Road to Rio 2016 - Irish Olympic News

Skid X

And once Dan Man has said it, you know it's a fact ...

Unfortunately some people in Istanbul started celebrating too early. In the first round of voting Istanbul tied with Madrid (both behind Tokyo). When Istanbul was announced as having won the tie-break between the two, something was lost in translation. Some of the Turks thought Istanbul had won the vote outright. Ouch.

But, as Madrid's fate was sealed, a huge chant of "Istanbul, Istanbul" erupted around the media room as a large Turkish press contingent celebrated what they believed to be the countries first victory at the fifth attempt.

http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2020/1015903-confusion-reigns-in-host-city-vote-as-istanbul-celebrate-prematurely

Not the first time something like that has happened. Congratulations to Tokyo, maybe Istanbul and Madrid will get their chance some day.

Dan man

News just in, wrestling retains its place on the Olympic programme for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, beating squash and baseball/softball in today's vote by IOC members.
Can't help but feel sorry for the unfortunate sports to miss out, but it would have also been terrible to have the Olympics without wrestling. Hopefully squash will one day get their place on the Olympic roster, they deserve it.

The_Kew_Tour

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2013/0908/473041-robinson-sets-new-irish-u23-1500m-record/

Paul Robinson (St Coca’s AC) set a new Irish U23 1500m record with a stunning end of season performance in Rieti, Italy, today.

Robinson ran a time of 3:35.22 to break the 20-year-old record held by Niall Bruton which stood at 3:37.16.

The field was of the highest quality with the first nine athletes in the race either running seasonal or personal bests.

The race was won by Silas Kiplagat of Kenya in a time of 3:30.13, with Robinson battling all the way to the line to finish in eighth place.

2013 has been a breakthrough year for Robinson, setting personal bests over both the 800m and 1500m, finishing fourth in the European U23 Championships 1500m final and representing Ireland at the World Track and Field Championships in Moscow.

Both Laura Crowe (An Riocht AC) and Mark English (UCD AC) were also in action in Rieti and recorded impressive results over 800m.

Crowe has had a breakthrough year in 2013 and was looking to end the season on a high with an 800m personal best the target.

The early pace was blistering with the leading athletes going through the bell in under 58 seconds.

Crowe maintained her composure and finished strongly to finish in sixth place in a new personal best of 2:00.93. The time also moves Crowe to number four on the Irish all-time lists.

English was the last of the Irish in action as he was gunning to break the Irish 800m record of 1:44.82.

He had previously run 1:44.84 at the Diamond League meeting in London on the 26 July to just miss out on David Mathews' Irish record.

The American athlete Brandon Johnson brought the field through the 600m point; however, it was Balla of Qatar who stormed to victory in a new national record of 1:43.93.

English battled all the way to the line to record a time of 1.44.89 for fourth place, his second fastest ever time over 800m.

Dan man

Irish Olympian Aileen Reid produced another outstanding performance to claim the silver medal at the Triathlon World Series Grand Final in London today.
The World Series consists of 7 events at different locations around the world, spread throughout the season with the Grand Final taking place in London and it serves as the World Championships event in the sport. The World Champion is the athlete who has gained the most points at these World Series events throughout the season. As a result of today's performance Aileen finishes the World Championship series in 8th position overall, a commendable result.
Ireland also had some encouraging performances in the underage World Championship categories in London with Emma Sharkey claiming 13th place in the Junior women's race and Aaron O'Brien taking 20th place in the men's junior category.


Aileen on the podium showing off her magnificent silver medal:

Dan man

Magnificent news to report from last week's World Junior Boxing Championships in Kiev....Ireland has a new World Junior Champion! Light-flyweight Willie Donoghue claimed the gold medal against U.S. boxer Daniel Gonzalez in a competitive final. It's an outstanding achievement by Willie, and no doubt he's a massive prospect for the future.
Ireland had a fantastic championships claiming a total of 3 medals with Kieran Molloy (Lightweight) and Sean Conroy (Middleweight) both winning bronze in their categories.
Congratulations to all three, in particular to our new Junior World Champion and another great outcome for Irish amateur boxing.

Dan man

Irish eventing is on the crest of a wave this week with a number of outstanding results over the weekend. The junior eventing team won gold at the European Junior Championships in Chardy, with Elizabeth Hayden also claiming individual silver. Particularly encouraging was the fact that the young Irish team were so competitive in the dressage element, traditionally the achilles' heel of Irish eventing teams.
The U21 team were also on the podium, winning the bronze medal in their category.
And to cap it all off in style, London 2012 Olympian, Aoife Clark continued her string of magnificent results by claiming victory at the highly rated Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials, beating a host of top names in the process. This was Aoife's first ever 3 star victory and using this horse (Fenya's Elegance) is looking to mount a major challenge at the World Equestrian Games in 2014. Aoife was 7th individually at the London Olympics last year with Master Crusoe.

The future is very bright!!

Skid X

Dan man wrote: »

Irish Olympian Aileen Reid produced another outstanding performance to claim the silver medal at the Triathlon World Series Grand Final in London today.
The World Series consists of 7 events at different locations around the world, spread throughout the season with the Grand Final taking place in London and it serves as the World Championships event in the sport. The World Champion is the athlete who has gained the most points at these World Series events throughout the season. As a result of today's performance Aileen finishes the World Championship series in 8th position overall, a commendable result.

There is a short interview with Aileen on today's Second Captains Podcast

(About 47 mins 50 in). https://soundcloud.com/secondcaptains-it-com/second-captains-17-09-george

Aileen has moved to a new training camp in Australia since the Olympics, regular training with and against elite tri-athletes seems to have given her greater confidence in her ability.

Hopefully she can build on this terrific performance in the World Series Grand Final in the coming years.

Skid X

Olympic Tri-athlete Aileen Reid (who came second in the World Series Final last week)and double Paralympic Gold Medallist Mark Rohan are among the guests on Second Captains Live tonight (RTE2, 11.00 pm)

Skid X

Great performance from Weightlifter Clarence Kennedy - he won three bronze medals at the European Junior Weightlifting Championships

Kennedy (20) is already the highest ranked male Irish weightlifter of all time and is already focusing on the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Kennedy snatched an Irish record 148kg to win bronze in the first half of the competition and then went on to Clean and Jerk an Irish record 180kg to secure both the Clean and Jerk and overall bronze medals.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/other-sport/2013/0926/476703-european-medal-glory-for-irish-weightlifter/


Great to see a breakthrough in a Sport in which we have relatively little tradition (it's more than 40 years since Ireland had an Olympic Weightlifter)

Weightlifting Ireland are making a serious effort to get their athletes to Rio, more about it here ...

http://www.weightliftingireland.com/Road%20to%20Rio/index.html

Edwardius

Skid X wrote: »

Great performance from Weightlifter Clarence Kennedy - he won three bronze medals at the European Junior Weightlifting Championships







http://www.rte.ie/sport/other-sport/2013/0926/476703-european-medal-glory-for-irish-weightlifter/


Great to see a breakthrough in a Sport in which we have relatively little tradition (it's more than 40 years since Ireland had an Olympic Weightlifter)

Weightlifting Ireland are making a serious effort to get their athletes to Rio, more about it here ...

http://www.weightliftingireland.com/Road%20to%20Rio/index.html

Even his missed lifts were stylish:



He's a class act and a man of few words! We have a post on it here. We had another four lifters competing at the same event and each of them did us proud,

Skid X

European Champion Annalise Murphy is currently competing in the World Laser Radial Sailing Championships in China.

She has had a mixed set of results so far, and is down in 19th place after 6 races. Hopefully she can improve her position as the regatta continues.


http://www.sailing.ca/results/2013_Laser_Womens_Worlds.htm

https://twitter.com/Annalise_Murphy

Skid X

It was a disappointing World Championships for Annalise Murphy, who finished in 23rd place. That was a disappointment after some great performances in the Summer. Hopefully it won't set her back too much, she seems upbeat ...

https://twitter.com/Annalise_Murphy/status/387142226402217984

So I finished 23rd at worlds which is not my greatest moment, but gives me a huge deal of stuff to work on this winter. #onwardsandupwards

Dan man

Yes, it's a very disappointing result as she is a much better sailor than 23rd place. However, it has been a good season for her as she picked up the European title in Dun Laoghaire harbour a few weeks back.

Annalise though has really got to address a major stumbling block for her and that is how to be competitive in light wind conditions. It has cost her medals time and again in the past and in regattas where the conditions tend to the lighter side she struggles to be competitive. You can't have a situation where 4 years of hard work are scuppered at the Olympics simply because conditions didn't suit her.
Still such an exciting prospect to have on the Irish team, hopefully she can really get things together next year and establish herself as one of the top racers in the event.

Dan man

Ireland had two competitors in the Olympic recurve events at the Archery World Championships last week. Keith Hanlon won his first round match in the men's individual recurve before losing out in the round of 64 to a Dutch competitor.
In the women's individual recurve, Sinead Cuthbert was beaten 6-0 in her first round match (round of 128) against Mirene Etxeberria of Spain.

Nice to see some Irish participation in archery and hopefully we can continue to build on these performances. When you see a country like Denmark develop and win medals in this sport you've got to wonder if we could begin to grow the sport here also.

Dan man

Catching up on more Olympic sports news, the Irish showjumping team earned a landmark success at the inaugural FEI Nations Cup Final, claiming the bronze medal at the Grand Final in Barcelona. 18 nations qualified to participate in Barcelona with the top 8 teams progressing to the final.
The Irish team consisting of Cameron Hanley (Antello Z), Denis Lynch (All Star 5), Shane Breen (Balloon) and Billy Twomey (Tinka's Serenade) put in very solid rounds, amassing only 12 penalties in total to claim bronze behind winners France and Brazil in silver.
Outstanding performance!

Dan man

RIO2016

Qualification Update

The Irish men's U-21 squad got their qualification campaign back on track on Friday evening with a decent 0-0 draw in Bucharest against Romania. The result keeps Ireland in contention to claim at least one of the 4 best runner-up spots which would be enough to see them into the play-offs alongside the other best runner-up teams and group winners.
Next up is the reverse fixture against Romania at the Showgrounds, Sligo at 3pm on Tuesday afternoon. Anything less than 3 points would be very costly for our chances of progressing to the next stage of qualification.


Group 6|

P

| W | D | L | F | A |+/-|PTS
Germany|

3

|

3

|

0

|

0

|

9

|

0

|

+9

|

9

Montenegro|

3

|

2

|

0

|

1

|

6

|

4

|

+2

|

6

Ireland|

3

|

1

|

1

|

1

|

4

|

5

|

-1

|

4

Romania|

3

|

0

|

2

|

1

|

4

|

5

|

-1

|

2

Faroe Islands|

4

|

0

|

1

|

3

|

3

|

12

|

-9

|

1

Group 6 Results/Fixtures:

07 Jun. 2013 Faroe Islands 2-2 Romania
11 Jun. 2013 Montenegro 3-0 Faroe Islands
14 Aug. 2013 Faroe Islands 1-4 Ireland
06 Sep. 2013 Faroe Islands 0-3 Germany
09 Sep. 2013 Ireland 0-4 Germany
10 Sep. 2013 Montenegro 3-2 Romania
11 Oct. 2013 Romania 0-0 Ireland
11 Oct. 2013 Germany 2-0 Montenegro
15 Oct. 2013 Germany vs Faroe Islands
15 Oct. 2013 Ireland vs Romania
15 Nov. 2013 Montenegro vs Germany
15 Nov. 2013 Ireland vs Faroe Islands
19 Nov. 2013 Romania vs Germany
19 Nov. 2013 Montenegro vs Ireland
05 Mar. 2014 Romania vs Faroe Islands
05 Mar. 2014 Ireland vs Montenegro
04 Sep. 2014 Romania vs Montenegro
05 Sep. 2014 Germany vs Ireland
09 Sep. 2014 Germany vs Romania
09 Sep. 2014 Faroe Islands vs Montenegro

Dan man

2-time Olympian and Irish badminton player Chloe Magee earned a hard-fought first round victory (round of 32) at the YONEX Dutch Open against Marija Ulitina from the Ukraine 18-21, 21-13, 24-22.
Chloe unfortunately lost her last-16 match against the no.2 seed from Thailand, going down 21-13, 21-12.
Chloe is currently ranked at no.47 in the official world rankings.

locum-motion

Excuse my ignorance, but: What sport is that?

(I know it's not soccer, coz soccer is banned here and a mod wouldn't do that!:P)

Dan man wrote: »

RIO2016

Qualification Update

The Irish men's U-21 squad got their qualification campaign back on track on Friday evening with a decent 0-0 draw in Bucharest against Romania. The result keeps Ireland in contention to claim at least one of the 4 best runner-up spots which would be enough to see them into the play-offs alongside the other best runner-up teams and group winners.
Next up is the reverse fixture against Romania at the Showgrounds, Sligo at 3pm on Tuesday afternoon. Anything less than 3 points would be very costly for our chances of progressing to the next stage of qualification.


Group 6|

P

| W | D | L | F | A |+/-|PTS
Germany|

3

|

3

|

0

|

0

|

9

|

0

|

+9

|

9

Montenegro|

3

|

2

|

0

|

1

|

6

|

4

|

+2

|

6

Ireland|

3

|

1

|

1

|

1

|

4

|

5

|

-1

|

4

Romania|

3

|

0

|

2

|

1

|

4

|

5

|

-1

|

2

Faroe Islands|

4

|

0

|

1

|

3

|

3

|

12

|

-9

|

1

Group 6 Results/Fixtures:

07 Jun. 2013 Faroe Islands 2-2 Romania
11 Jun. 2013 Montenegro 3-0 Faroe Islands
14 Aug. 2013 Faroe Islands 1-4 Ireland
06 Sep. 2013 Faroe Islands 0-3 Germany
09 Sep. 2013 Ireland 0-4 Germany
10 Sep. 2013 Montenegro 3-2 Romania
11 Oct. 2013 Romania 0-0 Ireland
11 Oct. 2013 Germany 2-0 Montenegro
15 Oct. 2013 Germany vs Faroe Islands
15 Oct. 2013 Ireland vs Romania
15 Nov. 2013 Montenegro vs Germany
15 Nov. 2013 Ireland vs Faroe Islands
19 Nov. 2013 Romania vs Germany
19 Nov. 2013 Montenegro vs Ireland
05 Mar. 2014 Romania vs Faroe Islands
05 Mar. 2014 Ireland vs Montenegro
04 Sep. 2014 Romania vs Montenegro
05 Sep. 2014 Germany vs Ireland
09 Sep. 2014 Germany vs Romania
09 Sep. 2014 Faroe Islands vs Montenegro

Dan man

locum-motion wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, but: What sport is that?

(I know it's not soccer, coz soccer is banned here and a mod wouldn't do that!:P)

It's not a soccer thread :P

Dan man

Ireland's campaign at the 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships got off to the best possible start with a unanimous 3-0 victory for Belfast's Tommy McCarthy in the men's heavyweight division. McCarthy comfortably saw off the challenge of Bulgarian Nikolay Mutavski to set up a last-32 encounter against Canada's Samir El-Mais on Friday.

Next up tomorrow for the Irish is Sean McComb who will face Israeli puncher Almog Briga in the first round of the men's lightweight division and former European champion Ray Moylette will be in action against Alexandros Tsanikidis of Greece in the men's light welterwight preliminaries.

Skid X

One of the cuts in today's budget which won't receive much coverage

We are extremely disappointed with today’s announcement which sees a further 8% reduction in current funding for Irish Sport with funding to the Irish Sports Council believed to be in the region of €40 million for next year – a reduction of approximately €3 million on 2013.

This is the sixth year in a row for cuts – investment in sport already having fallen by some 25% – and now sees Irish Sport back to 2006 levels of support.

http://irishsport.ie/wpress/index.php/2013/10/statement-on-behalf-of-sport-in-ireland/


It all adds up, and makes it tougher for Irish Sport to compete against other well funded countries. The problem is compounded by the reduction in sponsorship and advertising revenues in recent years.

KevIRL

u-21's lost 1-0 today at home to Romania

Dan man

KevIRL wrote: »

u-21's lost 1-0 today at home to Romania

And that result means there will be no Irish men's football team in Rio 2016... very disappointing after the result in Bucharest!

feargale

AIBA World Championships: Adam Nolan beaten on a split decision by his French opponent.

Skid X

RTE will have some coverage of the later rounds of the World Boxing Championships, a late deal has been agreed

Ryle Nugent (RTE's Head of Sport) just tweeted this

Deal agreed to cover Irish fighters at World Boxing Champs from 1/4 finals on.. No multi camera coverage available pre last 8. #rtesport

https://twitter.com/RyleNugentRTE/status/391164428320006144

The_Kew_Tour

The boxers we have are world class standard. Im glad RTE are at least going to show from 1/4 finals.

Our boxers have been the shining light in our international sports the past few years.

Skid X

Six of the nine Irish Boxers have made it through to the last 16 in the World Championships


Paddy Barnes 52Kg (a new weight for him)
Michael Conlan 56Kg
Sean McCoomb 60Kg
Jason Quigley 75Kg
Joe Ward 81Kg
Tommy McCarthy 91Kg

(Incidentally, that is five Ulster men and Joe Ward from Moate Co.Westmeath)

Hopefully they can continue their progress in the coming week

http://www.iaba.ie/category/iaba-news/

The_Kew_Tour

http://www.rte.ie/sport/cycling/2013/1020/481569-irvine-takes-european-bronze-in-the-omnium/

Seven months after he suffered a bad leg fracture in the Tour of Taiwan, Martyn Irvine has bounced back from that injury with an excellent third place in the omnium at the Track Cycling European Championships in the Netherlands.
The Irishman took bronze in the multi-round competition, winning the points race yesterday, and performing strongly in the concluding disciplines today to secure a podium finish.
The event was won by the Russian rider Victor Manakov, with the Dutchman Tim Veldt netting silver.
Irvine made history last February when he became the first Irishman in 117 years to win gold at the Track Cycling World Championships. He was best in the scratch race, winning that event just over an hour after taking silver in the individual pursuit.
His performance this weekend will be hugely reassuring for him, as it shows he is back on track in his bid to defend his title early next year.
He and his UnitedHealthcare road racing team are hoping for a wildcard invite to the Giro d'Italia, which begins next May in Belfast.

feargale

Amid all the good news from Kazakhstan comes news that John Joe Nevin is about to turn professional. One medal less from Rio.

gordongekko

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Our boxers have been the shining light in our international sports the past few years.

cyclists and race walkers are giving them a run for their money

Skid X

feargale wrote: »

Amid all the good news from Kazakhstan comes news that John Joe Nevin is about to turn professional. One medal less from Rio.

That will be disappointing (assuming it is confirmed), although it has been coming for a while. Hopefully it won't start an exodus from the amateur ranks. There is still a chance that some Professionals might compete in the next Olympics, so it might not be all over just yet for John-Joe. (Conversely, if Professionals are to compete in the Olympics, it would lower the medal chances of the Amateurs)

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/stakes-never-higher-for-irish-champions-as-world-boxing-championships-beckon-1.1554241

It was another good day in Kazakhstan -

Michael Conlan, Jason Quigley and Tommy McCarthy all recorded wins in the last 16 round.

http://www.iaba.ie/conlan-in-qfinals-in-almaty/

Paddy Barnes, Sean McComb and Joe Ward will try to emulate them tomorrow.

Dodge

McComb out, ward through so far.

I've put a list of all Irish medallists at the World Champs on my trivia blog (spoiler - it's not that many)

http://statsthatarepointless.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/ireland-at-the-world-amateur-boxing-championship/

Skid X

Dodge wrote: »

McComb out, ward through so far.

I've put a list of all Irish medallists at the World Champs on my trivia blog (spoiler - it's not that many)

http://statsthatarepointless.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/ireland-at-the-world-amateur-boxing-championship/

Nice one, Dodge.

I was looking for that statistic a few days ago and I couldn't find it. Hopefully our team will depart Kazakhstan with a few more (preferably of a different colour)

Paddy Barnes also won his fight to make it five Irish Boxers in the Quarter finals - Sean McComb was unlucky to lose the decision in his fight

http://www.iaba.ie/mccomb-edged-out-on-split-in-almaty/

KevIRL

Dodge wrote: »

McComb out, ward through so far.

I've put a list of all Irish medallists at the World Champs on my trivia blog (spoiler - it's not that many)

http://statsthatarepointless.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/ireland-at-the-world-amateur-boxing-championship/

Interesting alright. Is this because the qualifying to get to the olympics means that some top boxers in various divisions miss out?

Dodge

KevIRL wrote: »

Interesting alright. Is this because the qualifying to get to the olympics means that some top boxers in various divisions miss out?

With little or no qualification for the Worlds, you usually have to win 4 fights for a medal. In 2008 (for example) Darren Sutherland won 2 fights in the Olympics for his medal (and one of them against a guy from the Virgin Islands who wouldn't have made the last 16 in the worlds)

Seeding has only recently been introduced so some of the luck of the Olympic draw has been taken out too.

Anyway, Jason Quigley added to the tally today. Hopefully he can push on and earn more than bronze

Skid X

Highlights of today's fights in the World Championships are on RTE2 at 11.10pm

Dodge

Seems like Conlon is preparing to go pro.

In better news Quigley has just become the first Irishman to advance to a World final

KevIRL

Jason Quigley boxing for gold in world championships this morning, live on RTE 2 at 10.50

KevIRL

KevIRL wrote: »

Jason Quigley boxing for gold in world championships this morning, live on RTE 2 at 10.50

RTE 1 actually, my bad

feargale

Dodge wrote: »

Seems like Conlon is preparing to go pro.

Very disappointing if it happens. Up to recently it looked as if all our London heroes were staying put.

The_Kew_Tour

Think Conlon would be stupid to go Pro as things stand.

KevIRL

More success for Martyn Irvine on the track today. A gold in the points race at the World Cup in Track Cycling in Manchester

feargale

http://afloat.ie/home/item/23844-laser-sailor-espey-in-top-third-at-laser-worlds-oman?utm_source=Ireland+Afloat&utm_campaign=3f59e3ed73-AfloatEbulletin_Nov1811_18_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_56cc7c153a-3f59e3ed73-405533105

James Espey lies 32nd of 126 after two races of the Laser Standard World Championships in Oman.

Dan man

feargale wrote: »

http://afloat.ie/home/item/23844-laser-sailor-espey-in-top-third-at-laser-worlds-oman?utm_source=Ireland+Afloat&utm_campaign=3f59e3ed73-AfloatEbulletin_Nov1811_18_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_56cc7c153a-3f59e3ed73-405533105

James Espey lies 32nd of 126 after two races of the Laser Standard World Championships in Oman.

He's now 33rd overall after race 3...this is decent going so far for James.
Colin Leonard is currently 102nd overall.

Dan man

After 6 races completed at the Men's Laser Sailing World Championships Ireland's James Espey is in 37th position. He has fallen back just a little but still competing at his expected level or perhaps even a little ahead of that so not bad at all so far.

Skid X

It looks like Graeme McDowell has decided he will Golf for Ireland (if selected) at the next Olympics.

He will be playing for Ireland at the upcoming World Cup of Golf, and he believes that will commit him to Ireland in Rio under the current regulations

“So I believe that me being here and representing Ireland will, you know, with the Olympic regulations, will mean that I am, I will have to play for Ireland when it comes to the Olympics in 2016,” he told reporters. ”So if eligible, if fit enough … part of me feels relieved to not have to make that decision. It takes care of another very sensitive problem that I, myself, and Rory [McIlroy] in particular, have not enjoyed talking about.”

http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/20/graeme-mcdowell-ireland-rio-2016-olympics/


If he maintains his current form (World Ranked number 12) he would be a genuine contender in Rio.

Of course, this doesn't leave us any nearer to a decision from Rory McIlroy about his Olympic intentions.

Dan man

RIO2016

Olympic Medal Table Simulation

As some of you may know from the previous Olympic thread, I usually keep a track on how countries are doing in each Olympic cycle and I like to create an Olympic medals table simulation based on the most recent results at the World Championships in each Olympic event within the Olympic cycle. So here is the current state of play with the medals won at the most recent World Championships since London 2012.
*The table is not yet complete as some Olympic events didn't have a World Championships yet in this current Olympic cycle (2012-2016). 88.9% of medals have been accounted for so far.

Rank|Country|GOLD|SILVER|BRONZE|TOTAL
1|United States|29|30|24|83

2|Russia|27|30|30|87
3|China|25|16|21|62
4|Germany|15|16|21|52
5|Great Britain|14|12|12|38
6|Japan|11|6|8|25
7|France|10|7|16|33
8|New Zealand|9|7|4|20
9|Hungary|9|3|11|23
10|Australia|8|16|6|30
11|South Korea|8|4|10|22
12|Brazil|7|9|9|25
13|Italy|7|7|8|22
14|Netherlands|6|5|9|20
15|Jamaica|6|2|1|9
16|Kenya|5|4|3|12
17|Ukraine|5|3|7|15
18|Czech Republic|5|3|4|12
19|Cuba|4|6|6|16
20|Kazakhstan|4|4|5|13
21|Iran|4|4|2|10
22|Azerbaijan|4|3|5|12
23|Lithuania|4|1|-|5
24|Spain|3|6|14|23
25|Denmark|3|6|4|13
26|North Korea|3|5|1|9
27|Ethiopia|3|4|4|11
28|Sweden|3|3|2|8
29|Croatia|3|1|3|7
30|Estonia|3|-|1|4
31|South Africa|2|1|1|4
32|Norway|2|1|-|3
33|Thailand|2|-|2|4
34|Colombia|2|-|1|3
34|Israel|2|-|1|3
36|Indonesia|2|-|-|2
37|Canada|1|6|10|17
38|Poland|1|6|5|12
39|Belarus|1|3|7|11
40|Mongolia|1|2|3|6
41|Bulgaria|1|2|-|3
42|Serbia|1|1|4|6
42|Switzerland|1|1|4|6
42|Uzbekistan|1|1|4|6
45|Armenia|1|1|2|4
46|IRELAND|1|1|1|3
47|Chinese Taipei|1|1|-|2
48|Greece|1|-|3|4
49|Trinidad & Tobago|1|-|1|2
50|Albania|1|-|-|1
50|Gabon|1|-|-|1
50|Portugal|1|-|-|1
50|Uganda|1|-|-|1
54|Mexico|-|3|5|8
55|Romania|-|2|3|5
56|Finland|-|2|1|3
56|Georgia|-|2|1|3
56|Venezuela|-|2|1|3
59|Cote d'Ivoire|-|2|-|2
60|India|-|1|3|4
61|Malaysia|-|1|1|2
61|Nigeria|-|1|1|2
61|Slovakia|-|1|1|2
64|Algeria|-|1|-|1
64|Austria|-|1|-|1
64|Botswana|-|1|-|1
64|Cyprus|-|1|-|1
64|Ecuador|-|1|-|1
64|Jordan|-|1|-|1
64|Montenegro|-|1|-|1
64|Qatar|-|1|-|1
72|Slovenia|-|-|5|5
73|Turkey|-|1|3|4
74|Belgium|-|-|2|2
74|Tunisia|-|-|2|2
74|Vietnam|-|-|2|2
77|Argentina|-|-|1|1
77|Costa Rica|-|-|1|1
77|Djibouti|-|-|1|1
77|Dominican Republic|-|-|1|1
77|Fiji|-|-|1|1
77|Hong Kong|-|-|1|1
77|Senegal|-|-|1|1Ireland are in 45th position, and you might remember that we finished 41st in the London 2012 Olympic medal table. However, we can be very encouraged by the fact that Katie Taylor has not yet had her say so Ireland might expect to climb the standings after the Women's Boxing World Championships next autumn.
For tennis I have used a simulation based on results at the 4 Grand Slam events of the season combined with the World Rankings.
For men's golf I am using the World Cup of golf event to provide the 3 medallists since it has changed format to sort of mimic the Olympic tournament (72-hole individual strokeplay and same qualification system).
For women's golf I will be using a simulation based on the 5 Major tournaments of the season combined with the World Rankings.

Other things of interest:

• China can challenge for top spot next year when you consider that the ISSF World Shooting Championships take place next season, so there's a big opportunity for them to put their names on some of those gold medals not to mention the near guaranteed gold medals in the men's and women's team table tennis events to come next year.
• Great Britain have fallen back quite a bit as you might expect from their Olympic performance (29 golds won) even if the table is, as of yet, incomplete.
• So far 82 countries have made it onto the medals table, compared to 85 in London 2012. However, Cyprus have hopes to make it onto the table this week at the Men's Laser Sailing World Championships with Pavlos Kontides who won them their historic first ever Olympic medal at London 2012. After 8 races he is in bronze medal position. Also Singapore will have hope in the team table tennis events at next year's world championships and football may also see another country from South America or Africa get onto the table. Also, not forgetting the boxer from Tajikistan that was beaten in the semi-finals of both the 2012 World Championships and Olympic Games by Katie Taylor.
• Turkey have had a dismal start to their Olympic cycle with only 4 bronze medals.
• The big story for me is the emergence of New Zealand. Truly remarkable how well they are doing for such a small nation.
• Lithuania have also have an extra-ordinary season and between their swimming superstar, young Ruta Meilutyte, and their clean sweep of modern-pentathlon wins at the World Championships, they sit in a lofty 23 positions with 4 golds and 1 silver...not bad for a country with a population just under 3 million and without the sprinting talents of Jamaica
• Spain and Canada as usual are very disappointing, both with huge stacks of silvers and bronzes but very few of the gold variety.
• At the end of the 2013 season, 275 of the 306 Olympic medal events will be accounted for.
• This leaves 31 medal events still to be accounted for. They are as follows:
  

• Team events in Table Tennis (2 events...the world team championships 2014 will take place in Tokyo between April 28th- May 5th, 2014).
• Men's and Women's Hockey (2 events....the men's and women's Hockey World Cups will take place in The Hague, Netherlands in May-June, 2014).
• Men's Football (1 event....the FIFA Men's World Cup will take place in Brazil between June 12th-July 13th, 2014).
  
• Equestrian (6 events....the World Equestrian Games will take place in Normandy, France between August 23rd-September 7th, 2014).
  
• Men's Basketball (1 event....men's World Cup will take place in Spain between August 30th-September 14th, 2014).
• Rifle and Pistol events in Shooting (10 events....will take place in Granada, Spain between September 6th-20th, 2014).
• Men's Volleyball (1 event...the men's World Championships 2014 will take place in Poland between September 3rd-21st, 2014).
  
• Women's Boxing (3 events....World Championships 2014 will take place in Canada between September-October 2014).
• Women's Basketball (1 event.....women's World Championships will take place in Istanbul, Turkey between September 27th-October 5th, 2014).
• Women's Volleyball (1 event....women's World Championships 2014 will take place in Italy between September 23rd-October 12th, 2014).
  
• Team All-Around events in Artistic Gymnastics (2 events....World Championships 2014 will take place in Nanning, China between October 3rd-12th, 2014).
• Women's Football (1 event...the FIFA Women's World Cup will take place in Canada between June 6th-July 5th, 2015).

Dan man

At the Men's Laser Sailing World Championships, Ireland's James Espey has jumped up to equal 27th position after the first 2 races of the Gold Fleet....very encouraging to see him make progress.
Colin Leonard is in 107th position overall.

feargale

Thanks, Dan as always for the medals table simulation. It appears that the only realistically potential newcomers to the medals table are Albania ( weightlifting? ), Jordan ( taekwondo? ), and Fiji ( rugby sevens? ) In any event be assured that, like the Skibbereen Eagle a propos the Tsar of All the Russias, David will be keeping an eye ( or two ) on Goliath,

Dan man

feargale wrote: »

Thanks, Dan as always for the medals table simulation. It appears that the only realistically potential newcomers to the medals table are Albania ( weightlifting? ), Jordan ( taekwondo? ), and Fiji ( rugby sevens? ) In any event be assured that, like the Skibbereen Eagle a propos the Tsar of All the Russias, David will be keeping an eye ( or two ) on Goliath,

Albania's gold in this simulation actually came in judo thanks to Majlinda Kelmendi in the women's -52kg category. In fact she won that gold medal competing for Kosovo, but as you know, Kosovo are not recognised by the IOC and since she represented Albania at London 2012, logic suggests that the gold be attributed to Albania in this simulation.

I'm very much looking forward to your David vs Goliath posts again, it is always interesting to keep an eye on the underdogs and see countries try to win their first Olympic medals.
San Marino and Malta are still very much contenders to win their first Olympic medals in Rio 2016.....remember how close Alessandra Perelli came to getting San Marino onto the podium in London?....only losing a 3-way shoot-off for the silver and bronze medals to finish an agonising 4th in the end.