heywoodu

1. It's quite normal that performances improve with huge margins when technology, training, equipment, dieting, professionalism, available money, being able to train full time etc all gets way, way better. 2. Not every kind of doping that is being used can be caught by labs. An athlete could be using a substance in such a way that it's nearly impossible for labs to find it (yet). Which is why retesting is important. We see that now, with a whole bunch of cheaters of 2008 being caught. 3. You mean non-Western labs are cheaters too right? Because they suddenly make athletes negative, like the Algerian decathlete. 4. I agree (unfortunately) that I think most medalists are not clean. Which is sad, but probably won't ever change.

Absolutely, but even then there will always be people saying "yeah but they're political and ruled by the Western world". Whereas if you let the Russian side of the world dominate it, people will say the exact same thing. It's nearly impossible to get something that everybody would actually agree is fair. WADA should be a good mix of Western and non-Western people and labs. Get some Americans, some Spaniards, some Chinese, some Russians and bestmen in there and it should be better.

Then which labs should we believe? I mean, apparently in Russian labs they were throwing away urine with doping in it and replace it with clean urine and they're certainly not a Western country. In Jamaica urine with doping was 'accidentally' not closed correctly so the medal-winning athlete couldn't be banned. Which labs should we believe then?

How do you know they are wrong?

I've asked on a Facebook group in Dutch where apparently Laurence Rase is also active, let's see if there'll be an answer there (ex world class taekwondo athlete for Belgium and now a main official in their federation). But still my point stands: it's not like Laachraoui has qualified because he won gold at Euro champs, as Dutch media suggested

But the Belgians are mostly talking about Bensaleh as the first choice for replacing Ketbi, in case Ketbi doesn't make his weight.

Not only Russians, there are 12 countries involved in this case but so far the Russians are the only ones who have come out Samples of any athlete should never be tested in their own country by the way if you ask me. An Algerian lab testing Bourada's sample is bad, a Dutch lab testing Schippers sample would be bad as well (I'm sure it happens though).

Personally I'm laughing more about the weird reactions of some people/fans in the Dutch speed skating world: "Look, those Russians were all doping and we destroyed them in Sochi, imagine how good we were!!" I would say "Imagine how effective our 'extra help' was"

I can't wait for Isinbayeva's next comments about human rights and stuff.

I just saw that she's ready, "Selfie before leaving for the relay!"

That would absolutely be unfair, but if him doing MTB wouldn't take a spot away from someone else, I have no problem with it In fact, it'd be great for MTB which usually isn't exactly a sport that gets a whole lot of attention, but with Sagan joining that will certainly change that, at least for Rio.

"Erdogan is a goat fucker"

Jaqueline Mourão will carry the torch in Salvador today

Awesome! Trying to mess with her head didn't work for Kerber

Bertens won the first set against Kerber

Dutch media showing how much they know of taekwondo and Olympic rules: all over they're reporting Mourad Laachraoui "won gold at the European championships and with that qualified for the Rio Olympics"

Why is there no women's C1 and/or C2? I only realize now that there's only one women's event but three men's events

Let's hope it stays that way.

Didn't Taylor recently get beaten in a huge upset as well?

Well if it does not take away a place for another nation, then yes, why not

Same here! Back in 2012 it was one of the big discoveries for many Dutch people, who suddenly discovered archery to be an exciting sport to watch...thanks to Rick van der Ven of course

It would be awesome, but why would they give SVK a wild card? I mean, don't they already have a quota place and besides that, SVK isn't eligible for wild cards are they?

Double Olympic trap champion Michael Diamond (AUS) was caught driving drunk with a rifle and 150 rounds on his back seat. This resulted in him losing his weapons license, at least for now. What do you think, should the Australian NOC refuse his participation in Rio because of this (if he even gets his license back, that is)? I think they should. People who act this irresponsible especially in a sport like shooting should just stay home. Who would be next in line? Another Australian or another nation?

Thanks again, especially what you say about his style is interesting, I'll pay attention to him if any of the streams show taekwondo during the Olympics.

How about Achab in 68? I noticed a huge difference between the odds on two bookmakers...one have odds of only around 6 for him (meaning he's among the 4-5 favorites), whereas another one gives 51 euro/dollar/pound for every euro/dollar/pound you bet on him to win gold..