heywoodu

Very understandable choice, I think almost anyone would go for one of the two biggest tournaments you can play as a player (continental + World Cup) over any junior event. And well, it worked out rather well

Wait, they do their draft in the middle of the season?

This referee forgot how counting time works as well (like, basic maths, 4+1 or so), but this time I'd say that's ok

Jesus

Or not

Fuck, 1-1.

Marco van Basten in the NOS studio at halftime, asked about his analysis: "Uhm.....uh.....yeah...?"

29 women in the 100 free sounds ridiculously low, doesn't it?

Final Giro d'Italia stage today:

Because nobody cares about 3rd place in a tournament like this.

We are back at the level of US Postal on Alpe d'Huez, Marco Pantani needing to brake in the corners while climbing Ventoux or the Portuguese wonderboys sprinting up the mountains in their home races At least I was entertained

But surely they expanded it beforehand? As in, the stages are generally rated beforehand and based on that and the finishing time, the time limits are set. I do hope that's not changed during the Tour.

Haha, almost 4 minutes faster than the record of Marco Pantani (With those behind Pantani being the likes of Contador, Rasmussen, Ullrich, Boogerd, Piepoli )

Vingegaard tries an attack..

These are sick Damn, nice.

[hide] Event & Date Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Men's Judo -60kg Day 1 July 27th 2024 Balabay Aghayev Luka Mkheidze x Giorgi Sardalashvili x Ryuju Nagayama Nurkanat Serikbayev Ariunbold Enkhtaivan Lee Harim x Francisco Garrigos Yang Yung Wei x Salih Yildiz Dilshot Khalmatov Dilshodbek Baratov Any Other Athlete Women's Archery Team Day 2 July 28th 2024 China x* France Germany x Great Britain India Indonesia Malaysia Mexico Netherlands South Korea x Chinese Taipei United States Men's Fencing Individual Epee Day 2 July 28th 2024 Mohamed Elsayed Yannick Borel x Romaine Cannone x Luidgi Midelton Mate Tamas Koch Gergely Siklosi x Yuval Shalom Freilich Davide Di Veroli Federico Vismara Koki Kano Any Other Japanese Athlete Ruslan Kurbanov Any Other Athlete Men's Mountain Bike Day 3 July 29th 2024 Jens Schuermans Simon Andreassen Victor Koretzky x Jordan Sarrou Luca Schwarzbauer Charlie Aldridge Thomas Pidcock Luca Braidot Alan Hatherly x Mathias Fluckiger Nino Schurter x Riley Amos Christopher Blevins Any Other Athlete Equestrian Eventing Team Day 3 July 29th 2024 Australia Belgium France Germany x Great Britain Ireland Italy New Zealand x Netherlands Sweden Switzerland United States x Any Other Nation Women's Judo -63kg Day 4 July 30th 2024 Katharina Haecker Lubjana Piovesana Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard x Katarina Kristo Clarisse Agbegnenou x Lucy Renshall Szofi Ozbas Gili Sharir Miku Takaichi Laura Fazliu x Joanne van Lieshout x Angelika Szymanska Andreja Leski Any Other Athlete Women's Artistic Gymnastics Team All-Around Day 4 July 30th 2024 Australia Brazil Canada China x France x Great Britain Italy Japan Netherlands Romania South Korea United States x* Women's Diving 10m Synchro Day 5 July 31th 2024 Canada China x France Great Britain x Mexico North Korea x Ukraine United States Women's Rowing Quadruple Sculls Day 5 July 31th 2024 Australia China x Germany Great Britain x Netherlands x Romania Switzerland Ukraine United States Men's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around Day 5 July 31th 2024 Diogo Soares Zhang Boheng x Zou JIngyuan Jake Jarman Yumin Abbadini Kenta Chiba Daiki Hashimoto x Wataru Tanigawa Milad Karimi Illia Kovtun x Brody Malone Fred Richard Any Other Athlete Women's Fencing Foil Team Day 6 August 1st 2024 Canada China Egypt France Italy x Japan Poland x United States x Men's Rowing Pair Day 7 August 2nd 2024 Australia Croatia Denmark Germany Great Britain x Ireland x Italy Lithuania Romania South Africa Spain Switzerland x United States Women's Trampoline Day 7 August 2nd 2024 Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya Anzhela Bladtceva Sophiane Methot Hu Yicheng Zhu Xueying x Lea Labrousse x Bryony Page x Isobelle Songhurst Hikaru Mori Madaline Davidson Noemi Romero Rosario Jessica Stevens Any Other Athlete Men's Judo +100kg Day 7 August 2nd 2024 Rafael Silva Andy Granda Lukas Krpalek Martti Puumalainen Teddy Riner x* Guram Tushishvili Tatsuru Saito Jelle Snippe x Kim Minjong Temur Rakhimov x Magomedomar Magomedomarov Alisher Yusupov x Any Other Athlete Badminton Mixed Doubles Day 7 August 2nd 2024 Feng/Huang Zheng/Huang x Christiansen/Boje Gicquel/Delrue Tang/Tse Watanabe/Higashino x Chen/Toh Kim/Jeong Seo/Chae x Ye/Lee Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai Any Other Athlete Women's Shooting 25m Pistol Day 8 August 3rd 2024 Sylvia Steiner Antoaneta Kostadinova Zhao Nan Camille Jedrzejewski Mathilde Lamolle Josefin Eder Doreen Vennekamp x Anna Korakaki Veronika Major Any Indian Athlete Haniyeh Rostamiyan Agate Rasmane x Yang Jiin Tien Chia Chen Olena Kostevych x Any Other Athlete Men's Shooting Skeet Day 8 August 3rd 2024 Federico Gil Jakub Tomacek Jesper Hansen Azmy Mehelba Eetu Kallioinen x Eric Delaunay x Sven Korte Efthimios Mitas x Tammaro Cassandro Gabrielle Rossetti Rashid Saleh Al-Athba Vincent Hancock Any Other Athlete Men's Artistic Gymnastics Floor Day 8 August 3rd 2024 Aurel Benovic Harry Hepworth Luke Whitehouse Krisztofer Meszaros Artem Dolgopyat x Any Italian Athlete Milad Karimi x Carlos Yulo x Ryu Sunghyun Emre Dodanli Ahmet Onder Illia Kovtun Any American Athlete Any Other Athlete Women's Tennis Singles Day 8 August 3rd 2024 Mirra Andreeva Zheng Qiwen Marketa Vondrousova Any Other Czech Athlete Caroline Garcia Maria Sakkari Jasmine Paolini x Elena Rybakina Jelena Ostapenko Iga Swiatek x* SImona Halep Elena Svitolina Coco Gauff Any Other American Athlete Any Other Athlete x Men's Table Tennis Singles Day 9 August 4th 2024 Hugo Calderano Fan Zhendong x Wang Chuqin x Omar Assar Felix Lebrun Dang Qiu Dimitrij Ovtcharov Tomokazu Harimoto x Quadri Aruna Marcos Freitas Jang Woojin Darko Jorgic Anton Kallberg Truels Moregard Lin Yun Ju Any Other Athlete Women's Artistic Gymnastics Floor Day 9 August 4th 2024 Kaylia Nemour Jade Barbosa Flavia Saraiva x Elisabeth Black Zhou Yaqin Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos x Morgane Osyssek-Reimer Alice Kinsella Angela Andreoli Manila Esposito Any Romanian Athlete Simone Biles x* Jade Carey Any Other Athlete Mixed Shooting Skeet Team Day 10 August 5th 2024 China Czechia Egypt France Germany Greece x India Italy x Kazakhstan Peru South Korea Sweden United States x Any Other Nation Men's Canoe Slalom KX-1 Day 10 August 5th 2024 Felix Oschmautz Pedro Goncalves Alex Baldoni Jiri Prskavec Boris Neveu x Hannes Aigner Tillmann Roeller Joseph Clarke Giovanni De Gennaro Finn Butcher x Manuel Ochoa Isak Ohrstrom Martin Dougoud x Any Other Athlete Men's Sailing Dinghy ICLA 7 Day 11 August 6th 2024 Matthew Wearn x Pavlos Kontides Jean-Baptiste Bernaz Philipp Buhl Michael Beckett x Finn Lynch Lorenzo Chiavarini Duko Bos Tom Saunders x Hermann Tomasgaard Stefano Peschiera Joaquin Blanco Any Other Athlete Women's Sports Climbing Speed Day 12 August 7th 2024 Deng Lijuan Zhou Yafei Manon Lebon Capucine Viglione Desak Dewi Rajiah Sallsabillah x Beatrice Colli Aleksandra Kalucka x Aleksandra Miroslaw x* Leslie Romero Emma Hunt Piper Kelly Any Other Athlete Men's Skateboard Park Day 12 August 7th 2024 Keegan Palmer Keefer Wilson x Kieran Woolley Augusto Akio Pedro Barros x Luigi Cini Viktor Solmunde Alex Sorgente Danny Leon Hampus Winberg Gavin Bottger Tate Carew Tom Schaar x Any Other Athlete Mixed Sailing Multihull Nacra 17 Day 12 August 7th 2024 Majdalani/Bosco Saouma-Pedersen/Borreskov Kurtbay/Keskinen Mourniac/Berthomieu Kohlhoff/Stuhlemmer Gimson/Burnet x Tita/Banti x Van der Meer/Bouwer Wilkinson/Dawson Pacheco/Barrio Garcia Jaerudd/Jonsson x Newberry-Moore/Liebenberg Any Other Pair Men's Wrestling Greco-Roman -77 kg Day 12 August 7th 2024 Malkhas Amoyan x Sanan Suleymanov x Aik Mnatsakanian Jair Cuero Yosvanys Pena Zoltan Levai Amin Kavianinejad x Nao Kusaka Demeu Zhadrayev Akzhol Makhmudov x Burhan Akbudak Aram Vardanyan Any Other Athlete Women's Canoe Sprint C-2 Day 13 August 8th 2024 AIN Canada x Chile China x* Cuba Germany Hungary Kazakhstan Moldova Poland Spain x Ukraine Any Other Pair Women's Track Cycling Keirin Day 13 August 8th 2024 Kristina Clonan Nicky Degrendele Lauriane Genest Kelsey Mitchell Martha Bayona Pineda Mathilde Gros x Lea Sophie Friedrich x Alessa-Catriona Propster Emma Finucane x Katy Marchant Miriam Vece Mina Sato Luz Gaxiola Gonzalez Hetty Van De Wouw Elise Andrews Any Other Athlete Women's Wrestling Freestyle -53kg Day 13 August 8th 2024 Pang QIanyu x Lucia Yepez x Maria Prevolaraki Antim Panghal Akari Fujinami x Mariana Dragutan Batkhuyagiin Khulan x Christianah Ogunsanya Andreea Ana Jonna Malmgren Zeynep Yetgil Dominique Parrish Any Other Athlete Men's Boxing -51kg Day 13 August 8th 2024 Nijat Huseynov x Daniel Varela De Pina Alejandro Claro x Junior Alcantara Billal Bennama x Amit Panghal Saken Bibossinov Juanma Lopez Rafael Lozano Serrano Thitisan Panmot Samet Gumus Roscoe Hil Hasanboy Dusmatov x Any Other Athlete Men's Wrestling Freestyle -86kg Day 14 August 9th 2024 Osman Nurmagomedov Magomed Ramazanov Vladimeri Gamkrelidze Dauren Kurugliev Hassan Yazdani x Hayato Ishiguro Azamat Dauletbekov x Byambasurengiin Bat-Erdene Myles Amine x Vasyl Mykhailov Aaron Brooks x Javrail Shapiev Any Other Athlete Women's Taekwondo -67kg Day 14 August 9th 2024 Sarah Chaari x Caroline Santos Zhang Mengyu x Ruth Gbagbi x Aya Shehata Magda Wiet-Henin Viviana Marton Julyana Al-Sadeq Elizabeth Anyanacho Aleksandra Perisic Cecilia Castro x Sasikarn Tongchan Kristina Teachout Any Other Athlete Men's Diving 10m Individual Day 15 August 10th 2024 Cassiel Rousseau Isaac Souza Rylan Wiens Nathan Zsombor-Murray Cao Yuan x Yang Hao x* Kyle Kothari Noah Williams Bertrand Rhodict Lises Kevin Berlin Randal Willars Kim Yeongtaek Oleksiy Sereda x Any Other Athlete Women's Weightlifting -81kg Day 15 August 10th 2024 Eileen Cikamatana Laura Nascimento Amaro Ayamey Medina Roca Yudelina Mejia Peguero Neisi Dajomes Barrera x Sara Samir Ahmed Ankhtsetseg Munkhjantsan Solfried Koanda Weronika Zielinska Stubinska Yekta Jamali Kim Suhyeon x Rigina Adashbaeva x Ajah Pritchard Lolo Men's Track Cycling Madison Day 15 August 10th 2024 Australia Austria Belgium Canada Czechia Denmark x France x* Germany Great Britain x Italy Japan Netherlands New Zealand Portugal Spain Women's Boxing -57kg Day 15 August 10th 2024 Jucielen Romeu Svetlana Staneva x Xu Zichun Valeria Arboleda Amina Zidani Michaela Walsh x Irma Testa x Karina Ibragimova Nesthy Petecio x Julia Szeremeta Lin Yu Ting Omailyn Alcala Any Other Athlete Men's Boxing -57kg Day 15 August 10th 2024 Vasile Usturoi Luiz Oliveira Javier Ibanez Diaz Yilmar Gonzalez x Saidel Horta x Jude Gallagher Makhmud Sabyrkhan x Munarbek Seiitbek Uulu Carlo Paalam x Jose Quiles Jahmal Harvey Abdulmalik Khalokov Any Other Athlete Women's Track Cycling Omnium Day 16 August 11th 2024 Lotte Kopecky x Maggie Coles-Lyster Amalie Dideriksen Valentine Fortin Lara Gillespie Letizia Paternoster x Yumi Kajihara Olivija Baleisyte Marit Raaijmakers Ally Wollaston Anita Yvonne Stenberg Daria Pikulik Maria Martins Jennifer Valente x* Any Other Athlete [/hide]

Absolutely. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some drawback or anything I do hope this trend gets reversed..

[hide] General (15) 1 - Pacific Island nations in Oceania (including New Zealand, not Australia) will win more medals than Caribbean nations. 1 2 - At least six south american nations will medal. 3 - At least two NOCs will win their first olympic medal. 10 4 - Mexico will finish higher than Colombia in the medal table. 5 - At least two of these NOCs (which haven't won a medal since Sydney 2000 or before) will medal again in Paris 2024: Barbados, Costa Rica, Guyana, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mozambique, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tanzania, Tonga, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, Zambia. 1 6 - Will Italy and the Netherlands win more total gold medals than France. 7 - Will Ethiopia finish in the top 20 of the medal count? (Tie for 20th =Yes). 8 8 - At least one individual podium from Tokyo 2020 will be repeated (same people in the same positions). 11 9 - At least one individual medallist from Beijing 2008 will win an individual medal. 11 10 - Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) will win a combined total of 10 or more medals. 10 11 - Denmark will end with 5 (all-time best) or more Gold medals. 12 - Bosnia&Herzegovina or Albania will win their first Olympic medal. 9 13 - Hong Kong will finish above Chinese Taipei on the Medal Table. 9 14 - Indonesia and Thailand will be only two countries/NOCs from Southeast Asia that will win gold medals from this region. 15 - Top three Asian nations at the overall medal table placement: China, Japan, South Korea. 12 Aquatics - Diving (2) 16 - North Korea will win at least one medal. 2 17 - The four chinese synchronized teams will win with at least 172 points in total to their opponents in second places in the four synchronized events. For comparison the chinese synchronized teams have won with 173,58 points (WCH 2023) and 170,86 points (WCH 2024). 1 Aquatics - Swimming (8) 18 - Australia will win more gold medals than the USA. 4 19 - Summer McIntosh will win four or more medals. 7 20 - The winner of the women's 100m Backstroke will go under 57 seconds. 3 21 - Leon Marchand will win 2 or more gold medals. 9 22 - One of Caeleb Dressel, Kristof Milak or Adam Peaty will win an individual gold medal. 8 23 - An athlete will make a false start during one of the finals sessions. 12 24 - Australia will win a medal in all 7 relays. 10 25 - There will be a podium consisting of only junior swimmers (all born in 2006 or younger). 11 Aquatics - Synchronized Swimming (1) 26 - At least one NOC will win its first Olympic medal. 9 Aquatics - Water Polo (2) 27 - The USA women's team will lose a match. 4 28 - Only one nation will reach the semifinals in both competitions. Archery (2) 29 - At least one non-Asian country will win a gold medal in any event. 30 - South Korea will only win one gold medal. 11 Athletics (10) 31 - Men’s 100m- These three USA sprinters (N.Lyles/K.Bednarek/F.Kerley) will reach the final . 4 32 - Italy will win at least 5 medals. 33 - Canada will win both hammer throw events. 34 - Norway will be in the top 5 of medal table. 7 35 - Only one athlete will defend his/her Tokyo gold medal (relays excluded). 12 36 - Eritrea will win at least one medal. 11 37 - Ukraine will win more than one medal in women's high jump. 38 - At least one of the medal winners in any relay will later be disqualified due to a wrong exchange or crossing the line to another lane. 39 - France will win more gold medals than Great Britain . 5 40 - Finland will win more medals than Sweden. 12 Badminton (2) 41 - Three seeded players will be eliminated in the group stage. 42 - Gregoria Tunjung will win a medal. Basketball (2) 43 - Men's Tournament - United States will lose the gold medal match. 12 44 - Women's Tournament - Two different continents will be represented in the gold medal match. 12 Basketball 3x3 (2) 45 - Women's Tournament - The podium will consist of NOCs from three different continents. 46 - Men's Tournament - There will be one NOC who will win all its matches in the group stage. 7 Boxing (3) 47 - Ireland will be the NOC who will win most medals among European NOCs. 48 - Cuba will fail to win any medal. 12 49 - Australia will win more than 1 medal. 2 Breakdance (2) 50 - B-Girls event- D. Bancevic (LTU) (B-Girl Nicka) or A. Fukushima (JPN) (B-Girl Ayumi) will win the gold medal. 8 51 - B-Boys event- The final matchup will be P. Kim (CAN) (B-Boy Phil Wizard) vs. V. Montalvo (USA) (B-Boy Victor). 12 Canoeing - Slalom (2) 52 - At least 2 non-European NOCs will win a medal. 53 - In either women's W K1 & W C1, at least one winner of the qualification will fail to advance to the final from semifinal. 9 Canoeing - Sprint (2) 54 - In at least one of the K1-events for women or men, a NOC will win gold and silver. 10 55 - Germany will top the medal table. 10 Cycling - BMX (2) 56 - France will have all three male riders in the BMX racing Olympic final. 5 57 - United States will win 1 medal or less in the BMX freestyle events. 2 Cycling - Mountain Bike (2) 58 - Switzerland will win at least one gold and silver medal. 8 59 - A non-European NOC will win at least one medal. 7 Cycling - Road (2) 60 - Men's - The Benelux-countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands) will win at least 3 medals. 6 61 - Women's - There will be 3 different NOCs on the podium in the women's road race. 10 Cycling - Track (3) 62 - Harrie Lavreysen will not lose a single race/heat (including qualification and knockout) in the individual spint. 63 - France will not win gold medal. 10 64 - European NOCs will win at least 9 out of the 12 medals in the sprint events for both men and women, individual and team. 5 Equestrian (2) 65 - At least two out of the three defending Olympic gold medallist in the three team events from Tokyo 2020 will defend their gold medals. 66 - The medalists in the individual dressage event will also win a medal in the team dressage event. 6 Fencing (3) 67 - Team events - At least one of the African NOC's will win its quarterfinal match and advance to a semfinal. 68- Individual events - At least 2 out of the 6 individual 2023 world champions will win gold. 8 69 - Either France, Hungary, Italy or fencers from these NOCs will be presented at every podium. 9 Field Hockey (2) 70 - The top scorer of the women's competition will be a dutch player. 6 71 - Great Britain will win a medal (men's or women's). Football (2) 72 - Spain will at least win either the women's or men's gold medal. 73 - At least one player born 2000 or before will receive a red card in the men's tournament. 7 Golf (1) 74 - USA will not win a medal in either women's or men's event. 1 Gymnastics - Artistic (3) 75 - At least two NOCs will win their first Olympic medal. 2 76 - Men's - Daiki Hashimoto will be the only male gymnasts to defend an olympic title in one of the individual events. 5 77 - Women's - Qiu Qiyuan will win at least two medals in the apparatus events. 3 Gymnastics - Rhythmic (1) 78 - Bulgaria will defend their Olympic title in the team event. 4 Gymnastics - Trampoline (1) 79 - China will win gold in both men's and women's event. 6 Handball (2) 80 - Men's - France will defend its Olympic gold from Tokyo 2020. 5 81 - Women's - France will not make the final. 4 Judo (3) 82 - At least one athlete will win gold by winning all fights by Ippon. 83 - France will win more gold medals than Japan. 11 84 - Japan will win the team event. Modern Pentathlon (2) 85 - Egypt will fail to win any medals in both men's and women's events. 2 86 - At least one of the two defending Olympic gold medallists (Joe Choong and Kate French) will defend their gold medal. Rowing (2) 87 - Romania will win at least 5 medals. 4 88 - Netherlands will top the medal table. 8 Rugby Sevens (2) 89 - The women's final will feature Australia and New Zealand. 6 90 - At least one medal match will be decided in extra-time. Sailing (3) 91 - France, Netherlands and Italy will be the top 3 NOCs in the medal table. 92 - Maximilian Maeder will win Singapore's first Olympic medal in Sailing. 11 93 - Great Britain will not win any medals in men's events. Shooting (3) 94 - China will win Gold in 50% or more (7+ Gold) of the total events. 9 95 - India will win at least 3 medals. 96 - At least one NOC will win more than one medal in a single mixed team event. 1 Skateboard (2) 97 - Teenagers (age 19 or younger) will win every gold medal in the skateboarding events. 12 98 - There will not be a medalists from the Tokyo 2020-podiums in skateboarding street events that will be at the podiums in Paris 2024. 1 Sport Climbing (2) 99 - The women’s lead semi final will have more tops than the final. 3 100 - Men's speed climbing podium will consist of only Asian NOCs. Surfing (2) 101 - A European NOC will win at least one medal. 102 - At least one medallist will have been through Round 2. Table Tennis (2) 103 - Wang/Sun (CHN) will lose maximum one set during the mixed double tournament. 9 104 - France will be only non-Asian NOC to win a medal. 4 Taekwondo (2) 105 - The NOC to win most medals will at maximum win 3 medals in total. 3 106 - There will not be a NOC who will win two or more gold medals. 2 Tennis (2) 107 - At least one player (man or woman) that has never advanced further than the round of 16 at the French Open singles tournament will win a singles medal in Paris 2024. 108 - An unseeded team will make final in women's doubles event. Triathlon (2) 109 - Mixed Relay event - The difference between the 1st-placed and 2nd-placed NOCs will be less than 12 seconds. 3 110 - France will win an individual medal in either men's or women's event. 11 Volleyball - Indoor (2) 111 - Men's - Poland will win at least a silver medal. 5 112 - A team from the Asian Volleyball Confederation will win a medal (men's or women's). Volleyball - Beach (2) 113 - Women’s event- A North American duo (USA/CAN) will win the gold medal. 6 114 - Men’s event- Bryl/Losiak (POL) will advance further in the tournament than Diaz/Alayo (CUB)? (If both are eliminated at the same stage e.g. Round of 16, then “No” will count). Weightlifting (2) 115 - United States will be placed 2nd in the medal table. 116 - At least two world records will be broken (snatch, clean and jerk or overall). 6 Wrestling (4) 117 - Kyrgyzstan will win at least one gold medal (first Olympic gold in their history). 118 - Freestyle - Albania will win a medal. 4 119 - Greco-Roman - At least 4 out 6 finals will be decided within a one point difference (Example: 2-1, 3-2... or 1-1, 2-2..etc.) . 1 120 - Women's - Japan will win medals in at least 5 classes. 3 [/hide]

If there's a breaking athlete (ok....B-boy or B-girl....) carrying the flag of any country, please let them at least make it cool by doing some sweet moves with the flag I know, not gonna happen, but at least that'd be fun.

Also keep in mind it was in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, which is kind of the European equivalent of Eugene and Cheboksary in terms of magical performances

Details, details

Sure, McLaughlin is definitely the favourite, but Bol has certainly increased her chances somewhat today. If she's able to go sub-51, McLaughlin can't have a mediocre day or something, she does need to be on top of her game.

It is on

Someone could shoot up the entire Congress and the president and the NRA will still have too much money and therefore power for sensible gun laws to have any chance to ever happen in that wild west country, so no, nothing is going to change in that regard

A country becomes a tripartite nation if in the previous two Olympics (with summer and winter being separated, I assume) they had an average of no more than 8 athletes, correct? Is there any drawback to becoming one, like for example Angola and Paraguay probably, or is the only negative side of that the fact that apparently you're able to send fewer and fewer athletes?