heywoodu

Totally missed this until I saw the start list for today's women's sprint in Sjusjoen, but Lotte Lie has changed her allegiance to....Belgium https://s-n.no/lotte-lie-skal-ga-for-belgia/ Apparently her mother is Belgian, so it's a relatively easy (and logical) step.

Well that's not good

Fuel tsunami

The only man in history to win Olympic gold in both the 100m and 110m hurdles has died from stomach cancer yesterday at the more than respectful age of 96. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Dillard

For those who don't have much to do (or who simply like a good race), the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix is about to start, one of the most mad races out there on the very narrow Macau street circuit. https://livestream.com/MacauGrandPrix/MacauGP2019-Global

[hide] ATP Finals - Knockout Round November 16th - November 17th, 2019 4 Athletes, Semifinals and Final Semifinals Date & Time (GMT) Athlete 1 T1 T2 Athlete 2 November 16th 2019, h. 14:00 Stefanos Tsitsipas 0 2 Roger Federer November 16th 2019, h. 20:00 Dominic Thiem 2 0 Alexander Zverev [/hide]

Ah, there we go.

Not sure Hilary would be great, but even a dead monkey would be better than Trump, so yeah..

I would still be alright with a mass start being replaced by a marathon, at the very least 100 laps. I'd also be very much ok with that not happening and the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000/5000m and 5000/10000m remaining as only events. I know that won't happen though

Still no bid from Algeria. Big words, little action

But that ain't happening. There's already a ton of problems around places where refugees are staying ('asylum centers', not sure it's correct in English), I doubt Europe will actually be ready for more. For everyone's sake, at the moment specifically that of the Iranians, I hope some miracle happens.

Or bullets for sports shooters, as you've taught us this week... I really hope these sanctions will be at the very least eased soon (I don't think so, but I do hope so).

FOX to focus on absolute bullshit, but they managed to make it even worse and attacked someone for drinking water. Yeah, people sometimes drink, wow.

FOX News

Some of the biggest recent cases ended because of 'normal' law though, Operacion Puerto - one of the biggest cases all-time probably - seems to be the main victim of that.

Out-of-competition tests are more or less the only chance to try and catch cheaters apart from a lucky break during a competition...they are absolutely necessary. Sure, cyclists and athletes go to a Spanish volcano, far away lands in South Africa or Kenya "because it's better to train there" (haha), and the system can always be improved, but no OOC tests should not be an option.

It is a fun sort of circus event for an end-of-season gala or something, yes

Definitely not DCO indeed. As you said, a 'valid' DCO has credentials and an athlete has every right - as stated by WADA in their own rules if I'm not mistaken - to deny a doping test if those credentials aren't shown. Thanks, that shines a whole new light on this case.

Now I'm curious what you read for you to take this stance.

Not in the old system, but a lot more in the ELO system that's used nowadays, where a win against a strong team is (logically) awarded with more points than a win against the world's number 158 or something. Since this system has been adopted a bit over a year ago, the Netherlands has won against England, France and Germany, with especially those first two (top-5 teams) being awarded well.

Or that basketball player with a female friend/partner/someone who turned out to be pregnant

Right, I had forgotten this even exists

To be fair, he had like two really, really good races. Some others that were definitely good and mostly races that were not much better than today's one (remember this is Minsk, not exactly a super track).

And we're live for the first time, with the ever fantastic team sprint. Loved by all, as evidenced by the grand total of four pairs.