rafalgorka

On day 1 I would obviously focus on men's cycling road race. Previously I wrote here that Primoz Roglic will win that one. Now thinking whether I should correct that opinion or not. I will try to write sth on that topic soon. Because I remember there were strong recommendations for Alaphilippe and Evenepoel here as well. I hope they both will be healthy next summer, wish them all the best. After cycling - I would focus on first swimming heats and men's volleyball POL vs IRI and FRA vs USA. And - last but not least - I will try to predict in which events Poland will have a chance for a decent result on day 1. Anyway, I must admit that sometimes making such analysis is even better than the real thing for me. ?

#209 - Athens 2004 - Swimming - W 400m Freestyle - Laure Manaudou vs Otylia https://youtu.be/de3NmpNg4ag

https://swimswam.com/xinhua-swiss-tribunal-overturns-sun-yang-ban-matter-will-return-to-cas/

https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2020-12/wada-statement-following-swiss-federal-tribunal-decision-to-uphold-sun-yangs

#210 - Athens 2004 - Athletics - M 4x100m Relay Final - Team GB vs Team USA. This race is maybe maybe even more emotional than Bolt for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DATSz4mjqtw&t=5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKBMwTfU4po https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/feb/22/olympic-moments-great-britain-relay

#211 - Athens 2004 - Swimming - M 200 m Free Final My favourite Dutch olympic moment. VDH 2nd in THE RACE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X0ih5iMJoc&t=7s

As an olympic freak I must admit that hosting olympics in Poland would be my big dream coming true. I will try to dicuss here whether it has any chance to happen. How would it look like. I know many contrary arguments against it but I will try to look on the bright side of life here :-)))))) To begin with I will say that I always thought that withdrawing our Kraków / Zakopane (and with a liitle help from our Slovak friends from Poprad) 2022 Winter Olympics Candidacy was not a good idea. Although I know we would probably lose to Beijing on this matter. At least I hope we will host FIS Nordic Skiing World Championships in Zakopane and ISU Figure Skating World Championships in Kraków in near (post-covid) future. I remember when @OlympicsFan said that only certain countries should be allowed to host the olympics. Others are too small or too poor. It may be true. Well, we may not be rich enough now. But we are talking about 2036 here. I wish all the best to this country and I hope things will get better until then. And are we really too small ? Well - AUS, BEL, SWE, GRE, NED, FIN have smaller populations than us and they hosted the summer games before. Yes, I know some of them did it 100 years ago, but still... So I think it is worth trying. Let AUS have its Queensland 2032 games and then come to Poland. :-)))) The bad thing to start with is that our National Stadium in Warsaw was built before EURO 2012 and it is simply a football stadium, without an athletics track. So it would have to be rebuilt to begin with. And EURO 2012 was a very successfull event, I really liked it, and I think PL showed that it was able to host big events. I remember how Warsaw looked like in the semifinal ITA vs GER day and I want to see something like that again. And by the way, watching Mario Balotelli goals from the stands was real fun, I liked this game very much. But back to business - I really hope you will see the games in my country one day.

#212 - Vancouver 2010 - Cross-Country Skiing - W 30 km Mass Start Classic - Justyna Kowalczyk vs Marit Bjoergen. This is an obvious choice for me. Last km - I can watch it all the time again and again. Never gets boring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf9YKm2l_iU

I know it is not fair. We should be choosing among our olympians now. But what can we do? I hope we will be able to do that next December. But honestly - I am more and more sceptical about it. I am not sure Tokyo 2021 will happen. Sadly.

Yes!!!! I can find official awards in Google. I want to know your own choices!!!

Who do you think should be a sportsman/sportswoman of the year 2020 in your country??? Man or woman. No two different categories. I say - Poland - 1. Iga Świątek ?? 2. Robert Lewandowski ?? Both achived a lot this year But Iga at Roland Garros means more to me.

I remember Mecir, he was a great player

Looks Iike I will have less usual work as a lawyer in coming 3 weeks, so I may have more time for my olympic hobby. Maybe we could try to update our day-by-day predictions, but this time I will try to focus only on a few sports which I am interested the most. I don't feel I know much about e.g. archery, taekwondo, track cycling, fencing, shooting, weightlifting etc., so maybe our forum experts on that sports could add their thoughts, too. We will see. I know June 2021 would be better time for this kind of predictions but I expect in June I will have to focus on my work, to be able to have 3 weeks off for the games.

Looks like noone cares about this thread anymore, but at least I will have my fav olympic videos stored in one place. ;-) One for yesterdarday: #214 - Torino 2006 - Biathlon - M Mass Start - Tomasz Sikora finally getting his well-deserved olympic medal. RACH! CIACH! CIACH! My good friend was there as an important part of Polish olympic biathlon team, I heard some insider's anegdotes, a very emotional story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLeLZfBI-7g&t=1404s And one for today: #213 - Barcelona 1992 - Football - M Final - POL vs ESP. We were already preparing ourselves for an extra-time and then... But this is still the last Polish olympic medal in team sports. Until August I hope, and our volleyball final heh. And here the same, my good friend was there as a part of Polish olympic football team, I heard some insider's stories, a lot of things were going on there. A lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJoHpQxbfT8

https://swimswam.com/bulgarias-17-yr-old-miladinov-rips-5108100fly0for02-inthe-world/ Looks like we heve new contenders in 100 fly behind Dressel - Josif Miladinov BUL and Noe Ponti SUI

This is so sad. But she will always be one of my favourite olympic swimming champions ever.

I know this is countdown to the summer games, but I think winter memories are allowed, too. Actually, it is December now, isn't it? :-) #215 - Sochi 2014 - Speed Skating - M 1500 m - Zbigniew Bródka beating Koen Verweij by 0,00000000000000000001 sec. ;-) https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/video/detail/men-s-1500m-speed-skating-sochi-2014-replays/

But it's also sad that she had these kind of problems as well. https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/ruta-meilutyte-facing-potential-doping-suspension-for-testing-accessibility-rules/

She was such a talent. It's a pity she has finished her career so quickly.

I wonder who has the most chances to get a medal in Tokyo as a "dark horse", as a new star who will be born this summer? Benedetta Pilato is my choice here in 100 m breastroke. Jemma Reekie in 800 m in athletics is another one.

I don't know if it is a loss or not. But we all remember where this pandemic has started so you should understand I am cautious with your covid stats right now. By the way, I just love Liu Xiang performance in Athens, his joy when he won was unforgettable - good to know every nation has his sports heroes who didn't have any doping issues.

I will not come to China or Tibet soon because I don't believe in Chinese coronavirus statistics at all. So I'm too afraid to come.

I know it is not going to happen, I only have my hopes. And I support Free Tibet more because I really see a huge difference in the way China treats Tibetan nation if you compare it with Basque or Catalonians in Spain. So I wish them especially well.

and Italy and Poland, too. I think everybody is more or less guilty in this matter. ;-)

I hope Tibet will be able to participate in the olympics as an own NOC in my lifetime.