rafalgorka

Any picks for a surprise medal for Belgium?

Some data for Belgium:

Maybe users from the mentioned NOCs will show up and join the discussion heh :-)

Both Derwael and Thiam were injured this season. This is very interesting what form they show next year.

First choice is quite obvious: BELGIUM

I'd like to open this thread because we get here on totallympics lots of great info from certain nations but we miss many others. So maybe we can talk a bit more about NOCs which don't have active users here. I'd try to moderate the discussion here but picking one NOC daily (or maybe one in two days). We will see if anyone's interested to join the discussion, could be fun.

Early thoughts on medal table after Day 5: CHN well ahead of USA - but maybe I am too optimistic for China and not enough optimistic for USA. CHN wins here majority of events when they are gold medal favs (diving synchro M 10m platform may be an exception) but in Asian Games they sometimes (rarely but still) lost some almost certain gold medals... Schedule for first days is in China's favour imo though. USA should come closer later on. And I think there may be more gold medals for USA in swimming than I predicted. It's hard to imagine that they won't improve from 2023 WCH results. So far great olympics for AUS. Lots of gold medals but here it may go other way - will they be able to perform so strong in the pool like in 2023 WCH??? FRA are having a good time. Hosts usually go better than usual so I think there is really a big a chance for at least one gold medal for them daily. Team GB very impressive. They will have many supporters in Paris, such a short trip for them. JPN get gold only in judo so far but maybe I missed sth here. Fantastic games for GEO but... why not? I haven't picked any surprise gold for them. I don't pick many surprise gold at all, I know. And I favour current WCH way tooooo much, I know. But firstly, those are early thoughts and I don't have much time for serious research. And secondly, I don't know much about many sports (surfing, BMX cycling, judo, archery, shooting, fencing and many others) so I follow the WCH results and ranking lists because what else can I do? Only one gold on Day 5 for GER is a big surprise for me. I don't think it will be that bad for them. I should check back once again on the events when they have medal contenders, probably I missed sth... FIJ gold in rugby is a bit wishful thinking for me... But why not, that would be 3 in-a-row. 0-2-2 for Poland is a lot I think. Still no gold but that would be a really nice result. Maybe i am biased here but still I haven't predicted a medal in shooting which is possible (Mixed 10m Air Rifle, W Air Pistol) and I haven't predicted any Polish medal which would be a massive surprise and we ALWAYS have at least one totally surprising summer olympic medal (M 50km race walk in Tokyo, anyone???). So hopefully we will get 4. From those 4 swimming medal would be the best fun for me because... you know, that's swimming. And our guy would be there on all the photos from this Marchand vs Milak battle... And Poland in a good mood so far because M volleyball team and Iga Świątek in W singles are winning their matches comfortably so far... Some NOCs without a medal so far: NOR DEN BUL IRL PHI EGY LAT EST FIN - but no worries, your time will come. Although... FIN, well... ??? :-((( but we will find sth... Enjoy, stay tuned!

My medal table after Day 5 (76 events) 13-5-6---24 8-13-10---31 8-6-6---20 8-2-3---13 7-5-7---19 5-6-3---14 4-8-4---16 3-0-0---3 2-3-4---9 2-2-1---5 2-1-2---5 2-0-0---2 1-3-2---6 1-3-2---6 1-1-2---4 1-1-1---3 1-1-1---3 1-1-0---2 1-0-3---4 1-0-2---3 1-0-1---2 1-0-1---2 1-0-0---1 1-0-0---1 0-2-2---4 0-2-1---3 0-2-0---2 0-2-0---2 0-2-0---2 0-1-2---3 0-1-2---3 0-1-2---3 0-1-0---1 0-1-0---1 0-1-0---1 0-0-2---2 0-0-2---2 0-0-2---2 0-0-2---2 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1

Day 5 Wed 31.07 60. ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS - M Individual All-Around 1. Zhang Boheng CHN 2. Daiki Hashimoto JPN 3. Illia Kovtun UKR Asian Games champion beating Champion of the World this time. 61. BMX CYCLING - M Freestyle 1. Kieran Reilly GBR 2. Logan Martin AUS 3. Nick Bruce USA Another gold for reigning WCH in Paris. 62. BMX CYCLING - W Freestyle 1. Hannah Roberts USA 2. Sun Sibei CHN 3. Nikita Ducarroz SUI USA chasing China in the medal table. 63. CANOE SLALOM - W C1 1. Mallory Franklin GBR 2. Jessica Fox AUS 3. Monica Doria Villarubla AND A first ever olympic medal for Andorra!!! Franklin winning gold after great internal battle vs Kimberley Woods. 64. DIVING - W Synchro 10m Platform 1. China 2. Great Britain 3. United States 3rd gold for China in synchro diving. 65. FENCING - M Sabre Team 1. United States 2. Korea Rep. 3. Hungary Young Colin Heathcock doing miracles both in semifinal and final, pushing US Team for a bit surprosing gold medal. 66. JUDO - W -70kg 1. Saki Nizoe JPN 2. Sanne van Dijke NED 3. Barbara Matic CRO 3. Michaela Polleres AUT And another judo gold for Japan. 67. JUDO - M -90kg 1. Luka Maisuradze GEO 2. Sanshiro Murao JPN 3. Ivan Felipe Silva Morales CUB 3. Christian Parlati ITA Like Canadians in W -57kg... When Maisuaradze wins the internal competition against Bekauri, winning olympic gold is a bit easier for him. 68. ROWING - M Quadruple Sculls 1. Netherlands 2. Italy 3. Poland First Dutch gold in Paris. And a very nice bronze for Poland. 69. ROWING - W Quadruple Sculls 1. China 2. Great Britain 3. Netherlands Poland got silver in Tokyo in this event. But sadly didn't qualified this time . 70. SHOOTING - W Trap 1. Jessica Rossi ITA 2. Fatima Galvez ESP 3. Zuzana Rehak-Stefecekova SVK Lin Yi-chun TPE 4th. 71. SWIMMING - W 100m Free 1. Mollie O'Callaghan AUS 2. Siobhan Haughey HKG 3. Sarah Sjoestroem SWE O'Callaghan and Haughey both under 52 secs. 72. SWIMMING - M 200m Fly 1. Leon Marchand FRA 2. Krisztof Milak HUN 3. Krzysztof Chmielewski POL One of the best races of the games. Milak back in decent form but Marchand somehow beats him on last meters. And a first swimming medal for Poland since Otylia show in 2004. 73. SWIMMING - M 200m Breast 1. Qin Haiyang CHN 2. Zac Stubblety-Cook AUS 3. Dong Zhihao CHN Qin Haiyang completes breaststroke double. 74. SWIMMING - W 1500m Free 1. Katie Ledecky USA 2. Simona Quadarella ITA 3. Li Bingjie CHN 75. SWIMMING - M 100m Free 1. Kyle Chalmers AUS 2. Pan Zhanle CHN 3. David Popovici ROU Chalmers by 0,02 sec because... why not??? 76. TRIATHLON - W Individual 1. Cassandre Beauregard FRA 2. Beth Potter GBR 3. Taylor Spivey USA French athlete winning gold in an event which people can watch even without tickets. Despite early hours, huge crowds celebrating this one.

I think Polish athletes in W epee could be highlighted green in ind rankings here - provisionally qualified as team members

Maybe someone else would like to join this thread? we could add all the predictions together (e.g. 3 pts for every gold medal pick for a certain athlete, then 2 pts and 1 pt) I would like to see the outcome of it I know it is too early, that is just for fun, and this week not much is going on in sports world

Thank you @phelps this will be very helpful for my Paris predictions. weightlifting is one of these sports I know nothing about

Day 5 Wed 31.07 60. ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS - M Individual All-Around 61. BMX CYCLING - M Freestyle 62. BMX CYCLING - W Freestyle 63. CANOE SLALOM - W C1 64. DIVING - W Synchro 10m Platform 65. FENCING - M Sabre Team 66. JUDO - W -70kg 67. JUDO - M -90kg 68. ROWING - M Quadruple Sculls 69. ROWING - W Quadruple Sculls 70. SHOOTING - W Trap 71. SWIMMING - W 100m Free 72. SWIMMING - M 200m Fly 73. SWIMMING - M 200m Breast 74. SWIMMING - W 1500m Free 75. SWIMMING - M 100m Free 76. TRIATHLON - W Individual

My medal table after Day 4 (59 events) 9-3-4---16 6-3-6---15 6-2-3---11 5-13-7---25 5-2-7---14 4-4-3---11 3-6-3---12 2-2-4---8 2-2-1---5 2-1-2---5 2-0-0---2 2-0-0---2 1-3-2---6 1-1-1---3 1-1-1---3 1-1-0---2 1-0-2---3 1-0-2---3 1-0-1---2 1-0-1---2 1-0-0---1 1-0-0---1 1-0-0---1 0-2-1---3 0-2-0---2 0-2-0---2 0-2-0---2 0-1-1---2 0-1-1---2 0-1-1---2 0-1-1---2 0-1-0---1 0-1-0---1 0-1-0---1 0-1-0---1 0-0-2---2 0-0-2---2 0-0-2---2 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1 0-0-1---1

Day 4 Tue 30.07 46. ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS - W Team 1. United States 2. Brazil 3. Great Britain With Biles back in form US wins this one quite easily. 47. FENCING - W Epee Team 1. Italy 2. Poland 3. Korea Rep. First chance for a gold medal for Poland lost in a close final vs Italy. But this is first Polish olympic medal in fencing since 2008 anyway. 48. JUDO - W -63kg 1. Clarisse Agbegnenou FRA 2. Lucy Renshall GBR 3. Andreja Leski SLO 3. Gili Sharir ISR Gold medal for the French favourite. 49. JUDO - M -81kg 1. Tato Grigalashvili GEO 2. Matthias Casse BEL 3. Lee Joon-hwan KOR 3. Guillerme Schmidt BRA Repeat of 2023 WCH final here. 50. RUGBY SEVENS - W Tournament 1. New Zealand 2. Australia 3. Great Britain And France 4th. 51. SHOOTING - Mixed Team 10m Air Pistol 1. China 2. Korea Rep. 3. Serbia China keeps winning gold in shooting. 52. SHOOTING - M Trap 1. Giovanni Cernogoraz CRO 2. Khaled Al-Mudhaf KUW 3. Jiri Liptak CZE Gold for current WCH and World Ranking leader. First Czech medal in Paris. Italy 4th and 6th. 53. SURFING - M Shortboard 1. Filipe Toledo BRA 2. Griffin Colapinto USA 3. Joao Chianca BRA Medals for top 2023 World Surf League athletes. 54. SURFING - W Shortboard 1. Carissa Moore USA 2. Caroline Marks USA 3. Tyler Wright AUS Gold for Tokyo olympic champion. 55. SWIMMING - W 100m Back 1. Kaylee McKeown AUS 2. Regan Smith USA 3. Katharine Berkoff USA And yet another Australian swimming gold. 56. SWIMMING - M 800m Free 1. Ahmed Hafnaoui TUN 2. Bobby Finke USA 3. Samuel Short AUS 2nd gold for Tunisian swimmer in Paris. 57. SWIMMING - M 4x200m Free Relay 1. Great Britain 2. United States 3. Australia Team GB well ahead. Korea Rep. close 4th. 58. TABLE TENNIS - Mixed Doubles 1. China 2. Korea Rep. 3. Japan China winning very easily. 59. TRIATHLON - M Individual 1. Alex Yee GBR 2. Leo Bergere FRA 3. Vasco Vilaca POR Alex Yee repeats his 2023 test event win in Paris.

What you think? Which categories China choose for Paris in W and M competitions? are there any other NOCs who have serious contenders in more than 3 categories per gender?

No worries. Small mistake.

Day 3 is air rifle. So all these people won't be competing. They competed on day 2.

@Josh thanks for your predictions. They are very interesting. But people you mentioned in shooting are performing in pistol events

The biggest emotions will be Sunday voting results anyway.

Yeah, we play vs Faroe Islands on Thursday. Without Lewandowski it will be a tight game, no certain wins for POL football team these days.

Btw, does ESPN Classic still exist? We had it in Poland in the past and it was pretty good but sadly it's not here anymore.

Maybe beach volleyball WCH... but these are still early stages here, some vintage sports videos on YouTube then. That is always my Plan B.

What is worth watching this week? Rugby WC QFs is a must for me. But what else???

Remember Fiji won at Twickenham just before the WC