....this "Not applicable" is confusing and worrying me though.