Olympics 2020/2021 : Discussion & Predictions

[Sithara007]

If I'm not mistaken, the last meeting of the senior teams of Germany and Saudi Arabia at the World Championship ended with a score of 11-0  so this result can really be considered unexpected.
As for the Japanese team, this minimal victory is quite normal - the adult team of Japan is strong enough and has some winning traditions (Asian Cup).

LOL.. 11-0? That's brutal. I know that during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Germany managed to defeat Saudi Arabia 8-0. In two decades a lot of positive changes have occurred in Saudi Arabian football. The Saudi Professional League now features top players from Asia, as well as around the world, and this has improved the overall quality. But then, you can't directly compare Asian teams with those from either Europe or Latin America. It will take many decades before these teams are able to reach that level.

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[casperBGD]

haven't watch basketball 3x3 ever, but since Serbia is a favorite there, I watched few matches, and it is quite interesting, fast and exciting
they are playing 10 minutes matches, or finished earlier if one team reach 21 points prior to ten minutes time

having watched few matches, Serbia team seems as a big favorite, and outright for winning gold is still above @2, which is a great value, TBH

just to mention that France won over USA in basketball, is it an announcement for an interesting competition there? USA to win gold is a good bet now?

[3meek]

Today, the USA have pulled into first place in the standings! With this kind of progress it will be hard to overtake them! In any case, the top three are now clearly in sight, with the rest of the countries finding it very difficult to catch up...

[KTChampions]

If I'm not mistaken, the last meeting of the senior teams of Germany and Saudi Arabia at the World Championship ended with a score of 11-0  so this result can really be considered unexpected.
As for the Japanese team, this minimal victory is quite normal - the adult team of Japan is strong enough and has some winning traditions (Asian Cup).

LOL.. 11-0? That's brutal. I know that during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Germany managed to defeat Saudi Arabia 8-0. In two decades a lot of positive changes have occurred in Saudi Arabian football. The Saudi Professional League now features top players from Asia, as well as around the world, and this has improved the overall quality. But then, you can't directly compare Asian teams with those from either Europe or Latin America. It will take many decades before these teams are able to reach that level.

Oh, yee you right! It was 8-0, i don't know why I thought about 11-0, but the difference is really small. The average level of teams is growing all over the world, this is so, this is especially evident on the national teams of small European countries - due to the fact that the players grow up in a European environment, they very quickly raise their level and even teams like Iceland begin to become strong rivals.

[bryant.coleman]

Oh, yee you right! It was 8-0, i don't know why I thought about 11-0, but the difference is really small. The average level of teams is growing all over the world, this is so, this is especially evident on the national teams of small European countries - due to the fact that the players grow up in a European environment, they very quickly raise their level and even teams like Iceland begin to become strong rivals.

Asian countries are notoriously poor performers in football. And that is the reason why India and China almost never qualify for the world cup, despite having a combined population of 2.8 billion. In case of Saudi Arabia and the other Arab nations, they have a few "mercenary" players who have been naturalized as Saudi citizens and this has helped them in their journey during the qualification matches. FIFA want to increase the representation from Asia and Africa and has incraesed the slots for these regions in the world cup. But that is not going to help unless the quality improves.

[buwaytress]

Easy straight set wins for Nishikori and Osaka today? Edit, got my dates wrong with timezones, tomorrow I guess. I think 35/10 is a good bet, home team behind them (no crowds, but you know, spiritually and all that).

If I'm not mistaken, the last meeting of the senior teams of Germany and Saudi Arabia at the World Championship ended with a score of 11-0   so this result can really be considered unexpected.
As for the Japanese team, this minimal victory is quite normal - the adult team of Japan is strong enough and has some winning traditions (Asian Cup).

I'm predicting a Germany easy win as well, but also taking a small bet on Saudis to somehow make their size and aggression count. They have been slowly gaining some technical abilities over the past 8 years, them Gulf nations, and Qatar is a showcase of that (plus some nostalgia of Saudi national team from the 2000s for me personally).

[suzanne5223]

...For people that believe the Olympic game to be an easy winning for Djokovic, you guys are wrong.

There is no easy tournament when you see top players from all over the world trying to win the same medal but I don't blame the other members here for saying that. I may not like his style but what can I do when he is that good of a player?

Yes, every tournament is not easy to win and if it is easy to win then there's no point for organizing the event but those that said the tournament to be an easy win for Djokovic are his fans.
In the meantime, I read that the tournament won't be use to give participants rank point, prize and winning gold to be tough for Djokovic.

[harizen]

For the first time in history, our country PH now finally gets its 1st Gold Medal in the Olympics.

Hidilyn Diaz - 55kg weightlifting - Women's Division

That sport is underrated here in our country as the Sports Commission here is focused on sports that we don't have any chance to become dominant globally. Sad reality here. Anyways, congrats PH peeps.

Hidilyn Diaz breaks Philippines’ Olympic gold dry spell

[Koal-84]

Did anyone else notice the gold medal of the amateur cyclist Kiesenhofer from Austria?

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_DE/status/1419222301950812160?s=20

She seems to have been completely forgotten by the favourites, as we saw when Annemiek van Vleuten crossed the finish line thinking she had won the gold medal, until she was told that she had come second and not first.

[joker_josue]

Did anyone else notice the gold medal of the amateur cyclist Kiesenhofer from Austria?

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_DE/status/1419222301950812160?s=20

She seems to have been completely forgotten by the favourites, as we saw when Annemiek van Vleuten crossed the finish line thinking she had won the gold medal, until she was told that she had come second and not first.

This lack of knowledge happens, because in the Olympic Games cyclists do not have a radio. And the support cars are from the organization, which do not share information about the odds and times of other players.

So it's normal for her not to know she was in second. It certainly did not appear that a player had left her group and was already going far ahead. Mainly, because it was a very long vulva, almost from the beginning of the race.

Congratulations to the athlete from Austria!

[wheelz1200]

Did anyone else notice the gold medal of the amateur cyclist Kiesenhofer from Austria?

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_DE/status/1419222301950812160?s=20

She seems to have been completely forgotten by the favourites, as we saw when Annemiek van Vleuten crossed the finish line thinking she had won the gold medal, until she was told that she had come second and not first.

This lack of knowledge happens, because in the Olympic Games cyclists do not have a radio. And the support cars are from the organization, which do not share information about the odds and times of other players.

So it's normal for her not to know she was in second. It certainly did not appear that a player had left her group and was already going far ahead. Mainly, because it was a very long vulva, almost from the beginning of the race.

Congratulations to the athlete from Austria!

Yeah I watched some of that was interesting hearing how she just started professionally only a couple years ago and only took up the sport a coue years before that.  Incredible story when you are talking the best in the world and she distanced herself so far in front that the second place winner thought they won.

[LTU_btc]

There is many interesting things happened today:
I know there is many people from Philippines and you have reason to be proud. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won first Gold medal in country history.
13 year old Momiji Nishiya won Golden medal in women street skateboarding, Silver was also taken by 13 year old girl: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/13-year-old-nishiya-momiji-wins-first-ever-women-s-street-skateboarding-gold
46 year old artystic gymnastics legend Oksana Chusovitina today ended her amazing career. She participated in Olympics almost 30 years ago, 1992 in Barcelona:
https://mobile.twitter.com/gymnastics/status/1419236125634437122
https://mobile.twitter.com/leticiazoetes/status/1419674485997854724

Did anyone else notice the gold medal of the amateur cyclist Kiesenhofer from Austria?

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_DE/status/1419222301950812160?s=20

She seems to have been completely forgotten by the favourites, as we saw when Annemiek van Vleuten crossed the finish line thinking she had won the gold medal, until she was told that she had come second and not first.

https://image.kurier.at/images/cfs_616w/6209503/46-179813211.jpg

Yeah, I posted about it yesterday:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5348999.msg57544947#msg57544947
For me it's most epic story in this Olympics so far. And cyclists complained that track was very difficult.

[KTChampions]

Oh, yee you right! It was 8-0, i don't know why I thought about 11-0, but the difference is really small. The average level of teams is growing all over the world, this is so, this is especially evident on the national teams of small European countries - due to the fact that the players grow up in a European environment, they very quickly raise their level and even teams like Iceland begin to become strong rivals.

Asian countries are notoriously poor performers in football. And that is the reason why India and China almost never qualify for the world cup, despite having a combined population of 2.8 billion. In case of Saudi Arabia and the other Arab nations, they have a few "mercenary" players who have been naturalized as Saudi citizens and this has helped them in their journey during the qualification matches. FIFA want to increase the representation from Asia and Africa and has incraesed the slots for these regions in the world cup. But that is not going to help unless the quality improves.

China and India have never been involved in the development of football, but China has started to do so by investing a lot of money in buying players for about 10 years and I think in another 10 years they will have a strong generation of players. Thus, China will be added to the already strong South Korea and Japan. As for Africa, there are already many strong teams due to the fact that many players from this continent play in European football.

[Silberman]

Did anyone else notice the gold medal of the amateur cyclist Kiesenhofer from Austria?

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_DE/status/1419222301950812160?s=20

She seems to have been completely forgotten by the favourites, as we saw when Annemiek van Vleuten crossed the finish line thinking she had won the gold medal, until she was told that she had come second and not first.

I was hoping someone will mention this or I would have done it myself, the winner used a very unorthodox strategy, basically she attacked from the very beginning and a few competitors followed her, then she left that group behind as well, and when the peloton caught up with her former group they lost count of the amount of people that left, so they thought that they had caught with everyone not realizing she was still ahead, and since radios could not be used they could not realize their mistake which made Van Vleuten believe she won when she in fact came second, some people are blaming this on the lack of radios but I also believe the Dutch cyclists did not really played as a team and that cost Van Vleuten the gold medal.

[blockman]

For the first time in history, our country PH now finally gets its 1st Gold Medal in the Olympics.

Hidilyn Diaz - 55kg weightlifting - Women's Division

That sport is underrated here in our country as the Sports Commission here is focused on sports that we don't have any chance to become dominant globally. Sad reality here. Anyways, congrats PH peeps.

Hidilyn Diaz breaks Philippines’ Olympic gold dry spell

Congratulations to our very own Hidilyn Diaz! a great woman of determination and she made our country proud. After 97 years without any gold medal for the Olympics, she has broken that long year and was the first-ever to get the gold medal in Tokyo Olympics. It's just sad that despite she had won the gold already, there are making rounds that she's being used with political motives while she's unaware of it.

There is many interesting things happened today:
I know there is many people from Philippines and you have reason to be proud. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won first Gold medal in country history.

Yes, very proud to see her win it. And for the other gold winners too from different countries, congratulations to all of you guys and it's a proud for each of our countries to see those medals which is the result of the athletes hardwork.

[crzy]

Today, the USA have pulled into first place in the standings! With this kind of progress it will be hard to overtake them! In any case, the top three are now clearly in sight, with the rest of the countries finding it very difficult to catch up...

They started late but still proven to be a number 1 country in terms of total medals and next is China. Every athletes with USA are so excited to play and the result for most of them is amazing, though I’m doubting on their Basketball tear but hopefully they over com it, and face the other country to remain their hope alive.

[AndySt]

Oh, yee you right! It was 8-0, i don't know why I thought about 11-0, but the difference is really small. The average level of teams is growing all over the world, this is so, this is especially evident on the national teams of small European countries - due to the fact that the players grow up in a European environment, they very quickly raise their level and even teams like Iceland begin to become strong rivals.

Asian countries are notoriously poor performers in football. And that is the reason why India and China almost never qualify for the world cup, despite having a combined population of 2.8 billion. In case of Saudi Arabia and the other Arab nations, they have a few "mercenary" players who have been naturalized as Saudi citizens and this has helped them in their journey during the qualification matches. FIFA want to increase the representation from Asia and Africa and has incraesed the slots for these regions in the world cup. But that is not going to help unless the quality improves.

China and India have never been involved in the development of football, but China has started to do so by investing a lot of money in buying players for about 10 years and I think in another 10 years they will have a strong generation of players. Thus, China will be added to the already strong South Korea and Japan. As for Africa, there are already many strong teams due to the fact that many players from this continent play in European football.

It is even surprising that with such a large population, neither India nor China are yet achieving noticeable results in the international arena. As far as I know, China used to invest a lot of money in the national championship and inviting expensive foreign players, but now it has started to reduce spending in favor of local players. A lot depends on the status and attitude to the game in the country itself, because everyone knows the cult status of football in Brazil or Spain, when the victories or defeats of national teams are akin to national holidays or national mourning, and football stars have the status of national heroes. Quotas for contingents for major world tournaments, such as the Olympic Games, are a rather delicate topic, because deliberately allowing obviously weak national teams to enter the tournament instead of strong national teams is fraught with a drop in the sports level.

[Bttzed03]

I just came here for another congratulatory post for our first-ever Gold medal

I read a post about her Olympic journey since 2008:
2008 - second to the last
2012 - didn't finish
2016 - Silver
2020 - Gold

I also read she got financial support from a private citizen during her preparation for the competition. Just goes to show how important that is to the athletes and why developed countries usually dominate.

Well done Hidilyn Diaz! Enjoy your PHP30 Million (~$600K) reward.

[Sithara007]

China and India have never been involved in the development of football, but China has started to do so by investing a lot of money in buying players for about 10 years and I think in another 10 years they will have a strong generation of players. Thus, China will be added to the already strong South Korea and Japan. As for Africa, there are already many strong teams due to the fact that many players from this continent play in European football.

In India, most of the football players for the national team comes from the northeastern part of India, where ethnic groups of Mongoloid extraction predominates. Other parts of India have failed to create quality football players, although the sport is not that unpopular. In case of China, I know that they are pouring a lot of money in to developing sports in their country. But money alone is not enough, as seen from their decline in the Olympics for the last 10-12 years, and the lack of success with the national football team.

[Baofeng]

I just came here for another congratulatory post for our first-ever Gold medal

I read a post about her Olympic journey since 2008:
2008 - second to the last
2012 - didn't finish
2016 - Silver
2020 - Gold

I also read she got financial support from a private citizen during her preparation for the competition. Just goes to show how important that is to the athletes and why developed countries usually dominate.

Well done Hidilyn Diaz! Enjoy your PHP30 Million (~$600K) reward.

Yeah, I still vividly remember watching her in 2012 summer Olympics in a gym that time.

But after that Diaz improved a lot and bring glory to the Philippines. But finally, we have achieved a very special gold that eluded us for 97 years. Every Filipino around the world should be rejoicing about this win as this is very historic day for all of us to finally hearing our national anthem. Very proud to be Filipino right now!!!.

We still have another women, Nesthy Petecio, who upsets top ranked Lin Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei in the featherweight division. One win away from a potential medal.