Posts by zaphod

Neslihan coming good with the serves as soon as i criticize her haha

Kosheleva ending it with a service winner. Congrats to Eczasibaci

haha yea. The 4th set had alot of funny moments. That Larson attempt to set that got over the net and confused Pomi. Bosetti coming in for Pomi at the right time. Neslihan is so done.

Into the 5th we go!

I think the ref was telling Tanya to tone down the celebrations from the looks of it.

Haha Tanya scores with her head

Service errors from Ecz letting Pomi back in. Guerra's serve is a thing of beauty though. Boskovic having a bad day today.

Boskovic and Larson not really playing well in this final. Kosheleva on fire for ECZ. Fabris and Guerra doing the job for Pomi.

Wow....awesome job Serbia. That comeback in the 5th. Well done.

What a heartbreak for Brazil. Not a big fan of theirs but they really tried so hard. It must be tough.
Terrible day for Brazil all around; handball, women's football and this.

Congratulations Serbia! You girls deserved it with a good performance and nerves of steel. Now go and get a medal
WTF was that Russia? Luckily I missed the first set. That performance was beyond terrible. Marichev is so clueless and I'm sure he's gonna get grilled for his tactics or lack of it. Hopefully he doesn't end up like Ovchinnikov. The girls were unprepared mentally with no game plan or a helpful coach. If Karpol was watching, I think his television would be broken by now. Vetrova, Malygina and Ezhova in this team just boggles my mind. Apart from Kosheleva, there just isn't another leader in the team. Goncharova, while an excellent opp is still no Gamova in big matches and definitely has no leadership abilities. The only good thing that came out of this olympics for russia is the performance of Voronkova.

Yea if only they had a good setter. Plus a coach with more courage. I don't see why he won't take a risk with Voronkova instead of Shcherban whose attack was toothless. The only plus for russia is the mentality they showed in coming back in the 3rd set. Brazil played great in every aspect today though, very cohesive.

Commentator said Marichev is the most angriest coach he's seen so far...the guy must not know of Karpol.

I can't defend Pankova anymore. Her sets are so predictable even a group of blind players can triple block Koshe and Goncha. Still have yet to see her use her middles.

I don't think Russia or Brazil have truly played their best yet. It can only be judged when they meet each other. Russia is too unstable at the moment. If their reception and setting are inconsistent against Korea/Cameroon/Argentina, I can't imagine what will happen against the big teams. But their 2 big guns are firing on all cylinders.
For Brazil, the home advantage is gonna give them the edge in any match so I don't see them worrying too much about who they meet in the playoffs.

Quote from Matthias

They urgently need a setter The two girls they have as setters both are technically disastrous, they are lucky that the referee is very lenient with technique calls. Nana, Moma, Fotso and the libero are very good players, the 2nd OH is ok as well, but 2nd MB and setter are a big problem for Cameroon.
I really hope they are going to win this match though Argentina is pathetic, almost all of their players play professionally in good leagues but the NT hasn't made any progress in the last years. They must be the worst receiving team in the tournament.

True, they really need a good setter. But honestly I didn't expect them to be this good. I really like Fotso and Nana. Defensively they are quite good. They were very impressive in blocking Russia the other day too. Really I hope they get the chance to gain experience and develop their game. Would like to see them again in Tokyo.
I haven't followed the Argentinians much and it really looks like they don't belong there at this level yet. Would have preferred to see Turkey or Thailand instead but I guess this is the price to pay to develop the game everywhere.

I'm truly impressed with Cameroon. They are fast, they are physical and they have exquisite blocking too. I hope they have better funding to improve in the future.

Russia struggled with reading Korea's sets throughout the match but Samoylenko made a difference in the 4th. They really got Kim's number in the 4th and read the korean attacks better. Korea's defense was really good in the first 3sets but mentally destroyed in the 4th. Voronkova, surprisingly, is a very good sub for Shcherban. Reception was good and attacking was better than Shcherban. Still no idea why Vetrova and Ezhova are in the team. Pankova had moments of brilliance turning horrible receptions into good sets.

Yeayyy Netherlands. A thoroughly entertaining match. Slotjes found her confidence again in the 4th set. They could be medal contenders but first they need to stop giving away so many points with their serves.

Zhu Ting was hitting so many over the blocks. Yuan is a freaking banshee with her blood-curdling screams.

Quote from Canter

when did this historical storytelling shows start in the OG's? indeed ? since Sydney or Beijing ?

i mean they are nice but kind of "burden"..everybody now feels like that they should put on a historical show in every event
..and there is also a closing ceremony

Barcelona 92 also had the historical storytelling and the most epic torch lighting but it really started with Athens 2004 I believe. I can still remember those huge statues of Athena and Nike. I kinda like the concept because it is interesting to see a country's culture rather than just some concerts. Turin 2006 was beautiful and Sochi while over-the-top crammed all of Russia's culture into it including teaching the cyrillic alphabets

Quite torn with this one to be honest. It was spectacular like all opening ceremonies nowadays and way better than the World Cup one. That blonde woman and the nature videos were alittle off. Hated the twerking. The rest was pretty good. Liked the lights and some of the music. Good job overall since everyone was expecting a spectacular failure.Nothing crazy happened. Strangest ceremony in a sense that Brazil didn't have a president there.

The Russian dress was hideous. Brazilians looked nice. Aussies looked like flight attendents. UK was mehh...funniest moment was USA. For a while I thought they were wearing the Russian flag under the blazers Showing solidarity with the Russians ...How did Ralph Lauren miss that

Yup they are all allowed...considered clean as a whistle. Tested by UKAD for past 1year and met the required number of international tests. Approved by FIVB, CAS and IOC

On a lighter note, has anyone seen the mug shots of the players on the Rio website. Poor girls and guys...most look like the walking dead

And I refuse to believe their biostats...no way is Kosheleva 8kg/17lbs lighter than Goncharova.

Quote from voleysinfrontera

Let me see if I understood correctly ... So you are saying that the USA also has a state doping program , but since they are one of the biggest wada supporters it will never be catched out?
Please , give me a break , and don't be ridiculous...

Wow you are really slow in reading and comprehension. Read Carl Lewis's own admission that he and hundreds of US athletes were allowed to compete despite US authorities knowing that they were doped. Ignoring such a problem on such a scale is equivalent to this Russian problem. Were they investigated like Russia? No. Selective investigation was done. Of course only Russia will be caught because only Russia was investigated.
https://www.theguardian.com/sp…anmackay?CMP=share_btn_fb

Anyway, Russian athletes for the past 1 year were tested by UKAD and all the volleyball players are clean so they are clean...that alleged state sponsored doping system has been dead for 1 year at least so why question their "cleanness" unless you distrust UKAD.

Not sure if this belongs here but since 10 volleyball players were "implicated" in the McLaren report I put this here. Anyway there are some revelations that would rub salt into the Russian wounds. Originally from The Australian news site.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily…cs/WADA-Russian-Case.aspx

Rio Olympics: WADA drug case against Russians ‘sexed up’

The World Anti-Doping Agency has been accused of having “sexed up” the case against Russian *athletes following the McLaren report by handing over to sporting federations the names of compet*it*ors who were not accused of doping.

In a stunning development, The Australian can reveal that some of the Russian competitors whose alleged drug testing was used to support aspects of WADA’s McLaren report had shown no evidence of doping. The report, by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, *accused the Kremlin, the Moscow laboratory, coaches and athletes of a state-sponsored doping scheme.

Some International Olympic Committee members believe WADA’s high-profile release of the McLaren report was designed to ignite the “nuclear” option of excluding the entire Russian team from the Rio Games and WADA had now been caught short not having enough detail to justify some of the claims against *athletes.

The Australian has learned the IOC has now issued an urgent *notice to all sports to reassess whether a Russian competitor was “implicated’’ in the McLaren report, which may lead to some Russians being reinstated for Rio.

The IOC has asked sports to clear Russians if their name was listed as “quarantine’’, or in other words their sample wasn’t changed.

Separately, IOC vice-president and Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates wrote to Health Minister Sussan Ley telling her in blunt terms the IOC had a “lack of confidence” in WADA.

After publishing his report, Professor McLaren subsequently gave WADA the names of competitors he said were associated with “disappearing positives’’. These names were then passed on to the international sports *federations.

About 170 Russians who had positive drug tests destroyed, *covered up or altered to register as clear by the rogue Moscow *laboratory were believed to be members of the Russian Olympic team bound for Rio. Most were track and field athletes, and the international athletics body, the IAAF, banned the entire track and field team from the Games. But further scrutiny of the results has shown the Moscow laboratory evidence splits the Russian disappearing positives into four different categories of seriousness — one of them not serious at all.

“We were asked to make a judgment about Russian competitors based on McLaren’s report but without having any of the detail to understand the significance of them being named,’’ a senior sports official said. “Now to be told that there were four different categories — why weren’t we told this at the very *beginning? It is a mess and it’s WADA’s fault.’’

In his rapidly compiled report, Professor McLaren makes clear that the compressed timelines *affected his ability to verify data to establish an antidoping rule violation against specific athletes.

“Identifying athletes who benefited from the manipulations has not been the primary focus of the (report’s) work. The team has developed evidence identifying dozens of Russian athletes who appear to have been involved in doping,’’ he wrote, adding: “The compressed timeline of the investigation did not permit compilation of data to establish an antidoping rule violation.’’

After the IOC rejected WADA’s demand that Russia be banned from the Games, Professor McLaren handed over the names of Russian athletes in the 28 sports he had referred to in his report as having been part of the disappearing positive methodology. The sports federations then withdrew those Russian athletes from their Olympic entries.

Another Olympic official said he believed WADA expected the IOC to immediately ban Russia upon receipt of the McLaren report and invoke the nuclear option described by IOC president Thomas Bach yesterday.

“This blanket ban of the Russian Olympic Committee has been called by some the ‘nuclear option’ and the innocent athletes would have to be considered as collateral damage,” Mr Bach said. “Leaving aside that such a comparison is completely out of any proportion when it comes to the rules of sport, let us just for a moment consider the consequences of a ‘nuclear option’. The result is death and devastation.

“The cynical ‘collateral damage approach’ is not what the Olympic movement stands for.”

The sports official said of WADA: “They sexed it up which is crazy because now the entire report is under scrutiny and I am sure most of the report is absolutely accurate. It just puts question marks where question marks should not be’’.

A response has been sought from WADA.

The chaos surrounding the McLaren report intensified when the international swimming federation FINA defended its withdrawal of two Russian swimmers named in the McLaren report before the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday.

The two, Vladimir Morozov and Nikita Lobintsev, had “S’’ next to their name in athlete profile documents from the Moscow lab, but it is believed this was not a code to “save’’ them by changing a positive drug finding into a negative one — but was a minor transgression, possibly something like an out-of-competition marijuana finding. The CAS hearing, before Australian Federal Court judge Annabelle Bennett, adjourned the swimmers’ case on Monday night and FINA has now referred it *directly to the IOC three-person panel for scrutiny.

It is expected that the two swimmers, who had trained in the US for a decade and been subject to numerous international drug tests, will be cleared to compete unless there is new evidence that comes to light.

Russian IOC member Alexander Popov said the swimmers were in a San Paolo holding camp and would go to Rio today if their Games participation was confirmed. The Russian Olympic committee president Alexander Zhokov said the developments were pleasing.

The decision of the world rowing federation, FISA, to ban 17 Russian rowers was confirmed yesterday."

So now we know that there are 4 categories of drugs one of which is "not serious recreational drugs." But we do not know how many are in each category? What if the majority fall under that category and not PED? I suppose Obmochaev's name will be one of the 8.
And yes the 2 swimmers have been cleared by CAS. This undermines the validity of the McLaren report altogether.
In conclusion, WADA should have done a proper investigation and report and then present their case professionally instead of this childish witch-hunt tactic. Then proper exclusion of Russia for future olympics can be considered instead of this circus.