Tokyo Olympics 2020

[srini]

North korea decides not to participate in Tokyo citing covid. Does that improve chances of our athletes in any sports, say like weight lifting?
I saw there is a north korean athlete Ri Song-gum who participates in the same category as Meerabai Chanu. Hoping that improves her chances!

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/worl ... mpics.html

[sameerph]

Yes, as of now North Korean non-participation will benefit us in 3 events-

North Korean was #2 ahead of Mirabai Chanu in her weight class. Mirabai was well ahead of others in last world championships. So, her chances of a medal at Tokyo are quite bright now. Only have to see that post covid she gets back close to her best. Bad losses of forms have happened post covid as we have seen in case of some of our tennis players.

It also increases chances for Vinesh in womens 53 Kg wrestling. North Korean was one of the top wrestlers in her weight category.

North Korean was also a gold medalist in womens boxing in same weight category as Marykom is.

[Kumar]

Indian judo team forced to withdraw (rules) after one player tested positive
https://www.espn.in/olympics/summer/jud ... 9-positive

[depleter]

Avinash Sable will go to Uganda for training till Olympics.

Tokyo Olympics 2020: Steeplechaser Avinash Sable to train in Uganda from April to July

The 26-year-old will be training under foreign coach Addy Ruiter, who has guided athletes like Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, the current world record holder in men's 5000m and 10,000m. Kenya, Morocco and Uganda are considered the hubs of steeplechase.

https://www.firstpost.com/sports/tokyo- ... 05601.html

[prasen9]

While I have nothing against this coach and more power to him, training in Kenya and Uganda for these events just because they are doing great may not be the optimal thing to do. There is a significant genetic component to the East Africans doing well in these events and add to that that the kids run miles to go to school and get back everyday. At least those not in the cities. And, have been doing so for generations, which may have been encoded in their genes by now.

Wrt coaching, you have to see the degree of improvement. Which coaches took in whom and improved whom by how much. And, then go with them. Not just who coached the Olympic gold medalist.

[suresh]

@prasen9 You have a point about genetics. However, running with a higher level of competition is also important. It helps one to improve. Further, if he is running at higher altitudes, he will benefit as well. Avinash is an exceptional talent. He ran the Half Marathon (not the steeplechase) in 60:30 running alongside world class competition at the 2020 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and improved on the Indian record by 3 minutes. He is borderline world class in the HM.

[sameerph]

India earned 3 quota places for Tokyo olympics in Sailing today in the Asian olympic qualifier at Omar.
Nethra Kumanan became the first ever Indian women to earn to qualfiy for an Olympics in the laser radial event.
Those joining her would be Vishnu Saravanan in Laser Std Class Sailing event and the duo of KC Ganapathy & Varun Thakkar in 49er class event.

This is also the first time we would have a sailing representative in more than 1 event at an olympics.

So, now we have 3 sports where we have representation in Tokyo where we had none in Rio 2016- Sailing, Equastarian and Fencing.

[sameerph]

India earned 3 quota places for Tokyo olympics in Sailing today in the Asian olympic qualifier at Omar.
Nethra Kumanan became the first ever Indian women to earn to qualfiy for an Olympics in the laser radial event.
Those joining her would be Vishnu Saravanan in Laser Std Class Sailing event and the duo of KC Ganapathy & Varun Thakkar in 49er class event.

This is also the first time we would have a sailing representative in more than 1 event at an olympics.

So, now we have 3 sports where we have representation in Tokyo where we had none in Rio 2016- Sailing, Equastarian and Fencing.

[suresh]

It is 4 in sailing -- 3 from Chennai! Amazing. My friend Suheim who trains kids in Hyderabad is totally excited. I expect his kids (who are from very poor backgrounds) will qualify for the next Olympics.

[depleter]

Amazing news coming or rather prediction coming from the track and field news where they predicted Neeraj to get a silver in Javelin.
https://trackandfieldnews.com/olympic-m ... ns-1-2021/

[suresh]

If Neeraj gets consistent in his new technique, then a medal is possible. All he needs is a couple of good throws in the actual event.

[prasen9]

@prasen9 You have a point about genetics. However, running with a higher level of competition is also important. It helps one to improve. Further, if he is running at higher altitudes, he will benefit as well. Avinash is an exceptional talent. He ran the Half Marathon (not the steeplechase) in 60:30 running alongside world class competition at the 2020 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and improved on the Indian record by 3 minutes. He is borderline world class in the HM.

Very true. I am not saying that he should not go there. By all means. It may be better than what he has at home. And I agree with all your points. I hope he is going to be training with such higher levels of competition.

[depleter]

Looks like predictions are coming back into force as less than 100 days are left for the olympics.
Grace note's latest prediction - 4G, 5S, 8B.
https://www.gracenote.com/virtual-medal-table/#demo

[sameerph]

This looks too high. I will be extremely happy if we reach 10 or even 8 considering how we fared last time.

Have they given the sportwise break-up ?

[depleter]

This looks too high. I will be extremely happy if we reach 10 or even 8 considering how we fared last time.

Have they given the sportwise break-up ?

No, looks like one has to subscribe to it or something.