Topicmaster1010

Tried to quickly come up with the list of events with which countries have a chance to win gold in them.
 
Saturday:
 
Cross- Country Skiing- Women's Skiathlon
Likely winners:  Norway,  Sweden
Speed Skating- Women's 3000m
Likely winners:  Netherlands
Biathlon- Mixed  Relay
Likely winners:  Norway,  France,  Sweden
Ski Jumping- Women's Normal Hill
Likely winners:  Austria,  Germany,  Slovenia,  Japan
Freestyle Skiing- Men's Moguls
Likely winners:  Canada,  Japan
Short Track- Mixed Relay
Likely winners:  China,  South Korea,  Netherlands
 
Sunday:
 
Snowboarding- Women's Slopestyle
Likely winners:  United States,  Japan,  Australia,  New Zealand
Alpine Skiing- Men's Downhill
Likely winners:  Switzerland,  Austria,  Norway
Cross-Country Skiing- Men's Skiathlon
Likely winners:  Norway,  ROC
Speed Skating- Men's 5000m
Likely winners:  Sweden
Ski Jumping- Men's Normal Hill
Likely winners:  Germany,  Japan,  Austria,  Norway,  Slovenia
Freestyle Skiing- Women's Moguls
Likely winners:  Japan,  France,  Australia
Luge- Men's
Likely winners:  Germany,  Austria,  Latvia
 
It looks like Norway has the best chance of leading the medal table.
 

Tried to quickly come up with the list of events with which countries have a chance to win gold in them.
 
Saturday:
 
Cross- Country Skiing- Women's Skiathlon
Likely winners:  Norway,  Sweden
Speed Skating- Women's 3000m
Likely winners:  Netherlands
Biathlon- Mixed  Relay
Likely winners:  Norway,  France,  Sweden
Ski Jumping- Women's Normal Hill
Likely winners:  Austria,  Germany,  Slovenia,  Japan
Freestyle Skiing- Men's Moguls
Likely winners:  Canada,  Japan
Short Track- Mixed Relay
Likely winners:  China,  South Korea,  Netherlands
 
Sunday:
 
Snowboarding- Women's Slopestyle
Likely winners:  United States,  Japan,  Australia,  New Zealand
Alpine Skiing- Men's Downhill
Likely winners:  Switzerland,  Austria,  Norway
Cross-Country Skiing- Men's Skiathlon
Likely winners:  Norway,  ROC
Speed Skating- Men's 5000m
Likely winners:  Sweden
Ski Jumping- Men's Normal Hill
Likely winners:  Germany,  Japan,  Austria,  Norway,  Slovenia
Freestyle Skiing- Women's Moguls
Likely winners:  Japan,  France,  Australia
Luge- Men's
Likely winners:  Germany,  Austria,  Latvia
 
It looks like Norway has the best chance of leading the medal table.
 

Tried to quickly come up with the list of events with which countries have a chance to win gold in them.
 
Saturday:
 
Cross- Country Skiing- Women's Skiathlon
Likely winners:  Norway,  Sweden
Speed Skating- Women's 3000m
Likely winners:  Netherlands
Biathlon- Mixed  Relay
Likely winners:  Norway,  France,  Sweden
Ski Jumping- Women's Normal Hill
Likely winners:  Austria,  Germany,  Slovenia,  Japan
Freestyle Skiing- Men's Moguls
Likely winners:  Canada,  Japan
Short Track- Mixed Relay
Likely winners:  China,  South Korea,  Netherlands
 
Sunday:
 
Snowboarding- Women's Slopestyle
Likely winners:  United States,  Japan,  Australia,  New Zealand
Alpine Skiing- Men's Downhill
Likely winners:  Switzerland,  Austria,  Norway
Cross-Country Skiing- Men's Skiathlon
Likely winners:  Norway,  ROC
Speed Skating- Men's 5000m
Likely winners:  Sweden
Ski Jumping- Men's Normal Hill
Likely winners:  Germany,  Japan,  Austria,  Norway,  Slovenia
Freestyle Skiing- Women's Moguls
Likely winners:  Japan,  France,  Australia
Luge- Men's
Likely winners:  Germany,  Austria,  Latvia
 
It looks like Norway has the best chance of leading the medal table.
 

Tried to quickly come up with the list of events with which countries have a chance to win gold in them.
 
Saturday:
 
Cross- Country Skiing- Women's Skiathlon
Likely winners:  Norway,  Sweden
Speed Skating- Women's 3000m
Likely winners:  Netherlands
Biathlon- Mixed  Relay
Likely winners:  Norway,  France,  Sweden
Ski Jumping- Women's Normal Hill
Likely winners:  Austria,  Germany,  Slovenia,  Japan
Freestyle Skiing- Men's Moguls
Likely winners:  Canada,  Japan
Short Track- Mixed Relay
Likely winners:  China,  South Korea,  Netherlands
 
Sunday:
 
Snowboarding- Women's Slopestyle
Likely winners:  United States,  Japan,  Australia,  New Zealand
Alpine Skiing- Men's Downhill
Likely winners:  Switzerland,  Austria,  Norway
Cross-Country Skiing- Men's Skiathlon
Likely winners:  Norway,  ROC
Speed Skating- Men's 5000m
Likely winners:  Sweden
Ski Jumping- Men's Normal Hill
Likely winners:  Germany,  Japan,  Austria,  Norway,  Slovenia
Freestyle Skiing- Women's Moguls
Likely winners:  Japan,  France,  Australia
Luge- Men's
Likely winners:  Germany,  Austria,  Latvia
 
It looks like Norway has the best chance of leading the medal table.
 

Ok, it's time for an inspirational story.
 
American swimmer, Gary Hall Jr was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1999. He took a short break from competitive swimming, then he returned and went on to win Olympic gold in the 50 freestyle, in both 2000 and 2004. To date, he is one of only two men who has successfully defended an Olympic title in the 50 freestyle. He also won several medals in relays.
 
Obviously, I'm not posting this to raise expectations about Fernstadt, but to show an example, that nothing is impossible in sport. Of course, Fernstadt will do what is best for her health. Just don't give up hope that she might continue her career.

Officially confirmed Canada will have 215 athletes, with all 10 provinces and 1 territory (of 3) having representation. More facts here:https://olympic.ca/2022/01/28/by-the-numbers-team-canada-heading-into-the-beijing-2022-olympic-winter-games/
 
 

we are getting close to the WOG and I seriously miss @Orangehair43 is he already focusing on Paris 2024 and its cancellation ? 
 
PS: I see some users try to be like him but no way. you can never beat this guy. he is my favorite troll

This poll makes me so sad .  I had been looking forward to seeing our star players play in the Olympics for years before the NHL announced they wouldn't be going because og covid concerns.
 
So in that case, Russia and Finland are now the two clear favourites. I voted Finland just because I felt everyone was going to vote Russia and I wanted to give them some love because I definitely think they have what it takes to win gold.

She isn't really able to answer anything here since she can only use one hand for now. Fine for voice messages, not so much for typing. But she asked me to write here that she had a quick look and is very very grateful for all the wishes and messages here! So, thank you all on Bruna's behalf!

Also since it is for fun, lets go with my pre-tournament predictions
 
Will be interesting and challenging to see after the Games how much accurate (or how much wrong I was)
 
so either my maintaining the self claimed interuniversal Guru status or my total embarssement and humiliation
 
1.
2.
--------
3.
4.
--------
5.
6.
7. 
8.
--------
9. 
10.
11.   
12.
 
China actually may be the biggest mistery here, I can see them shock an unprepared opponent and finish higher, but in other hand considering their 14 matches loses streak in the KHL I still think they will have problems to earn any point in the group at the end and should be classified ahead of Latvia just by virtue of better goal average, SVK and LAT will have tough life in the group with SWE and especially FIN offensive power
 
So ok, here is the deal. we will see in some 3 weeks lol

Good to pick up 3 points against Honduras to keep us on top.
 
Big match against the United States on Sunday. Despite playing at home we will have to travel a lot further to get there and then we have to fly back to Central America to play against El Salvador on Wednesday. Who designed this schedule?

Long story short: she was on the way from Austria (where she had been in quarantine until today) to Munich, to get tested three times there in the coming five days, starting today. Somewhere along the Austrian/Italian border (Vintl), the transfer we had booked for her (a minivan, her as only passenger) had an accident, a bad one, one might say. Sadly the driver didn't make it, and considering they hit a truck head-on, Bruna sitting in the back (to keep some distance) quite simply saved her life. Transported to the hospital by helicopter.
 
Broken arm, two broken feet and an unknown number of broken ribs seems to be the damage. Which, considering the gravity of the accident, is barely short of a miracle.
 
As for me, I'm at home in the Netherlands, which is where we are trying to get her as soon as possible (when medically allowed, of course). It has been a long day of back and forth contact with insurance and Brazilian federation and everything to see what can be done. But, again, the main thing is she's still with us.

If he went on a 15 minute speech in a 100 minute ceremony, that is already a human right violation

Let's try to break this down by event:
 
Events where they should be the gold medal favourite (6):
Freestyle Skiing- Women's Halfpipe
Freestyle Skiing- Women's Aerials
Freestyle Skiing- Mixed Team Aeriails
Short Track- Men's 1500m
Short Track- Mixed 2000m Relay
Speed Skating- Men's 1500m
 
Events where they have a good chance of winning gold (8):
Figure Skating- Pairs
Freestyle Skiing- Women's Big Air
Freestyle Skiing- Women's Slopestyle
Freestyle Skiing- Men's Aerials
Short Track- Men's 500m
Short Track- Men's 1000m
Short Track- Men's 3000m Relay
Speed Skating- Men's 500m
 
Events where they have a small chance of winning gold (8):
Snowboarding- Women's Halfpipe
Snowboarding- Men's Slopestyle & Big Air
Any of the women's short track events
Speed Skating- Men's 1000m
 
Wildcards because of home track(3):
Men's Skeleton
Women's Bobsleigh
 
So that's 25 events listed. Short Track is very unpredictable though so they may not be in the right tiers necessarily. I originally voted 7-8 golds but now making this list I very well wouldn't be surprised if they won 10+ gold especially with home judging bias.

This just surpassed all my expectations.
 
so just a small help to avoid confussions while watching their matches
 
Goalies
Jieruimi Shimisi  was 2 days ago named Jeremy Smith
Ouban Yongli  born as  Paris O´Brien
Han Pengfei  (born Chinese #1)
 
Defenders
Ruian Sipulaoer  born as  Ryan Sproul
Jieke Kailiaosi   born as  Jack Chelios
Dannisi Aoxibofu  my favorite one  born as  Denis Osipov
Liu Jie   born as  Jason Fram
Zheng Enlai   born as Ty Schultz
Zhang Pengfei  (born Chinese #2)
Chen Zimeng  (born Chinese #3)
Yan Ruinan (born Chinese #4)
Yuan Junjie born as  Zach Yuen  (Chinese Heritage #1)
 
Forwards
Fu Jiang   born as  Spencer Foo (Chinese Heritage #2)
Fu Shuai born as  Parker Foo (Chinese Heritage #3)
Luo Jia  born as Luke Lockhart
Jian An  born as Cory Kane
Ye Jinguang  born as  Brandon Rip (Chinese Heritage #4)
Wang Taile  born as  Taylor Wong (Chinese Heritage #5)
Wei Ruike  born as Ethan Werek
Rudi Ying   (born Chinese #5)  - Best (at least most talented) Chinese-born Ice Hockey Player ever
Yan Juncheng  (born Chinese #6)
Zhang Zesen  (born Chinese #7)
Zhong Wei  born as Peter Zhong (Chinese Heritage #6)
Xiang Xudong  (born Chinese #8)
Guo Jianing  (born Chinese #9)
 
 

Canada's first batch has left Vancouver for Beijing including the women's hockey team among others.

First 5 Athletes have just departed to Beijing.
 
Klaudia Medlová (Snowboarding) and 4 of the five members Luge Team (the young Marián Skupek will fly in the next days)
 
Good Luck, enjoy your stay and stay healthy guys !
 

 
 

Klaudia Medlová will be just like in PyeongChang 2018 again our sole Snowboarder also in Beijing and will compete just like 4 years ago in Slopestyle and Big Air competitions.
 

4 of the 5 SVK Luge members team before their departure to the Olympics:
from Left second coach Rastislav Drajna, Tomáš Vaverčák (Doubles & Relay), our Luge team head coach, former Olympian Lukáš Brož, Katarína Šimoňáková (W Singles & Relay), Jozef Ninis (M Singles & Relay) and Matej Zmij (Doubles & Relay)
 
Beijing will be the 5th Olympics in a row for Ninis, 2nd for Šimoňáková after PC 2018 and the Olympic debut for the duet Vaverčák/Zmij

About a year ago I made a prediction on the team sizes, here's the link. Let's see how I did.
 
First the following nations qualified, but I didn't predict.

 
Nations which I thought would qualify, but did not.

 
Overall not too bad, the ones that I missed were not active a year ago and only qualified one athlete. Kenya technically qualified, but the athlete was not selected and I made my prediction before finding out North Korea will isolate itself until COVID passes. Cayman Islands was a bad pick since I thought an already retired athlete would try to qualify.
 
The following nations I underestimated (predicted a smaller team) by at least five athletes.
 
- 59 athletes
- 10 athletes
- 6 athletes
- 5 athletes
- 5 athletes
 
Sorry Denmark, but in my defense they were the first reserves in curling and one win away from qualifying in ice hockey. Unfortunately for me, the nation qualified in those four team events, account for 58 athletes. I kind of knew I was underestimating Australia given its restrictive travel regulations so I'm not surprised that I was off by a lot. I also missed the mark on Jamaica considering how small their team is. I originally only had them qualifying in women's monobob, but they were able to barely sneak in the two men's events.
 
The following nations I overestimated (predicted a larger team) by at least five athletes.
 
- 33 athletes
- 32 athletes
- 12 athletes
- 11 athletes
- 11 athletes
- 10 athletes
- 10 athletes
- 9 athletes
- 6 athletes
 
Originally I had Germany and Norway qualifying ice hockey teams which explains why they are at the top of the list, but even if we ignore that both nations would remain on the list with 10 and 7 athletes respectively. One weakness from my prediction is I didn't take into account whether a nation will decline quotas which is why you see a lot of the big European nation here.

https://olympics.com/beijing-2022/olympic-games/en/results/all-sports/athletes.htm
 
All athletes information could be found on official website now.

Alpine Skiing: Ryding has given himself a confidence boost with his World cup win. Still an outsider but will hopefully at least challenge for Top 6
Bobsleigh: Hall has been having a good world cup season in both 2 Man and 4 Man. Would be nice if he can carry that form into the games
Cross Country Skiing: Musgrave will be thereabouts if hes on form. Likely just targeting personal bests. though Same for Young
Curling: Could challenge for medals in all 3 events and possibly a Gold or two. Would be really disappointing to not win something here
Figure Skating: Fear and Gibson may get a Top 10 in Ice Dance. Little else to get excited about
Freestyle Skiing: Multiple medal hopes in Slopestyle and cant rule out Big Air and Halfpipe glory either. If we only get 1 Medal I hope Woods can deliver after near misses at the last 2 games
Luge: Making up the numbers
Short Track Speed Skating: Sadly any hopes of something here went with  Elise Christies injury
Skeleton: Been our best source of medals for years but current crop hasnt been delivering of late. Hopefully they are just saving themselves for this
Snowboarding: Both Bankes and Ormerod could come away with something
Speed Skating: Just here for the experience
 
Would be nice if we can win 6 Medals and at least 2 of them Gold which will be our best ever showing. Although with Britain anything from the Winter Games is a bonus.

Here are some team rosters from countries, who can field relay teams.  
 
 Estonia
 
Women
 
Susan Kulm
Regina Oja
Johanna Talihaerm
Tuuli Tommingas
 
Men
 
Kalev Ermits
Raido Rankel
Kristo Siimer
Rene Zahkna
 
 Finland
 
Women
 
Mari Eder
Erika Janka
Nastassia Kinnunen
Suvi Minkinnen
 
Men
 
Tuomas Harjula
Olli Hiidensalo
Heikki Laitinen
Tero Seppala
 
 Switzerland
 
Women
 
Amy Baserga
Irene Cadurisch
Selina Gasparin
Lena Haecki
 
Men
 
Joscha Burkhalter
Niklas Hartweg
Sebastian Stalder
Benjamin Weger

Latvia: Eliza Tiruma (Luge) and Lauris Darzins (Ice Hockey)

It got leaked yesterday 
 
 

Austria
 
Full roster

 
 Germany
 
DOSB say they have qualified 149 athletes. The major difference compared to @Topicmaster1010's numbers is, that they have named 22 athletes in bobsleigh. I'm not sure, if some are alternates. In addition, they have received an extra spot in alpine skiing.
 
Full roster
 
 Switzerland
 
Swiss Olympic Team consists of 168 athletes. Difference compared to the numbers posted here are, that they have named 14 athletes in bobsleigh, one in skeleton and 21 in freestyle skiing.
 
Full roster
 
 

Nations sorted by Sports
 
15:
14:
13:
12:
11: 
10:
9: 
8: 
7: 
6: 
5: 
4: 
3: 
2: 
1: 
 
 
 
Nations sorted by Continents
 
Africa (5)

 
Americas (15)
North (2) 
Central (1) 
Carribean (5) 
South (7) 
 
Asia (18)

 
Europe (50)

 
Oceania (3)